"Don't blaspheme."The Dowager's voice was sharp."You may have fooled the others, but I know what you are."
"And what is that?"
The Dowager stopped, turning to face her.In the sunlight, her eyes were fierce.
"You are a slave girl who got lucky.Nothing more.Nothing less.Your power is borrowed from my unfortunate grandson.One day he will grow tired of you like they all do, and you'll be back in the dirt where you belong."
“Did the Igwe grow tired of you too?”
“What did you say?”
“Dowager, from my understanding, you had no biological child—”
A slap.
Azul’s head snapped to the side as pain consumed her face.
“Keep your mouth out of my family.”The Dowager scowled.
Azul wiped her bloodied lips with her sleeves and inclined her head.“My apologies, Dowager.”
They continued walking.
Below them, the city square had filled with people.A crowd, gathering around a platform that had been erected overnight.At its centre, a figure knelt—a woman in rough prison clothes, her head bowed, her hands bound.
Civilians waited as far as the eye could see—a heaving, writhing mass that swallowed the streets whole.The noise became too great as they passed by, the Dowager frowned.“An execution?”
Azul let her watch.
“How pathetic.I suppose they must be quite a notorious criminal to be publicly beheaded.”
“Dowager, do you truly not recognise her?”Azul asked.
The Dowager stopped, her eyes searching, trying to pinpoint who the haggard woman was.After a few long seconds, her hands flew to her mouth.
"No," she whispered."They wouldn't—she's the First Wife!"
The executioner stepped forward.The crowd roared.
“You must stop this at once!”the Dowager yelled, grabbing Azul’s shoulders, but it was all to no avail.
By the time her gaze returned to the scene, by the time she had rushed to the ledge of the palace walls, the blade had fallen.The Ugoeze's body crumpled.Blood sprayed across the platform, across the front rows of onlookers, and across the stones that had witnessed a hundred executions before this one.
The Dowager's legs gave way.
Azul caught her, lowering her gently to the wall's edge.The old woman's face was grey, her breath coming in gasps, her eyes fixed on the scene below with the horror of someone watching their own future unfold.
"Why?"she whispered."Why did you bring me here?"
"To see," Azul crouched beside her.A smile spread on her face, terrifying the poor, old lady."This is what your future looks like."
The Dowager shook.
"The game is over."Azul's golden eyes met hers."The pieces have fallen.The board is cleared.You have a choice."
The Dowager's eyes widened.
"I can leave you here," Azul continued."The guards will find you eventually.They'll take you back to your chambers, and you'll wait out the rest of your days in comfortable imprisonment until Somadina decides it is time to die."
