knew the answer. An invitation to the Heart of Becar. Proximity to the emperor-to-be. A chance at greater glory. An opportunity to escape the dreaded “boredom” that Lady Evara so feared. Tamra wondered if Lady Evara had ever cared about anything but her own pleasure and amusement. “I told you and Augur Yorbel what I need already.”
“Augur Yorbel . . . bears watching.”
“Excuse me?” That was not the response she expected. “Why?”
“He’s lying to us.”
Absurd, Tamra thought. He’s not the kind of person who can lie. He was exactly what he seemed—a sheltered-from-the-world, out-of-his-depth augur. A good man. She trusted her judgment on that. She’d met enough bad people in her life to feel confident in her ability to recognize liars and cheats. And yet, Lady Evara was so assured in her declaration. “About what?”
“I don’t know, which is what bothers me. Can I count on you to be my ally here? Our goals are aligned, after all. Vigilance is required.”
This was the strangest conversation she’d ever had with Lady Evara. Her sponsor had never talked to Tamra as if she were someone she trusted. The fact that she was doing so now was even more bizarre than the idea that Augur Yorbel might not be who he seemed. But Lady Evara wasn’t wrong—they did have a common purpose, and as long as that was true, it couldn’t hurt to work together.
“Sure. We’re allies.”
“Splendid!” Lady Evara beamed at her. She then began shouting at her three ever-present servants to clean up this place so that it was fit for her to see. Obeying, they dispersed, presumably to find cleaning cloths, water, and soap.
Or to find a new, less demanding employer.
Tamra joined Raia inside the stable, ducking under an array of cobwebs.
It had once been a grand stable, a few decades ago. Much of the woodwork was intact. In the dim light that filtered through the windows, Tamra could see paintings on the walls: depications of famous races with beautifully intricate sketches of kehoks and even more exquisite renderings of past emperors watching from their stands. Each stall was reinforced with metal, now bearing rust stains. She tested one door. “Still sturdy.”
“It’s like a forgotten secret,” Raia said happily.
It was odd, Tamra thought, that when the emperor-to-be sent an augur to restart his kehok racing program, he hadn’t also ordered cleaners and carpenters to fix up the stable. “Rich people don’t always think about the details it takes to do things,” she said, mostly thinking out loud. “They just expect them done.” Belatedly, she remembered that Raia came from wealth.
But Raia was nodding as if Tamra had said something wise. “I’m sure an emperor-to-be is the worst. Just make a pronouncement and don’t think about the consequences. You want a pineapple; you get a pineapple. Never mind that they aren’t in season, and it requires a dozen people to travel to where they are growing, bargain with the farmers, and then journey back.”
“Exactly. I bet it was a whim he had. He probably forgot all about it as soon as he sent Augur Yorbel off to buy some kehoks.” Or maybe Lady Evara was right, and something was truly off here. What if he didn’t know about Augur Yorbel’s plan at all? Maybe the whole idea was the augur’s. It would explain why the stable wasn’t ready for them, and why no one official had come to greet them beyond simple transport here. But that made no sense. Why would Augur Yorbel want them here? He didn’t seem to care—or even know—anything about racers and the races.
“He might have a new whim every day,” Raia said, warming to the idea. “Start a zoo. Build a university. Collect bells. Or birds. Or musical instruments.”
Maybe, Tamra thought. But did any of that matter? She had a job to do. Whatever’s going on between the augur and the emperor-to-be, it’s not my business. “Let’s get the kehok loaded into a stall, and let Augur Yorbel worry about emperors and their whims. Our concern is only the next race.”
Chapter 18
Yorbel wondered if the emperor-to-be would have him executed for bringing such news. Certainly, others had met such a fate for far less throughout Becaran history. He fidgeted as he waited in the corridor for a guard to escort him in. He told himself that he had nothing to fear. Dar was reasonable and, more important, his friend. Friends don’t execute friends.