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I consider my relationship with Ixa, the way I can enter his mind so easily, and shudder. I don’t think I could ever wish that for my friends. For Britta. For Keita.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. There’s a much more important question at hand.
“If Mother is here, does that mean my kelai is here too?” I ask. I don’t sense anything to that effect, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible.
“I know nothing of it,” Myter says impatiently. “And, more to the point, why are you bothering me with such questions? You have the godsworn of Sarla with you, a living avatar of the god of wisdom. Why don’t you ask him?”
I frown. The godsworn of Sarla? What is she going on about?
As I peer across the darkness that marks the last of the pathway, a heavy sigh answers my question. I turn to find Lamin stepping forward, his hands grasping at something under his chin. As I watch, confused, he pulls what looks to be a thin, almost gelatinous membrane off his face, and just like that, the person I thought was Lamin is no more. In his place is a pale, inhumanly shimmering creature with all the same features as Lamin, except his loosely curled hair now glistens white, as do his eyes, which have barely more than a pupil in the center of them instead of the warm brown I’m so used to.
“What in the name of Infinity is this?” Li asks, jerking back as Lamin turns to us all hesitantly, his hands fidgeting the way they do on the rare occasion when he’s nervous.
Suddenly my ears are ringing. It’s all I can do to keep standing. I never suspected, never once. Two years in close companionship with him and this person—this creature standing in front of us—is the true Lamin. And I never once suspected. Never even dreamt it.
I’m at such a loss now, I just stand there, my thoughts racing.
Thankfully, I’m not the only one standing here, near the pathways’ exit. Keita is here as well, and he knows just what to do. He walks closer to his friend, his face carefully blank even as his fists are clenched as tightly as I’ve ever seen them. “Explanations. Now,” he demands.
Lamin sighs again, his unnervingly white eyes brimming with remorse. “I know this looks bad, but I want to say first that I am not now, nor have I ever been, your enemy.”
“And just saying that makes it true,” Belcalis grits out, hands on her daggers. She’s infuriated as well, as is the rest of the group.
Lamin grimaces when he notices. “I had no choice but to keep the truth from you all. It was my pact. I was sent to Otera by Sarla.”
“For what reason?” Keita demands, his eyes hooded now.
“To ensure that Deka was led down the path to discovery about the treachery of the Oteran gods.”
When he turns pointedly toward me, the last two years flash past, memories of all the time I’ve spent with him. The friendship the others and I cultivated with him. The friendship that, it’s now apparent, was based on lies. Every time I was with Keita and the other uruni, Lamin was there—always quiet, always watchful, perfectly unobtrusive. I just assumed, as did everyone else, that it was his nature. But now I know otherwise.
“So you were manipulating me?” I can’t hide the hurt that forces its way into my voice. “All this time, you were manipulating me?”
Lamin hurriedly shakes his head. “I could not speak, could not even write, about my true purpose. It was forbidden, so I remained silent until I was finally able to do otherwise.”
“Ensuring Deka learned the treachery of the Oteran gods? And what of your treachery?” Keita has a dark, foreboding look in his eye as he asks this question—that same quiet look he gets when he’s deciding whether or not to end someone’s life. Even now, embers are stirring in those golden depths, his gift rising up to meet his call.
Lamin must see it, because he hurriedly answers: “I never betrayed anyone! Mostly, I served as a witness, allowing the gods to see what was happening in Otera, especially where Deka and you all were concerned.” By now, his voice has lowered to a mumble.
“So they were spying on us through your eyes,” Belcalis clarifies.
“Yes.” Lamin nods miserably.
“All of us, not just Deka,” Belcalis clarifies again.
Another nod.
“Why?”
“The assumption was that, as Deka’s closest companions, you would be the first to exhibit any gifts once she began growing in power. That was how they would know she was ready for the truth.”
“But they didn’t just ask you to watch,” Belcalis continues, a disgusted expression on her face. “You insinuated yourself into our group.”
“Pretended you were our friend.” There’s a look I’ve never seen before in Li’s eyes as he says this, a quiet fury as he asks, “How precisely did you manage that?”
It’s the exact question I have as well. Our uruni were chosen at random. The luck of the draw. And yet Lamin ended up in our group. And, now that I think about it, I wasn’t even friends with the twins when he was bonded to Asha. I disliked Asha and Adwapa when I first met them, and they felt the same toward me, it seemed. But they were White Hands’s spies, sent to watch over and protect me, which was how they and I were placed in that wagon together….
My eyes widen as I realize: someone must have known who they were, known they would eventually be placed near me, which was why Lamin was assigned as Asha’s uruni.
