K?ni rolled her eyes. ‘What else do you expect?’
‘That man knows something devastating. He must. There’s no way Father buys Ìyá-Ayé’s excuse.’
A young maid walked through the servant’s entrance with a bucket and cloth to wipe Baba-Ìtàn’s blood from the floors. The girl glanced at them, and smiled. Tofa frowned. He didn’t know her, and – then he saw K?ni smile. His sister had a friend. He wasn’t sure what surprised him more, the friend or the smile.
K?ni turned to him. ‘If it’s that important to you, follow them. I’ll stay back. If you sneak up on them, maybe you’ll overhear something important.’
He looked at the girl and back to K?ni. ‘But we’re supposed to stick together. You’re … not trying to get rid of me, are you?’ he smiled.
‘I told you, I don’t care. Go or don’t go. I’ll be fine. I’m not the one dying to find out everyone’s secrets.’ But from the way her eyes flickered to the girl, Tofa could tell she definitely was trying to get rid of him. Well, he’d always wanted more independence for her – and what was a few minutes of separation, really?
Tofa smiled and nodded. ‘I’m glad you’re making friends!’ Then turned away without waiting for a response.
Tofa almost ran into the old priest and the High Priestess as he sped through the corridors and down the stairs. As they came into view, he slowly took a few steps back, leaning around a wall to see them huddled in a corner, talking in hushed tones. He could see their lips moving but couldn’t hear anything. From where he stood, he should be able to hear even whispers, but it was dead silent. Then he figured they were masking their voices – old magic.
Luckily, Àlùfáà-Àgbà had taught him a few tricks. He only needed to figure out which old gods were being summoned. He pulled at his collar to take a deep breath, then noticed he couldn’t feel the morning breeze blow past him as it had just moments before. He got it. They were using the wind to channel the sound of their voices in a different direction. He closed his eyes, and called upon the old goddess of wind, ?ya. Focusing on the right spell to use, he softly whispered the incantation to summon a gentle breeze towards him, allowing him to make out the voices, faint and distant.
He heard Ìyá-Ayé say, ‘You lied to me, Àjànàkú.’
Tofa supposed if anyone could call Àlùfáà-Àgbà by his first name, it would be his maiden.
‘I told you what you needed to know,’ Àlùfáà-Àgbà said in response.
‘So, when were you going to tell me that Mremí’s child lived?’
‘I had it under control.’
Ìyá-Ayé laughed, and her voice echoed. She looked around, and Tofa scrambled out of sight.
‘You have nothing under control. You’ve let your silly fights with that man on the throne distract you from your true purpose. Even the little you had in your hand, you’velost.’ Ìyá-Ayé sighed, and Tofa had to lean in closer to hear the rest of what she said. ‘I don’t understand why you didn’t trust me with this. Have I not proved myself to you? Yet you hold this failure close to your chest.’
‘Failure?’ Àlùfáà-Àgbà said, and Tofa could imagine the look on his face.
‘If you had told me who Mremí really was the moment you found out, she would’ve been dead before she could birth the trouble she did. My Àdùnní would’ve been more than happy to see her end,’ Ìyá-Ayé said.
Tofa searched his mind for the name Àdùnní. He hadn’t heard it before. Probably just another maiden, he decided, then focused back on the whispering pair.
‘This again,’ Àlùfáà-Àgbà said, frustrated. ‘Mremí and Àdùnní would have destroyed themselves, and this kingdom would have been nothing but collateral damage lost in their feud.’
‘Yes! This again,’ Ìyá-Ayé said. ‘It was your job to kill Mremí and her child. And clearly, you did not. You forced me to kill my Àdùnní for thefutureof this kingdom, yet you had our greatest enemy living in this kingdom raised by a priest you chose to join the Order. Or did you forget that it was you who brought ?niìtàn’s name to us? You who claimed the gods chose him?’
‘?niìtàn is my greatest mistake, and I do not need you to remind me. The fact remains that Àdùnní had to die, and you know it. She broke the rules. She should never have been with a child, and definitely not of the man she chose.’
‘In that case, then why is Mremí’s child alive? Why are we hunting L’?r? down when she should have been buried with her mother?’
‘I did not know that the child lived! When we found Mremí after she escaped from the temple, she was alone,and she told me she buried the child with her own hands to keep it from me.’
‘And you believed her?’ Ìyá-Ayé scoffed.
‘All that is past. What matters now is that I will find L’?r?, and she will die. By my hands if I must,’ Àlùfáà-Àgbà said. ‘But don’t you dare question me. I know that it was no mistake that a maiden of our Order under your care got pregnant. I often wonder if you made that mistake intentionally.’
‘I fed Àdùnní the infertility herbs myself, as I do for all my maidens,’ Ìyá-Ayé said, her voice laced with anger.
‘And what is your excuse for keeping Àdùnní’s child alive?’ Àlùfáà-Àgbà seethed.
Then there was quiet. Tofa had to move a couple of paces forward to see if they were still there.
Àlùfáà-Àgbà’s words came slowly and quietly, ‘Did you think you could hide Milúà in plain sight? To be just another random maiden? With agbára like that?’
