Chapter Seven: Sefa

Sefa, nearly six years removed from swindling lechers for survival, endures a lecherous patron she dubs “Corpse Walker” while starving at the Ivory Palace festivities. She forces down sweets he feeds her, planning to rob him and slip away. As she surveys the grounds, she recalls Sylvia’s death, the dent in the poppies, and Arin’s uncharacteristic fury, recognizing Sylvia’s dangerous pull over him.

Haunted by a recent encounter with her abusive stepfather—the High Counselor—Sefa remembers rejecting her rehearsed vengeance and simply spitting at his feet. Now alone and desperate for food, she sneaks from the garden table and into the palace’s plainer service corridors, bluffing past a guard by invoking “Tayra” and climbing to a quiet landing.

Hiding behind a tapestry to devour stolen sweets, Sefa overhears two men plotting to assassinate Sultana Vaida that very night. Realizing they intend to exploit the chaos of a crowded palace, she moves toward the Sultana’s guarded corridor, where elite sentries stand firm before the chambers.

A scream erupts behind Sefa, then an explosion collapses part of the hall, toppling a statue and filling the corridor with dust. The trap works: the Sultana’s elite guards rush toward the disturbance, leaving the doors unattended. Though she owes Vaida nothing, Sefa is compelled to act. She approaches the now-unprotected doors and lowers the handle, stepping into whatever awaits within.