Page 72 of Firstborn of the Sun
Alawani did the same, smiling. ‘What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.’
L’?r? smiled. She was tired of being angry. But she’d held on so tightly to anger because it kept fear at bay.
‘How do you do it?’ Alawani asked.
‘Do what?’
‘Not break the head of everyone who calls you a coward’s daughter?’
L’?r? frowned instinctively, her body reacting to the name before taking a deep breath. ‘It’s hard but you get used to it.’
‘I don’t think I could stand one more person calling me the oath-breaker’s son,’ he said quietly. ‘I mean, I know they have a right to. At his coronation, he made oaths to all six rings and broke every one. To the priests, he promised official political positions in the kingdom.
‘The second ring was supposed to get funding for public schools for children without families, the third ring asked for a fraction of the food they produce for the kingdom, the fourth ring had asked for the ban on old magic to be removed, which he never made a royal decree, leaving themunprotected. The fifth ring asked for reduced hard labour for the prisoners there, and the sixth ring wanted to make it mandatory for royal children to join the army.’
L’?r? frowned, the image of the last execution she witnessed still fresh in her mind. ‘I can’t imagine giving the Holy Order any more power.’
‘Granted, some of these oaths did not deserve to be fulfilled,’ Alawani said, ‘but some, like this ring, just wanted to survive. Three-quarters of every harvest is the price they pay for being located here in the third ring, and within the magical barrier that protects the inner rings from hail storms and everything else that ravages the rest of the continent. They begged and begged for generations for fairer terms. My father was the first king to say yes.’ Alawani sighed and took a big gulp from the gourd. ‘The more I learn about my father the more I realize he was never going to do it. Not this, nor keep any of the other promises he made to the kingdom. There wasn’t an oath he made that he kept his word on.
‘Every time I close my eyes, I hear his voice, and sometimes, I wish I could do something to fix the damage he caused. But what authority does a mere prince have to fix his father’s legacy? With no authority and no inheritance, born nothing more than a commoner. I think that’s why I accepted the call. I thought maybe as a priest, I could do something good for this kingdom. Anything at all. Even though I didn’t know what I agreed to when he made me commit to a fate I was too young even to understand. I just … I don’t want his legacy following me all my life like a curse. I mean, I loved him. He was my father after all. My memories of him are fading with time, but I remember that he was tall, and when I looked up at him, his eyes always shone like the sun, and it was like looking into the eyes of a god. I remember his laugh as he carried me in his arms and when he held my head close to his,I remember the smell of kola nut that I hated then but miss now. But there are parts to him that I didn’t know and when I woke after the Red Stone trial, my grandfather told me some of what my father did in his final days and the life they had planned for me from the moment I was born, and I can’t reconcile what I remember with what I know. With what people say about him, I am terrified of becoming him.’
L’?r? moved closer to him. ‘Look at me.’ She held his chin and slowly dragged it to face her. ‘I’m still angry with you, and you’re still an idiot, but you’re nothing like your father. Do you hear me?’
Alawani never spoke about his father unless it came to honouring his wish to accept the call. So when the corner of his lips tilted into a smile, she mirrored his expression.
The room fell silent – only the sticky floorboards creaked beneath their weight as they shifted in place. L’?r? sighed and stared out the window, mulling over what to say, hating the tightness in her chest.
She turned to see Alawani looking at her. Still fighting the mixed emotions in her guts, her lips twitched as she noticed the way the moonlight fell on his face, making his brown eyes shine brilliantly in the dim room. She had more to say but something made her stop, her words hooked like an arrow pulled tight, waiting to be released.
He stretched out and touched her thigh. ‘I’m sorry for what I said back at the farm. I know none of this is your fault, and I shouldn’t have said it was. I am truly sorry.’ By this time, the drink had slowed his words. She stared at his hand on her thigh. She liked the feeling, even though it made her heart nearly burst out of her chest. Her eyes met his, and he quickly removed his hand, and she smiled.
‘It’s fine. You say stupid things sometimes. I can’t blame you for having half a brain.’
He shoved her softly, and she fell off balance, landing on her back, giggling. Alawani shifted and lay down next to her, and they both stared at the ceiling. L’?r? pulled out her pouch and took out the cowrie shell that Baba-Ìtàn had given her. ‘This belonged to my mother,’ she said.
‘Did Baba-Ìtàn tell you about her?’
L’?r? nodded. ‘Not enough. I want to know everything about her and why she came here. She’s always felt like a fading memory, but with this,’ she said, holding out the cowrie shell, ‘I feel like she’s with me. I wish I could put it in my hair or somewhere I could see it, not hide it away like a secret.’
Alawani turned towards her and smiled. He slowly raised her top, revealing the beads strung in layers around her waist. L’?r?’s stomach nearly burst with the nerves that shivered in them as his hands found the end of the rope. He untied a string with his teeth, and she felt every part of her body come alive under his touch. He slid the cowrie shell in and tied it up. ‘There,’ he said, smiling up at her. ‘She’ll always be with you.’
L’?r? was so flustered that she couldn’t think of what to say. She just stared at him, smiling sheepishly. As they lay on the floor together, Alawani lifted his hand and, using his agbára, dimmed the lantern and made dancing shadows with his fingers. L’?r? smiled, and then a thought crossed her mind. She sat up quickly and pulled him with her. They faced each other again. She pulled off her gloves and moved her hand closer to him, filling the space between them. ‘Show me your agbára.’
He eyed her cautiously then slowly stretched out his hand and a warm glow filled the room.
‘How do you do that?’ she said, eyes wide, reaching for his palm.
He pulled away from her. ‘No. I don’t want to hurt you.’
‘You won’t,’ she said. ‘If you teach me how you do that, maybe I’ll be able to do the same? I want to know how to use this agbára. I want to know how to summon it without facing certain death.’
Alawani hesitated but slowly moved his hands closer to hers and gently touched her fingers with his glowing hand.
As his fingers touched hers, a spark burst out from where they met, and L’?r? flinched and pulled back.
Alawani withdrew his agbára immediately. ‘I told you!’ he said. ‘Are you okay? Let me see,’ he asked, leaning over and pulling her hand from her back where she hid it. He touched her arm, and she immediately let go, allowing him to move her fingers to his lips. He kissed them. Her racing heart seemed to stop at that moment, skipping many beats before restarting, taking the air out of her lungs. The shock of his agbára had stung, but this felt like something wild dancing in her guts. She forced out a breath and smiled.
‘Let’s try again,’ she said, hoping the right spark would trigger her magic.
