Chapter 35
Rae
She remembered her hands curling into fists as she watched the nomarch spit his gum at her father’s feet…
Don’t you ever wonder why you’re so angry?
She remembered the crack of the whip on her back the day her purpose was born…
Find another way, Raetawy.
Clacking her asa against Asim’s as they sparred in the Garden of the Dead…
My dear girl, you’ve gone and sparked a rebellion.
Killing one of the Medjay during the raid, and feeling the weight of his corpse upon her…
Violence changes you. Once you visit that bleak country, there’s no coming back.
Praying over the dead rebels after the ambush…
Hear me, Ra, Maker of Hours, Lord of Days—hear me and cast your light upon this man.
Tamerit kissing each of the scars on her back…
I would take a hundred more for you.
Striking Omari with the stone scepter, their secrets shattering the bond between them forever…
You’ve never had the courage to do what really needs to be done.
Rae remembered the hypnotic way that Tamerit spun raw fiber into thread, and the shh, clack!
of the looms in the weavers’ workshop. The threads wove over and under, creating pattern and design.
She thought of a chance meeting on the riverbank, of being chosen from a crowd by a stranger, of being asked to fight alongside a sworn enemy in a war far greater than she’d ever anticipated.
Over and under the threads go, the warp and the weft, shh, clack!
Slowly a pattern emerged.
The lamb, the lamb, the lamb…
She remembered…