Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)(39)

Now there was nothing to do but wait.

She watched the light move down the far wall, clocking the passage of time as late afternoon moved toward evening. When the sun had all but disappeared and the sun clock told her that all that was left of daylight was minutes and not hours, she realized no one was coming.

She sat, staring at her feet, unsure what to do. They had said they would attend. Had something happened? Another calamity befallen the city while she sat at the top of her tower and waited?

She forced herself to stand, her legs unsteady under her ornate yellow vestments. Her mind felt blank, at a loss for what she was to do next.

Go downstairs, she told herself. Send runners to find out if there was an accident. A bridge collapse. Another death.

It was all unlikely.

What was likely was the simplest solution. Someone had interfered.

Abah.

That thought finally made her move.

She had passed through the eastern door and down to the fifth floor before she encountered a servant. She recognized him and called him by name.

“Leaya, has something happened?” she asked. “Why have the matrons not arrived?”

“They arrived an hour ago, Sun Priest.”

“Where are they? I left orders for them to be brought to the observatory immediately upon arrival.”

Leaya frowned. “No, Sun Priest. The other priest said your orders had changed and they were to be brought to the terrace.”

“What other priest?”

“The seegi. She told us you were in prayer for the dead matron and you weren’t to be disturbed. So we didn’t disturb you. Is… did we misunderstand?”

Naranpa ground her teeth in frustration, her suspicions confirmed. And worst of all, Naranpa had walked right into it.

“No,” she told the boy. “You did fine. Are they still here? On the terrace?”

“Last I saw, Sun Priest. Eche had us bring them refreshments, even though he did not partake because of the Shuttering.”

“How pious of him,” she muttered.

“Yes, Sun Priest.”

She glared at the boy, but he didn’t understand and certainly didn’t deserve to be the target of her ire. “You may go. And thank you. You did well.” She managed a smile.

Naranpa leaned against the nearby wall, staring at nothing. Night had fallen in earnest, and she could see other servants in brown making their way up the stairs, lighting the resin lamps in their sconces as they climbed. The longer she stood here, the more likely she was to miss the matrons entirely.

She wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to barge into the meeting and reassert her presence, humiliate Eche and Abah if she was there. But Abah had already outsmarted her twice that day. There was no guarantee that Abah had not already made a contingency plan should she appear. And for all she wanted to hurt Eche and Abah, she did not want to do anything that might make the priesthood look weak or confused to the Sky Made. Abah may not understand that they needed to present a unified face to the city’s leadership, but she did.

For the first time, Nara felt like she had truly misplayed her hand. Yesterday had started out with so much promise, but between then and now, she had taken a beating.

Yesterday before the procession, she had thought herself well on her way to restoring the glory of the Sun Priest. Now she was teetering on the edge of the cliff, looking at a long fall back to where Kiutue had left her if she didn’t find a way to regain control and quickly. But whom could she trust? Her ego wouldn’t allow her to ask Iktan for help, particularly after her discovery that xe was sleeping with someone that wasn’t her. Plus, xe was keeping secrets, and as much as she hated to admit it, it gave her pause. Haisan was the eldest, and wise. But she knew he thought her only marginally competent. And Abah clearly was out to replace her with Naranpa’s own protégé.

Stars and sky, how had she gotten so lost in such a short period of time? But it wasn’t so short, was it? Her mission had always been a gamble. She had loved her old mentor, and he had become a father to her in many ways, but he had allowed the hawaa’s power to be claimed by other societies, leaving what was once the most essential role in the priesthood a shell of what it had been before him, now more symbolic than functional. Naranpa had set out to seize some of that power back, not for herself but because she believed that the priesthood could be better, do better, for not only the city but the entire continent. But she was beginning to admit that she had underestimated how much the game was rigged against her.

Well, there was nothing to do now but face the consequences and try to recoup her losses in the next round. And if there was no next round and it all went up in flames, then so be it.

She straightened the cuffs of her yellow robes and smoothed a hand down the wide skirt before squaring her shoulders and marching to the terrace.



* * *



She spotted Eche first. He was facing away from her so did not see her enter the terrace. He was resplendent in the Sun Priest’s raiment, an ankle-length skirt of deep yellow, embroidered at the hem, and overlapping wrap with darker yellow sunbursts. He wore the same cloak she did. His was the original, the one her mentor had worn, meant for broader shoulders and a taller body. Hers had been remade new to fit her smaller, more feminine stature. Both were the white of dawn at the shoulders and back, progressing to a deep star-dusted black by the time it reached the knees. He wasn’t wearing the Sun Priest’s mask—small miracle. She would not have put it past Abah to sneak into her room and steal it, considering everything else she had done. But Eche did have his thick black hair tied back in a club with yellow string, and his fresh face was smiling, no doubt.