The rage flickered again as Yemi noticed him glance over her head at Nova, and Nova give an almost imperceptible shake of her head.
How dare they.
“You can bring it to me yourself,” Yemi told her.
Nova scoffed. “I’m sorry, what? My Light—”
“I’m not asking.” Yemi scowled.
They were in a silent argument now with their eyes, one that would have been much louder if not for the presence of an audience. Neither intended to back down, but only one of them didn’t have a choice.
Nova huffed and clenched her jaw before nodding at the captain to have him open the cell door. The captain struck the prisoner once, twice, to stop his fighting and held his head still while Nova heated her blade in the flames of a torch. She kept her eyes down, focusing on the work and none on the feeling about having to do it. Without ceremony, she stretched his tongue past his lips and sliced clean through it, met by his screams, which faded quickly as he passed out.
Nova threw the tongue to the cell floor, then glared at Yemi as if asking if she was pleased.
“If anyone speaks so much as a word outside of a prayer before sunrise, I’ll have the rest of them as well,” Yemi declared.
“No,” Nova said flatly.
Yemi’s eyes narrowed. “Fortunately, I wasn’t talking to you. Captain?”
“Yes. Of course, My Light,” the captain replied.
Yemi left the corridor almost at a sprint, desperate suddenly for fresh air. Nova was on her heels. The moon seemed to fill the sky as she emerged at the top of the stone stairs, a giant, accusing eye glaring down at her. She ducked into a bush beside the entrance and vomited.
“Take off,” Nova barked at the posted guard. Yemi merely heard his departing footsteps, and he was gone by the time she raised her head to see Nova chewing her tongue the way she did when she was furious.
“What did you just have me do?” Nova hissed.
“He spat on me, so, what was necessary.” Yemi spit a bit of something left behind onto the pathway.
“So you gag him! Rough him up a bit. But, Yemi, you can’t go lopping off body parts of prisoners. It’s illegal. People will riot.”
“Oh, is that why you undermined me? In my presence, no less?” Yemi sneered. “Let me tell you what won’t happen, Ennova. I won’t be suffering the same disrespect my mother entertained. Not in my name and not in hers.”
Nova rolled her eyes. “Right, My Good Tyrant. And what about the Kept? Holy law says you can’t pass judgment in the liminal days before your coronation. Even if you don’t respect it, your soldiers do. That guard isn’t going to cut out anyone’s tongue. Cerro will catapult you off your throne if he gets wind of this.”
Yemi laughed grimly. “Why are there so many more things I can’t do now that I supposedly have that much more power?”
“But you knew that would happen!” Nova screamed through her teeth, hands clenching fistfuls of air for want of something to shake.“Where is your sense? You’re not the only one who loved your mother. Many of us love her still. But you’re the only one letting anger and self-pity take you out of your character, and it’s getting dangerous quickly.”
“My characterisanger! Haven’t you heard?”
Nova threw her hands in the air. “This again. For fuck’s sake, Yemi, go to bed.”
“How is it that people have always been allowed to rage against my mother, but it’s criminal to rage on her behalf? No—if they want to fear me, I will be a thing to be feared. Let the word spread that the time for plotting against the Crown and having it tolerated is over. It is time for everyone to grow up.”
“Yes,everyone.”
“Oh, are you quite finished with this sanctimonious shit? Really.”
“Depends on if you’re done acting like a child.”
“You forget yourself,” Yemi growled.
“Go tobed, Yemi,” Nova called as she turned to head back into the prison.
Yemi marched back up the stairs toward the rear garden, still trying to shake the drunken feeling that threatened to tip her over. The scent of blood seemed trapped in her nose. It made her pulse race and added a throbbing effect to her sight, which was nauseating.
