I wish that I could pace—but even among my own servants and acolytes, I can’t show such obvious signs of an unsettled heart. In such a public place as the healers’ wing, I must be above such displays at all times.
It’s only been a few minutes since I arrived to find that Elkisa wasn’t here. Though the healers said she was relatively unharmed, I can’t shake the need to see for myself. I’d been focusing so much on North and his significance, that I could not allow myself to stop and grieve for my friend. Now that I know she’s alive …
I shift my weight, but catch myself before I can start a telltale restless step. Though I long to rush off in search of Elkisa, the best way to locate my guard is to use the temple’s network of secret observers. I know who many of Techeki’s informants are among my staff, and I’ve never tried to oust them. Better I know who to keep an eye on.
The Master of Spectacle may seem frivolous and shallow, but information is his trade—and I’m certain there are plenty of the temple staff who belong to him who even I don’t know about.
Still, the healers’ assistant I ordered to find Techeki gave me a startled look and a half-hearted protest before giving up and scurrying off to find his master.Find out from Techeki where Elkisa is, I told him.Ask her to come to me here.
I take a deep breath, fighting my own instincts—then, just as I am ready to search for my friend myself, footsteps echo in the corridor. I hurry forward, my heart speeding—
And I stop short.
Hiret.
The riverstrider stops at the sight of me as well, her expression blank. It took me a moment to recognize her, for her long braids are gone. Her hair is cropped close to her head now, the feathers that signified her bond with her husband absent. She looks ten years older. I know I should be the one to speak, to find some healing words to offer her—but I cannot take my eyes from her. She looks so different without her braids. So different, now that her husband is dead.
Dead because of me.
“Hiret,” I manage. “I—”
“I came to ask the guard who survived if she would tell me where it happened.” Hiret’s voice is tightly controlled. “So I might retrieve their bodies.”
The riverstriders have intricate burial rituals, each clan’s traditions a little different from the others, but they all involve the river. I wonder if it would bring Hiret any comfort to know Capac and his brother died so close to the water.
Would it have comforted you?
“Your task.” Hiret’s voice shatters the silence, which I hadn’t noticed until she spoke. “Did you accomplish what you needed to?”
I blink at her, feeling slow and stupid, pinned under her grief. “Task?”
Her expression flickers with pain, or anger. I’m not sure, just now, that there is any difference. “The reason you came to Quenti’s that day in the market. The reason I sent my husband to aid you—the task you could not tell me about, but could ask my family to sacrifice themselves for.”
Now that I’ve seen that crack in her blank expression, I cannot unsee the grief behind it. I cannot unhear how very close she is to the edge. My heart is sick and pounding.
I can only think of one thing to tell her: the truth.
“I do not know for certain, Hiret.” I gulp a breath. “But I think so.”
Hiret’s eyes widen, her voice trembling. “Youthinkso?”
“I will not lie to you,” I tell her, my own eyes burning with unshed tears. “I wish I were certain. I wish Ididknow. But I swear to you, Ibelieve. They died for something. Ihadto be there that night.”
To find North.
Hiret’s anger lingers, but she pauses, gaze raking across my face. Whatever she finds there makes her take a breath, her brow furrowing as her eyes slide past mine, focusing beyond me. “How disconcerting,” she whispers. “To learn that your goddess has as much need of faith as you.”
This time I don’t hear the footsteps that herald a new arrival. It’s not until someone clears her throat that I find Elkisa standing not far away, looking between us.
I wish that I could rush toward my friend and throw my arms around her. I wish I could take her hand, I wish I could fall down at her feet and apologize, I wish I could …
But our reunion cannot be that way. With the entire healing staff of the temple as witness, and the grief-stricken riverstrider at my side, I must remain the Divine One—and even if we were alone, I could not hug her, touch her, assure myself that she’s real and safe.
“Divine One,” Elkisa says, her voice taut. She must have heard of my return, for she doesn’t look surprised—but her relief is there, all over her face. “The Master of Spectacle said you were looking for me.” Her eyes shift toward Hiret, and she bows her head to the riverstrider in a gesture of grief and respect.
“Hiret,” I manage, keeping my voice even. “This is Elkisa. She was with us on our journey.”
Hiret presses her lips together hard and returns Elkisa’s nod, and she speaks again in that low, controlled voice that tells me that something deep inside her wants to fly apart at the seams. “I would like to bring my husband and his brother home. Will you mark the place for us on a map?”
