gentle. “A child should not oversee the death of her parent. I see that now. The stress of such a decision caused your misbehavior in the Imperial Hall. So tomorrow, you will revoke your ruling and express your apologies. Then I think you must be sent away for a while.” He smiled in a manner so benevolent, it made my bones shiver. “A young girl must be given space to grieve.”
The only space you want for me, I thought, is the bottom of a crypt. “You can’t kill her,” I shot back. “She hasn’t had a trial.”
“Ah.” Olugbade tutted, shaking his head. “I never needed a trial to kill her, Tarisai. But I needed to test you. To unmask the monster that I raised beside my own son.” The emperor sighed. “I was kind, Tarisai. Any natural child would have given me their loyalty. But I see now that an egg laid by a python, no matter how small, will always sprout fangs in the end.” He turned back to his council. “Release.”
I screamed again, and arrows flew through the sky. The crowds below grew still … and then began to rumble, agitated with wonder.
Eleven arrows hovered in the air around The Lady, inches from her skin, before falling harmlessly to the floor. The roof fell silent except for the drummer, who fainted as one who had seen a god.
His instrument fell with a resounding thud, rolled over the edge of the tower, and splintered on the ground far below.
The Lady asked, “Am I still a fake, brother?”
“It’s an illusion,” Olugbade said firmly. “Enchantment. Sorcery. We’ll try another way.”
“We can’t, Olu,” Thaddace said without taking his eyes off The Lady. “I don’t know what happened. But what we saw … Everyone saw.” He gestured at the teeming crowds below. “You can’t kill her now, not like this. People will have … questions.”
My chest tightened with hope. Olugbade’s pride had trapped him. He should have murdered The Lady in private, trying every form of mortal death until he found one that worked. No one would have seen his failed attempts. No one would have guessed at The Lady’s power.
But my First Ruling had made Olugbade rash. Like a snake gripping a branch in flood season, he clung to his belief in The Lady’s illegitimacy. By insisting on this public execution, he had trapped himself.
“Poison,” Olugbade said, reaching beneath his agbada to produce a vial of noxious liquid. The emperor’s pupils were dilated as he produced a knife from his robes, shaking the contents of his vial over the blade. The smell stung my nostrils, and Olugbade smiled. “Enchant this away, witch.”
The Lady was immune to poison too. I had seen the empress mask, and remembered the glow of a vibrant green stripe. But to my surprise, The Lady agreed.
“Fine. I submit to you, brother.” She paused. “But an honorable emperor would allow me my last rites. Before you kill me, let the High Priestess read me the Ending.”
After terse whispers from his council, Olugbade set his jaw and nodded for Mbali to step forward.
The High Priestess was shaking as she made the sign of the Pelican on The Lady’s chin. “I’m sorry,” Mbali whispered as the mirrors from her prayer shawl scattered gold orbs across The Lady’s face. “You know I didn’t want this.”
To my surprise, a tear dropped silently to The Lady’s cheek. “I know, Mbali.”
“Do you know the words?”
The Lady nodded. The Ending was a prayer most Arits learned as children: Tonight I may join Egungun’s Parade; tonight I may be purified. Am, who wrote my birth and death: Guide me to Core, the world without end. The women swayed as they held each other, speaking in unison. “Tonight I may join Egungun’s Parade …” Again, Mbali made a sign on The Lady’s brow. “Tonight I may be purified. Am, who wrote my birth and death: Guide me to—”
The Lady seized Mbali under the arms, toppling them both to the ground. Still gripping Mbali with her lean, muscular arms, she swung the High Priestess to dangle over the edge of the tower.
The crowd below shrieked.
“Decision time, brother,” The Lady panted. “If only—if only you had let us be a family.”
The Emperor’s Council surged forward, but halted in fear when The Lady’s grip loosened. Olugbade placed his knife on the ground with calculating calm. “It’s me you want dead,” he said, “yet you cannot kill a Raybearer. This is futile, Lady. If you hurt Mbali, you will only die a