Chapter 49:

In the end, it wasn’t the oracles that persuaded Sukren, but Mayah herself.

“She’s crying,” Vek said to him. It was nearly half a week later. Sukren and Vek were sitting among piles of rubber mats on the first floor of Petrika’s hut. They were supposed to be helping customers while Petrika ran an errand.

“I know,” said Sukren. “I can hear her.”

Mayah’s sobs were filtering through the bioplastic-thatched ceiling above their heads. Sukren closed his eyes and leaned against one of the hut’s corner posts. The hem of a drawn curtain whipped against his skin as a sudden gust of wind blew through the Xhota urb.

“She’s crying,” Vek said again.

Sukren got to his feet. He pulled down the ladder that connected the stall to the second-floor alcove above.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to her.”

Sukren could see both relief and anxiety warring in Vek’s face. It was clear that on the one hand, he wanted Sukren to go up to comfort Mayah. On the other hand, Vek knew what Lady Nari’s orders were.

“What are you going to say to her?” he asked.

“I’ll make sure the prophecies are followed.”

At that, Vek relaxed. Sukren climbed up the steps and pulled the ladder up after him. He knelt next to Mayah and put his hand on her arm. The sound of her crying grew even louder.

“Come here,” he said.

She responded as he had expected, by flinging herself into his embrace. Sukren held her for several minutes as she continued to weep, her tears soaking a patch on his shirt. But he said nothing. He knew Mayah would need silence to face what she was feeling. Even after she began drawing ragged, dry breaths of spent emotion, he waited for her to speak first.

“Sukren,” she whispered.

“Yes?”

“Is it because I’m a Rajas?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is that why you don’t like me anymore?”

Before Sukren could respond, Mayah was speaking again, in a low, pleading whisper. “I’ll try really hard not to be a Rajas anymore. I promise I’ll try!”

Sometimes decisions are made after seasons, years of agony. Other times they are discovered to have already been made. His heart breaking, Sukren held Mayah closer to his chest, one hand cradling the back of her head. Enough is enough, he told himself. I will not let Mayah spend a single second longer feeling like she has to prove herself to anyone.

This may be exactly where Lady Nari wants Mayah to be, but it’s not where I want her to be. Over the shelterbelt, The Rajas Daughter who is Promised, Must go. Over and to The Lake Tower, Her feet will tread. With the Ring of the Dome, Dripping in her hand.

They could do it. Cross over the shelterbelt, hide among the Gather’s Children. The Free Serfs didn’t need Mayah’s presence to overthrow the Golden Castle. They needed her to be alive, that was all. Sukren would ensure that. He wouldn’t be betraying the Free Serfs. He would be keeping Mayah safe. He wouldn’t even need to tell Mayah that she was the Promised Daughter. He could still obey the bulk of Lady Nari’s orders and keep Mayah away from harm, away from the manipulators, away from those who wanted to string her out in an endless quest for approval, for worth.

And then maybe… maybe he and Mayah could even find a way back… a way back to the rhythms of village life… a way back to the way things used to be…

“Stay up here for the rest of the day,” said Sukren. “Don’t try to talk to Petrika or Vek. This evening, when I tell you to come down, bring everything with you.”

“Are we going somewhere?”

He put a finger over her lips. “Trust me, Mayah,” he whispered. “Just do as I say, and trust me.”

***

“Where are we going?” Mayah asked. She glanced around the Xhota urb. The sunlight was fading, curtains were being pulled shut, firelamps were being lit. “Sukren, where are we going?”

“This way,” he said.

Mayah coughed as a cart rolled past her, the wheels kicking up dust. She hurried after Sukren. He was leading her away from Stoneset Castle towards the shelterbelt. But why?

“Where are we going?” she asked again.

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He motioned her closer to him. Mayah warily obeyed him. Something was wrong with Sukren. Treating her like he always had one day, ignoring her and snapping at her the next, then turning around and acting like he was about to give her some great gift. Was he going to turn on her again?

When Sukren placed both his hands on her shoulders and leaned in so close that his mouth was against her ear, she stiffened. “We’re going to cross over the shelterbelt,” she heard him whisper. “I’ll explain why later. Just stay calm and follow me.”

Mayah jerked away from him. “The shelterbelt?”

“Shh!”

She could feel the eyes of the people around them turning to her. Sukren tugged on her arm, obviously anxious. But Mayah felt nothing but confusion as she stumbled after him. Why did he want to take her across the shelterbelt?

“Sukren, I don’t want to go. I want to go back to Vek.”

“No, you don’t.”

That made Mayah angry. After weeks of unexplained absence on top of years of falsehoods, Sukren still expected her to accept his commands, just like that? She wasn’t a little girl anymore. She had left a castle without papers. She had gone through the Temple. She had endured that mobile checkpoint unit. Couldn’t Sukren see she wasn’t the same princess as the one he had left behind in Lost Technology?

Pulling away once more, she planted her feet right in the middle of the street. “You don’t know anything about what I want,” she snapped.

At that, Sukren stopped. Xhota began dodging around them in order to get back to their huts before curfew. Mayah ignored them. She ignored the wind picking up too. The dust, the last calls of the merchants, the rippling curtains, the smell of fish and fruit and bioplastic – it all faded into the distance.

“Mayah, don’t do this.”

“I’m not the one doing anything.”

“I will explain everything.”

“Like sunflare you will.”

He grabbed Mayah’s wrist. “I will.”

“You never did before.”

There it was. The source of Mayah’s resentment and rage, piercing through. How dare Sukren act like nothing had changed, when everything had? She had waited and waited since their reunion for Sukren to tell her why he had kept his entire life a secret from her. But Sukren had explained nothing. He hadn’t even acted like anything needed to be explained. And now he wanted to exert his former authority over her? Who did he think he was? Who did he think she was?

Sukren looked at her, and spoke with a mildness that shamed her. “Do you think I had any choice about that?”

Mayah bowed her head. It’s because of Rajas rule, she tried to remind herself. Sukren hadn’t been free. Sukren had been forced by Rajas rule to keep things secret from Mayah.

But recite to herself the words as she might, Mayah couldn’t quite bring herself to believe them. She couldn’t help but entertain a sneaking suspicion that Sukren had been free all along, that he had chosen to hide things from her because he had wanted to.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know if you had a choice or not.”

“Well, I didn’t. Now come with me.”

Anger flashed through her again, but long habit led her to obey. They hurried through the emptying streets. It wasn’t until they were at the edge of the Xhota urb and the shelterbelt was in sight that Sukren stopped. “We’re going to climb through that gap there, see?”

“I see it.”

“Good. I’ll give you a boost.”

“What about Vek?”

“What about him?”

Mayah glanced at Sukren. “When will we return to him?”

“I don’t know.”

For the third time that evening, Mayah drew away from Sukren. “What do you mean, you don’t know? How long are we going to be on the other side of the shelterbelt?”

“Not now, Mayah. We need to get across quickly before someone sees us.”

“That side of the shelterbelt is dangerous,” Mayah said loudly. “That’s where the Cursed live.”

“I know.”

“And you’re fine with that?”

“We don’t have time for this. I told you. I will explain.”

Mayah could feel a lump in the back of her throat, and pressure at her eyes. Don’t cry, she told herself. Don’t cry. It’ll fog up your glasses, and you don’t want that. Swallowing, she took another step back. “I don’t want to go with you.”

“Come on, Mayah.” Sukren reached out and grabbed her arm.

Mayah pulled her arm out of his grasp. “I’m not going with you.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Mayah –”

“Get away from me!”

He reached for her again. “I’m doing this for you, please –”

“Liar!”

Sukren drew back. Mayah glared at him, her chest heaving. Liar, she thought. Liar, liar, liar!

The words ran together in a jumbled mess and still they went on, a protective beat against the pain in her heart. Liar liar liar liar liar liar –

Sukren grabbed hold of her again. She struggled against his grasp, but this time he was holding on too tightly. Then there was a sharp pricking sensation in her right arm, and Mayah felt her resistance melting as chemicals flooded through her body.

“You – you drug –”

“Shh,” Sukren said. Mayah’s body was limp now. She tried to move her hands, but they refused to heed her. She could do nothing as Sukren pulled her onto his back. Even her eyelids felt heavy.

“Shh,” she heard again. “Shh. It’ll be all right. It’ll all be all right.”

No! Mayah wailed silently, as blackness pressed down on her. No! Don’t do this! Can’t you see? I’m with you now. Part of the Free Serfs. You don’t have to. Please don’t. Anymore. Hide from me. The truth.

***

Over the shelterbelt,

The Rajas Daughter who is Promised,

Must go.

Over and to The Lake Tower,

Her feet will tread.

With the Ring of the Dome,

Dripping in her hand.