daughter. “The rider who accused you—what will happen to her?” Yorbel looked only at Gissa.
“She’ll die in the riots,” Gissa said. “It is the simplest solution.”
“We do not know what the kehok-emperor has been able to communicate to her,” High Augur Etar said. “She is a risk we cannot take.”
He bowed his head. “And the trainer.”
“I am sorry, Yorbel,” Gissa said quietly. “It is for the good of Becar. I know you are fond of the trainer woman, but our duty and responsibility is to the people and the empire as a whole.”
High Augur Etar spoke again. “There is one alternative. If you could convince this trainer and her rider to bring the kehok to us, and if we are able to determine they have no knowledge of Emperor Zarin’s discovery . . . we may be able to spare them.”
Yorbel’s head snapped up.
He had an idea.
A terrible idea.
Gissa was watching him closely. “You know how to convince her to come to the temple, with both her racer and rider, don’t you? I can see it in your eyes.”
I do, he thought. But Tamra will never forgive me for it.
There was one chance to stop the high augurs, to save the emperor-to-be and Becar. But it was a risk. It could end in the deaths of the ones he held dear. He couldn’t be certain that Tamra would understand what needed to be done. He had, though, read her soul, and he believed in her. Moreover, he believed he knew what she’d risk if she had to and . . . what she was capable of doing.
“You will not be able to reach the kehok where he is without causing the kind of spectacle that I believe you want to avoid. But there is a way to convince Trainer Tamra Verlas to come to the temple.” He took a deep breath and said a silent prayer to the Lady. For the good of Becar, he thought. “She has a daughter named Shalla whom she would do anything to protect. That daughter is in my quarters right now. Send a messenger wight to the racetrack stable, directed to Trainer Tamra Verlas, and tell her she must bring the lion here if she ever wishes her daughter returned to her. I guarantee she will come—and she will bring the kehok with her.”
He prayed that Tamra would understand. And that someday she’d forgive him.
“Thank you, Augur Yorbel,” High Augur Etar said. “High Augur Gissa was correct about you. You are a good man, and Becar thanks you for your service.” He nodded at Gissa.
Gissa stepped forward and slit Yorbel’s throat.
Chapter 31
Raia crouched inside the lion’s stall. She kept one hand on his smooth metal mane, while Trainer Verlas strode through the stable. She was unlocking the stall doors and loosening the shackles of three of the nearest kehoks.
“Are you certain that’s a good idea?” Raia asked.
“Oh, yes,” Trainer Verlas said grimly.
After she’d finished, she retreated to join Raia and the lion in theirs. She shut the stall door, secured the lock, and stood like a soldier at attention, watching while the three nearby kehoks yanked on their chains.
SNAP.
Crash.
One after another, the three kehoks broke through their bindings and battered open their doors. They raced up and down the stable, screaming at one another. Raia cowered against the lion.
“If someone enters who shouldn’t, they will regret it,” Trainer Verlas said.
Raia knew she should feel reassured, but she just felt terrified. Outside, she could hear that the riots hadn’t calmed—there was still shouting and screaming. Every few minutes, she heard a loud crash, as if something large had collapsed. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“I know you didn’t. It wasn’t your fault.”
Yes, it was. If she’d not spoken, if she’d found a way to quietly free the lion . . . She didn’t regret saving him. She just regretted that she hadn’t done it in secret.
“The city was ripe for this,” Trainer Verlas said. “Honestly, I doubt it was your proclamation that truly sparked this anyway. We’ve never gone so long without an emperor, and it was wearing on everyone. You could tell. They were just looking for an excuse to explode. I bet that ninety percent of the people out there have no idea what you said or why the fights started.”
“Do you think Lady Evara made it safely through?” Raia asked.
Trainer Verlas snorted. “I think it would take an army to stop Lady Evara.”
Raia smiled briefly, and then went back to worrying.