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Chapters (50)
  1. Praise for
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. City of Mariit: Capital of Maynara Map
  5. One
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Two
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Three
  24. Seventeen
  25. Eighteen
  26. Nineteen
  27. Twenty
  28. Twenty-One
  29. Twenty-Two
  30. Four
  31. By Order of General Ojas,On Behalf of Her Majesty Hara Duja
  32. Twenty-Three
  33. Twenty-Four
  34. Twenty-Five
  35. Twenty-Six
  36. Twenty-Seven
  37. Twenty-Eight
  38. Twenty-Nine
  39. Thirty
  40. Thirty-One
  41. Thirty-Two
  42. Thirty-Three
  43. Five
  44. A Coronation Prayer
  45. Thirty-Four
  46. Epilogue
  47. Acknowledgments
  48. Thank You
  49. About the Author
  50. Violetear Books x Bindery Books

The queen thought hard about their last conversation for any hints she might have forgotten. She would have heard if Imeria had left Mariit, but Imeria would never have dared return to the south before the end of the feast days. Any other absence could have been forgiven. This was the one night she needed to be in the palace.

Duja scanned the hall, her gaze landing on General Ojas, stationed at the wall across from her, flanked by two of his men. He met her gaze and swept across the room when she gestured him over.

He stood beside Maiza, leaning over Duja’s other shoulder. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

Duja glanced at the guests seated nearest her. Datu Luma and his wife were sitting within earshot. Although they were close friends of the crown, she didn’t want them to know the extent of her troubles with Imeria.

She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Could you sweep the perimeter? See if perhaps Datu Kulaw and her party have gotten lost somewhere in the palace grounds.”

Recognition flickered in Ojas’s eyes. “Right away, Your Majesty.” He straightened and strode out of the room, a pair of junior guardsmen marching at his heels.

Duja watched him leave, unable to shake the anxious feeling that she had forgotten some dreadfully important detail. High above the doors, the clock ticked. Around the table, the datus began to grumble. Duja kept her gaze trained on the entrance to the great hall, expecting Imeria to appear any moment in a flutter of scarlet and gold. But the clock hands edged closer to midnight, and the Kulaws remained conspicuously absent.

“Mother,” Laya whispered again.

“Yes, darling, I know,” she said, distracted.

Questions swirled in the queen’s mind, along with the sensation that, by sending Imeria away in the throne room the other night, Duja had done something horribly wrong.

Twenty-One

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Imeria

The walls of the tunnel were cool and smooth⁠—too smooth for Imeria to find a handhold as she stumbled through to the other side. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness.

“Hold on to me,” Luntok whispered as he reached for her other arm.

Behind them crouched the first wave of attackers: Vikal and five of the men chosen for this mission⁠—a mix of Kulaw warriors and Gulod’s mercenaries. Imeria couldn’t hear their breathing over the sound of her own. No one spoke, and the tunnel filled with the muted sound of swords rattling in their sheaths. In the dark, they couldn’t see how afraid she was, but Luntok felt how her hands shook. He threaded his fingers between hers, his own breathing steady as he led them beneath the eastern walls of the palace.