"Mother," he said."Is it true?"
Iyom flinched.Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.
She shook her head frantically, ready to deny all accusations."H-has your father heard of this?"
His face soured drastically, and it was then she quickly pushed herself to her knees.
"No, no, my prince, it’s a lie spread by that Djinn bastard to weaken you—"
"Don’t you dare deceive me."Somadina grabbed her arms and squeezed them tight."That bastard looked me in the eye and told me I was not the Igwe’s son.Now, you will look me in the eye and tell me who I am."
Her composure crumbled in his grasp as fear overtook reason.A sob escaped her."I… I didn’t know!It was only once!I thought… I prayed you were his.You had his bearing, his eyes… I convinced myself you were!There was no true way to know!"
Somadina’s face turned grim; a muscle ticked violently in his jaw.
"You must believe me!You are your father’s son!"She tried to plead with him, but what did it matter?The mere fact of her infidelity was enough to put his lineage in jeopardy.The moment the Ugoeze heard of it, she would use it to crush both of them until not even their corpses remained.
"His name," Somadina demanded, the words dropping like stones into the pond of her sobs."The man’s name."
Iyom looked up, her eyes wide with a new terror."Why?What does it matter now?He is nothing!A ghost!"
"A ghost whose blood taints my claim," Somadina hissed, leaning closer."A ghost whose existence gives my enemies a weapon to unmake me.Tell me his name so I can send him to join the ancestors for good.So I can erase your mistake."
A name, long buried under layers of shame and ambition, spilled from her lips."Eze… Eze Udoka.He was the Imperial Physician sent to assist me."
Somadina stared at her.Not a noble, not a visiting king.A physician.His origins were not just illegitimate; they were common.
The humiliation was revolting.
He straightened, turning away from her weeping form as if she were a stranger.He strode to the door and pulled it open, facing Chukwuemeka, who awaited his orders.
The two of them shared a look of mutual understanding.
The rumours weren’t baseless.
Borji, the useless, lackadaisical prince, had an information network that rivalled their own.It set fear into their hearts, for time was of the essence.
"Eze Udoka.He is to be found.Scour every record, every village, every grave in Tarsyn.If he has any living kin, any descendants, any trace of his line, find them."He paused, his voice dropping to a whisper that was more terrifying than any shout."And kill them.All of them.Erase his blood from the earth.Leave no seed."
Chukwuemeka, his face impassive, saluted."It will be done, Okpalaeze."
Somadina didn’t look back at his mother as he left.The bond between them had just been severed without much effort.In the royal family, there was no such thing as family.
The Oracle's words spread like fire through dry grass.
By dawn, every corner of the palace hummed with them.By midday, they had reached the city.By dusk, there was not a soul in the Borjigin lands who had not heard: a devil walks among them.A heretic who has angered the Udamili.The reason the army was at their gates.The cause of all their suffering.
No name was given.No face was described.But the people did not need names.They had eyes.They had ears.They had the desperate need to blame someone, anyone, for the terror that gripped them.
And so they looked.
At the Djinn who had lived among them for years, suddenly suspect.At the strangers, the outsiders, the ones who did not quite fit.At the promiscuous vixen that now held the attention of a foreign warlord.
No one knew where the rumours started, nor did they care.
In the private chambers of the Okpalaeze, Chukwuemeka knelt before his prince.
Somadina sat in the centre of the room, surrounded by the wreckage of his latest rage—shattered pottery, torn scrolls, and an overturned table.His chest heaved.His eyes were fixed on nothing.They couldn’t find him, though they'd searched high and low; his biological father seemed nowhere to be found.
