Blood's Pride (Shattered Kingdoms) by Evie Manieri Read Free Book Online Page A

asha’s sharp fingers.
    ‘You don’t look away?’ Mariya whispered to him with a thrill of fear in her voice.
    ‘No – it’s not a sin for me, because I’m the— you know,’ he whispered back. ‘Not many people know it, but it’s one of the ancient privileges. All the daimons used to read and write. My uncle said my father and my grandfather never bothered with it, but I made him teach me anyway.’
    Mariya looked up at him, wide-eyed. ‘What for?’
    He answered with a tiny shrug, but when she looked away again he allowed himself a secretive pat to his chest. Underneathhis robe, he could feel the flat, square object hidden inside his pocket.
    ‘We inscribe these prayers to the gods on behalf of their daughter Inada,’ Shairav was intoning solemnly, ‘that they may see her and take her spirit upwards to join them in their eternal dance.’
    ‘The gods are merciful,’ murmured the assembly.
    Shairav took the tattered hem of his robe in his hand and with a long, careful sweep of the fabric, smoothed away the sacred inscriptions so that none but the gods would ever look upon them. ‘Your daughter Inada’s spirit has been freed from the flesh and returns to the winds and the sands. May the gods watch over us all this night, and all nights.’
    The ceremony was over. Obeying a gesture from Shairav, the rest of the Shadari scrambled to douse the fire with the mound of blankets they’d brought for the purpose. Daryan stepped back out of their way and collided gracelessly with someone behind him.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ he murmured, but his apology was drowned out by a chorus of anxious protestations of concern on his behalf. ‘I’m fine, really,’ he started, but then he caught sight of an older man with a long nose and sharp, intelligent eyes. ‘Tal!’ he called out, walking over and taking him swiftly by the arm. He pulled him back a little from the others. ‘Did you ask him? What did he say?’
    Tal began to speak, but then the expression in his eyes suddenly changed. At the same moment Daryan’s nose caught the stink of dereshadi.
    ‘Ask me what?’ His uncle stood behind him, already changedout of his asha finery and back into the brown breedmaster’s robe in which he’d seen more than fifty of the stinking creatures into the world. His eyes were bloodshot from the smoke.
    ‘We thought—’ began Daryan, but Tal interrupted him.
    ‘It was my idea, Shairav’Asha,’ Tal lied. ‘These ceremonies are so heartening for everyone; we thought that perhaps we could do something for Harotha—’
    ‘Daryan and I have already discussed this,’ Shairav growled, looking not at Tal but at Daryan. He finished tying his sash with an angry tug. ‘I cannot perform the funeral rites without a body. Have you found her body?’
    His jaw tightened. ‘You know we haven’t.’
    ‘Well then.’
    ‘But she has to be in one of the tombs. We just haven’t found the right one yet. We’re still looking—’
    ‘You’ve been looking for five months.’ Shairav shook his head. ‘I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.’
    Daryan, emboldened by the presence of Tal and the other Shadari surreptitiously watching and listening as they bustled around the room, pleaded, ‘You’re our only asha – the last asha. Can’t you just make something up? Make a new ritual? We’re not asking you to use your powers. Just to say a few prayers for her. After everything she did for us—’
    ‘Stirred up trouble, that’s what she did,’ Shairav began severely, but Daryan was spared the rest of the lecture as the sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor towards them. The Shadari all turned towards the sound.
    ‘They’ve found us!’ someone cried out.
    ‘The White Wolf!’ gasped someone else, but Daryanrecognised the rag-doll’s tangle of reddish hair as a dark figure slipped through the door and hurtled towards them.
    ‘Oh, Shairav’Asha, it’s the governor’s daughter, please, it’s Lady Isa,’ Rahsa panted,