Milúà quietly moved to the edge of Ìyá-Ayé’s throne and stood at attention.
The room was silent for a moment, then finally, Aya’ba Oyíndà said, ‘I know you’ve heard about the incident in the temple. I need your help handling a delicate and very private matter.’
The younger woman stretched out her palm and revealed a cowrie shell.
‘Hmnn …’ Ìyá-Ayé hummed. ‘And who does the Aya’ba want to kill?’
‘The girl who broke into the temple,’ Aya’ba Oyíndà said.
‘The girl?’ Ìyá-Ayé asked. ‘How do you know her?’
‘I can’t tell you that,’ Aya’ba said. ‘Will you do it or not?’
‘The girl isn’t my problem, Aya’ba. That is for your husband to fix,’ Ìyá-Ayé said. ‘And my girls aren’t mercenaries. You can’t just request them to fix your personal issues. Don’t you have royal guards?’
‘If that girl is who I think she is, royal guards wouldn’t stand a chance. I need a maiden. A warrior maiden.’
Milúà fought the urge to look at Ìyá-Ayé. Surely she wasn’t considering this. Maidens were not hired assassins. Although, if Alawani was still with the girl, it could be the perfect opportunity for Milúà to redeem herself. To kill the girl, bring him back and save herself from the trouble she was in. She’d do anything to have just one night off from the weeping hall.
‘She’s your problem too,’ Aya’ba Oyíndà said.
‘What are you saying?’
Aya’ba Oyíndà started speaking in a dialect Milúà didn’t understand. It almost sounded like the woman was singing as opposed to speaking in a tongue that was closer to that used for old magic incantations. Milúà could pick out only a few random phrases. A word similar to ‘death’ was used many times. Then she heard two names that made her heart stop. Mremí and Àdùnní. Milúà didn’t know who Mremí was, but she sure knew her birth mother’s name. She clenched her fists and slowly breathed out, returning her gaze to Aya’ba. This woman had known her mother too.
The two women continued their conversation in the old tongue, and Milúà tried unsuccessfully to make sense of what they were saying. At some point, Ìyá-Ayé raged towards Aya’ba Oyíndà, who shrank back in defence.
‘There is so much at stake here, Ìyá-Ayé. If you don’t believe me, ask Àlùfáà-Àgbà,’ Aya’ba Oyíndà said in the common tongue.
‘I believe you. What I can’t believe is how you could allow this to happen!’ Ìyá-Ayé barked.
‘Me? What could I have done?’
‘Oyíndà, you could’ve told me!’ Ìyá-Ayé raised her hand, and from where she stood, it looked to Milúà like Aya’ba Oyíndà flinched.
Titles were everything in Oru, hard to earn and near treasonous to erase from one’s name. Aya’ba Oyíndà seemed to find her courage again, and she scowled at Ìyá-Ayé.
‘Aya’ba,’ Ìyá-Ayé said, correcting herself. ‘Have you told your husband all this?’
‘No!’ Aya’ba Oyíndà said briskly. Then added in an even tone, ‘I already killed the midwife, and did everything Àlùfáà-Àgbà told me to do. The truth about the night can never reach the Lord Regent’s ears. He can’t know my involvement in this.’
‘In what you did or what you’re about to do?’ Ìyá-Ayé asked.
Even when they spoke in the dialect she understood, Milúà couldn’t figure out the puzzle. However, from their countenances, Milúà knew Ìyá-Ayé had the woman cornered.
Ìyá-Ayé smirked, ‘I didn’t know you had this in you, Aya’ba.’
‘I’ll do anything for my son.’
‘And, of course, anything to keep your crown,’ Ìyá-Ayé said, but Aya’ba Oyíndà ignored her.
She continued, ‘Consider it done. But first, I’ll be risking the life of one of my darling daughters for your son. What do I get for this service, Queen Mother?’
Milúà felt her hands sweat, and she rubbed it off on her clothes. Her heart thumped in her chest. She didn’t want to be a pawn in whatever politics Ìyá-Ayé was playing, but she hoped her mother wouldn’t take away from her the chance to redeem herself and bring back the prince.
‘What do you want?’ Aya’ba Oyíndà asked through gritted teeth.
‘When your son takes the throne, he’ll marry a woman of Oru, any of his choice. His eyes will wander through the kingdom, but they will land on this house. In my house and on a girl of my choosing,’ Ìyá-Ayé said.
