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Jandi regretted sleeping on the floor the next morning. When she woke, Kyungsoo was already dressed and ready for the day, no sign of the sleepy-eyed man in pajamas visible, and her back ached from the hours on the floor. I’m getting spoilt, she thought with a scowl. Sleeping on the floor isn’t anything new for me.

“Rise and shine,” Raina said at her door, appearing so suddenly Jandi gave a little scream. “My husband is bringing you to the kennels today, and he’s already anxious to go. Do me a favor and push him in with the wolves while you’re there, won’t you?”

Jandi laughed weakly, flopping back to the ground and waiting for her heart to settle back down. “Or you could just throw his tie clip in the kennels again.”

Hand on her hip, Raina waved her off. “Not nearly as effective. He can always buy a new tie clip, but he can’t buy a new femoral artery. Probably. Now get up, the men want to leave in fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes?” Jandi scrambled to untangle herself from the blankets she had dragged onto the floor the previous night. “Why do we have to go to the kennels so early in the morning?”

“That was a special request from your husband.” Raina wrinkled her nose. “Apparently the wolves are more subdued at this time of day. Besides, you have to leave for the next city on your tour list in the afternoon.”

“Right.” Jandi yanked a brush through her hair. “Is that where all the maids are, then? Packing for later?”

“I assume so.” Her eyes followed Jandi’s movements, steady in the practiced, blank manner she always used around Jeongmin. “You know, I don’t think I’ll be seeing you again. After you leave for the kennels.”

Jandi froze, brush halfway through a particularly nasty knot in her hair. “What?”

Raina forced a smile, not meeting her eyes. “Jeongmin’s taking you and Kyungsoo straight to the train station after the kennels. I doubt I’ll see you again, at least... at least until the next time you visit Namgu.”

Swallowing, Jandi fiddled with the brush and tried to ignore the lump building in . It didn’t sound like Raina had meant anything so temporary, unless Jandi was imagining the hitch in her friend’s voice. Something was happening, something Raina didn’t think was going to turn out well for her, and that… well, that made Jandi’s stomach fairly curdle with dread.

“I’ll - I’ll miss having someone to trigger Jeongmin’s allergies with,” Raina continued blithely, still staring at the ground as her hands smoothed down her skirt. “Although really, your floral arrangement skills are quite lacking, and I’m still appalled you tried to put the hyacinths and duckweed together -”

“Oh, Raina.” Abandoning the brush still hanging halfway through her hair, trapped by a knot, Jandi half-stumbled over to pull the other woman into a hug. Pressing her cheek into Raina’s curls, she squeezed her friend just tightly enough to feel the tremors wracking the other woman’s body. “You’ll just have to teach me again how to choose flowers next time I visit, okay?”

The tiny body in her arms trembled with laughter. “I don’t know if it’ll help. You’re hopeless with flowers, Jandi. It’s really just ironic considering your name - poor decision-making on your parents’ part.”

Jandi snorted, but sobered almost immediately at the mention of her parents. Honestly, she’d been doing her best not to think too much about their decision to marry her off - she didn’t want her memories of home tainted by bitterness or betrayal. Those memories were hers, safe from the lies and uncertainty of the Capital, and hell if she was going to let anybody, herself included, ruin them.

Swallowing down the lump in , Jandi choked out a laugh. “I suppose. I guess my parents weren’t exactly thinking of my flower arranging skills when they chose my name.”

“Hey.” Pulling back, Raina searched her face, eyebrows pulling together at whatever she found. “Don’t… don’t worry too much about what I just said, Jandi. I didn’t mean to upset you so early in the morning. I’m just being gloomy, really.”

“No, no.” Jandi hurried to wave her off, stepping back and wincing at the hairbrush yanking her hair. “It’s just…” She paused. “You’d tell me if something bad was going to happen, right? Something big? You wouldn’t hide anything like that from me?”

Raina eyed her. Jandi knew she was probably taking in the bags under her eyes, analyzing the way she forced her hands to still, remembering her makeshift bed on the floor. Drawing her own conclusions. Deciding how much she could trust her with. Jandi held her breath.

Glancing behind her to make sure the hallway was empty, Raina leaned in, lips barely moving. “I’ve never lied to you, Jandi. Never before, never will. I don’t know what’s coming, I’m not high up enough in the Railway to know what anyone is planning, or if the Railway’s even involved. But whatever it is, my gut tells me something is in the works, and it’s not anything good.”

God. A shaky breath left Jandi. “You… You really don’t know what’s going to happen?”

Brown eyes met hers, solemn and unfaltering. “No. But I’d bet my right arm that man of yours does.”

***

“Kyungsoo, I do believe even your father would be impressed by our kennels here.” Jeongmin waved a hand at the double doors an attendant was unlocking in front of him, smile wide. “We currently house more than a hundred fully grown wolves, all purebred and hand-selected by the late emperor’s kennel master himself, as well as thirty adolescents and fourteen newborns.”

The attendant bowed. “The door’s open now, sir. Straight ahead and through that hallway, then to the right.”

The smile dropped off Jeongmin’s face, replaced by a steely-eyed glare. “Yes, I know very well how to navigate my own kennels, thank you very much.”

White-faced, the attendant sank into a deeper bow, holding it at ninety degrees. “Yes, sir. Deepest apologies, sir. Please forgive my grievous mistake.”

Jeongmin relaxed, letting a benevolent smile slip back on. “Wel