Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
TWENTY-TWO DAYS LEFT
When I awoke the next morning, the bed was empty, and the room was silent. I sat up, disoriented.
Where am I? I looked around at the large jalousie windows and the dark curtains blowing in the gentle wind.
The gold foil on the white walls was stunning in the morning light, and now I realized that there were plants everywhere in this room.
Memories of the previous night came to mind as I stood and looked out the window, admiring the view of the pastel twilight skies over the ocean.
I then walked around the room, but found no sign of my husband. What I found was his desk and a journal sitting there. It was open, tempting me to look at the writing on the page. Keanu had probably left it open to allow the ink to dry.
Or for me to read it. I shook my head. I would not read my husband’s journal. That was intrusive, and I would not cross that kind of boundary.
But I noticed something else. A paper with my name on it. His handwriting looked like elegance itself. It read “Oliana’s Days,” followed by tally marks. Nine of them.
Nine days have already passed since we made the bargain. I touched the title, wondering. Did he keep these tallies to count down how many days left to solve the riddle? Or, perhaps, how many days he had to suffer being my husband?
My husband. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the place where he had rested last night. He neatly made his side of the bed, even though he didn’t sleep in the covers.
My insides tightened as I glanced at my hand, the diamond-laced ring on my finger. I could almost recall waking up in the middle of the night and feeling that he had held my hand.
Why? What sort of ruse was he up to? When I told him last night to stop pretending, he replied, “I’m not pretending.” I rubbed my eyes again and took a deep breath.
Focus on the riddle, Oli.
I glanced over the other papers on his desk. There was a ledger with payments to the district of Ka‘u.
That’s strange, I thought.
Were those payments to Ka‘u for me? To break off my betrothal to Pulu?
Keanu scratched a note under the word Ka’u: first bargain.
First bargain? Strange.
Another paper sat behind it, a letter, with words scratched under it: second bargain. The letter, addressed to Pulu, wrote out an exorbitant amount of money to cancel our betrothal.
Wait. If cutting off my betrothal was part of the “second” bargain, then what was the first? Who was the first person he bargained with?
A hoot roused me from my snooping, and I jumped. It was just Malu, of course. He seemed amused that I’d been looking over all of Keanu's open papers except his journal…
“Thanks,” I muttered, grateful he’d distracted me before I saw something I wasn’t supposed to see.
But he left his journal and notes out… So was it really my fault?
I looked around and noticed a dress in the washroom that I guessed they expected me to wear.
It was black, with a dark maroon corset.
Sheer fabric stretched from the top of the corset to my neck, and the bell sleeves had the same sheer fabric.
The skirt was long and black, with maroon bows and accents.
Not knowing what else to do, and also not wanting to waste time as I reviewed the cursed riddle in my head, I bathed and changed into the dress. I fumbled with the corset, so it was a relief when, a few minutes after my bath, a servant knocked on the door to assist me.
She was an older woman, and when I asked questions about where I should eat breakfast or if I could speak with some of Keanu’s older kupuna counselors, she politely said, “Malakai is taking you around today. Just ask him.”
I shut my mouth and let her finish, disliking the way I looked when I caught myself in the mirror.
The servant had pulled my hair halfway up, and there was a spray of maroon bougainvillea all along one side of my head.
She placed a maroon orchid lei around my neck.
All of the flowers matched the dress, but they did not match me.
I felt silly, like someone had tried to dress a taro root to make it look prettier. But slapping makeup on my face, putting flowers in my hair, and making me wear this fancy dress was not going to make up for my lack of good looks.
The servant left, telling me to wait until Malakai came, and sure enough, a few minutes later, there was another knock on the door.
I opened it, and anxiety pooled in my stomach. Why couldn’t Keanu be with me that day? I didn’t know or trust Keanu, but at least I knew him. At least he was a little more familiar than everyone else here.
The young man who stood before me was probably the same age as Keanu. He was tall, but he did not share his cousin’s good looks. The man, who introduced himself as Malakai, reminded me of myself when I stood next to Kiki: plain in comparison.
He had brown eyes so dark they almost looked like lava orbs. His nose didn’t have that nice angle that Keanu’s had, and his eyebrows were so thick they looked like bushes on his face.
“I’m to escort you today, milady,” he said, bowing, then extending his arm. I hesitated to take it, and he noticed, quickly grabbing the hilt of his sword instead. It was kind of him not to make me uncomfortable or to force me to take his arm.
“Keanu has asked me to show you around.” It was then that I saw Alohi standing at the end of the hallway. How long had he been there? The older man nodded to me, as if to say he was also going to be guarding me the entire day.
I nodded back, then Malakai and I made our way to breakfast. I had every intention of exploring as soon as I finished eating with him. After all, I had a riddle to solve and a curse to break. The morning, however, went by painfully slow.
“What do you think of all this so far?” Malakai asked. While Keanu’s voice was confident and full of confidence and life, Malakai’s voice was quieter, less assuming, like he worried he might say the wrong thing.
Just like me. We weren’t flashy, nor the center of attention. Never had been.
Before I could answer, Peter came walking down the hallway, and when he saw us, he bowed to me. “Your Highness.” He nodded to Malakai. “Malakai.”
“Where are you headed?” Malakai asked.
“Checking on the border.”
Malakai’s eyebrows furrowed, and he avoided looking at me.
Perhaps he’s irritable because he has to show me around all day… I didn’t blame him. There were probably a million other things he’d rather be doing, like checking the border with Peter.
In fact, there were other things I’d rather be doing.
Why didn’t Keanu just show me around himself?
It stung a little to think that while he treated me so well when we were together yesterday, he wouldn’t make the time for me otherwise.
I needed to accept that, though. Breaking the curse would benefit me more than him, though I was sure he didn’t want to spend the rest of his afterlife as a night marcher…
Before he walked away, Peter gave me a shadowy look, as if he were trying to read me. My insides tightened.
Malakai and I continued in silence before he repeated his question. “What do you think of all this so far, coming from where you did?”
“It’s different,” I said. We sat in the garden, and servants brought our meal. Much to my relief, Alohi stood guard. He was close enough that it wasn’t awkward for Malakai and me to be alone, but far enough that he probably couldn’t hear our conversation.
Despite Alohi’s presence, I silently cursed Keanu for leaving me alone with his cousin.
I didn’t care if he trusted his cousin with his life.
It was rude of him to force us to be companions for the time.
It left an unpleasant taste in my mouth, like the appearance of Malakai and I together made it seem as if we were courting.
Was that Keanu’s intention? Did he hope I’d dislike him? If so, it was working.
I must talk to Keanu later about it, I told myself.
“Did you have a good night?” Malakai sipped his tea as he asked, almost too casually. I sipped my tea in haste. What kind of question was that? Everyone knew that the wedding night was for consummation, which Keanu and I very much did not do.
How much did Malakai know about his cousin or about our situation? Did he know I was trying to break Keanu’s curse? Did he know his cousin had died and then I made a bargain with him, resurrecting him for a month? Surely Keanu truly trusted him if he left me in Malakai’s care all day.
“It was… well.” I took another sip, trying to act normal.
Come on, Oli. I had to think quickly to get answers quickly. But I also had to play it smooth as a stingray gliding through the water.
“Keanu said you both grew up climbing coconut trees and swimming to the islands in the distance,” I said.
Malakai smiled a little, as if reminiscing. “Yes, we’ve been close for as long as I can remember.”
“What was your favorite thing to do together?” Maybe I can get information from Malakai… Something that might shed light on who Keanu really was, but also this world and culture I had been thrown into. And, even more, shed light on the riddle.
He paused for a moment, and I appreciated his thoughtfulness. “I love sparring with Keanu,” said Malakai. “He’s quick on his feet. Always a formidable competitor.”
“Who would win?” I asked.
He grinned. “Depends on the day. If Keanu is distracted, I could easily win. If he’s focused, he wins.”
“What does he get distracted by?”
Malakai took a bite of his purple sweet potato then said, “Politics. Family things. He was always concerned about the well-being of our family. It’s probably why tutu kāne picked him to rule next.”
I supposed that was one thing Keanu and I had in common: we both cared for our families.
“I thought his parents handed down the throne,” I said.
Malakai shook his head. "Our grandfather picked his parents, but we always understood that he would then pick the next ruler after they died. He picked Keanu as the next leader. Keanu was always a natural at it.”
“If Keanu died, who would take his place?” I asked.