She strode through the stable. Halfway down, she found the stall that had been assigned to their kehok. As she hoped, inside was Raia, with her lion. Standing in front of the lion as if she were protecting him, Raia was stroking his mane and murmuring to him.
Seeing her, Tamra felt as if she could breathe again. She’d been imagining Raia swept into the crowd, trampled, battered, crushed beneath feet and fists. Quickly, Tamra examined Raia. She looked unhurt.
Shalla rushed toward her. “Raia!”
Blocking her, Tamra said, “Stay outside the stall.” Shalla halted, as did Yorbel.
Also stopping outside the stall door, Lady Evara snapped at Raia, “What were you thinking? Accusing the high augurs of murder and treason? You started a riot, girl!”
Raia stood her ground, even in the face of Lady Evara’s fury. “He remembered them. He was afraid of them. Because they killed him!”
“Impossible,” Yorbel said gently. “Raia, I know how hard this is for you. You’ve become close to your kehok, and it’s understandable. You’ve been through a lot together. It’s human nature to—”
Tamra cut him off. “If she says the high augurs killed him, I believe her.”
Yorbel’s mouth dropped open.
If he expected me to always agree with him just because he’s been nice . . . “You can’t say it’s impossible. Think about it: they have access to all the gold in the temples. More than enough to attempt to bribe Lady Evara, pay off Raia’s parents, and hire that false guard to poison the kehok. And if anyone could create an anti-victory charm, it’s them. Am I right about that?”
She could see truth and belief warring on his face. “I do say it’s impossible,” Yorbel said firmly. “The high augurs are the purest of the pure!”
Shalla, to Tamra’s surprise, spoke up. “How would you know?”
“I . . . In order to become a high augur . . .” Yorbel began.
“But you can’t read an augur’s aura,” Shalla said. “I learned that. Once you become skilled enough to read auras, no one can read yours. Augur Clari herself told me that.”
“Smart girl,” Lady Evara said. “A very valid point. Well, Augur Yorbel, do you know that the high augurs are still as pure as they were the day they were chosen for their rank, or could their souls possibly be stained with regicide and worse?”
He looked sick. “No augur would—”
Tamra laid a hand on his arm. She knew this had to be a terrible thing for him to contemplate. “You wouldn’t, because you’re a good man.”
Raia said with no trace of doubt in her voice, “They’ll kill him! And they won’t use the charm. He’ll be a kehok again, but he won’t remember me, and I won’t be able to find him. And then Dar . . . he won’t become emperor. I don’t know what will happen to Dar!”
Yorbel swayed, and Tamra wondered if he was going to faint. He looked as if all the blood had drained out of him. “Sweet Lady,” he whispered. “I do know what will happen to him. But . . . No! It won’t come to that! Raia won. Zarin will be given the victory charm.”
“Can you be certain?” Lady Evara asked.
“The high augurs would never—”
“Ugh, you’re impossible,” Lady Evara said. “Expand your mind! Raia, you know that monster best. Is there any chance that he was wrong? Or is there any chance that you misread what he was trying to say? Can you ask him again?”
Raia knelt by the lion’s face and began to murmur at him, stroking his mane. He leaned against her as if exhausted. No ordinary kehok would ever act like this, Tamra thought. With this kehok, she could believe virtually anything.
“I don’t . . . know,” Raia said. “I think his memories come and go. I think . . . I think he recognized Dar . . . the emperor-to-be, I mean . . . the other night. He seemed like he might have, but I wasn’t sure. Prince Dar was sure, though. And then today, as soon as he saw the high augurs . . . he . . .” She stopped as if there was something more she wanted to say but wasn’t sure she’d be believed. She pleaded with Tamra. “You know he’s always understood more than any kehok could! Tell them, Trainer Verlas!”
“He has shown an understanding of what we say and what we do,” Tamra agreed.