villain. Come. Give her to us and end this with dignity.”
“Someone is going over the edge of this tower,” she replied. “Someone dropped, or someone pushed. I don’t want to hurt her, but the choice is yours.”
“It is not for you to give choices,” Olugbade retorted.
But The Lady wasn’t looking at the emperor. Her eyes were locked on Thaddace … who stood right by the emperor, and the edge of the tower. The High Lord Judge turned ashen.
No. She couldn’t mean … It wasn’t possible. How did The Lady even know that Thaddace …
Then my heart turned to lead.
She knew, because I had told her. I had wanted to make her laugh. I had betrayed Thaddace and Mbali’s secret: the only leverage that could turn a council member against his emperor. I had sold Thaddace’s soul for a smile.
“Don’t do it,” Mbali rasped at Thaddace. “Remember what you believe. There is no justice. Only order.”
“You don’t believe that,” Thaddace whispered. “You never have.”
Mbali gave a faint smile. “Some lies we believe to survive.” Then she dug her nails into The Lady’s arm, and The Lady yelped with surprise. Her grip on Mbali loosened.
“No,” Thaddace bellowed. The whites of his eyes flashed, and the air crackled as his heat-precision Hallow spiraled out of control. The energy was so strong, I could see his memories without touching him. A childhood of poverty and crime blossomed in my mind’s eye, along with a freckle-covered Mewish boy who longed for stability. I floated through the day he arrived at the Children’s Palace, gaping at the first clean clothes he had ever worn. I hurled forward years. Thaddace’s heart swelled with disbelief: Olugbade, the young prince he had grown to worship, had just named him High Judge of all Aritsar. Him—a thief from the rat-ridden slums of Clough-on-Derry!
I flew forward again. The boy was a man now, enforcing law with the penitent severity of a former criminal. He fell for a priestess girl from Swana, for her eyes that saw the truth, and her kiss that tasted of mercy. With a single nudge from her smooth dark fingers, his idols of stability crumbled.
Years passed. He grew fond of a child who reminded him of himself. A feared child, born into dishonor: the daughter of a criminal. He watched her grow in the Children’s Palace, smiling at her tenacity. He put his faith in her, and when the time came to pick his successor, he offered her the same chance at redemption that had been given to himself.
More years. Gray crept into the man’s red hair as he struggled to live in the tension. He loved the law. He worshipped Mbali. He revered Olugbade, his lord and brother.
How could Thaddace know that the girl he had chosen—the child he had given a chance—would cause that tension to snap? That she would betray his secret? That she would topple everything he held dear?
“I’m sorry,” I gasped. “I’m so sorry.”
Then Thaddace, High Judge of Aritsar and beggar boy from Clough-on-Derry, sobbed, swiveled, and pushed the Emperor of Aritsar over the edge.
The Lady fumbled at the same time. With a cry of horror, she dropped Mbali.
It was quieter than I would have expected, the crack of a body meeting stone. Louder was the sound that followed, a continuous shrill that cut to my eardrums like needles. The crowds were stampeding, fleeing as cohorts of Imperial Guard warriors filled the courtyard. Thaddace was being dragged away by his council, limp as a rag doll, his green eyes deadened with grief.
A single crack.
Which body? My pulse roared in my ears. Which body?
Then a figure rose in the sky, blocking the sun’s merciless rays. His jet hair floated, a corona in the wind. The symbols on his body glowed, curving down his sinewy arms, which held a shivering burden: Mbali.
Alive.
The man set the High Priestess down, and she scurried, gasping down the stairs leading back into the palace.
“You came back to me,” breathed The Lady.
“I came back to you,” Woo In agreed. Then he grabbed Olugbade’s knife from the ground and swiped at The Lady.
“That’s for lying to my people,” Woo In cried as a long, thin line of crimson blossomed on The Lady’s cheek. “Now you’re marked, like I am—like the thousands of Redemptors you would send to their graves. You can forget about Songland’s help. When you’re empress, I’ll make sure they want nothing to do with you.”
The Lady lifted her hand to her face, then stared with interest at