He looks out at the view of the ocean in the distance.Ki-zayaratare male Kerz whose natural social place is not that of an alpha male, as Zethki was, but as a sigma—a lone wolf, as the Earthling primates call it.
He sighs and looks back at theza’kryukstanding still as stone, awaiting the outcome of this foreboding meeting. “But now I must call upon you to be Krezat. You are the last Kirigok male. You cannot deny my wishes and so I don’t ask you. You will do your duty.”
I nod. “It’s as you wish, my Krezat.”
He gives me no indication that he has even heard my acceptance. But it doesn’t matter; I have no choice in the matter except to fight for my life should I refuse. I can win my own freedom, but not Anya’s security. So I agree.
He glares over his shoulder at theza’kryuk. “These… are scoundrels, my Krezat. I trust none of them.” He looks me in the eye. “You should not, either.”
Doubt moves in the features of his face, and his old, reptilian eyes come alive with a fierceness I thought was long dead in him.
“Speak the truth, Rysethk, to me now. Did one of these Kerz kill my son? Or is his death, as has been reported to me, a story of Zethki’s fortunes at last obeying the rules of fate?” He snatches my arm and wraps his old fingers around the densest patch ofkrython my forearm, then rips my robe away to place his other hand on my heart.
I think of Anya, for she’s the prize I will win for this performance, for this trial, this great test of my will and my self-control. Kerz of immensekrythsuch as me cannot lie—not without great effort.Krythis powerful but it’s also revealing; the more power one accrues, the more transparent he becomes. It’s the only balance in our nature.
But for Anya, I’m capable of the impossible. I picture her, and subdue the violent surge that would ordinarily course through me if I were to lie to a Kerz of such standing as Ukryzethk.
“I did not witness Zethki’s death, my uncle,” I say. “But I have no reason to suspect any of theza’kryuk.”
He stares at me, absorbing my energy. I think only of water, of calm, of the lie I have told myself over and over.
“Your blood is up,” he says, after what seems like an eternity.
“I don’t wish to be Krezat,” I respond.
A tense moment swallows us in silence.
Ukryzethk harrumphs, and drops my hand. “Kerz don’t make wishes like weak children of men,” he retorts. “I will walk back. Send my bodyguards after me.”
He begins to retreat into the darkness, and I watch him, pain burning in my veins as I attempt to keep mykrythfrom boiling over.
He stops in the shadows near a bend in the path. “Rysethk,” he says, almost too quietly for me to hear. “The knife is always at your back.”
This much, I have always known.
CHAPTER25
Anya
I hear Trasmea speaking frantically in Kerz, her voice and her footsteps coming closer. She sounds quite insistent, and my heart drops. I lean my head back on the edge of the bathtub and look up. If it’s Zethki, I think, could I drown myself? Would the Kerz know how to resuscitate me?
I know that I won’t do it, as soon as I even think it. The baby in my womb is still tiny, and I cannot even feel it—not the way you feel a normal baby, kicking away—but it has immense power over me already.
And it’s Rysethk’s.
So I won’t drown myself, no matter what.
I stare at the ceiling and when the door opens—over Trasmea’s protestations—I close my eyes and pray to the universe that it will be okay.
I hear his voice, snapping sharply at Trasmea. Whatever he says sends her abruptly and silently from the room. I tip my head up slowly, opening my eyes, tears following from them. To confirm what I know to be true but don’t dare to believe. Now my heart is soaring, and I feel like I have taken a wild drug.
It’s him. Rysethk. His dark blue skin is bright and beautiful, unmarred. Hiskrythis overheating, and he glitters like a thousand points of light in the patterns on his skin.
He closes the door, his eyes on me, fire burning in them.
“Is it true?” he says.
My mouth is open again. I move my head. “I… is what… what happened?” I blather.
