Page 23 of Reign of the Talon
He strides to the wall from which he emerged, and at his touch, it shifts again into a door. Breathing hard, Rui extends his hand, eyes so silver and bright. I know that he wants me to take it, to slide my palm into his, intertwine my fingers with his. He wants it more than he has ever wanted anything—it is tearing him apart from the inside, the desire. Suspended in the air, his fingers shake.
“Lina,” he whispers. “Please.”
I shake my head and turn away. I know, somehow, deep in my heart, that it will not work. Yet, quicker than a hummingbird’s flight, his hand closes around mine. Gently, as I stumble after him, he tugs me to the door…
…which disappears a moment later.
Rui makes a sound that is halfway between a growl and a cry. Releasing me, he touches the wall with his hand. As I step back, the door once more appears. Again, he brings me toward it. Again, it disappears.
It will not work. Why does he not understand? Hot frustration overtakes me, and my hands flutter into the air like a flock of murderous birds. The Quiet Language, taught to the Talons by Yoonho for silent missions. Yoonho, never one to do anything by halves, taught us the entire language.
You are foolish to believe in such an escape, I say, with every ounce of bitterness in my soul, even though I do not expect him to understand me.Foolish and naive—
Something in Rui’s face has frozen with realization. His silver eyes track the movements of my hands, and his throat bobs as he swallows hard. “Little thief,” he rasps. “Why do you not speak aloud?”
He doesn’t understand.
He doesn’tunderstandthat I cannot ever speak again, for the words that have rolled off my tongue so carelessly in the past have hurt andkilled. The things I said, urged on by the Prophecy. The cruelty I cultivated like dying weeds in a garden of rot.
He does not understand, but the red thread does. It carries my grief and guilt down its scarlet length. I watch through narrowed eyes blurred with pain as he closes his own, bowing his head.
Rui needs to look at me as I sign,Leave me, over and over until my fingers cramp and falter. There is silence, but finally Rui’s eyes open and he flinches. His voice is little more than a fraying thread, hoarse and thick with pain.
“No, Lina. I am sorry, but I will not abandon you. Not when I’ve only just found you again.”
My eyes widen. He reads the Quiet Language?
The language is not one that is well-known, nor is it one that is easy to understand. It is not rooted in the tongue of the Eastern Continent, nor is it rooted in the tongues of the other continents. The Quiet Language is its own, following different grammatical rules and structures. It relies on not just the movement of hands, but on facial expressions, body language, and other minute movements. To learn the Quiet Language means years of intense study, years that I spent with Yoonho and did not expect Rui to have spent as well.
The emperor leans against the wall and lowers himself to the floor. He does not meet my eyes. Instead, he stares through the bars, at the Aglyeong, with a horrible sort of defeat in his expression. A defeat that is somehow…bone deep. Something thorned, something sharp with terrible foreboding, pricks at my heart.
Is there something I do not know about this Aglyeong?
“Lina,” he finally rasps, “you must understand that I did not plan what happened to Eunbi.”
A dull roaring fills my head with a horrible pressure. I shake my head furiously, retreating to the corner furthest from him. I do not want to listen to this, I do not want to speak of this. My hands fly to my ears. I press down on them hard, trying to blur Rui’s words into smudges of unintelligible murmurings.
Tears blur my eyes as I stare at him. As his hands, always so long and nimble, rise into the air. They swoop and soar, hesitantly at first, but as he remembers the Quiet Language in all its intricacies, the words become legible.
If I could, I would rip out my own heart. I would give it to Yeomra, so he might make a trade.
I shake my head, but I cannot make myself look away. I cannot shut him out completely, no matter that I must. Some small, shriveled part of me wants to hear his excuse, and I hate myself even more for it.
Lina, my love.His eyes shine with tears.For the part that I played, I am sorry. It was not meant to happen, but it did, under my own watch. Despite my ignorance, I am not innocent. So I do not ask for your forgiveness. I am not so foolish to think that it would ever be given, nor should it be.
Slowly, my hands fall from my ears. I can barely see as I reply, and my movements are sloppy, shaking.How could you bring her to me? How could you do this?
“It was Kang,” he whispers brokenly. “The clandestine plot he kept hidden from my ears. He promised me, on his life, it would work. That nobody would be hurt.”
My heart freezes in my chest.
Rui…
Rui…didn’t know?
The world shakes, then spins, around me. I would suspect his silver tongue to be lying once more, but there is… Gods, there is no hint of deceit through our bond. Only a soul-deep shame, a depthless mourning. A terrible, shattered honesty. My breath catches in my throat as my body begins to tremble in shock.
All this time, I’d thought… I’d thought Rui had machinated this. All this time, I’d cradled my broken heart in my hands, believing it was his sword that cleaved it in two.
