“Sir?” The soldier frowned.
“She is a shackled and unarmed girl; she poses no threat. Not to the future Kazi of Oramec.” Tosin lifted himself from his nest of damp-looking pillows. His body was thin, though it lacked muscle. He was not a young man, and the drink had clearly taken its toll. “Leave us.”
The soldier bowed and, reluctant, turned to depart. The boy-guard fidgeted a moment before dropping the chain to the ground with a thunk and hurrying after his superior.
Tosin watched them go before turning back to Akanni with another of those blasted smiles. “My dear, even a heshen should be wary of speaking such lies.” He stepped toward her.
Akanni stiffened, but thankfully he moved away and over to the opposite end of the tent. There, a basin of water was waiting. He undid the sash at his waist and let the fabric fall from his body. Akanni averted her eyes until she heard the splashing of him settling in.
“What has led you to believe that I, one of the Goddess’s chosen, would kill the ruler of Her people?” Tosin flicked a bit of water over the side.
Akanni knew she should hold her tongue, but the pain of the last few days was hot and fresh, and it fanned the flames of anguish from her time in exile. The combination made her temper short and her tongue loose. “I saw you,” she bit out. “With the man in the cloak.”
She remembered that night clearer than any other, save the night her amma went to be with the Goddess. It was late, and she had just returned home after a trip with her father and twin brother, Seth. They’d gone to a neighboring kingdom for a period of weeks to witness the marriage of one of their cousins.
Amidst the cushions spread around her, Akanni had rocked with the jostle of the palanquin as it bore them on. The smell of old pine and citrus polish swirled heavy in the air. Beads rattled and clacked against one another, hung with silk to shield the windows and door from the sun, which had thankfully gone down some time ago. The rhythmic clatter punctuated the relative silence, along with the beating of feet and braying of beasts outside.
“Nnn, rouse yourselves, my children.” Her father’s voice was heavy in the shadows that filled the space between them. “We are home.”
The palanquin was large enough to hold the entire royal family, though Akanni always took to curling against Seth like he was a large, warm pillow. She stretched her tired limbs and sat up. Her brother did not move, though his eyes went from her to their baba.
“Have you given any thought to our earlier conversation?” Seth said. His voice did not hold the deepness of Baba’s, still a boy’s tones. He hated when Akanni teased him about it.
Even in the darkness, the look her father shot him was cutting. “There is nothing to think on. It is blasphemy, and we shall speak of it no more.” Stroking his silvery beard where it lay over his belly, their father glared at the ceiling. “Goddess keep me, I cannot have two heshen as children.” Even though her father had been supportive in her decision, as supportive as one could be, his words still stung.
Seth tensed beside her. Apart from their mother, he was the most devout in the family, and if their father’s words stung her, they were like a blow for him. When their mother passed, Seth dove even deeper into the teachings and worship, drawing ever nearer to the Goddess as Akanni pulled away. He did not approve of her renouncement and spent no less than an hour every day praying that she would come back to the Light before being judged.
The palanquin jerked then rocked as it was lowered. Father did not wait for his attendants before rolling to clamber out, grumbling about going to bed. It was a shame to let him leave in such a dark mood, and Akanni made to go after him, but a hand on her shoulder held her fast.
“Amma was supposed to perform the bahet for the wedding. Her absence was keenly felt by all, but mostly by Baba. Give him until morning.” Seth’s voice was soft, forgiving. Their father was a kind man, usually full of smiles and laughter for his children, but without Amma . . . that man had faded.
Akanni nodded and patted Seth’s hand. “Do not stay up too late.” Even though he sounded as if he’d already forgiven their father for the insult, it would likely send him to Amma’s prayer closet for some time.
He squeezed her shoulder and dropped his hand.
In the palace, amidst the alabaster stone and trappings of jade and silver, where the visages of ancestors watched over them silently, Akanni called for a bath. She settled into the warm waters, drawn from the nearby shore, and let her attendants see to scrubbing her rich, brown skin then smoothing it with scented oil. Nimble fingers worked at her hair, undoing the plaits against her scalp and washing away days’ worth of dust and travel. More oil made her scalp tingle and left her coils smelling of citrus.
Dressed in her gown and with a light robe wrapped around her frame, she dismissed her retinue and made for her bedroom. The quiet of the palace was haunting, but not unpleasantly so. As she came around a corner, she drew up short then pulled back. Peeking around confirmed what she thought she saw.
Tosin, the priest. He exchanged quiet words with a man in a cloak, the hood drawn up, handed him something, and then waved him on. The individual drifted into the shadows and was gone, leaving Tosin to adjust his robes and start in her direction.
Akanni drew back and took a steeling breath. Tosin always set a chill in her spine. She did not like him here, walking these halls, praying in her mother’s place. But the palace clergy needed a head, her father had said, and since Akanni herself refused, it had to be someone the people trusted.
When he came around the corner and saw her there, he paused, a look of surprise crossing his gaunt face.
“Kazili.” He bowed. “Keeping late hours?”
“Just coming back from a bath. It’s soothing after travels.”
Tosin smiled and drew in a slow breath. “Plum citrus.” He tasted the air. “Sweet as you are.”
The shiver from before returned. “I had best get to bed.” She stepped past him without waiting for him to bow as was custom.
“Good night, Kazili,” he purred in her wake. “The Goddess provides.”
Akanni’s steps quickened. She reached her room and bolted her door behind her. There was something foul about that man, and she almost wanted to call for another bath after having spent those few moments in his presence.
Instead, she drew the gossamer curtains in around her bed. Travel worn and weary, she drifted easily into sleep.
The sun had not yet risen when she woke to the sound of alarm bells and shouts from the guard. She jolted from her bed, taking up the dagger she kept hidden beneath her pillow. Still in her nightgown, she threw open her bedroom door.
Something slammed into her and took her off her feet. Pain rolled through her body as she tumbled across the floor. She blinked against the blackness and the beating of her heart, her gaze drawn to movement across the room. Crouched on the ledge of the large window left open to let in the sound of the sea, the cloaked figure from the night before sat, bathed in moonlight. She blinked and he was gone.