Bati’s eyes flick between Jhamal and me. They planned this. The two of them. And Jhamal didn’t tell me a word about it. Is that what he was busy orchestrating while Shaun and Kai were at each other’s throats? He said he’d always support me. This isn’t what I thought he meant.

“She does not take the Ancestors’ tradition seriously,” Shaun growls. “She does not even know the way. Look at the Gray she had us bury. Look at the way she makes a mockery of things.”

I blow out a quick breath. “No, Shaun, listen. I…”

“She is not fit to lead. Magic or not. Her name should be struck from the record. The last time she fought the Chancellor for us, it amounted to more dead.”

His words echo in my head, stoking my insecurity.

“She is a liability.” He slides his thumb under his throat. “Pw’nijkizka. Na! Kizka, na!”

A liability? Really? I’m trying, doing my best. I belong here. Flames erupt from my fingers, but I snuff them out, but not before catching Shaun flinch.

“I’m not here trying to tell y’all what to do. I knew nothing of this.”

“Lies,” one of the Yakanna hisses.

“I swear.”

Jhamal sits and says nothing, and I could scream.

“I’m not interested in being anybody’s Queen.” I move to the center of the room and every eye sticks to me. “All I wanted was to get y’all to see that we can’t destroy ourselves from the inside out. I get being proud of where we from. I feel that hard. But they trying to kill us out there, because our entire existence is a threat to this backward-ass world they’ve built. They stole our magic, they’ve cut our numbers down. Right now, instead of taking each other’s heads off, having a pissing contest, we should be reaching the Ancestors.”

All chatter ceases. The silence stills me.

“Rue, do you mean…” Bati pulls his hood off.” Magic beyond the grave? Reaching out to the dead?”

“I’ve felt the Ancestors before. They can feel me. I’m sure of it. They gave us magic, so it only makes sense that they can fix this. They can restore it.”

Bati fidgets, his eyes bugging out of his head. “That sort of magic has never been done. It’s quite dangerous from what I understand and only used in the direst circumstances.”

“No disrespect, Bati. Nothing but love for you, but this situation is pretty fucking dire.”

“This is improper.” Shaun bangs the ground with his staff. “Bati, if your brothers’ nominee doesn’t accept, choose another or voting begins between Kainese and me. She shouldn’t even be speaking at this length during the ceremony. She knows nothing.”