Once again, a word resounded in his head, one he found himself thinking of more and more around her.
Tsenkhinn Narvaal.
Beside her, Nkiru was waving with the full commitment of her entire body, both arms, nearly leaning out of the window entirely.
Azul seemed to laugh at the girl, pulling strands of her hair back behind her ears.
Her smile stole his soul; his heart slammed against his ribs so hard he was certain Thane heard it.
Truly a vixen.
He held her gaze for one long moment.Then he turned to face his men with a smile under his mask.
Ragnar raised his voice.
"The Khatun blesses this war," he said.Not loudly.He didn't need to be loud."She sends us off.Every man here rides under her favour."
A sound moved through the ranks—not quite a cheer, but something warmer than that.Men straightened in their saddles.They were foreigners, but the fear that plagued the other soldiers inevitably affected them too.Besides, there was something about being sent off by a beautiful woman that made death feel slightly less inevitable.
Even Borji, riding beside him, glanced up at the window with something fond in his expression.
Ragnar faced forwards.
He did not look back again.
He didn't need to.
His faith, in that moment, was infallible.
Chapter 26
ThenewsofTobechukwuObiechina’s death didn’t faze Azul; she paused her game.Nkiru waited a few feet away for a reaction.How he died was a mystery.He wasn’t stabbed, nor did he hang himself; he was simply found collapsed on the floor as though the guards had struck him.
“I see,” Azul said slowly.“Thank you.”
She supposed someone was cleaning up loose ends.
The Iyom stood on a chair underneath the loop of silk hanging from the beams of her room, measuring one yard exactly.
Dying seemed painful, but to continue existing felt meaningless.
Her father had gone, and no crying or wailing could bring him back.
Of course, this night, as she shifted her weight and the chair clattered to the side, was the night Somadina came to visit her.
"Mother!"he rushed in, grabbing her legs to lift her weight up as she choked and gurgled, clawing at her neck.The guards followed suit, cutting her down and letting her fall into her son’s arms.
When she came through, seeing her son, her only reason for living, tears welled in her eyes."Somadina, you came to see me—"
A slap silenced her.
His embrace, his warmth, and his care all left her senses in that moment.As he stood, she looked up; his eyes were bone-chilling, filled with hate, filled with disgust.It seemed that he too despised her.
Before her thoughts could establish a new reality, he spoke to her, and for a moment, she wondered what kind of spawn had come out of her womb.
"Mother, have you heard the rumours?"He extended his hand, and an attendant handed him a handkerchief, one he used to clean the hands that touched her."You are a whore who made my father a cuckold."
Iyom’s heart staggered; the bruises around her throat came alive, tightening.
