Azul sat.
Up close, the Fourth Wife was beautiful, as were all the withering flowers in the harem.Tall, with skin like polished ebony and features that hinted at northern blood—a sharper jaw, higher cheekbones, and eyes set slightly wider than Borjigin women.She wore deep purple wrapped and cinched with a gold belt shaped like a serpent, its head resting just below her sternum.
"I heard you will be leaving soon," the Fourth Wife said, returning her gaze to the board."For the Grass Sea."
"News travels quickly."
She moved another piece.
"What do you want?"Azul asked, her head feeling strangely light despite sitting without any discomfort.
"Straight to the point.I want you to understand something.Your position, which you see as hopeless, isn't as narrow as it appears."
"You don't know my position."
"You were bought for two hundred silver from a man who picked you off the streets and raised you as his own.You defended yourself against the Okpalaeze and survived his punishment.You've made an ally of the abandoned prince and somehow convinced the Third Wife that you're worth trusting with her son's life."She finally looked up, meeting Azul's eyes directly."That's not the work of someone without options."
Azul's jaw tightened."You've been watching me."
She smiled, gesturing to the board."Look.Tell me what you see."
The board was dense with pieces, their positions chaotic to her untrained eye.She tried to understand, but the more she looked, the less she saw.
"I see..."She hesitated, searching for words."I see a lot of pieces that don't make sense individually.But together, they're—" She stopped.
"Together they're what?"
"I…don’t know.I can't see clearly; I don't understand the rules."She didn’t bother pretending; she had no idea what she was looking at.
The Fourth Wife's expression flickered."That's the most honest answer anyone's given me about this game."She moved another piece, and Azul watched as a cluster of white suddenly linked to another across the board."Ukhel Dain is older than the Borjigin, older than the tribes, older than the Bacchalian Empire.Ukhel himself plays it with the souls of the dead—each piece a thousand lives, each move a million deaths."
"I don't believe in the gods."
"The game will be played regardless."The Fourth Wife leaned back, studying the board."Right now, you're a single white piece in a corner of the board.Every obvious move leads to capture."
Azul's hands tightened on her lap."Then you see my position clearly enough."
"Akwaugo."There was a twinkle in her eye."The board is larger than you think."She reached out and tapped a cluster of white pieces near the centre, their positions seemingly random."Your father's ambition, the Okpalaeze's scheme, and the Ugoeze's manoeuvring.The Iyom's hatred.All of these are moves they think benefit them.But every move also creates a future they don't control."
Each player had different plans; the Ugoeze could not possibly know that Somadina planned to use her lapse of judgement in suggesting Azul as Obiageli's replacement to somehow strengthen his position as Crowned Prince and make it harder for any future son she might have to ascend the throne.
"You're saying I should use their schemes against them."
"My words will come and go; you should stop thinking like a piece and start thinking like a player."The Fourth Wife's bronze eyes met hers again, and Azul held back a gulp as her heart raced."You have four paths.One leads back to what you were—you won't take that one."
"How do you know?"
"Because you're sitting here instead of crying your pretty eyes out in your room."She moved another piece—a stronghold, sliding along a line of intersections to encircle a cluster of black."The second leads to Somadina's bed, his protection, his version of safety.You'll loathe it, but you could survive."
Azul's expression didn't change.
"The third leads to the warlord.Marriage to a man who they call the Punishment of Ukhel made flesh.Survival is possible, but costly.You'll loathe that too."
"And the fourth?"
The Fourth Wife was quiet for a long moment.When she spoke, her voice was softer."The fourth leads out.Beyond the walls.Beyond the tribe.Beyond everything you know."
"You mean death."
