“It is!” Dagan growled, throwing Nasu back down into the sand.

“Stop it!” I screamed. I yanked on Dagan’s arm, but he was a man filled with Alani’s fire. His eyes were wide with mournful anger, dark and menacing, and he shook me off him as if I were a fly.

This isn’t him. This isn’t my Dagan!

“Leave me, Kammani. I will deal with this guardsman who has killed my brother!”

Assata stepped in between Nasu and Dagan, one finger in Dagan’s face. “If there is anyone who should be angry, it is me. My son is dead because you sat on your hands and waited to act.”

“No,” Dagan told her, his hands in fists. “Shep is dead because you and Higal and Nasu wrecked our plan. We could have gotten Uruku. We were at the Libbu. All we had to do is get inside.” He pointed at her chest. “And because you were too impatient—”

“Too foolish,” Arwia filled in from near the fire, her hands folded neatly in front of her, head held regally as if it already wore a crown.

“You didn’t act as a head guardsman, Nasu. And you didn’t act as a skilled warrior, Assata. Both of you plunged in thoughtlessly. And now we have dead Manzazu and dead family members. Neither of you considered the consequences of your actions. Your decisions were muddled by emotion—your loyalty to me, Nasu, and your grief, Assata. They distracted you from working together with Kammani and Dagan to come to the best solution. And now we all suffer.”

Dagan clenched his fists at his sides. “Stand, Nasu! Your choice cost me my brother.” His voice cracked on the last word. “And your actions could have cost me everything in this life, do you hear me?” He looked at Assata. “Kammani was in the Libbu in harm’s way, and I couldn’t protect her.”

His shoulders heaved and he fought back tears. My big, steady Dagan was falling apart.

Assata pounded her fist into the palm of her hand. “I tried to save your ummum, Dagan. Do you not see that? I wasn’t acting simply out of grief!”

Dagan’s rage softened, fading to a quiet bleakness. His voice was a whisper as his fists unclenched. “She is as good as dead anyway. She’s likely already dead. There isn’t a point to any of this. Rish is broken and Shep is gone, and I need to accept that my ummum is, too.”

At that, he stalked toward his tent, shoulders bowed, and my heart went with him.

I peeked into my tent, where Ummi had lit several candles to brighten the twilight. Nanaea was crouched near the pallet, stitching a bloody slash across one of Humusi’s knees.

“This laceration split back open, Kammani, so I’m fixing it.” Nanaea poked the needle steadily into her skin and pulled the thread through, while Humusi sucked in a breath.

“Please tell me you took care to—”

“—sterilize the threads and the needle? I burned the needle and rubbed the threads in myrrh as you showed me. But I didn’t believe it was clean, so I did it all again and scrubbed my hands with soap and doused them with sikaru to be sure.” She pointed at her neat stitches, running perfectly in line. Better than my own.