The door flap to the playroom burst open. “Unscheduled trial,” a crimson-robed testmaker said, brusquely beckoning us to the door. “All candidates are to report to the northern courtyard.”
“Courtyard?” Sanjeet raised an eyebrow. “But it’s the middle of the night. What test could we have out—”
“The trial is timed,” the testmaker snapped, herding us out of the playroom. Once we were in the corridor, streams of sleepy, confused children filed past, all headed for stairs leading out of the Children’s Palace. Sanjeet followed them, but to my surprise the testmaker held me back.
“The prince is being kept in a different location. He has requested your presence specially. You are to come with me.” Her hand closed around my wrist with surprising strength, and we charged in the opposite direction of the mass exodus, marching until we reached the abandoned back halls of the Children’s Palace. We turned the corner—and my heart stopped dead in my chest.
On the ground crouched a beast I had only ever seen in books. A spotted coat of black and orange shone lividly against the sandstone corridor walls, and heat radiated from its massive body.
Leopard, my mind’s library murmured.
Yet how could it be? Leopards were surely no taller than a man. This beast was the size of a horse, with wily yellow eyes that gleamed from yards away.
I screamed, but the testmaker’s hand clapped around my mouth. She leaned close to my ear, and when she hissed, she no longer sounded like a lady from Oluwan. “That’s enough from you, little demon.”
A lilting Mewish accent laced every word. I swung around and looked up: The testmaker’s face shimmered and melted away, leaving another one in its place.
“Kathleen,” I gasped.
In front of us, a man emerged from the shadows to stroke the beast’s enormous head. Shimmering amethyst birthmarks covered the man’s golden, sinewy frame.
“I see your years at An-Ileyoba haven’t taught you any manners,” Woo In droned. “Meet my friend, Lady’s Daughter. Hyung is my emi-ehran.” Woo In scratched the crest of the animal’s massive head, and it purred with pleasure, vanishing and reappearing repeatedly. “Am sends spirit-beasts to comfort Redemptors in their last moments of life,” Woo In explained. “But I refused to die in the Underworld, and when I escaped, Hyung came with me.”
“How did you get in here?” I faltered.
Kathleen smirked. “Woo In flew through a window. I became that boring Lady Adesanya, and then I made Hyung look like a lapcat.” She scowled at the beast. “It was a pain, throwing a glamor around something that big. But Woo In insisted …”
“You could have made Hyung invisible,” Woo In retorted.
Kathleen rolled her eyes. “Do you know how hard it would have been to convince thirty Imperial Guard warriors that they were seeing nothing? I’m Hallowed, but I’m not a god. Leave your pet at home next time.”
I had not seen Woo In and Kathleen in so long, I had half convinced myself that I’d made them up. For a disorienting moment, I wanted to hug them and cry. They were my sole connection to home, to Bhekina House and Swana. But their faces served as chilling reminders of who—of what—I was. Reminders of what The Lady had sent me to do.
“Have you been here the whole time?” I asked. “In the Children’s Palace—spying on me?”
“We visit often enough.” Kathleen sniffed and continued. “Enough to know you have neglected your duties.”
“You left for years,” I sputtered. “And you didn’t tell me anything. Not that Mother used to live here, or that the Emperor’s Council would try to poison me, or that …” I swallowed. “Or that the boy in Mother’s portrait was Dayo.”
Kathleen waved a dismissive hand. “If you had known more, the Emperor’s Council would never have let you near Dayo. Especially not Mbali. Her Hallow is discerning the truth, and so ignorance was your only shield. All in all, I’d say things have actually gone rather well. Barring the obvious.”
My mouth went dry.
“The Lady wishes to know,” Woo In said, “why the prince has not yet been eliminated.”
“The Ray doesn’t work on me. I can’t hurt him without it—and I’m glad,” I added sharply.
Kathleen’s emerald eyes narrowed. “It’s no good resisting, you know. You are half-ehru. You will grant The Lady’s wish no matter how much you love the Kunleo brat, and the longer you wait, the harder it will be.”
“Why do you hate Dayo so much?” I demanded. “Why can’t you just leave him alone? What’s he ever done to you?”