Jabari went to bathe and prepare, telling Tau to ask the keep guard for a proper aqondise’s tabard. This meant Tau had time, time enough for an unpleasant task. He went looking for Zuri.
He found her in the keep’s courtyard, near the bathhouse. She was cleaning linen with a dozen other handmaidens. When she saw him, her face lit up and she ran over, hugging him. It was more than she’d ever done in public.
“I’ve never seen such chaos,” she told him. “Can you believe she’s coming?”
The other handmaidens kept at their work, but Tau could feel their eyes on him, and the courtyard had gone quiet. “Handmaiden Uba, I’ve a request from Inkokeli Solarin. May I speak with you a moment?” he said.
“Of course, Common Tafari,” Zuri replied, thinking his formality a game.
When they were out of sight, she kissed him.
He fell into the moment, anything to avoid what was to come. “I’ve missed you,” he said.
“It’s been such a day,” Zuri told him, her face little more than a handspan from his.
Tau took a breath. He had to tell her, but there was a tightness around her eyes. “What’s happened?” he asked.
She touched his face. “Am I so easily read?”
She was worrying him.
“My testing day has been set,” she said.
“It has? Goddess, when?”
“The new moon.”
“Oh—”
“You’ll be with Jabari for his testing on the same day. I know.”
“The fighting circles aren’t far. I’ll see you in the evening.”
“Of course.”
“You’ll be a woman.”
“I’m not already?”
“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world,” Tau said.
Zuri punched his arm. “Common Tafari, a proper compliment must be reasonable if it is to be believed.” There was that tightness again.
“Zuri?”
“It’s almost over, isn’t it?” she said. “Common Tafari…” She picked over each word. “It’ll be Ihashe Tafari soon enough, and it’ll be that for the next seven cycles as you train and then fight.”
“Would you prefer something else?” he asked.
“Don’t tease. I know what has to be.”
Tau took her hands in his. “It doesn’t have to be,” he said. “We can make a few choices of our own. We wouldn’t have much, but we could try to be happy together.” He hadn’t meant to say all that. “Maybe I won’t have to fight. Maybe I can contribute elsewhere.”
“Tau…”
“I’m glad your testing is coming,” he told her. “I’ll help Jabari get through his, and I’ll come back to you—a newly made woman.” He forced a smile, wanting a moment more of peace, of happiness. “Maybe you’ll even give me proof?”
Zuri laughed out loud, covering her mouth at such scandal. “I think not!”
“Not yet, then,” he said.
Zuri tilted her head at him and Tau could tell she’d heard the intent in his words.
“The seven cycles will pass,” she said, forcing a smile as tears filled her eyes.
“I’ll come back to you.” It was as close to a promise as he could make.
Her eyes searched his face, pupils large and deep, and he could have lived in that moment forever, but he had to tell her about—
“Zuri! Zuri, where are you?” called a handmaiden. “Mistress Chione will be back any minute. I won’t do all your work for you, you wretch.”
“Who’s that?” Tau said, stepping forward.
“You’re going to defend me against fearsome Kesi now?” Zuri asked, eyes twinkling. “She’s about this high”—she pointed to Tau’s shoulder—“and has a dangerously sharp tongue. I should leave now, before it comes to violence. Against Kesi, I’d fear for you.” She paused, letting the weight of the earlier moment return. “I’ll see you, Tau Tafari,” she told him.
Tau hated himself for being weak. He hated himself for the rush of relief he felt, knowing the tale of Nkiru’s family would have to wait. “I’ll see you, Zuri Uba.”
“Coming, Kesi! I’m coming!” Zuri hastened her way to the courtyard, stealing a look at him as she went.
Tau smiled at her, still upset with himself. He was a coward. He’d stolen a kiss and stayed silent instead of telling the woman he loved the truth about her friend’s death. And soon he’d be standing within arm’s length of the man responsible for the murder, and he would do nothing. He was a coward.
QUEEN
Thousands lined the main path to the keep. The gates had been thrown open, and Jabari’s family, the Onai, stood beneath the keep’s walls, ready to welcome their queen. Tau was with the family, wearing the aqondise’s tabard that had been loaned to him.
He was two strides back from a bathed and scrubbed Jabari. Jabari, in turn, was one stride back from his father and his mother, Afia Onai, the umbusi of Kerem. Lekan was there too, mirroring Jabari on their mother’s right-hand side. Tau did his best to ignore him, though his hand twitched near his empty scabbard. Jabari’s father fidgeted too. The gouty old man was nervous.
To avoid having Lekan in his field of view, Tau stared at the press of people stretching into the distance. Aren was beyond the gate, dressed in full fighting gear. He had his men standing at attention along the sides of the path. They were there to keep the crowd a respectful distance from the queen, but like the keep guard spaced out across the top of the keep’s walls, it was for show. Afia Onai was doing her best to impress her monarch.
Tau saw dust rising. The queen’s procession had come to the last rise before the keep. His heartbeat quickened and he told himself that he was a man now, not a child to be excited by nonsense. The dust cloud grew bigger, the first men of the Queen’s Guard marched into view, and Tau’s pulse raced.
The Queen’s Guard was outfitted in maroon, a blend of red and black, the royal colors, a dragon’s colors. They marched in lockstep, and behind them were some of the peninsula’s most powerful. Queen Tsiora Omehia, her champion, the Gifted Leader, and Abasi Odili, the current chairman of the Guardian Council, rode down the path to Kerem on horses.
Tau had heard of horses, but he’d not expected to see any. The animals were huge, though a dragon could eat one of them in two bites. But people didn’t ride dragons, and here were four Chosen moving across the earth on horses, as if it was the most natural thing.
Voices thundered, drawing Tau’s attention, as the people of Kerem cheered their new queen. They pushed against Aren’s Ihagu, trying to get closer, making Tau think that perhaps lining the path with fighters had been for more than show.
As the procession neared, Tau made out more details. The first, and most astonishing thing, was the queen. She was young and couldn’t have had her testing for womanhood more than a cycle ago. That wasn’t it, though. It wasn’t her youth. It was her beauty.
Her skin was dark as a moonless night and she had lips like the sunrise. Her face was framed by delicate cheekbones, and beneath long lashes she had eyes shaped like almonds. She wore a black and red riding dress, cut to be formfitting, but flowing in the arms and legs. It also had a neckline that exposed enough skin to be gossip-worthy in a small fief like Kerem. She gazed out at the crowd, smiling as if pleased to see an old friend.