Esmera rolled her eyes as she poured the remaining lentil soup onto the rice and mixed it with her fingers. The chicken bones clinked against the metallic tray as Esmera added the curry to the mix. There had been no spoon on the tray, so she assumed that Milatanuran food, like Indian, was best eaten by hand.

She studied Tauram. He gave orders far too easily for someone who had been robbed of his throne.

"You've never been the monarch though, have you?" Esmera asked before sampling the Milatanuran cuisine before her.

She closed her eyes to savour the taste. The spicy lentils and flavourful chicken combined in a well-balanced and somehow comforting dish.

Esmera had never tasted anything like it.

When she opened her eyes, Tauram was gazing at her with his head cocked.

She raised her eyebrows, and he cleared his throat.

He smoothed his already-crisp shirt cuff. Esmera tilted her head. Did the calm, collected Prince have a nervous habit?

He reached up to run a careless hand through his hair. "Well, I should be King in a week if all goes well."

If they succeeded in the mission the goddess had assigned to them. If Esmera could fulfil her big role.

Tauram didn't say that, but Esmera heard it as loudly as if he had.

"Tauram... I don't know about this mission." Esmera gathered some food into a ball, watching her clumsy fingers meld the chicken, rice and lentils together instead of looking up into Tauram's eyes.

"What do you mean?"

She had only known him a few hours, but she could tell he was frowning from the inflexion of his voice.

"I'm not sure that I want to do this. It sounds kind of impossible." She shook her head. "I know nothing about this kingdom, about myself or my family... you must find something or someone else to help you defeat King Ruagu. I couldn't bear for the whole kingdom to rely on me. I wouldn't want to fail them."

Esmera didn't even fully understand her auditory abilities. She doubted she could master them within a week. Not that they could fill in all the missing pieces of her story, like the details about the mysterious Finnaz weapon and its location.

She didn't even always get her coffee orders right, but her customers were, more often than not, understanding. The stakes were far greater now.

If Esmera failed, as she was certain she would, a whole kingdom would be eradicated. Even if Tauram and his people forgave her before they ceased to exist, she would never forgive herself, even if she died with them.

She couldn't give them the false hope that she—a woman who could barely protect herself—could rescue them from the fate the gods had in store for them. There had to be something or someone else who could be.

As Esmera chewed, the food in her stomach turned. She swallowed to keep it down. Her fingers tightened on the tray.

Esmera knew what she was expecting; to have the tray smacked from her grip, to fight for air past the hand that had closed around her throat, to recoil from the sting of a palm against her cheekbone.

But all Tauram said was, "If you don't want to do this, I won't force you."

Esmera blinked. There was no denying what she had heard, but she still couldn't believe it.

Her hands trembled. Even so, she dared to look at Tauram. "But you'll force me to eat when I don't want to."

"Yes, because that's for your good." Tauram gave her that shadowed smile that was almost a smirk. "On the other hand, Jilhari's task... It's dangerous. Perhaps it would be safer for you if you weren't involved. Once I'm King, we'll find another way to get you back to Arkosara. If that's what you want."

Once again, Esmera looked to the sky for answers. Once again, it gave her none.

She turned her gaze onto the distant brightness of the horizon, retreating into herself. That was the only place she could find answers.

What did she want?

Esmera wanted many things—a good job, an elegant apartment, a caring boyfriend—but there was only one thing she wanted most.

"My lark." Esmera turned to Tauram, her gaze as direct and decisive as her voice. "That's what I want. If it's possible."

Esmera curbed her hope right there and then. What had seemed to be the hard part of her journey, which was getting to Milatanur, was now over, but maybe that was the easy part.

Maybe there was some law, some rule of the kingdom's magic that even Tauram didn't know about that would keep her lark from her forever. After it, it had been over two decades since she should've claimed him.

"Only one way to find out." Tauram nodded slowly, staring out at the dark line of the mountains. "We can visit the Shelter for Unclaimed and Abandoned Familiars tomorrow. It'll be tricky because we both have to be incognito, but we'll make it work somehow."

"Why do we have to be incognito?" Esmera frowned as she gathered another mouthful of her food. It was cooler now than it had been moments ago. The night's chill had crept into it, but its taste was as wonderful as ever.

Tauram looked at Esmera, folding his hands in his lap. "We can't have Ruagu finding out we're in Milatanur. He'll know I've disregarded his banishment and that I threaten his throne. Neither can the person who ordered your family's murder find out you're alive. They might hunt you down to finish the job."

Esmera nodded. That made sense when Tauram said it, but she would've never thought of it herself. That reminded Esmera how out of her depth she was in this world of betrayal, intrigue and politics, but she would find a way to float until she returned to familiar, shallow waters.

"Sounds good to me." Without intending it, Esmera found herself smiling at the man she had wanted to strangle just a few minutes ago.

He smiled back, and the stars brightened. The night pressed in around Esmera.

She unlatched her gaze from Tauram's and pulled the Milatanuran bloom she had received that distant morning from the bag that was still slung over her shoulder.

The flower whispered secrets to her she might finally understand.

Esmera was really uniting with her lark! Her biggest question about the last five years would be resolved at last. Maybe she would even find out more about her family.

Tauram set his hand on Esmera's knee, summoning her mind back to this cool, star-studded Milatanuran evening with a start.

"Now, I have a question for you."

Her brow furrowed as she gazed at him, uncertain whether to be afraid or merely curious. "Yeah?"

"How did you find yourself working as a barista?"

It was a long story, certainly not one for this late in the evening, certainly not on the evening of the day when they'd first met.

Esmera considered her answer, licking the last grains of rice from her fingers. Tauram's eyes flicked from her mouth to her eyes as he awaited her answer.

She put it as simply as she could. "I left home with nothing, no belongings, no money, so I took the first job I was offered."

It hadn't been an easy thing to do, but Esmera hadn't had a choice. Maybe it wasn't ideal, but she had no regrets.

Tauram frowned. "Why did you leave home?"

Esmera set her empty tray on the blanket between them. She held the Prince's gaze, a tiny smirk playing on her mouth. "I think we're going a little off topic."

It gave her a petty satisfaction to use Tauram's favourite line against him. It was something she would've never dared to do to Stephan, but she somehow knew Tauram would see the humour in it.

Even so, warm relief coursed through her when a grin split his face.

"Touché." Seeing that all that remained of Esmera's dinner was a few streaks of curry her fingers had dragged across the tray, Tauram took it and stood.

Esmera followed suit, dusting the blanket of any stray rice grains before folding it into a compact square Tauram tucked under the tray in his hands.

Esmera and Tauram stood facing each other. The night was heavy with everything left unsaid between them.

They could talk for hours more. Esmera knew that Tauram would eventually wear her down with all his questions, but strangely enough, she didn't think she'd mind.

There was a lot of ground left unturned between them, but enough secrets had been unearthed for one night.

Esmera crossed her arms over her chest, and with that movement, the openness between them sealed itself off.

Tauram gave her a small smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you." Esmera's voice shook with emotion she hadn't realised lurked within her.

Nobody had ever done anything as nice for her, except when Mr and Mrs Thomas threw her and their daughter a joint birthday party, but that hadn't involved them risking their lives and possibly revealing their identity to the most dangerous person in their world.

"Thank you" wasn't enough to express Esmera's appreciation for Tauram's willingness to help her reclaim her lark, but he bid her goodnight before she could say anything more.

"Good night," she said as Tauram vanished through the glass door, past the light green matte velvet curtains and into the house.

Feeling lighter now that she no longer bore the burden of her fury, Esmera turned back to the stars to thank them.

They may not have given her answers, but she suspected that they had guided her. She sensed the gentle eyes on her in a way she had never felt them in Arkosara, watching over her, keeping her safe in this world she didn't understand.