too much of a coward to try.
“So don’t,” Dayo always said when I worried. “You’re home now. Why would you need anywhere else?”
That man and woman, another voice Ray-spoke in my mind. Tarisai, you’ve seen them before.
The voice caressed the center of my spine, a velvet bass thickened by a plosive Dhyrmish accent. I suppressed my pleasure, hoping it did not travel through the Ray as I met Sanjeet’s eye.
He sat one stool to my left, resplendent in the pearl-studded black kaftan of Dhyrmish generals. With his head, he gestured to the next group of well-wishers in my receiving line. Don’t you know them?
An isoken woman in a hooded green cloak and a man whose full-body birthmarks betrayed him to be a Redemptor stood before my platform. Most well-wishers were bashful, staring at their feet as they stammered congratulations and handed me a gift. In contrast, these visitors stared directly at me … and smirked.
I shook my head at Sanjeet. I’ve never seen them before. Have you?
He looked uncertain. Once, I think. In the stories you used to show me from your memories, before you forgot your childhood. But that was years ago. I could be mistaken.
The Redemptor man stepped forward and bowed, mocking the gesture by prolonging it. “Anointed Honor.”
“Thank you for coming,” I responded politely. “Songland is very far from Ebujo. Were your travels difficult, sir …?”
When I waited for his name, the man gave me a sardonic look, as though I had asked a question to which we both knew the answer.
“My name is Woo In,” he said with a taut smile. “And the most harrowing journey of my life began in this room.”
My face heated as he looked past me toward the steaming Oruku Breach. “Of course,” I murmured, ashamed at my insensitivity. “This temple must hold terrible memories. I’m honored you would return here on my behalf. Please accept my deepest gratitude.”
Woo In swept a dark blue cloak over his birthmarked shoulder, and bent to plant an icy kiss on my seal ring. “I have no need of gratitude,” he said. “But I will accept justice: your assurance that my story never happens to any Songland child again.”
I withdrew my hand sharply. “What are you talking about?”
Instead of responding, Woo In beckoned to his companion. The cloaked isoken held the hand of a young Redemptor girl. The child curtsied, looking at me with strong, inquisitive features, her skin completely covered in geometric patterns. I noted the difference between her marks and Woo In’s—his were purple and glittering, and hers blue and soft. The marks of a Redemptor who had not yet crossed the Underworld.
“I’m Ye Eun,” she piped up. “It’s nice to meet you, Anointed Honor.” On her short dark hair, she wore a lily-of-the-valley flower crown. Shyly, she offered a matching crown to me. I bowed my head, allowing her to lay it atop my twisted coils.
“Thank you,” I said.
She grinned as though we shared a secret. “You’re as pretty as your mother.”
I froze. “I … What did you say?”
“You’re going to save us,” she said cheerily. “The Lady promised it would happen any day now, but first, you’ve got to get your memories back. I hope it’s soon. I don’t have long before …” Her gaze traveled to the Breach beyond me.
The child was delusional. Was that a side effect of being a Redemptor? Poor thing; her parents had likely abandoned her at birth. “Ye Eun,” I said. “How old are you?”
“Almost eleven,” she chirped.
My stomach turned to knots. Redemptor children were supposed to be surrendered to the Breach at age ten. Failure to comply, according to the histories, meant retaliation from the Underworld.
But surely the old stories weren’t all true. How could the abiku—the spirits with whom Enoba had forged the Redemptor Treaty—resent the loss of one tiny girl? My heart lightened. The Emperor’s Council had the power to help Ye Eun. They could make an exception to the Treaty, certainly. I just needed to buy her time.
I leaned forward, grasping Ye Eun’s shoulders. “Listen, I need you to hide. Here in the temple, out of sight of the priests. I’ll send for you once the ceremonies are over. Then you can come visit me in Yorua Keep. How does that sound?”
Ye Eun’s grin broadened, but she looked at Woo In and the isoken woman for permission. They shrugged, and so the girl giggled with excitement and disappeared into the crowd.
“Are you her guardians?” I asked the strangers.
Woo In’s expression hardened. “All