A Princess for the Witch Doctor (Legends of Rahasia Book 3)

Chapter Thirteen

"You let Princess Arnina fight this h'mar alone!" Emperor Elio stands in his ceremonial armor, black plating shot through with silver. His crown weighs heavily on his salt-and-pepper hair, golden eyes flashing, framed above a dark, serious beard.

Not my baba. He's become someone else in his anger.

A reminder of the Chosen Prince he was, the one sent away by his father at thirteen. He learned to rule the world, or the world would rule you.

General Sol bows her head, staring at the ground. I stand at her left-hand side, casting discreet glances her way when the rest of the advisors in the throne room aren't looking.

"Please, love," Consort Ryu chimes in, the picture of regality and grace. He stands behind his husband, a ruby diadem dripping over black locks, a red robe hugging his figure tight. "Don't resort to vulgarity in the throne room."

Uncle Boaz, the top scholar of Rahasian academics, and cleverest Advisor, pulls out a set of heavy tomes and weary scrolls. He's all awkward angles and patchy beards, even as a grown adult, but his braininess sincerely scares me. He'd be able to put his own mother into jail if he studied a law text for long enough. "General Sol did overstep her bounds though. As a member of the military, she risked the lives of her superior and her subordinates to chase after a non-threat. According to the precedent set by your ancestors, prior Emperors, the crown's safety always comes first in matters of tactical decisions."

Soleil can no longer keep quiet, her self-control breaking. "There were shadows that the witch doctor created. They threatened Kura, and I had to ensure the threat was under control."

"They were just that!" Baba Elio shouts, his eyes aflame. We all step back, worried of getting burned. "They were shadows you were chasing. Illusions. Fakes! And you let our daughter face a very real threat of that damned foreign sorcerer!"

The witch doctor, the Dukun, giggles from behind his mask. The guards had tried removing the disguise when we transported him in his cage. It's like the cage Idriolan circuses use to transport their animals, a curved dome on wheels. Cato's Divine net though, it pads the bars, enchanted to hold even a blood-magic-user within its confinement. The cage holds the man, the man holds the mask, and his face, like his name, remains a mystery.

Angry, and powerless, and feeling like I'm partially to blame that this murderous shithead is still alive, I draw Baqir and bang the bars of the cage. "You, be quiet!"

"Say my name and stop me!" The witch doctor challenges, his voice running deeper now behind the mask. Emboldened by the Advisors' stunned whispers surrounding us, embroiling us in intrigue.

"Arnina!" Papa Ryu's usually musical voice sounds like the shrill cry of a bird swooping in on its prey. Papa Ryu doesn't often scold me, but when he does... well, I whimper at the memory.

Cowed and scowling, and still itching for a fight, I step back. "Sorry, papa."

Yet the Dukun keeps laughing.

Damn him.

"General Sol," Emperor Elio takes in a deep breath, nodding to the guards around us. They inch closer to the General, keeping their distance with spears leveled at the fleshy halves of her throat. Her metal skin glints in the sunlight, sweat pouring down the human halves of her face. "Your position in the Empire's military is at an end. For shirking your duty to the crown, you will remain in Raja. Stripped of your rank, you will enter civilian life. Is that clear?"

General Sol looks to me, eyes so intense. Does she want to apologize? Does she blame the fact that the murdering witch doctor's still alive on the fact she left me to my own devices? Does she hate me for pitying her?

She turns back, the moment lost. Mournfully, she consents. "I understand, my king. There's no excuse I can give for risking Princess Arnina's life."

"Please, baba, it's not her fault. She was saving Kura's life..."

"Enough," Baba Elio holds up his hand, voice booming in the throne room. The mosaics of the Blind God and the Goddess of Death beneath our feet. Even in this chamber, the gods are honored. Even the Emperor bows to them. Even if the gods refused to interfere as much after the end of the Second Divine War, they're still here. Making us go mad trying to please them, to do everything right. "Enough, Arni."

I swallow my anger. My pride.

It's all my fault that Sol's exiled to Raja, that the witch doctor's alive.

I look at him, leaning all smug against the bars of his cage. The cage he can't escape, but not for lack of trying against the war god, Cato's, Divine netting reinforcement. I look at the ugly mask, the wooden fangs and piercing eyes.

I'm going to kill you.

I can't tell from this angle if he's watching me, knowing how much I want to kill him.

I'll say your name, and I'll take great pleasure in separating your head from your body, murderer. Just you wait. Just. You. Wait.

***

Readers,

How do you think Arnina's going to take her idol, General Sol's, exile? Was the Emperor right to take away Soleil's rank?

Best,

Sophia