I drop my mace as my hands splay in front of me to barely stop myself from falling on my face. My knees take the brunt of the fall. I might puke.
“Stay away from her, Princess.” That’s my mother’s voice.
“She is not going to hurt me–“
“We don’t know that,” my mother interrupts the princess, and even in my half-conscious state, I know that’s a mistake. No one should interrupt the princess.
“Interrupt me one more time, and I will make it so you cannot walk on these palace grounds again.”
All I hear is guards trying to catch their breath when the princess’s fingertips touch me for less than a second. Then, a firmer, full grip. Then, the princess wraps a hand around my arm and helps me sit up. Immediately, the pain that was so sharp seconds ago staggers into a dull ache.
I choke from desperately sucking in air.
“Stop wasting samay,” a feminine voice that isn’t my mother’s comes from above me. It’s familiar, but I can’t identify it. Samay. Life energy. The princess must be using mimicry.
“This isn’t a waste–“
“Yanami.” The voice growls.
The pain comes back, and I black out. The knowledge that I just learned the princess’s name eases the ache.
Chapter 6
Iwake up with the sun shining on my face, let in from a cutout in the stone walls surrounding me. The stones are cut so precisely that I can’t make out a single imperfection in the lines where they meet. It’s the antithesis of the haphazard stones that make up the army’s quarters.
I’m inside the Inka’s residence.
It’s late afternoon. I can vaguely guess that from the shadows and offerings on the walls. Offerings to the sun always face east, and the shadows are now falling west. I want to get up and look outside to confirm it, but the moment I try to move, every nerve in my body screams at me to stop. Still, this is nothing compared to the pain that peaked during battle, that feeling of my bones cracking beneath my skin.
The wood door creaks open, and a man in a healer’s tunic walks in. He has black skin that contrasts with the shining gold earrings enlarging and weighing down his ears. His lips are pulled down into a frown that he tries to hide when he catches my eyes.
I must look as much of a mess as I feel.
“Sinchinrei,” he greets me. I nod. I don’t want to test out my voice for fear of how I’ll sound. “We will be doing three healingsessions so you can appear before the Inka. I suggest you, well,” he pauses and takes a deep breath. “I suggest you take this time to enjoy the peace. I will not disturb you.”
There is that frown again.
I fall asleep right after he applies some numbing salves to my body. The pain relief allows my body to rest without discomfort.
“This isn’t enough.She shouldn’t even be moving,” the healer says. I imagine the frown on his face while I keep my eyes closed.
“It went as fated. Now the hero must rest,” an unknown voice says from right beside me.
“She’ll get over it,” my mother says. I stop my eyes from snapping open. “She needs to be in these clothes and out of here before sunset. I will leave that task to you, but then you are relieved from duty.”
“There has to be some way to make them reconsider. She is your daughter.”
I am only half awake, but I know that healer has no idea how little that means.
“She is much more than that now, and you would do well to remember your place in this too. She is to appear before them no later than sunset.”
No more words are exchanged, and I hear the door open and slam shut.
She is much more than that now.
“I beg of you, voice of the Guardians, to make them reconsider. She is not fit to leave without a Serpent mimic,” the healer says.
Voice of the Guardians. The healer must be speaking to a diviner.
