Her eyes remained fixed on the blood drying beneath her fingernails.
But the footsteps that crossed the room were not a guard's tread.
Azul's gaze shifted.
Obiageli stood before her with a beautiful smile.She took it all in.The swelling on Azul's cheek.The split lip.The way she cradled her right arm against her chest, the pained wheezing.
"Sister," Obiageli said softly.
Azul stared at her, her heart sinking.
"You," Azul whispered.Her voice was wrecked, barely audible."It was you."
She tampered with her dosing of Somadina's sleeping medication.She alerted him to her absence; she had forced this situation, trapping her here.
Obiageli's expression did not change.
Azul kept quiet; she knew Obiageli was the informant for Orda Naiman's army, this only confirmed she was also a pawn in her plans despite their agreement.
"I thought we were allies."Azul's words were flat, her voice hoarse.
Obiageli moved closer and knelt before her, placing her hands on Azul's knees.
"We were," she said quietly."We are.That has not changed."
Azul laughed."You opened the gates to an invading army.You sold the city.You sold me.How is that not change?"
Obiageli was silent for a moment.
Three of them—Azul, Chidinma, Obiageli—had access to the name of 'Viper'; how they used it was their own prerogative.
Obiageli reached out and tucked a strand of matted hair behind Azul's ear.Azul did not flinch, nor did she pull away.
"I need the other half of my abilities back, or I can't open the Third Gate."Obiageli said.
Azul's cracked lips parted."The invasion—"
"Clears the board."Obiageli's voice was gentle, almost kind."Somadina dies.Chukwuemeka dies.The old powers crumble, and in the chaos, I reclaim what was stolen from me.The Naiman will withdraw after they have what they came for.And I will finally have the power I deserve."
I will finally kill you.
Words left unsaid.
Azul's hands curled into fists in her lap.The movement sent pain lancing through her needle-punctured arm, but she welcomed it.It was best she never forgot the pain she felt in that moment.
"If Ragnar lives," she said slowly, "would that change anything?"
Obiageli considered this.Her head tilted, the eagle feathers in her headpiece catching the light.
"He will die anyway," she said."The Naiman army is vast.Altansarnai has waited years for this.Even if Ragnar Valthorne is everything the tales claim, he cannot defeat them alone."She paused."It might be more merciful if he dies by your hand."
Azul's body stilled.
Obiageli rose to her feet.She looked down at her sister—broken, beaten, bleeding—and for a moment, her expression softened into something almost human.
"You were a great ally," she said."The best I could have hoped for.If things were different—if I were different—"
"But you're not."
