Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 161615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 539(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 808(@200wpm)___ 646(@250wpm)___ 539(@300wpm)
I tilted my head. “Royalty. Third in line. Then who is the Emperor to you? What is your relationship?”
If he were bluffing, a web would spring in his eyes. He would reach for a branch and grab air. He would—
“My uncle.” he said, immediate and flat. No pause. No flicker. He did not over-explain, which liars loved to do. He simply had the answer ready.
Reo closed his notebook. “Time.”
Kenji’s gaze had never left me. “What’s your answer?”
Alright. . .Let’s get this right for the culture. Show them how bad sistas can be.
I put my hands behind my back and pulled up the last bit of confidence I could from my gut. “Raw heart once a month. That’s a ritual that would mark you. There’s a smell to a person that eats human meat. I interviewed a serial killer who did. The stench radiated from him. Plus, eating human flesh faintly stains the nails and lips like. . .God is punishing the person for doing that. It even sits on the breath.”
Rin’s expression didn’t change, but Kaoru smiled as he watched me.
“You’re too pristine to eat a raw heart once a month. You should have said your chef prepares it. I think that is something I would have believed.”
Rin made no motion or indication that I was right or wrong.
Wow. He’s really good at shielding his emotions. I wonder if he learned that from being royal. Have to keep on a public mask to hide away the horror on the inside.
“The bag,” I went on, “You didn’t hesitate; you weren’t ashamed. The way you said ‘silk’ sounded like a preference, not a dare. Men who lie about their kinks smirk. Men who own them. . .don’t.”
Satoshi turned his face to Rin and quirked his brows.
“Yeah. . .you definitely put silk bags over women’s heads.” I nodded. “And the throne statement. I think that if you were lying, you might have added a detail you didn’t need, like a title or a grandmother’s connection. But you didn’t. You gave the kinship and left it alone like it was such a. . .basic fact about you. That’s how people with real lineages talk. And the bracelet. . .that screams of a craft that doesn’t even exist anymore. Perhaps, it was passed down from your mother, who got it from your grandmother, and so on.”
Finally, Rin blinked which told me that I was probably right and he really cared about that bracelet and his mother who must have given it to him.
Kenji studied me. “Final answer?”
“The lie is the human heart. You’ve never eaten one. In fact, for some reason. . .I don’t even think you eat meat.”
Kenji stepped closer. “Why do you think that?”
“I don’t know why.” I shrugged. “I just. . .feel like he’s a vegetarian. Or you know what? Pescatarian. He probably eats fish. Sometimes. But. . .I don’t think he ever eats meat.”
Kaoru snorted and I didn’t know if he was laughing at me for being way off or impressed that I had guessed it right.
So I shut up just in case I was sounding stupid.
Meanwhile, Rin’s mouth never twitched. His expression didn’t harden. He simply looked at me the way a very patient god might look at a mortal who wanted a meeting.
Reo lifted his pen like a conductor. “What was the lie?”
Rin inclined his head a fraction “I have not eaten a heart and I hate meat. It disgusts me.”
Fuck yeah!
Reo clapped. “Good job, Nyomi. You passed.”
A tiny, involuntary tremor ran through my hands.
Oh shit!! I did it!
I swallowed it down and kept my spine straight.
Reo stood straight and tucked his notebook under his arm. “You know, there’s a proverb that says, the clever hawk hides its—”
“Enough.” Kenji’s voice cut through the air. “We’re done. Everyone go to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow.”
Reo nodded. “As you wish.”
The smile on Reo’s face turned to a victorious smirk as if he had passed a private test with Kenji too and wanted to gloat, but chose not to. Still, Reo turned to me and bowed the smallest inch, like I had passed not just a test but an initiation. “Congratulations again.”
“Thank you.”
Kaoru dipped his chin with a grin and gave me a conspiratorial wink that said he planned on inviting me to a karaoke party one day and introducing me to his two girlfriends.
Satoshi left without any acknowledgement, just lots of scratching at his ear.
Meanwhile, Rin strolled off as if finally able to be done talking to so many peasants beneath him.
I shook my head.
A silk bag over the head? I still can’t get over that. . .
After the three men left, Reo paused at the door and turned around. “We should go over the plan to use Nyomi to catch the spy in the morning.”
What?!!!!
My world detonated.
Instantly.
Never did I think I would hear my name with the word spy in a sentence and it be serious.