empress, thousands of years ago, when the Becaran Empire was born.
By the time the circlet was placed on Prince Dar’s head, tears were pouring openly down his cheeks.
The black lion stirred beside Raia.
“What is it?” she asked in a whisper. “Our part is done.”
But the lion rose and walked around the edge of the pool. The soldiers gripped their spears, but Raia held out her hands and followed beside the lion.
Silence had fallen over the packed street. All eyes were on her and the kehok.
The kehok halted in front of Dar. Raia held her breath, ready to intervene if she had to, if the kehok was more in control than the memory of the man.
Lowering onto his front knees, the lion bowed to the emperor.
This time, the cheers of the people were loud and full of joy.
Chapter 36
Lady Evara wasn’t used to being called a hero. In fact, the first time it happened, she overheard a whisper in the palace court. “I heard she knew from the beginning—that’s why she sent her trainer to the market to buy him.”
She opened her mouth to correct the rumor. Of course, I hadn’t known, she was prepared to say. I was as shocked as anyone.
But then the whisperer continued. “She’s the true hero behind it all. If she hadn’t had the vision to instruct her rider to purchase that kehok . . . well, imagine where we’d be. Slaves to the Ranirans!”
Pretending she hadn’t overheard, she’d glided toward the speakers, introduced herself, and let them fawn over her as they introduced her to their social circle. When they asked her direct questions, she demurred, which they took for humility.
From them, she gleaned that Lord Petalo had taken a few liberties with his retelling of what had happened. Instead of leaving her out of the tale, or revealing the sordid mess with her inheritance, he’d painted her as some kind of wise heroine.
Which her parents would have thought was hilarious.
Frankly, she thought it was hilarious. Also, bewildering.
Why would mustache man enhance her reputation? If she was a heroine, then he had no leverage over her—who cared about her past when she’d helped save the empire? But after she talked with a few more fawning nobles, she realized that Lord Petalo had also inserted himself into the tale, as the brave double-agent who alerted the wise Lady Evara to the murder attempts. She let his lie slide. After all, in a way, he had helped.
And he had been the one to make sure the entire court knew the truth, which had softened them up for the official verification from the augurs. With the support of both the augurs and the court, Prince Dar had sailed through his coronation.
It also helped that the prince, Trainer Verlas, and the rider Raia had stopped an invasion. Just the three of them, with an army of monsters, against one of the largest invasion forces Becar had ever seen—the size of the invasion force tripled every time the story was retold, Lady Evara noticed. The exact numbers were unknown. But the story caught the imagination, and it spread far and wide. Lady Evara fanned its flames as often as she could.
Of course, she wasn’t foolish enough to believe all the praise being heaped on her. Her soul had yet to be read by an augur, at least not since the last time she’d tried (and failed) to obtain her inheritance—what was the point? Her soul was still very much whatever it was. She didn’t think it was likely to have changed. She’d never even returned the gold pouch she’d lifted from Lord Petalo. She tried not to let her nerves show, though, when she was at last summoned to the aviary to speak with Emperor Dar.
If he knew the truth, he could still have her cast out of the palace as unworthy, no matter what lovely rumors were circulating.
The guards recognized her at the doorway and escorted her inside. She heard the soothing waterfalls and the pleasant chirp of birds and did not feel calm. What if he objected to the rumors? What if he thought she was trying to claim glory for herself by not refuting them? I wasn’t. Well, only as a side benefit.
She picked her way through the winding path, between the lush flowers and the tranquil corners, until she reached the center mosaic. Emperor Dar was seated on a throne of white marble. The black lion was with him, as he always seemed to be, accompanied