to stop the riot without harming any Becarans, but the spectators were rushing past them, wrecking the camp. The augurs had fanned out, calming people where they could, but they couldn’t be everywhere . . . and they were now part of the problem too. She wondered if people had been killed, trampled, or attacked. She looked back at Shalla and Raia.
Shalla was kneeling next to Raia with her arm around her. Raia was in too deep. She couldn’t be sent away. But Shalla . . . Tamra didn’t want her anywhere near the racetrack or the palace or any of this mess. She certainly didn’t want her to witness the high augurs killing the kehok, if that was where this led. And that’s the best-case scenario. Worst . . . we’re arrested for Raia’s accusation. Or was it worst case if Raia was right, and the high augurs were the emperor’s enemy? She didn’t know what she was hoping for. She just knew that their victory had turned into disaster, and her first responsibility was to protect Shalla and Raia as best she could. Raia and I can’t go out there. We’d be recognized. But an innocent bystander could, with an innocent girl. “Yorbel, you’ve masqueraded as an ordinary citizen before. Can you do it again and get Shalla to safety?”
“Yes, of course,” Yorbel said.
“Hide somewhere in the city,” Tamra said. “As far from the riots as you can get. Don’t come out until this is all over.”
“But, Mama!” Shalla cried. “I can help!”
Tamra knelt beside her. “You can help by being away from danger, while Lady Evara, Raia, and I save Raia’s racer, okay?”
Shalla continued to protest, but Tamra overruled her. She hugged her tight.
“I swear I’ll protect her,” Yorbel said.
“I trust you,” Tamra said, both as a statement and a threat.
“And where will you be?” Yorbel asked. “Lady Evara is right—you and Raia cannot approach the palace. You’ll be held responsible for starting the chaos outside.”
Lady Evara sighed dramatically. “Very well, I nominate myself.”
Tamra nodded. It wasn’t a terrible idea. Lady Evara was far more likely to be admitted to the palace on her own, and Tamra, to her own surprise, trusted her. “We’ll hide here and wait for you to send word.”
“Good,” Lady Evara said. “And don’t hesitate to use the charming brutes around you to defend yourselves, if need be. No one will dare come near a stable full of rampaging kehoks. If you can keep them from goring you, you should be perfectly safe. I will send word as soon as I can, and then you bring the kehok. With luck, this will all be resolved by sundown.”
While Raia stayed with her lion, Tamra shepherded Lady Evara, Yorbel, and Shalla to the door. She hefted up the bar that locked it. Hugging Shalla one more time, Tamra shooed them all out. She then retreated, barred the door again, and watched out one of the tiny windows. Lady Evara, with all her self-confidence wrapped around her like armor, plowed through the crowd in the direction of the palace, while Yorbel, without his robes and with his augur pendant hidden, spirited Shalla off in the opposite direction, away from the racetrack.
And then they were out of sight, and Tamra was left with Raia and several hundred kehoks, as well as a slew of regrets. Should I have gone with Lady Evara? Should I have kept Shalla here? But it was too late now. The decisions were made, the plans enacted, and all that was left for her to do was hope that nothing else went wrong.
Dar eyed the emperor’s throne. You should be sitting here, Zarin. None of this should have ever happened. He lowered himself into the chair one step down on the dais and smoothed his robes. He told himself he had to remain calm.
Raia’s words were ringing in his head.
Could she be right?
He’d summoned the high augurs to the palace. If the allegations were true, then the high augurs had to be removed from their temple, stripped of any political power, and imprisoned. If they were false, then he needed to clear their names as quickly as possible and calm the riots that were erupting all over the city.
The high augurs filed into the throne room in a solemn line. Palace guards flanked them, then split to take their positions in a semicircle. All eight high augurs wore their hoods up and had their hands clasped in front of them, and Dar tried