The crimson flesh of his twitching neck is all that is left of the young monk. The older monks yell. It was so quick. My nails have punctured Yun’s arm from squeezing so hard.
This is not real,I chant.
‘My son!’ Dunya wails out, long, listless. For once, I do not take pleasure in her pain.
‘He’s ruined the only good person of this clan.’ Yun bows his head. ‘The emperor has ruined us.’
Uma once warned me, the purest flowers die, never the weeds. Because I like to ruin beautiful things. I will never unite with Eliyas in the next life of Paradise, for I do not deserve it.
The emperor’s solemn victory is cut short. An uproar from the monks splits the imperial guards. Suddenly, I see other monks descending the paths of the monastery. More and more, turning against the guards. But there’s another clash, drawing in from the outer palace walls.
‘Warrior monks?’ Yun lurches up.
My nose twitches and a haze of grey fog swirls through the grounds. The scent of sulphur permeates the air. I see the guards clashing with...
Those are raven masks, I realise in dread.
‘They’ve surrounded the gates!’
As if they’d been waiting for this.
I jump to my feet. A siege of our own capital?The breach was never a breach at all. It was a ruse... for the real attack was from inside the palace walls, with the help of forces from—
‘Sajamistan,’ I say faintly.
And I can think of no one else but Warlord Akashun who would capitalise on Eliyas’s execution.
‘Azra!’ a scream pierces through the scuffle. Yun lunges forward but he is too late. My elder sister falls to her knees, an arrow protruding from her chest. Beside her, Belzzar is motionless, dead, on the ground; two of the emperor’s wives are cut down next by a monk; and then more elders are surrounded by raven-masked soldiers.
A mix of forces pours into the palace grounds, some with an emblem on their crisp tunics. Gold embroidery sewn in lines like Heavenly bonds. A small three-headed raven embellished across the breast of slit-sleeved, sable-furred cloaks. Hard masks in a shape between wolfand raven sculpt their countenances through the pale husks of painted bones, a terrifying animation that causes even the shadows to sulk at their feet.
Sajamistani soldiers.
‘Go!’ Yun pushes me away before he runs forward with palace guards. Across from me, I see Dunya, unmoving and stunned, before an attendant wrenches her up, and toward the gates.
An attendant lifts me to my feet.
‘Where is Uma?’ I spin around. But the palace grounds are overwhelmed with Warlord Akashun’s forces joined with Sajamistan.
The attendant suddenly trips into me, her fingers brushing against my waist-sash before she flees.
The force makes me stumble back, but a new hand catches my elbow.
‘Come quickly,’ the emperor barks out. He tugs me to the eastern boundary of the courtyard, which descends to the meadow and stone huts of the beekeepers.
‘Wait! Uma!’ My heels dig into the cold dirt, but he does not stop. ‘We must find her!’
‘We have no time,’ the emperor says, but his cold exterior wavers as he pushes me forward, a cluster of orchard trees obscuring us from view. ‘We must make our escape below the hills, through the forest to the stone huts of the beekeepers, where my soldiers await to take us to Arsduq and Izur prefectures. Yun and Hyat will meet us there with the other clansmen.’
‘What are you saying?’ I hiss, a terrifying anger drifting through me. ‘We are fleeing without her?’
He emits a sound of disgust.
This is myuma. This is hiswife.
‘You fool,’ he sneers. ‘You would risk us all to saveonelife? We were betrayed by one of our own; we must escape. Look above us, do you see them? To oust me, Warlord Akashun has allies from Sajamistan,including the Sepahbad.’
‘But—’
