A soldier approached, bowing low."A message for the lady in the mask."
Azul took the folded parchment, recognising the seal immediately.
Valthorne.
Ragnar.
She looked around; Chidinma seemed preoccupied, glancing at the other teens in longing.
Azul opened it, and her heart stuttered.
She looked up, scanning the crowd.And there, at the edge of the square, half-hidden in shadow, stood a woman.Dark hair.Sharp features.A smile that held no warmth but infinite amusement.
The woman beckoned.
Azul looked at Chidinma."I have to go."
Chidinma followed her gaze, confusion flickering in her eyes.She looked back, and seeing Azul’s serious expression, she relented."I see, so you only came out to receive a message.Fine.Go.I'll watch the girl."
Azul crossed the square, weaving through soldiers, dancers and fires until she stood before the stranger.
"Nyraxa Varkesh," the woman said, her voice low and musical."The Great Khan's most trusted...associate.Come.We don't have much time."
She held out her hand.
Azul took it.
And the world dissolved around her.
She fell through darkness.
The void pressed against her from all sides, seeping into her lungs and bones and thoughts.She tried to scream, but no sound emerged.Tried to move, but her body was not her own.
And then, suddenly, she was somewhere else.
A ritual circle, drawn in chalk and blood, surrounded by candles that flickered with flame that gave no heat.The symbols on the ground were familiar—Ukhel's marks, the ones she had copied in the shrine what felt like a lifetime ago.
Azul stumbled, her stomach heaving, her skin crawling with the residue of whatever magic had just pulled her through reality itself.
"Unpleasant, isn't it?"Nyraxa's voice came from somewhere to her left."Takes a lot out of you.And me."She stepped into the light, looking entirely unbothered."But it can't be helped.The Khan needs to see you."
Azul heaved and gagged, but there was no food in her stomach to displace.After catching her breath and her bearings, she could understand—barely—what spiritual fuckery had happened.
"Where is he?"
Nyraxa's smile widened."This way."
The tent was dark when Azul entered, lit only by the dying embers of lanterns and the faint glow of moonlight through the canvas.She moved quietly, her feet silent on the carpets, her eyes adjusting slowly to the dimness.She hadn’t quite expected this.
Ragnar sat in a large wooden tub at the centre of the tent, sprawled back against the rim, water steaming around his shoulders.His eyes were closed, his arms spread along the edges, and his bare chest rose and fell with a deep rhythm.The mask sat on a small table beside him, close at hand, and without it his face was open, vulnerable.
Azul froze, looking away instantly.
I should leave.She decided it would be best to find Nyraxa or at least wait somewhere else until he was dressed and composed.
“Are you the servant girl Nyraxa sent?"He waved a hand vaguely toward a pile of cloth."Towel.Please."
Azul's heart pounded.
