Page 137 of Firstborn of the Sun
Milúà resumed, and one by one, more pieces of the wall came loose until, finally, there was light at the end of the tunnel. The hole was just big enough to crawl through.
‘Let’s go,’ L’?r? said to Alawani once the dust settled.
‘He’s not coming with you,’ Milúà said, a knowing look on her face.
‘Yes, he is!’ L’?r? replied.
‘No, I’m not,’ Alawani said from behind the maiden.
‘You see, L’?r?,’ said the maiden, ‘a deal is a deal. I help you out of the kingdom, and he returns to his true calling, the Holy Order, and his oath to the gods.’
‘Never!’ L’?r? shouted.
Alawani took a few steps closer, and she could see the concern in his eyes. He held her face in his palms, and she shoved them away. ‘You made a deal with her? When?’
‘We have our ways,’ Milúà said, enjoying the look on L’?r?’s face as the realization hit.
‘After Ìyá-Idán’s house. When Command took me. That’s why you let them go.’ L’?r? turned to Alawani. ‘Were you going to leave this kingdom with me?’
‘I can’t, Tèmi. I swore an oath.’
‘To me! You swore an oath to me, Alawani!’
‘I swore an oath to my father, my grandfather. To the gods of our land. I survived the Red Stone. I am Àlùfáà,’ he said, holding L’?r?’s hand. ‘I wish we could have left this place before the call. I wish so much for you to be free, and when I saw you in that temple, I knew you wouldn’t leave without me. My love, I cannot exist in a world where you are not. It breaks my heart to lose you this way, but at least you’ll be safe. My place is in the temple with the chosen. My destiny is here in Oru, and yours is not. I wish the gods hadn’t called me, and my father hadn’t … but fate has decided, and I am Àlùfáà.’
She slapped him across the face. ‘No, you are not! You are not called or chosen. You are nothing!’ Tears stung her eyes as she screamed the words at him.
He held his face in his palm but did nothing. Then he said, ‘I want you to be safe. I want you to find your people, wherever they might be, and be happy with them.’
‘If you say another lie to me, I will slap you again! All of this, all of this was for nothing! I loved you. I love you!I risked my life for you. My father rots in the dungeons because of you!’
‘I never asked you for any of those things! It was you who went looking for trouble. I told you from the start I have to do this. You just wouldn’t listen. You never listen. And look what’s happened, Tèmi. Everything is a mess. Kyà is in the dungeons with your father. We don’t know what happened to Ìyá-Idán. Everyone who’s helped us in this self-imposed exile has suffered for it. Command is gone.’
L’?r?’s agbára flared in her veins as his words crashed into her.
‘You would have killed him!’ Alawani pointed at the crown heir, shivering on the ground.
‘He tried to kill us. He tried to kill you!’
Alawani’s hands remained at his side, but he could’ve sunk his dagger into her heart, and the pain would be more manageable than what she felt at that moment.
‘If you felt this way all along, why did you come this far?’
‘I chose for you the same way you chose for me. You decided all on your own that I needed saving. You put my life and yours at risk. But I realized that it was you who needed saving; they’ll never stop coming for you and I was going to make sure you got out of this kingdom alive. I’d never have let you cross all the rings alone. But I am going back.’
‘Curse you, Alawani!’ she spat at him.
‘We don’t have time for this,’ Milúà said, breaking the glare between L’?r? and the prince.
The world was a blur behind the tears that fell from her face and the sandstorm that swirled around. ‘I could kill you,’ L’?r? said, every word filled with bitterness.
Milúà sneered, ‘The oath-breaker’s son and the coward’s daughter. Even I could see how this would end.’
The look L’?r? gave Milúà could’ve burned the whole earth to ash.
‘Tèmi, there is no place for you here,’ Alawani said. ‘Not in this kingdom. No one wants you here. I don’t want you here!’ His words seemed to hit him as hard as they hit her. He sighed and wiped the sand from his eyes. ‘I don’t want to spend the rest of my days thinking you’re somewhere here in Oru waiting to be caught and killed.’
‘Alawani, look at me,’ L’?r? said, holding his face firmly in her hands, her voice breaking. Tears streamed down her face as the storm raged on around them. ‘I love you. I love you, and I choose you. I’m choosing you, and I’m asking you to choose me. I will fight with you, and I will fight for you. I will fight gods and men alike. I will not let them take you. Alawani, the gods cannot have you because you are mine. Mine,’ she said, and planted a firm kiss on his lips.
