It’s time.
Ren lifted what remained of the great door and tossed it toward the opening, blocking the entry. It landed with a resounding thud that raised a cloud of smoke and dust.
“Ren!” Adin called, his voice already distant. “You’re coming with us.” His last words were barely audible.
Ren was not leaving, not yet. Not without her.
58
Over the city an acrid smoke rose, billowing up and up into the blue, cloudless sky. So it was done. Her husband was dead—not at her hands, perhaps, but through her will. Sarra Amunet was now the Ray of the Sun. And she shivered at the thought of it, at the achievement and what it had cost to accomplish it. Arko was gone and she had barely escaped the Antechamber. Her robe was torn and she had a bruise on her arm where her husband held her. She was safe from him now, but not from Saad. In a room, just past the Shadow Gate, Sarra waited for the Protector to arrive so she could escort him into the Empyreal Domain.
In death, it was easier to mourn her husband. Sarra closed the shutter, blocking the smoke from her sight. She thought of Arko, of the day they met in Harwen, his handsome face taking her in impassively as she stepped down from the carriage outside the city walls, surrounded by the entourage her father had arranged to bring her from the southern islands to the desert. He had taken her hand and led her inside the Hornring to the cheers of the people, had nodded and smiled and waved like a happy bridegroom. Once inside—once they were alone in her chamber, she trembling at the thought of him making love to her—he had bowed his head and bid her good night. Then he had turned, never once explaining, and left her alone to wonder when he would return.
All night she sat alone, waiting. When the torch had gone out and the chill had overcome her, she wandered through the unfamiliar corridors until she once more heard his voice. Stopping outside a closed door, kneeling on the hard stone, she peered through the keyhole to see her new husband inside, a woman between his legs. Serena, she heard him call the name.
There would be many more nights, many more keyholes, but that first time hurt her more than any other. She could still feel the sting of that humiliation, the new queen of Harkana on her knees outside a tiny chamber, watching another woman take what was hers. If he’d loved you, would it have made a difference?
It didn’t matter anymore. He hadn’t loved her. Whatever plan Suten Anu had had for the man, it had failed. She mourned for him as best she could. She had been his wife, but he had not been her husband. She had waited years to tell Arko the truth, to reveal to him that Ren was not her son. Her true son was Ott: her beautiful, perfect, but strange and withered boy. She needed Arko to know the truth before he died. To know why she had never visited Ren or never once used her position to lessen the boy’s suffering. I didn’t walk out on my family, not all of them.
Enough with the past. I am done with Harwen. Sarra wanted only to see her son, Ott—the boy who waited in the Protector’s Tower.
A powerful knock startled her, and Saad swung open the circle-encrusted doors. She could tell by the Protector’s swagger that he had been there when the deed was done: Saad still had sweat on his brow, his face streaked with soot and blood, a bruise on his eye, his cheek, and his chin, and a blood-soaked bandage on his chest. Bright-red circles blossomed across the linen wrap, and he spat blood as he approached. Despite herself, she hoped it was her husband who had gotten in that one good blow against the arrogant boy. A host of soldiers trailed behind Saad. All but one wore the armor of the Alehkar. At the back of the group a lone soldier stood with a cloak hung over his face, concealing his features.
The Alehkar closed the great doors, sealing the passage that led to the throne room, beginning their journey into the Empyreal Domain. Saad took his time crossing the corridor, stopping twice to take in the smoky air, his victory. The man walked with the confidence of an emperor, probably thinking himself already Ray, or as good as, but Sarra needed to be wary—she might not be the only one with a plan.
“Shall we go meet the emperor together?” he asked, making no reference to Arko’s passing. “Or should I go on alone?”
“No elaboration on the death of my predecessor?” she asked. “Not a word of respect or regret?”
“Wouldn’t that be a waste of time, god-lover?” His eyes sparked with bloodlust. “My soldiers tell me your spies watched every moment. I’m sure they’ve already described it to you in great detail.”
He was learning. Too bad it wouldn’t help him in the end. She straightened her robe. Calm, keep calm. She motioned to another door. “My predecessor named no replacement so I am Ray, though I do not wear the jewel and my light has not shone upon the mountain. There will be no need for me to do these things. As Ray, my only duty will be to escort you to our lord so that he may name you to the position.” She led Saad and his men through the dark maze of corridors, the labyrinth of passageways that wove through the old buildings and half-buried temples preceding the Empyreal Domain. The passages were so narrow that Saad’s men scraped their spears and bumped into walls as they thrust their torches into each corridor, clearing each passage before they would allow the Protector to proceed. Sarra waited silently at the corridor’s end, feigning calm, smiling at the Protector as if his victory were her own.
Saad left his guards when the doors opened to the innermost chamber. His captain—the man who had so cautiously guarded his Protector’s every movement—turned and nodded, leaving Saad alone at last. The domain was holy ground, a place for gods and no one else. The soldiers and their weapons could not enter the sacred precinct. Only the Ray could cross the threshold and return, so she did, beckoning Saad to follow.
At the door he motioned to the soldiers still waiting in the corridor behind him. They parted to allow the cloaked man to approach. Sarra had forgotten about the curious figure. Something about him gave her a chill.
Saad tugged back the man’s hood, revealing Ott’s face.
“What’s this?” Sarra pressed her lips in a narrow line.
“Your priest,” he said. “Did you think I would go alone with you, Mother? Who knows what traps hide in these depths. I will not travel into the Empyreal Domain unprotected. I can’t bring my swords or my soldiers, so I brought something else. I brought your son.”
“You’re mistaken,” Sarra said without thinking. “My son is in Harkana.”