Page 33 of Her Soul for a Crown
The boy looked lost between child and adult. He rolled his eyes. “This is a waste of time. Let us get on with it.”
A finger of dread slid down Anula’s back. What had she done? The keys to the kingdom were no longer in the hands of an evil man, but in the clutches of four deadly beings. Ones who ignored faithful prayers and stole the faces of men.
Anula clenched a fist, felt the nails dig into her palm, imaginedthem ripping apart the shadow ink. Auntie Nirma had believed her ready, chosen. Anula’s lungs seized. No, she wouldn’t succumb to tears. Auntie Nirma had raised her better, stronger, and whether or not the Heavens had set her path, Auntie Nirma had paved it. Anula wouldn’t let her life be for nothing. She wouldn’t let her parents’ deaths go unanswered.
“—we could all—”
“Where is my crown?” Anula spun on the Blood Yakka. She dug her nails deeper.
The Yakka, in the usurper’s skin, leveled a guarded gaze. “I have yet to complete my business here.”
“I tethered you—that was the bargain.”
“The terms are for our business to be completed, then you will have your crown.”
A nail broke flesh. “How long?”
“With luck, no time at all.”
“And without it?”
The Blood Yakka glanced over her shoulder. “Mayhap you would like to retire to the bedchamber. It has been a long day for you.”
“Oh, has it?” She laughed hard, swatted away the last image of Auntie Nirma and her cold eyes, as though it were a fly and not a jagged stone burrowing into what remained of her heart. “I hadn’t noticed. Yes, why don’t we retire to the bedroom, where you can make me forget my miseries with the gentle touches of a husband. Or do you prefer it rougher? More deception and dominance. Perhaps that’s your business here, to get off on—”
Calu snorted. “Apologies. If I had a kahapana for every sexual thought Reeri had, I would be poorer than a fisherman with no net.”
Anula grimaced. “How comforting.”
A vein in the Blood Yakka’s forehead throbbed. “I only meant—”
“You made a fool of me once already,” she seethed. “It won’t happen again.”
Her sari flared as she strode out of the throne room, fingers finding her necklace. Perhaps she should rid herself of them and be done with it. But the title of raejina consort held even less power than a married raejina; it was barely a step above concubine. If she were to kill him now, she couldn’t guarantee advancement to the throne, not with all her allies gone. Not without Auntie Nirma.
Cursed Yakkas, she was stuck.
Unless—
She didn’t need to wait until she was on the throne to doeverythingthey had planned. Though the right like-minded political allies probably wouldn’t be open to making connections now, she was in the palace; surely that was close enough for the next step. If the Yakkas were busy, perhaps they wouldn’t stand in her way.
“Raejina Consort.” A guard bowed, halting her outside the grand doors. “I’m Tahan. I’ll be your personal guard. It’s an honor to serve you.”
The name worked through her memory. A young guard hailing from a village on the outskirts of the kingdom. His allegiance lay with the crown, but he found friends wherever he went. Eager to please and easily swayed, he was a potential threat, even a potential enemy.
“You.” Anula nodded to the guard stationed to the left of the doors. “What’s your name?”
The guard quirked a gray-streaked brow. “Do you speak to me, my raejina consort?”
“No, the man behind you.”
The guard cleared his throat, refusing to glance at the wall at his back. “My name is Bithul Perera, my raejina consort.”
Anula filtered through the lists. Bithul was a soldier turned guard. A servant to the kingdom. A true ally to the crown. He wasalso rumored to have been maimed. But the man before her was strong, arms as thick as her head.
“You will be my guard,” she commanded and turned to leave.
Tahan blocked her way. “My apologies, Raejina Consort, but he can’t be. He’s injured.”
