Luca sat cross-legged on the floor of his bedroom in Ria’s house and tried to concentrate. All he could think about was his last lesson with Kha~dim, leader of the El~araih, before he’d left Amalia.
For two years Kha~dim had been teaching him stealth, secrecy, deadliness. The ways of the assassin. And now, the job Accolon had ordered him to be trained for was finally upon him.
There was revenge to be had.
They’d been sitting opposite each other, trying to focus on the inner calm that would allow them to use their bodies in a way most humans could not. It was harder for Luca—Kha~dim was immortal, and a warrior of the undead; the younger boy was, after all, only a boy.
‘You are not concentrating,’ Kha~dim murmured.
Luca fidgeted restlessly. ‘I can’t today.’
‘Of what are you thinking?’ the older man asked slowly in his flawless English.
‘Nothing,’ Luca replied shortly.
‘If you were thinking of nothing, this would be working. Luca, this is something you conquered a long time ago. Why are you struggling?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Tell me what’s wrong, or you will make a mistake, and when you do as we do, you can never make a mistake.’
‘I know that!’ Luca said angrily. ‘I’m sick of having to tell you every single thought I have! You’ve got no concept of privacy!’
‘Deal with your emotions,’ Kha~dim ordered flatly. ‘Calm yourself and tell me.’
Luca sighed, rubbing his eyes. ‘A woman I used to know lives in Torr, and I’ll be heading there soon. I’m just nervous, is all. It’s not a big deal.’
‘Petty human emotions. You should be beyond those now.’
Luca had been stunned by the obviousness of the answer. ‘No. I shouldn’t.’
There had never before been a man trained by an El~araih. Luca could drive himself mad wondering if all of this was the king’s fault, or if it was his own for not being strong enough to resist. But one thing did become clear, sitting on the floor in that house in Torr. His best friend had returned from the sky, and never in a thousand lifetimes would she let him sink so low. What he now knew for a fact was that if he survived this mission, he was never going to harm another human being for the rest of his life.
‘Can I speak with you?’ Luca asked, finding Ria in the kitchen. She stared at him impatiently.
He realised he should have prepared something to say because he had no idea how to begin. All he knew was that there was a need for him to redress.
‘Ria ... I’ll be leaving tomorrow. And I wanted to tell you something. About me. About why I’m really here.’
Ria looked surprised. ‘All right. Go ahead.’
‘Firstly, and most importantly, I owe you an apology. I should have come to find you after the war, but the queen had you shipped home so that your father could take care of you. The first I’d heard of you waking up
was six months after the war, and by then, I confess, I was thinking of other things. Darker things.’
Luca cracked his knuckles and looked down at his hands. He shrugged. He was finished with the deceit, no matter what it cost him.
‘I started killing people for coin, on the command of the High King.’
Ria stared at him, and he saw the precise moment when his words sunk in. Her face changed slowly, growing pale and frightened.
It was what he deserved. He was a monster, so why should anyone look at him differently? He forged ahead. ‘I have this desire to hurt people. Everything that happened in the war, everyone who was lost ... Jane leaving ... the world was so dark. I had this anger. And it didn’t go away when I played music—it only stopped when I hurt people. Kha~dim said I needed to use it to help my king. But...’ Luca shook his head.
Ria turned abruptly and walked to the window. It was open even though it was still quite cold outside and she hugged herself as she stood in front of it.
‘But Ria...’ he said, his voice softening. ‘It’s fading. I feel more like me again. And I think part of the reason for that is because I’ve been staying here with you.’
‘I wish you hadn’t said that,’ she said quietly. ‘I don’t want to be responsible for what you’ve done.’
‘That’s not what I said—’
‘You may as well have! I don’t want to be responsible for anything.’ She paused. ‘I don’t want to be a part of your life anymore. I can’t be.’
Luca felt his heart tumble. ‘Because of what I have become?’
‘Yes. I don’t understand who you are anymore. It’s ... frightening. And you remind me of how the music became a curse instead of a gift.’
‘And you blame me for that?’ It was the same question he’d asked her the other night. This time she answered truthfully.
‘Yes. I know I shouldn’t, that it didn’t have anything to do with you. But ... I do. I can’t help it.’
He nodded stiffly. Ria said nothing more, but the point was clear. He shrugged, ‘Okay fine. Then the last thing I suppose I need to say is goodbye. I’m headed to a job in Karangul. I’m fairly sure I won’t make it back alive.’
‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Okay.’ And that was all. He stared at her in disbelief. Then he stood and walked to the door. He was clenching his teeth so as not to say anything, but suddenly he didn’t care. If he was about to die, then maybe he could be allowed to speak his mind.
‘That’s not enough!’ he growled, rounding on her. ‘Did our relationship really mean that little to you?’
‘You’re the one who let it end,’ she snapped. ‘I can’t give you anything more. I wish I could accept you for who you are, but I’m not that strong.’ She paused and met his eyes. There was a strange ringing in his ears. ‘And the thing is,’ she went on softly, ‘you never came to find me. And I can never forgive you for that.’
Everything inside him ached. What had he expected? That she would cry and run into his arms? This was exactly what the world was about. Sadness, pain, regret, guilt, loss. There was nothing else. It was his own fault to hope for anything more.
Luca turned and stumbled to the door. And then he paused, not looking at her, but speaking one last thing.
‘I made a mistake. And for that I am deeply sorry. I will bid you goodbye, and hopefully this mess I have created will be over soon enough.’
Mia climbed out of the litter and looked around. They were on the far side of the city of Samaraq, at the top of a set of stairs that were carved into the side of a rock wall. At different levels were public baths with people cooling off under the hot sun, and all around them luscious plants and palm trees gave shade. Behind them was an enormous temple, with carvings on every surface, and gold roofs that sparkled in the sun.
This was the sacred temple of the priestesses of the goddess Neith.
Mia had spent the previous night listening to Tye explain Samaraq’s religion. According to him, Neith was the supreme goddess of war and hunting and she protected the souls of the dead from being devoured by Ammit, who was appropriately called ‘Devourer of Souls’. The two goddesses would always be struggling for power over the souls of mortals, until the end of time. It was the people’s jobs to pray for Neith, giving her their loyalty and their faith in order to help her win the eternal struggle.
Standing in the shadow of the enormous temple, Mia shivered, looking up at the frescoes and carvings of the battle that were depicted over the entire surface. ‘Come inside,’ Tye told her softly, and she followed him in, grateful to escape the eyes of the monster that were shining out at her. Her sense of foreboding did not lessen, however, once they entered the temple.
The ceilings were held aloft with marble pillars, just like the palace, but this building was very different. No light entered from any window or door, and the walls were black, so that the only illumination came from some small lanterns. As her eyes adjusted to the dimness, shapes seemed to appear on the walls, emerging out of the darkness. Hundreds of glittering eyes, made from ruby stones, flickering in the candlelight.
‘What are they?’ she whispered.
‘Demons,’ Tye said darkly. ‘The servants of Ammit. Here to remind us of what the Lady Neith fights every moment we are alive.’
Mia shivered again and turned her eyes to the plinth at the end of the temple. Here stood a mighty stone statue of a woman. She had no doubt that this was Neith. In one hand the goddess held her cat-of-nine-tails whip, each tip adorned with a sharp metal spike. Around her neck there was a long, deadly snake, its eyes made of the same ruby stones as the demons.
‘What’s with the snake?’ Mia whispered, unable to take her eyes off the statue.
‘Neith’s servant and fiercest weapon. Saipor. She can put her consciousness into the snake and use its body as she wills.’
Mia’s gaze shifted to the face of the goddess. She honestly didn’t know if she was more frightened of the Devourer of Souls, or of the cold, violently determined strength in the face of the goddess.
‘She is brutal,’ Tye had told her. ‘A warrior. If you are looking for affection then you will not find it in Neith. What you will find is protection and strength.’
The most terrifying thing of all was the fact that Mia, as Queen of Samaraq, was supposed to be the goddess’ first anointed, the closest to her out of any mortal alive.
‘People used to think you were like her,’ Tye had told her the night before. Standing in front of the statue, this was beyond Mia’s comprehension.
Suddenly she felt something touch her shoulder and she gasped in terror. The sound echoed loudly within the temple. It was a woman, middle aged and very beautiful, dressed in a red robe with a hood that threw her face into shadow. It took Mia a moment to realise that where her eyes were supposed to be, there were instead empty
sockets. She cringed, taking half a step back, then schooled herself to stay calm. Tye had warned her about the blind priestesses.
‘Greetings, majesty,’ the woman said, her voice soft and seductive. Her cheek bones were severe, her head held high, and if only she’d had eyes she would have been one of the most lovely women Mia had ever seen.
‘Hello,’ Mia said, straightening her shoulders and forcing herself not to look away from the sightless gaze.
‘It has been a long time. We thank the goddess every day that she has seen fit to bring you back to us.’
Mia nodded, then remembered she couldn’t be seen. ‘Yes. I’m very grateful too.’
‘So too do I pray, highness,’ the woman said, her empty sockets trained eerily on Mia’s face, ‘that you will come back to us properly one day soon.’
Mia stared at her. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Half your soul is missing.’
There was silence in the temple. Mia looked at Tye for help, but he was deliberately staring at the ground.
‘How did you know?’
‘I see more than you can with your eyes.’
Mia clasped her hands together, feeling frightened again. She
always
felt frightened these days.
‘It’s all right to be scared,’ the woman said.
It would be so easy to freak out right then. Mia was, apparently, standing next to a woman who could read her mind. Instead she just felt sad. ‘But I’m queen. I’m not supposed to be scared of anything.’
‘That’s an untruth,’ came the honey-coated reply. ‘There is fear in everyone. It’s how you face it that makes you a queen.’
‘I bet Nayana was never scared.’
‘I know for a fact that she was. That’s what separates us from the Lady Neith, what makes us human. We are
fallible. But as long as we have faith, our souls will be safe. Tomorrow night the two moons will be full together for the only time this year. We have a ritual to exact. As the goddess’s chosen daughter, you must be present.’
‘Of course. I’d be honoured.’
With overwhelming relief, Mia led Tye back out into the setting sun. The giant orb cast a brilliant orange light over the sand dunes and the pools below. Mia looked out at the people bathing. There were families with children playing and splashing happily.
‘How am I supposed to make the decisions that keep these people safe?’ she whispered into the evening air, not really expecting an answer. But after a moment she turned to look at her head servant where he stood a few steps behind her. ‘How am I supposed to do that when I can’t even make those decisions for myself?’
Tye was silent. He had never needed to have those answers before.
Mia shook her head, turning back to the sunset. ‘All that stuff...’ she murmured. ‘About faith and souls...’
‘I don’t understand why it makes you uncomfortable.’ It wasn’t a critique. Mia could see that Tye was actually perplexed. Well it was fair enough—he couldn’t possibly know anything outside this city and this faith. He couldn’t know about other beliefs, about science and atheism. He’d never been to Earth.
‘It’s hard for me,’ she tried to explain. ‘I’ve grown up in a family of people who don’t believe in anything. So coming here and hearing all this stuff about goddesses and rituals and being the “chosen one”—I don’t know what to believe. It’s weird.’
Tye frowned. ‘I’ve never heard of anyone believing in nothing. It doesn’t make any sense to me. But maybe in your world there are different ways of life.’
‘Definitely.’
‘Here, Mia, it is different. I do not know what is right and what is wrong—it certainly seems to me that people should be allowed to believe whatever they want. But you still have to be able to to support the religion of your people. If they thought you had abandoned them...’ he shook his head slowly. ‘The fear you feel now? I think it would be multiplied in every member of this city.’
‘I didn’t say I was going to abandon them! I just said I was feeling a bit weird about it all.’
‘And all I’m saying is don’t let anyone else know you’re feeling that way.’
Mia stared at him, suddenly irritated. She didn’t want a rebuke—she just wanted someone to listen to her.
‘I said I’d come to the ritual didn’t I?’ she snapped.
‘You’ll have to do more than that,’ he warned. ‘You take part in the ritual every year. And you need to know what to do or else everyone will know something is wrong.’
‘Well why don’t you just tell me, rather than pointing out how naïve I am?’
Tye didn’t react to her tone. ‘It’s a sacrificial ritual.’