intends to continue this charade. You will compensate us for the inconvenience of the journey here. And we will return home, disavow all knowledge of your motives, and lie low until the chaos passes.”
That was the most sensible option.
Except there was Shalla, currently training at the temple, to consider.
“How bad will it be for the augurs?”
“Did you not hear me say ‘riots’?” Lady Evara snapped. “The people will feel the augurs failed them. They will feel betrayed. And frightened. Think about it: thousands of people base their life choices on augur readings. They rely on augurs for guidance and depend on them to steer them in the right direction. But if an augur can misread such an important personage as the emperor himself, who is to say which readings are correct and which are flawed? They will fear for their own future lives. And they will seek to punish any augur they can for creating that fear.
“I think the seriousness of this cannot be underestimated,” Lady Evara continued. “Do you agree, Augur Yorbel? You must have some inkling of the truth of my words, else you would not have brought us here under the cloak of all those soul-corrupting lies you told.”
Augur Yorbel hung his head. “The emperor-to-be must decide how to tell the truth.”
“He can’t tell the truth if it’s going to cause riots!” Tamra shouted. “Just pretend you never found the vessel. We’ll pretend we don’t know. Treat him like any kehok and run our races. Then, no chaos, no fear, no betrayal, no riots.” And Raia and Shalla will both be safe.
“An emperor must be crowned,” Augur Yorbel said. “The truth must come out. It is out of our hands. Ultimately, it will be Dar who decides what to do.”
Tamra noticed he called the emperor-to-be by his first name.
Lady Evara clearly noticed as well. “He’ll listen to you. Advise him to keep this a secret. At the very least, that will buy us time to put some distance between us and this mess.”
That was a sound plan. Perhaps if she reached home before the news broke, she could grab Shalla and run. If there was enough chaos, the augurs would have no ability to chase her. She and Shalla could escape, invent new names, and start a new life. Raia could, of course, come with them. They’d be a family of three, somewhere far, far away.
“Yes, keep it a secret, at least until we’re gone,” Tamra said. “Let me get home to my daughter. She needs me. And Raia—she’s suffered enough.”
She noticed that Raia was staring at her. Or not at her, but at her tattoo. Surprisingly, she looked more thoughtful than scared now, any sign of tears gone. Does she understand how serious this is? Tamra wondered. Of course she must. All of Becar was going to go up in flames once word got out.
Augur Yorbel buried his face in his hands. “There is no good answer. People will suffer, and I cannot prevent it. Keep the secret, and the emperor-to-be cannot be crowned . . . and chaos. Expose it, and shake the faith of thousands.”
“And chaos,” Tamra echoed.
Lady Evara checked outside the door again, then said, “Very much not our problem. Unless you make it ours. That much is within your power. Let us go into hiding before the river floods, so to speak, and you will at least save three innocent souls.”
Four, counting Shalla, Tamra thought.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Raia had crossed the stable and opened the door to the black lion’s stall, to view the chained beast within. She wondered what the girl was thinking. It had to be upsetting to know the creature she had been riding, been controlling, was once an emperor. She hoped Raia understood that none of this was her fault. Neither of them could have guessed whose soul this kehok contained.
Staring into the kehok’s stall, Raia spoke. “Or you could save him.”
“Sorry?” Lady Evara said. “Tamra, tell your rider not to talk nonsense.”
“He could win and be reborn.” Raia turned and pointed at Tamra’s tattoo of the victory charm, the one that enabled the winning kehok to be reborn as human.
There was a breath of silence as Raia’s words floated in the air.
Sweet River, Tamra thought. She’s right.
If Raia and the black lion were the grand champions, then the augurs would use the victory charm—he’d be killed and then reborn as human, a perfectly respectable vessel for a late emperor. He could