Page 110 of Heir

More specifically, Aiz wanted to ask the Empress about the liquid metal used to make the masks. Quil knew little about them, a fact that frustrated Aiz to no end. But the Empress would have a keen understanding of her people’s resources. Perhaps there was some trade Aiz could make. Even a small amount of the metal could change the fortunes of Kegar.And the Tel Ilessi shall deliver her people back to the homeland from whence they fled, so long ago.

“I’m ashamed I didn’t think of it myself,” Quil said.

After that, Aiz rarely pitched her own tent. Tas grinned at Quil, eyebrows in his hair as he asked why Quil looked so tired all the time. Karinna and Sufiyan made vomiting sounds when Quil was affectionate with Aiz. But for the most part, the Tribe seemed to find their relationship sweet.

All but Elias. It wasn’t anything he said, or even did. It was a feeling Aiz got when she and Quil were together. The way Elias’s jaw tightened when he saw them. The way he always seemed to appear when she and Ruh were talking about Mother Div or the Duranis.

The day they were to arrive in Nur, Quil was gone when Aiz woke up. She shivered in the early winter chill, packed up their tent, and tossed it onto the supplies wagon. Ruh found her as soon as she began to saddle Tregan.

“Can I ride with you, Ilar? Quil left with Tas and Elias before dawn. Didn’t say when they’d be back. But you get to see Nur today! It’s called the City of Light for their lanterns…”

Ruh told her all about Nur as, far in the distance, a quiver of air on the horizon solidified into the gold buildings and green palms of the famed oasis. Beyond and around it, massive rock plateaus cast huge shadows upon the ground, giving the desert an ethereal aura.

Aiz didn’t see Quil again until the evening, when they were nearly to Nur’s gates, waiting in an enormous line of caravans to secure a camping spot outside the city’s walls.

“Ilo,” he said, breathless as he rode up, his face drawn. “I’m sorry I’ve been gone all day. I must leave for the capital tonight with Tas.”

Aiz cursed internally. Of course her opportunity to speak to the Empress would clash with finally meeting the Kehanni of Tribe Nasur. Just her luck.

“Could we leave in the morning? I’ve been waiting months—”

She stopped as Quil scratched the back of his head and fidgeted.

“I don’t think I can bring you,” he said. All around them, the caravan pressed in, moving impatiently toward their camping spot, everyone eager to settle in for the night. Quil lowered his voice. “I can’t say much about what’s going on, but—”

“Who will I tell, Quil?” Aiz struggled for composure. “I have no one. Even if I did, why don’t you trust me?”

“Forgive me.” He reached out a hand to take hers. Almost immediately, her temper softened. “It’s been a long day,” he said. “Of course I trust you. Have you ever heard of the Kegari?”

The mention was so unexpected that Aiz was barely able to school her features.

“Just the name,” she said.

“They live at the tip of the Southern Continent. Notorious raiders. Very secretive. Isolationist, almost. The Ankanese say they raid because they’re starving. But our sources tell us something terrible has happened there.”

“Why does it matter?” Aiz said. “Are you friends with the Kegari?”

“No,” Quil scoffed. “They’re…not friends with anybody. They live on a spit of rock with nothing to trade, nothing to offer. The world has ignored them for years, and they seem content being ignored.”

Aiz bit her tongue.They raid because they’re starving. Nothing to offer…content being ignored.How wrong Quil was! How horribly shortsighted—him and anyone else who thought so little of a people they knew nothing about.

“Recently, there was a massacre there. Hundreds dead, Aiz. Perpetrated by their own king.”

“A—a massacre?” Aiz’s heart began to pound, and she thought of Tiral. Of how he hated the Snipes. But she said nothing, for a refugee from an Ankanese slum wouldn’t know anything about Kegari politics. “Why would this king kill his own people?”

“The Ankanese are the only ones who trade with the Kegari and theydidn’t offer any theories. We’re sending someone to investigate, but he won’t reach there for weeks. Perhaps they are like the Karkauns, and death allows them to harness magic. I don’t know. The envoy said that religious figures were targeted along with children.”

Noa. The cloister. Cero had said nothing—perhaps Noa and the orphans were fine, and this was a rumor. Aiz shivered. The land around them felt oppressive suddenly, the plateaus and the mountains seeming to cast everything into shadow.

“Your aunt.” Aiz didn’t bother to hide her worry—Quil would think she was reflecting his own concern. “Why does she care about what happens with the Kegari?”

“She doesn’t. But Ankana is one of our biggest trading partners. The Kegari are biting at their southern borders. One of our treaties states that the Empire will lend soldiers and siege machines in case of a security threat to the Ankanese. My aunt needs someone to speak with the High Seer.”

“So, she’ll send you.”

“Or herself. I’d run things in Antium while she was away. I’m nearly old enough now.”

Aiz cursed the fact that she hadn’t told Quil she was Kegari from the beginning. It would give her the perfect excuse to see the Empress. She couldn’t tell him now—her lies would be revealed and no matter how fast she talked, he’d never trust her again.

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