Hastily, Iltani and I exchanged tunics, and I loosened my braids down around my shoulders, pulling some tendrils around my face as the other servants’ hair had been a bit ragged. Nanaea reached into a flagon of oil and spattered some on my tunic as if I’d been cooking all day, then smeared some on my cheeks. She rubbed dirt from the floor under my eyes and cheekbones to make me look haggard and hungry.

“You look the part, but what will the two of us be doing while you’re up there?” Nanaea inspected me, tugging the hem of my tunic this way and that.

“You’ll be leaving and going to Assata’s to meet Dagan.”

“Yes, the person who would pull out our toenails for abandoning you in the Palace.” Iltani shook her head. “No. Not happening.”

Nanaea bit her lip. “We don’t have time to argue! Soon enough, the cook is going to come in here looking for replacements to make that dish, and we can’t be in here when they do.”

I brightened. “That dish! The dates and almonds! That’s what I can take up there. The servants aren’t that far ahead of me.”

We stood and Nanaea selected a small bowl similar to the one that had gone flying off the serving girl’s tray. Iltani and I ripped the tops off barrels and dug through sacks of grains looking for a replacement for Uruku’s meal. There were small pots of coriander, cumin, saffron, and fenugreek. Dried leeks and long stiff branches of rosemary. Dried, salted mutton and duck. In the back, there were casks of honey near the bags of lentils, and finally, the dried fruits.

“Iltani, here!”

We opened bags of figs, apples, apricots, and quinces until Iltani found the dates right by two casks filled to the brim with dried almonds.

Perfect!

We filled the little bowl with a mixture of the dates and almonds. With trembling fingers, I pulled out the blue bottle of gochala from Iltani’s bag. Carefully, I dripped four drops onto the nuts and fruit, trying to hide the poison as best as I could. Iltani yanked the gochala from my hand and spattered it all over the dish.

“It needs to be disguised!” I hissed, and jerked the bowl away. When I did, I knocked the bottle out of her hands, sending it skittering into the corner of the room, end over end.

“Well, I hope you’re happy. That was all of the poison we had! It had better work.” I scowled at Iltani, but she grinned wickedly.

“I think we added enough.” Nanaea pried open the cask of honey and dipped into it with a finger, drizzling the sweet nectar over the top of the fruit until it looked appetizing.

Wiping her hands on the front of my tunic, adding another note of authenticity, she smiled, wobbly and worried, with her dazzling white teeth.

“Kammani, I bid you blessings for safety from Selu himself. I will do as you’ve said and will make sure Iltani and I get to Assata’s. She’ll hide us until Dagan comes.” She hugged me tightly.