‘You didn’t see them, Alawani. Beaten and broken. In chains. We have to do something,’ L’?r? said.
‘Something. We’ll do something. We’ll do anything, but you won’t go back there. You won’t submit yourself to be stripped. You can’t, please,’ Alawani begged.
There was something about the way Alawani begged her. The tone of desperation she recognized from the time they sat by the fire in her house making a blood oath, swearing to be together for as long as the sun was in the sky. She knew that fear of losing the one you thought you’d grow old with. Only now did she realize how hollow her pleas sounded to him then. When everything was on the line, the sliver of hope that the Red Stone didn’t claim all the souls who climbed it seemed like a chance worth taking. And she almost forgave him for breaking his oath. Almost.
‘Won’t you say something?’ Alawani said to Ìyá-Idán. ‘She can’t go back. He’ll kill her. This is crazy. Tell her this is crazy.’
Ìyá-Idán’s eyes narrowed as she gritted her teeth. ‘And whose fault is that?’
Alawani choked. ‘I had nothing to do with this. I didn’t choose who I was born to.’
‘But you knew who you were, who your family was when you selfishly became a part of her life,’ Ìyá-Idán said.
Alawani’s shoulders dropped.
Ìyá-Idán adjusted her robe. ‘I stood in this room and begged her mother not to go to that temple. I told her what they’d do to her. What did she think would happen if she setfoot in that cursed place? She didn’t listen. I see that same defiant look in your eyes. Do whatever you want. I don’t care.’ Ìyá-Idán locked eyes with L’?r?. ‘You must leave as soon as possible. If he’s in your dreams, then he knows you’re here in the fourth ring and it’s only a matter of time before his magic finds this house. Deal or not, he’s coming for you.’ And with that, she stormed out of the room.
L’?r? let the silence in the room settle over them like a heavy blanket. Her nose stung, and tears pricked at her eyes. What had she done? Her mother had trodden this path and failed. What made her think she could win? No woman had ever been to the Red Stone.
Alawani cupped her face, wiping the fresh tears that rolled down her cheeks. ‘I was so scared when you wouldn’t wake up. I thought – I thought I’d lost you.’
L’?r? leaned into his embrace. ‘It was horrible. He was horrible. He’s killing them, Alawani. I can’t – I have to go back.’
Alawani shook his head. ‘I know we have to save them, I know we can’t leave them there, but you can’t protect them by giving up your powers. You can’t believe anything Àlùfáà-Àgbà says.’
L’?r? noticed how he distanced himself by not calling the man his grandfather.
Alawani pressed on, ‘We are on this path because you knew accepting the call was wrong. You knew that the Red Stone was not the answer. You saved me from certain death. I can’t let you go back. I can’t let you do this. If you die – I can’t live with that, L’?r?. I don’t want to live in a world without you. I won’t.’ He pulled her into a hug, and the feel of his breath on her neck, those words she’d longed to hear, felt like a balm over her aching heart.
L’?r? let out a shaky breath, her shoulders slumping in defeat. ‘I don’t know what else to do.’
‘We don’t talk about who he is and everything he’s done to you,’ Alawani said, ‘but I want you to know that I’m sorry. I’m sorry about your mother. I’m sorry Baba-Ìtàn and Kyà are suffering for what I did. I’m sorry for coming into your life and putting you at risk. Maybe Ìyá-Idán is right,’ he said, looking towards the door. ‘I should’ve stayed away.’
L’?r? considered his words. The first time she met Alawani, prince of Oru, she hadn’t realized who he was. She’d only been glad not to have died at the hands of the boys who cornered her in the dark after her training that night. She’d run away from him and hadn’t seen him again for at least two blood moons. When he finally introduced himself to her in the light of day, she didn’t let down her guard for a very long time. L’?r? couldn’t remember when she finally did. She only knew that his presence in her life had changed everything. Knowing she walked alongside the prince somehow gave her a little reprieve from the town’s violent attacks on her and Baba-Ìtàn. It didn’t make the stone-throwing or the assaults stop altogether, but it made them think twice before hunting her down at night like prey. Regardless of who Alawani’s family was, he’d saved her life long before she saved his.
L’?r? shook her head. ‘I’m glad you didn’t. I needed you.’
Tears glistened in his eyes. ‘I need you a lot more than you need me.’
Alawani guided her to the bed and lay next to her. She nestled into his side, breathing in his scent as he stroked her hair. ‘I’ll protect you,’ he whispered and kissed her forehead. ‘Everything will be all right.’
L’?r? focused on the rhythm of his heartbeat as it drummed fast against her temple. She exhaled slowly, allowing herself to get lost in the beat. Then her body grew tense, and she had to make a conscious effort to keep her eyes open, too scared to find out what she’d see in the darkness.Ìyá-Idán’s words played back in her mind, and L’?r? couldn’t help but wonder if her mother had slept on the bed she lay on. If she had walked the same steps she did.
Alawani stirred beside her, and she softly whispered, ‘Are you awake?’
‘Yes, yes,’ he said, straightening up and wiping his eyes. ‘Are you okay?’
L’?r? nodded. ‘We need a plan.’
‘We have a plan,’ Alawani said. ‘We keep moving. No matter what happens, we get you out of the kingdom.’
L’?r? studied the depths of his eyes. He was determined to keep going.
‘It’s hard, I know it is,’ he continued, ‘but you need to remember that whatever his crime, they’ll never kill Baba-Ìtàn. In the same way Milúà wouldn’t kill me. Your father cannot be killed. He is Àlùfáà.’
‘What about Kyà?’
Alawani didn’t have an answer for her. That was all she needed to know.
