Hyora jolted awake when the candle caught the end of her hair on fire. On reflex, she passed her fingers over the miniature flame, and it vanished. That was one of the first spells she had learned, back when she was a little girl.

Looking around wildly, she realized she was still in Kyungmin’s room. The man was lying on the floor where she had left him, drugged and unconscious. A quick glance at the papers clutched in her hand revealed that she had managed not to drool on them when she dozed off. They were only mildly crumpled, too, which was good. No one was supposed to know that she or anyone had touched them.

She was lucky she hadn’t been discovered. If she had, she would have been arrested and thrown in jail to await execution. Likely she wouldn’t have had the chance to see her family again, and the two kingdoms would go to war. Heaven knew all of their neighbors had been looking for a reason to invade, with the kingdom weakening as it was.

It had been her father’s idea to send her to Hwasung in the first place. He thought it would do her some good to live outside of the kingdom in another king’s court. Gain some insight, and perhaps even a marriage offer to solidify political relationships between the two nations. Also, he had the brilliant idea that she should do some spy work for him while she was at it. If her mother caught wind of this, her father would be deader than dead faster than you could say “improper.”

How many young ladies of noble lineage spied for their kingdoms, anyway? Hyora was pretty sure she was the only one. People in their right mind would not send a girl of twenty to risk her neck doing work commonly reserved for people of lower stations. Her father wasn’t one of them.

She finished memorizing the words on the pages and placed them back exactly as she found them. Grabbing Kyungmin by both arms, she dragged him over to his bed. The man was handsome and charming, admittedly, but he was far too easily deceived. A little smile and a murmured request had been all it had taken to get entry into his room, and then it was a matter of touching her hand to his lips, and he had dropped like a rock.

Besides, his father and his family were among the group of nobles in Hwasung who were eyeing her kingdom a little too eagerly, so it wouldn’t do to get entangled with him.

She stepped out of the room once she verified no one was there besides her maid Gayoo, who was waiting for her.

“Milady, I was getting worried about you. You were in there for a while. Did that man try anything on you?”

Hyora rolled her eyes. “Hardly. He didn’t even see it coming. It took me about five seconds, and then he was out cold. Mission accomplished.”

“Excellent, milady. Congratulations.”

“It’s nothing, really.”

“But really, you must be careful. Even if you don’t come under suspicion, all of this sneaking around may ruin your reputation.”

The whole business about ‘reputations’ had always annoyed Hyora. It was as if people thought the only thing a girl of her age was interested in was with as many men as possible rather than escaping the bonds of her gender and station. Just because she stepped into a man’s room or went off somewhere alone with a man, didn’t mean she wanted to fool around with him.

She couldn’t speak for other girls, but she personally wanted to wait. Her friends had said waiting was just reducing her chance to enjoy herself before she got married off to some man twice her age. Perhaps they were right, but Hyora paid such comments no heed, even if a part of her knew that she had little to no say in her marriage and she was destined for a life of grudgingly tolerating her future husband.

But enough of that. She went to that night sleep dreaming of freedom.

***

The next day Gayoo brought her a letter from home, and as soon as Hyora saw it, she had an idea of what its contents were.

Dearest Daughter, it began. It was from her mother. Of course.

Although I am certain your experience in Hwasung has been an enriching one, I believe it is time that you return home. Goodness knows that your father and I miss you. Well, I do. Your father seems insistent on having you stay there a while longer, but I am in the middle of convincing him otherwise, or at least trying. The man rarely pays heed to what I say these days. He always seems to have his head in the clouds.

Anyway, I hope you have not been fooling around too much.—

At this Hyora snorted. No, she had not been fooling around. She had been learning diplomacy and entertaining guests and digging up secrets of stuffy old men—she thought of Kyungmin, and amended that to just ‘men.’

I am quite pleased to inform you that you now have a fiancé. I arranged that for you, and you should be thanking me. Many girls your age are already married and with children. It is high time that you bring your family honor. I have made appointments for you to meet the man, and I am sure you will like him.

Huh. Her mother had been sure she would like embroidery, too, and look what a mess she had made with that, constantly bandaging her fingers and tossing her miserable creations aside.

I have sent a carriage to pick you up. It is waiting for you outside as you read this. Have Gayoo pack your belongings quickly and come back home as soon as possible.

With love,

Your Mother

It looked like a dismal future ahead of her. There was no way her mother would be letting her come within miles of other boys and men now that she had a fiancé lined up for her.

She set the letter down and sighed.

“What is the letter about?” her maid inquired.

“It’s a summons to go home as soon as I can. Well, Gayoo, why don’t we start packing? Maybe we can make it to the next city before dark.” Hyora left the room to go inform the king and queen that she would have to leave and say her farewells to all those who mattered or cared.