“Everything alright, Your Majesty?” she asked without so much as glancing at Yemi.
Helene sank back onto her pedestal. “It is,” she said calmly. “We’re done here. Whatever the customs in what was formerly your nation, Yemaya Blackgate, here our queens only entertain requests for war from kin, not strangers.”
Here she was, being denied again. “Youare not my queen,” Yemi sneered.
“No. That girl on your throne is.” Helene smirked.
And now Yemi understood why she’d been stripped of her spear.
“You may stay in Abyssa as a tourist. But only because I cannot be seen exiling my own blood. It would be a defiance of the grace that separates us from the beasts who walk. You may consider it a gift.” Helene rose again, this time to signal Yemi’s dismissal. “Take a day. Take two. But don’t take long enough that you convince yourself you are welcome here. You are—as I have always been—on your own.” She extended a long arm toward the door at the back of the room.
Seething over unimaginable defeat, Yemi turned to leave.
“Minevra, I leave her to your charge. If she slips your escort again, let the Hollow have her.”
The door closed behind them, and Minevra gave a satisfied sigh before smiling politely at Yemi and gesturing back up the hallway. Armed guards positioned themselves in front of every other tunnel behind her. “If you’ll follow me.”
“Where are we going now?” Yemi snapped.
“To your quarters.”
Yemi frowned, peering upward at the coral stalks to regain her bearings. She was certain Minevra intended to lead her back the way they’d come. “I thought it was this way. Where were you taking me before?”
“For questioning,” Minevra said plainly. “Her Majesty’s satisfied you are who you say you are, though, so there’s no longer any need for that.”
Yemi scoffed, relieved to have been right aboutsomething. “That right? You’re satisfied, too, then?”
“Thrilled.” She blinked. “But now that you’ve seen to your mission, you are welcome to rest before you’re on your way.”
Rest.Yemi chewed the side of her tongue in thought. She’d been swimming for days and was now propelled by little more than aggravation and a mild headache. But this journey couldn’t be for nothing. She wouldn’t endure Ursla’s taunts on the trip back empty-handed. What she had now was a little time to devise a plan, and she didn’t intend to waste it sleeping. She would find a way to make this worth something more than a story.
She decided to try a more pleasant tone. “I can rest later. Her Majesty mentioned something about a tour?”
“I’ll be honest: I think she was being polite,” Minevra said.
“Well, it’s my first and only time in my grandmother’s homeland. I would like to see the whole of it properly.”
“I can do it.” A voice drifted from overhead, and Yemi looked up to see her persistent follower sinking toward them. Up close, she was young, maybe Yemi’s age, with cheekbones high enough to rival Luzon’s and a perfect pillow of a mouth. She already had a warmer disposition than anyone else Yemi’d met so far.
Minevra looked stunned for a moment, and then the furious chirping of unintelligible conversation pinged in Yemi’s ears as the two of them exchanged words not meant for her.
“This is my daughter, Lirik,” Minevra finally said. Yemi recognized the tone of a less-than-pleased parent.
Lirik tilted her head and gave a dimpled grin. “A tour seems appropriate, no? And I have nothing better to do.”
“That’s kind of you, thank you,” Yemi replied.
Minevra shifted her irritated gaze between the two of them. She appraised Yemi in silence, as if trying to suss out the risk of trouble her daughter might get wrapped up in. “You’re aware that you are something of a spectacle.”
“Quite.” Yemi smiled politely.
“And that traditionally, Her Majesty’s guests enjoy only her company, and the detail involved acts as a buffer between them and the masses.”
“We’ll be fine!” Lirik replied cheerily.
“Though I will be needing my spear back. It’s returned to me on leaving palace grounds, no?” Yemi asked.
Minevra narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and then sighed in resignation. “Correct.”
