Read Online The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley - Free Book Online
Authors: Kameron Hurley
Ads: Link
her seat. Did they hope he would grant them favors on that day?
“We have a duty to Dhai,” Nasaka said, following his stare. “We must get you dressed in something befitting your… title.”
“That’s like you,” Ahkio said. His voice broke. “You’ll watch another Kai perish, just like you watched my mother die. You pull all the strings.”
“No,” Nasaka said. “I don’t watch Kais die. I call tirajistas to save them. I use my sword to defend them. They may die regardless. But I always act. You’re the one who bides his time, waiting for someone else to make his fate. So get up, Ahkio. I don’t pull strings. I pull the people attached to them.”
“I’ll find out who killed her, Nasaka, if I have to burn this whole temple down around me.”
“One fire at a time,” Nasaka said. “That sanisi upstairs is asking for you.”
Ahkio stood.
6
Lilia sat on the edge of the bed in the infirmary, waiting to hear the worst. The temple physician, Ora Matias, pressed two cool fingers to her chest. He watched her face as she took a deep breath. Halfway through her exhale, she began to cough. She kept coughing for several minutes, even after he gave her a sip of water.
Above, the dome over the infirmary let in the light of the triad of moons. The flame flies in the lanterns filled the darker spaces. The soft organic walls here had been smoothed over in lavender plaster. Lilia found the temple infirmary very soothing. Though most were kind to her in the temple – when they noticed her – it was the Oras in the infirmary who brought her relief from pain and discomfort, whether from her twisted leg or labored breath.
Matias was new to the temple, though, and she had not been in since his appointment. He was an agreeable-enough person with plump, ink-stained fingers and a habit of smoothing over his eyebrows.
“It’s a very mild case of asthma,” Matias said, “as I’m sure you know. A girl with lungs like yours should be a seamstress or a typesetter, not a laborer. I always wanted to be a typesetter, you know.”
“Then why are you a physician?”
“Well. Talent cannot be wasted. Tirajistas must serve Dhai. It’s not a terrible profession, and it still impresses my mothers.”
“I know I don’t look very strong,” Lilia said. “But I like the exercise. My leg’s worse when I don’t use it.”
“I can’t argue with that,” he said. “But be careful. Let’s give you something to ease the constriction. Have you been given wax wraith before?”
“Ora Shotai always gave me mahuan.”
“Let’s go with what you know works, then.” He went to the vast wall of medicinal jars at the far end of the room. “You’ve been like this all day?”
“The scullery master sent me here after bed check. I was coughing so much, it bothered the other drudges.”
“Ora Matias!”
Lilia heard fear in the cry. She was on her feet even before the woman entered. It was Ohanni, the temple’s dancing teacher. She carried a limp form in her slender arms. The body was lax, like a doll. But it was the blood that made Lilia’s stomach seethe.
The body was covered in blood. Soaked in it. One arm hung free. Drops of blood collected at the ends of the fingers, spattered the floor.
Matias stood frozen at the wall of medicinal jars, mouth agape.
Ohanni carried the body into the room. Behind her were two novices. Their aprons were rusty with blood.
It was only then that Lilia realized the body was Roh’s.
Ahkio leaned over the table in the Assembly Chamber at the top of Oma’s temple. He watched the gathered council and wondered which of them had murdered his sister, and to what purpose. He was a little unsteady, so he sat in the chair to the right of the Kai’s seat, the chair reserved for her heir, which he’d sat in only once, the day they returned from the Dorinah camps and Nasaka called the circle of Elder Oras and the temple’s Ora council – the same faces he saw now.
Gaiso frowned at
“We have a duty to Dhai,” Nasaka said, following his stare. “We must get you dressed in something befitting your… title.”
“That’s like you,” Ahkio said. His voice broke. “You’ll watch another Kai perish, just like you watched my mother die. You pull all the strings.”
“No,” Nasaka said. “I don’t watch Kais die. I call tirajistas to save them. I use my sword to defend them. They may die regardless. But I always act. You’re the one who bides his time, waiting for someone else to make his fate. So get up, Ahkio. I don’t pull strings. I pull the people attached to them.”
“I’ll find out who killed her, Nasaka, if I have to burn this whole temple down around me.”
“One fire at a time,” Nasaka said. “That sanisi upstairs is asking for you.”
Ahkio stood.
6
Lilia sat on the edge of the bed in the infirmary, waiting to hear the worst. The temple physician, Ora Matias, pressed two cool fingers to her chest. He watched her face as she took a deep breath. Halfway through her exhale, she began to cough. She kept coughing for several minutes, even after he gave her a sip of water.
Above, the dome over the infirmary let in the light of the triad of moons. The flame flies in the lanterns filled the darker spaces. The soft organic walls here had been smoothed over in lavender plaster. Lilia found the temple infirmary very soothing. Though most were kind to her in the temple – when they noticed her – it was the Oras in the infirmary who brought her relief from pain and discomfort, whether from her twisted leg or labored breath.
Matias was new to the temple, though, and she had not been in since his appointment. He was an agreeable-enough person with plump, ink-stained fingers and a habit of smoothing over his eyebrows.
“It’s a very mild case of asthma,” Matias said, “as I’m sure you know. A girl with lungs like yours should be a seamstress or a typesetter, not a laborer. I always wanted to be a typesetter, you know.”
“Then why are you a physician?”
“Well. Talent cannot be wasted. Tirajistas must serve Dhai. It’s not a terrible profession, and it still impresses my mothers.”
“I know I don’t look very strong,” Lilia said. “But I like the exercise. My leg’s worse when I don’t use it.”
“I can’t argue with that,” he said. “But be careful. Let’s give you something to ease the constriction. Have you been given wax wraith before?”
“Ora Shotai always gave me mahuan.”
“Let’s go with what you know works, then.” He went to the vast wall of medicinal jars at the far end of the room. “You’ve been like this all day?”
“The scullery master sent me here after bed check. I was coughing so much, it bothered the other drudges.”
“Ora Matias!”
Lilia heard fear in the cry. She was on her feet even before the woman entered. It was Ohanni, the temple’s dancing teacher. She carried a limp form in her slender arms. The body was lax, like a doll. But it was the blood that made Lilia’s stomach seethe.
The body was covered in blood. Soaked in it. One arm hung free. Drops of blood collected at the ends of the fingers, spattered the floor.
Matias stood frozen at the wall of medicinal jars, mouth agape.
Ohanni carried the body into the room. Behind her were two novices. Their aprons were rusty with blood.
It was only then that Lilia realized the body was Roh’s.
Ahkio leaned over the table in the Assembly Chamber at the top of Oma’s temple. He watched the gathered council and wondered which of them had murdered his sister, and to what purpose. He was a little unsteady, so he sat in the chair to the right of the Kai’s seat, the chair reserved for her heir, which he’d sat in only once, the day they returned from the Dorinah camps and Nasaka called the circle of Elder Oras and the temple’s Ora council – the same faces he saw now.
Gaiso frowned at
Similar Books
