by Lani Forbes
Ona barked in excitement and paddled against the buffeting water, keeping his smooth head above the surface. His pink tongue lolled out of his mouth as though he were having the time of his life.
The mass of water carried them up toward the cliff’s edge, and a sliver of fear lanced through her. What would they find at the top? Were they ready for whatever it might be?
She willed the water carrying them to crest the ledge. Ahkin’s arms released her as they crashed on the ground in a massive splash. The ripped remains of her long loincloth skirt stuck to her soaked legs and her hair hung in a matted sheet over her face. She flipped the hair back and scrambled to her feet.
Ahkin was already standing, his eyes as round and wide as the shield strapped to his arm. She felt her own eyes widen in fear as she took in the landscape that stretched out before them.
A field of tall, dead, gray grasses sloped up and down in small rolling hills. Black, twisted trees with no leaves curled toward the clouded sky like tortured, screaming souls. Far in the distance, the sloping hills rose into pitch-black mountains, craggy and broken like shattered fire glass. But it wasn’t the dead field that made Mayana’s stomach twist like the tortured trees.
The place of paths.
The clearing where they stood was smooth soil. Narrow dirt paths wound through the grasses ahead of them, branching out in a maze of complicated patterns and punctuated with dark, gaping sinkholes large enough to swallow a house. Mayana didn’t want to know what lurked inside those sinkholes, because the hundreds upon hundreds of snakes writhing across the paths were bad enough.
Snakes of every color and shape, from poisonous yellow to bloody red to venomous green, covered the paths that stretched as far as they could see. Some of the snakes were small and as thin as her finger, while massive brown-spotted pythons as big as branches fixed them with bulbous yellow eyes. The faint hissing she had assumed was the wind rustling the tall grasses wasn’t wind at all.
The musty, dead smell of the air was suddenly too much. Mayana stumbled sideways. Ahkin caught her and steadied her.
He frowned. “I told you, you’ve lost too much blood.”
Mayana didn’t feel like arguing. She held out her hand to Ona, who licked the wound clean. The skin healed instantly, thanks to the unique gift the Mother goddess had bestowed upon her furry friend.
“I’m fine.” She tried to stand again and felt a sudden swooping sensation in her head. Nine hells, he was probably right, but she didn’t want to tell him that. “I was shocked by . . . well, I’m sure you can see.” She motioned toward the impossible obstacle before them.
“Right now, I’m kind of wishing Zorrah had jumped in after me,” Ahkin breathed.
Mayana laughed bitterly. She knew Ahkin had no interest whatsoever in the brutal princess from the city of beasts, who had the ability to control animals with her divine blood. She had tried to kill Mayana more than once.
“We’ll have to step over them, I guess. Some of them aren’t venomous, I can tell by the markings. If we can get a branch from one of those trees, we can move them out of our way too.” He stared at one of the trees that rimmed their little clearing of dirt with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
He stepped toward the tree, but before he could move any farther, the ground beneath their feet rumbled. It roiled as though a gigantic snake moved beneath the very surface. Mayana dropped to her knees to stop from falling on her face. She screamed.
“What? What happened?” Ahkin rushed back to her side, kneeling beside her.
Mayana lifted a shaking hand and pointed to the nearest sinkhole—where a gigantic snake was rising from the stinking black depths. But no, it would be unfair to call it a snake. The diamond-backed monster was thicker than the fattest ceiba tree, big enough that ten men couldn’t wrap their arms around it. It arched high above their heads and smelled the air with a lashing forked tongue. Behind them, smaller snakes blocked Mayana and Ahkin from moving so that they would have no way to escape the monster before them.
It turned its massive head toward them, bearing curved fangs even more terrifying than the crocodile’s had been.
Ahkin wrenched Mayana to her feet.
“Run!” he screamed.
With an almighty hiss that made Mayana’s blood run cold, the monster snake lunged right for them.
Chapter
2
Yemania of Pahtia had never thought she’d see her home again. It wasn’t a home she wanted to return to, but she had expected her trip to the capital to be a one-way adventure. After all, everyone knew that Prince Ahkin would never choose someone like her to be his wife.
Her father had known, which was exactly why he had sent her in the first place. If there’s only a one-in-six chance that your daughter won’t be sacrificed to the gods, you pick the daughter it would hurt the least to lose.
She grabbed a red skirt and shoved it roughly into her basket. There weren’t many belongings left to pack, but she couldn’t wait to get out of this palace. She wanted to get away from every reminder that she wasn’t good enough for anyone. Mayana had been the only one to show her kindness, the only one to treat her like she had worth, and now she would never see her again. Mayana had jumped into the underworld with Ahkin and they were as good as dead—if they weren’t dead already.
She reached for a red-jeweled necklace, but her eyes suddenly burned with tears. She pressed her fists against them. She couldn’t think about Mayana right now. There were many maladies and ailments her divine gift of healing could cure, but a broken heart was not one of them.
A soft knock echoed off the doorframe to her room.
“Come in.” She sniffed, not even bothering to see who had come to visit.
“Hey, Yem.”
Yemania turned and her heart leapt at the sight of her older brother, Coatl. Until she remembered that he had helped Metzi betray Ahkin—then her heart curled back into its fetal position. She didn’t have the courage to confront him on his actions right now.
“What do you want?” she snapped, stalking past him to grab a feathered headpiece and add it to the basket.
“Don’t be mad at me, Yem. I did what I had to. I love her.”
“Enough to betray your best friend? Enough to help his sister convince the empire that the Seventh Sun was dying and that Ahkin needed to sacrifice himself to save it?”
Coatl leaned against a painted red pillar and frowned at her. The gold-and-ruby pendant lying against his bare chest glinted in the torch light. The earth-colored curls that clung to his head matched her own, but that was where their similarities ended. Where he was tall and lean and handsome, she was short and round and plain. Somehow, he’d even escaped the large nose that she’d inherited from their father. He fixed her with the same exasperated look he always gave her when they were children and she would critique one of his healing remedies. “Yes. Enough to be with the woman I love instead of seeing her bartered like a clay pot for the sake of keeping the peace.”
Yemania snorted a laugh. “You really think she’s going to marry you and make you emperor of the Chicome?”
Coatl pushed himself off the pillar and spread his arms wide, a wicked smile spreading across his face. “That’s the plan.”
She froze, her hand hovering in disbelief over the lid to her basket. She turned slowly to face him. “You can’t be serious. There is no way on Ometeotl’s great green earth she’d be that foolish.”
“What’s harder to believe, that Metzi already sent a messenger to break her engagement so that she can marry me? Or that your brother is going to become emperor?” His arrogance filled the room, making Yemania feel as though there was no room left for her. But Ahkin’s sister wouldn’t possibly do something so dangerous, would she?
She dismissed his claim with a wave of her hand. “Ehecatl would be furious. She’s supposed to marry their storm prince.”
&nb
sp; “And what are they going to do? Kill the only descendant of Huitzilopochtli left? Doom us all to die in darkness when the sun can no longer rise?”
Coatl was drunk on the power of his new position, on the possibilities finally within his grasp. He had always been ambitious, begging their father from the time he was ten years old to allow him to work as a healer in the palace at Tollan, the glittering golden capital of the empire. But he had never before been so selfish. This was not the same brother that had been willing to jump between her and their father’s raised fist. The same brother that used to take the brunt of that anger on himself to save Yemania and their younger sisters from their father’s rage.
“Well, I don’t want to be here when Ehecatl marches on Tollan. I will be happily secluded in the jungles of Pahtia where I can work on new remedies and—”
Coatl sucked in a breath through his teeth, slowly shaking his head. “Actually, Yem, you won’t be going back to Pahtia.”
She slammed the lid to the basket down, cracking the basket’s fibers. “What do you mean? The other princesses are already packing and leaving as we speak. The empress selection ritual is over.”
“Remember how I said Ehecatl wouldn’t dare attack us since Metzi is the only descendant of the sun god left?”
Yemania narrowed her eyes at him. “Yes . . .”
“Well, I’m the official healer for the palace, but I can’t be with her all the time. Especially not if the council gives her any grief about our marriage. But still, if anything happens to Metzi, the sun will never rise again. We need her blood for the morning sun sacrifices, and until more heirs are produced, she wants a healer with her at all times.”
Yemania quickly put the pieces together. “You want me to be with her at all times? Like her personal handmaiden?”
“When I can’t be with her, and only until we have a dozen or so little nieces and nephews for you to chase around the palace.” He cocked his head playfully.
“Do I have a choice in the matter?” Yemania’s voice remained flat.
“Not really,” Coatl said brightly, swiping aside the curtain and leaving her room with a flourish.
Yemania cursed and upended her basket of belongings. Act the servant to the young woman responsible for killing Ahkin and Mayana? Maybe she should have jumped in that sinkhole after them.
An hour later, after she couldn’t possibly stall another moment, Yemania stood outside the white-and-gold woven curtain of Metzi’s room. She curled and uncurled her fists several times before finally gritting her teeth and knocking on the frame.
“Come in,” chirped Metzi’s melodious voice.
Yemania pushed aside the curtain and entered the new empress’s chambers. She had never been impressed with Ahkin’s sister, not after she humiliated the other princesses in the steam baths to prove herself above them—and that was before Mayana had told her about Metzi and Coatl faking an apocalypse to steal her twin brother’s throne.
Metzi lay sprawled across an ocean of luxurious furs and cushions, a bowl of succulent fruits overflowing at her side. She plucked a berry from the dish and licked the juices off her dainty, polished fingers. Her long flowing hair reminded Yemania of a waterfall of ebony—thick, dark, and waving down to the subtly curved hips that attracted the attentions of every male member of the palace residence. Yemania dropped her gaze to her sandals, a twinge of disappointment mixed with jealousy at the thought that she’d never be considered beautiful in the way Metzi was.
“My future sister!” Metzi sat straight up and reached with welcoming hands, motioning for Yemania to join her. “I would love for us to become better acquainted. All I have heard about you is your prowess with remedies, and I didn’t get to spend much time with you during the selection ritual.”
Yemania gingerly lowered herself onto the furs. Metzi’s tone sounded sweet and innocent enough . . . like the poisonous flowers that used their nectar to lure insects into their deadly traps.
“Ahkin was never going to choose me, so it would have been pointless for you to make the effort.” Yemania shrugged.
“I disagree.” Metzi scooted closer, and Yemania felt the need to lean back. “Coatl tells me you are exceptionally valuable, which is why I requested you. I would love the opportunity for us to get to know one another, given that I plan to become a part of your family, after all.”
Yemania pursed her lips slightly. “I’m flattered, Your Highness, but are you sure it is wise to marry my brother so soon . . . so soon after . . . ?”
Metzi’s sweet smile became fixed. Her honey-colored eyes hardened into petrified amber.
“After canceling my engagement to the storm prince?” Her tone was calm, but Yemania swore a swarm of angry bees raged within her hardened gaze.
“It’s not—I didn’t—I’m sorry.” Yemania fumbled with her hands and fought the urge to run from the room.
Metzi lounged back and withdrew a dagger from the golden belt secured around her waist. She twirled the blade several times in her hand before gripping the handle with a fierceness that matched her eyes.
“How did you feel, Yemania of Pahtia, the moment you found out your father was forcing you into the selection ritual?”
Yemania blinked several times, fighting back the surge of emotion that came along with the memories of that day. She remembered with painful clarity. Her father calling her into the throne room of the white stone palace in the city of healing. Jungle vines blooming with flowers encircled the towering white pillars, releasing a calming scent that had done little to ease the tension in her stomach as she approached him. The Lord of Pahtia hadn’t looked at her, just picked absently at his nails as he informed her she was going to Tollan as his sacrifice to bless the emperor’s marriage. He hadn’t even told her that she would be trying to earn the emperor’s affections. Coatl had told her about that later. She was written off as a sacrifice and that was that.
Metzi must have read the anguish on her face, because the hardened look in her eyes softened.
“I know that pain, Yemania. To feel as though you are property, someone else’s to barter or toss away at their slightest whim. To feel as though you have no control over your own life.” She rose to her feet, still holding the dagger, and approached the open golden window. Beyond it, the canopies of the lush jungle stretched out below the volcanic plateau upon which the city of Tollan was perched. “I swore to myself the moment my father arranged my marriage for the sole purpose of securing Ehecatl’s loyalty that I would not be a piece in his political games. If there was a game to be played, I would be the one playing it. I’m smarter than any of these pompous rodents who refuse to see me as anything more than a pretty face with good hips for bearing children.”
Yemania’s heart twinged with pity, but only for a moment. “There’s still a difference between strength and cruelty. You didn’t have to kill your own brother,” Yemania whispered.
“I did what I had to do!” Metzi turned around and drew herself up to her full height. “The only way to get control of my fate was to take it, and I don’t regret it. No one will tell me what to do ever again. And if they do,” she sliced her palm and held it out toward the glowing orb in the heavens, “I’ll show them who really has the power.”
The light filling the room turned suddenly orange and bronze, the color of a brilliant sunset, before Metzi lifted her hand and the light returned to normal. The slightly manic gleam that edged Metzi’s amber eyes made Yemania’s stomach turn. Would the princess of light take the whole world down with her before she’d be willing to give up her power?
Before Yemania could respond, one of the elite Eagle warriors burst through Metzi’s tapestry, panting heavily and searching the room for their new empress. He carried a flint-tipped spear, and large eagle feathers protruded from his wooden helmet. Metzi turned to face him, irritation flickering across her features.
“What is it?” she b
arked.
“Your Highness.” He coughed slightly to catch his breath. “It’s Ehecatl. They’ve declared war on Tollan.”
Chapter
3
Ahkin thought he understood fear, but the moment the monster of a snake lunged toward Mayana, he swore he had never truly experienced it before. He couldn’t let anything happen to her—it was his fault she was even here.
He should have chosen her and ended the cursed selection ritual. He never should have tried to sacrifice himself. He should have seen what his sister was planning. Mistake after mistake, every single one of them piled on his head like stones. He would be damned to a thousand layers of hell before he let her down again.
Ahkin threw her to the side, and the snake’s head collided with the pale dirt between them. A cloud of dust rose from where it struck, and the snake arched back again, ready for another attack.
“Get to that tree! I’ll distract it!”
Mayana opened her mouth to say something, but Ahkin didn’t have time to listen. “Go!”
He steadied the shard of obsidian he had picked up from the cliff’s base in his hand. The edges of the fire glass cut into his palm, but all the better for exposing his divine blood, for unleashing the power of his ancestor. He willed the faded light filtering down through the clouds to bend around him, hiding him from view.
