The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - By N. K. Jemisin Page 0,53

Lady Not-Arameri: maybe the Uthre didnt bother to petition because they knew another petition had already been approvedquietly, mingled in with other edicts the Consortium has passed in the past few months.

I froze, frowning. Another petition?

She nodded. As you said, there hasnt been a successful petition for a century, so of course two petitions would never be approved back-to-back. And perhaps the Uthre even knew that other petition was more likely to pass, since it served the purposes of someone with a great deal of power. Some wars, after all, are useless without death.

I stared at her, too thrown to hide my confusion or shock. An approved war petition should have been the talk of the entire nobility. It should have taken the Consortium weeks to discuss it, much less approve it. How could anyone get a petition through without half the world hearing of it?

Who? I asked. But I was already beginning to suspect.

No one knows the petitions sponsor, Lady, and no one knows what lands are involved, either as invader or target. But Uthr borders Tema on its eastern side. Uthr is smallbigger nowbut their ruling family and the Teman Triadice have links of marriage and friendship going back generations.

And Tema, I realized with a belated chill, was one of the nations beholden to Scimina.

Scimina, then, had sponsored the war petition. And she had kept its approval quiet, though that had probably required a masterwork of political maneuvering. Perhaps helping Uthre conquer Irt had been part of that. But that left two very crucial questions: why had she done it? And what kingdom would soon fall victim to the attack?

Relads warning: If you love anyone, anything, beware.

My mouth and hands went dry. I now wanted, very badly, to go and see Scimina.

Thank you for this, I said to Ras. My voice was higher than usual; my mind was already elsewhere, racing. Ill make good use of the information.

She nodded and then hobbled her way out, patting my arm in passing. I was too lost in thought to say good-bye, but then I recalled myself and turned, just as she opened the door to leave.

What is it that an Arameri should know, Auntie? I asked. It was something I had wondered since our first meeting.

She paused, glanced back at me. How to be cruel, she said very softly. How to spend life like currency and wield death itself as a weapon. She lowered her eyes. Your mother told me that, once. Ive never forgotten it.

I stared at her, dry-mouthed.

Ras Onchi bowed to me, respectfully. I will pray, she said, that you never learn this for yourself.

* * *

Back in Sky.

I had regained most of my composure by the time I went in search of Sciminas apartment. Her quarters were not far from my own, as all fullbloods in Sky are housed on the topmost level of the palace. She had gone one step further and claimed one of Skys greater spires as her domain, which meant that the lifts did me no good. With a passing servants aid I found the carpeted stairs leading up the spire. The stairway was not a great heightperhaps three storiesbut my thighs were burning by the time I reached the landing, and I wondered why shed chosen to live in such a place. The fitter highbloods would have no trouble and the servants had no choice, but I could not imagine someone as infirm as, say, Dekarta, making the climb. Perhaps that was the idea.

The door swung open at my knock. Inside I found myself in a vaulted corridor, lined on either side by statues, windows, and vases of some sort of flowering plant. The statues were of no one I recognized: beautiful young men and women naked and in artful poses. At the end the corridor opened out into a circular chamber that was furnished with cushions and low tablesno chairs. Sciminas guests were clearly meant to either stand or sit on the floor.

At the center of the circular room, a couch sat on an elevated dais. I wondered whether it was intentional on Sciminas part that this place felt so much like a throne room.

Scimina was not present, though I could see another corridor just beyond the dais, ostensibly leading into the apartments more private chambers. Assuming she meant to keep me waiting, I sighed and settled myself, looking around. That was when I noticed the man.

He sat with his back propped against one of the rooms wide windows, his posture