ã€ŠBlood &amp; Furã€‹


 Prologue: The Scarlet Moon

    Prologue: The Scarlet Moon

    I woke up hungry on the morning of the Scarlet Moon.

    It wasn¡¯t unusual. As far as I could remember, I rarely ever went to sleep with a full belly. The cravings tormented me in my waiting hours and sleep granted me little respite. For I had dreamed of the Nightlords, whose bloody tribute was due today.

    They appeared in my nightmares as great winged shadows to carry me away screaming to the Blood Pyramid. Teachers and adults said that tributes should be proud of feeding a God-in-the-Flesh, but I knew better. I had only ever seen terror in the sacrifices¡¯ eyes as the priests dragged them to the altar.

    Would I be chosen tonight? I had finally reached the age of seventeen moons ago. Youth was no longer my shield.

    Eztli¡¯s gentle voice shook me out of my dark mood. ¡°Morning, sleepyhead. Come on, wake up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m awake.¡± I groaned and turned in my bed. The house¡¯s door was open. The light outside filtered through the entrance and hurt my eyes. Thankfully, Eztli¡¯s shadow loomed over me. She was already fully clothed, a red sash holding her cotton skirt and blouse together. Her father, Guatemoc, was still snoring in his bed, so it couldn¡¯t be that <em>early</em>. ¡°Is it breakfast time?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s bathing time.¡± She threw my cotton garment at my face with augh. ¡°Come on, before Mother scolds us.¡±

    It was with a heavy heart that I followed her outside. The river ran close to our house of earth and mud, its water fresh in the morning. Eztli¡¯s mother Necahual was outside breaking down flowers into healing powder. She smiled at her daughter and ignored me utterly.

    I was fine with her disdain. It was her attention I dreaded.<em>Beneath the contempt, the bitter fear</em>, the wind whispered into my ear. I ignored it.

    Eztli and I were as different as light and day. Eztli was short but fit, a beautiful young woman with bronze skin, long ck hair, and eyes that seemed sculpted from the purest amber. Boys fought over Eztli¡¯s attention and a few had already asked her father for her hand.

    Meanwhile, people saw me as a curiosity at best and an aberration at worst. I was surprisingly tall for my age, but a childhood of starvation had left me gaunt and emaciated. My hair was short, white, and lifeless. My pale blue eyes were like the winter sky. Even my brown skin was of the lightest shade most people had ever seen.

    I imagined myte father, in his infinite wisdom, thought himself clever when he called me Iztac; the <em>White</em>.

    Leaving my garments on the side of the river, I dived into the water. Eztli followed after me naked and immediately sshed me with augh. Since she had opened hostilities, I ferociously retaliated with a wave of my hand, sending water all over her face. There were other boys and girls upstream ying together under the watchful eye of their mothers. Our battle inspired them to go to war with sshes and waves as well. I often looked at the older girls¡¯ bodies with appreciation, but Eztli always punished my inattention with a surprise attack.

    My dearest rival won that round in the end, but I didn¡¯t mind. We both had fun.

    ¡°The festivities begin at noon,¡± Eztli said after we reached a truce. ¡°Do you think we should watch the ball game or the singers?¡±

    ¡°Neither,¡± I replied as I cleaned my face. A breezeing from the northern woods brushed against my face. It was surprisingly warm for the winter solstice. ¡°I won¡¯t attend.¡±

    She frowned at me, displeased. ¡°Why?¡±

    <em>Because your gods are false,</em> the wind whispered to me.<em> No true deity would wither away before the shining dawn. The stars themselves recoil from true darkness. </em>

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to feel guilty.¡± There were so many captives this year that the red-eyed priests had to put a sacrifice to the knife twice a minute. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t rejoice while people die.¡±

    Eztli sat on a stone near the riverbank. ¡°They are war captives, Iztac. Our enemies.¡±

    ¡°I can think of one exception.¡± She looked at me with worry and I immediately guessed what bothered her. ¡°They won¡¯t choose me. The gods would reject the sacrifice. I¡¯m so blood-starved, my heart¡¯s all dried up.¡±

    <em>This is not about taste, </em>the wind mocked my naivety. <em>This is about reminding the herd of its ce. </em>

    ¡°I pray you¡¯re right.¡± Eztli forced herself to smile, but I could tell my words didn¡¯t ease her worries. ¡°I hope the gods won¡¯t pick Chimalli either.¡±

    ¡°Chimalli?¡± I smirked at her. ¡°Did he ask for your hand?¡±

    ¡°He did.¡± Eztli brushed her hair with her hand. She often did that when she was pleased. ¡°Father believes he¡¯s not good enough for me, but Mother is leaning towards epting the proposal.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t particrly close to Chimalli¡ªwe barely spoke outside school¡ªbut he seemed like a friendly fellow from afar. It would be so strange to see Eztli married. I simply struggled to picture it. ¡°I hope he will take good care of you.¡±

    Eztli chewed her lip. I caught a whiff of guilt in her gaze. ¡°I will have to move out after the marriage.¡±

    My heart sank. The realization that I would be left alone with her parents hit me like a thrown stone. Guatemoc and I got along when his wife wasn¡¯t looking, but Necahual? Not so much.

    ¡°Ah,¡± I said. I didn¡¯t know how else to reply.

    ¡°Maybe you¡¯ll move out before me,¡± Eztli said, trying to cheer me up.

    ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± The matchmaker had tried to set up three marriages for me and was rejected each time. Nobody wanted a white-haired boy born on the first day of the Wind month. I would bring misfortune on my wife¡¯s family. ¡°I still need to study three more years before I can be a trader.¡±

    Long-distance trading was a dangerous, but lucrative upation. The Nightlords forbade war within their dominion, but beasts and crafty bandits still roamed thends of Yohuachanca. As the teachers said, a good trader knew when to run, when to fight, and when to haggle for his life. Those who survived enjoyed great prestige and umted wealth. Since I was physically too frail to earn stripes as a warrior and too cursed for the priesthood, trading was my best shot at leaving the vige besides bing an artisan. I could make an ie, explore the empire, and meet people who hopefully wouldn¡¯t believe in stupid superstitions.

    An awkward silence stood between Eztli and I, until she forced herself to smile. ¡°Then I will visit you every day.¡±

    ¡°You do not have to,¡± I protested. I loved her kindness, but I still had my pride. ¡°No need for pity visits.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t leave you a choice.¡± Eztli put her hand in my hair and scratched it. ¡°You will always be my precious little Iztac. That will never change.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re the same age and I¡¯m taller than you,¡± I grumbled. ¡°Don¡¯t treat me like a child.¡±

    ¡°Oh, are you pouting?¡± She teased me with a grin. ¡°You¡¯re cute when you do that, you know? I can¡¯t resist.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re insufferable.¡± And yet, I would miss her dearly. ¡°But¡­ once you¡¯re married, you can always count on me if you need anything.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Iztac. You can count on me as well.¡± Eztli put her hand on her chest. ¡°Swear?¡±

    ¡°Swear,¡± I said while returning the gesture. I wasn¡¯t sure why she would ever need the help of a cursed boy¡­ but I would still offer it, no questions asked.

    We prepared to exit the river and dry ourselves, when I felt something brushing against my submerged leg. My hand moved swiftly. My fingers closed on scales and lifted a fish out of the water. It was small with bright green scales, barelyrge enough to fit in my palm. Yet it felt so warm struggling to escape my grasp. Fish were rare in the area, so it was quite the catch for me. The hunger growled in my stomach, almost like a primalpulsion.

    ¡°Iztac?¡± Eztli asked with a frown. ¡°Iztac, are you all right?¡±

    I barely made sense out of her words. My mind was no longer my own. I opened my mouth without thinking. It didn¡¯t matter that the flesh was uncooked and raw. My teeth sank into the scales and bit into the flesh, crushing bone with ease. It might have been better cooked, but meat was meat.

    ¡°Want some?¡± I asked Eztli after taking a mouthful.

    ¡°Ew.¡± Eztli stuck her tongue at me. ¡°You¡¯re so gross, Iztac!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re such a picky eater,¡± I teased her. ¡°It literally swam to me. I say this is a gift from¨C¡±

    A stone hit me in the back of the head with enough strength to make me stumble. I dropped the rest of the fish back into the river and the current carried it away.

    ¡°What did I tell you?!¡± Necahual shouted from the riverbank with another stone in her hand. Hernky frame cast a long shadow on the water. She looked so very much like her daughter, but where Eztli radiated love and warmth, her mother was colder than a corpse. Her ck eyes red at me as if I had just murdered someone. ¡°Never eat meat, you cursed boy!¡±

    ¡°Iztac!¡± Eztli immediately swam to me and examined my head. It hurt. It hurt so much. By the Gods-in-Spirit, I felt blood dripping on my skull! ¡°You wounded him!¡±

    ¡°I should have hit him harder,¡± her mother replied coldly. The boys and girls along the river watched the scene from afar. The pity in their gaze hurt almost as much as the stone. ¡°He won¡¯t listen. He won¡¯t ever listen.¡±

    ¡°Because it is a stupid superstition!¡± I snarled with a hand on my head. My warm blood slipped between my fingers. ¡°Stupid beyond words!¡±

    A soothsayer had consulted the stars on the day of my birth, like all newborns. As I was born on the first day of the Wind month with white-hair and pale eyes, her prophecy had been particrly grim. <em>¡®This boy is born possessed. He is a curse and blessing both, for though he shall live a life of misfortune he will keep a great evil from the world. Do not y him, for his death will unleash the trapped spirit. Never give him meat, lest he develop a taste for human flesh.¡¯</em>

    That old hag had died years ago during the drought, yet her stupid prophecy still stood. I still cursed her each night. Since a soothsayer¡¯s word carried great weight, my countrymen followed hermand scrupulously. Fish and turkey were forever denied to me, as were rabbits, birds, frogs, and smanders. I was forbidden to dine even on bugs, and I couldn¡¯t even dream of a great longneck or a three-horns.

    Of course, I defied that stupid superstition. Guatemoc gave me a rabbit once when his wife was off picking herbs and I often hunted smanders near the river. I ate them in secret without developing a taste for human flesh.

    <em>Their life is a feeble dream,</em> the wind said. <em>Once you awaken your true self, you shall carry them weeping into the silent dark.</em>

    ¡°Shut up,¡± I whispered back at the voices.

    Necahual held my gaze. She had heard me. ¡°Your father should have drowned you in this river when you were born.¡±

    The words hurt like a p, and I red back at her with silent resentment.

    ¡°Stop it, Mother,¡± Eztli pleaded with her mother. Other vigers watched the scene from afar in disapproval, but did nothing. Nobody ever did anything. ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡±

    ¡°Pale hair, empty soul,¡± Necahual said angrily. ¡°That¡¯s what the soothsayer said the day of his birth. An empty soul is a bane upon a house. We should never have taken him in. Even his mother didn¡¯t want him.¡±

    A man shouldn¡¯t raise his hand at a woman¡ªespecially before her own daughter¡ªbut at this moment I struggled against the urge to grab a stone and throw it back at Necahual.

    ¡°What is this ruckus?¡± a voice called out from within the house. Necahual recoiled as her husband Guatemoc emerged from their home, his tall shadow looming in the sunlight; his cotton clothes smelled of fermented chicha. ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    ¡°I caught him eating a fish,¡± Necahualined.

    ¡°This again?¡± Guatemoc rolled his eyes in annoyance. As a former warrior, he was strong, well-built, even handsome. His hair and eyes were ck, while his skin was the color of copper. A war injury forced him to use a wood rod to stand due to a limp left knee, but he remained fearsome. ¡°Cut him some ck. He¡¯s our only worker, remember?¡±

    My father Itzili had died from the drought four years ago, and since the government paid a hefty sum to a family willing to take in orphans, Guatemoc chose to wee me. The fact I could work the farm in his stead helped a great deal. Necahual always held it against me, believing I had cursed their household despite working to keep it afloat, but her husband had the final word.

    ¡°Now dry yourself up and put on some clothes,¡± Guatemoc ordered us. Necahual crossed her arms in anger, but said nothing. ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    We had breakfast outside the house in silence. Nobody spoke around our house¡¯s hearth as we ate cooked beans and tortis; Necahual, as usual, served me the smallest portion. Eztli took care to apply healing powder to my wound, which soothed the pain. Her mother was a healer and she had learned well, while also being much kinder.

    ¡°Now get to work, Iztac,¡± Guatemoc told me the moment we finished. ¡°You don¡¯t have school today, so you can work until sunset.¡±

    ¡°Will you help?¡± I asked, while still sending Necahual a re.

    ¡°I will supervise.¡± Guatemoc turned to his wife. ¡°Fetch me another cup.¡±

    ¡°I can help him,¡± Eztli suggested kindly. ¡°I don¡¯t enjoy festivities too much.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± her father replied with a scoff. ¡°He needs to learn respect. You can go with your mother.¡±

    Eztli opened her mouth to argue, but I shook my head at her. I didn¡¯t want her parents to be mad at us both.

    Guatemoc watched me work under the morning sun, sitting on a rock as Necahual brought him a jug of chicha. Pain filled my muscles as I maintained the muddy canals feeding our crops and tended to our maguey cacti. Eventually, Necahual and Eztli left for the celebrations at noon¡ªthetter more reluctantly than the former.

    Guatemoc waited for his wife to disappear before letting out a sigh. ¡°You can rest, Iztac, she¡¯s gone.¡± He waved at me to join him. ¡°Come here and have a drink. We have the whole afternoon ahead of us.¡±

    I put the tools away and weed the offer. ¡°You don¡¯t want to go to the festivities either?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve had my fill of blood.¡± Guatemoc poured me a cup and filled his own. ¡°That way, everyone gets what they want.¡±

    As I guessed, he had lied his way out of an argument yet again. Guatemoc had spent his life fighting and grown tired of it. ¡°Forgive mynguage,¡± I said, the cup warm in my hands, ¡°but your wife is mad.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a healer, it¡¯s her job to take curses seriously.¡± Guatemoc scoffed. ¡°And you look too much like your father too, minus the hair and eyes. It unsettles her.¡±

    ¡°What happened between them?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you tired of asking?¡± Guatemoc shrugged. ¡°You¡¯ll have to ask her.¡±

    I did once, and she threw a cup at me. I guessed I didn¡¯t need to know her reasons. It wouldn¡¯t make me hate her any less.

    <em>Love and hate, night and day, one and the same,</em> the wind whispered.<em> There is an obsidian darkness buried deep in her heart, waiting for you to dig it up. How beautiful she would be then.</em>

    ¡°Shut up,¡± I answered under my breath. ¡°I¡¯m tired.¡±

    Guatemoc observed me carefully, a hint of sympathy in his gaze. ¡°You¡¯re hearing voices again?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just the wind,¡± I half-lied. I had heard voices in the breeze since before I learned to speak, and when I foolishly told teachers about them this only confirmed the soothsayer¡¯s prophecy to the people. I didn¡¯t feelfortable discussing them with anybody, even Eztli.

    ¡°I knew someone who heard voices in his head too. A warrior who had seen too much.¡± Guatemoc poured chicha down his throat. ¡°One day he grabbed an axe and murdered his own son, because his voices told him to.¡±

    <em>One night we shall dance in the Land of the Dead Suns, </em>the wind said,<em> where skulls plot their revenge and the true gods feast.</em>

    ¡°Hence why I try not to listen to mine,¡± I replied half-jokingly.

    ¡°Then drink.¡± Guatemoc¡¯s scowl deepened. ¡°It helps drown out dark thoughts.¡±

    I scoffed and sipped the chicha. I hated the sour taste, but if it had helped Guatemoc deal with his nightmares, perhaps it could help with mine. ¡°Do you think we can drink our way out of this?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get your hopes up. The priests will let us skip the festivities, but attending the coronation is mandatory.¡± Guatemoc snorted in disdain. ¡°Their so-called gods won¡¯t let us spurn them.¡±

    The chicha had loosened his tongue. ¡°¡®So-called?¡¯¡±

    Guatemoc paled and briefly looked over his shoulder. Once certain we were alone, he rxed enough to speak his mind. ¡°I saw one of their spawns die during an Amazonian raid,¡± he said. ¡°The forestdies took him by surprise and dragged him into the sun. He turned to dust in a minute.¡±

    He had told me this story many times before. Every time he drank too much, in fact.

    ¡°The priests said a Nightkin is not a Nightlord, but I¡¯ve wondered ever since¡­¡± Guatemoc yed with his empty cup, his eyes wandering to the sky. ¡°If the child can die so easily, is the parent truly divine?¡±

    I had no answer to this question¡­ though I shared his doubts. Myte father hadn''t believed in the gods either, and the false superstitions I suffered from only made me more skeptical of authority figures.

    ¡°I¡¯ve talked with a long-distance trader at the market once,¡± I said. That was only half-true. Eztli did most of the talking, since she could charm her way out of anything. ¡°He told me the Sapa people to the south worship other gods that do not demand blood.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps you should move there afterpleting your studies,¡± Guatemoc mused. ¡°What happened to that trader?¡±

    I scowled. ¡°The priests took him away one day, and I never saw him again.¡±

    ¡°I figured. Traders with loose tongues don¡¯tst long.¡± Guatemoc shrugged. ¡°Remember that when you finally earn your license.¡±

    I scoffed and raised my cup. ¡°To three more years.¡±

    ¡°To three more years,¡± Guatemoc replied with a tired look. ¡°Three years¡­¡±

    We spent the whole afternoon watching the clouds. Or at least I did, while Guatemoc ended up drinking himself to sleep. Iid him on the grass and then climbed onto the house¡¯s roof to get a better look at the sky.

    Today was the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year. I wondered if I would catch a glimpse of the stars before the coronation.

    <em>Astronomers say the world is a sphere sorge it boggles the mind, </em>I thought as the sun began to set beyond the horizon. The moon was rising red, full and terrible.<em> I wonder if the people on the other side of the world see the same constetions. Do they fear the night too? </em>

    There were whispers of distantnds far beyond the Boiling Sea, full of barbarians with gold for hair and marble for skin. Once I umted enough money, I would buy a boat and try my luck at crossing the sea. The Nightlords¡¯ reach didn¡¯t expand beyond the ocean. Or perhaps I should take Guatemoc¡¯s suggestion and flee south to thends of the Sapa. I doubted they would wee a fugitive from Yohuachanca, but I could always try my luck anyway.

    ¡°It is time,¡± a cold voice called out to me; and not a ghostly one. ¡°Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡±

    My head snapped to my left in surprise, and I found myself facing two red eyes peering at me from the garden. Two men had intruded upon the farm. One was busy waking up Guatemoc, and the other looked up at me from the ground below. How they had sneaked up on us without a sound, I couldn¡¯t tell.

    Like all priests of the Nightlords, these two wore armored vests ofyered cotton and bones thick enough to stop arrows, round bamboo shields, and hardwood helmets. Each of them carried an obsidian club: a wooden sword whose sides were embedded with rows of sharp, prismatic volcanic ss des. These edges were said to be so sharp that they could behead a man in a single blow.

    Priests of the Nightlords were bound to their masters through a blood pact, and it showed. Their eyes were red-rimmed and their pupils a pale shade of crimson. Each wore a cloak made of human skin leather; once a Nightlord and their spawns had fed on a tribute, their corpses were harvested by the priesthood so that their sacrifice might never be forgotten.

    ¡°The gods will soon rise for the Emperor¡¯s sake,¡± the red-eyed man said. I could smell the nauseating stench of rotting human flesh radiating off him. ¡°To the Blood Pyramid with you.¡±

    <em>Death awaits</em>, the wind whispered.

    My farming vige existed in the shadow of Yohuachanca¡¯s capital, Mazatilia.

    Its bloodsoaked brick walls were taller than hills. Jeweled mosaics of eagles, snakes, tyrant lizards, and fish covered their surface. A fleet of ships ranging from fishing canoes to colossal galleys sailed from its port each day to deliver goods through the great Matzayanike and the rivers that fed it. Each of its stone gates wasrge enough to let five ma-driven wagons through simultaneously. Its sprawling streets dizzied the mind in their vastness.

    Our group of stragglers, which had grown to two dozen souls, stepped through zas ten timesrger than my entire vige under the shadow of red limestone pyramids. Jade and marble statues of animals watched over the citizens like the emissaries of the gods. The city housed markets that fed a million souls and ballcourt stadiums that sparked riots like wood-fueled fire.

    Yet the city held its breath under the red moon¡¯s light.

    I had visited the capital to help Necahual sell food and potions often enough to know the markets¡¯ smell: the sweet aroma of fruits, leather, and herbs; the scent of rare goods like warm chocte; the thick bitterness of animals sold dead or alive. I sensed none of them tonight. The stench of human blood drowned all other smells.

    Guards patrolled the streets on trihorns with spears in hands, grim looks on their faces. Their mounts, four-legged creatures that were longer than three men and capable of carrying two, fidgeted in fear. Their green scales could stop arrows and their horns gore a jaguar, yet they feared theing dark all the same.

    ¡°This way,¡± the priests told our group as they guided us to the city¡¯s central square; a ce sorge the entire poption could gather there under the Blood Pyramid¡¯s shadow. And they did. A shapeless mass of a million people were present, thickly packed together and yet obediently quiet. ¡°To the base of the pyramid.¡±

    Guatemoc was as silent as I was, but paler than me. The fact the priests came to bring us so close to the Nightlords meant we were both on the session list. I shuddered, hoping they would pick neither of us.

    The mere sight of the Blood Pyramid up close made me pause in awe and dread. The structure was a mountain of crimson stones. How far did its apex reach? One hundred and a half feet? Two hundred? I counted at least tenyers of stone piled up on one another. Obsidian statues of giant alligators with braziers burning in their maws watched over its massive foundations. A colossal stairway of narrow stone steps led to a ghastly altar at the summit. Its intricate design represented a terrible face with burning eyes, two great horns, and a mouth full of sharp fangs; its bones were carved from ck obsidian, its gaze and teeth from glittering rubies.

    This was the fearsome face of the First Emperor, father of the Nightlords and founder of Yohuachanca, who had ascended to be the Final Sun.

    Yet it was the pyramid¡¯s moat that frightened me the most. A ditch filled with skulls surrounded the structure; human skulls. I dared not count them. The very stones of the pyramid were soaked with the blood of the tributes.

    I couldn¡¯t see either Eztli or Necahual among the crowd. The priests and guards pushed my group to a spot close to the ditch, where a thousand other men waited; all aged from sixteen to forty. I recognized people from other viges around the capital. Our administrative area must have been put on the bracket. Old men and young men, warriors and schrs, the strong and the weak, none dared speak. I held onto my cotton shirt, for the night was dark and cruel. The scarlet moon shone like a second sun, her dark radiance obscuring even the stars.

    Three calls of a droning horn announced the emperor¡¯s arrival. Red-eyed priests forced the crowd to split in two; leaving an open path to the Pyramid¡¯s stairs.

    ¡°All kneel before the great emperor of Yoahuachanca, godspeaker, servant of the long night, andst king of the Twelfth Cycle, the Huey toani and conqueror of the earth!¡± Guards hit shields of wood with their spears, the rumbling noise ever stronger. ¡°Nochtli the Fourteenth, and his four consorts!¡±

    The people of Yoahuachanca knelt as one, myself included. The imperial cortege entered the za to the tune of booming horns and thundering war drums. I dared raise my head to peek.

    A thousand soldiers marched in an orderly procession. Mighty warriors d in jaguar skins or draped in eagle feathers walked side by side with trihorn riders and other warbeasts. Standard bearers raised the eclipse sun g of Yohuachanca on its field of red. It was a mighty army indeed, the empire¡¯s martial pride and the elite survivors of a hundred battles. An escort fit for an emperor.

    An enormous, scaled quadruped strolled into the za. The ground shook with each step of its tree-thick legs. Its tail swung like a whip powerful enough to shatter stone, and its neck was as long as its body. A golden pnquin sat atop the creature¡¯s back, carrying the emperor and his four consorts.

    It was my first time seeing these people in the flesh. Nochtli the Fourteenth had spent his year-long reign either warring or whoring, subjugating chieftains and adding their daughters to his harem. I expected a titan of a warrior, a giant wielding a sword of obsidian.

    Instead, I saw a big-bellied man so fat that I wondered how a woman could survive his embrace. His gorgeous cotton clothes couldn¡¯t hide his overflowing pallid belly, nor his thick ck veins. His head had been shaved. Dark circles surrounded his hollow gaze; he waved his hand at the crowd in a daze, going through the motions.

    Most emperors were drugged on the way to the altar. I thought this one would be different.

    His four consorts were as slim as he was thick, fairdies chosen from all across the empire to serve as the emperor¡¯s confidants. They too were shaved and addled, their nakednessying exposed to the world. They reminded me of dead turkeys sent straight to the butcher¡¯s shop.

    <em>That is what they are, </em>the wind whispered. <em>The feast¡¯s sweet dessert.</em>

    The longneck beast sat at the pyramid¡¯s base. Red-eyed priests helped the emperor and his retinue climb down from their ride and ascend the pyramid¡¯s stairs. They dragged these five dazzled rulers upward, slowly and methodically. So heavy was our emperor that he needed four men to carry him. The red moonlight lit their way.

    Guatemoc held his breath, as did everyone else. A chilling cold fell upon the za. The stars had gone out in the sky, leaving only the scarlet moon to paint the heavens red. I glimpsed shadows flying in the dark high above us.

    All of Yohuachanca observed in silence as the emperorpleted his ascent. Priests stripped him of his clothes andid him upon the altar. With his strength and size, the emperor could have cast down one of them into the void below, but he did not. The man did not even resist, nor did his consorts. These four were bound to the altar by ropes, to make sure they wouldn¡¯t thrash around.

    Once they had the emperor lying on the altar, the priests nailed his hands and feet to the horns. The emperor did not make a sound as his blood dripped down onto the pyramid. Not a single one.

    The gods, though, screeched their pleasure to the heavens.

    I froze in dread as they descended from the darkened skies. They arrived in a swarm of hundreds, their dark crimson fur reflected in the red moonlight, their bat snouts aroused by the smell of blood. Their sharpened talons could carry a trihorn away and rip a man¡¯s head from his shoulders. Translucent wings let them glide andnd gracefully onto the pyramid¡¯s steps. None dared approach the summit. For they were Nightkins, scions of the gods and no true lords of the dark.

    Their masters materialized atop the pyramid in a cloud of mist.

    The four Nightlords appeared around the altar, each of them d in ceremonial red robes of rich silkced with gold and feathers. Dark hoods and wooden masks hid their faces from mortals unworthy of beholding their beauty. But no darkness could hide the crimson glow of their hungry gaze. They appeared almost human from afar, though they were anything but. I immediately recognized each of them by their mask: Ocelocihuatl, the Jaguar Woman; Yoloxochitl, the Flower of the Heart; Iztacoatl, the White Snake; and Sugey, the Bird of War. Thedies of the north, the west, the east, and the south; the daughters of the First Emperor and queens of the night.

    The feast began with the consorts.

    I was too far below to see clearly, but I witnessed enough to make my stomach turn. Each Nightlord grabbed an imperial consort and swiftly fed upon their prey. The gods¡¯ table manners differed greatly between them. Yoloxochitl elegantly bit her tribute¡¯s neck and painlessly drained her dry. Sugey, who hated wasting time, squeezed a consort¡¯s skull like a fruit until her eyes popped out, ripped off her head from the shoulders, and then let the sweet blood drip down her gullet. Cruel Ocelocihuatl ripped her victim apart limb from limb, tossing the scraps to the nightkin below; the bat-faced beasts squealed and fought over a piece of leg like dogs over a bone. Iztacoatl yed with her food, biting the breasts and the wrists, savoring the blood with refined savagery.

    Though I observed the scene far below, the scarlet moon reflected the scene like a mirror in all its lurid details. I looked away with a bitter taste in my mouth. Many among my group did the same. The others watched on either in naked fear¡ªmostly Guatemoc¡ªor zealous adoration. I didn¡¯t understand these people. I never found anything inspiring in ritual sacrifices.

    <em>Because these goddesses are false</em>, the voices answered.<em> Parasites forsaken from dawn to sunset, shadows on a wall.</em>

    I forced myself to look back. I didn¡¯t want to remember this scene¡ªI¡¯d witnessed this ceremony too many times¡ªbut I had to. I didn¡¯t want to forget cruelty¡¯s face. The Nightlords wanted us afraid the same way Necahual threatened me. I might not have the power to change things, but I wouldn¡¯t flinch from them.

    Once they had finished consuming the consorts down to thest drop of blood, the Nightlords turned their attention onto the emperor. The queens of the night eachy a hand on the man¡¯s chest.

    Then they ripped him open in a sh of speed. The Nightlords¡¯ ws grabbed the emperor¡¯s ribs and pulled them back, severing skin and flesh. The pain must have been horrendous, for it woke the sacrifice from his drugged daze. The emperor screamed in pain as a fountain of blood surged from his body. The Nightlords showed him no mercy; in fact, his agony only drove them into a maddened frenzy. Their hands ripped him open piece by piece, their mouths feasting on his delicious blood.

    It wasn¡¯t long until they found their prize: an emperor¡¯s still-beating heart.

    The Jaguar Woman ripped it out of his chest in the blink of an eye. Her crimson robes hid the blood well. The emperor breathed hisst without a final scream, and the Nightlords paraded their trophy over his corpse. Then, at the climax of this gruesome feast, they impaled the heart upon one of the altar¡¯s horns. Its ruby eyes shone with an eldritch gleam. The stones themselves appeared to feed on the precious, precious blood.

    Satisfied, the Nightlords then approached the summit¡¯s edge to better face the people. The Nightkin obediently bowed before their mistresses, as did the people of Yohuachanca. Lady Sugey, the Bird of War and Mistress of Battle, spoke for her siblings. Her deep, powerful voice echoed across the city with a thundering boom.

    ¡°Our covenant is renewed,¡± she dered with pride. ¡°We Nightlords ept your tribute on behalf of the First Emperor. A ruler¡¯s blood shall purchase a prosperous dawn for Yohuachanca. Fear not the silent dusk, for we shall guide and protect thee through the long nights.¡±

    She raised a fist towards the scarlet moon.

    ¡°Long live Yohuachanca!¡±

    The crowd exploded into cheers and apuse.

    With the gods satisfied, the tension in the air evaporated. Women cried up tears of relief, men jumped in ce, childrenughed. I stood as an ind of sullen silence in a sea of noise and joy. For an emperor¡¯s death brought a prosperous year.

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss this one,¡± I heard someone say behind me. ¡°He won us many battles.¡±

    ¡°I hope the next emperor will bring us luck,¡± another man answered, almost cheerfully. ¡°I wonder who it will be.¡±

    <em>Am I mad? </em>I wondered. Was I the only one to whom this ceremony felt wrong? Perhaps I¡¯d spent too much time listening to voices decrying the gods as false.

    <em>Not all gods are false</em>, the wind replied, <em>but true deities have nothing to prove. </em>

    For once, the voices in my head sounded halfway wise. Neither did Guatemoc find much joy in the emperor¡¯s death. The throne never stayed empty for long.

    The Jaguar Woman pped her hands, and the million-strong crowd fell silent.

    ¡°The Twelfth Cycle ends tonight with the tribute of its fifty-second emperor.¡± Ocelocihuatl¡¯s voice was less rough than her sister¡¯s, but sharper. Each word sent shivers down my spine. ¡°The stars foretell that the Thirteenth Cycle shall be an age of glory. We shall now crown a new emperor to usher it in. He shall guide our herd, protect you from your enemies, and forgive your sins. Then, one year from now, he shall ascend these steps to renew the covenant.¡±

    Most members of my group held their breath, but not out of fear, far from it. Being chosen as the emperor was the highest of honors. Short his reign might be, it would be spent in glory and luxury. Their names would forever endure beyond their death in history books.

    Guatemoc didn¡¯t share their opinion. He shivered so much I thought he might copse dead at my feet. Eztli¡¯s father loved wealth, but he would rather die in his bed in ten years¡¯ time than on an altar in one. And I felt the same.

    ¡°The stars have spoken,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. ¡°This year¡¯s emperor shall be chosen from the Acampa Calpulli.¡±

    My heart skipped a beat. My head snapped in Guatemoc¡¯s direction. His forehead sweated more than a fountain and his hands joined in a foolish prayer. Who was he even begging to? No one would be listening tonight.

    ¡°Born on the first day of the month,¡± the Jaguar Woman carried on, ¡°under the auspices of the Wind¨C¡±

    I ran.

    I didn¡¯t think, I didn¡¯t breathe, I didn¡¯t stop. I just ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I pushed Guatemoc aside with such strength he copsed head-first into the brick ground. I immediately regretted it, but I did note back to pick him back up. I was too frightened.

    My panicked reaction took the red-eyed priests by surprise, and I managed to get past them. The crowd before me dispersed with a scream of surprise. I didn¡¯t wonder why for long. A winged shadow descended upon me and grabbed me by the shoulders. My feet dangled above the ground as talons carried me upward, and the za started to be smaller and smaller.

    I was flying for the first time in my life. And it <em>sucked</em>. I shivered in dread, with the wind blowing into my face and the bloody ground calling out to me.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± I struggled against my captor¡¯s grip. The fact that freedom meant a fatal fall and a gruesome crash didn¡¯t cross my mind immediately. ¡°Let me go!¡±

    The Nightkin holding me only tightened his talons¡¯ grip. He flew towards the pyramid¡¯s summit and gently dropped me in front of the altar. His ws released me into the hands of a greater danger.

    ¡°Here you are, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡±

    A cold more intense than anything I had ever felt seized me. My muscles moved on their own, my neck lifting my head until I faced four pairs of eyes looking down on me. My knees remained anchored to the ground, deep into a viscous puddle of blood. Whether it belonged to the consorts or the emperor, I couldn¡¯t tell. The stench was nauseating.

    ¡°My poor child, so full of fear.¡± Yoloxochitl leaned in to better look at me. Her voice was soothing, almost motherly, but her flowery mask failed to hide her sharp fangs. ¡°Why do you seem so unsettled? You have been chosen for the greatest honor.¡±

    <em>You¡¯re mistaken</em>, I wanted to say, but my mouth refused to open. The Nightlords¡¯ red eyesmanded my bones and muscles; her magic overwhelmed my mind. Like a puppet, Sugey gently took my hand into her own and lifted me up. My body turned to face a crowd of a million. People looked so small from here¡­ I could hardly tell one face from the other.

    ¡°The old emperor is dead,¡± Sugey addressed the crowd, before presenting me to the people with a wave of her hand. ¡°All hail the new emperor, long may he reign!¡±

    A thunderstorm of ps and apuse weed my coronation. The Nightkins echoed the mortals¡¯ joy with screeches of impatience. The people of Yohuachancaughed and smiled and cheered for my coronation. For my future death.

    I had waited so long to escape this ce. I had bit my tongue and suffered every indignity. I had waited and worked and toiled, all for nothing. My wishes had gone unanswered, and now I had been marked for death.

    <em>Do you yield? </em>the wind asked me. <em>Or do you die? </em>

    ¡°I hope you shall taste better than your predecessor,¡± Sugey whispered to me with the tone Eztli used when sheined of overcooked torti.

    A surge of anger rose within my heart. A fire born of wrath and injustice. Whether it gave me the strength to ovee the shackles on my mind or whether the Nightlords released their control long enough to let me speak, I managed to say two words. Two small words that would define my entire tenure.

    ¡°I refuse,¡± I said.

 Chapter One: Emperor for Life

    Chapter One: Emperor for Life

    The Nightlords crowned me atop the Blood Pyramid.

    Priests dressed me invish garments, including a beautiful mantle of turquoise which only an emperor was fit to wear. I had never felt something so soft against my skin. Jade, gold, and shells were interwoven with the fibers; I wore a treasury precious enough to buy a city. A cloak of feathers kept me warm in the cold night, whilefortable sandals protected my feet. My clothes soothed me the way a burial shroud enveloped the dead.

    Then the Nightlords bestowed the emperor¡¯s crown upon my head: a splendid golden headdress of precious stones and multicolored feathers harvested from legendary winged serpents. Leather straps kept them tightly attached to my head, like chains. The entire empire seemed to hold its breath as it watched me from the za below.

    Once I had been properly crowned, Sugey, the Bird of War, swiftly tore my dead predecessor¡¯s head off from his shoulders. Ocelocihuatl, the Jaguar Woman,id a hand upon the bloody trophy. The previous emperor rotted away within seconds, his eyes falling out of their sockets, his skin and flesh turning into wisps of smoke. Only an immacte skull remained.

    ¡°Now, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡± The Jaguar Woman gently put my predecessor¡¯s skull into my hands. ¡°Bring him to his resting ce, so his spirit might watch over you¡­ as you shall protect your sessor.¡±

    The skull was heavy in my hands. I¡¯d never held one in my life. I suddenly realized how many muscles our neck required to carry these thick heads of ours. Still, I expected the full weight of a life to be greater than this. Nochtli the Fourteenth had died in the prime of his life, and here he was, staring back at me. I gazed into the empty sockets and the ckness within.

    At a vision of my future.

    ¡°Emperor Iztac.¡±

    I looked up at the Jaguar Woman, whose eyes shone bright red in the scarlet night. Though her mask and hood kept most of her face hidden from me, I immediately recognized that gaze. Necahual had sent it to me so many times.Pure contempt.

    My heart hastened with years of buried anger, as I remembered all the insults, all the looks, all the sneers I had ever endured. My fingers trembled with rage. I red at this so-called goddess, who considered me a worm to squash underfoot rather than a human being. My lips moved on their own, in all vition of reason and sanity, and answered her with a single word.

    ¡°No,¡± I said.

    A tense, heavy silence fell upon the top of the Blood Pyramid. The other Nightlords, who had treated the coronation with little more than boredom, gazed at me in sudden surprise. Their Nightkin and priests fell silent. My own blood froze within my veins. I had roused a deadly beast from its slumber, and I knew it would cost me dearly.

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s lips pursed in anger. ¡°No?¡±

    I knew a twitch of her hand could end me forever. But to die now or in a year, what difference did it make? I refused to be looked down upon by anyone, even a goddess. With nothing left to lose, I had found the courage of desperation.

    ¡°You¡¯ve killed this man.¡± I shoved the skull back into Ocelocihuatl¡¯s hands. The Jaguar Woman did not stop me; she was simply too angry to respond properly to my act of rebellion. ¡°The proper thing would be to bury him yourself!¡±

    I didn¡¯t know how many people heard my words. The Nightlords used magic to increase the strength of their voices so that all could listen to their sermons. It would make sense for them to silence me.

    <em>Fear not</em>, the wind whispered into my ear. <em>We shall carry thy words to those who would listen.</em>

    It did little to dull the pain.

    I felt icy fingers close upon my throat with the strength of ten men. One second my lungs were full of air and empty the next. My flesh was crushed by magic so swiftly that I didn¡¯t even have time to gargle.

    I was no stranger to pain. I had been pped by Necahual, I had stones thrown at me, I received beatings during weapon training at school. But all of these paled before the agony of being strangled. I was brought to my knees, my hands tugging at my throat, desperately looking for a noose that wasn¡¯t there.

    ¡°I will have none of your backtalk.¡± The Jaguar Woman did not move an inch as I copsed before her. Her hands of flesh still held my predecessor¡¯s skull in their palm, but phantom fingers strangled me nheless. Her red eyes stared at me with lethal coldness. ¡°Insolent ve.¡±

    Gone were the lies of honor and glory. The Jaguar Woman spoke her mind. Iztacoatl, the White Snake, put a hand on her mouth to stifle herughter. Sugey appeared vaguely amused, while Yoloxochitl observed my agony with apassionate sigh.

    ¡°Forgive him, sister, for he is young,¡± she told the Jaguar Woman. ¡°He does not yetprehend his duties.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I believe he does understand,¡± Iztacoatl said, her melodious voice half-breaking intoughs. ¡°More than the fools below.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s braver than his predecessor,¡± Sugeymented with some appreciation. ¡°I like it. This foolish dog will make for a fine warhound once properly tamed.¡±

    I would have called her something worse than a dog if I could still string two sentences together. My lungs were on fire. My throat failed to gasp for air and blood rushed to my head. My vision blurred at the edges.

    ¡°There is nothing to forgive, sisters. Our father¡¯s altar will ept no other sustenance.¡± The Jaguar Woman knelt at my side, a hand on my cheek as she watched me slowly lose consciousness. ¡°Let this be a sharp lesson unto you, mortal. Defy us again at your peril.¡±

    I lost consciousness under the red moonlight; my body defeated, but my pride unbroken.

    The sunlight woke me up.

    I groaned as my eyes struggled against the luminosity. A sweet smell entered my nose, my lungs gasping for air. My naked back rested on the softest mattress I¡¯d ever touched, and a cotton bed sheet covered the rest of my body. Something blew a gentle breeze into my face to keep it cool.

    My eyelids felt heavier than stones, but eventually I regained enough strength to open them. I found myself staring at a splendid window wider than Guatemoc¡¯s house and cut into a wall of marble decorated with golden eagles and emerald snakes. It was made of the clearest obsidian ss I had ever seen; enough to let the sunlight filter in and give a clear view of the capital outside, albeit darkened. The Blood Pyramid stood at its center like a red dagger pointed at the dawn.

    The sight caused my hand to tug at my throat. It still felt a bit sore where the Jaguar Woman¡¯s magic touched me. I nced around, and held my breath in shock.

    I had woken up in an opulent¡­ room? The ce appeared near a thousand square feet, more than a farm field. My own bed, whose mattress was stuffed with gentle feathers rather than cotton, covered as much ground as Guatemoc¡¯s house. The floor was made of polished sto covered in finely woven mats and animal furs¡ªmostly jaguars and rabbits. Magnificent tapestries made of bright cotton and feathers adorned the walls, each of them portraying epic scenes such as the rise of the Final Sun, glorious imperial victories, and the shaping of the world.

    The amenities were nothing short of dazzling. Incense burners filled the area with a sweet, flowery smell. A wardrobe awaited someone to try its hundred feathered mantles. A finely chiseled ck wood table sat near the bed, covered by pottery, an borate drinking set, and warm chocte cups. Each of them cost as much as a year¡¯s harvest.

    Finally, I realized I wasn¡¯t alone in the room. Two nubile, topless young women¡ªthey couldn¡¯t have been older than me¡ªfanned me with leaves taken from a giant tree. They were pretty, maybe even more than Eztli. Their breasts were full and firm, their lustrous skin scarless, their hands untainted by hard manualbor. Their long ck hair was held together by feathered headbands. I couldn¡¯t see their eyes though; they conspicuously avoided my gaze.

    I could have mistaken this ce for heaven¡­ if not for the skull sitting atop the cushion next to my head.

    ¡°Where¡­ where am I?¡± I whispered, struggling to put my thoughts in order. My predecessor, who had watched over my sleep, did not answer me. Neither did the girls. ¡°You, where am I?¡±

    Only when I addressed them directly did one of the women answer. ¡°In your royal bedchambers, oh great emperor.¡±

    ¡°Your desires are ours,¡± the other answered. She still failed to meet my gaze, though I caught a glimpse of ck eyes. ¡°If you wish for anything, you only need to ask.¡±

    So I wasn¡¯t dead yet. I raised my back and immediately winced upon feeling a sense of irritation on my chest. A small tattoo was marked right where the heart should be: a red cross trapped inside a circle. Four exquisitely detailed pictures were drawn within each quarter of the design: a ck jaguar¡¯s head; a white, feathered snake; a white flower; and a blue hummingbird. The Nightlords¡¯ personal symbols.

    The Gods-in-the-Flesh had marked me as their property. Their ve. I growled in anger and tried to scratch the mark away with my nails, to no avail. Curses.

    I heard a sound, and my head snapped in its direction in rm. Two great doors of wood on the other side of the bedroom opened and a man with a ck feathered headdress walked in. He was tall, taller than Guatemoc, and strong like a trihorn. Though plump and with a double-chin, his arms¡¯ muscles seemed chiseled straight from a quarry¡¯s thickest stones. He went by with a regal red mantle that reached all the way to the knees, though his eyes were a darker shade of crimson. His skin was unnaturally smooth and hairless, his steps steady and nearly soundless. His face was pleasant, but his eyes did not smile when his lips did.

    Two guards wearing jaguar furs followed him with obsidian clubs in hand. Most importantly, though they lowered their eyes rather than meet my gaze, the red-eyed man did not. I was immediately on my guard.

    ¡°Oh, my emperor.¡± The priest bowed before me. His voice was quite high-pitched for a man. ¡°It is an honor for this humble caelel to wee you into your divine pce.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t one for me. I nced at the obsidian window, basking in the darkened sun¡¯sfortable radiance. So long as it remained in the sky, no Nightlord would touch me. I hoped.

    ¡°The dawn has risen,¡± I said warily, trying to gather my thoughts. I felt as safe as a turkey sensing a predator near the pen.

    ¡°Yes, it has been many hours since your coronation,¡± the red-eyed priest said. ¡°The honor proved too much, and you fainted halfway through.¡±

    I red at him. Did he truly believe what he said, or was he just trying to make me swallow a polite lie? I refused to y along. ¡°Yes, honor is like a noose,¡± I said with a dry tone. ¡°There is no greater joy than being strangled by a goddess. It¡¯s truly breathtaking.¡±

    His smile didn¡¯t fade. ¡°I¡¯m sure you will remember in time, Your Majesty.¡±

    He knew the truth, and still expected me to y along with the lie. I already hated him.

    <em>No, Iztac, calm down.</em> I remembered school¡¯s warrior training. Teachers taught us to first observe the enemy before engaging him, and that foolishness was not bravery. <em>I should be cautious. y along and wait for an opportunity. See if there¡¯s a way out.</em>

    The Nightlords had shown me their true facest night. They were like Necahual, but crueler. I wouldn¡¯t let my guard down.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked the priest. ¡°Why are you here? Did the Nightlords send you to keep an eye on me?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go that far, Your Majesty,¡± caelel replied, which was a polite way of saying <em>yes</em>. ¡°I have served all emperors from the Twelfth Cycle as advisor and intendant of the imperial household.¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°You¡¯re my leash.¡±

    ¡°I am your adviser, and your loyal servant.¡± caelel¡¯s expression never changed, no matter what he said. He reminded me of our religious teacher, who always smiled whenever he described the best way to y a man alive. ¡°But perhaps we can discuss our respective duties over breakfast, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I nced at the table with suspicion. ¡°Are the drinks drugged?¡±

    ¡°Do you want drugs in your xoctl?¡± caelel asked me with a curious look. ¡°Servants pour it without any, but we can spice the drink if you wish.¡±

    In hindsight, I realized my question was a foolish one. They wouldn¡¯t need a pretense to drug me. ¡°I¡¯ll do without it, thanks.¡±

    I moved to the edge of my bed¡ªa tiresome task considering its length¡ªbut caelel quickly snapped his fingers. To my surprise, two more topless women entered the room, grabbed a mantle off the wardrobe, and swiftly began to dress me up in fine clothes. I was so surprised that I didn¡¯t even resist.

    The new servants set the table for me and caelel, including tablecloths of white fabric, while the older ones kept fanning me as I sat on a pillow. One of the women served me a sumptuous dish with a divine smell: an enormous fish with pristine green scales on a bed of squash, tomatoes, and half a dozen vegetables I didn¡¯t recognize. The tiny creature I had caught in the river yesterday looked terribly smallpared to this meaty creature.

    As for the warm chocte drink, it was poured into a cup of gold with vani, chili, and spices I¡¯d only ever smelled from afar at the city market. The set also included an earthenware tobo pipe for smoking and freshly baked torti bread.

    Though I tried to keep aposed face, I couldn¡¯t help but salivate. I had never seen so much meat in my life. caelel made no move, and I suddenly realized he was politely waiting for me to begin. After some hesitation, I stered some fish meat and tomatoes on a torti, then bit it carefully.

    I dropped all caution the moment the vors rushed through my tongue. It was simply¡­ <em>delicious</em>. So soft, so rich in its texture, so juicy! This simple taste banished a thousand other meals from my memory, until only it remained. I took one bite and then another, unable to stop, unable to control myself.

    ¡°I am d you¡¯re enjoying your first dish, Your Majesty,¡± caelel said as I gorged myself on the food. ¡°I was informed that you suffered from starvation in your youth, so I asked the cooks to establish a meat-intensive regime. We shall have you strong as a feathered tyrant by the moon¡¯s turn.¡±

    I was too busy making up for years of privation to answer him. My stomach, unused to so much food, both growled and hurt. Neither my hands nor my teeth would stop eating. When my mouth went dry, I sipped the chocte. I receive a taste of heaven on the tip of my tongue, honeyed and sweet. They¡¯d mixed things with the drink, spices I didn¡¯t know existed. The vors were new to me and impossible to describe, for I had nothing topare them to.

    ¡°This¡­¡± I had to put the cup aside for a moment to recover from the aftershock. ¡°This is delicious.¡±

    ¡°Your kitchens are stocked with ingredients from all over the empire, and prepared by the best cooks,¡± caelel boasted, his voice almost a song. ¡°You will never have cause toin, I promise you.¡±

    I had to admit, the food was a wonderful way to sweeten my bitter mood. ¡°Your voice sounds¡­¡± I frowned as I thought over my words. I had little experience with small talk, especially with priests. ¡°Strange.¡±

    ¡°Since my duties demand that I supervise the emperor¡¯s consorts, my manhood was taken from me many, many moons ago.¡± caelel chuckled to himself. ¡°No man may approach blessed women with a weapon, as some say.¡±

    A eunuch. I suddenly felt a little sorry for him. ¡°And you don¡¯t¡­ miss it?¡±

    ¡°No, I volunteered for the procedure,¡± he replied calmly. His sheer impassibility was almost frightening. ¡°I always wanted to serve in my current capacity.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I do not understand you.¡± Did he actually enjoy being amputated? ¡°Why is nobody else looking at me?¡±

    ¡°Because you are a living god, Your Majesty. The Dawnbringer. Can mortals look at the sun without expecting to be burned?¡±

    I would always remember my first week at school. A bunch of boys my age approached me for my good grades, treating me like a friend, telling me I was so smart and that I should be part of their group. Eventually, they¡¯d invited me to a secret celebration at night. I¡¯d followed them like a fool. I never had friends so I didn¡¯t see the teeth behind the smiles.

    In the end, they ended up tossing me into a sanitary pit and tossed shit at me till I wed my way out. I¡¯d never forgotten the humiliation, nor trusted kind words since. Most people not named Eztli were only nice to me when they wanted something. Even Guatemoc only treated me kindly because I worked on his farm.

    If caelel hoped to soften me up, he had failed. tteries were to men what hooks were to a fish. I wouldn¡¯t bite.

    ¡°None but the Nightlords and their attendants are allowed to look upon your face without permission,¡± caelel said. ¡°Those who dare will lose an eye.¡±

    ¡°Even my family?¡± I suddenly wondered what happened to Eztli and her parents after the coronation. ¡°Are they¨C¡±

    ¡°Forgive my bluntness, Your Majesty, but you should forget your mortal existence,¡± caelel said with a gentle scoff. ¡°It was but a dream, and your true life begins now. The little people who took you in were blessed by your presence for a time, but they are beneath your notice now.¡±

    It sounded like he believed it too. I waited for the voices in my head to mock him, but they did not. <em>The window keeps the wind out,</em> I realized, gazing at the pure blue sky. <em>That¡¯s odd. It always found its way inside the house.</em>

    ¡°Unless of course, you wish for more servants,¡± caelel suggested, taking my silence for an invitation to continue. ¡°I¡¯m told the man is a hard worker and the women are quite lovely. Your harem does need some fresh blood, and your zookeeper requested more hands now that your jaguars mauled two members of his staff.¡±

    ¡°My¡­ My harem?¡± And what did he mean by a zookeeper? What was that?

    ¡°As the First Emperor was attended by the Nightlords, four wives have been selected to advise you in these trying times; and of course, follow you into your eternal rest once your tenure ends.¡± caelel almost managed to make murder sound pleasant. Almost. ¡°Besides your esteemed consorts, the pce is home to many concubines eager to service you. Your predecessor never slept with the same woman twice, or so he liked to boast.¡±

    The rumors about my predecessor¡¯s lusts weren¡¯t exaggerated then. I nced at the topless women fanning me. Just how many of them ran around this pce?

    ¡°So he kept, what, three-hundred women?¡± I asked, the number boggling my mind. ¡°Four hundred?¡±

    ¡°The imperial harem reached three thousand concubines at its apex,¡± caelel replied casually, making me choke in surprise. ¡°Though we had to sacrifice those past childbearing age, the sick, the useless, and the infirm before your coronation.¡±

    He said thest part with such terrible nonchnce that it sent shivers down my spine. I dared not ask for details.

    ¡°You may also request the first night of any bride,¡± caelel said. ¡°If you wish for any woman to join your harem on a more permanent basis¡ªeven another¡¯s wife or a virgin¡ªyou only need to ask.¡±

    ¡°Just like that?¡± I asked, astonished.

    caelel gave me a warm, genial smile. ¡°The citizens of Yohuachanca are your ves, my emperor. You can dispose of them as you wish. If you want anything from them, it shall be yours.¡±

    ¡°So if I say¡­¡± I locked eyes with this man, wondering if he would live by his own words. ¡°Kill yourself, you will follow through?¡±

    ¡°You may request the gods to grant your prayers,¡± caelel¡¯s crimson eyes flickered like a me. ¡°You are the Nightlords¡¯ speaker, but we red-eyed priests are their ves. Our lives end at their leisure, but I am certain they will entertain your request.¡±

    I knew it. I only had as much power as the Nightlords lent me. They dangled pleasures before my eyes to make the noose more bearable.

    caelel carried on with his exnations. ¡°Your predecessors exterminated entire tribes or houses who dared offend their honor. As Huey loni, you may also dere war on barbarians and enforce the heavens¡¯ justice. Of course, our mistresses require sustenance, so we cannot cull the herd too much.¡±

    My eyes nced at my predecessor¡¯s skull. ¡°You don¡¯t say.¡±

    ¡°As emperor, you are expected to lead our armies to victory, subjugate or pacify our neighbors, supervise religious rituals, and bestow the gods¡¯ justice on mortal petitioners,¡± caelel exined. ¡°Each of your consorts will counsel you in one of these matters, but I can introduce you to them after you put your predecessor to rest.¡±

    Of course. The Nightlords were too good for mortal chores. I gently grabbed my predecessor¡¯s skull and looked into its empty eye sockets. It stared back at me, its teeth twisted into a hateful grin.

    ¡°There is a reliquary on the roof only essible to emperors,¡± caelel said. ¡°Many of your predecessors used it for meditation. Once youy Nochtli the Fourteenth to rest, perhaps he shall share his wisdom with you.¡±

    ¡°What wisdom is there to share?¡± I asked. ¡°He died a gruesome, lonely death.¡±

    ¡°After living a glorious life, my emperor. His Majesty Nochtli left us with many legacies. Conquerednds, glories to celebrate, and children to honor. Few emperors expanded our borders as far as he did.¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t look like a warrior to me, all fat and heavy.¡±

    ¡°His Majesty Nochtli let himself go in his tenure¡¯sst season,¡± caelel replied. ¡°Having worked himself to the bone the rest of the year, he decided to spend his final months in pleasure. I assure you, he was a force to behold in his heyday.¡±

    Had my predecessor surrendered himself to pleasure, or to despair? Maybe both? ¡°I¡¯m no warrior,¡± I said inly. I¡¯d been bitter over that truth once, but I got over it since. ¡°The teachers told me I would never be more than a pack carrier. How do you expect me to lead armies?¡±

    ¡°The hassle of directbat is beneath your dignity, Your Majesty. You are expected to leadmon warriors, not fight shoulder-to-shoulder in the mud with them.¡± caelel chuckled to himself. ¡°You sell yourself short too. We interrogated your teachers, who said you were studious and well-spoken, with excellent notes in history, astronomy, and scribework.¡±

    I had to. I¡¯d trained to be a merchant, and the teachers would have made me a priest if I¡¯d been better born. Since military arts were beyond me, I¡¯d put all my efforts into improving my literacy. Scribing work paid well, and I couldn¡¯t expect to sell anything to strangers without finding the right words. ¡°That doesn¡¯t trante into military prowesses.¡±

    ¡°You would be surprised,¡± caelel replied evasively. ¡°To get back to your original question, all lives must end, but if well-spent, then they end with no regret. I like to think His Majesty Nochtli died well and truly fulfilled.¡±

    I doubted that, considering how much he had screamed on the altar, but caelel¡¯s words got me thinking. <em>A life spent with no regrets¡­</em>

    For the first time since I arrived here, I tried to imagine myself ying along with this farce. I nced at the empty tter. A dish like this once a day sounded amazing enough. Yet from what caelel told me, I would never have cause to starve orin.

    My eyes turned to one of the female servants; I couldn¡¯t help but imagine Eztli in her ce. I wondered how it would feel to touch her, to kiss her, to take her the way I¡¯d seen Guatemoc mount Necahual some nights. Before today, the idea of finding a wife sounded almost absurd; let alone three thousand. Though ssmates at school talked about it at length, I¡¯d never known sex. If it was as half as pleasant as others made it sound, then the year would be spent in bliss.

    ¡°What other entertainment can this pce provide?¡± I asked.

    caelel raised his hands and started to raise a finger with each new option he presented. ¡°It has hot baths, a gambling den, an arena, a private court for ball games, a dancing hall, a theater, a woods for hunts, flower gardens¡­¡±

    ¡°So much?¡± I asked, astonished. Was this ce a city within the city? ¡°How can they all fit together?¡±

    ¡°The pce is five floors high, without including the basement below. Its splendor is second only to the Blood Pyramid.¡± caelel turned to face the obsidian window. ¡°Last but not least, there¡¯s the menagerie. You can see it outside.¡±

    I looked through the window and at the world below.

    caelel hadn¡¯t lied. The pce was many floors high, and my chambers stood at the top of the world. A lush garden of rich ck soil sprawled below us, filled with flower beds, exquisite topiaries, shrubs, verdant orchards, and colorful nts. I recognized a few, for Necahual used some of them for potion-making, but most were unknown to me. A stream flowed between trees and stone alcoves holding beasts trapped within them: trihorns, baby longnecks, ocelots, monkeys¡­ and even a couple of jaguars.

    I had only ever seen a jaguar once, when hunters killed one and brought the carcass back to Acampa. How impressive the corpse had looked, with its deadly ws and mighty muscles. That one must have been a child, for the two felines below put it to shame. How splendid they looked with their spotted fur and mighty ws.

    ¡°Beautiful, aren¡¯t they?¡± caelel asked mirthfully. ¡°I can arrange a tour in the evening, if you would like it.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± I whispered, amazed. ¡°Yes, let¡¯s¡­ let¡¯s do that.¡±

    Perhaps¡­ Perhaps this wasn¡¯t a bad deal after all. A year of bliss and joy instead of a lifetime of work. I never wished to be emperor, but maybe I could make the best out of the situation. Some would have killed others to make this trade.

    My hand moved to my forehead, where Necahual¡¯s stones once hit me. She hadn¡¯t been the only one to throw things at me; just the one who did it most often. While I did well at school, my ssmates never epted me as one of their own. Even if I¡¯d be a merchant, I doubted the poption would have warmed up to me. Now they had no choice but to worship me. A long life didn¡¯t sound so good when filled with misery.

    <em>Maybe I should give in, </em>I thought. What joy was there in freedom when it tasted so bitter? <em>One year of joy does sound better than a lifetime of contempt.</em>

    That impressionsted until I noticed the walls beyond the garden.

    Thick red stone fortifications surrounded the menagerie, and indeed, the entire pce. Three stories tall, they were watched over by soldiers armed with spears and bows. Some looked outside at the city, and others surveyed the pce grounds.

    ¡°Why walls?¡± I asked, my voice breaking in my throat. ¡°Why are they so high?¡±

    caelel chuckled lightly. ¡°Oh Emperor, you are the master of the earth. So many enemies of the empire and ungrateful rabble would do you harm without walls.¡±

    It was only half a lie. Pens did protect animals from danger. It also kept them trapped inside before dinnertime. My own pen just happened to include many small ones within itself.

    I suddenly found myself doubting everything. I nced at my female attendants, and a strange question formed in my mind. ¡°You didn¡¯t mention males, caelel.¡±

    ¡°I do not understand you, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°You said I could have any woman,¡± I pointed out. ¡°For a night or forever. But you never mentioned men.¡±

    For the first time in our entire conversation, caelel looked at me in genuine puzzlement. ¡°Do you want to bed men, Your Majesty?¡±

    Not quite. I knew some boys at my school were intimate together, but I had only ever been attracted to girls. ¡°I¡¯m simply curious why you didn¡¯t mention them.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see.¡± He chuckled to himself, as if I had relieved him of a burden. ¡°Your Majesty, the gods gave us life so that we might return it to them in due time. Two men cannot bring new soldiers into the world, no more than two women can breed a crafter. Yet our empire is short on both.¡±

    I sneered in utter disgust. ¡°My loins are fit only to breed more tributes for the altars? Is that what you¡¯re saying?¡±

    ¡°All loins and wombs exist for this purpose, do they not?¡±

    And like that, I went right back to hating him. I nced at the sky, at the world beyond these walls. I remembered my old dream of traveling to distantnds, of purchasing a boat, and sailing into the sunset.

    ¡°Will I ever leave this pce?¡± I wondered. ¡°Could I see the sea?¡±

    ¡°If the Nightlords wish for it, you will bless imperial armies in the field or attend diplomatic missions outside these walls,¡± caelel said with false kindness. ¡°Some might take you to the coast.¡±

    <em>If the Nightlords wish for it.</em>

    They had given me a golden cage to wither away in. I couldn¡¯t leave without their permission, and I would spend a year preparing for the next feast. All these pleasures offered to me were drugs meant to dull the senses.

    I was no turkey happy to be fattened up for the ughter, nor a ve happy in his servitude. I would not submit.

    I kept these rebellious thoughts close to my chest as caelel and the armed guards guided me out of the bedchambers, my predecessor¡¯s skull in my hands. I carefully observed the soldiers as we walked. Though they avoided my gaze the best they could, I still managed to catch a glimpse of their eyes¡¯ color.

    A dark shade of red.

    Other guards awaited beyond the wooden doors of my apartments and the polished marble walls of the corridors beyond it; all of them priests bound to the Nightlords. I suspected everyone with a weapon answered to the gods in these walls. I would find no listening ear here, no one to support a mutiny. Considering the pce¡¯s size, the staff, and the great walls, escape sounded impossible.

    <em>No, I mustn¡¯t give up yet,</em> I thought, two female servants fanning me to cool my body. We walked through elegant sets of wooden doors and golden curtains. After a few minutes, caelel finally led me to an ornate balcony on the pce¡¯s roof. <em>There has to be a way out.</em>

    With no wall to block it anymore, the wind answered my thoughts with encouraging words: <em>There is a road to freedom, but it opens only to the brave.</em>

    For once, they sounded halfway reassuring.

    The grand balcony, which faced the Pyramid of Blood too, housed a strange pyramid of the ckest obsidian roughly the size of my old house. A curtain of red threads protected the entrance, its rippling patterns resembling a waterfall. The ck pyramid shimmered in the sunlight as if it gorged on the light.

    ¡°No one but the emperor may enter the sacred reliquary,¡± caelel said, stopping before the threshold. ¡°No one will disturb His Majesty¡¯s meditation.¡±

    ¡°Not even the guards?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You may shout for help if you require it, but none will enter uninvited.¡±

    <em>No one but the dead</em>, I thought. I nced at the skull in my hands, then walked past the shimmering curtain and into the abode of the past emperors. They waited for me inside, all six-hundred of them and some.

    A pir of skulls stood firmly at the center of the cubical room, so far from the entrance that the sunlight would not touch it. The ground was made of obsidian, like the walls and room, plunging the ce into nearplete darkness. The skulls sat atop each other in a chaotic pile, some big and cracked, others small and pristine. Time had fused them together, joining bones with bones into a twisted white trunk that reached all the way to the ceiling.

    I stared at this pile for the gods knew how long with the eerie silence for a lonepanion. I tried to imagine how my own head would look once added to the pile. I couldn¡¯t tell one emperor from another; all men looked the same in death. I would be no different. Just another corpse raising this ghastly monument a tiny bit higher.

    ¡°Where would you have wanted to rest, Nochtli the Fourteenth?¡± I asked the skull in my hand. My eyes traveled from one side of the pir to the other, looking for a spot to fit my predecessor. ¡°Would you rather be facing the light or the dark?¡±

    In the end, it didn¡¯t matter what the dead wanted. All spots facing the sun were taken by older skulls, but there were a few tiny spaces at the pir¡¯s back. I touched one with my hand to see if one more head would fit in.

    I felt something prick my thumb, followed by a sharp pain.

    I hastily took back my hand in surprise. Droplets of blood fell onto the ground, breaking the silence. I nearly called the guards, but bit my tongue to swallow a scoff of pain instead. I examined the spot and watched a sweet red drop hang from a ck de.

    An obsidian knife as thin as a needle and sharper than an axe was embedded into the pir. The shadows made the dark ss nearly invisible.

    It took me a minute of slow, careful exploration until I could find the pommel and safely remove the weapon from its hiding spot. Why was it here? If caelel had spoken the truth, only emperors were allowed inside this room. My predecessor must have left it behind before his demise. I carefully examined the weapon, trying to guess the reason for its existence. Words were marked on the de¡¯s surface.

    <em>For spite¡¯s sake.</em>

    I scoffed bitterly. ¡®A way out that opened only to the brave.¡¯ I understood now.

    ¡°You tried everything else, didn¡¯t you?¡± I gazed into my predecessor¡¯s empty eyes. ¡°When you failed to escape, you left that for your sessor. A parting gift.¡±

    I could have sworn the skull was grinning at me. I ced it into the now empty spot, wondering why he didn¡¯t go through with it himself. Maybe he¡¯d intended to end his life on his tenure¡¯s final day after enjoying himself, only for the Nightlords to drug him first? Or maybe he didn¡¯t find the courage required in the end? I would never know.

    It was customary for warriors to take their own lives when threatened with capture and dishonor. Teachers at school said that those who did so earned their entrance to a paradise, alongside warriors who had fallen in battle and women who had perished in childbirth. Would heaven¡¯s door open even for me?

    I forgot how many minutes I spent holding the knife. Was it all a trick of the Nightlords, whose hidden hands were waiting to jump out of the darkness and stop me? A practical joke of some kind? I traced a line along my arm, as if to confirm I was indeed holding a real weapon. I winced in pain as a thin red wound opened on my skin.

    The weapon was real and sharp indeed. Could I use it to fight my way out? No, that¡¯d be absurd. I wouldn¡¯t make it past the guards outside, let alone the walls. I could slice my own throat easily enough though, or stab my own heart¡­ it would be a quicker death than the one I could expect one year from now.

    ¡°What would it change, though? Nothing,¡± I told myself, my voice brimming with doubt. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t change anything. They¡¯ll find someone else. Another dirt poor peasant who won¡¯t mind. What would it change?¡±

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s words echoed in my mind: <em>¡°Our father¡¯s altar will ept no other sustenance.¡±</em>

    I nced at the mark on my chest, which marked me as the gods¡¯ tribute. Come to think of it, my early death might actually have an impact. What did the priests teach me at school again?

    <em>This sun is the final one, </em>I remembered.<em> The gods have recreated mankind many times before, and found uscking. Should our faith and sacrifices fail to appease them, there will be no new chance this time. The First Emperor will fall from the sky to rain fire down upon us all, until everyone and everything is ash.</em>

    My father and Guatemoc both doubted the stories, as did I. The Sapa did not sacrifice anyone as far as I knew, and yet no wrathful sun burned them to cinders. What if I died and nothing happened? That would prove the gods were false, as the wind said.

    But if they were true¡­ if the priests spoke the truth, if these sacrifices did indeed keep the cosmos running¡­ then everybody would die. Everyone would perish because of me. The thought of Eztli burning in divine mes was enough to shake me to my core.

    I tried to tell myself I still had things to live for; Eztli, dreams of distantnds, the hope of finding a way out of this cage and sailing into the sunset, far away from the night¡¯s grip. Should I wait a few more months in case I seeded where all six-hundred of my predecessors had failed? These thoughts were foolish; wise schrs and mighty warriors bled on the altar alike. If my predecessor had left that knife behind, it meant everything else had failed.

    Perhaps I should just ept my fate with dignity, like my predecessors before me.

    <em>¡°An empty soul is a bane upon a house. Even his mother didn¡¯t want him.¡±</em>

    My fingers tightened on the knife as I remembered Necahual¡¯s words, her sneers¡­ and so many others.

    <em>¡°I will have none of your backtalk, insolent ve.¡±</em>

    <em>¡°Oh, I believe he does understand. More than the fools below.¡±</em>

    <em>¡°I¡¯ll miss this one. I hope the next emperor will bring us luck.¡±</em>

    Each memory was like a cursed needle poking my flesh. I remembered the backbreaking work, the insults, the res. My heartbeat quickened with anger, my fingers trembling with rage.

    <em>¡°Never give him meat, lest he develop a taste for human flesh,¡± </em>I thought, remembering the soothsayer¡¯s words. <em>Yet the gods¡¯ servants served me fish for breakfast. They knew the superstition, but they ignored it.</em>

    Yohuachanca¡¯s people had shunned me all my life. I¡¯d been abandoned by my birth mother, spat upon, ignored, and shunned. For nothing but <em>lies</em>.

    ¡°Lies, lies, <em>lies</em>,¡± I grunted, all my doubts dispelled by anger. ¡°I¡¯ll just be more of the same!¡±

    The Nightlords expected me to swallow more falsehoods, to bear it like a good little dog. Just like Necahual and all the others. To bear their sins for them so they could close their eyes and call themselves good!

    Enough! I had enough!

    ¡°You want my heart, oh queens of the night?¡± I held onto the weapon with both hands, pointing it at my chest. Ironically enough, the Nightlords¡¯ mark showed the perfect spot where to aim. ¡°You shall find nothing there!¡±

    The soothsayer said my death would unleash evil upon the world. For once, I hoped she had been right. Let my final gift be a free man¡¯s curse. Either the gods were true and the world would burn, or they were false and their lies would be exposed.

    Honestly?

    ¡°I¡¯m fine with either.¡±

    I gathered my breath and all my courage, then rashly drove the de into my heart.

    I immediately regretted it.

    The knife sliced through my skin and feasted upon my blood. Its tip slipped between my ribs, cut the arteries, and struck true. An agony greater than the Jaguar Woman¡¯s grip seized my chest. A pressure crushed me from within before radiating outward to my arms, to my neck and stomach. It was as if a me had burst to life within my rib cage and then spread a wave of me through my flesh.

    It hurt. It <em><strong>hurt</strong></em>!

    I would have screamed if I could do more than wheeze. I would have cursed my rashness, if I could still think clearly. Fear obscured my mind and shadows twisted my vision. My limbs weakened, my knees called back to the ground. I copsed onto the floor, coughing and bleeding and thrashing around.

    Everything was a blur afterward. I saw the obsidian de buried in my chest shatter, for the Nightlords¡¯ mark had grown a row of bloody fangs. It screamed like the mouth of a newborn, its screech loud enough to wake up stone. The alerted guards rushed past the curtain as I fell. caelel followed them, his cid expression twisted into a look of dread; whether he was fearing for his life or mine it made no difference. The Nightlords would punish him either way. I was a virgin, but I¡¯d still fucked him over.

    The pain was intense, but thankfully short. A terrible cold extinguished the fires that previously burned inside me. My body went numb. My mind no longer held sway over my body. I heard the wind blow triumphantly past the curtain.

    <em>Is the world burning outside? </em>I wondered in my heart. <em>Is the sun falling?</em>

    <em>No,</em> the wind answered.

    It was all a lie. I knew it. It was all a lie. Another whispered into my ear, hissing in impotent rage.

    ¡°You foolish, selfish child.¡± caelel raised a hand above my chest; thest thing I saw before I lost consciousness was a priest raising his weapon to cut the eunuch¡¯s wrist. ¡°There is no escaping your duty. Not even death can sever your worldly bonds.¡±

    I spat blood in his face.

    Darkness shrouded caelel and the guards alike. The shadows swallowed my vision and extinguished my senses. Yet I was no longer afraid. Instead, I felt relieved of a burden. Lighter.

    There was <em>something </em>trapped within me, a great power that the de had freed. The knife had sliced through more than just flesh. It had severed invisible ropes I never noticed. I couldn¡¯t exin it. I just knew.

    There were a thousand eyes watching me. Blue mes burning in the dark, on the threshold between life and death.

    ¡°We wee thee, honored sorcerer, our sessor and champion,¡± the dead emperors whispered. ¡°Let the chaos winds carry thy ck wings past the Gate of Skulls, and into the Land of the Dead Suns.¡±

    This was not the end. Far from it.

    It was just the beginning.

 Chapter Two: The Land of the Dead Suns

    Chapter Two: The Land of the Dead Suns

    A fire burned where my dead heart should have been.

    Its mes licked my ribs from within. My chest was a hearth and a furnace, a kiln that kept me warm in the dark. My hands and feet were cold. I had yet to hear of corpses that remained warm for long.

    <em>Is this death?</em> I wondered. No heart pounded in my chest, nor did any pulse quicken my blood. My veins felt dust dry, my bones light as a feather. No breath escaped my mouth, nor did air fill my lungs. <em>Am I dead?</em>

    I sensed freezing water flowing on my skin. Rain. There was rain, faint and cold. Had my corpse been dragged into the open? I managed to open my eyes and watched purple droplets fall in front of me.

    <em>Purple?</em> My mind struggled back to consciousness. <em>Purple rain?</em>

    ¡°My, my, my, what have we here?¡± A shadow loomed over me, its deep voice brimming with curiosity. ¡°Long has it been since a Nahualli wandered through the Gate of Skulls.¡±

    The fire burning inside my chest provided a modicum of light, though too little to reveal more than the ckened bones keeping it trapped. I managed to turn my head just enough to get a glimpse of a mighty, furred leg thicker than a tree¡¯s trunk and salivating fangs. I froze in dread.

    ¡°Come on, I don¡¯t bite,¡± the shadow said, which only made me doubt it further. ¡°Let me take a look at your soul. I hope you are dog-faced.¡±

    I looked away from the beast, whatever it was. There was another light to be found ahead of me and whispers to be heard.¡°Rise up, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡± A thousand ghostly wisps gazed at me from the shadows and spoke with many-hundred voices. ¡°You are safe. The guide shall not harm you.¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± said the shadow. ¡°Do they not teach you of Xolotl¡¯s good deeds in the living world?¡±

    Xolotl? It took me a while to recognize the name¡­ and what it meant for me.

    <em>They don¡¯t sound like the wind</em>, I thought, trying to clear my mind. I remembered the blood on my chest, the fangs shattering my knife, and then closing my eyes into the silent dark. Nothing afterward.<em> They¡¯re¡­ different. Old and young.</em>

    I fumbled until I managed to rise back to my feet. From what I could tell, my arms and legs remained covered in flesh, though the me in my chest left my ribs exposed. I found myself facing a dreadful beast and a pile of skulls.

    I almost stumbled when I met the former¡¯s burning, fiery red eyes. A creature of twilight and shadows, the beast resembled a muscr hound the size of an adult trihorn, sorge as to carry many men on its back. Its gleaming ebony fur shimmered in the ambient darkness. A headdress of vibrant feathers sat atop its skeletal visage, the color of which shifted with each blink of the eye. Its long white ws could easily gut me like a fish if it wanted to. His neck bore the marking of red symbols and ancient drawings. Its lithe form flickered and wavered like the first shadows cast by the setting sun.

    I recognized him from pictures shown during religious sses: Xolotl, a God-in-Spirit and guide to the dead.

    ¡°A catecolotl?¡± The beast smelled me with a curious look and salivating fangs. ¡°What a shame. At least that exins why you¡¯re still fleshy.¡±

    ¡°catecolotl?¡± I repeated, recognizing the word¡¯s meaning as ¡®owl-man.¡¯ My own voice sounded like a rasping rattle.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what you are.¡± The creature regally sat on the cold floor, the rain flowing down his fur. ¡°A little devil-bird of death.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know what to say. If this was indeed Xolotl, then I was dead and he would guide me to my proper afterlife as decided by the gods; gods I had deprived of a sacrifice. Scriptures said I should grovel and humbly ask for mercy, but I was <em>done </em>with begging and scrapping.

    ¡°You are not dead yet, Iztac,¡± a hundred phantom voices whispered. ¡°That mercy is denied to you.¡±

    The shadow around us dimmed to reveal a pir of over six-hundred skulls standing nearby. Their empty eyes gleamed with blue mes under the purple rain. They were all staring at me with grins and scowls and frowns, with none of them looking the same.

    ¡°You are¡­¡± I squinted at the dead emperors. ¡°My predecessors?¡±

    ¡°We are the Parliament of Skulls,¡± the pir replied, a hundred emperors whispering as one. ¡°Our bodies perished, but our hateful will lingers. Our dismembered souls are united in spirit.¡±

    ¡°They make for nice conversation, if you can look past the spiteful vows of revenge,¡± Xolotl mused. His tail wagged from one side of his body to the other. ¡°Who knew severed heads could be so bitter?¡±

    If I was speaking to Xolotl and the previous emperors, then I was indeed dead and buried. The thought filled me not with fear, but relief. I¡¯d perished on my terms and spat upon the ¡®gods¡¯ while at it.

    ¡°I am honored to stand before you, guide of the dead and honored spirits,¡± I said, bowing before them all. ¡°Have youe to guide me through the Underworld?¡±

    ¡°You are already below ground, little bird,¡± Xolotl said with a chuckle. ¡°But I only guide the dead. You will have to find your own way downstairs.¡±

    He only guided the dead? But was I not a corpse now, though?

    ¡°We are not truly dead, Iztac, however we might wish for it.¡± The skulls of my predecessor grunted in rage. ¡°The vampire¡¯s kiss denies its victims a peaceful rest. So long as the Nightlords linger among the living, we are trapped on the threshold, unable to move on. Should you fail to escape, this too shall be your fate.¡±

    My heart would have skipped a beat, if I still had one. ¡°Am I not dead already?¡±

    ¡°No, you aren¡¯t,¡± Xolotl said with a light chuckle. ¡°Your Teyolia, your life-fire, still burns bright and you¡¯ve flesh all over your bones. Take a good look below if you wish to see the true corpses.¡±

    I knew better than to not listen to the dead¡¯s guide. I nced around at my surroundings and found myself in some sort of ruined temple¡¯s hall. Rubble and debris littered the paved floor, and holes in the ceiling let purple rain fall through. Cracks and crevices marked marble columns bearing engravings of skeletons. A vast hole dropped straight through the ground next to the Parliament of Skulls and opened up a makeshift balcony to the world outside. I approached the edge and gazed at the strange realm beyond these walls.

    Purple rain clouds flooded a deadnd under the faint light of a fading sun.

    The world outside was a dreadful, sorrowful ce; a vast expanse of moldy ruins half-sunken into tangled swamps and fetid marshes. Broken towers and obsidian pirs rose up from poisonous bogs whose nauseating smell made me want to puke. Enormous weeds covered ancient zas ravaged by time. Everywhere I looked I saw disparate monuments and decrepit temples whose architectural styles I did not recognize. Some pyramids were smooth whereas Yohuachanca¡¯s instead incorporated steps. Houses of faded gold slumbered in the mud next to cracked stone bridges and defaced marble statues.

    Such a jungle should have sung with the buzzing of flies and the song of birds, but only the sound of falling rain echoed from it. The ntscked colors, their leaves tainted brown or violet. Even the vines looked more like chalky serpents than living creatures.

    And the sun¡­ the sun was ck in the sky, yet dripping a pir of ephemeral purple light onto a purple sea fueled by the rain. Its light was that of a dying sunset, thest rays that preceded the fading darkness.

    I was so amazed that I almost missed the sight of a corpse falling down from above. I looked down below, at a za that somehow managed to remain dry in the middle of a downpour. A dozen fleshless skeletons waited there, their legs carrying theirnky frames among the shadows. Their empty eyes shone with a bright glow full of intellect.

    I watched on in silence as a new skeleton fell from the rain clouds and shattered in half upon the ground. The walking dead gathered around their new friend and swiftly worked to put the broken pieces back together. They did a good job at it, though the neer ended up missing a few fingers and ribs.

    ¡°Oops, my queen will have much work to do with <em>that</em> one,¡± Xolotl said. ¡°At least he still has a pelvis.¡±

    ¡°What¡­¡± My voice died in my throat as I gazed at the faded sun. ¡°What is¡­ this ce?¡±

    ¡°The Land of the Dead Suns, of course,¡± Xolotl replied with a snort. ¡°Where do you think suns go when they die, huh? Men or stars, gods or beasts, everything ends up down there in time.¡±

    ¡°The Land of the Dead Suns house all that is dead and forgotten,¡± the Parliament whispered. ¡°Not just the souls of the living. Many fallen civilizations, extinctnguages, and lost treasures have sunk into its depths.¡±

    I¡¯d been told the Underworld was a cavern on which no sun shone, so deep and dark it covered nine whole levels full of dangers. None of my teachers ever mentioned and of ruins and purple rain.

    ¡°If that is a dead sun¡­¡± I pointed at the eclipsed star in the sky. ¡°Then that must be Chalchiuhtlicue?¡±

    ¡°Yes, she is,¡± the Parliament of Skulls answered me. ¡°The goddess of water and fourth sun, whose tears of sorrow flooded the world.¡±

    A droplet slipped between my ribs and filled me with a shiver before turning to steam. It forced me to take a good hard look at my chest. Neither skin nor flesh covered my ckened bones there, allowing me to peek at what burned between them: a purple brazier without fuel, yet encircled by four phantom ropes.

    To my horror, each of them bore one of the Nightlords¡¯ favorite colors.

    ¡°What is this?¡± I rasped in confusion. This me¡¯s baleful gleam put me ill at ease. Its very existence felt unnatural.

    ¡°The Nightlords shackled your Teyolia, your life-fire, to their ritual,¡± the Parliament exined. ¡°So long as they haunt the world, they can call you back to thend of the living.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re here on vacation, so to say,¡± Xolotl said with a shrug. ¡°They¡¯ll pull you back up soon.¡±

    The Parliament grunted in resentment. ¡°You cannot be killed before the Scarlet Moon, Iztac, but you <em>will </em>die a half-death then. Your blood and lifeforce will be feasted upon, and your skull will join us in torment.¡±

    I cursed upon remembering caelel¡¯s warning that no power would sever my worldly bonds. To think my leash extended even beyond death¡¯s door¡­

    ¡°Then it was all for nothing¡­¡± What little pride I¡¯d found in my demise evaporated, reced with sorrow. ¡°The gods cannot be denied.¡±

    Xolotl exploded inughter, much to my confusion. ¡°The true gods are all dead, child. They sacrificed themselves to lift the sun and moon. They¡¯ve earned their rest.¡±

    ¡°You are mistaken, our sessor,¡± the Parliament replied, much to my shock. ¡°Though they are powerful, the Nightlords are not gods. <em>Never </em>gods. We watched them scream and bleed more than once.¡±

    The boast sounded so fantastical that I almost contested it. Yet for a second, I imagined myself driving a sword through the Jaguar Woman¡¯s heart. What would she bleed then? Red or ck? Blood or dust?

    I remembered the wind¡¯s final words as darkness imed me; that though I had stabbed my own heart before the anointed time, the sun still remained high in the sky.

    ¡°So I was right?¡± The me within my chest grew brighter with my anger. ¡°The tributes, the scriptures¡­ they are all <em>lies</em>?¡±

    Xololt nodded calmly, confirming my suspicions. ¡°No gods linger among the living, child. The vampires that reced them are frauds and their empire a house of sand.¡±

    ¡°The first of us remember the days before Yohuachanca¡¯s rise, when the nights were long,¡± the Parliament answered. ¡°The Nightlords and their kin descended from the north and turned the dark into a time of terror. ¡®Either they would take some lives or all of them,¡¯ they said. The priests came after. Once everyone who knows the truth perishes, the lies be the rules. Our sacrifices quenches the Nightlords¡¯ thirst and strengthens their magic, nothing more.¡±

    I¡¯d long suspected the gods¡ªno, the Nightlords¡ªof being false, but hearing it from the tongue of the previous emperors only filled me with further disgust. Just as the soothsayer condemned me over a superstition, these false deities shackled minds with falsehood. It was just more of the same.

    And if the Parliament was correct, then my attempt at exposing them would lead nowhere. Death earned me a respite, a peek through the veil, and nothing more. Was there no escape?

    Something bothered me. ¡°If I¡¯m not dead yet, then how am I here?¡± I asked Xolotl, squinting at the deity. ¡°And you look pretty alive for a dead god.¡±

    ¡°I have long since perished, this is true,¡± Xolotl replied with a canine¡¯s grin. ¡°But in the Land of the Dead Suns, it is always possible to be deader. One¡¯s demise is no barrier for our magic. I thought a catecolotl would understand it.¡±

    I frowned in confusion. ¡°You speak this word as if it means anything to me.¡±

    ¡°<em>Ah</em>, I see how it is.¡± Xolotl licked his fangs. ¡°This is your first flight.¡±

    ¡°Look upon your reflection, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡± The Parliament of Skull grinned at me. ¡°Gaze upon your Tonalli.¡±

    Utterly confused, I looked for the nearest puddle and gazed at my mirrored face. What I could see at least.

    My chest wasn¡¯t the only part of my anatomy that had changed drastically. A ck wooden mask hid the upper half of my visage from the world and a beak protected my nose. My pale blue eyes remained, with the irises having expanded to cover the sclera. I immediately recognized what this face symbolized.

    An owl. An owl-man.

    ¡°What is this witchery?¡± I touched my face, to make sure I was indeed staring at my reflection and not some illusion. My fingers caressed my nose-beak and brushed against my mask. Both had merged with my flesh, leaving my hair, ears, and mouth exposed. ¡°I can¡¯t take it off.¡±

    ¡°This is your true self, Iztac,¡± the Parliament answered calmly. ¡°The catecolotl, owl-demon, and destroyer of men. Born in the Wind Month on a day under the sign of the crocodile. Your life-fire is the ursed me that kindles disaster.¡±

    I stared at my reflection, unable to believe my own eyes. A ck owl stared back at me, an omen of death and doom. I knew the tales; that when a mortal heard an owl howl in the night then their life would be forfeite morning. The night hunters served the Gods-in-Spirit who dwelled in the Underworld. They stole souls and carried them into the darkness without light.

    <em>This boy is born possessed, </em>the hag¡¯s words rang into my skull. <em>Do not y him, for his death will unleash the trapped spirit.</em>

    It couldn¡¯t¡­ it couldn¡¯t be true¡­

    ¡°Lies! Lies, lies, lies!¡± I pointed a finger at the Parliament, the me inside my chest now so bright as to eclipse their own glow. ¡°This is all superstition! I am human! I have eaten meat without feasting on human flesh! Nothing is true!¡±

    The Parliament of Skulls remained unwavering. ¡°There are truths whose meanings have been deformed by time. You are not possessed by a magical being, Iztac; you <em>are </em>one.¡±

    ¡°Why such a reaction, sorcerer?¡± Xolotl¡¯s head tilted to the side, his eyes burning with curiosity. ¡°You should be d of the gift bestowed upon you. Few can boast of traveling into the Underworld while they still live.¡±

    In my foolishness, I red back at the deity. ¡°How would you react if you had been stoned all your life for being cursed¡­ and then realize it might have been true?¡±

    ¡°I would devour those who dared challenge me,¡± Xolotl replied with a cruelugh. ¡°You should do the same. Most catecolotl return insults visited upon them tenfold with curses and spells.¡±

    ¡°The living fear what they do not understand,¡± the Parliament added calmly. ¡°But you were not cursed, Iztac. You were blessed. Powerful magic is yours tomand.¡±

    I shut my mouth, suddenly intrigued. Powerful magic? I¡¯d learned to be fearful of it when the Jaguar Woman strangled me with the power of her mind.

    ¡°Interested, are you?¡± Xolotl¡¯s tail undted behind him and left shimmering motes of darkness in its wake. ¡°Then¡­ perhaps we could make a deal. Form a contract.¡±

    ¡°Beware, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± the Parliament of Skulls warned me immediately. ¡°Gods drive a hard bargain for their knowledge.¡±

    Xolotl scoffed. ¡°You wound me, oh pile of skulls. Do I not shepherd the dead out of the kindness of my heart?¡±

    ¡°Your current task is punishment for past cowardice,¡± the Parliament replied coldly. ¡°If you had any choice in the matter, you would have devoured our sessor.¡±

    The saliva dripping from Xolotl¡¯s fangs suddenly became quite the ominous warning. Yet I couldn¡¯t suppress my curiosity. The idea of strangling the Jaguar Woman with her own magic simply wouldn¡¯t leave my mind. And if Xolotl was a true god, then his power should be greater indeed.

    ¡°What am I?¡± I asked warily. ¡°I want to know the truth. The whole truth.¡±

    Xolotl¡¯s eyes flickered. ¡°Have you heard voices carried by the wind?¡±

    My fists clenched on their own. ¡°I have.¡±

    ¡°There are rare people born with white hair and pale eyes.¡± The Parliament of Skulls let out a deep rattle. It reminded me of a storyteller gathering their breath before a performance. ¡°Fools call them empty hearts, but open hearts would have been truer. They are Nahualli, sorcerers whose Tonalli, their will, is attuned to the invisible realms. They hear the voices of spirits and the strongest of them can shift into their animal spirit.¡±

    The voices of spirits? Did the wind carry the whispers of the dead to my ears this whole time? A thought suddenly crossed my mind.

    ¡°Do the Nightlords know?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Of course,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°I suspect you were chosen <em>because </em>you were Nahualli rather than in spite of it. Your blood, rich in magic, will make for a better offering.¡±

    The more I learned of the Nightlords, these so-called ¡®vampires¡¯, the more I hated them. I suddenly wondered if the soothsayer asked for everyone not to harm me only so I could be a false god¡¯s meal.

    ¡°A few of us were Nahualli ourselves,¡± the Parliament said, ¡°but never a catecolotl. This secret is known only to the dead. Your Tonalli is the devil-owl, the Underworld¡¯s messenger, who moves freely between life and death.¡±

    ¡°This is why you stand before us with flesh over your bones,¡± Xolotl exined. ¡°Unlike most Nahualli, the catecolotl¡¯s spirit can travel to the Underworld while they still live. Had you been a mere human, the vampires¡¯ curse would have denied you entrance to this ce entirely.¡±

    ¡°Then they don¡¯t know I¡¯m here?¡± If vampires had never died, then they couldn¡¯t possibly learn of this trip of mine. ¡°This could be an advantage.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± The Parliament¡¯s countless teeth ground together. ¡°None of us could walk among the lost. There are ancient secrets buried in the Land of the Dead Suns. Secret spells and powerful magic the Nightlords know nothing of.¡±

    ¡°Can you teach me?¡± I asked warily. ¡°How does it work?¡±

    ¡°Learning spells is simple for a catecolotl, little bird.¡± Xolotl¡¯s eyes gleamed with a baleful glow that reminded me of the Nightlords. ¡°You can find many teachers and patrons in this barrennd¡­ but you must give before you receive.¡±

    A ck tongue stuck from between the hound¡¯s fangs. ¡°I would pay a fair price for a taste of living human flesh.¡±

    The memory of my predecessor and his consorts being devoured alive by the Nightlords shed in my mind, vivid and raw.

    ¡°No way!¡± I recoiled from the god in disgust. ¡°I am no one¡¯s meal!¡±

    ¡°Come on, just a taste,¡± the hungry god pleaded for his treat. His skeletal nose expelled a cloud of ck vapor. ¡°You smell so good and warm¡­ Let me chew your flesh just one time. I swear I won¡¯t break a bone!¡±

    ¡°No!¡± I hadn¡¯t tried to escape a false deity¡¯s altar to nourish a real one. ¡°I refuse! Ask for something else!¡±

    An unsettling chorus erupted from the Parliament of Skulls, a ghostly symphony so terrible that it stopped Xolotl and me dead in our tracks. A differentment emanated from each of the emperors¡¯ heads; mournful moans and macabre rattling joined together into an anguished scream.

    ¡°Enough.¡± The skulls shifted and ground against one another to better look at me. ¡°Iztac Ce Ehecatl, our sessor, do you understand what fate awaits you?¡±

    I saw hundreds of tragic tales in the skulls¡¯ ghostly eyes; the echoes of rich lives which had met the same gruesome ending. The same that awaited me if I failed.

    ¡°The Nightlords will not let you rest for long,¡± the pir confirmed. ¡°Many of us have tried to take their lives; some tried to rip out their own heads and others immted themselves until they became ash. No matter how we fell, be it in battle, by our own hands or from countless other things, each time we were brought back until the night of the Scarlet Moon. You must y the sisters before that date, Iztac. Otherwise, your skull <em>will </em>join us in our suffering.¡±

    I had a year to destroy four vampires worshiped as gods by my people. The task sounded simple enough, and impossible to achieve. ¡°How can they even be destroyed?¡± I asked warily. ¡°I am no warrior born. Must I drag them into the sunlight by word or trickery?¡±

    ¡°The Nightlords are old and clever,¡± the Parliament admitted. ¡°Many emperors tried to overthrow them with strength and cunning. They failed, for they were mortal men.¡±

    This did not reassure me. ¡°What chance do I have then?¡±

    ¡°A slim one,¡± the Parliament said tly. At least it spoke the blunt truth. ¡°None of us could hear our predecessors¡¯ whispers and learn from their experiences. Nor could we wield the kind of magic that is only found in the Land of the Dead Suns. With our guidance and your gifts, you might prevail.¡±

    Might, not will. The odds were long and sess wasn¡¯t guaranteed. These words would have filled me with doubt once, but no more. I¡¯d been ready to kill myself for a chance at victory. I would not waver again.

    The cacophony of voices converged, until the Parliament¡¯s words merged into a single utterance.

    ¡°Hence we ask you a question.¡± All past emperors spoke to me at once. ¡°What would you sacrifice to drag these leeches off their throne? What would you sacrifice to change your fate?¡±

    My lips twisted into a scowl. Did they even need to ask? I pointed at my burning chest, right where I nted a knife into my heart.

    ¡°Everything,¡± I replied. ¡°I¡¯d do <em>anything </em>and <em>everything</em>.¡±

    The skulls¡¯ toothy grins widened, their owners pleased. ¡°Then until this task is achieved, we shall guide thy steps. Our hands are tied, but our knowledge is vast. The Land of the Dead Suns is a realm full of ancient secrets and forbidden spells. There are powers here that can destroy even the Nightlords.¡±

    I clenched my fists. ¡°But none of them will be earned for free.¡±

    ¡°Though none of us were catecolotl, we included Nahualli among our numbers. We can teach you a little magic ourselves. The rest you must learn from others.¡± The pir¡¯s eyes nced at Xolotl, who showed remarkable patience for a hungry hound bigger than a wagon. ¡°A god¡¯s word once given cannot be taken back. By the covenant¡¯s terms, they must abide.¡±

    I considered his words. My eyes darted to Xolotl, who smiled back at me. I did not trust him, but if he was indeed bound by his word¡­ then I could negotiate terms. I didn¡¯t relish feeding myself to another, but when the alternative involved being sacrificed as a ve and an eternity of suffering¡­

    I bore insults and stoning for dignity¡¯s sake. I could endure far more in the name of power and freedom.

    ¡°What do you offer?¡± I warily asked Xolotl.

    ¡°Ah, <em>now </em>we¡¯re talking.¡± The dog-god licked his mighty paw. ¡°I could teach you the secret of turning yourself into a beast.¡±

    ¡°A trihorn?¡± I asked, unable to suppress my excitement. Many times I fantasized about crushing Necahual underfoot as a great scaled beast. ¡°Could I be a feather tyrant?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid not,¡± Xolot replied, much to my disappointment. ¡°A Nahualli is no skinwalker. They may only shift in their chosen spirit animal. An owl is no jaguar, I¡¯ll admit, but cats cannot fly, do they?¡±

    ¡°We can teach our sessor this secret ourselves,¡± the Parliament of Skulls interjected. ¡°Offer him more.¡±

    ¡°If you ask so nicely¡­¡± Xolotl chuckled darkly. ¡°How about I teach you spiritual manifestation? A powerful discipline.¡±

    I frowned at him and waited for him to borate. I¡¯d noticed most people tried to fill silence whenever pressed. The fact the Parliament remained quiet meant this information interested them too.

    ¡°Most Nahualli shapeshift their body, little bird, but the catecolotl transmutes the spirit. The old heads can teach you how to transform into an owl in the Land of the Dead Suns. Once you return to your body though, you will no longer fly.¡± Xolotl licked his paw. ¡°But if I were willingly to give you a drop of my divine blood¡­ your Tonalli would grow strong enough to manifest it among the living.¡±

    ¡°Like a ghost?¡± I tried to grasp the concept. ¡°You would teach me to summon my own specter?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll still be alive, but your Tonalli shall take physical form in the world above. It¡¯ll be a guardian spirit you canmand at will.¡±

    The idea of sending an animal ghost to haunt the Nightlords appealed to me. ¡°I¡¯m interested.¡±

    ¡°This will cost you more than a taste, greedy little bird,¡± Xolotl mused. ¡°I return your question: what do you offer for this knowledge?¡±

    Gods drove a hard bargain, but an idea crossed my mind. ¡°How can Ie back here?¡± I asked. ¡°Can I return to the Underworld even if the Nightlords pull me back to thend of the living?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± The dog god cackled in amusement. ¡°You only need to die, or the more boring option of going to bed.¡±

    ¡°Sleep is the little death,¡± the Parliament exined. ¡°Now that your Tonalli has awakened, Iztac, we can guide your soul into the Land of the Dead Suns when you dream. But beware, your destruction in this ce means the death of the mind. Your body will endure as a hollow husk before the Scarlet Moon, and nothingness will be your afterlife.¡±

    I honestly wondered if it would be worse than an eternity spent trapped in a pir of skulls. I quickly decided both were equally horrible. ¡°But would my injuries trante from one world to the other?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Xolotl replied. ¡°The body and soul are separate. I¡¯m not truly tasting your flesh, only its spirit.¡±

    ¡°Then here¡¯s my offer.¡± I extended my left hand to better entice him. ¡°Teach me spiritual manifestation, and I will let you taste my arm each time I visit the Underworld.¡±

    ¡°Bold.¡± The dog-god licked his fangs. He reminded me of a child who had been caught ncing at sweet honey. He tried to look aloof, but failed to hide his hunger. ¡°But I should get a taste of your meat first and see if you¡¯re worth gnawing a hundred times more.¡±

    It seems even gods weren¡¯t below haggling. ¡°I¡¯ve yet to see a merchant that let a customer eat a meal without a promise to pay for it,¡± I pointed out. ¡°As you said, you must give before you receive.¡±

    ¡°Clever boy, to use my words against me.¡± My answer amused Xolotl. I took it as a good sign. ¡°Very well, I ept your terms. Stay still.¡±

    I did not move an inch as Xolotl raised his paw above my chest and bit into his own flesh. His fangs grazed his fur, just deep enough for a drop of ck blood to drip from his wound. I watched it fall through the cracks between my ribs with a clenched jaw.

    The pain was sharp and sudden. My entire body warmed up from within. The fire within me burst with renewed brilliance, unleashing a pulse of heat through my bones. I copsed on my hands in surprise. My throat dried up and my sweat turned into steam.

    ¡°Do you feel my power coursing through you?¡± Xolotl¡¯s jaws snapped open. ¡°Good. Meditate on my generosity as I take my prize.¡±

    His fangs closed on my left arm and tasted my flesh.

    The dog-god hadn¡¯t lied. He did not break my bones nor did he rip my arm off, though he had the power to. Gods had a more delicate pte than that. Xolotl savored the sweat on my skin and the warm blood dripping between his jaws. What made thetter so appetizing to true and false gods alike, I couldn¡¯t tell.

    It said something about the excruciating agony of a stabbed heart that a giant dog chewing my flesh felt almost tolerable inparison. Other sensations distracted me. The noise of droplets hitting the floor grew sharper and stronger. The smell of my own blood filled my nostrils with new vors; the rusty scent of the purple rain; the dust in the air; the chalky odor of the emperors¡¯ skulls.

    When my eyes looked at my blood-soaked left arm, my nails had lengthened. They were sharp. Sharp as a bird¡¯s talons.

    ¡°Shifting already?¡± Xolotl let my arm go, just in time for ck feathers to cover my bloodied skin. ¡°I should have known you would taste like a bird.¡±

    I stopped to think rationally when I sensed my nose and jaws merge into a beak. The fire within my chest unleashed a pulse of power that convulsed my body. My bones twisted in new and interesting ways, my muscles tightened, and smooth ck feathers sprouted out of my soft skin. My hands retracted inside my arms, the fingers consumed by the transformation. New sensations filled my mind and reced old ones. My gaze was attuned to the darkness, which held no secrets for me anymore. I felt light, so quick and unburdened. My arms stretched into wings and my legs into mighty talons.

    I fought the overwhelming urge to take flight, though I wondered if I should. My wounded arm¡¯s injuries healed on their own, and my human frailty was swiftly reced with an overwhelming feeling of power and freedom. My hands were gone, the fingers merged into my bones. My wings were long and strong, and I dearly wished to stretch them.

    The water puddles on the ground no longer reflected a man; but I was not an owl either. I was something in-between, a beast of legends whose talons could carry a ma away without a single sound. My skeletal chest remained exposed, the fire within pulsating with divine magic.

    ¡°Beautiful,¡± the skulls whispered. ¡°A mighty demon you will be.¡±

    ¡°Changing into your spirit animal is easy with divine blood,¡± Xolotl observed, licking my blood off his fangs. ¡°Manifesting it above ground only requires you to wish so, at a cost. Maintaining the manifestation will tire your mind and body. You¡¯ll get used to it over time.¡±

    ¡°More,¡± I rasped through my beak. The transformation¡¯s lingering pain paled before the pleasure of this power coursing through my veins. I reveled in it. ¡°I need more magic.¡±

    ¡°Then you earn it. Strengthen your Teyolia¡¯s fire and hunt down the gods for their secrets.¡± After watching a new skeleton falling from the sky and into the za above, Xolotl rose back to his feet. ¡°You were delicious, Iztac, but now work calls to me. I¡¯ll be sure to extract my payment when you return.¡±

    Xolotl let out a low, rumbling growl; a noise that sounded like distant thunder rolling across the heavens. The skeletons froze in ce, their silent gaze turning towards their guide. The hound leaped off our crumbling room to join them. His legs moved with a grace and purpose that belied his imposing form and casual way of speaking.

    ¡°Follow me, oh voiceless dead!¡± Xolotl called out to the skeletons and gathered them. ¡°The road will be long and many perils await you, but I swear on my honor as a god: I shall shepherd thee safely into the halls of M! Gather behind me!¡±

    I watched the skeletons gather around the deity for a second, but I couldn¡¯t hold back the urge to take flight any longer. I spread my wings under the eclipsed sun.

    ¡°The Nightlords will recall you soon,¡± the Parliament warned me. ¡°If you are discovered, they won¡¯t let youe back here. Bide thy time, y the fool, and grow in strength. Strike when ready and no sooner.¡±

    I barely listened. I could not listen. I was a man drunk on chicha, heedless of truth and danger alike. I leaped into the air, the rain bouncing off my ck feathers. The dead on the za below cowered as my shadow passed over them. I paid them no mind.

    For I was flying.

    I was <em>flying</em>.

    I ascended higher with each p of my mighty wings. Their wingspan stretched farther than a wagon¡¯s length and their power carried me above the marsh. My body moved on its own, guided by an instinct that had slumbered within me for a lifetime. I soared above noxious marshes. Where the forgotten ruins sank into the mire, I aimed to catch the fading sun.

    <em>I am free,</em> I thought, basking in this blissful sensation. The joy of knowing that nothing could touch me; that nothing below could drag me down to earth. I was drunk on this feeling. <em>No one can reach me above the clouds.</em>

    I ascended higher and higher, challenging the rain and the wind. The ruinedir of the Parliament of Skulls became a distant mote of stone below me. As for Xolotl, he vanished from my sight. Everything looked so small from above. It was exhrating. I could have flown for a lifetime.

    Then my masters tugged the leash.

    The chains inside my chest tightened on the me of my soul. They dimmed its light back to smoldering embers, and the magic that coursed through my body turned into a wave of cold helplessness.

    ¡°No!¡± I shrieked in anger, my vision fading. ¡°No! Not now!¡±

    But my pleas went unanswered. The world around me darkened once again as my spirit was dragged out of the Underworld and back into thend of the living. In my haste and arrogance, I had forgotten a simple truth.

    I had be a bird, but I was still a caged one.

    I awoke back in my royal bed.

    My first act was to scream. I shrieked loud enough to wake the dead; not out of fear, but rage. I¡¯d gotten a taste of freedom and felt it yanked away from me. My skin was no longer covered in protective feathers, but smooth and weak. My owlish beak had snapped back open into my mouth and nose. The veil of darkness was imprable to my eyes once again. A heart thrummed inside a prison of flesh where a fire once burned.

    I had been cast down to earth like a crippled bird.

    ¡°Shush,¡± a gentle voice whispered to me, melodious and soothing. ¡°It is all right, my child.¡±

    A hand cold as ice touched my forehead. My boiling blood slowed down instantly and my pulse lessened. A wave of eerie calmness and serenity smothered my anger. A chill traveled across my body, rxing my muscles and soothing my pain.

    The mark on my chest glowed vividly in the dark and my body went limp. Though I could not raise a finger, I did manage to look up. The pale moonlight filtered through the obsidian window gave me a glimpse of the shadow looming over me.

    I realized that my head did not rest on a pillow, but a woman¡¯sp.

    She was, without a doubt, a vision of heaven. Raven hair cascaded down her shoulders in a stark contrast with her crescent-shaped, flower-adorned headdress. A gand of mayflower, water lilies, and sweet amap reflected the moonlight outside almost as much as her golden ne and earrings. Her dress, woven from white vines and red petals, revealed just enough of her legs and cleavage to allure men without verging on the scandalous. The woman smiled at me the way Necahual greeted Eztli fondly in the morning; she looked almost motherly.

    But even the most beautiful flowers could reek of deadly poison. Her eyes, crimson like the bloody moon, hinted at a predatory hunger. Red paint ominously covered her forehead; or perhaps it was dried blood, I couldn¡¯t tell. Her sweet smell was that of a gandid upon a fresh grave. I¡¯d never seen her without a mask or robes, but I identified her voice. She had interceded in my favor when the Jaguar Woman strangled the life out of me.

    Yoloxochitl, the Flower of the Heart. The Nightlord of the South. Said to be the mostpassionate of the lot and yet the slowest to forgive a slight, feared and adored in equal measures.

    A false goddess.

    A false goddess who could bring the dead back to life to punish them some more. My eyes darted to the mark on my chest. No scars remained of the knife that once stabbed it. My heart thrummed in my chest, bustling with life.

    ¡°Worry not, I¡¯ve healed your wounds.¡± Her slender, cold fingers brushed against my cheek. I would have recoiled from her touch if my neck wasn¡¯t so¡­ rxed. ¡°You can rest easy. Your fight for survival is over, Iztac.¡±

    Her serene words awakened a fire within my heart. It boiled beneath my chest, beneath the skin and the flesh, a power unknown to the Nightlords and hidden from all. It was a secret between the dead and I. I had returned from the Underworld and carried something back with me to the mortal world.

    A winged shadow with the urge to tear out a vampire¡¯s throat.

    The Flower of the Heart believed the battle was over, that they had clipped my wings and shown me the futility of it all. She couldn¡¯t be more wrong. I remembered the Parliament¡¯s advice: to bide my time, y the fool, grow in strength, and strike when ready. I would follow it scrupulously.

    My secret war had begun.

    And I had a year to win it.

 Chapter Three: Love and Hate

    Chapter Three: Love and Hate

    I had rarely rested my head on a woman¡¯sp, let alone a vampire¡¯s.

    It was¡­fortable. And dreadful. Yoloxochitl¡¯s skin was colder than Eztli¡¯s, and though her smile was warm, the air was fraught with danger. I could cut the tension with an obsidian knife¡­ or an owl¡¯s talon.

    I desired nothing more than to summon my Tonalli to rip Yoloxochitl to shreds. The magic stirred within me, waiting for the word to strike. I restrained myself. I would have only one chance to take the Nightlord by surprise, and failure meant the end of all my hopes.

    ¡°How does it feel?¡± Yoloxochitl softly asked me. ¡°To die?¡±

    A sh of pain raced through my chest as I remembered plunging a knife into it. While what awaited me after crossing death¡¯s door wasn¡¯t so terrible, I only had one word to describe the process. ¡°Terrible.¡±

    Yoloxochitl shook her head with a sigh. ¡°Why did you do such an awful thing to yourself, Iztac?¡±

    <em>To escape you</em>, I thought, my eyes darting around the room. If the other Nigthlords hid nearby in the dark, I couldn¡¯t detect them. The bedroom appeared empty.<em> To spite you. Because you¡¯re a demon.</em>

    The Nightlord¡¯s smile morphed into a scowl. ¡°Iztac, you need not be so sullen. It would be easier if you told me what weighs on your chest.¡±

    <em>The fact I¡¯ve met a real god, and he told me you were a fraud. A dangerous fraud</em>. Of course, I kept that to myself and changed the subject. I tried to appear fearful and cowed, so she wouldn¡¯t suspect anything. ¡°What will happen to me?¡±¡°Nothing.¡± My shock must have shown on my face, for Yoloxochitl smiled kindly at me. I couldn¡¯t even tell if it was sincere or not. ¡°Sister Ocelocihuatl wanted you tortured for your transgression, but I put an end to it.¡±

    It sounded halfway usible¡ªthe Jaguar Woman had threatened me with punishment already¡ªbut Yoloxochitl would find no gratitude in my reborn heart. Not after what I¡¯d learned. This woman wanted to kill me for show. Her concern was a mask woven with lies. Yet she managed to sound so genuine, so sorry for me, that I almost believed her.

    ¡°To try taking your own life¡­ it is such a sad act.¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s cold dead hand brushed against my hair. I recoiled a bit, much to her confusion. ¡°Your mother never touched you like this?

    ¡°No.¡± Necahual¡¯s cruel words flowed back into my mind, each of them another stab into my heart: <em>even his mother didn¡¯t want him.</em> ¡°She abandoned me at birth.¡±

    I¡¯d never known her. I barely even knew how she looked. Father never spoke of her while he lived, and the other vigers remained tight-lipped. I only managed to coax a few details from Guatemoc while he was drunk: that my mother was a white-hair witch who brought misfortune to my father¡¯s house.

    All I had was her name: Ichtaca.

    ¡°I see¡­¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s eyes fluttered with what could pass for sadness. ¡°And the woman who took you in? Did she truly throw stones at you?¡±

    ¡°She did,¡± I admitted. <em>Did vampires feed on my bad memories as much as my blood? Why was a Nightlord asking me this?</em> ¡°She hated me, saw me as a burden.¡±

    As for her husband, I was a worker, never a son. Only Eztli truly cared.

    ¡°I understand you more now; why you tried to cut your own heart open.¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s hand moved to my chest. A chill ran through my skin when she touched me. ¡°It was filled with sorrow, and you tried to alleviate the pain the best you could.¡±

    The worst part was, she wasn¡¯t too far from the truth. I tried to kill myself because being emperor had been one insult too many. ¡°Something like that.¡±

    ¡°I never bore children of my own, Iztac,¡± the Nightlord whispered. Was that a hint of pain I detected in her voice? ¡°I wanted to once, but our Father¡­ blessed me first. He could never control his thirst.¡±

    <em>Blessed?</em> Her wording caused me to frown in puzzlement. I had been taught that the Nightlords were born as goddesses sired by the divine First Emperor. I immediately tried to fish for more information. ¡°He fed on your blood too?¡±

    ¡°It takes more than blood to sate a god¡¯s thirst,¡± Yoloxochitl answered with a sweet smile. I immediately felt I had overstepped. She had raised the walls around her heart, and it would take time to bring them down. ¡°Goddesses like us can¡¯t bear life, Iztac. Immortality withers the womb, but the desire never left me.¡±

    <em>She was human once</em>. The realization hit me like a lightning bolt. <em>Like the Nightkin.</em>

    ¡°So I settled on adoption,¡± Yoloxochitl whispered. Her head cocked to the side, towards the obsidian window. ¡°The world is full of lost children in need of love. It is a holy duty for those who adopt them to provide it. Home is more than a roof over one¡¯s head. True love is a fire that keeps us warm at night.¡±

    ¡°I had that once with Father,¡± I whispered. But then he died, and though Eztli did her best, I never felt fully weed in Guatemoc¡¯s household.

    ¡°It saddens me that you¡¯ve suffered so much.¡± Yoloxochitl bent a little and kissed me on the forehead as if I were her own son. Her cold lips sent shivers down my spine; she was so close I could confirm that she did not breathe unless she needed to speak. ¡°I may not be allowed to im you as my child, Iztac, but I swear to you. I shall soothe your wounded heart and fill it with happiness.¡±

    Somehow, that promise filled me with greater unease than the Jaguar Woman¡¯s threats. I locked eyes with the Nightlord, whose eyes brimmed with concern and¡­ something else. Something unsettling and dangerous.

    I couldn¡¯t put my finger on why, but I could feel it in my bones. Yoloxochitl sounded genuine when she promised me happiness, and false when she pretended to be a goddess. Either she was an amazing liar, or a poor one. Her actions didn¡¯t add up. And her eyes¡­

    Her eyes looked so much like Eztli¡¯s.

    <em>She is sincere</em>, I realized, my heart skipping a beat in shock. <em>Herpassion is genuine.</em>

    I remembered how Yoloxochitl tried to convince the Jaguar Woman not to torture me at my coronation. Though I had been chosen as emperor, she truly felt sorry for my circumstances. Much like Eztli before her.

    For a moment, I didn¡¯t know what to do. I wanted to hate her¡ªshe shackled me like the other Nightlords¡ªbut to know that she truly intended to make thest year of my life a happy one out of the kindness of her heart¡­ no one showed me truepassion since Eztli. I felt so conflicted.

    Yoloxochitl squinted at me. ¡°You do not believe me?¡±

    Damn it, my unease had shown. Quick, Iztac, think of something. ¡°I¡­¡±

    ¡°You do not need to lie,¡± Yoloxochitl interrupted me with a warm smile that showed her pointed fangs. ¡°I understand. After suffering so many wounds, any kindness must reek of falseness to you.¡±

    She lifted the power that bound my muscles with a wave of her hand. I slowly and carefully raised my head, half expecting the axe to fall anytime. It did not.

    ¡°Allow me to back my words with action, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl said upon stepping off of the bed. She looked like such a lovely creature, so slender and ethereal. Many men would have killed for the privilege to worship at her feet. I was not one of them. ¡°I have a gift for you.¡±

    ¡°A gift?¡± I asked warily. The poisoned kind?

    Yoloxochitl nodded calmly. She waved at me, inviting me to join her. I stepped off the bed with only a cotton loincloth to hide my nakedness. She took my hand into her own and smiled at my skittishness.

    ¡°Do not be shy, Iztac,¡± the Nightlord said with fingers cold as ice. ¡°We finished selecting your consorts.¡±

    The prospect of having a wife, let alone four, would have delighted me once, but now¡­ now I realized whoever the Nightlords picked would share my fate. They would be killed for nothing.

    ¡°You know that each of us Nightlords pick a consort?¡± Yoloxochitl asked me. ¡°I hesitated a long time about my choice. My sisters have preferences, but what I care most for is our emperor¡¯s happiness.¡±

    <em>I doubt that,</em> I thought.

    ¡°I sought to select the perfectpanion for you. Someone who will care and die for you.¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s face beamed with pride. ¡°When the priests told me about your life¡¯s story, I immediately knew who I should choose. I met the girl, and she was such a lovely creature¡­ albeit saddled with a terrible mother and a drunkard for a father. The most beautiful flowers always find a way to bloom, even in the poorest soil.¡±

    My blood froze in my veins. There was only one person who fit that description, and the idea of a Nightlord sinking her ws into her filled me with fearful rage.

    <em>She couldn¡¯t have¡­ </em>My head grew heavier with dark thoughts. <em>She couldn¡¯t have¡­ oh please no¡­ she will die by the year¡¯s end if¡­</em>

    ¡°I knew she would never grow healthy with her current parents.¡± Yoloxochitl chuckled to herself, as if remembering an amusing tale. Her eyes fluttered with mischief and childishness. ¡°So¡­¡±

    She guided me to my bedchamber¡¯s doors. I smelled blood in the air, and heard the sound of suction.

    ¡°I adopted her.¡±

    The doors snapped open.

    The faint smell of blood became overwhelming, alongside a sickening taste of iron and copper in the air. The dim light of torches carried by guests illuminated the grim feast in all of its morbid horror. A red puddle spread upon the waiting lobby outside my chambers.

    Eztli had spilled her first drink.

    Namely, her own father.

    My thoughts were akin to balls shattering against a stone wall. My reborn heart stopped beating in my chest, stabbed not by a knife, but by the bitter sting of horror and disgust. My eyes struggled to process the scene unfolding before my eyes. Eztli was right there, standing before me with eyes as red as her bloodsoaked cotton dress. Her hands held her kneeling father to the ground while her fangs hungrily bit into his jugr.

    Guatemoc¡¯s muffled moans of agony were drowned by his daughter¡¯s greedy gulping. His skin was pale, his veins dried up. His eyes were devoid of light, and his twitching fingers grew weaker with each passing second. It didn¡¯t deter Eztli. She greedily drank with a bestial, maddened hunger. She didn¡¯t seem to notice me. She would suck Guatemoc down to thest drop of blood.

    The grim feast had an audience. Two red priests held Necahual prisoner and forced her to watch the spectacle. She struggled against the ropes restraining her hands in a panicked attempt to turn away. Tears of fear flowed down her cheeks and onto the cotton scarf keeping her mouth closed. I had dreamed of seeing her reduced to such a state in my darkest fantasies, and now it filled me with disgust.

    caelel¡­ he was there too, rubbing his hands in a corner. Smiling. He was <em>smiling</em>, the dickless bastard. A couple of Nightkins chittered at his sides in their bestial state, their bat fangs salivating like dogs waiting for their turn.

    ¡°So beautiful¡­¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s hands seized my shoulders, gently but firmly. ¡°I¡¯m moved¡­¡±

    I wasn¡¯t moved. In fact, I was as still as a marble statue. The scene was such a gruesome disy of absolute evil, so nauseating in its cruelty, that I simply stood there frozen in ce. My head felt heavier than stone. My words died in my throat, drowned by the sound of Guatemoc¡¯s blood ebbing away. His brownish cheeks turned ashen, and his daughter¡¯s iron grip caused his empty veins to squeeze.

    I¡­ I¡­ what¡­ what was I looking at?

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± I panted in shock, unable to string two words together. ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    Eztli, my dearest friend¡­ Unlike her mother, she showed no horror at the crime she wasmitting. A maddened bestial look of ecstatic delight showed on her bloodsoaked face. I couldn¡¯t find the girl I¡¯d loved so dearly in the abomination¡¯s eyes. Only a bottomless hunger and an unquenchable bloodlust.

    This¡­ this had to be a nightmare. I was still in the Land of the Dead Suns, dreaming of darkness.

    ¡°The first feast is always the most unsightly,¡± the Nightlord behind me said. ¡°But look at how calm her father is¡­ he¡¯s giving his life so she might feed¡­¡±

    Yes¡­ yes this was a nightmare. None of this was true. It was a dying hallucination, a feeble illusion on the afterlife¡¯s threshold. It couldn¡¯t be real¡­

    A warm liquid fell on my neck while Guatemoc turned limp and cold. The sensation snapped me out of my trance long enough to peek over my shoulder.

    Yoloxochitl was crying tears of blood.

    Tears of emotion.

    Tears of <em><strong>joy</strong></em>.

    ¡°This is love, Iztac,¡± she said, oh so sweetly. Her blissful smile was the gentlest I had ever seen. ¡°This is what true love looks like.¡±

    The most terrifying part was that she believed it. I could see it in her eyes. The feverish glint of insanity, the sincere gaze of a diseased mind who could interpret this¡­ this horrific abomination as audable act.

    I finally realized what was wrong with Yoloxochitl. The Jaguar Woman was evil, the White Serpent was cruel, and the Bird of War was brutish. But the Flower of the Heart? The Flower was <em><strong>mad</strong></em>.

    Once Eztli had finished her meal, she released her grip on her lifeless father¡¯s corpse. His empty husk slumped at his wife¡¯s feet with a loud noise. Eztli licked the blood off her lips with a dark look of absolute bliss that soured my stomach.

    This¡­ this wasn¡¯t a dream. This was reality. A nightmare, but still reality.

    ¡°E-Eztli?¡± I found the strength to stammer. ¡°Eztli?¡±

    Eztli did not respond. Her crimson eyes fluttered in a daze, lost in an expression of ultimate pleasure. Her muscles were rxed and her tongue stuck between her lips. Sharp fangs gleamed in the torches¡¯ light. I wanted to hold her, to shake her out of it, but her terrifying expression made me recoil.

    She¡­ was Eztli even somewhere inside that creature?

    I¡­ I¡­

    ¡°Give her time to adjust,¡± Yoloxochitl said with a tone that could pass for kindness. ¡°I swear to you Iztac, I will raise her right this time.¡±

    My heart thrummed in fury, and an owl¡¯s phantom talons materialized behind the Nightlord.

    I felt Yoloxochitl¡¯s nails curl into my flesh. Her head snapped to the side, though I managed to dispel my spirit manifestation before she could catch a glimpse of it. It took everything to keep a nk face and not give myself away. My pulse quickened in panic.

    caelel frowned upon noticing the Nightlord¡¯s worry. ¡°Is something bothering you, mistress?¡±

    ¡°I sensed an evil spirit,¡± she said with a frown, ncing at the shadows. ¡°A scavenger trying to steal our food.¡±

    <em>I would have stolen more than blood</em>! I thought while trying to keep my wits. My Tonalli had reacted on its own, echoing my fury and nearly giving my true nature away. <em>I would have stolen your wicked soul!</em>

    Yoloxochitl had done worse than killing Eztli. She had twisted her into a monster willing to murder her own father for a sip of blood! Death would be too good for the Nightlord, and it took all my will not to summon my spiritual manifestation to hasten it!

    But if Yoloxochitl could sense my Tonalli, then I couldn¡¯t fumble an assassination attempt. I needed to bear this act of cruelty like all the others and wait until I could return it tenfold. And more than anything¡­ I needed to save Eztli. From herself.

    And moreover, I hadn¡¯t missed the brief sh of fear in the Nightlord¡¯s eyes. For a brief second, she had felt vulnerable.

    She <em>could </em>be killed.

    I sensed Yoloxochitl¡¯s hands on my shoulders rxing. Though she could detect my animal spirit, she appeared unable to identify me as its source. ¡°Take your new sister away,¡± she ordered one of the Nightkins. ¡°She needs rest.¡±

    I watched helplessly as a vampire gently carried Eztli in his arms and out of the room. I didn¡¯t have time to worry for her safety, for Yoloxochitl turned her attention on another prey.

    ¡°If there is anything I cannot stand, Iztac, it is a neglectful mother.¡± Yoloxochitl sneered at Necahual with contempt. ¡°This woman failed in her duties. Instead of weing you into her home, she instead chose to treat you poorly. She forfeited her rights as a mother, both to you and that girl.¡±

    Necahual wept in bitter despair and naked terror. I should have found a measure of happiness in her misery, now that she understood what it meant to be weak and helpless. But I did not.

    ¡°As emperor and judge of the living, Iztac¡­¡± Yoloxochitl whispered into my ear. ¡°How would you like her to die?¡±

    While the remaining Nightkin smelled Necahual like an appetizing meal, my eyes turned to Guatemoc¡¯s empty huskying on the ground. His final expression was forever trapped in a silent scream of fear.

    No one deserved to be a vampire¡¯s dinner. No one.

    ¡°Of old age.¡± I rasped.

    Although I hated that woman¡­ I couldn¡¯t stand by and do nothing. I couldn¡¯t let Eztli lose her mother after what just happened. And Guatemoc, in spite of everything, took me into his home. I wouldn¡¯t let his wife suffer the same fate he did.

    Necahual¡¯s eyes turned in my direction, pleading for mercy where her gagged mouth would not. As for Yoloxochitl, she nced at me with a puzzled look. ¡°You would forgive her?¡±

    ¡°Never,¡± I replied with a sneer. Pity did not equal forgiveness. ¡°But knowing her daughter and I have ascended beyond her ken is punishment enough. Let her grow old and bitter, haunted by her failures beneath my notice.¡±

    In a way, that was almost true. This night would haunt her for the rest of her life.

    ¡°You are kind, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl said with the tone a mother would use to scold her na?ve child. ¡°But every sinner requires cleansing.¡±

    Of course she wouldn¡¯t let me decide for myself. The best Necahual could hope for was a lighter punishment. ¡°Then let her make up for her failures,¡± I said, trying to sound like my school¡¯s teachers when they sentenced students tobor. ¡°She has failed to raise me and Eztli, so she shall work the rest of her life to take care of war orphans.¡±

    Thoughe to think of it, that sounded a bit too light a punishment¡­ Yoloxochitl would demand something harsher, as did my grudge.

    ¡°Every wound visited on them will be visited upon her in turn,¡± I proposed. ¡°If one of her charges is stoned, she shall be stoned in turn.¡±

    ¡°A wound for a wound¡­ with a touch of irony.¡± Yoloxochitl appraised Necahual, who whimpered at the Nightlord¡¯s gaze. ¡°caelel, strip her.¡±

    The eunuch eagerly ripped off Necahual¡¯s cotton blouse and exposed her nakedness. Her clothes fell upon the ground, exposing her full breasts, strong hips, and slim legs. The mortified Necahual attempted to cover her intimate parts by crossing her legs, but caelel remorselessly forced them apart with a hand. Her sweat of fear glistened on her skin. Though twice my age, Necahual remained a beautiful woman; Eztli had inherited her looks from her. Mother and daughter looked too much alike.

    ¡°Thisforts me in my choice.¡± Yoloxochitl nodded to herself with a look of satisfaction. ¡°I will have her sent to the border as a bed ve. She will atone her failure to raise you as a child by bearing those of your soldiers.¡±

    I thought I¡¯d misheard for a moment, though Necahual¡¯s muffled cry confirmed I hadn¡¯t. The Nightkin whimpered in disappointment, while caelel suppressed a chuckle. He would die for this. I didn¡¯t know how yet, but I <em>would </em>kill him.

    ¡°I do not understand,¡± I lied. I prayed to the gods below to bring the Nightlord to her senses, but true deities ignored pleas as much as the false ones.

    ¡°A wound for a wound.¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s scowl turned into an ugly smile. ¡°She failed to be a mother to the emperor, so she will bear the sons of the empire. Our brave soldiers deserve to leave something behind in this world before they leave it, don¡¯t you think? She will serve them until her womb bes barren.¡±

    ¡°This is¡­¡± Disgusting? Cruel? <em>Sickening</em>? I struggled against the urge to vomit. ¡°Unlikely.¡±

    ¡°Oh, she will fulfill her duties,¡± the Nightlord replied with a reassuring tone. ¡°If she fails to conceive before the year¡¯s end, I will have her yed and given to our lesser kin. She will feed either her own children or mine.¡±

    Every time I thought a Nightlord couldn¡¯t sink deeper into cruelty, they proved me wrong. At this point, I wised up to the fact that reasoning with this madwoman was a lost cause. An insidious disease sickened her mind.

    I could tell from Necahual¡¯s weeping eyes that the prospect of being raped for the rest of her life didn¡¯t appeal to her. But what else could I do? Yoloxochitl wanted her to suffer and wouldn¡¯t settle for anything less than pure cruelty. What other punishment could I suggest? My eyes turned to that bastard caelel, whose words echoed in my mind.

    <em>¡°If you wish for any woman to join your harem on a more permanent basis¡ªeven another¡¯s wife or a virgin¡ªyou only need to ask.¡±</em>

    ¡°I refuse.¡±

    The words flowed out of my mouth on their own. I immediately felt Yoloxochitl¡¯s hands tense up on my shoulders. She was displeased. I thought on my feet and improvised.

    ¡°You have a wonderful idea, Lady Yoloxochitl,¡± I lied through my teeth. ¡°But if you will forgive my selfishness¡­ I want this woman for myself.¡±

    Yoloxochitl frowned at me, her crimson eyes squinting. ¡°For yourself?¡±

    ¡°caelel said my predecessor¡¯s harem was in need of fresh blood. That I could have anyone I wanted, even married women.¡± I pointed a finger at Necahual, channeling all the resentment I held for her in my voice. ¡°I want that ve. I want her all for myself.¡±

    Thankfully, the look of utter disgust Necahual sent me only pleased Yoloxochitl further. ¡°Yes, I see,¡± the Nightlord whispered, her grip on me rxing. ¡°Yes, since she failed to raise you as a son, then she will bear yours. This will be a fair punishment.¡±

    I would rather bed a rat than Necahual, and I wouldn¡¯t touch her with a ten-foot pole¡­ but Yoloxochitl didn¡¯t have to know that.

    ¡°I assent to your request, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl said with a sharp nod. ¡°She will join the imperial harem as a ve and servant.¡±

    I kept my mouth shut rather than let that madwoman misinterpret my pleas ande up with a worse alternative. I had spared Necahual death and a worse fate. I knew this was the best concession I would get tonight.

    ¡°Are you happy with my gifts, my dear child?¡± Yoloxochitl asked me. ¡°Have I not been good to you?¡±

    I locked eyes with her for a moment, my face a nk board. The Nightlord¡¯s eyes were sincere. She truly believed she had done me a favor, and that I should thank her for her ¡®gifts¡¯: Guatemoc, dead on the ground at his own daughter¡¯s hands; Eztli, twisted into a monster too lost in her bloodlust to acknowledge the aforementioned atrocity; and a weeping widow she expected me to rape for my pleasure.

    ¡°One day,¡± I said, choosing my words carefully, ¡°I will repay your kindness as it should be.¡±

    ¡°You are too kind.¡± Yoloxochitl nodded happily, unaware of my words¡¯ true meaning. ¡°I am looking forward to it.¡±

    I knew which Nightlord I would drag into the sun first.

    I could not find sleep that night.

    The Nightlord vanished with her kin, promising to return when I would need it most; a night that couldn¡¯te any slower. caelel had priests take Necahual away and servants to drag Guatemoc¡¯s corpse off the floor. ¡°We shall have his remains fed to your pets in the menagerie,¡± said the eunuch, ¡°He will trouble you no¨C¡±

    ¡°I want him buried,¡± I said sharply, my voice brimming with disdain. I couldn¡¯t stand caelel¡¯s presence anymore. Not after seeing him <em>smile</em>. ¡°He was a warrior once. Give him a worthy sepulture.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, my emperor.¡± caelel smirked. ¡°I hope tonight showed you what the Nightlords¡¯ favor entails.¡±

    ¡°Did you enjoy it, caelel?¡± I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it for myself. ¡°The blood? The suffering? Did you enjoy it?¡±

    ¡°My emperor, there is no greater joy to be found than in fulfilling one¡¯s duty.¡± The eunuch chuckled to himself. ¡°I hope one day you will find the same relief in your heart.¡±

    He would be the first to die. The stone that would sharpen my talons.

    caelel sensed my silent wrath and changed the subject. ¡°We intended to introduce you to your consorts earlier today, but your ident dyed the ceremony. Now that you are awake, perhaps we canplete it? All those fine women are so eager to serve you, my emperor.¡±

    I wondered how many Necahuals would be among my consorts; women forced into servitude the same way I¡¯d been.

    ¡°I need a moment to meditate on tonight¡¯s events,¡± I replied. Too much happened for me to waste time on cordialities. ¡°I must retire inside the reliquary for a while.¡±

    ¡°Of course my emperor, take your time,¡± caelel said with a false smile. ¡°I pray you will not have another ident though. Lady Yoloxochitl¡¯s sisters do not share her patience.¡±

    ¡°I have learned my lesson,¡± I said coldly. ¡°Tonight¡¯s events won¡¯t happen again.¡±

    One way or another.

    I retired into the imperial reliquary under heavy escort, though the soldiers did not follow me inside. I presumed they would not enter unless I tried killing myself again. I saw no trace of the blood I shed on its cold obsidian floor. My predecessors¡¯ skulls awaited me in silent sorrow.

    I couldn¡¯t hold it any longer.

    ¡°Ah!¡± I copsed to my knees and hit the ground with my fists so hard it hurt. ¡°Argh!¡±

    I bit my tongue so as not to alert the guards outside. I didn¡¯t want them to see me like this, kneeling on the floor, holding back tears of anger and sorrow. Yoloxochitl, caelel, the First Emperor, and all his foul brood! Curse them all! Everyst one of them!

    ¡°Damn it!¡± I punched the ground with my fist, something warm flowing on my cheek. ¡°Damn it, damn it, damn it¡­ Eztli¡­ I¡¯m so sorry¡­¡±

    My forehead mmed against the cold floor, my hands tight as stones. Eztli¡­ Eztli was dead, twisted, and reborn as a monster. One I was expected to <em>marry </em>in a few hours. Guatemoc was dead, and Necahual might follow if the Nightlord ever suspected my trick. I lived in a house of madness!

    ¡°Ah¡­ ah¡­¡± I breathed slowly, inhaling and exhaling in the darkness. I tried to clear my head the best I could, to cling to hope. ¡°I will destroy them for this¡­ I will destroy them all. I swear to the true gods.¡±

    My curses did not go unanswered. Ghostly lights lit up in the shadows like candles.

    ¡°Can you hear us, our sessor?¡± the skulls whispered.

    I wiped away the tears on my cheeks and knelt before my predecessors. My aplices in revenge.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I whispered back. My head peeked over my shoulder and at the reliquary¡¯s entrance. I could see the guards¡¯ shadows by the threshold. ¡°Can they?¡±

    ¡°They see and hear only what we choose to show them. Our power is limited, but this room shall forever remain our sanctuary.¡± The Parliament of Skulls let out a rueful chuckle. ¡°The ritual connects us too. We shall see what you see, hear what you hear.¡±

    Good. Even in this prison, I still had a guardian spirit watching over me.

    I decided to summon another. I inhaled sharply and called upon my Tonalli. My body grew numb with an otherworldly chill. Talons stretched out of my shadow, followed by great wings. The owl-beast of my soul materialized feather by feather and filled the room with its towering shape.

    The moreplete my Tonalli became, the more my mind slipped away. My vision shifted until I found myself staring at my own human body lost in a trance. My soul had fully escaped its vessel of flesh.

    It quickly tired me. As an owlrger than a trihorn. I was strong and big and quick; yet my strength waned quickly. I tried to maintain my spiritual shape within the reliquary¡¯s confines for the longest time possible. It ended up being short. My owl-self faded away back into my shadow and my human eyes snapped open.

    ¡°One minute.¡± I gasped for air with lungs of flesh. ¡°Not very far or long.¡±

    ¡°Your Tonalli¡¯s range and duration will increase with training,¡± my predecessors said. ¡°But your body bes helpless when you fully manifest it. This is both a strength and a weakness.¡±

    Indeed. I could potentially send my spirit to assassinate enemies from afar. However, it would make my true self vulnerable at the same time. Not to mention fully manifesting it taxed my willpower.

    ¡°You were lucky that Yoloxochitl is unskilled in the spiritual arts,¡± the Parliament of Skulls swiftly chastised me. ¡°Had you summoned your Tonalli in the Jaguar Woman¡¯s presence, you would have been discovered. You must be more careful from now on.¡±

    My hands tightened on myp. ¡°You don¡¯t think I could have killed her on my own.¡±

    ¡°No, we do not,¡± the Parliament answered bluntly. ¡°Yoloxochitl is the weakest of the four, but she is still too powerful for you. You must strengthen your magic before you can even <em>think </em>of confronting her in open battle.¡±

    ¡°Then let us begin now.¡± My time among the living would be short, and I would not dy. I would have no more nights like this one. ¡°What must I do? What me is powerful enough to burn a Nightlord to cinders?¡±

    ¡°The soul is made of three things,¡± the Parliament of Skulls began. ¡°The Tonalli, the mind and spirit; the Teyolia, the life-fire of the heart; and the Ihiyotl, the breath and the will. You must master all three to be a true sorcerer. Do you remember the faded sun?¡±

    Yes, I did. The Underworld¡¯s purple sun was a pale shadow of the one that burned in thend of the living, yet it did provide light. Could I make it mine?

    ¡°The four deities that became suns before your own offered their Teyolia to kindle the sky,¡± The Parliament¡¯s lights flickered in the dark as they reminisced. ¡°Their life-fire might have faded away, but embers of power remain. If you gather these remaining mes and infuse your own Teyolia with them¨C¡±

    ¡°I will gain the sun¡¯s power,¡± I guessed, my fingers trembling with a meager hope.

    ¡°A fraction of it,¡± the Parliament rified. ¡°Your heart will be a pyre that shall burn even the gods. It will not guarantee victory, but it shall give you a chance.¡±

    My hand moved to my naked chest. My heart thrummed underneath the Nightlords¡¯ mark, demanding revenge. ¡°I will shoulder any obstacle, oh honored spirits,¡± I said with determination. ¡°But I only saw one sun in the Underworld, that of the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue. Where are the other three?¡±

    ¡°You must travel downward to find them,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°The Land of the Dead Suns is made of fouryers, each a world¡¯s corpse and a sun¡¯s tomb. The strata you visited, the Catbs of Sorrow, is naught but the first step in a dangerous journey. There are dead things down in the levels below that the gods locked away for a reason. Lost monsters and forgotten ideas that are anathema to life itself. Your nights will be long and full of dread.¡±

    ¡°The days already are,¡± I replied dryly. Whatever terrors awaited in the Underworld, they couldn¡¯t be worse than watching Eztli murder her own father. ¡°Show me the road and I will walk it.¡±

    ¡°First you must im Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s fire,¡± the Parliament dered. ¡°You must travel to the dead kingdom of M in the firstyer, where you will find both her sun¡¯s embers and the gate leading you to the next level. We can discuss how to reach them when you next sleep. The waking world will demand other skills.¡±

    Somehow, I had the suspicion that waking hours would be harder on me. My quest in the Underworld sounded simple: to descend into its depths, collect four suns¡¯ embers, and learn magic along the way. My time as an emperor, however, would be spent with the Nightlords watching over my neck.

    ¡°What must I do after tonight¡¯s slight?¡± I asked my predecessors. Merely thinking about Eztli¡¯s fate boiled the blood in my veins. ¡°How must I answer it?¡±

    ¡°With patience,¡± the Parliament of Skulls replied calmly. ¡°Submit to the Nightlords in words, pretend helplessness, and keep your true intentions a secret.¡±

    My jaw clenched in frustration. ¡°I must let them stone me and murder innocents, and then thank them for the privilege?¡±

    ¡°Would you rather y the fool or be one?¡± The Parliament let out a rattle of displeasure. ¡°You must be like the silent snake, who slithers in the grass to better catch its prey unaware. Let the Nightlords believe that their cruelty crushed your spirit and that the pleasures they offer dulled your edges. Entertain them when they watch you, and gather allies when they do not.¡±

    ¡°What of Necahual? I have no wish to¡­¡± The words died in my throat. ¡°Touch her. I lied to Yoloxochitl so she would leave her alone, but if the Nightlord suspects the truth¨C¡±

    ¡°Then you should kill the one called Necahual.¡±

    My head snapped at my predecessors in shock. ¡°What?!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve told you once before,¡± my predecessors reminded me. ¡°The vampire¡¯s kiss denies its victims their afterlife. When these leeches feed on blood, they also feast on the soul. This Guatemoc will only pass the Gate of Skulls when his killer is well and truly destroyed. His widow will suffer the same fate if the Nightlords grow weary of her. If she dies by your hand, at least she will pass on properly.¡±

    I refused to go through with it. I hadn¡¯t saved Necahual from death at the hands of monsters to do the deed myself. ¡°There has to be a third way.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± the Parliament conceded. ¡°Given time, she might prove useful to our cause.¡±

    With Necahual now a long-term problem, my thoughts turned to Eztli. Poor Eztli, warped into a creature of the night. The Parliament¡¯s words¡ªthat Guatemoc¡¯s soul wouldn¡¯t pass on until his own daughter perished¡ªmade me realize just how deep the curse went. It twisted people into monsters and denied their victims any hope for release.

    ¡°Is there a cure for vampirism?¡± I asked my predecessors. ¡°Can a Nightkin be made human again?¡±

    ¡°If this is possible, we have yet to see it.¡± The Parliament noticed my disappointment and swiftly tried to lift my spirits. ¡°The Land of the Dead Suns wees creatures who ruled long before the Nightlords. The vampires¡¯ true origin remains a secret even to us, but they might tell you more. If you can find the poison¡¯s source, perhaps you can clear the well.¡±

    It was a slim hope, but hope nheless. It gave me yet another reason to delve deeper into thend of the dead. But that wouldeter, in my sleep.

    ¡°You said you would guide me in my waking hours,¡± I reminded the Parliament of Skulls. ¡°I will soon be introduced to my consorts. What wisdom can you share with me on how to approach them, my predecessors?¡±

    ¡°Four consorts were chosen to share your fate. They make natural allies. Many of us found friends and confidants among them.¡± The Parliament¡¯s heads grunted in anger. ¡°We also suffered cruel betrayals, for the hearts of humans are easily led astray. Test them all, trust no one.¡±

    ¡°Why would they betray me?¡± I asked in confusion. I¡¯d already considered approaching the consorts as friends today, but I did not expect my predecessors¡¯ wariness. ¡°What would they have to gain? We¡¯re all going to die on the altar.¡±

    ¡°The Nightlords will tell your consorts that they might be spared if they do their bidding,¡± the previous emperors replied. ¡°These will be lies¡ªno one escapes the knife¡ªbut the desperate will cling to any hope. Some of your consorts might even believe their sacrifice will be for the good of all and that a rebellion endangers the universe. Or the Nightlords will threaten their kin. There are many ways for the powerful to cow the weak into obedience.¡±

    I could believe that. I had seen far too many examples, from old priests bending boys at school to false prophets of the night leading an empire to believe in their lies.

    ¡°What bothers us most is Yoloxochitl¡¯s choice,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°Never before has a vampire been chosen for the sacrifice. The Nightlords¡¯ ritual is a delicate affair. This whim may have severe consequences down the line.¡±

    ¡°A whim,¡± I muttered with a scowl. ¡°All this blood¡­ it was just a whim from her?¡±

    The Parliament remained silent a moment, before offeringforting words. ¡°We mourn your loss with you,¡± the skulls whispered. ¡°We too have lost manypanions to the curse. All we advise you for now is to listen. Your friend may have be a mockery of life, but part of her still remains within her.¡±

    I changed the subject. I didn¡¯t want to think of Eztli. The wound was too raw. ¡°How may I be powerful?¡± I asked. ¡°How can I make others behave on my behalf?¡±

    ¡°The emperor does wield powers of his own,¡± my predecessors replied. ¡°Not all of them are borrowed. There are loopholes to exploit, duties that can be rights, rules that can give you authority. First, we shall also teach you to consult with the Yaotzin, the wind of chaos, so that you may learn secrets of friends and foes.¡±

    The Yaotzin? ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of this name.¡±

    ¡°Where do curses go when they¡¯re uttered?¡± the Parliament asked, though it did not wait for my answer. ¡°Words carry power, Iztac Ce Ehecatl; they are the source of Ihiyotl magic. As small currents fuel great rivers, a thousand curses form deadly hurricanes. This is the Yaotzin. A wind born of malign words, the enemy of both sides.¡±

    My eyes widened in surprise as I made the obvious connection. ¡°The voices in the winds¡­¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± The Parliament¡¯s hundreds faces let out a shared grunt. ¡°As Nahualli, you can hear the Yaotzin¡¯s whispers. Trust it not, for this wind exists to spread discord; but properly coaxed, it will answer questions.¡±

    ¡°Questions about what?¡±

    ¡°Of evil words, of shameful secrets, and secret betrayals. The Yaotzin knows every sin that has ever been uttered. The Nightlords know how to guard their secrets against it, but mortals do not. They confess their crimes and their guilt to the wind when they think of themselves alone; unaware that when they allow a word to escape their lips, it is free to torment them.¡±

    <em>We shall carry your words to those who will listen</em>, the winds told me when I first rebelled against the Nightlords. I suddenly wondered who it might be.

    ¡°We shall teach you the spell of Augury, which will allow you to consult the Yaotzin. This shall be your first step in mastering Ihiyotl magic.¡± The Parliament¡¯s eyes lit up as they bestowed their knowledge. ¡°To form a covenant with it, you must offer a drop of blood to the wind to catch its attention. Then you must offer a tribute, a truth that will harm someone if revealed. Do <em>not </em>confess anything that can be turned against you. The Yaotzin knows nothing of loyalty, and might one day inform your enemies. Each truth you give away must be different from thest.¡±

    I remembered Xolotl¡¯s words: that magic was all about giving and receiving in return. I¡¯d sworn I wouldn¡¯t listen to the voices in the wind for the rest of my life, but I guessed stabbing my own heart and dying voided the vow. ¡°And then?¡±

    ¡°Then you must ask a question. The crueler the information you reveal, the more the wind will whisper back. The Yaotzin never lies, for the truth cuts deeper than any knife.¡±

    ¡°Then I will interrogate the wind on the consorts once I have learned their names.¡± I bowed before the previous emperors. ¡°I thank thee for your guidance.¡±

    ¡°We wish we could offer more than that, our sessor.¡± The Parliament¡¯s glowing eyes dimmed in the shadows. ¡°We shall meet again in the Land of the Dead Suns, to plot our revenge.¡±

    The spirits returned to their silent grave, and I emerged from the reliquary alone with my thoughts. The wind blew upon my face when I walked upon the roof and whispered poison into my ear.

    <em>Do not trust the skulls</em>, the Yaotzin said. <em>They keep secrets from you.</em>

    I froze for a second, meditated on this information, and then carried on as if nothing had happened. It was indeed the enemy of both sides.

    With my meditationplete, maids and servants prepared me for the ceremony. They led me into hot baths to wash me, dressed me in imperial robes, and crowned me with the emperor¡¯s headdress. I neither resisted nor said a word. The Nightlords wanted to see me cowed, and I would indulge their delusions.

    ¡°It is time for you to sit on your throne, oh great emperor,¡± caelel said once servants finished dressing me. ¡°Many wille to pay you homage today, including foreign dignitaries.¡±

    ¡°I suppose I must wee them with politeness, caelel?¡± I asked calmly.

    ¡°If that is your wish.¡± As I suspected, the eunuch appeared pleased that I would consult him for advice. He believed me neutered. ¡°Everyone within the empire¡¯s borders and beyond owes you obedience, oh great emperor.¡±

    I wondered how many resented that fact¡­ and whether we could findmon ground.

    An escort of guards guided me into a vast pavilion within the pce¡¯s heart. I was immediately struck by the hall¡¯s sheer size. Half my vige could have fit within its confines. Great marble columns supported a vaulted ceiling tall enough to let a longneck through; precious gemstones on its surface mimicked the night sky. Delicate tapestries adorned the walls alongside a host of trophies taken from a thousand defeated tribes: colorful feathers, the skulls of great creatures, magnificent pottery, and dazzling golden statuettes stood on hardwood shelves to impress visitors. Rugs covered every inch of the marble floor.

    A masterfully crafted throne of obsidian oversaw the entire room from its end atop an elevated tform. Plush and cushions sat around it, albeit on a level below it; I assumed they were meant for dignitaries and advisors. Rare nts and burning resin filled the hall with intoxicating fragrances.

    None of these distractions could obscure the room¡¯s most impressive detail: an obsidian windowced with streaks of red oversaw the throne from behind. Its carvings made it resemble a deity¡¯s ghastly eye. I assumed it represented the First Emperor, whose dimmed sunlight filtered through the ckened ss. A reminder that the Nightlords would always look over my shoulder, no matter how high I ascended.

    ¡°Impressive, is it not?¡± caelel and the guards formed two lines on each side of the stairway leading to the throne. ¡°It is time for you to take your rightful ce at the apex of the world, oh great emperor.¡±

    I ascended the steps with as much enthusiasm as a condemned man walking toward the sacrificial altar. The throne proved no morefortable than its fearsome appearance suggested; the absence of cushions did nothing to blunt the obsidian¡¯s coldness. The armrests¡¯ edges were sharper than des, preventing me from resting my hands. The onefort I could find was the height: I towered over caelel and his ilk from over ten feet above.

    I guessed the underlying message behind that design choice: that no matter how insignificant my fellow mortals were before an emperor¡¯s majesty, I would <em>never </em>rest easy.

    Once I sat properly, courtiers in dazzling clothes and feathered dresses swarmed the room from nowhere. They advanced with their heads down, avoiding my gaze like the crawling maggots they were. caelel announced my glory to all who would listen.

    ¡°All kneel before the great emperor of Yoahuachanca, godspeaker, servant of the long night, and first king of the Thirteenth Cycle, the Huey toani and conqueror of the earth!¡± Guards hit shields of wood with their spears when caelel spoke, as they did for my predecessor. ¡°Iztac, the First of his name, and his four consorts!¡±

    I braced myself for the blow I knew woulde. Yoloxochitl had warned me whom I should expect to see today.

    Enormous doors of hardwood opened and four women entered the hall.

    Thest consorts I saw had been shaved, drugged, stripped, and shipped to the sacrificial altar. Thedies that walked into the throne room were no vampire appetizers. They came dressed in splendid clothes and unique jewelry that showcased their differences. And most importantly, they looked at me rather than keeping their heads down as protocol demanded.

    I appraised each of my fellow sacrifices in turn, trying to discern whether they would make for friends or foes. A mere nce told me much.

    The first consort was a young woman my age, with the palest skin I had ever seen: not a light shade of brown like mine, but pinkish-white. Her hair was like a fountain of gold falling on her shoulders and her eyes gleamed with a vivid shade of green. I¡¯d never seen anything like her before, even among foreigners peddling their wares in the capital¡¯s markets. Her fair face, with its high cheekbones and slightly upturned nose, differed from themon features of Yohuachanca¡¯s people. She strode forward with confidence that bordered on insolence, her vibrantly colored embroidered tunic left her slim legs exposed. She wore a treasury¡¯s worth of golden armbands, nes, and earrings. Of the four, she looked the most like a princess; and when our eyes met, she gave me a lovely smile and a yful gaze.

    The second consort couldn¡¯t be more different. She was a head taller than me, and a decade older too. Her dark-brown skin, amber eyes, and fiery mane of red hair marked her as an amazoness from the southern jungles. She was more muscr than most warriors and dressed as one; she wore thick padded cotton armor instead of a shirt, a functional loincloth, and a simple circle of shells and ws instead of a headdress. Her callused hands instinctively brushed against her belt, searching for a dagger or a sword that was no longer there. She walked with regal dignity, but I could see the resignation in her fierce eyes. She hated being there as much as I did. Probably a war captive taken in battle.

    The third consort gave me pause, for I saw my own reflection. She was a petite thing around my age, slim and frail. The earthy tones of her garments made her appear almost invisible in the pirs¡¯ shadows. Her traits weremon, her hands trembling with shyness. There was nothing particr about this young woman¡­ except for her long white hair and pale blue eyes. The same as mine.

    A Nahualli.

    The girl blushed when I met her gaze and shyly lowered her head. The gold-haired consort¡¯s smile faded at the sight, her emerald eyes ring with a dangerous glint.

    And my fourth wife¡­

    My hands clenched in anger on my armrests, the sharp edges cutting thin lines into my palms and letting drops of blood drip onto the obsidian. I knew it wasing, and it still unsettled me.

    Outwardly, she hadn¡¯t changed much. Her skinplexion was a little lighter than before and her amber eyes were slightly more vibrant, but if anything she looked healthier and more beautiful than ever. She had traded her bloodsoaked cotton blouse for a blue priestess dress and skirt that left most of her cleavage and legs exposed. Gold armbands protected her forearms and ankles, and a half-moon shaped headdress glittered atop her long ck hair. Her naked feet made no sound when she walked.

    However, I had lived with her for years. I knew her inside and out. Her smile was a little more devious than normal. She moved with predatory confidence she had never shown in the past. And the golden goblet she carried in her hand spilled a drop of fresh blood on the floor.

    I now guessed the purpose behind the obsidian windows. They did more than let sunlight in; they filtered out whatever holy power repelled the Nightlords and their kin. My pce was safe for them to invade. The dawn would not burn them within these unhallowed halls.

    The other consorts nced warily at their undead sister, and she alone dared to speak up.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Iztac?¡± The nightkin who had once been Eztli shed a devious smile. Her fangs reflected in the filtered light. ¡°Don¡¯t you like my new look?¡±

    Eztli was back in my life, and yet so far gone.

 Chapter Four: Wed to Death

    Chapter Four: Wed to Death

    I received gifts all morning with three strangers and an undead friend watching me over my shoulder.

    My coronation had been a bloody affair witnessed by the entire empire. The homing ceremony was more lively, with drummers, flutists, and ocarina yers ying a delightful melody in the background. A motley assembly gathered in the throne room to swear oaths of fealty and offer gifts. I counted hundreds of them hailing from all four corners of Yohuachanca and beyond. Representatives from old imperial cities and assimted tribes that varied from regal nobles covered head-to-toe in vibrant feathers and jewels, to tribal chiefs d in jaguar pelts and cotton armor. The warriors among them wore warpaint and tattoos, though they weren¡¯t allowed to carry weapons in ¡®my¡¯ halls. These people were the imperial elite, who had known nothing other than the Nightlords¡¯ yoke.

    Newly assimted tribes followed them in the procession. Tawny chiefs from the northern bordends, with headdresses of white feathers and embroidered clothes; men and women whose seashell adornments marked them as princes and princesses from the Boiling Sea¡¯s disparate inds; and red-haired amazons from the green jungles to the south wearing little more than pelts and warpaints.

    Thetter group gave dark, pained looks of utter humiliation to their fellow among my consorts. I shared a little of their sorrow. These were defeated people, conquered tribes whose members fueled the Nightlords¡¯ altars by the thousands a few nights ago. We shared amon kinship.

    Thest group, the foreign diplomats, was the smallest. Few civilizations survived their first contact with Yohuachanca, and fewer retained their independence afterward. I counted only two delegations: envoys from the Sapa Empire in the southwest and the distant Three-Rivers Federation in the far north. I recognized the former from their ma wool mantles and the sheer weight of gold they carried on their person; thetter wore bison-leather mantles, animal bones, and gray wolf pelts. Their gazes were cautious, even slightly defiant. They alone had survived Yohuachanca¡¯s conquests¡­ for now.

    Both the Sapa and the Three-Rivers had only been saved from conquest by their strength and distance from Yohuachanca¡¯s hearnd. In time though, the empire would attack them after conquering the tribes acting as buffer states between the realms. Everyone knew it.

    I wondered if we could findmon ground against the Nightlords¡­ and how many of them understood that I was nothing but a puppet. I could already imagine caelel¡¯s answer: <em>you are not a puppet, oh great emperor, but the godspeaker whom all mortals fear.</em>

    That was true at least. The Nightlords never met with ¡®worldly rulers¡¯ directly; their so-called divine dignity made anyone lesser than the emperor unworthy of their presence. As far as the world was concerned, I spoke with their voice and listened with their ears.

    One by one, the visitors approached in turn toy gifts at my feet. Imperial representatives went first. Huitzmpa, a city famous for its flowers, gave away a basket of lush and splendid rare flowers for the gardens. Tonalco¡¯s mines offered chests overflowing with goldwork and a shining mask in my predecessor¡¯s image. Quetzaltenango delivered a finely crafted, leather-bound codex and maps of the empire, which pleased me more than any gold; I might not be able to escape this pce¡¯s walls, but at least I could read about the world beyond them. More gifts followed, each more splendid than thest: handwoven tapestries depicting Yohuachanca¡¯s history, collections of precious ivory horns, ceremonial cups adorned with gemstones, jade sculptures, a collection of bronze bells¡­ one of the noble visitors even presented me their newborn son, asking that I name them myself. I chose <em>¡®Guatemoc¡¯ </em>and thanked him for the honor.I had never seen so much wealth in my life, and yet I found myself struggling against disinterest by the twentieth offering and vow of fealty. It was hard for me to focus with Eztli standing at my side, so close I could sense her gaze on my shoulder.

    I only emerged from my reverie when the newly federated northern tribes presented their own gift: a baby, birdlike animal no taller than arge ocelot. Its body, covered in a softyer of fluffy brown feathers, possessed minuscule forearms, sturdy disproportionate legs, and a tapered tail. Inquisitive round eyes looked at me above a muzzled, elongated snout and a maw full of fangs. The creature fluttered in excitement, struggling against the rope by which its captors kept it tightly bound to. The beast¡¯s sharp ws scratched the leash.

    I shifted in my seat in excitement as I recognized the animal. In spite of its small size, I could see the shadow of the terror it would eventually grow into.

    ¡°Is that a baby feathered tyrant?¡± I muttered.

    ¡°Indeed, my lord,¡± a melodious voice answered on my right. My gold-haired consort leaned in to better whisper into my ears. ¡°I¡¯ve been told that this specimen is two years old.¡±

    My consorts weren¡¯t allowed to sit for this ceremony. Instead, they stood next to my throne and whispered in my ear. Before we began, caelel told me their names: the gold-haired girl with the singing voice was Ingrid; her foreign name sounded unlike anything I¡¯d ever heard. The amazon went by the name of Chikal, and my fellow Nahualli by Nl.

    And then, of course, there was Eztli. ¡°What name will you give him, Iztac?¡± she whispered in my left ear. Her voice sounded so familiar, so coy, so friendly, yet I couldn¡¯t hear her breath. ¡°May I suggest Xolotl?¡±

    My head snapped in her direction in shock, much to her amusement. Her smile was so much like Eztli¡¯s, so full of life. Only instead of warmth her red eyes put ice in my veins. ¡°Why that reaction?¡± she asked me with a chuckle. ¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡±

    <em>Does she know? </em>I tried to keep a nk face. I suddenly realized my mistake. <em>No, it¡¯s just a joke. Don¡¯t give anything away.</em>

    ¡°Xolotl, the guide of the dead?¡± Nl chewed her lip anxiously. She stood on my left too, but as far from Eztli as protocol would allow. ¡°Is it not¡­ dreadful?¡±

    ¡°Will he not send men to the Underworld when he is grown?¡± Eztli replied mirthfully. ¡°Should we not honor the gods this way?¡±

    Chikal the amazon clenched her jaw at her fellow consort¡¯s words, but said nothing. I seized on the opportunity to know her better and turn my head away from Eztli. ¡°What would you suggest?¡±

    Chikal considered her words a few seconds before answering. From that alone, I could tell she was more thoughtful than the others. ¡°This creature is untested in battle, Lord Emperor,¡± she replied with a deep, bellowing voice and a guarded tone. ¡°I would suggest a humbler name.¡±

    ¡°Why not name him after your father, my lord?¡± Ingrid suggested with a warm smile. ¡°You would honor your family.¡±

    What a good suggestion. I nodded sharply and turned my attention upon the dignitaries. ¡°I ept this gift with warmth,¡± I said, trying to sound regal the best I could. I had absolutely no idea what was proper in this environment, and I didn¡¯t care too much. ¡°I shall name it Itzili, after my father.¡±

    The dignitaries bowed and took my feathered tyrant away to the menagerie. It saddened me a little. These animals usually took a decade to grow to full size, and I was unlikely to live that long.

    Representatives from the Boiling Inds followed soon after, offering me chests full of chili peppers, spices, and polished conch shells. ¡°They offer a fine tribute,¡± Ingrid murmured with a small frown. ¡°But my lord emperor should demand more to show strength. The inders did not submit easily.¡±

    Nl showed them more empathy. ¡°Should we not forgive them?¡± she asked with gentle eyes full ofpassion, though she spoke so low I struggled to hear her. ¡°Their people have been decimated by the blood sacrifices¡­ this may be all they can afford.¡±

    Chikal nodded in agreement. ¡°To forgive them would show your wisdom, Lord Emperor.¡±

    I observed the inders, who avoided my gaze in fear. They too had suffered a heavy toll at the Nightlords¡¯ hands. I would not increase their burden. ¡°I ept your gifts,¡± I said. <em>And I hope you will remember this if I ever call upon you.</em>

    Could these people even be good allies? They looked beaten and defeated. But then again, I had to pretend to be the same.

    The amazon tribes followed with their gifts; eight nubile red-haired girls wearing nothing except for loincloths and tattoos. All were around my age, with fully formed breasts, strong muscles, fair faces, and sparkling eyes. Much to my shame, my cock erected a bit beneath my robes at the sight; though I managed to hide it by crossing my legs. Damn it, I wasn¡¯t used to seeing so many women half-naked¡­

    ¡°Oh great emperor, we offer you the daughters of the south as wives,¡± a red-haired crone said, her voice cracking a bit. ¡°One princess of each tribe.¡±

    The eight women avoided my gaze, like everyone else; but they couldn¡¯t hide their shaking fists, their trembling fingers, or their clenched jaws. They didn¡¯t want to be here. No more than I did.

    Instead of answering immediately, I gestured to Chikal, inviting her to approach. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± I asked her, so low only the other consorts could hear.

    Chikal¡¯s lips strained slightly. ¡°To offer a woman to a male is a tribe¡¯s greatest gift,¡± she dered diplomatically. ¡°For it means the daughters born of the union will strengthen the tribe as a whole.¡±

    I didn¡¯t need years of political training to read between the lines: these tribes had been crushed and had surrendered unconditionally. To have their princesses shipped as wives to their conqueror was aplete and utter humiliation.

    I considered how to answer, before realizing this could be a wonderful opportunity to gather allies¡­ or at least buy some goodwill.

    ¡°I appreciate the gifts,¡± I told the amazons loud enough for the entire throne room to hear. I then waved a hand at my consorts. ¡°But as you can see, I have enough wives already.¡±

    caelel, who stood in a corner, smiled cruelly. ¡°Do you reject the gift, oh great Godspeaker?¡±

    The amazon ambassadors froze, as did Chikal. No doubt they expected punishment on my part. I decided to disappoint them all.

    ¡°I will keep these daughters of the jungle, but not as wives.¡± Would they respond well to ttery? It didn¡¯t cost me anything to try¡­ ¡°Amazons are famed for their skills at warfare, so they shall join my family¡¯s personal guard. They shall protect my consorts from harm.¡±

    One of the eight was so shocked that her head snapped in my direction, before swiftly lowering it upon recognizing her mistake. Chikal nced at me with a puzzled look, before offering a sharp, thankful nod. She appreciated the gesture.

    caelel squinted at me, but kept his mouth shut. Did that bastard already suspect me of trying to gather allies? I had to eliminate him somehow in a way that couldn¡¯t be traced back to me. A talon to the throat would fill me with satisfaction, but it would give my Tonalli away. Should I use poison, maybe? I did glean a few tips from watching Necahual work with herbs¡­

    An idea hit me like a lightning bolt.

    <em>Would she agree to help?</em> I wondered. Necahual hated me, but she probably hated the Nightlords¡¯ servants even more now. Or at least I would in her situation. The possibility that she might betray me remained.<em> I need leverage.</em>

    That could wait though. The foreign dignitaries followed with their own gifts. The Three-Rivers lead ambassador bowed before me, his shell jewelry reflecting the light of the torches. His assistants unveiled exquisitely crafted pottery filled to the brim with colorful feathers.

    ¡°Feathers hold great importance among the Three-Rivers tribes, my lord,¡± Ingrid whispered to me. ¡°The blue ones symbolize friendship, and the green ones wealth.¡±

    ¡°So they offer a fruitful friendship?¡± I asked, the nuances lost on me.

    Ingrid smiled warmly. ¡°My lord is wise.¡±

    I had heard enough of caelel¡¯s ttery to recognize unearned praise. Of the four consorts, she was the one most eager to get into my good graces. It made me distrust her a bit, though I did not show it.

    I epted the gift, though I promised nothing in return; I knew all too well the Nightlords might demand these people¡¯s submission in the near future. The Sapa representatives followed soon afterward and contrasted starkly with the other delegation; whereas the Three-Rivers showed humility in their garments, the Sapa ambassadors reveled in their ostentatious gold jewelry. Perhaps they intended to show their wealth.

    If so, they seeded. Their gift was the most impressive of them all.

    I watched on, mesmerized, as half a dozen ves dragged a massive stone tablet through the throne room. Over ten feet in height and half as wide, the artifact appeared as ancient as it was beautiful. Carved from ck volcanic stonemon in the south, its metal-ted surface represented a familiar view of the night sky. Silver stars and constetions were etched around an obsidian stone circled with gold at the center, which represented an eclipsed sun.

    ¡°The Lords of the Sapa wish to offer you this Chaskarumi, oh great Yohuachancan Emperor,¡± the Sapa ambassador said in ournguage. ¡°Our masters use these star tablets to predict the motion of constetions.¡±

    I did not answer. There was something¡­ something strange about this tablet. Something magical. The way the silver stars glimmered in the hall¡¯s filtered light, the way the constetions¡¯ patterns shifted slightly depending on the angle at which I looked at them¡­ I could feel my Tonalli waking in the depths of my soul. My slumbering magic reacted to this tablet somehow.

    caelel noticed my fascination. ¡°Are you trying to curse our emperor with foreign magic?¡± he asked the ambassadors with a smile that wasn¡¯t one. ¡°How brazen of you.¡±

    The Sapa ambassador smirked ruefully. ¡°I am sure no earthbound magic could affect your gods¡¯ true prophet.¡±

    The reply appeared polite, almost tactful, but I immediately picked up on an important detail: the ambassador didn¡¯t say ¡®the gods¡¯ but ¡®<em>your</em> gods.¡¯ The Sapa did not worship the Nightlords.

    Ingrid eagerly leaned in closer to me to offer advice. ¡°You should ept the gift, my lord,¡± she said. ¡°Show you are above such trivialities. Disinterest is the greatest insult. By lowering yourself to their level, you weaken your authority.¡±

    I thanked her with a sharp nod, though she clearly missed the supernatural subtleties of this gift. This tablet did have power. I could feel it in my bones. Was it cursed as caelel said, or blessed? Whatever the case, anything that annoyed the eunuch brought me joy.

    ¡°You are correct, ambassador,¡± I said. ¡°No foreign magic will affect me. Nheless, your gift is appreciated.¡±

    ¡°We hope it shall inaugurate a longsting friendship between our people.¡± The ambassador bowed graciously. ¡°One that will mutually benefit our realms.¡±

    I hoped so too. If I couldn¡¯t find allies inside the empire, I would have to look for them outside our borders.

    By the time the ceremony concluded, the day was already half-spent. Priests dismissed the various representatives without giving me a chance to talk with them in private. I quickly realized little could happen in the pce without oversight.

    ¡°Oh divine emperor, our cooks have prepared a wonderful midday meal for you and your consorts,¡± caelel said. ¡°A roasted young longneck on a bed of potatoes.¡±

    ¡°Will you attend?¡± I asked him as I rose from my throne. I tried to hide my joy when he answered <em>no</em>. The less I saw this half-man, the better. ¡°What am I to expect from days going forward?¡±

    As it turned out, emperors followed a pretty busy schedule: after dressing up at dawn and breakfast, I would immediately hold a morning council where my advisors and I were expected to oversee the empire¡¯s day-to-day affairs, prepare military campaigns,unch construction projects¡­ in short, do the Nightlords¡¯ work for them. Then I would hold an audience to receive petitions, collect tributes, and judge cases. After a midday meal, most of the afternoon was free for me to enjoy as I wished, though I was expected to asionally show my face at festivals, ball games, or oversee army drills.

    ¡°The day will conclude with nightfall religious rituals, where you must offer gifts to the Nightlords and purify the empire¡¯s sins.¡± caelel smiled ear to ear. ¡°This is of paramount importance to maintain your connection to the gods and their divine favor.¡±

    I would have to report to my captors each night. I tried to hide my joy at this <em>wonderful </em>prospect.

    Cold arms fell on my shoulder and sent a chill down my spine. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Iztac,¡± Eztli whispered behind me. She leaned against my back until I felt her chin brushing against my neck. ¡°I will be there to protect you.¡±

    I slowly nced over my shoulder and met her crimson eyes. Her face and smile were so gentle, so familiar, but her gaze¡­

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Eztli¡¯s gentle smile hid her fangs well. I noticed the other consorts watching the scene unfold at the periphery of my gaze, either too frightened or unsettled to intervene. ¡°Do I look so good that you are left speechless?¡±

    I wondered if I should lie, but¡­ I didn¡¯t have the strength to.

    ¡°I watched you drink your father to death,¡± I said tly. Nl, who had been close enough to hear, put a hand on her mouth to hide her horror.

    Eztli blinked briefly, as if struggling to remember an unimportant detail. ¡°Oh.¡± She nodded to herself. ¡°That.¡±

    I detected not even the slightest hint of disgust. Only passing acknowledgment, and then nothing.

    ¡°Do not worry, Iztac,¡± Eztli said with a giggle, as if sharing a joke. ¡°He¡¯s still inside me.¡±

    The Parliament¡¯s warnings echoed in my mind: that the vampire kiss denied its victims an afterlife. I nced at Eztli¡¯s stomach, my heart skipping a beat as I imagined Guatemoc¡¯s soul wiggling in her intestines.

    I¡­ I didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. Eztli waited for me to find my words, and awkwardly let me go when I didn¡¯t. I could tell my reaction bothered her as much as her words unsettled me.

    Servants guided us to a council room upstairs close to my bedchambers. Much like the rest of the pce, the chamber was a study in opulence with its polished marble floor covered in jaguar rugs, its cotton curtains, and massive obsidian windows offering a splendid view of the gardens outside. Arge granite table stood in its center with five matching wood chairs. A tremendous feast of food and drink awaited us: fresh avocados as appetizers, spicy salsa and tomatoes, maize soup, potatoes, and of course, the roasted baby longneck caelel so eagerly promised. The animal sat atop the table with its insides filled with vegetables. Servants swiftly began to cut it up and serve us beverages, including fruit juices and frothing chocte drinks.

    Though this was more food than I had seen in my entire life, I focused more on my fellow eaters. Their reactions told me much. Ingrid quickly chose the chair next to mine, as if fearful someone else would steal it; Eztli sat on my other side, far from the obsidian window; Chikal moved next to Ingrid, her eyes observing me warily; and Nl, who had hesitated, found herself forced to take thest seat avable.

    Ingrid was eager to please me. Eztli already possessed vampiric instincts. Chikal assessed me cautiously. And Nl was a wallflower. Who was my friend among them, and who was my foe?

    After a few seconds, I realized they were all waiting for me to begin the feast. I relieved the tension by grabbing a slice of the longneck. Ingrid chose the same te I did, Chikal ate with regal restraint, and Nl stuck to the vegetables. Only Eztli did not touch a meal. She had already drunk her fill of blood earlier.

    ¡°Ingrid,¡± I said. The gold-haired girl immediately appeared pleased that I paid attention to her first. ¡°Forgive my curiosity, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever heard a name like yours.¡±

    ¡°There is no fault to forgive my lord,¡± Ingrid reassured me with a pleasant smile. I had to admit she looked quite lovely. ¡°My motheres from a distantnd. She gave me the name Ingrid for it means ¡®beloved¡¯ in the Rongue of her home.¡±

    The Rongue? I had never heard of thisnguage. ¡°Did shee from the north?¡±

    ¡°My mother hails from a coldnd to the east,¡± Ingrid replied with a hint of pride. ¡°Far beyond the Boiling Sea and the ocean beyond it.¡±

    That drew my full attention. Ipletely forgot about the delicious meat and my vow of caution. The tales of the world beyond the sea had always fascinated me. ¡°What¡¯s its name?¡± I asked. ¡°What is it like?¡±

    Ingrid chuckled at my sudden interest. ¡°My mother calls it the Wind, though I¡¯ve never seen it,¡± she exined. I noticed that Nl was also listening rapturously, while Chikal and Eztli both appeared a little more wary. ¡°It is and of snowy meadows and sailors, who ride ships of wood into the stormy sea.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Eztli said, her lips yful. ¡°How did your mother end up in Yohuachanca then? The Boiling Sea burns away most ships, does it not?¡±

    ¡°It does.¡± Ingrid¡¯s smile strained a bit. ¡°Mother¡¯s boat was shipwrecked. She and others were rescued by Emperor Moctezuma the Fifth, who fell in love with her and sired me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­¡± Nl gulped slightly. ¡°Sorry¡­ are you a princess?¡±

    ¡°Indeed I am,¡± Ingrid replied proudly, though she quickly focused her attention back on me. ¡°I¡¯ve only ever known this pce. I know it like the back of my hand. Would you like me to show you around, my lord?¡±

    ¡°It would please me,¡± I replied politely. I should question the Parliament of Skulls about Ingrid tonight; her father had to be among the ghosts.

    Chikal, who had listened in silence so far, set her drink aside. ¡°Did your mother ever try to return to her homnd, Ingrid?¡±

    ¡°Why would she?¡± Ingrid replied with a sly grin. ¡°Yohuachanca is our home.¡±

    Did she truly mean it, or was she just saying these words for the sake of the servants serving us food? I briefly nced at them, wondering how many reported what they heard to caelel. ¡°What about you, Chikal?¡± I asked the amazon. ¡°Where do youe from?¡±

    Chikal set her beverage on the table with poise. ¡°I once led the tribe known as Chm in the southeast,¡± she exined. Only then did I realize she spoke with a near-perfect Yohuachancan ent except for her deep intonations; if I was blind, I could have mistaken her for a native. ¡°We lived in a city deep in the jungle.¡±

    Chm, Chm¡­ the name felt familiar, though it took me a while to remember it. ¡°Chm was conqueredst year,¡± I muttered in remembrance. ¡°Alongside its sister-city, Bm.¡±

    Chikal nodded sharply. ¡°Your predecessor routed us in battle, but we fought well enough to earn the favor of the Nightlord Sugey. My tribe was spared the altars on the condition that I be your loyal consort and general, Lord Iztac.¡±

    So we shared amon plight. Still, one word bothered me. ¡°My general?¡±

    ¡°As Lady Sugey¡¯s pick, I will advise you on military matters,¡± Chikal exined with a nk, unreadable face. ¡°I will help organize campaigns, serve as your aide, and lead armies in the field if you ask it of me.¡±

    My jaw clenched in sympathy. The Nightlords would force her to enve more tribes, as her own had been conquered. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that.¡±

    Chikal shrugged. ¡°Woe to the conquered,¡± she said. ¡°I am not bitter with this arrangement. It shall secure my tribe¡¯s survival.¡±

    <em>She has epted defeat</em>, I realized. <em>She fought, lost, and submitted. It upsets her to see her tribe brought low, but it¡¯s still better than death.</em>

    Was there still some fight left in her, buried under her resentment? What would it take to unearth it?

    ¡°Is it true you amazons do not have males?¡± Eztli asked. The fact the mere sound of her voice unsettled the other consorts appeared lost on her. ¡°Or is it a myth?¡±

    ¡°We only use males for the purpose of reproduction,¡± Chikal replied. ¡°All our children are born female, so we must find men from outside our tribes.¡±

    Eztli raised an eyebrow. ¡°And how did you court them?¡±

    There was a dangerous edge to Chikal¡¯s smile. ¡°We defeated tribes in battle and captured their men.¡±

    On second thought, maybe I shouldn¡¯t pity her tribe too much. I realized Chikal didn¡¯t mind serving Yohuachanca because she would keep up with her kind¡¯s practices; only on a muchrger scale.

    Which left only one consort a mystery. Nl blushed when she felt my gaze on her. ¡°I, uh¡­¡± she cleared her throat and fidgeted on her seat. ¡°I am nothing special, my lord.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s wrong,¡± Eztli said with a chuckle. She grabbed a strand of Nl¡¯s white hair, causing her to squeal. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen someone with the same hair as Iztac.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Nl¡¯s hands moved to herp and her eyes turned to face the ground rather than us. ¡°I¡­ I was born cursed, yes.¡±

    My blood boiled in my veins. ¡°Don¡¯t say that,¡± I snapped. My angry tone caused Nl¡¯s back to stiffen. ¡°That¡¯s just stupid superstitions.¡±

    Nl opened her mouth to argue, but then swiftly closed it. ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± she gulped. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my lord.¡±

    ¡°For what?¡± I questioned her, utterly puzzled. Did she¡­ ¡°Wait, do you actually believe such stupidity?¡±

    Her meek silence was an answer in itself.

    I stared at my fellow Nahualli, utterly speechless. It had never urred to me that someone in my situation wouldn¡¯t struggle back against the superstitions that bound us. But I should have known that if one repeated a lie often enough, it became believable. I fought back the urge to shake Nl like a tree and bring her back to her senses.

    <em>At least she seems nice</em>, I thought. I felt the most sympathy for Nl as a fellow victim of popr superstitions. Ingrid was a transparent tterer, though I wondered what she aimed to gain from cozying up to me. Chikal was experienced, maybe even dangerous. And Eztli¡­

    After the meal, Ingrid swiftly put a hand on my arm. ¡°Will you let me show you around the pce this afternoon, my lord?¡±

    I blushed a bit. Her fingers were warm and smooth, and I was unused to a beautiful young woman showing interest in me; even the rather insincere kind. ¡°I would appreciate it,¡± I said. Especially the gardens. ¡°Perhaps you and Nl can show me around.¡±

    I didn¡¯t miss the slight sh of displeasure in Ingrid¡¯s eyes. Bringing a tagalong didn¡¯t fill her with joy.

    ¡°Me?¡± Nl asked in surprise. ¡°I, uh¡­ I don¡¯t know much about the pce¡­¡±

    ¡°Good, then you will benefit from it.¡± I turned toward Chikal. ¡°Would you mind weing our new guards instead of joining us?¡±

    ¡°Your will is mymand, Lord Emperor,¡± Chikal replied politely.

    ¡°I will pass on the visit, Iztac,¡± Eztli said with a smile, her body meshing with the shadows in the room. ¡°The day is not my time. We¡¯ll meet again at nightfall.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t looking forward to it.

    I spent the afternoon on a pleasant stroll.

    Ingrid held my arm in her own as she guided me through the gargantuan pce and its evenrger gardens while Nl shadowed us alongside a cadre of red-eyed guards. Thetter often switched with others, but we couldn¡¯t step into any room without half a dozen of them trailing us. Ingrid seemed as annoyed by their presence as I was, though she proved quite the gracious guide.

    ¡°The garden¡¯s flowerse from all corners of the empire,¡± she exined as we walked along stone pathways meandering through lush foliage and exotic nts. The silence around us contrasted neatly with the pce¡¯s bustling activity. For a moment, I could convince myself I had fled civilization to enter a primeval forest unknown to man. ¡°Each part of the garden is carefully arranged to represent one of Yohuachanca¡¯s provinces. See the flowers on your right?¡±

    I followed her advice and gazed upon a radiant array of light purple dahlias. Their fragrance almost covered the stench of blood radiating from the red-eyed guards trailing us.

    ¡°These are called the emperor¡¯s blooms,¡± Ingrid exined while squeezing my arm. ¡°Emperor Moctezuma the First loved them so much he put them on disy everywhere in the pce, hence the name. Their tubes are used to transport water and their petals can heal illnesses.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m impressed by your knowledge,¡± I said sincerely. Ingrid knew the name of almost all the garden nts and the menagerie¡¯s many beasts. I never knewrge snakes from the jungle were called ¡®boas¡¯ until she told me.

    ¡°My lord tters me.¡± Ingrid¡¯sugh was like falling water, clear and crystalline. ¡°As Iztacoatl¡¯s representative, I have been trained to advise you on matters of diplomacy, arts, and culture. With my advice, your name¡ªand that of the empire¡ªshall echo forevermore.¡±

    <em>She is hungry, </em>the breeze whispered into my ear. <em>For fame, for power, for respect. She has her mother¡¯s hunger, and she will bite rather than starve.</em>

    Couldn¡¯t the Yaotzin¡¯s warnings be less cryptic? Then again, it sought payment ording to the Parliament. Like any good merchant, it tempted me, teased me, but wouldn¡¯t deliver until I showed the money.

    ¡°I hope my name will be associated with greater things than flowers.¡± Like killing the Nightlords, for example. ¡°What about you, Nl? What is your specialty?¡±

    Nl, who had been smelling the flowers, suddenly stiffened. ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Who else?¡± Ingrid asked with a displeased tone.

    ¡°I¡­ I have been told I should help you with imperial governance, Lord Iztac.¡± The more Nl spoke, the redder she became. ¡°I can help you count the tributes, or with the administration¡­ if you don¡¯t like to read papers, I can do it for you¡­ see how to build bridges too¡­ Everyone loves bridges.¡±

    <em>She is like y, soft and weak and easy to twist</em>, the wind whispered. <em>She will be either your puppet or someone else¡¯s, bound by love¡¯s cruel strings.</em>

    ¡°As for the¡­ Nightkin¡­¡± Ingrid cleared her throat, as if the very word inflicted pain upon her. ¡°I assume she will assist you with matters rted to religion and the gods¡¯ justice.¡±

    I quickly noticed a pattern; each of the Nightlords¡¯ chosen represented their own focus. Sugey loved war and her representative was a fallen warrior-chieftain. Iztacoatl, who loved her spies and artistic disys, chose Ingrid. The Jaguar Woman, a sorceress and first among equals, chose a Nahualli with a focus on administration. Only Yoloxochitl¡¯s pick differed a bit from the norm. Was there a reason behind these choices? The Parliament did mention their ritual strengthened their magic¡­

    In any case, Ingrid¡¯s visit proved fruitful in mapping out the pce. The upper floors were mostly recreational areas dedicated to the emperor, his harem, and his core court. The middle floors contained administrative centers, libraries, and barracks. Lower servantsnguished on the ground floor alongside kennels, kitchens, and other facilities. In time, I might find a way to put this information to use.

    Our stroll through the gardens led us to an elegant fountain in the middle of an artificial grove of trees. The sunset reflected in pools of clear water; I would have loved the view if it didn¡¯t announce theing of the night and its horrors.

    ¡°If I may be so bold, my lord.¡± Ingrid rested her head on my shoulder. I froze upon sensing her warm breath on my neck. ¡°Inviting the amazons to join our guard might have been a mistake.¡±

    I squinted at the fountain. ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re likely to be loyal to Chikal,¡± she whispered. ¡°They will spy on you¡­ and us.¡±

    I didn¡¯t care which consort the guards reported to, so long as it wasn¡¯t the Nightlords. ¡°You would rather pick your own guards?¡±

    ¡°I would rather my lord pick those he trusts,¡± Ingrid replied with a cunning smirk. So would I, but I trusted no one within these walls. ¡°My lord was wise to curry favor from outsiders, but I would suggest recruiting from a¡­ <em>wider</em> pool.¡±

    I didn¡¯t quite understand what she was suggesting, so I kept my mouth shut and listened. Thankfully, Ingrid proved quite the talker. ¡°The Chms are a powerful tribe, but they share some bad blood with a few rivals. Settlements they plundered also have no cause to love them. Though they have made peace under your empire¡¯s guidance, they would certainly relish the idea of sending their daughters to protect you from the Chms¡¯ influence.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that just create more bad blood?¡± I asked. The subtle politics of the situation escaped me, but from what I gathered she was suggesting that I import outside conflicts into the pce. I wasn¡¯t sure I needed more distractions.

    ¡°It would keep the Chms in check,¡± Ingrid countered. ¡°And by bestowing honors on rival tribes, you will earn their gratitude and force the Chms to work more to stay in your good graces. By setting yourself as an arbiter, you would gain more respect and influence.¡±

    <em>Chaos is the wellspring of power</em>, the wind said. <em>But its waters are poisoned.</em>

    That¡­ that did sound somewhat interesting. The more allies I could cultivate, the more options I would have to oppose the Nightlords down on the line. Yohuachanca was built on the blood of crushed people; perhaps I could use their resentment to destabilize the empire from within? The more troubles the Nightlords faced to keep their dominion in one piece, the more leeway I would have. But chaos meant war. Innocents would pay the price for it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll admit I don¡¯t know much about Yohuachancan rivalries,¡± I said. I needed to learn more to see what could be done.

    Ingrid¡¯s smile widened. ¡°I would be d to advise you on these matters.¡±

    She was ambitious, this one. But was that a bad thing? If she hoped to gain my favor by strengthening my position, we would both benefit from it. I did wonder what she was hoping to gain though. At the end of the year, we would all end up in the same ce.

    ¡°I will think about it,¡± I replied evasively. The sun was about to fully set. ¡°Might you and the others give me a moment alone? I would like to smell the flowers and prepare myself to meet the goddesses.¡±

    ¡°Of course, my lord.¡± Ingrid released my arm and offered me a polite bow. ¡°I hope you find the rity of mind you seek.¡±

    So did I. I wandered away from the group and closer to a grove of orchids. Of course, in my prison, I was never truly alone; my consorts and guards watched me from afar. Albeit far enough not to hear my whispers.

    For the wind was still blowing in my ear. Hungry for blood and secrets.

    I searched among the flowers for one that would serve my needs. Thankfully, the pce¡¯s gardeners thought it wise to raise nopal cacti close to the orchids; its pads and fruits added texture to thendscape. I kept my back to the guards so they wouldn¡¯t see me subtly pricking my index finger on the thorns and then offer a drop of blood to the wind.

    ¡°I have seen Nezahualcoyotl and Chimalpopoca, two boys at my school, kissing and fucking in the toilets,¡± I whispered under my breath. ¡°Although Chimalpopoca is fianc¨¦ to Ciceptl, who loves him very much and knows nothing of his indiscretion. I heard him mock her, for a woman can¡¯t fight. He only intends to marry her for her father¡¯s farm, then abandon her as soon as he gains honors as a warrior.¡±

    I felt dirty sharing this information. Those two had never done anything cruel to me at school, except giving me the cold shoulder. But the Yaotzin would only ept a secret that would hurt another.

    The breeze grew heavier as my Augury spell activated. I felt a malicious, unseen presence watching over my shoulders. The Yaotzin, the wind of chaos, epted my offer. <em>Ask a question,</em> it whispered in my ear, <em>and we shall answer it.</em>

    I had so many questions. Whom could I trust among the consorts? What was Ingrid nning? Was Nl truly the meek, self-hating girl she pretended to be? I knew the spell¡¯s limits: the greater the secret I gave away, the more I would learn. The information I provided was minor, so I couldn¡¯t hope for much, and I wanted to test the spell before asking for truly important information.

    A nce at the cacti sharpened my focus. The gardens were full of poisonous flowers, and the menagerie housed enough snakes to frighten the hardiest warriors. An expert would have an easy time harvesting venom.

    Someone like Necahual.

    I¡¯d also seen her brew potions to help others sleep. If I could learn the recipe, or have her cook more for me, it would help me maximize my time in the Underworld; where I would gather the <em>real </em>power.

    Thinking of recruiting Necahual left a sour taste in my mouth. I disliked her, but she was the only person in this pce I knew wouldn¡¯t be a thrall of the Nightlords; not after watching one of them steal her daughter, order her husband¡¯s murder, and nearly kill her as well. However, I required insurance against betrayal. Leverage.

    I muttered my answer under my breath, while careful to word it precisely. ¡°What secret would make Necahual my loyal aplice?¡±

    The breeze answered with Necahual¡¯s voice. <em>¡°I love you, Itzili.¡±</em>

    She whispered my father¡¯s name to the wind once, and now it echoed into my ear.

    <em>¡°No, do not look at this woman¡­ she is cursed¡­ she will destroy you¡­¡± </em>I heard sobs and pained moans. <em>¡°Why did you abandon me? Why did you saddle me with that drunkard? I would have given you¡­ everything¡­¡±</em>

    Necahual had loved my father. She married Guatemoc because society demanded it of her, but he had been a second choice; my mother bewitched the man of her dreams. For a brief moment, I actually felt pity for the hag. The wound went deeper than superstition alone. When she looked at me, she saw not only a cursed beast, but the embodiment of her failed dreams.

    The wind whispered more words into my ear. <em>¡°That witch Ichtaca¡­ she is a sorceress¡­ I will prove it¡­ where is she going sote into the night¡­ what is¡­¡±</em>

    Necahual¡¯s words grew fearful.

    <em>¡°What is she doing with that child?¡± </em>the echo whispered, the words now little more than terrified muttering<em>. ¡°What¡­ What are you, Ichtaca? You¡¯re not¡­ you¡¯re not human¡­¡±</em>

    Another voice cold as ice echoed in the wind, alongside the pping of wings and an owl¡¯s screech. <em>¡°You tell anybody what you¡¯ve seen, and they¡¯re </em><em><strong>dead</strong></em><em>.¡±</em>

    I froze in shock. A litany of curses followed.

    <em>¡°Your husband? Itzili? You tell them and they¡¯re both </em><em><strong>dead</strong></em><em>. You tell anybody what you¡¯ve seen and you¡¯re </em><em><strong>dead</strong></em><em>. I will kill you. I will kill your unborn daughter. I will rip the soul from your flesh and entomb it below ground, among the dead suns and the screaming ghosts.¡±</em>

    The Yaotzin had teased me once about the darkness inside Necahual¡¯s heart, the ugliness buried deep inside her. Now the windid it bare in all its cruelest details.

    <em>¡°I saw him y with my daughter near the river¡­¡± </em>Necahual¡¯s ghostly voice broke in shame and fear, her words raw with humiliation.<em> ¡°They looked so much like Itzili and I¡­ why did the gods give him his father¡¯s face¡­ and saddled it with that¡­ that feathered thing¡¯s eyes¡­ my poor Eztli¡­ stay away from him¡­ stay away from him!¡±</em>

    Thest screech made me recoil in surprise. I nearly stumbled backward on the flowers, and caught myself at thest second.

    ¡°Lord Iztac!¡± Nl reacted first and hurried to my side; though Ingrid quickly outpaced her.

    ¡°My lord, are you well?¡± Ingrid asked, suddenly all worry and concern. ¡°Is something the matter?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I pricked my finger.¡± I clenched my fist and chewed my lip to better hide my disgust. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    <em>Nothing but the truth</em>, the wind taunted me.

    What was that¡­ that cold voice? Could it have been my mother? And if she spoke of dead suns, then did that mean¡­

    <em>She is still down there, flying with jet-ck wings on cursed winds, </em>the Yaotzin confirmed<em>. A thief of souls, hunting for secret doors and stairways into the silent dark.</em>

    My mother was like me. A catecolotl.

    And I would find her in the Land of the Dead Suns.

 Chapter Five: Among the Ghosts

    Chapter Five: Among the Ghosts

    There was an obsidian door in the pce¡¯s basement that few could walk through.

    When night fell, caelel and the red-eyed guards led me to it with haste. I walked down shallow stairs dimly lit by torches on the walls, but quickly realized neither my escort nor consorts were following me. I peeked over my shoulder to find them frozen at the threshold, unwilling¡ªor perhaps unable¡ªto get past it.

    ¡°They will not follow you down there, Iztac.¡±

    I froze as Eztli soundlessly stepped out of the shadows below me. How could she sneak up on me so easily? She had never been <em>that </em>quiet.

    ¡°Do I frighten you?¡± Eztli chuckled in amusement, the light of torches reflecting on her crimson eyes. ¡°Come on, Iztac, it¡¯s just me.¡±

    <em>Are you?</em> I thought as I studied her. My dear friend smiled at me from below, a ghost rising from the darkness. <em>Are you still in there, Eztli?</em>

    I said nothing as she offered me her hand. I stared at it in hesitation, before taking her fingers into my own. To my surprise, her skin was no longer cold, but tepid enough to pass for that of a living woman.

    <em>She has fed</em>, I realized. <em>On whom?</em>

    ¡°Come,¡± Eztli said. Her touch was as gentle as a lover¡¯s caress. ¡°I¡¯ll guide your steps.¡±I gulped as we walked down the stairs. The torches offered little reprieve. The shadows were so thick in the pce¡¯s depths that not even light appeared capable of clearing them. My steps echoed on the stone, while Eztli¡¯s feet made no sound when they touched the floor.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard you saved my mother from a miserable life.¡± Eztli¡¯s smile faded away. ¡°Do you remember Chimalli, Iztac?¡±

    ¡°Your fianc¨¦?¡± I asked. I suddenly realized I had no idea how the rest of our vige fared since I became the emperor.

    ¡°<em>Former</em> fianc¨¦.¡± Eztli¡¯s tone was colder than her fingers. ¡°He was visiting me when the red-eyed priests came for our family. Do you know what he did when they ordered us toe with them to the pce, while making no secret that we wouldn¡¯t return alive?¡±

    I clenched my jaw. I could guess the answer. ¡°Nothing.¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Eztli confirmed with a hint of bitterness. ¡°Chimalli was armed, young, and strong. But he did nothing. Said nothing. He just watched as the priests took us away, knowing full well we wouldn¡¯t return. He was a coward.¡±

    The people of Acampa never moved a finger to help me. Why would they treat Eztli¡¯s family any differently when faced with their gods¡¯ judgment?

    ¡°While you, Iztac, talked down a Nightlord to save Mother. A woman you hated.¡± When Eztli looked at me, her lovely face beamed with happiness. ¡°You are a brave man.¡±

    Blood rushed to my cheeks. At this moment, I thought Eztli¡ª<em>my</em> Eztli¡ªhad returned from the dead.

    ¡°Eztli, are you¡­¡± I squinted at her, trying to find the right words. ¡°In there?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± she asked me in confusion.

    ¡°Are you¡­¡± Possessed? Maddened? ¡°You do not act like yourself.¡±

    Eztli stopped midway down the stairs, her grin faltering. ¡°How would you expect me to act after dying?¡±

    Her words hit me with the strength of a p to the face. ¡°I¡­¡± My voice died in my throat as I looked down at the stone floor. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Eztli¡­¡±

    ¡°No, no, I didn¡¯t mean¡­¡± I gasped as Eztli¡¯s lukewarm hand moved to my cheek, her forehead pressing against mine. ¡°Don¡¯t be sad, Iztac. I didn¡¯t mean to hurt you, I swear.¡±

    ¡°Eztli, this¡­¡± My voice broke in my throat. ¡°This is all my fault. If I hadn¡¯t defied them, you¡­ and your father¡­¡±

    ¡°No, no, Iztac, don¡¯t say that¡­¡± She caressed my cheek. ¡°Don¡¯t you see? I¡¯m not sad. I¡¯m <em>better</em>.¡±

    ¡°As a¡­¡± A monster? A bat? A fraud?

    ¡°A Nightkin,¡± Eztli said upon letting me go. Her smile revealed the sharp fangs behind her lips. ¡°I died a human, and I was brought back as a scion of the gods. It was an even trade.¡±

    <em>You¡¯re not a goddess, nor even the shadow of one</em>, I thought, though I didn¡¯t have the strength to say so out loud. Eztli offered me absolution from my failure. She was trying tofort me, even with lies.

    ¡°As for Father, he¡¯s not gone.¡± Eztli put a hand on her chest, where her heart should have been. ¡°He¡¯s asleep inside me now. So long as I exist, so will he. I can tell. He¡¯s happy where he is.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t sure Guatemoc would agree, but¡­ I was sure of something now. In spite of her transformation, embers of the old Eztli remained alive inside the Nightkin she had be. Maybe I could find a way to revive them in the Land of the Dead Suns.

    I didn¡¯t have more time to wonder. The air grew heavier inside the coiling stairs, and Eztli tensed up. An invisible force called us down from below, and it was growing impatient.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Eztli said as she gently led me into the abyss. ¡°The old bats are here.¡±

    I squinted at her insolence. ¡°The old bats?¡±

    ¡°I said the <em>great </em>bats,¡± Eztli lied mischievously. ¡°You should be more careful with your words, Iztac.¡±

    I held my breath as we reached the Nightlords¡¯ir at the bottom: a chamber with a hundred-foot tall ceiling and porphyry walls. The heat was almost unbearable. Pits of ckened, boiling tar surrounded a wide dais of basalt with four alcoves at its back. Obsidian statues of the Nightlords upied each of them. I couldn¡¯t ess them; Eztli carried me to a ledge overseeing the tar pits and facing that strange shrine of death.

    The Nightlords¡¯ statues were cowled and hooded, their faces hidden behind the same masks they wore at the Scarlet Moon ceremony. Their ruby eyes glowed brightly in the darkness at the same time a purple, ghostly me began to burn on the dais, illuminating the room. I was immediately reminded of my own Teyolia burning in the Land of the Dead Suns.

    ¡°Kneel, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡±

    Although I tried to keep myposure, I couldn¡¯t help but freeze in dread. The Jaguar Woman¡¯s voice came out of her totem. The statues¡¯ obsidian meshed with the shadows and unleashed a terrible pressure upon the room. The Nightlords were here; if not in the flesh, then in spirit.

    I swallowed my pride and obeyed the order. The Nightlords wanted to see me cowed; I would y along for now.

    ¡°Wee to the Abode of Darkness, my sweet emperor.¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s voice,ing from her flower-faced statue, filled me with even greater unease than her sister¡¯s. ¡°Thank you, my daughter, for bringing him to us.¡±

    ¡°You honor me, mother of darkness,¡± Eztli said with deep reverence. Only I noticed the thin smile of distaste she hid beneath her hair.

    Sugey¡¯s eyes red into the dark brighter than all the others. ¡°You foolish sister of ours,¡± she said, her voice brimming with reproach. ¡°What madness crossed your mind to select a Nightkin for a consort? Her Teyolia is a gasping pit of darkness, not a fire that kindles the night. She is unfit for the altar.¡±

    I kept my head down but listened carefully. It sounded like the other Nightlords were not too happy with Yoloxochitl¡¯s choice to im Eztli.

    ¡°What surprises me is that you could uplift this peasant at all,¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s statue said. ¡°Not to mention bind her to the ritual.¡±

    ¡°Her bloodes from a purebred stock,¡± Yoloxochitl defended herself. ¡°The priests assured me as much.¡±

    A purebred stock? That confused me. Did the Nightlords require specific criteria to embrace mortals into their undead brotherhood? Why would Eztli fit them? I nced at her, but her expression remained unperturbed.

    ¡°Purebred or not, we must rece her,¡± Sugey stated imperiously. ¡°Father¨C¡±

    ¡°Will have no cause toin,¡± the Jaguar Woman cut in. The others immediately ended their bickering when she spoke. ¡°The Scarlet Moon has risen and waned for centuries. Our magic is old, with roots as strong as those of an ancient tree. It will take more than a hurdle to disrupt the river of power. Neither can we rece the girl. Things will proceed as they must.¡±

    I noted every word, every sentence. Though I didn¡¯t understand them all, perhaps the Parliament could shed more on the Nightlords¡¯ meaning. I had the gut feeling this would be important.

    ¡°However, my dear Yoloxochitl, Sugey is right,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. I could have sworn her ruby eyes stared at Eztli directly. ¡°This girl¡¯sck of Teyolia puts a drain on our covenant. This year will require more tributes to make up for the imbnce.¡±

    ¡°I expected as much,¡± Yoloxochitl replied with what could pass for a sigh. ¡°How many heads will we require, my sister? I shall provide them with haste.¡±

    ¡°There is no need to bleed your territory yet, sister.¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s eyes glowed in my direction. ¡°Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡±

    I tensed up. I knew she was about to ask something terrible of me. ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°We have graciously forgiven your insolence and allowed your dearest friend a ce among the gods.¡± The Jaguar Woman made it sound like I should thank her for it. ¡°For this kindness, we request ten thousand sacrifices by the time of the Summer Solstice.¡±

    The number echoed in the chamber like a curse. I remembered my predecessor¡¯s murder on the altar, and tried to imagine it happening ten thousand times.

    ¡°Ten thousand?¡± I repeated, hoping I had misheard.

    ¡°Ten thousand,¡± the Jaguar Woman confirmed mercilessly. ¡°A trivial amount.¡±

    I gulped at her cruelty. My entire home vige weed less than two hundred inhabitants; all the people I had known for my entire life wouldn¡¯t be a drop in the bucket of blood. Ten thousand lives meant nothing to these parasites.

    ¡°Where am I to find so many sacrifices in six months?¡± I tried to hide my disgust and horror, but failed.

    ¡°You are the master of our armies, are you not?¡± Iztacoatl asked with a dark chuckle. ¡°Methinks you should bloody your sword, in more ways than one.¡±

    ¡°By our covenant, the herd of Yohuachanca is ours to cull as we see fit,¡± the Jaguar Woman reminded me coldly. ¡°It matters not to us where the bloodes, so long as it flows. Fetch us tributes from foreignnds, or reap them from the people of this empire.¡±

    ¡°Worry not, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl whispered reassuringly. ¡°You can count on my help, if you require it.¡±

    That sounded far more threatening than it had any right to be.

    ¡°My chosen consort will assist you in nning further campaigns for spring and summer, Emperor Iztac,¡± Sugey said. ¡°The Three-Rivers in the north are weak. The jungles to the south also abound with tributes.¡±

    ¡°I have consulted your future, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s eyes glowed brightest in the dark. ¡°Your reign will be an age of darkness, where Yohuachanca¡¯s ck sun shall rule absolute over the bloodsoakednds. I have no doubt you will deliver¡­ for you know the consequences of displeasing us.¡±

    I clenched my fists, but did not argue further. ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°Then go forth,¡± the Jaguar Woman said with a dismissive tone. ¡°Our consorts will assist you in your task, and we shall provide you with our guidance on the sunsets toe. For the nights toe will be long.¡±

    On <em>that</em>, we agreed.

    The four statues¡¯ eyes stopped glowing, as did the me on the dais. My so-called masters had left, and the pressure in the room with them. How far did this power extend? Could they contact me from all across the empire and beyond? Could I use these statues to track them down?

    All of these questions could wait. The task before me would prove far greater and ghastlier.

    <em>Ten-thousand sacrifices.</em> The number echoed in my head as I rose back to my feet. Ten thousand souls to send to the altar. It wasn¡¯t enough for the Nightlords to threaten my life; they wanted to make me an essory to their crimes.

    ¡°Worry not, Iztac,¡± Eztli said as we ascended away from the Abode of Darkness and back to the pce above. ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll find a way to reach that tally.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what worries me,¡± I muttered under my breath. I felt sick just thinking about it.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to y along,¡± Eztli replied absentmindedly. ¡°At least until the time is right.¡±

    I squinted at her. ¡°The time for what?¡±

    Eztli smirked enigmatically before stopping in front of a torch. ¡°Check this out,¡± she said before pressing a stone right beneath the light. I heard a clicking sound. The wall then slid to the left, revealing another staircase. ¡°Amazing, is it not?¡±

    ¡°What is this?¡± I wondered in amazement. ¡°A secret passage?¡±

    ¡°This pce is full of them,¡± Eztli replied. ¡°This one leads straight to your bedchambers.¡±

    So the Nightlords could summon me in my sleep if needed. Wonderful. Eztli grabbed my hand and led me into the secret passage before I could even think twice.

    ¡°It reminds me of the days we spent exploring the capital,¡± Eztli mused. ¡°Do you remember, Iztac?¡±

    ¡°I mostly remember us getting lost,¡± I replied with a thin smile. ¡°And getting into trouble. You had a knack for leading us to ces where we shouldn¡¯t have been.¡±

    ¡°What can I say? I love my mischief.¡± She chuckled. ¡°You were always too serious for your own good, Iztac.¡±

    ¡°Easy for you to say,¡± I replied as we approached the end of the staircase. A wall blocked us, but I could see some light filtering through. ¡°If I got into trouble, people would throw stones at me. When <em>you </em>got in trouble, you¡¯d smile and everyone forgave you. You always had a knack for avoiding consequences.¡±

    ¡°I concede.¡± Eztli smirked while examining the wall. ¡°But look on the bright side. If you get into trouble now, people will lie for you. Or they¡¯ll lose their heads.¡±

    <em>I doubt that</em>, I thought. This pce was filled to the brim with red-eyed priests. The Nightlords¡¯ thralls understood exactly who trulymanded in these halls. I was spared from trouble alright, but only so long as it didn¡¯t disturb the empire¡¯s undead masters. Eztli didn¡¯t appear to understand that yet.

    A new clicking sound echoed around us and the wall slided to the right. We walked into my royal bedroom, right next to the bed. The secret passage closed right behind us. I examined it, trying to determine what activated the sliding mechanism, while Eztli waltzed into the room as if she owned the ce.

    ¡°Ingrid and the others still await us at the wrong exit,¡± I said upon finding the trigger stone. I didn¡¯t care much for making caelel wait, but the others deserved at least a warning.

    ¡°They¡¯ll get over it,¡± Eztli said behind me. I heard the sound of something falling onto the ground, but didn¡¯t pay it much mind. ¡°You¡¯re emperor. They wait at your leisure, not the other way around.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll still ask a servant,¡± I said upon turning away from the wall. ¡°Give them a warn¨C¡±

    Her clothes were on the ground, alongside her headdress.

    <strong>¡ª Erotic moment starts here¡ª</strong>

    Eztli stood next to the bed, naked save for the golden armbands coiling around her legs and arms. She stretched like a snake in front of the window, her perfect skin gleaming under the moonlight, her lips stretching into a coy smirk.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Iztac?¡± she asked me, her head tilting to the side. ¡°You don¡¯t like what you see?¡±

    My throat dried up. I stood silently, my mind in a daze, my eyes darting from her legs to her breasts. Eztli had always been beautiful, but her vampiric transformation enhanced her charms in subtle ways. Her breasts were fuller, her ass rounder, her long hair a ck waterfall. Her eyes were like mirrors into her soul; I needed no whispering wind to see what was on her mind right now.

    ¡°You <em>do </em>like what you see.¡± Eztli¡¯s eyes nced down at the spot between my legs. ¡°I can see it rising from here.¡±

    The embarrassment was enough to shake me out of my trance. ¡°What are you doing?¡± I whispered.

    Eztliughed as she closed the gap between us. ¡°We are wed, remember? I don¡¯t mind sharing you with the others, but I was here the longest.¡±

    Her arms coiled around my neck, and she pressed her forehead against mine. ¡°Your first time should be my privilege, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    She pressed her lips against mine before I could answer.

    I had never kissed a woman on the lips before, let alone Eztli. It was strange, exciting, and <em>terrifying</em>. My heart pounded in my chest and my hands trembled in shock. Her lips were eager to meet mine, but lukewarm to the touch; warmer than a corpse but colder than a living human. A jolt of pleasure traveled down my spine nheless.

    Eztli¡¯s tongue forced its way through my teeth and yed with mine. She was ferocious, so much so I simply found myself ying along with no idea of what to do. My hands moved to her back on their own. For a moment, Ipletely forgot about the Nightlords, the empire, the Land of the Dead Suns, and the other consorts. I could only remember her <em>taste</em>.

    I broke our first kiss all the same because, unlike Eztli, I still needed to breathe. She licked her lips while I gasped for air. Her hands reached for my cotton robes and started ripping them apart.

    ¡°Stop,¡± I managed to blurt out. She was only doing this because the Nightlords wanted it. ¡°You¡­ you don¡¯t have to do anything, Eztli.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, Iztac,¡± Eztli whispered while ignoring my protests. ¡°I don¡¯t have to do anything anymore¡­ but I <em>want </em>this. I¡¯ve wanted it for a very long time.¡±

    Her inhumanly strong hands ripped my imperial dress in two down to my navel. It must have cost half a kingdom to make, and seconds to tear it apart. When it fell on the floor, all that remained were my crown and loincloth.

    ¡°There¡¯s so many things I was afraid to do, back when I had a heartbeat,¡± Eztli said. ¡°To let Chimalli take me from behind. To fuck you while Mother watched. To strangle the annoying old farts Father wanted to wed me too. Now¡­ I¡¯m not afraid of <em>anything </em>anymore.¡±

    Her hand traced a line along my chest, making me shiver.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take what I want.¡± Eztli licked her lips, her fangs sharp as des behind them. ¡°You¡¯ve wanted me for a long time too, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    I gulped. Yes, I did want Eztli once. I had lived with her closely for years. We¡¯d bathed together, yed together, andughed together. It created¡­ feelings. But Eztli had always been out of my league. Since her parents would never have agreed to a match, I kept my fantasies in the realm of dreams. I didn¡¯t expect them toe to life, especially now, in these circumstances.

    ¡°Not like this,¡± I whispered, trying to find the strength to push her away. ¡°Not¨C¡±

    ¡°Not if it pleases the old bats?¡± Eztli chuckled. ¡°Oh, Iztac¡­ don¡¯t worry about that.¡±

    She leaned closer until her lips kissed my ear.

    ¡°You¡¯re biding your time until you can kill them all,¡± she whispered. ¡°I can tell.¡±

    I froze in pace.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going to rat you out to the old bats. Far from it.¡± Her lips moved down, closer to my neck. ¡°I will help you.¡±

    I squinted at her suspiciously. I wanted to believe her, but she had be one of them. She could be lying, whether out of her own free will or not. ¡°You¡­ you will?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m on your side, Iztac. I¡¯ll always be on your side.¡± Her lips lightly kissed me on the neck. ¡°And besides¡­ they¡¯re going to kill us both if we fail. It¡¯s them or us.¡±

    <em>That</em>, at least, was true. No matter how much of the old Eztli remained in the woman in my arms, our lives¡ªher unlife¡ªwould end in a year¡¯s time unless we could take out the Nightlords. I wanted to trust her; to at least have someone I could rely on.

    Eztli took away my crown,id it on the table near the bed, and then gently pressed a finger on my chest¡¯s mark. Before I could ask what she had in mind, she pushed me and threw me off bnce. Inded on the mattress, my back against the bed.

    I held my breath as Eztli crawled over me. Her hands moved to my loincloth, but I instinctively stopped them with my own. I blushed when she looked at me. I¡¯d never been so embarrassed.

    ¡°Nothing will happen unless you want it to, Iztac,¡± she said reassuringly. ¡°I won¡¯t force you.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± I gulped in shame. I wanted to. I deeply wanted to, but I¡­ I didn¡¯t know anything. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ it¡¯s¡­¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Eztli grabbed my left hand and pressed it against her breast. The other hand, she guided to her back. ¡°Take your time. We¡¯ll go at your pace.¡±

    After some hesitation, I¡­ I started fondling her breast. ying with it. I had never done this with a girl. Never found one willing to¡­ sleep with me. My cheeks were so flushed I thought they would catch fire. I was afraid to do more than touch, but when Eztli moved my other hand closer to her ass, I started getting¡­ getting more daring.

    ¡°What do mortals say when they are wed?¡± Eztli mused as her hands removed my loincloth. ¡°Till death do us part?¡±

    I didn¡¯t answer. I was too busy touching her, exploring her, and listening to her grunts when I pinched her lightly. I worried I was hurting her until I saw her smile. I had no idea of what I was doing; I acted on impulse, my body moving on its own. I was learning as I went; but it never urred to me to stop.

    ¡°Well,¡± Eztli whispered as her hands sat on my shoulders, her eyes looking down on me like a predator marking her territory. ¡°You¡¯re mine now.¡±

    And im me for herself she did.

    <strong>¡ª Erotic moment ends here¡ª</strong>

    It took me a while to find sleep, but when I did, I rested soundly.

    Perhaps that was why my spirit found its way back to the Land of the Dead Suns so easily. I quickly regretted trading Eztli¡¯s arms for Xolotl¡¯s jaws.

    ¡°Dinner time!¡± The god imed his payment the moment I manifested back into the Underworld. His fangs closed on my arm, chewing my flesh. ¡°So good!¡±

    I did not flinch at Xolotl¡¯s touch, though I did wince. The pain in my arm contrasted starkly with the gentle kisses that preceded it. My predecessors gazed at me in silence, the cold purple rain falling down on us. The weight of their judgment bore on my shoulders.

    ¡°Well, <em>that </em>was quite the dinner if I do say so myself,¡± Xolotl said upon releasing my arm. My flesh bore fang marks, yet no blood poured out of my wounds. ¡°You¡¯re softer than before. Tender. More rxed.¡±

    ¡°He has known a woman¡¯s love for the first time,¡± the Parliament said.

    I blushed at my predecessors¡¯ bluntness. Xolotl¡¯s whistles didn¡¯t help either.

    ¡°Do you find fault in me, my guides?¡± I asked my predecessors.

    To my surprise, the Parliament of Skulls showed me mercy. ¡°We understand the need for relief to keep one¡¯s inner peace. No volcano can umte pressure without erupting. But we offer a warning: indulge too much, and the rtionship will turn around. These pleasures will be the masters, and you the ve. Doubly so when they involve the Nightkin.¡±

    I understood. Making love to Eztli had been¡­ it had been good. A part of me wanted to wake up to return to her weing arms, to surrender as she curled her legs around me. But I had a mission to fulfill.

    ¡°Do you believe her?¡± I asked them. ¡°She said she wants to help me overthrow the Nightlords¡­¡±

    ¡°It would not surprise us.¡± The Parliament¡¯s skulls let out a disdainful rattle. ¡°She would not be the first Nightkin to rebel against her progenitors. When one looms high above others, there will always be a resentful underling seeking to cast them down or take their ce. The only thing vampires prize above their pleasure is their immortality. Having tasted death once, your Eztli will probably do anything to stay out of the grave.¡±

    I expected as much. Though Eztli had changed, she didn¡¯t wish to die any more than I did. ¡°Can we trust her?¡±

    ¡°You would be a fool to do so,¡± the Parliament replied bluntly. ¡°The Nightkin are bound to obey the Nightlord who created them. So long as Yoloxochitl roams the earth, your Eztli will never truly be free from her grasp; no matter how much she gnaws at her leash.¡±

    As I feared. At least this only solidified my decision to go after Yoloxochitl first. With her out of the picture, perhaps I could finally start trusting my friend again. Though I guessed that at this point, <em>friend </em>was too weak a word.

    ¡°Is she¡­¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°Is she still in there? Or was it all a show? I want to believe it¡¯s the former, but¡­ I¡¯m not sure.¡±

    ¡°A vampire is a shadow of life,¡± Xolotl mused. ¡°The same shape, but twisted.¡±

    ¡°We mortals keep shadows shackled in our hearts,¡± the Parliament exined. ¡°Forbidden desires and secret urges. A man does not steal from another because it shames him; a woman does not cheat on her husband because she does not want to hurt them. The Nightkins show no such restraint. When their life leaves their body, so do their inhibitions. Only fear of punishment and pragmatism keeps them in line.¡±

    ¡°So¡­¡± I tried to summarize the Parliament¡¯s words. ¡°Eztli is still Eztli, but without her restraints?¡±

    ¡°Without remorse or shame too. She can still feel love, but she will take what she wants when she wants and kill without remorse.¡± The Parliament¡¯s eyes glowed under the pale purple rain. ¡°Beware, Iztac Ce Ehecatl. It is our inhibitions that separate men from beasts. Tread carefully, if you do not wish to be bitten.¡±

    At least the warning was stern and to the point. I would keep it in mind. I wanted to keep Eztli in my life, but I would remain wary of her. ¡°What of the other consorts?¡± I asked the Parliament. ¡°You have seen through my eyes. What is your opinion on them?¡±

    ¡°That Ingrid is indeed one of our daughters,¡± the Parliament confirmed. ¡°A dozen of us loved her mother, Lady Sigrun. Though she was never a consort, she has been a fixture of the harem for many years.¡±

    Ingrid¡¯s mother was a concubine then. I wondered what she thought when her daughter was chosen as a consort. She had to understand what fate awaited her. ¡°What can you tell me about her, oh great Parliament?¡±

    ¡°In many cases, Sigrun was our empress in all but name. She is wise, talented, beautiful¡­ and ambitious.¡± Was that fondness I detected in the Parliament¡¯s many voices? ¡°Emperors change each year, but she remains.¡±

    ¡°So she craves power?¡± I guessed. ¡°What of her daughter?¡±

    ¡°We never took care of Ingrid. The one that sired her joined us in death before her birth, and few of us cared about our predecessors¡¯ progeny.¡± The Parliament let out a hundred shrugs. ¡°We suspect she will seek to improve her mother and half-siblings¡¯ situation. Sigrun has been queen of the harem for many years, and this position affords her many favors. Outsiders often tried to gain our ear through her, and she charged heavily for the privilege. Ingrid will no doubt emte her.¡±

    In short, Lady Sigrun yed the game of politics and expected her daughter to represent her interests.

    ¡°I assumed as much,¡± I replied with a nod. ¡°I shall approach them.¡±

    ¡°Mother and daughter might prove useful¡­ and goodpany,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°As for the Nahual, she is weak and gullible. Set your ws on her. Her powers have yet to awaken, but depending on her Tonalli they might prove useful to you both in the waking world and this one.¡±

    ¡°Another Nahual?¡± Xolotl¡¯s head perked up in interest. ¡°Is she dog-faced?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I replied. ¡°I cannot tell.¡±

    ¡°I will teach you ways to awaken her animal spirit.¡± The Parliament trembled slightly, the skulls rearranging their position on the pir¡¯s surface. ¡°As for the amazon queen¡­¡±

    A skull shifted in front of all the others, its gaze baleful. I immediately recognized it: my predecessor, Nochtli the Fourteenth.

    ¡°My sessor, heed my words,¡± the skull said with a deep, imperious voice. ¡°It is I who brought Chm to its knees through strength and guile, but I could not have done so alone. Not without sweet betrayal.¡±

    ¡°Chikal¡¯s?¡± I guessed, my fists clenching. ¡°She¡¯s a traitor?¡±

    ¡°Is it betrayal to sacrifice others to save one¡¯s kin?¡± Nochtli¡¯s skull shrugged. ¡°Chm had a twin sister, the city of Bm. Like siblings, they were friends and rivals depending on the moon¡¯s turn. When Yohuachanca came for them both, they gathered an alliance of lesser tribes to oppose us. Too few answered their call. Queen Chikal alone understood the futility of the fight.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Xolotl chuckled, his tongue licking his fangs. ¡°I love where this is going.¡±

    I didn¡¯t, but I could guess. ¡°She betrayed her sister city to ensure her own people¡¯s safety.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± my predecessor confirmed. ¡°On the night of a critical battle, she approached me with an offer: her troops would open the doors of Bm and Chm would surrender. In exchange, her people were to be spared from the blood sacrifices.¡±

    Since Chikal became my consort and Chm became a tributary of the empire, then it meant they struck a deal.

    ¡°I would have taken her to my bed as concubine, but Nightlord Sugey wanted to taste her queenly blood,¡± Nochtli dered with a hint of regret. ¡°Chikal was to serve as my sessor¡¯s consort, bound for the altar. She did not flinch at the price. Do you understand what this means?¡±

    I nodded sharply. ¡°Chikal was ready to sacrifice her life, her pride and honor, if it meant keeping her city safe,¡± I said. ¡°If the Nightlords threaten her sisters in Chm, she will sell me out without hesitation. She doesn¡¯t believe the empire can fall. At least, not yet.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Nochtli¡¯s skull merged back with the others, and the hundred voices of the Parliament spoke again. ¡°Loyalty built on strength and fear is fickle. The Nightlords use the threat of blood sacrifices to enforce order among their vassals; they must provide tributes from outside their borders, or surrender their own people.¡±

    The same choice they offered me tonight¡­ ¡°What am I to do with the sacrifices?¡± I asked with a frown. ¡°Ten thousand souls¡­ it boils my veins just to think of it.¡±

    Xolotl snorted. ¡°Half as many fall down into the Underworld each day. You will manage.¡±

    ¡°Ten thousand is a drop in the ocean of blood Yohuachanca sheds each day,¡± the Parliament rasped. ¡°Such a request is far from unusual from the Nightlords.¡±

    How chilling to think ten thousand tributes were considered a routine demand¡­

    ¡°If you require this sacrifice to destroy a greater evil, then you should pay it without hesitation,¡± the Parliament continued. ¡°Follow the Nightlords¡¯mands. It will buy you time to continue your training.¡±

    ¡°You suggest I sacrifice others for my own sake?¡± I didn¡¯t like that answer at all. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that make me the same as the Nightlords?¡±

    ¡°You will sacrifice thousands to free millions from death and envement,¡± the Parliament replied coldly. ¡°War offers honor and opportunities. A sessful campaign will bring allies to your side. The chaos of conflict can bring the empires¡¯ enemies out of the woods and into your embrace.¡±

    I could see the calculus behind the Parliament¡¯s suggestion. But I did not appreciate it. ¡°I feel like the citizens of Acampa,¡± I said grimly. ¡°Averting my eyes from evil so they could continue their life in peace.¡±

    ¡°Must we remind you of what you told us the night we met?¡± The Parliament¡¯s thousand eyes looked down on me. ¡°That you would sacrifice anything and everything for sess?¡±

    My jaw tightened. ¡°I did not forget.¡±

    ¡°But you do not yet understand what your vow requires.¡± The Parliament¡¯s skulls let out a death rattle, the song of death. ¡°Forget guilt. Forget remorse. Forget the grace of men and gods. No matter what crimes youmit, they are <em>nothing </em>in the face of Yohuachanca¡¯s cruelty. No price is too high to topple the Blood Pyramid.¡±

    <em>Do not trust the skulls, </em>the wind¡¯s warning echoed into my mind. <em>They keep secrets from you.</em>

    Now¡­ the Parliament helped me much, and not all secrets were kept to harm others. Assuming the Yaotzin was telling the truth, my predecessors might have been keeping information from me simply because I wasn¡¯t ready to learn it yet. A healthy dose of suspicion would keep me alive, but too much would poison my mind.

    However, I was starting to see a trend in the Parliament¡¯s advice: since they were long dead, they had nothing left to lose anymore. They would happily watch half the world burn if it meant bringing down Yohuachanca¡¯s undead elite.

    I should learn to hide my thoughts better, for the Parliament appeared to read them easily. ¡°You think us too harsh,¡± my predecessors said. ¡°But you have only witnessed a glimpse of the Nightlords¡¯ cruelty. In time, you will reach the same conclusion. Victory justifies everything.¡±

    I prayed in my heart they were wrong¡­ but my head knew better. I turned my head towards the Underworld¡¯s faded sun and its purple tears. Therey the power to bring down the Nightlords. If I could seize it before the Summer Solstice, I could avoid paying that sick tribute for appearance¡¯s sake.

    ¡°You said I must journey to the Kingdom of M to seize the dead sun¡¯s embers, my predecessors,¡± I said, pointing at the spot where the purple sun¡¯s light hit the ground. ¡°Can you guide my way, Xolotl?¡±

    ¡°I only guide the dead,¡± Xolotl replied with a snort. ¡°Besides, the journey takes four years.¡±

    I squinted at the god. ¡°I do not have four years.¡±

    ¡°Well, it takes four years to reach M if you take the <em>safe </em>path.¡± Xolotl chuckled to himself. ¡°You can simply fly your way to it. I daresay you might make the journey in a single night, though I do not guarantee your survival.¡±

    ¡°I will take my chances.¡± I would shoulder any ordeal. ¡°But must I do the journey each night?¡±

    ¡°Once you have reached a ce in the Underworld, we will guide thy soul back to it,¡± the Parliament of Skulls replied reassuringly. ¡°You must seek an audience with the god Mtecuhtli, M¡¯s ruler. Petition him for ess to both the sun¡¯s embers and the gate to the lower levels.¡±

    Xolotl exploded inughter. ¡°Fat chance with that, mortal,¡± he taunted me. ¡°Lord Mtecuhtli is bitter and cruel. The more obstacles he puts between a mortal and their desire, the happier he bes. I know, he forces souls to wander for four years before they can even <em>reach </em>their final rest.¡±

    ¡°Mtecuhtli is likely to demand an impossible price,¡± the Parliament conceded. ¡°But his queen, Mictecacihuatl, is kinder; for she was mortal once. She might be able to lessen her husband¡¯s demands to something reasonable if you appeal to her, Iztac.¡±

    ¡°Like hunting down a dinosaur spirit,¡± Xolotl mused. ¡°Those are such a hassle.¡±

    I regretted not paying too much attention to religion sses. I should spend some time in the daylight researching the world¡¯s past. Still, I remembered Mtecuhtli¡¯s stories vividly. When the gods tried to recreate humanity in its fifth incarnation by using the bones of the fourth, he jealously hoarded them for himself. The god-in-spirit Quetzalcoatl barely managed to pilfer the bones and escape Mtecuhtli¡¯s wrath.

    ¡°Would he deliver on his end of the bargain?¡± I asked with skepticism.

    ¡°A god is bound by his word,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°Mtecuhtli willin and haggle, but if you fulfill his request, he will eventually concede.¡±

    Good. It would crush me to make such a long journey for nothing. ¡°Is there any other spell that can help me on this quest, my predecessors?¡±

    ¡°s not,¡± the Parliament apologized. Thankfully, they quickly suggested an alternative. ¡°However, M is home to more than dead mortals. Forgotten gods and lost sorcerers call it their home. They can teach you magic forbidden to us. Queen Mictecacihuatl teaches the Doll spell to those she favors, and the mage Huehuecoyotl grants knowledge of the Veil. Consult with them on arrival.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sending him to meet with the old coyote?¡± Xolotl chuckled. ¡°The poord¡­¡±

    I crossed my arms and red at the dog god. ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Xolotl lied. ¡°Nothing at all.¡±

    ¡°Huehuecoyotl was a Nahualli of great power, a trickster; albeit the good-natured kind,¡± the Parliament exined before marking a long pause, heavy with meaning. ¡°Expect to be pranked.¡±

    That didn¡¯t sound so bad¡­ I already bore many humiliations. I could survive an undead prankster. I thanked the Parliament and Xolotl for their wisdom and prepared to transform into my owl-form, when I remembered something.

    ¡°Onest question,¡± I said. ¡°Have you ever heard of a catecolotl called Ichtaca?¡±

    A tense silence fell upon the world around me.

    The mes in the Parliament¡¯s eyes weakened like candles blown by the wind. Xolotl tensed up. His mocking grin turned into an expression of utter seriousness. His gaze hardened into a re.

    ¡°Why?¡± he asked, his tone dangerous.

    At this moment, I immediately realized that answering honestly would spell my doom. ¡°I have met someone who encountered them in the living world,¡± I said a half-truth. ¡°I wondered if she could prove an ally.¡±

    Xolotl did not move an inch. He watched me unblinkingly, searching for any hint of a lie on my face. I thanked my Tonalli for being an owl; it let me hide my unease better.

    ¡°Listen well, Iztac, for I will not repeat myself,¡± Xolotl said. ¡°For the sake of chewing you night after night, I will give you a free piece of advice.¡±

    I froze in silence. Xolotl never called me by my name.

    ¡°Do not mention that woman¡¯s name in M, <em>ever</em>,¡± Xolotl growled. ¡°If you do, Lord Mtecuhtli will have your bones ground into dust. Remember when I told you most catecolotl answer slights with curses and cmities? Ichtaca lives up to the tales. She is a thief of souls who hasmitted terrible crimes against the living and the dead.¡±

    I gulped. Necahual¡¯s memories did not paint a ttering portrait of my mother, but to hear a god speak with such gravitas¡­ ¡°What crimes?¡±

    ¡°Hideous ones best left unspoken.¡± Xolotl shook his head. ¡°The demoness is unwee in M, but she travels between worlds as she pleases. I¡¯ve heard she makes herir in the Land of the Dead Suns¡¯ second level, beneath our feet. If you are smart, you will avoid her.¡±

    ¡°Xolotl is wise in this matter,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°We have heard much of this Ichtaca, and nothing good.¡±

    I kept my mouth shut. I was dying to know more, but my guides¡¯ reaction spooked me greatly. What did my mother do to deserve such scorn? Though if she could travel between worlds, then it meant she was still alive somewhere. Should I disobey and look for her?

    I was emperor after all¡­ perhaps I could use imperial resources to investigate her from afar? Discreetly of course.

    ¡°I see,¡± I said. I buried my curiosity in my heart, at least for now. ¡°Thank you for your insight.¡±

    Xolotl shook his head before leaving to take care of undead neers without a word of goodbye. He did not believe me and thought me a fool.

    ¡°You should go now, Iztac,¡± the Parliament advised me. ¡°The night is long, but shorter than you think.¡±

    Indeed. The Nightlords would not wait, and I had no time to waste.

    I called upon my Tonalli and began to shapeshift. My Teyolia burned with eldritch mes and its magic twisted my body. Feathers grew over my skin and bones. My arms stretched into wings and my fingers into talons. The shadows cleared before my eyes.

    I was a man an instant and an owl-demon the next, strong and mighty.

    ¡°We wish thee good luck,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°May you find sess in M.¡±

    I thanked them with a nod before expanding my wings. A mighty gust carried me into the air, under the falling rain. I glided on the wind without a sound. Owls were silent hunters, and no one could reach me above the clouds.

    I ascended away from the Parliament of Skulls and flew above the Land of the Dead Suns. Yoloxochitl had recalled me before I could enjoy myself a night ago. No leash called me back to thend of the living this time. I would be free to do as I wished for the next few hours.

    <em>M, here Ie</em>, I thought while relishing the sensation of the wind brushing against my feathers. I gazed at the faded purple sun on the horizon. Its tears and embers were waiting for me. <em>Even the dawn will be mine</em>.

    My first journey among the dead had begun.

 Chapter Six: The Obsidian Winds

    Chapter Six: The Obsidian Winds

    The journey started well enough, and then came the ded winds.

    I followed the dim sunlight towards M for what felt like an eternity, flying over a sprawling mire of swamps and dpidated ruins. How many empires found their way into the Underworld I could not tell, but I witnessed the process unfold midway through my flight.

    It started with a rumbling noise¡ªwhich put me on edge, since the Underworld was eerily silent save for the sound of falling rain¡ªand falling dirt. The thick purple clouds revealed a colossal structure falling from above. A pyramid of weathered stone fell from the dead skies so slowly that I wondered if time hade to a halt. Itnded in the mud below with a soft sound without shattering, like a feather on a cushion. I wondered to which nation this tombstone belonged.

    Unable to suppress my curiosity, I traveled above the clouds to see whaty above; after a perilous ascent that left me drenched in purple rain, I ended up facing a thick ceiling of jagged stone for my trouble. The tales of the Underworld existing deep below the earth were true.

    I continued my journey onward to M, but though the kingdom of the dead slowly became more visible in the distance, the air was soon thick with foreboding gloom. Shifting mists danced around long-forgotten structures on the ground below, their silhouettes casting spectral shadows onto the murk. As for the Underworld¡¯s sky, a tempest of wailing winds soon swelled.

    <em>What is this? </em>I wondered upon seeing glittering dust in the air. <em>It looks so¡­ so ck¡­</em>

    A de cut into my wing and sprayed a drop of blood on my feathers.

    I screeched in pain and surprise, but the worst was yet toe. The wind battered against me in an unrelenting onught. ckened des no bigger than nails sliced through my flesh and bones. My wings repelled many with powerful and defiant strokes, but more projectiles followed by the hundreds; a storm of knives was upon me, each of them a promise of pain.

    Obsidian.The wind carried obsidian shards!

    ¡°I can¡¯t¡­¡± I grunted in pain as a shard pierce through my nk, my warm blood falling onto the ground below. New wounds appeared wherever I looked, and the tempest was only getting stronger. ¡°I¡¯m getting shredded to pieces!¡±

    My wings faltered, and I was forced to descend toward the mist below to avoid the worst of the tempest. I escaped the howling wind and sank into the treacherous embrace of a bloody red fog. The air was damp with an unnatural chill that clung to my feathers. I could scarcely see a few feet ahead, for even the Underworld¡¯s purple rain failed to disperse the mists. The screeching obsidian winds turned into whispers, the noise of flying des swallowed by this strange weather.

    <em>Have I traded one danger for another? </em>I wondered as I struggled to see anything in that dense fog. No des hunted me here, but my gut told me I wasn¡¯t alone either. My instincts screamed that unseen predators lurked among the mists. I looked around, but I could scarcely detect anything other than the shadows of forgotten monuments. <em>Xolotl did say the shortest path was the most dangerous.</em>

    My flight turned perilous without the benefit of sight. I nearly crashed against a fossilized tree and then a stone tower. In the end, I was forced to navigate the treacherous swamp on foot, hopping from one half-sunken stone to another. No matter how hard I pped my wings, the bloody mists refused to disperse. They undted and stirred, only to quickly reform into an imprable wall of crimson.

    <em>What sorcery is this?</em> I wondered, ncing left and right constantly. I sensed unseen eyes observing me. <em>Am I still on the right path? I can¡¯t see anything.</em>

    ¡°Help!¡±

    A scream echoed through the mists, followed by raucousughter. A very familiarughter. I froze in ce and stared at the source of the sound. The odious stench of dung and filth filled my beak.

    ¡°Please, someone help me!¡± my own voice called out from inside a pit dug into the mire. ¡°Please!¡±

    But only theugh of cruel boys answered the call. What little blood still flowed in my dusty veins boiled. The burning shame, the mocking faces, the tears, and the excrement¡­ I remembered that humiliation too well.

    <em>They trapped me in a dung pit</em>. The specter of that terrible day at school unfolded before my eyes, a ghost from a former life. <em>I cried for hours. Nobody came. Eztli would have if we had been in the same school, but in the end I had to climb my way out myself.</em>

    I hardened my resolve and hopped away from that terrible mirage. The mists, however, did not stop taunting me. Shadows danced in the fog, their steps matched by the distant noise of harsh ps and punches.

    ¡°How many times will I have to tell you, cursed child?!¡± Necahual¡¯s voice called out to me, each word filled with hate. ¡°Never eat meat!¡±

    The sound of a p echoed into the mist, so powerful I felt the phantom pain in my cheek. The worst was yet toe.

    ¡°This is true love, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s shadow taunted me. A phantom Eztli fed on the hideously disfigured corpse of her own father. The blood turned to shapeless mist, but the rancid, metallic stench smelled vivid enough to feel real. ¡°This is what true love feels like!¡±

    Now <em>that </em>was a low blow. I powered through nheless. I shut my mind out from the insults, the taunts, and the torments of my past.

    <em>These are just illusions, Iztac</em>, I told myself. <em>Tricks meant to wear you down. They can¡¯t harm you more than nightmares do.</em>

    A girl¡¯s scream reverberated through the mist.

    I didn¡¯t recognize the voice.

    <em>Another trick, </em>I tried telling myself. <em>Just another illusion.</em>

    The screams only became louder and filled with panic. The dread in them chilled what little blood remained in my veins. They wore me down more than all the humiliating memories that haunted me so far.

    <em>Nobody came when I screamed, </em>I told myself<em>. Nobody ever came.</em>

    But these words did not soothe my guilt. They only added to its weight. If only someone came to my help when I needed it¡­ it would have changed <em>everything</em>.

    Cursing my weak heart, I rushed to the source of the noise. The fog thinned as I pressed forward, my talonsnding on the za of an ancient city, and a dreadful sight came into view.

    A child¡¯s skeleton in tattered rags cowered in the shadow of a shattered house, screaming with a little girl¡¯s voice. A terrible monster loomed over her, one more grotesque than any Nightkin. The shape reminded me of a spider, with eight long arms thin as needles; but no spider¡¯s legs ever ended with grasping, chalky human hands. Its body was thin, skeletally so, and its eyeless face sported a row of sharp fangs.

    Four of its arms held a taller, adult skeleton in the air. The undead¡¯s hollow eye sockets radiated with eerie light; I could see the fear in them from here. The monster¡¯s hands twisted its limbs, bending its bones, breaking them with a sickening crack. The pain must have been atrocious, even for the dead; but the skeleton did not scream.

    ¡°Run, Chipahua!¡± The skeleton¡¯s voice belonged to a man; one my age from the sound of it. ¡°Run!¡±

    But the undead child was too terrified to obey. It froze in dread as the monster yed with itspanion like a doll.

    Hesitation gripped my heart. Could this be another illusion? The undead girl¡¯s screeches and herpanion¡¯s panicked cries sounded visceral enough to be true. I finally realized why the shortest way to M was the most dangerous; the same reason why a wise man never wandered too far from the road. Beasts ruled outside the beaten path.

    <em>All dead things end up in the Underworld</em>, I thought grimly. <em>Even the inhuman.</em>

    The spider monster tossed the broken skeleton aside, and then turned its attention to the child. A ck tongue slithered between its fangs as it lingered toward its prey.

    I could have gone my own way. Closed my eyes. They were dead already. This wasn¡¯t my problem. I had nothing to gain from it. Why should I put myself at risk for strangers? I wondered how many people thought the same whenever they saw me struggling.

    <em>¡°Chimalli was armed, young, and strong,¡± </em>Eztli had told me before I fell asleep. <em>¡°But he did nothing. Said nothing. He just watched as the priests took us away, knowing full well we wouldn¡¯t return. He was a coward.¡±</em>

    A coward. If Chimalli had been braver, and I stronger, Eztli would still have a pulse today.

    No more.

    I wouldn¡¯t run again.

    I jumped into the fray.

    Owls were silent hunters, and the monster did not see meing in time. My sharp talons lunged at its chalky chest, shing the dust-dry flesh. The creature shed no blood, but it snarled in savage pain nheless. Its hands moved away from the child and swiftly swiped at my throat in an attempt to strangle me. I pushed it back with a mighty p of my wings, evading the assault with grace.

    <em>Curse me</em>, I thought as I unfurled my wings in an attempt to intimidate the monster into running away. The undead child recoiled in fear of us both. <em>Curse my foolishness!</em>

    ¡°Run!¡± I shouted at the skeletal girl. ¡°Get back to your friend and leave!¡±

    ¡°We¡­¡± The older skeleton¡¯s hollow eyes lit with hope. ¡°We¡¯re saved¡­¡±

    Far from it. Though my Tonalli form was big, so was the monster. It became wary, but it did not run away. It started moving slowly to the side, circling me like a predator waiting for an opening.

    I tried to remember my fighting lessons at school. <em>When aiming to kill, go for the head, the throat, or the stomach. </em>Except the teachers prepared me to fight my fellow man, not a monster from the Underworld. The Parliament warned me that death here meant the destruction of my soul.

    My life was on the line.

    The monster lunged at me without warning with unnatural speed. I couldn¡¯t react in time and ended up tumbling back onto the za. I wed and pecked, it scratched and wed. Well-rehearsed drills never prepared me for the chaos of actual battle. We brawled on old stones and broken bricks, but the beast had eight hands to my two wings and talons. It quickly pinned me to the ground and started punching my face into the pavement.

    I¡¯d been punched in the past, whether at school or out of it. This monster was no bully my age or a teacher pulling back their strength to teach me a lesson. Its blows pounded my skull with such violence I heard the stone beneath me crack. These punches would have cracked a man¡¯s head open, but my Tonalli was made of stronger stuff.

    Still, it hurt. It <em>hurt</em>. Four of the monster¡¯s hands strangled my throat with an inhuman grip while the rest either punched my face or pinned my wings to the ground.

    ¡°You are young and weak, catecolotl.¡± The creature¡¯s voice was eerily gentle, even as it choked the life out of me. ¡°Bleed for me, owl-fiend. Let me taste your tender soul¡­¡±

    I extended a talon with the strength of despair and managed to strike at the monster¡¯s chest, leaving arge gash where its heart should have been. The monster did not recoil from me, but its grip weakened enough for me to shake off some of its arms. I dodged by moving my head to the left when it tried to punch me again, then bit one of its wrists. My beak snapped on its bones and cut the hand off the arm in a single strike. Dust poured out of its veins rather than blood.

    This time, the maimed creature pulled back in agony. I pushed it back across the za with a blow from my talon, then quickly hopped back to my feet. Blood dripped from the cuts left by the obsidian shrapnel, and my vision blurred a bit from the blows to my head. The pain, I could manage; a lifetime of humiliation had given more resilience to it than most.

    Most importantly, the girl had retreated to herpanion¡¯s side and was trying to drag him away from danger. I needed to keep the monster off their backs.

    ¡°Is that the best you can do?¡±I taunted the creature, unfurling my wings.

    The monster snarled and lunged at me once more, albeit short of an arm. I saw iting this time and took to the air. The beastnded on an empty spot. Without wasting a moment, I immediately swooped in. My talons closed on its back, and now it was my turn to hold it.

    A spider held the advantage on the ground, but owls ruled above in the sky.

    I carried the wailing monster above ground, for it was surprisingly light and I was strong. Its angry snarls echoed across the za as I carried it upward. It only emboldened me. I looked around and spotted a jagged, half-broken stone nearby. I flew straight at it, a devious idea crossing my mind.

    One of the monster¡¯s hands lunged for the left side of my head and shoved a finger into my eye.

    A sharp surge of agony erupted in my head, and half my vision went dark. A red veil fell over my wounded eye. It took all my strength and rage not to scream and cover my face. The monster¡¯s ws scratched at my throat and at my chest in a final attempt to free itself.

    ¡°Die!¡± I furiously snarled while diving down. ¡°Die, die, die!¡±

    I mmed the monster against the jagged rock and impaled it through the chest. A sickening crack followed as the impact cut my enemy open, spraying dust all over the ground. The arms wriggled and trembled, but I did not stop. I mmed the creature down, down, down, until the monster snapped in half like a broken brindle. The hand that once impaled my eye fell off to the side.

    And I felt¡­

    I felt happy beyond words.

    The sheer rush of pleasure that coursed through my veins made even Eztli¡¯s kisses pale inparison. The thrill of victory washed away the soreness in my muscles and the pain coursing through my body. I hopped onto the corpse like a giddy child, relishing the sound of its bones cracking under my weight.

    So many tormentors crossed my path. My ssmates, Necahual, the Nightlords¡­ I had borne the insults and beatings, but for the first time in my life I had stood up to and killed one of them! I fought back and won!

    <em>More,</em> I vowed to myself. When the rush faded away, the only thought on my mind was how to experience it again. <em>More will follow. There is no pleasure greater than a satisfied grudge.</em>

    Exhaustion followed the thrill of victory. After making sure the creature was well and truly dead, Inded back on the za. I was so tired that I would have to return to my human form for a while. My wings folded back into arms and my talons into feet; my left eye did not grow back. I covered it with a hand, blood dripping between my fingers.

    Teachers taught me battle was a glorious thing. They had been right. A fight to the death was a gruesome affair, but it only made victory taste all the sweeter. I considered the loss of my eye an eptable trade-off for that brief moment; for once in my life, I felt justice had been served.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it¡­¡± I turned my head to look at my side. The undead girl carried her brokenpanion on her shoulder the best she could. ¡°You¡¯ve killed it.¡±

    ¡°I think so,¡± I replied doubtfully. The creature no longer moved anymore, but we were in thend of the dead. What did Xolotl say? <em>In the Underworld, it is always possible to be deader</em>. ¡°What was that thing? A demon?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± the older skeleton replied with a thankful nod. ¡°We are indebted to you, owl-spirit. Thank you for saving my sister.¡±

    The girl observed me warily, before imitating her brother. Though I still frightened her, she eventually tore off a part of her rags and approached me with it. When I realized what she intended to do, I knelt. The little girl kindly bandaged my eye with her own clothes, stopping the bleeding.

    The interaction filled me with a strange warmth.<em> Is this what gratitude feels like? </em>I wondered. <em>Sweet and soothing?</em> It almost made the loss of my eye feel worthwhile. I could get used to it.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I told the girl, who nodded at me shyly.

    ¡°My name is Ueman,¡± the older skeleton introduced himself. ¡°This is my sister, Chipahua. We were on our way to M when that creature attacked us.¡±

    ¡°My name is Iztac,¡± I introduced myself before voicing my confusion at his words. ¡°Wasn¡¯t the god Xolotl meant to guide you to it?¡±

    ¡°He guided us for two years until we entered these mists,¡± Ueman replied with a hollow rattle. ¡°We lost sight of him days ago and have been wandering this ce since.¡±

    The god made for a poor guide then. I hoped I wouldn¡¯t wander these mists for years though; I might need to risk facing the cutting winds above in spite of the risks. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t linger long,¡± I said while ncing around. With half my vision gone, I felt more vulnerable than ever before. ¡°Other creatures might lurk in the fog.¡±

    Ueman nodded slowly, his hollow eyes shining with the light of hope. ¡°Lord spirit, if I might ask¨C¡±

    ¡°I am no spirit, nor am I a lord,¡± I replied. I was an emperor, but I would rather die than take pride in it. ¡°You want me to carry you to M, am I wrong?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I cannot move in my current shape, great and powerful Iztac.¡± Ueman lowered his head in shame. ¡°Might you find the kindness to take my sister to M in my stead? She deserves a peaceful afterlife.¡±

    ¡°Brother!¡± The girl shook her head in panic. ¡°I¡­ I shan¡¯t abandon you here!¡±

    ¡°I cannot stand nor wield a weapon,¡± Ueman replied with resignation. ¡°I cannot crawl, let alone protect you. I will be a burden.¡±

    Leaving Ueman here meant abandoning him to a fate worse than death. Yet he was willing to entrust his sister to a stranger and stay behind, because he thought I was unlikely to ept dead-weight. His selflessness made me wish I¡¯d had an elder brother.

    This ce would be the death of me. The second one at least.

    ¡°I can carry you easily too,¡± I said with a sigh. Curse my weak human heart.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Ueman hesitated. ¡°I do not wish to bother you, great Iztac. We have nothing to pay you with.¡±

    ¡°You do not need to. I was going to M anyway.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Give me a moment to recover and I will carry you both to your eternal rest, if I can.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I have no words.¡± Ueman finally understood my offer was genuine and nodded in gratitude. ¡°Thank you so much.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Chipahua said with a little, adorable voice.

    I had no idea how to answer. I rarely ever had people say those two words to me. So I simply nodded in silence.

    After a short rest, I recovered enough willpower to transform back into my Tonalli form. It felt much easier to transform in the Underworld than manifest it in the waking world above. Chipahua climbed on my back and bloodsoaked feathers, while I held her brother in my talons. He was so light, so fragile.

    ¡°Prepare yourself,¡± I said, ¡°I will fly as close to the mist as I can to avoid the cutting wind, but we might suffer from attacks.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Lord Iztac,¡± Chipahua answered. It annoyed me to hear the lord part, but I couldn¡¯t fault a child.

    Carrying these two proved easy; navigating between the treacherous marsnds and the obsidian skies far less so. I had to travel up and down to avoid the dangers of both. Whenever I came too close to the tempest above, I had to dive back into illusion and ruin-ridden mists where I couldn¡¯t see more than ten feet ahead. The journey felt like an eternity.

    Still, havingpanions helped a bit. Chipahua warned me whenever ss shards from above threatened to fall on us, and Ueman often noticed obstacles I couldn¡¯t see in time. After what felt like an eternity, we finally left both of them behind us. The fog cleared and the tempest did not pursue us further.

    The fading mists revealed a most impressive sight. Something I had dreamed of, but never gotten the chance to witness for myself.

    The sea.

    A purple, peaceful expanse of serene purple water stretched across the horizon. The greatkes near the capital looked like puddles inparison. Its surface simmered like an obsidian mirror, with the gloomy light of the Underworld¡¯s sun casting an ethereal glow on the ebb. The air was heavy with a salty, oily smell, and the waves moved slowly in tune with the falling rain. After the harrowing journey through the mists, the sight soothed my heart like balm on a wound.

    ¡°There, brother,¡± Chipahua pointed a finger at the horizon. ¡°I see it!¡±

    So did I. Though theyer¡¯s sun shone impossibly high in the sky, the tear of light it shed hit an ind below; a fortress with chalky walls of dizzying size that seemed carved from the bones of a giant creature. A vast necropolis of fanged towers sprawled behind them, their tops shining with a greenish, ethereal glow. All of them paled in size, however,pared to the colossal ck mountain in its center, which the pir of sunlight bathed in its dim radiance.

    ¡°M,¡± Ueman whispered in awe. ¡°The kingdom of the dead.¡±

    ¡°Seems so,¡± I said. ¡°But we haven¡¯t reached it yet.¡±

    I¡¯d grown bitter enough over time to realize that the gods liked to snatch despair from the jaws of victory at thest second. I flew across the purple sea without lowering my guard. More trouble might await us ahead.

    Rainwater drenched my feathers and bandage alike as I carried on. The rhythmicpping of the waves below became a haunting melody, one that failed to put me at ease. I often glimpsed shadowy forms beneath the water; the slithering shape of fish the size of a man; skeletal fins peeking above the surface; reptilian eyes looking up at me from below. I flew high enough above the sea to avoid danger, but these half-unseen presences unsettled me.

    ¡°What are those?¡± I wondered. ¡°Fish do not growrger than men.¡±

    ¡°They were men once,¡± Ueman said. ¡°Xolotl taught us that when Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s tears drowned the fourth world, the old mankind drowned. When the goddess realized her mistake, she attempted to save the old mankind by turning them into fish. I often wonder what the gods will turn the current one into.¡±

    ¡°Not bats, I hope,¡± I replied. ¡°How did the two of you end up down there?¡±

    Chipahua bristled at the question, but her brother answered in her stead. ¡°We starved,¡± he exined. ¡°A drought devastated our vige and we perished.¡±

    A famine? There hadn¡¯t been arge famine in many, many years. ¡°Under which emperor did the two of you live?¡±

    ¡°Emperor Xicohtencatl the Tenth,¡± Ueman replied innocently. ¡°Why?¡±

    I wisely kept my mouth shut. That emperor ruled over forty years ago. These two hadn¡¯t wandered the mists for days, but <em>decades</em>. I thanked the gods for granting me wings. Otherwise, we would have remained stuck for who knows how long. I wondered how many other souls wandered that fog of memories for years.

    M grewrger with time, enough that I finally began toprehend the realm¡¯s true scope. The distant walls were mountains of animal bones piled up together until they reached taller than any mortal building. They stretched so far and wide I struggled to imagine the size of the city behind. Yohuachanca¡¯s capital could be no bigger than a district inparison.

    As for the spires, now that I looked closely¡­ They reminded me of bony fingers reaching for the sky.

    ¡°There!¡± Chipahua pointed at my left. ¡°I see a bridge!¡±

    I turned my head. Indeed, an impossibly long bridge of smooth obsidian stone emerged from M and sprawled across the sea. A near-endless procession of skeletons walked along its edge, guided by Xolotl¡­ more than one. To my surprise, a dozen near-identical siblings of the god each shepherded their own group of the dead onward to their final destination.

    I supposed it made sense. Xolotl was infamously the god of twins, and I mentally beat myself over thinking he could personally escort every single soul that died each day. ¡°I shall deliver you back to your shepherd,¡± I whispered to my passengers. ¡°Hopefully, he won¡¯t lose you this time.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t insult the gods,¡± Chipahua scolded me. Her brother simplyughed.

    I flew closer to the bridge, only to hear strange soundsing from behind; a faint whistle, almost inaudible. I peeked over my shoulder, but saw nothing other than rain. Chipahua nced around in confusion.

    ¡°Is something troubling you?¡± Ueman asked.

    Yes, but I couldn¡¯t tell what. Just a general sense of unease. My lone remaining eye darted from left to right, looking for something it couldn¡¯t see, but that I knew was here.

    I heard a whistling noiseing from my blind spot.

    Only my owl form¡¯s sharpened reflexes and a startled cry from my passengers let me dodge the surprise attack. An arrow flew past me and barely missed my throat. I peeked over my wing and blinked in mute amazement.

    Hands. Ghostly, floating hands materialized above me, each of them carrying all-too-solid bow and arrows. I counted dozens of them aiming at my back, tugging their strings.

    ¡°Hold on!¡± I shouted a warning before diving down. A bombardment followed. Arrows soared through the air in volleys deadlier than the obsidian winds from earlier. I descended down toward the sea to avoid them.

    The hands that fired immediately vanished upon missing their mark¡­ only for others to reappear on my sides, each of them raising their bow for the kill. I did my best to fly around without identally throwing Chipahua off my back. I dodged nine projectiles before a tenth hit me in the nk. I let out a cry of suffering as I felt the metal arrowhead pierce through my feathers and flesh.

    <em>If I get to the bridge, Xolotl will have to intervene,</em> I thought, desperately flying toward the procession of the dead. <em>Or we could hide among the dead and¨C</em>

    And then I froze in midair.

    My wings stopped pping, and yet I did not fall. My back stretched until I heard cracks in my bones, yet my muscles no longer obeyed me. Phantom fingers tightened on my throat, but no floating hands touched my feathers.

    I¡¯d already been there before: when the Jaguar Woman choked the life out of me with her mind alone. This time was worse though. The invisible force that took me over now tightened its grip on my entire body rather than my lungs alone.

    Then I heard a voiceing from nowhere and everywhere at once. A woman, whose words carried the weight of eternity and cold dead wrath.

    ¡°Coming back to my domain was a mistake, Spirit-Thief.¡±

    A sh of agony surged through my wings. A dozen arrows nailed me in an impossibly straight line that went from one end to the other. They fell around the terrified Chipahua without harming her, but that was meager reassurance to me. I would have shrieked if I could still move my beak. My blood fell into the sea below and drew the attention of swimming forms under the waves. The beasts had caught a whiff of an iing meal.

    The ghostly hands that harassed me reappeared to grab a squealing Chipahua and her brother alike, carrying them away from me. My lone remaining eye, the only part of me that I could move, looked up as a mysterious figure materialized near them.

    The air grew palpably thick as the entity took shape in a swirl of ash and bone dust. She was a corpse, one both horrifying and awe-inspiring in equal measures. Flowing robes woven from funerary shrouds and marigolds swirled around her yed flesh. Her eyes were empty holes shining with a red glow brighter than any star; sharp fangs adorned her skeletal maw; and a divine red me burned between her exposed ribs. Flowing ebony tresses cascaded down from an obsidian crown and onto her back.

    The figure looked so gaunt, so frail, yet the otherworldly aura emanating from her wore down on me more than the Nightlords¡¯bined malevolence. Her allure carried more weight than the wisest elders or the most ancient of creatures. When her unnerving gaze met my eye, I felt naked and weak. She was what the Nightlords could pretend to be, like ephemeral shadows cast by great pyramids.

    A goddess.

    ¡°Lady Mictecacihuatl,¡± Ueman muttered in awe. His sister shivered in silent dread, as she did when the monster threatened her. ¡°Oh great queen of the Underworld.¡±

    To my surprise, the ancient goddess answered by petting the terrified Chipahua and her brother on the head. A reddish glow traveled through Ueman¡¯s body. His bent, broken bones twisted back into their proper shape.

    ¡°I bid you wee into my king¡¯s domain, lost souls,¡± the queen greeted the siblings with gentleness that belied her inhuman appearance. ¡°You are safe now.¡±

    She¡­ was kind to strangers? After watching the Nightlords¡¯ cruelty, I simply couldn¡¯t believe my eyes. Though the Parliament warned me that Mictecacihuatl was kind to mortals and well-disposed to helping them, all I could think of was how Yoloxochitl''s innocence hid the malice beneath.

    Mictecacihuatl did show her malice quickly, just not towards the siblings. The goddess¡¯s tone harshened noticeably when she turned her attention upon me. ¡°The thief that took you away will be duly punished.¡±

    <em>If I cannot talk my way out of this, I am dead,</em> I realized. I tried to open my beak to argue, to plead my case, to tell her this was a misunderstanding. I failed. My body wouldn¡¯t budge. <em>Please goddess, let me exin!</em>

    ¡°Oh goddess, Iztac is no thief.¡± Few would have dared to talk back to a goddess. Thankfully for me, Ueman was one of them. ¡°He guided us to your kingdom, so we could enjoy our proper rest.¡±

    ¡°Iztac?¡± The name confused Mictecacihuatl enough to briefly dispel the veil of her rage. She examined me closely, the fires in her hollow eyes vaciting. ¡°Who are you? You look like her, but youck her strength and malice.¡±

    I could guess who Mictecacihuatl was speaking of. I was starting to wonder what my mother had done to earn a goddess¡¯ ire. I shapeshifted back into my human form, shedding a few arrows and keeping others scarcely woven into my flesh. My entire body hurt.

    Though the queen¡¯s magic kept me floating up in the air, she released her grip just enough to let me speak. I still had a chance to talk things through.

    ¡°Oh great Mictecacihuatl, it is an honor for me to meet you.¡± M¡¯s queen was the keeper of humanity¡¯s bones and protector of the dead. Even if I didn¡¯t need her help¡ªor were at her mercy¡ªI would have shown her respect. ¡°I am Iztac, a catecolotl. I seek an audience with your husband as part of a quest to destroy a great evil.¡±

    ¡°A great evil?¡± The goddess observed me closely and noticed the chains binding my Teyolia. Her yed forehead arched in what could pass for pity. ¡°The curse of Yohuachanca binds your soul¡­¡±

    ¡°The Nightlords have condemned me to death in a year,¡± I exined. ¡°I seek help in freeing my soul and those of my predecessors from them.¡±

    ¡°I am truly sorry, Iztac of Yohuachanca. If I could remove your curse, I would.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl shook her head. To my shock, she sounded entirely genuine. ¡°I cannot break it, and neither can my husband. Your soul is already promised to another deity.¡±

    Another deity? ¡°The Nightlords are no goddesses.¡±

    ¡°No vampire is, but the curse originates from a true deity,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl replied calmly. ¡°A god of pain and hunger that crawled from the depths below an age ago, beholden neither to the living nor the dead. Your soul is promised to their waiting jaws.¡±

    Could she be talking about the First Emperor? Was he even real? ¡°Oh great queen of the dead, can you tell me more?¡± I pleaded. ¡°Any information can help.¡±

    ¡°I know little, unfortunately. My husband¡¯s dominion only extends to thisyer, as does mine.¡± Mictecacihuatl appraised me for a moment, before guessing my intent. ¡°You seek entry into the loweryers of the Land of the Dead Suns, do you not?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I do.¡± I nodded slowly and nced at the fading sun with my remaining eye. ¡°I was also told Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s embers carry the power I need to defeat the Nigthlords.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­¡± The Queen of the Underworld¡¯s skeletal, ghoulish face showed no hint of emotion. Her silence, however, carried the weight of her judgment. I would have paid a great deal to the Yaotzin to learn what was on her mind. She turned her attention back on Ueman and his sister. ¡°What are your names?¡±

    ¡°Ueman, oh great queen of the dead,¡± the undead said with a respectful nod. His sibling bowed slightly, but remained too fearful to answer herself. ¡°Forgive my sister, Chipahua. She is young.¡±

    ¡°There is nothing to forgive.¡± Mictecacihuatl gently pat Chipahua¡¯s head, soothing the child. ¡°You will join the procession of the dead, where my attendants will assign your souls to a district. I wish you a peaceful eternity in my king¡¯s domain.¡±

    ¡°We are grateful for your mercy, goddess.¡± Ueman thanked me with the same reverence he showed to Mictecacihuatl. ¡°It seems our paths are to diverge here, Iztac, though I hope they cross again. I thank the heavens we met.¡±

    ¡°Goodbye.¡± Chipahua waved a gentle hand at me. ¡°Take care.¡±

    ¡°I bid you good luck,¡± I replied with a light heart.

    Mictecacihuatl¡¯s ghostly hands carried Ueman and his sister away toward the bridge. Once we were alone, she breathed a cloud of ash at me. The dust was warm and banished my pain away. The arrows searing my flesh vanished, and the bloody wounds staining my skin closed on their own. The bandage around my lost eye flew away, yet I found myself staring normally again. The goddess had healed my woes and granted me back my vision.

    ¡°I apologize for unduly harming you,¡± said the queen. ¡°Thest catecolotl to visit our realm pilfered souls away and I mistook you for her. I should have been more careful.¡±

    I¡­ I simply didn¡¯t know how to answer. I waited for the knife to fall, for the goddess to reveal her inner cruelty like Yoloxochitl before her. When no betrayal followed this kindness, I could ask: ¡°Why did you heal me?¡±

    ¡°I am the keeper of humanity¡¯s bones, not their tormentor. I unduly caused you harm and you should not suffer from my mistake.¡± Mictecacihuatl joined her hands in a regal, dignified pose. ¡°For returning those lost souls to me, I shall intercede in your favor. My husband shall listen to your plea, though I cannot guarantee he will fulfill it.¡±

    She¡­ she was reasonable? Grateful? Could gods show mercy? The idea seemed unfathomable, and yet, here we were.

    ¡°I am in your debt, goddess,¡± I said with deep respect.

    ¡°No. It is I who owes you.¡± Mictecacihuatl studied my face carefully. ¡°How much do you know of your powers, catecolotl? Can you travel freely between the world above and this one already?¡±

    ¡°I can, oh queen of the Underworld.¡± I could tell my powers interested her. Mayhaps I could use that to learn the Doll spell from her. ¡°How can I be of service?¡±

    ¡°We shall speak of itter.¡± The goddess flew away, her invisible power carrying my body into the air after her. ¡°Do you know the meaning behind my husband¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°Of course I do,¡± I replied. ¡°Mtecuhtli means Lord of M. Everyone knows that.¡±

    ¡°But few understand its significance. Namely, that M came first.¡± Our flight led us above the bone walls. ¡°See for yourself.¡±

    The Kingdom of M unfolded behind the fortifications; a sprawling metropolis that dwarfed Yohuachanca¡¯s capital in size and scope. A country¡¯s worth of purple water canals, regal porphyry domes, bone spires, and maze-like streets paved with gray, fossilized skin stretched across the horizon; yet its twisting alleys were strangely lively nheless. Hordes of skeletal dead walked across basalt zas to trade to the tune of flutes and drums. The dead had no need for food or drinks, but like in the world above, that did not stop merchants from selling obsidian jewelry, dusty scrolls, pottery, and other wares. Every building looked different from the next, as if a hundred civilizations hade together to build echoes of their past into the Underworld.

    However, the true nature of the city soon became clear to me. The colossal towers I glimpsed reminded me of fingers because they <em>were </em>fingers. A great spine road crossed M and a za was built atop ribs longer than rivers. The great ck monolith from earlier now revealed its shape to me: that of a massive human skullrger than my imperial pce. The light of the Underworld sun fell upon its crown of obsidian, yet it did not shine half as bright as the twin blue stars in its eye sockets. Though half a kingdom separated us, I could tell they were staring at me with deadly intent.

    ¡°Here is my husband, Mtecuhtli, who has ruled in M since the first death.¡± Mictecacihuatl chuckled to herself. ¡°For king and kingdom are forever one.¡±

 Chapter Seven: Mother of Bones

    Chapter Seven: Mother of Bones

    The Lord of the Underworld granted me an audience at the foot of the mountain they called his chin.

    Unlike the emperors above, Mtecuhtli kept no court. No swarm of servants gathered around his skull to sing his praises. In fact, the lively music that echoed in his city turned to silence within a league of the head that oversaw it all. Not a single drop of rain would fall on the god¡¯s ancient bones. I stood in an empty za of ashes and dust on which no wind blew, with only a quiet queen forpany. The sound of my steps was smothered into nothingness as I knelt; and when I opened my mouth to plead, no words woulde out of it.

    Mtecuhtli was <em>death</em>, and noise was <em>life</em>.

    The two stars in the god¡¯s empty eyes burned with an ethereal glow. The hundred eyes of my predecessors looked no brighter than candles inparison. Their ethereal radiance dimmed even the pale sunlight falling on Mtecuhtli¡¯s obsidian crown. You could burn a hill of firewood inside them.

    The weight of Mtecuhtli¡¯s gaze crushed me. A pressure many times greater than the one his wife used to manipte my body fell onto my shoulders with a slow, deliberate push. Was this how ants felt when a man looked down upon them?

    As I felt the god¡¯s presence in my bones, in my mind, and in my very soul, I finally understood why I could never fully believe the Nightlords were goddesses. A true god did not have power. They <em>were </em>power, as omnipresent as the wind and as eternal as the dirt beneath mortal feet.

    <em>¡°I hear your heartbeat, little bird. A rare sound in my gray city.¡±</em> His words were a whisper in my skull, spoken out in a rasping echo of my voice; the voice I would have on death¡¯s door. <em>¡°Are you a dream of mine?¡±</em>

    Mtecuhtli uttered no threat, but I instantly knew a single misstep would mean my utter ruin. His queen had threatened to snap me in half with a wave of her hand. Her husband could ruin me with a <em>thought</em>.

    I knelt before the gods, and I sensed a force giving me permission to say words. ¡°No, oh great Lord of the Underworld,¡± I said. ¡°I am not dead, but I am dreaming as we speak.¡±<em>¡°You are mistaken.¡± </em>There was no emotion in Mtecuhtli¡¯s voice. Each of his words carried the stillness of death.<em> ¡°What is life but a dream, a fleeting illusion full of sorrow and suffering? Death is the true awakening, and the eternity beyond¡­ the truth.¡±</em>

    I pondered each word I could speak aloud. Should I tter him? Speak my mind? Xolotl did warn me that Mtecuhtli was bitter and cruel¡­

    <em>¡°You wonder whether you should lie to me.¡± </em>Mtecuhtli¡¯s eyes flickered for a second, as if amused by my unease.<em> ¡°Bitter truths and sweet lies taste the same to he who has no tongue left. Neither will save you now.¡±</em>

    Many said that to better disguise their vanity. Still, I did note here to deceive Mtecuhtli, and discovery might mean my destruction. ¡°With all due respect, Lord Mtecuhtli,¡± I replied candidly. ¡°I would rather dy my death as long as possible.¡±

    <em>¡°Those who marked you will not show this mercy. I pity you and the others, trapped in a nightmare between life and death. Know that if I could wee you all into my gray city, I would.¡±</em>

    ¡°I¡­ thank you, Lord Mtecuhtli.¡± I lowered my head. ¡°My predecessors and I seek only to do so in due time. I have to plead for your help in their terrible task.¡±

    <em>¡°You presume too much of me.¡± </em>Though Mtecuhtli¡¯s tone did not change, I could sense a touch of disdain in his voice. <em>¡°I was put here at the dawn of life, like the night follows the dawn, to rule the house of the dead. A king has no sway over a kingdom that is not his own, no more than a me can be wet. I cannot break your curse, nor will I destroy your enemies for you.¡±</em>

    I guessed as much. ¡°I understand, Lord Mtecuhtli. Forgive my insolence. I came for guidance in how to deal with the leeches above that prevent so many from passing on.¡±

    <em>¡°Learn patience,¡±</em> Mtecuhtli replied calmly.<em> ¡°Everything dies in time, even worlds. Those who hold your soul captive will eventually pass like all the others, and then you will earn your rest.¡±</em>

    <em>He was never alive in the first ce, so he does not value life at all</em>, I realized. The righteousness of my cause did not matter to him, because the cause itself felt insignificant to a creature so old and powerful. Mtecuhtli had witnessed the first dawn and would survive thest. A few centuries of suffering would be horrendous to me and my predecessors, but they would pass in the blink of an eye for him.

    Once again I remembered my encounters with the Nightlords; the false gods who were all too human in their cruelty. They bickered, followed their whims, and punished defiance with violence. There was nothing human about a true god like Mtecuhtli. He was a force of nature, a fundamental pir of the universe. Why would the wind care about human wars and sorrows? It would keep blowing until the world¡¯s final night.

    Xolotl had been mistaken. It wasn¡¯t that Mtecuhtli was cold and cruel. He was something far worse.

    <em>Uncaring</em>.

    His queen, however, cared enough to speak in my favor. ¡°You speak true, my king, as always,¡± she said with a gentle voice. ¡°However, can a child be expected to learn without making mistakes first? It would be kind to let him burn his hand, so that he learns to fear fire.¡±

    The god¡¯s eyes flickered once more. <em>¡°On what pyre does this bird wish to burn?¡±</em>

    Since Mictecacihuatl did not answer her husband, I guessed she gave me an opportunity to plead my case. ¡°The sun that shines above your head, oh great and powerful master of death,¡± I said. ¡°And the three others below your realm.¡±

    <em>¡°Then you are mad, little bird.¡± </em>A terrible cloud of ck smoke erupted from Mtecuhtli before dissipating into nothingness. A god had just snorted at me. <em>¡°I created this ce from my own bones so that the dead could find rest. I hold sway over the souls that trickle down from above, but the things that haunt the stillborn worlds beneath us answer to no one. If you wander into the depths, you will face fates far worse than centuries waiting on a threshold. Nothingness would be a mercy.¡±</em>

    To hear these words from Mtecuhtli shook me to my core. It was one thing to hear warnings from the Parliament of Skulls, and another from a god older than time. Mtecuhtli had witnessed all deaths since the beginning of life. If he said that what awaited in the depths could prove worse than centuries trapped in a reliquary, then he meant it.

    ¡°But would I find the power I seek?¡± I asked. ¡°The power to destroy the Nightlords and free my people?¡±

    <em>¡°You might,¡± </em>the god conceded. <em>¡°Many have descended into the Land of the Dead Suns searching for knowledge, treasures, and sorcery. Few returned, and fewer with what they were looking for.¡±</em>

    ¡°But some did,¡± I pointed out.

    <em>¡°Yes.¡±</em>

    The risks were great, but so were the rewards. If it had only been my death and suffering on the line, perhaps I would have heeded Mtecuhtli¡¯s warnings. But after seeing what happened to Eztli, my predecessors, and so many others¡­ I would fight on. Even if the Nightlords might eventually face justice, they could also haunt the world until its final days. I would not wait so long.

    The sacrifices, the wars, the cruelties, they all had to stop. I was not the first emperor, but I would do everything in my power to be thest.

    ¡°Your words are not wasted on me, Lord Mtecuhtli.¡± I lowered my head to show respect. ¡°But still, I ask your permission to carry on with my quest. I beg you to let me feed on the embers of the four suns that came before, so that I might free my people from harm.¡±

    <em>¡°Compassion is not the heavens¡¯ currency.¡±</em> Mtecuhtli¡¯s silence stretched on for over a minute; an eternity for me, and an instant for the god. <em>¡°We only ept three coins: pleasure, knowledge, and power. If you wish to im Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s embers and ess to the lower depths through my Gate of Tears, then you must pay a toll.¡±</em>

    Here came the hard part. ¡°What is thy price, Lord Mtecuhtli?¡±

    The chalky hills that made up Mtecuhtli¡¯s teeth slowly started to look like a ghastly smile. <em>¡°I want your sun.¡±</em>

    The word hung into the air like a curse for a minute before I dared to look up at the god. ¡°My sun?¡± I repeated, dumbfounded. ¡°The sun that shines on the living?¡±

    <em>¡°You seek to feast on a dead sun¡¯s embers like a jackal, when there are living stars in the living world above. Only life can pay for death.¡± </em>The ground shook beneath my feet. Mtecuhtli¡¯s chuckles shook the city enough to start faint quakes. <em>¡°A sun for a sun would make for a fair trade.¡±</em>

    When I recoiled at the impossible task, Queen Mictecacihuatl came to my rescue. ¡°My king, must I remind you that thest time two suns coexisted in the sky, thend burned to cinders? A second sun would torment us all should that mortal seed.¡±

    <em>¡°True.¡±</em> Mtecuhtli pondered her words in silence beforeing up with an ¡®easier¡¯ alternative. <em>¡°Then I shall ask for an ocean of blood to add some color outside. Chalchiuhtlicue has shed enough purple tears.¡±</em>

    I thought it was a joke at my expense for a second, until I realized I heard no cruelty nor mockery in the god¡¯s voice. He asked the same price as the Nightlords for his favor, but not out of hunger or viciousness, but out of cold detachment.

    Mtecuhtli truly believed that trading an ocean of death for a sun¡¯s embers was a fair trade, the same way a merchant would sell a pottery for a coin.

    ¡°Your generosity knows no bounds, my king,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl replied with a short bow. ¡°I shall show this child the way around the city.¡±

    When I tried to open my mouth to protest, I felt a slight, gentle pressure snapping my jaw shut; not the overwhelming power of Mtecuhtli, but the gentler scolding of his wife. I understood the message quite clearly: do not tempt fate.

    <em>¡°Yes, do so,¡± </em>Mtecuhtli replied. If he noticed his wife¡¯s action, he did notment on it. <em>¡°The bird is too quick for my taste. Let him return when he can pay his tribute.¡±</em>

    Queen Mictecacihuatl released her hold on my jaw and allowed me to pay my homage onest time. ¡°I thank you for your generosity, Lord Mtecuhtli,¡± I said with a deep bow, though I struggled not to argue over the price he demanded. ¡°If I may, though, I would like to receive your wisdom on onest matter.¡±

    <em>¡°One question I shall answer,¡±</em> the god replied. <em>¡°No more.¡±</em>

    ¡°Your great queen mentioned that the vampire curse originated from a god of pain and hunger that crawled out of the Underworld,¡± I said. ¡°Do you know more?¡±

    <em>¡°Were my words wasted on you?¡± </em>Mtecuhtli snorted once again, his breath an eruption. <em>¡°Many wandered into the depths in search of power¡­ and a few returned with it.¡±</em>

    A chill traveled down my spine as the full implications of Mtecuhtli¡¯s words dawned on me.

    The Land of the Dead Suns held many secrets. Including that of godhood.

    I thanked Mtecuhtli onest time and let his queen guide me away. We walked down a road of fossilized bone and amber that led into the city proper. The further we walked away from Mtecuhtli, the louder our steps became.

    At no point did the god ever ask for my name.

    To Mtecuhtli, I was nothing but another ant in an endless line. Even a catecolotl was barely worthy of remembrance.

    ¡°You handled my king well,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl said. ¡°He is usually stricter with the living.¡±

    Was she joking? This whole deal was a farce! ¡°Where am I supposed to find an ocean of blood, let alone transport it into the Underworld?¡±

    ¡°You will find a way,¡± Mictecacihuatl reassured me with a kind, gentle tone. ¡°My king believes those who do not struggle to earn their reward will fail to appreciate it. He has put many harsh ordeals before those who sought entrance to the depths, but the gods made humans clever and we are bound by our word. Remember that.¡±

    Though I wanted to argue further, I shut my mouth and meditated on the goddess¡¯ words. Many had petitioned Mtecuhtli for ess to the lower depths of the Underworld. Many were granted passage, although he probably asked the impossible of them too.

    <em>The gods are bound by their word and can be tricked,</em> I thought, remembering the old tales. <em>When the god-in-spirit Quetzalcoatl descended into the Underworld, Mtecuhtli asked him to y a song on a shell instrument. Quetzalcoatl realized the instrument given had no holes in it, so he had worms dig a few and yed a tune.</em>

    Even if I had been willing to kill all life on earth, there was no way I could gather an ocean''s worth of blood in a year¡¯s time. There had to be a clever way to fulfill the letter of Mtecuhtli¡¯s request. I just needed to find it.

    ¡°You are free to wander M as you wish, though you would be wise not toe back to my king without payment,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl said. ¡°You must, however, follow our rules. The word of Mtecuhtli isw, as is mine. Do not enter a home uninvited. Do not bring violence to the dead. Do not take anything that is not offered, and do not impede our servants.¡±

    I memorized eachw. They sounded quite fair. Respect the city¡¯s rulers, do not steal, do not intrude, do not harm, and do not cause trouble. ¡°I shall not disturb M¡¯s peace, oh great queen.¡±

    ¡°I hope not, for your punishment would be swift.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl stopped in front of me, her hands joined together. ¡°You wish to discuss a trade with me.¡±

    She knew mortals all too well. ¡°Oh greatdy of the dead, you know my quest is righteous,¡± I said. ¡°I please beseech thee to teach me the Doll spell, so that I might use its power against the Nightlords who would enve my soul."

    ¡°The Doll spell?¡± The queen of the dead stroked her skeletal chin. "It is true that I have taught a few sorcerers this discipline in the past, for I invented it. But do you understand what you are asking?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°My predecessors told me you could teach me this magic, nothing more.¡±

    ¡°You would open a door without knowing where it led?¡± Mictecacihuatl waved a hand at me. Immediately the power of her mind moved my left arm against my will until I imitated her movements perfectly. ¡°See for yourself.¡±

    ¡°So this is it¡­¡± I muttered. ¡°The spell grants control over another¡¯s body.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± the queen confirmed before releasing my arm. ¡°The Doll spell allows one to manipte the bones and flesh of another. Such knowledge is not bestowed lightly. Myst student won my kindness with sweet promises, and when she had no more use for me she turned my own gift against my subjects.¡±

    Mictecacihuatl lowered her head to better look into my eyes. ¡°Why should I bestow it on you, Iztac?"

    We had entered the negotiations phase. ¡°I will swear an oath not to use that knowledge for evil, if I must.¡±

    "There is no good nor evil, Iztac, only that which mortals believe in,¡± Mictecacihuatl replied with a kind tone, as if talking to a child in need of guidance. "The chains binding your life-fire are proof enough of your torment. You have my sympathy, but sympathy cannot purchase power. Especially power fraught with the potential for abuse."

    "I understand that to receive, I must give,¡± I repeated. ¡°Your husband asked for a tribute in exchange for his favor. I am willing to trade another for yours.¡±

    Mictecacihuatl nodded. "You have returned two lost souls to my halls where they belong, and in return I bestowed you a boon. You received the audience you sought and a way forward. This is the way of the gods. I will not ask for an ocean of blood in return for my magic, if that worries you, but I must request a service in return."

    "Do you want me to scour the Underworld for the lost dead then?" I proposed. Rescuing people in need was a task I could aplish with pride. "How many would you require?"

    "You are sweet, Iztac, but any of my servants can aplish such a task. There is a thing I want that only a catecolotl can deliver, however." Mictecacihuatl wistfully nced at the purple sky, as if she could peer through the Underworld¡¯s ceiling. "Whereas my husband was born dead and cold, I was once alive and warm. My time above was short, but I remember it vividly; like a pleasant dream full ofughs and light.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard stories that you were born human,¡± I recounted. ¡°That you were sacrificed as an infant and raised in the Underworld.¡±

    ¡°I was the first woman to ever die before her time, that much is true,¡± the queen replied. ¡°In spite of my power and position, I would give away a great many things to feel alive again. So would many of my subjects."

    "Do you want a taste of life?" I raised an arm, the one Xolotl hadn¡¯t bitten. ¡°I offered your servant my blood and flesh. I can do the same with you.¡±

    "I want far more than a taste, Iztac. Those who came before you already offered that much and more. Scraps of life no longer satisfy me." A ck tongue slithered between Mictecacihuatl¡¯s teeth, licking lips that no longer existed. "I want a feast."

    ¡°A¡­ a feast?¡±

    "A feast upstairs, among the living,¡± Mictecacihuatl exined calmly. ¡°A night of life that will let me satisfy my cravings."

    ¡°You wish to enter the waking world?¡± Both she and her husband explicitly told me they had no sway over the realm of the living. ¡°Is that even possible?¡±

    "Yes, with a catecolotl¡¯s assistance and the proper rites." Queen Mictecacihuatl whistled to herself, suddenly enthusiastic. ¡°There is a day of the year when those who are gone can walk the world of the living. The Day of the Dead.¡±

    ¡°The Day of the Dead?¡± I repeated. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of it, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°The Nightlords suppressed knowledge of this festival because they fear my power,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl exined, her voice brimming with disdain. ¡°And because they feared what the dead had to say.¡±

    My fists clenched in anger. The Nightlords silenced the ghosts of their victims so they couldn¡¯t tell their victims what happened on the other side¡­ that their so-called goddesses were false.

    ¡°Your captors do more than steal blood from the living, Iztac. They steal faith from the true gods too.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl waved a hand at her city. ¡°Each neer knows less about the world than those who came before them. In time, they will ensure that even my husband¡¯s name is forgotten.¡±

    ¡°There wille a time when the Nightlords will be the world¡¯s only gods,¡± I guessed. It would take them centuries to crush all nations and erase the truth from the living¡¯s memories, but what were centuries to immortal parasites? ¡°How can I ensure this does note to pass?¡±

    ¡°The Day of the Dead rite lets me possess a priestess for a night and gives temporary substance to the guests I bring from the Underworld,¡± the goddess exined. ¡°The dead will be able to partake in the pleasures lost to them until dawn rises.¡±

    ¡°Can these reborn dead make war?¡± I asked, immediately seeing an opportunity. The Nightlords had killed so many, the Underworld had to abound with their vengeful victims.

    ¡°You wish to raise an army of ghosts and to sweep over the Nightlords.¡± To my annoyance, Queen Mictecacihuatl shook her head and denied my request. ¡°I must refuse, Iztac. The Day of the Dead is meant to bring joy to the dead and let them reconnect with the living, not satisfy old grudges.¡±

    ¡°What greater pleasure is there than taking vengeance on one¡¯s enemies?¡± I asked in frustration.

    ¡°Reconnecting with one¡¯s family,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl replied calmly. ¡°Dancing under the moonlight, gorging oneself on sweet food, kissing a loved one¡­ vengeance does not bring joy, it only soothes the pain.¡±

    I disagreed from the bottom of my heart, but the goddess would not budge. ¡°Then will you be able to assist me in my battle, Your Majesty? If you can personally manifest upstairs in your full glory¡­¡±

    ¡°If only, Iztac.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl let out a sorrowful sigh. ¡°Unfortunately, my power is tied to the Underworld. This rite is only possible because I was mortal once. All I can do is run the festival until its conclusion.¡±

    Why were the few kind souls willing to help me powerless to do so? Because justice did not spin the wheel of fate, I suppose.

    Queen Mictecacihuatl noticed my disappointment and kindly reassured me. ¡°I will try to help you in any way I can,¡± she promised. ¡°Vampires deny my beloved humans their rest. My king does not care much, but I do.¡±

    At least she offered me her assistance. I couldn¡¯t spit on her mercy. ¡°When must I hold the festival, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°Thirty days before the winter solstice.¡±

    ¡°In eleven months then,¡± I counted. ¡°I would rather practice the spell before that deadline if possible, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°We shall make a pact then,¡± the queen proposed. ¡°I will let you use the Doll spell so long as you vow to organize this festival. If you fail to make progress, or do not deliver on your promise, I shall take the power away from you. If you sessfully organize the feast though, the magic shall be yours for another year until the next Day of the Dead, and so on.¡±

    The offer sounded fair enough. It would let me use her magic for the year until the festival; after whichpletion meant I would keep it for the winter solstice, when the Nightlords intended to sacrifice me. Failure to deliver would leave me toothless on that date, however.

    ¡°You said you need a living host.¡± The wording bothered me. ¡°How would that work? Do you require a tribute?¡±

    ¡°A living woman must willingly swear their soul to me, allowing me to possess her until the night ends,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl exined with eerie calmness, as if we discussed her wardrobe. ¡°Worry not, she will remain unharmed and I shall return her life to her once dawn rises.¡±

    ¡°But it has to be a woman, and she has to ept out of her own volition,¡± I pointed out.

    ¡°Indeed. I also require a healthy host.¡± The goddess chuckled melodiously. ¡°I intend to amuse myself too.¡±

    I guessed I would too, if I was only allowed to have flesh once a year. Still, it meant I had eleven months to find someone willing to be a death goddess¡¯ vessel for a night and keep it secret from the Nightlords. A difficult task, but not as hard as gathering an ocean of blood.

    ¡°Very well, oh great queen of the dead,¡± I said. ¡°I agree to your terms, and I swear I shall not use your knowledge to bring harm upon your subjects. I will organize your festival.¡±

    ¡°Wonderful.¡± Mictecacihuatl raised a hand and bit into her skinless flesh. ¡°Now, expose your Teyolia to me.¡±

    I revealed my bare chest and the mes between my ribs. Like Xolotl before her, Mictecacihuatl let a drop of her divine, ckened blood fall through the cracks. The purple fire within me devoured it utterly.

    As it did so, a strange warmth coursed through my bones. A gentle caress that reminded me of the times when my father cared for me in my childhood.

    ¡°Thank you, Your Majesty,¡± I said. ¡°I shall not disappoint you.¡±

    ¡°I believe you,¡± the queen replied with enthusiasm. ¡°Our pact is sealed. Before we begin, was there anything else you sought to aplish in my city?¡±

    I nodded in confirmation. ¡°My predecessors suggested I find the sorcerer Huehuecoyotl to learn the Veil spell.¡±

    ¡°That scoundrel?¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl scoffed in disdain. Clearly, she didn¡¯t like him. ¡°You might be able to find him causing mischief in the Market of Years¡­ However, I doubt you will have the time to haggle with him. The sun will soon rise in the waking world.¡±

    I bristled at her words, though I expected as much. The journey to M had taken a long time. Xolotl himself doubted I could make the journey in a single night. ¡°My predecessors said I could return to your kingdom the next night, skipping the journey.¡±

    ¡°You should, yes.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl nodded in confirmation. ¡°Let us use what little time you have left for a lesson in magic.¡±

    I bowed before the goddess, as I did before teachers at school. ¡°I am ready to learn.¡±

    ¡°So diligent.¡± The queen¡¯s exposed teeth morphed into a smile. ¡°The Doll discipline requires the use of your Tonalli, Iztac. You must send it out of your body to possess a target, living or dead.¡±

    ¡°Like spiritual manifestation?¡± I asked with a frown. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that cause me to fall over unconscious?¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily. Possessing another will require far less power than physically manifesting your Tonalli outside your body.¡± The queen chuckled lightly. ¡°You are your own Tonalli in the Underworld, but you do not see me entering your flesh, do you? Focus on my hand.¡±

    The goddess raised a finger at my face. I squinted as I noticed simmering, near-tendrils extended from her bones and coiling around my hand like a ck serpent.

    ¡°Mayhaps I should put it like this: you must sink your Tonalli¡¯s talons into a prey and catch it.¡± Once the tendril seized my hand the queen pulled her finger, and my limb with it. ¡°You temporarily and spiritually dominate your target, asserting ownership over their body if you triumph in a battle of will.¡±

    ¡°Why can I see it this time?¡± I muttered in amazement.

    ¡°Because I wish you to, Iztac,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl answered. ¡°Good sorcerers use the Veil spell, which creates illusions, to hide the strings from other magical beings.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you know how to cast the Veil?¡± I beat myself. Of course a goddess would know more than one spell. ¡°Can you teach me?¡±

    ¡°I must confess that for all his faults, Huehuecoyotl¡¯s mastery of illusions surpasses mine,¡± the queen replied. ¡°I can teach you the basics for a price, but if you truly wish to learn from the best¡­ I would go to him.¡±

    I admit, I did not expect such humility from a goddess. Huehuecoyotl¡¯s craft must truly be great to earn such praise.

    ¡°Manipting a target¡¯s limbs is but the basest application of the Doll spell. Empty corpses have no soul to fight you with, so you can learn to control them easily enough¡­ even more than one.¡± Mictecacihuatl chuckled to herself. ¡°I remember one sorcerer who used the Doll spell to raise an army of corpses to defend his city from invaders a long, long time ago.¡±

    The idea of besieging the Blood Pyramid with an army made of undead sacrifices appealed to me. The more I learned about this Doll spell, the more excited I became. ¡°So¡­¡± I raised a hand too. ¡°I must only manifest part of my Tonalli?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Instead of expelling it from your body, you must create a link between the target¡¯s and your own. Do not give it substance. Keep it ethereal.¡±

    I focused on my finger and summoned the flow of magic coursing through my veins. The same power that allowed me to transform into a giant owl activated. It became a struggle against the instinct to fully manifest it. My magic instinctively either desired to remain in my body or escape it; keeping it in an intermediary state required far more concentration than the previous two options.

    But I was studious and determined. After three attempts, I finally managed to manifest a puppet string of my own: a shadowy, wed wisp flowing out of my finger.

    A talon of darkness.

    I woke up midway through the lesson.

    The Doll spell proved less mentally taxing than Spiritual Manifestation, and awfully more delicate. Whereas fully summoning my Tonalli demanded great spiritual power, manipting limbs demanded razor-sharp focus and concentration. Finesse over strength. Queen Mictecacihuatl was a kind, patient teacher, so I knew I would make steady progress over time.

    However, since magical creatures like the Nightlords could detect undisguised use of magic, I couldn¡¯t afford to practice in the living world. I needed to learn how to cast the Veil spell as soon as possible.

    I woke up with heavy eyelids. The dawn hadn¡¯t fully risen yet, and the obsidian windows dimmed its light anyway. My royal chambers were trapped in an eternal twilight at the best of times.

    I opened my eyes to find Eztli gone from my bed and staring at the window. She stood in front of the obsidian, her back turned on me, the filtered sunlight reflecting on her pale skin and perfect curves. If she heard me wake up, she did not show it. Instead, she stared at the obscured sun with intensity.

    ¡°Eztli?¡± I called out to her.

    She peeked over her shoulder with a look of <em>immense </em>sadness.

    It onlysted a fleeting instant, but I knew I would remember that face forever. Those hollow, lifeless eyes; that somber scowl of deep unhappiness; her skin turned pallid by despair. If despair had taken physical form, then its avatar stood before me.

    That single sight unsettled me more than all of the Underworld¡¯s trialsbined.

    Eztli quickly put on a smile and a mask of happiness. ¡°Did you have a nightmare, Iztac?¡± she asked me. ¡°I watched you sleep. It didn¡¯t look so peaceful to me.¡±

    My hand instinctively covered the eye that the spider-monster took from me in the swamps. Though the goddess healed me, I spent most of the night without one. Eztli would have noticed its absence, but she did not. Which meant that the wounds of the soul did not trante to the body. ¡°Do you still dream, Eztli?¡±

    Eztli¡¯s smile faltered. ¡°No. I can only see darkness when I close my eyes.¡±

    And from her tone, it frightened her. ¡°Eztli¡­ are you well?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Eztli rejoined me in bed. ¡°The dark makes me appreciate my waking moments all the more.¡±

    ¡°But¨C¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m <em>fine</em>.¡±

    A lie, but she didn¡¯t want to speak of her sorrow. I wasn¡¯t the only one mourning her loss of humanity.

    Eztli leaned against me, and though she felt like a corpse to the touch it did not ur to me to turn her away. I held her in my arms and let her rest her head against my chest. She closed her eyes, her ear against my ribs. She was listening to my heart, since her own no longer beat.

    It finally hit me.

    We were married.

    Our wedding involved human sacrifices and our honeymoon a murder, but Eztli was my wife now. We had made love, and only our promised death would separate us. This would have been a dreame true once.

    Why did it feel so bittersweet then? Because we paid a heavy price for it. Eztli remained Yoloxochitl¡¯s ve the same way I belonged to the four Nightlords. Although I knew we would make the most of it, we had been forced into this rtionship; and it would end along with our lives when our so-called ¡®masters¡¯ demanded it.

    We were married, but not free.

    For now.

    ¡°Something changed while you slept,¡± Eztli whispered. ¡°Your heartbeat is stronger than before.¡±

    I would have loved to tell her how I triumphed over a monster and earned a goddess¡¯ favor. She had been my truest confidant once, the only one I could spill my secrets to. Instead, I held my tongue. The Parliament of Skulls warned me sternly enough. So long as Yoloxochitl haunted the world, Eztli would remain bound to her will.

    I hated to keep things from her, but I had to. Once I killed Yoloxochitl, I could let these walls between us fall.

    ¡°You did make a man out of me,¡± I said, deflecting.

    ¡°That was just the start.¡± Eztli looked at me with an enigmatic smile. ¡°I have so many ideas.¡±

    Eztli leaned into my ear to whisper in it. However, instead of promising pleasure, she offered a warning. ¡°I¡¯ve looked around,¡± she said. ¡°There are holes in the walls for spies to listen in.¡±

    It didn¡¯t even surprise me. Still, the thought of some pervert vampire spawn listening while Eztli and I made love filled me with disgust.

    ¡°But they can¡¯t hear us whisper in the bed.¡± Eztli gently stroked my hair. ¡°The gardens and the menagerie should be safe too. There¡¯s no holes for rats to crawl into, trees for walls, and the open sky for a ceiling.¡±

    That was good to know. I approached my lips to her ear as if to kiss her. ¡°Can you search for secret passages?¡± I whispered, so low I doubted anyone could hear us. ¡°Find other hideouts?¡±

    ¡°See? You have a mischievous side to yourself, Iztac.¡± Eztli lightly kissed me on the cheek. ¡°I¡¯ll find a ce to dump the bodies too.¡±

    Her joking tone could not hide her bloodlust. To hear such words from a woman who had once been so gentle sent a shiver down my spine. Eztli was still in there, but she had changed for the worse nheless. I doubted Mictecacihuatl would ept her as a host for the Day of the Dead either.

    I had so many ideas to subvert the Nightlords¡¯ rule, so many ns to destroy them¡­ and I couldn¡¯t share a single one with her. And she understood it too.

    ¡°I know you can¡¯t tell me anything,¡± Eztli whispered. ¡°If Yoloxochitl interrogates me, I will have to answer. I can feel it in my bones.¡±

    I held my tongue and nodded.

    ¡°But she¡¯s mad, and desperate to be loved.¡± Eztli stroked my hair. ¡°I can handle her, at least for a time. I¡¯ll y the perfect daughter. If I find her weakness, I¡¯ll tell you. Things will be simpler when she¡¯s gone. The others can¡¯tpel me the way she can.¡±

    At least we thought along the same lines. ¡°You¡¯ll have to be subtler from now on,¡± I whispered. ¡°We¡¯re walking on eggshells. A single mistake will spell our demise.¡±

    ¡°I understand. I just wanted you to know I¡¯m on your side, Iztac. No matter whates.¡± Her lips briefly brushed against mine. The kiss was cold, butforting nheless. ¡°No need to tell me anything sensitive from now on. Ask me anything and I will deliver.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± I embraced her tightly. ¡°The same goes for me.¡±

    My stomach growled. The night made me hungry.

    ¡°We might be better off eating separately,¡± Eztli said with a chuckle. ¡°I need to work on my table manners.¡±

    My stomach soured. ¡°Eztli¡­ where does the blood you drinke from?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She shrugged. ¡°The old bats¡¯ servants preserve that sweet nectar in jugs spiced with herbs. I¡¯ll investigate during the day.¡±

    The red-eyed priests sacrificed tens of thousands on the eve of the Scarlet Moon. I figured they stocked the blood they harvested for the year to feed the vampiric nobility.

    In the end, neither of us had to leave the bed at all. A single servant entered the royal bedchambers to bring us breakfast: a half-naked woman with a foul scowl all over her face and carrying a tter full of food.

    Necahual.

    I almost didn¡¯t recognize her until I met her hateful re. For a start, she was naked from the waist up, with a single maguey fiber skirt and rope to cover herdy parts. A choker ne of colorful fabric coiled around her throat. Servants applied avocado oil to give her long ck hair a shiny look, and a watery, herbal preparation to soften her skin and remove her wrinkles. Her full breastsy exposed for the world to see, alongside her mature curves and hips. I¡¯d asionally seen her naked when she bathed in the river, but imperial skincare seemed to have given her back five years of life.

    So many emotions shed on Necahual¡¯s face. Shame at being reduced to such a state; relief at seeing her daughter again; rage at seeing me naked and in bed with her; sorrow; and most of all, abject fear.

    I was slightly ashamed to admit it, but after suffering so many insults and abuse at her hand, seeing that wicked woman forced to serve me filled me with <em>indescribable </em>pleasure. The re she sent only warmed my heart further. Her cheeks reddened in humiliation when my eyes lingered on her breasts and hips. It was quite a pleasant show.

    But then my eyes focused on the choker around her neck, and all that it symbolized.

    She was a ve. My ve. My property. My concubine. I could rape her, beat her, torture her, kill her, and no one would bat an eysh. She was a toy the emperor could dispose of at will. The Nightlords murdered her husband and then put her in my bed as a final humiliation.

    And no matter how much I disliked Necahual, that just wasn¡¯t right.

    Eztli¡¯s lips stretched in a warm, oh-so-familiar smile. ¡°Mother.¡±

    ¡°Eztli.¡± In spite of her fear, Necahual greeted her daughter kindly. Her joy, however, faded away when it came to greeting me. ¡°Cur¨Cmy emperor.¡±

    Even after saving her from a fate worse than death, she almost insulted me on the spot. I supposed old habits die hard, but her utter ungratefulness did her no credit. ¡°You havee to bring us food, I see,¡± I taunted her. ¡°Enjoying yourself?¡±

    Necahual¡¯s scowl deepened, her hands shaking as they gripped the tter. ¡°Do you want me to put it on the table or¡­ elsewhere?¡±

    I knew it was petty and that I should try to win her favor, but I simply couldn¡¯t resist tormenting her. For the first time since I put on the crown, I relished ying emperor. ¡°What do you think, Eztli?¡± I asked while putting a loving hand around my wife¡¯s waist, making sure Necahual would see everything. ¡°Should she feed us in bed?¡±

    I would have sold my hands and feet for a painting of Necahual¡¯s face at that very moment.

    ¡°Iztac,¡± Eztli scolded me. ¡°I know the two of you don¡¯t get along, but you should try to make up.¡± She turned to her mother with a grin. ¡°Put the tter aside and join us, Mom.¡±

    ¡°Join us?¡± I asked with a frown.

    ¡°In the bed.¡± Eztli chuckled. ¡°Have you seen howrge it is? Besides, it¡¯sfortable.¡±

    Necahual appeared no more eager at the thought than I was, but the chance of talking to her daughter again proved too much for her. After a brief moment of hesitation, Eztli¡¯s smile convinced her to try. My mother-inw put down the tter of food¡ªwhich included a goblet full of herb-spiced blood¡ªand warily sat on the bed. Necahual stayed as far away from me as she could, and as close to her daughter as decency would allow. She locked eyes with Eztli, chewing her lip, yet failed to utter a single word.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Mother?¡± Eztli smiled warmly. ¡°It¡¯s just me.¡±

    Necahual clearly wanted to believe it too, but she had seen Eztli consume her father to death. ¡°Are¡­¡± she cleared her throat and struggled to find her words. ¡°Are they¡­ are they treating you well?¡±

    <em>She¡¯s afraid of mentioning what happened that night</em>, I guessed. Necahual couldn¡¯t entirely hide the dread in her eyes. <em>Does she think she¡¯s next on the menu if she answers incorrectly?</em>

    ¡°I like it here,¡± Eztli replied with a chuckle. ¡°I have my own apartment and servants.¡±

    ¡°They¡­¡± Necahual gulped. ¡°I have a room too. One bigger than the house.¡±

    A poor trade-off for her envement and widowing.

    ¡°Oh? I will visit you shortly then.¡± Eztli charmingly stroked Necahual¡¯s hair. ¡°Is that avocado? You smell wonderful, Mother. Do you remember all the times I pestered you to take better care of yourself?¡±

    Necahual¡¯s fear vanished ever so slightly. ¡°I remember.¡±

    ¡°You should see the hot baths they put in my room.¡± Eztli chuckled. ¡°They put perfumed salts in the water, which I find rxing.¡±

    I said nothing and watched Eztli work her magic. That girl could charm her way out of anything. She managed to draw a reassured smile from her mother, even after she watched her drink Guatemoc to death.

    ¡°I should go now.¡± Eztli soundlessly leaped out of the bed and grabbed the dress she left on the floor yesterday. ¡°I¡¯ll let the two of you enjoy your breakfast and catch up.¡±

    <em>Conspire away</em>, she meant.<em> The less I know of your ns, the better.</em>

    Necahual¡¯s jaws clenched into a scowl. ¡°You¡¯re leaving me with <em>him</em>?¡±

    I could trust Necahual to make the word sound like an insult. Eztli simply shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m exhausted afterst night¡¯s performance, but Iztac still has energy to spend,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯ll take good care of you.¡±

    I could have sworn that my heart and Necahual¡¯s both stopped at the exact same moment. Eztli exploded in good-naturedughter; one that sounded all the more unsettling in its innocence. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve never considered it?¡±

    No, I did <em>not</em>. ¡°Eztli,¡± I rasped, struggling to hide my disgust. ¡°I think you¡¯re imagining things.¡±

    ¡°My, you would make both your lives so much easier if you could simply bury the hatchet and enjoy each other¡¯spany.¡± Eztli rolled her eyes as if we were the mad ones and put on her clothes. ¡°Besides, you will have to do it eventually for Mother¡¯s safety. The quicker the better.¡±

    Necahual paled like a ghost, while I clenched my fists. ¡°What do you mean, the quicker the better?¡± I asked, trying to stay vague in case anyone listened in.

    Eztli¡¯s yful gaze hardened into a serious expression. ¡°The Nightlords only let Mother live on the condition she would have your child. If Mother fails to conceive, they will kill her.¡±

    A tense silence fell upon the royal bedchambers, which Eztli swiftly broke.

    ¡°No pressure though,¡± she said as she swiped the goblet of blood from the food tter. ¡°Take it slow, if you feel overwhelmed¡­ we¡¯re family after all. We should learn to get along.¡±

    Eztli exited the room afterward, leaving me alone with her mother.

    Drops of a warm liquid fell on the bed.

    I looked up at Necahual, and found her holding back tears. She looked at me not with hatred, but something deeper, more primal. The same terror we both experienced on that terrible night.

    I saved her life from Yoloxochitl¡¯s ws by adding her to my harem. I never intended to do anything about it, but¡­ neither the Nightlord nor Necahual knew that. My mother-inw believed me to be a monster and a witch¡¯s son, who hated her as much as she hated me. She walked into this room expecting the worst.

    A small part of my soul still wanted revenge for all that she had done¡­ but the rest of me felt pity for all that she had gone through. I tried toe up withforting words and failed.

    Instead, I hugged her.

    Necahual was as surprised as I was when my arms coiled around her back. I held her against my chest, not in a lover¡¯s embrace, but a gentler one. The kind Eztli used to give me back when we were kids. The kind that said I did not expect anything in return. Necahual froze a few seconds, unsure how to respond. So I reassured her.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± I whispered, gently stroking her hair. ¡°It¡¯s alright. You¡¯re safe.¡±

    Necahual started sobbing on my shoulder.

    Her arms coiled around my back too, the way a drowning sailor would desperately grab a piece of drifting wood. She almost squeezed the air out of my lungs. Her heart pounded in her chest like a war drum. I let her cry in peace without another word. I simply held her. In that moment, I briefly forgot all the insults, all the stoning, all the wrongs she inflicted upon me.

    Eztli meant well when she left us alone, but she was too broken inside to fullyprehend the situation. She was correct on one point, however. As fellow victims of the Nightlords, Necahual and I should learn to get along.

    Once she calmed down slightly, I approached my lips to her ear and whispered into it. ¡°Do you want revenge?¡±

    Necahual held her breath. Her arms tightened further around my back.

    ¡°Against the Nightlords?¡± I asked as lowly as I could. ¡°caelel? The red-eyes? Do you hate them for what they did to you? Do you want them to suffer like I do?¡±

    After a moment¡¯s hesitation, Necahual nced at the door which her daughter walked through not so long ago. ¡°Yes,¡± she whispered back, wiping away her tears with a hand. ¡°Yes¡­ I do.¡±

    The word dripped with so much venom that I had no trouble believing her. The only things stronger than fear were love and hate.

    My mother-inw wasn¡¯t stupid either. Since she whispered her answer instead of saying it out loud, it meant she understood others listened in.

    ¡°Can you brew poison with the right herbs? The kind that won¡¯t be detected easily?¡± I muttered in her ear. Necahual raised her chin in response, which I took for a yes. ¡°Good.¡±

    I pushed her back slightly. Necahual¡¯s eyes were almost as red as her daughter¡¯s from all the tears, but she had regained some of herposure.

    ¡°There is a garden outside, full of medicinal herbs,¡± I said out loud. Too much whispering might appear suspicious. ¡°You remember the slumber draught you used to brew for me when I couldn¡¯t sleep?¡±

    Necahual scowled, her eyes squinting dangerously. She had caught on to my n. ¡°Would you like me to make more for you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve been struggling with nightmarestely.¡± In my case, a better quality of sleep could mean the difference between life and death down the line. ¡°How about we spend the afternoon in the garden, once my meetings have concluded?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Necahual cleared her throat. ¡°I would love to¡­ my emperor.¡±

    The pact was sealed.

    I had recruited my first conspirators.

 Chapter Eight: Marching for War

    Chapter Eight: Marching for War

    Having soothed Necahual, I visited the Reliquary for my ''morning meditation''. The Parliament of Skulls awaited me inside, shrouded in shadows.

    ¡°We see you, our sessor.¡± A spectral glow illuminated a thousand empty eye sockets with palpable excitement. ¡°We congratte you on your sessful voyage to M. Since you returned with your wits intact, we deduce that you have earned Mictantecuhtli¡¯s favor?¡±

    ¡°¡®Deduce¡¯, my predecessors?¡± The choice of words intrigued me. ¡°I thought that you could see and listen through me?¡±

    ¡°The Nightlords deprived us of our afterlife.¡± The skulls expressed their irritation in a collective grunt. ¡°Whatever transpires within M¡¯s walls remains concealed from our senses. We saw Mictecacihuatl guide you beyond the murals, and then¡­ all became silent and dark.¡±

    Intriguing. It was not my intention to withhold secrets from the previous emperors, yet this revealed their powers¡¯ limitations within the Underworld. Some locations could prohibit them from offering their wisdom and guidance.

    I recounted my journey, which brought them much delight. ¡°Forming an alliance with Mictecacihuatl will yield many benefits,¡± they mused once my recount wasplete. ¡°The Day of the Dead was widely observed by the tribes that existed before Yohuachanca, primarily as mundane festivals celebrating the deceased. Mictecacihuatl can only inhabit a single priestess at a time, hence her presence at a feast was considered an honor.¡±

    ¡°So the Day of the Dead ritual is a localized, small-scale event,¡± I inferred. ¡°Does the ritual have a restricted radius? How do spirits manifest on earth?¡±

    ¡°As far as we know, the ritual revolves around Mictecacihuatl¡¯s host. We are unaware of its reach, but the eldest among us remember apparitions rising from their graves at twilight and returning to their tombs at dawn.¡± The skulls rattled in frustration. ¡°You need not worry about betrayal, but do not expect assistance either. If Mictecacihuatl could exploit the Day of the Dead to wage war against the Nightlords, she would have done so when they massacred her priestesses in Yohuachanca¡¯s early nights.¡±

    Mictecacihuatl told me as much. How unfortunate. ¡°What do you propose then, my predecessors? Should I revive the festival publicly?¡±¡°The Nightlords remember the Day of the Dead. It would be prudent to orchestrate this divine feast covertly, and far away from our captors¡¯ scrutiny.¡± The Parliament paused momentarily, its members engrossed in deep contemtion. ¡°However¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Although the Day of the Dead will raise no army, we can still exploit it,¡± the Parliament suggested. ¡°Certain rituals cannot be done by a solitary sorcerer. If you can locate the remains of ancient magicians and have the goddess resurrect them, even for a night¡­ they might assist you in casting spells currently beyond your reach.¡±

    ¡°Like other Nahualli?¡± True, perhaps I had been considering the festival from the wrong perspective. I didn¡¯t need an army when a small coterie of magicians could achieve simr oues. Queen Mictecacihuatl did mention that a past sorcerer had once raised an undead army on his lonesome... ¡°What kind of spells do you have in mind, my predecessors?¡±

    "This is but a fleeting thought of ours," the Parliament replied. "We ought to reflect on our options more carefully."

    Given that the Day of the Dead would not take ce until next year¡¯s winter, we could afford to think over our strategy for a time. However, another pressing issue with a far more immediate deadline gnawed at my thoughts.

    "What about the ten thousand sacrifices?" My spine trembled under the weight of such a horrendous blood toll. "You have made your position clear, my predecessors, but for once I struggle to ept your advice."

    "Your feelings cloud your mind to the truth,¡± the Parliament retorted, their collective voices exhaling a unified sigh. ¡°The Nightlords will im their tribute regardless of your wishes. As it stands, the only decision within your power is the victims¡¯ selection."

    I mulled over the old emperors¡¯ words. Unfortunately, I could do little to stop the Nightlords until I gained enough magical power to drag them off their thrones. These false goddesses and their spawn would indiscriminately prey upon Yohuachanca¡¯s citizens unless I offered them victims personally. Much like Chikal before me, I could only spare my fellow man by designating other offerings in their ce.

    I felt little loyalty for the people of Yohuachanca¡¯s capital¡ªnot after how easily they dismissed my predecessor¡¯s death before throwing me to the wolves¡ªand I couldn¡¯t name a single person outside the pce¡¯s walls that I wanted to keep alive. Even so, millions of people called the empire their home. Millions who had done nothing to me. The thought of bingplicit in their murders horrified me.

    And considering how the tribute system was set up, most victims woulde from freshly conquered provinces who had already suffered greatly. Raiding neighboringnds would only spread the pain outward to innocents beyond the border; people who could treat Nahualli like me better than the empire for all I knew.

    <em>What a gruesome choice to make</em>, I pondered. No wonder Chikal betrayed her tribe¡¯s sister city. <em>All my options are dreadful.</em>

    Perhaps my thinking was wed. If I couldn¡¯t halt the tribute¡­ then perhaps I should increase its cost. I needed to find a target that would both fight back and spread turmoil throughout Yohuachanca.

    "Speaking of blood," the Parliament murmured. "The only blood one might find in the Land of the Dead Suns is that shed by a god or a catecolotl. They are too few in the Underworld to fill ake, let alone an ocean."

    "Mictantecuhtli undoubtedly intends for me to fail," I replied. "My task is to fulfill the letter of the request, not its spirit."

    "The trickster Huehuecoyotl might aid you in your endeavor. He takes delight in making fools of the powerful."

    This suggestion only reinforced my resolve to seek him out the following night. With any luck, I could persuade him to support my cause.

    The collective gaze of my predecessors dimmed in the darkness. "Are you sure that you can trust this Necahual?"

    "I trust her spite." My mother-inw was quite capable of holding a grudge. I learned it at my expense. "I don''t n to divulge my secrets to her, but I do intend to test her loyalty. She can assist me in poisoning caelel."

    To my astonishment, the former emperors barely reacted to the proposal. "We pray your trust is not misced. Discovery could lead to dire consequences for your aplice."

    "I must confess my confusion," I admitted. "I expected you to try to dissuade me."

    "caelel¡¯s elimination will change little, and we doubt the Nightlords will even investigate his death. He is a disposable underling, with a legion of hungry upstarts eager to rece him."

    Whether or not killing the eunuch would disrupt the imperial administration didn''t concern me. caelel smiled at the sight of Eztli murdering her father. The thought of ending his life would bring a smile to my face and a measure of retribution to Guatemoc. I owed him that.

    "However, we apud your initiative," the skulls said in a toneced with satisfaction. "Every bird must hone his talons for the hunt, and caelel presents an essible target. Practicing assassinations will prove invaluable when the timees to target better protected opponents."

    I nodded resolutely. "He will be the first to die, but far from thest."

    "Yes." The Parliament''s thousand eyes flickered in the darkness. "Heed our words, our sessor. Over the centuries, we have discerned that the Blood Pyramid is supported by four pirs. Each must be toppled for the empire to crumble."

    I grounded myself and listened intently.

    "The Nightkin nobility governs in the Nightlords¡¯ stead," the Parliament exined. "Their red-eyed priests uphold the realm¡¯s societal harmony. The military sows fear among their enemies both within and beyond the borders. And the tributary system funds them all. To bring down Yohuachanca, you must dismantle all four of these pirs. Should you seed, you will find the Nightlords disoriented, weakened, and exposed."

    I had anticipated as much. The Nightlords¡¯ Nightkin offspring ruled the realm''s major cities from the shadows, employing the red-eyed priests to impose their will in the daylight. This mirrored my rtionship with their masters. Annihting the priesthood and their vampiric overseers would undoubtedly impair the Nightlords'' influence.

    I could see how undermining the military and tributary system would sabotage them too. The former held recently subjugated groups in check and deterred foreign enemies from mounting an invasion. Its copse could spark revolts and invasions, effectively diverting the Nightlords'' attention.

    Meanwhile, the tributary system acted as the empire¡¯s lifeblood while simultaneously depleting the vitality of the newly annexed provinces. As someone who initially intended to be a trader, I was intimately acquainted with its inner workings. Four times a year, the empire demanded a myriad of resources¡ªfood, artisanal goods, raw materials, and ves¡ªfrom their conquered tributaries. The vanquished were given the choice to fulfill this request either by themselves, or by executing raids on foreign tribes to plunder these resources. This practice ensured the empire¡¯s prosperity while simultaneously weakening its tributaries.

    I pondered the methods by which I could disrupt all four of these pirs. The solution appeared clear to me, and equally chilling.

    "War." The word reverberated within the Reliquary with the weight of a curse. How does such a short word carry so many consequences? "We require a war."

    "Yes," the Parliament confirmed. "The Nightlords¡¯ unquenchable thirst for blood has provided you with the perfect pretext to ignite one. If executed well, you will attain glory, and glory ushers in power. Men worship conquerors. If botched, the conflict would nheless weaken the empire."

    A war would greatly benefit me on paper. It would drain the military force that enforced the Nightlords'' authority, coerce Nightkins and priests intobat where they could be killed, and offer me asions to leave the pce on military campaigns. Nothing burdened the tribute system more than providing sustenance to an army stationed half a world away.

    However, Yohuachanca had umted its might through victorious military campaigns. Emperors woulde and go, but generals retained their positions; sometimes for centuries in the Nightkins¡¯ case. I couldn¡¯t guarantee an expedition¡¯s failure, and subduing a defenseless tribe wouldn¡¯t suffice. I needed a grueling, brutal conflict that would leave Yohuachanca exhausted.

    Furthermore, war always carried a steep price. Innumerable innocents would suffer, in and out of Yohuachanca¡¯s borders. No entity posed an imminent, life threatening threat to the empire. I would have no justification.

    My predecessors sensed my internal turmoil and attempted to reassure me. "Should you falter, the Nightlords will continue to torment the world. At the very least, selecting the battlefield will let you manipte the oue in your favor."

    "That would not absolve me," I replied, my tone somber. I had witnessed firsthand what awaited the living after death. A treacherous, perilous journey through a wilderness teeming with monstrous creatures, with the only refuge being a city of bones presided over by an indifferent deity. "Hundreds of thousands will perish."

    "Ten thousand sacrifices were asked of you. Ten thousand souls doomed tonguish within vampire bellies, that will find no rest in M. The Nightlords will make this demand again from your sessor. Even if your war results in a hundred thousand deaths, your captors will y an equivalent number in less than a decade¡­ and their victims will be denied any semnce of peace."

    Their rationale was cold and brutal, but not untrue. As a trader, I had been trained to put my faith in numbers over words. This arrangement would be a lesser evil, but it still left a bitter taste in my mouth.

    ¡°You already tried war, did you not?¡± I asked the Parliament. ¡°My predecessor was a conqueror. What good did it do?¡±

    A skull bulged out of the pir and took prominence. I immediately recognized the remains of Nochtli the Fourteenth, my predecessor.

    ¡°I greet thee, my heir,¡± the skull said. ¡°Yes, I was a conqueror in life. Much like you, I resented bing emperor and sought to use military might to rebel against the Nightlords. I invaded the south hoping that sesses would purchase my freedom.¡±

    ¡°But you failed,¡± I pointed out.

    ¡°Through no fault of my own,¡± the skull rattled. ¡°I have won more battles than the whole number of your years, Iztac. Never once did I know defeat. After I broke Chm and Bm, half my army believed me invincible. I courted generals to my cause to prepare a coup. Had things gone to n, I would have been marching on the capital as we speak.¡±

    ¡°You found support among the generals?¡± It surprised me. It was easy to be brave in my situation when I had nothing left to lose, but I would expect imperial soldiers to prove more cautious.

    ¡°You would be surprised.¡± Nochtli chuckled sinisterly. ¡°The old resent following orders from immortal leeches who have often never set a foot on the battlefield. The young burn with ambition and underestimate vampires. Men are beasts. You cannot beat the hunger out of them.¡±

    It reassured me that some men were brave enough to defy the Nightlords, however few. ¡°But why did you fail then?¡±

    ¡°The same reason even the best of us failed.¡± The skull¡¯s eyes flickered. ¡°<em>Magic</em>.¡±

    I cursed myself for asking such a stupid question. I should have seen iting.

    ¡°I did not wield spells, nor did I enjoy my predecessors¡¯ guidance as you do now,¡± Nochtli reminded me. ¡°So I tried to assassinate Sugey, the Bird of War. I ambushed her with my best troops in the perfect conditions. I thought she would be like a feathered tyrant, dangerous but beatable. I was wrong. She ughtered my escort to a man and dragged me back to the capital.¡±

    I scratched my neck where the Jaguar Woman once strangled me with the power of her mind. Nomon warrior could fight back against such artifices.

    ¡°Since my assassination attempt amused Sugey, I was allowed to wither away in empty luxury instead of suffering torture.¡± Nocthli concluded his tale with a tired sigh. ¡°But the sisters would not let me out of their sight again. I wallowed in despair until I became a shadow of myself.¡±

    ¡°Your efforts won¡¯t be for naught,¡± I reassured him. ¡°I will pick up where you left off.¡±

    ¡°Then you must spread chaos,¡± Nochtli replied bluntly. ¡°I could not have ambushed Sugey alone without the fog of war blinding her. No amount of soldiers will let you destroy a Nightlord, but the fewer of them shielding the vampires from harm, the easier your task will be.¡±

    Another skull bulged towards the forefront of the Parliament to say its piece.

    ¡°I am Ichnoyotl, the Tormented One,¡± said one. ¡°I came close to tearing the empire apart, back when it was young. I betrayed Yohuachanca to its enemies, sparking a civil war. The Jaguar Woman broke my body with but a thought and had my own sessor sacrifice me on the altar, yet my death purchased a decade of peace for our neighbors.¡±

    I remembered his name, for that emperor had been the only one to bear it. His reign was remembered as an age of chaos which a session of ¡®good¡¯ emperors managed to pull the empire back from. Still, the disaster halted Yohuachanca¡¯s expansion for years.

    Sabotaging the empire¡¯s military in a pointless campaign might prove disastrous in the short-term, but good for the world in the long-term. Even if I failed, I would ease things for those who would try to follow in my wake.

    "To seed, I would require an adversary capable of bleeding Yohuachanca dry," I pointed out. "A formidable adversary that won''t hesitate to fight back."

    The Parliament¡¯s hundred heads spoke as one once again. "We believe you already have a potential candidate in mind."

    Indeed, I knew someone. The only empire that had managed to maintain its pride in the face of Yohuachanca¡¯s dominance.

    "But would the Nightlords let me wage war on them?" I asked with skepticism. I struggled to imagine the Nightlords agreeing to such a risky gamble.

    "Not unless you force their hand," the Parliament conceded. "The Bird of War¡¯s bloodlust might cause her to support your proposal, but her shrewder sisters would overrule her. You must create a convincing pretext or put them in a situation where they must acquiesce to salvage their reputation."

    "Do you have a specific scenario in mind?"

    ¡°Mayhaps.¡± The skulls emitted a ttering noise. "But we require more information. Chikal was trained to guide you in warfare, and Ingrid¡¯s mother closely monitors such developments for her personal gain. Seek counsel from both of them."

    "Understood." I bowed before my predecessors. "I will collect information and return to you."

    "Do not waste time, Iztac. Winter¡¯s end ushers in the campaign season. If you n to sow seeds for the summer and autumn, the time is now."

    An emperor had everything but time.

    Upon bidding goodbye to my undead advisors, I convened a morning meeting with three of my wives¡ªEztli would skip it to explore the pce¡¯s secret passages. I instantly noticed amazons among the guards safeguarding the council room. Although their nces went from cautious to suspicious, the absence of red in their eyes warmed my heart nheless.

    My good mood persisted until I entered the council room and found caelel conversing with Chikal. He weed me with a grin that made me want to puke.

    "Oh mighty Godspeaker, your presence honors us." The red-eyed eunuch kneeled in reverence. "I pray the goddesses have imparted their wisdom unto you."

    <em>I should ship him to the altar this instant,</em> I thought. With a quota of ten thousand heads to meet, I had to start <em>somewhere</em>. Regrettably, the Nightlords would likely veto my decision. "They have entrusted me with a mission."

    "My lord will certainly excel at fulfilling it," Ingrid remarked as she bowed before me. While Chikal and Nl appeared either stoic or anxious respectively, Ingrid hade to the meeting wearing a stunning red gown revealing part of her cleavage and an emerald ne that reflected the green in her eyes. I blushed slightly at her appearance, which, judging by her pleased expression, had been her intention from the state. "We were eagerly waiting for your arrival."

    "I apologize for leaving without a wordst time," I said to her and Nl. "It was unnned."

    "No worries," Nl reassured me gently. "We... we didn''t linger for too long before returning to our quarters."

    "We await at your leisure, my lord." The smile on Ingrid''s lips did not reach her eyes. "We understand that duty often calls at inopportune times. The Nightlords and their progeny demand much from all of us."

    Their ¡®progeny¡¯. I could read between the lines. Ingrid was aware of what happened with Eztli and was uneasy about it. I briefly thought she was jealous before berating myself over my na?vety. Ingrid didn¡¯t care for me personally, only for what I could do for her family.

    <em>Eztli unsettles her</em>, I realized. <em>She¡¯s worried about what influence she will have over me.</em>

    How should I handle the situation? Should I assuage Ingrid and try to convince her Eztli isn¡¯t her enemy? I would rather avoid a festering conflict, especially since we would need to work together to dodge our death on the altar.

    Chikal cleared her throat. "What is the will of the Nightlords, Lord Emperor?"

    I took my seat at the table. "I must offer them ten thousand sacrifices by the Summer Solstice."

    My councilors'' reactions told me much about their personalities. Nl sped her mouth in horror, her innocent eyes wide with disbelief. A fleeting look of unease crossed Ingrid¡¯s face, and although she swiftly corrected her expression her fidgeting fingers gave her true feelings away. Chikal barely reacted, since she probably expected such a demand. caelel just smiled. I began to wonder if the toad could do anything else.

    "Procuring ten thousand individuals in half a year is a daunting task," Chikal remarked.

    "Only death can pay for life," caelel retorted with a hollow pretense of wisdom. "The empire can easily meet the quota if we demand ves from the provinces as payment."

    "But..." Nl gulped and failed toplete her sentence. Her eyes nced in my direction, seemingly seeking permission.

    "Speak your mind," I urged her. The more time I spent with her, the more I realized that my fellow Nahualli would rarely confront anyone without encouragement.

    "Thank you, my lord." Gathering her courage, Nl faced caelel. "Lord caelel, the recent celebrations resulted in such a massive loss of blood. The provinces would have to select their own citizens as tributes to fulfill the quota."

    caelel frowned at her in genuine confusion. "What is your point, Lady Nl?"

    Of course he would opt for the most despicable solution. Emotional appeals wouldn¡¯t affect him, so I didn''t even try it.

    "I would rather im the blood of my enemies than that of my subjects," I replied, trying to speak like an emperor¡ªor at least how I imagined one should think. ¡°We have no shortage of the former."

    "My lord speaks wisely." Ingrid nodded in agreement, though I couldn¡¯t tell if she did so to curry favor or out of a genuine desire to avoid sacrificing her countrymen. "Warriors captured fresh from the battlefield make for more illustrious sacrifices than ves."

    "Do you already have a target in mind, Lord Emperor?" Chikal asked with her arms crossed.

    "Not yet," I half-lied. A part of me still hoped a better solution would present itself. "I was hoping for your guidance on the matter."

    Chikal''s nod was curt. "Of course."

    I observed in silence as she spread out half a dozen maps across the council table. Thergest depicted a significant portion of the known world, including Yohuachanca and its neighboring territories. I immediately noticed three distinct lines of varying colors representing the empire¡¯s ever-expanding borders. Yohuachanca¡¯s growth turned maps obsolete within years of their creation.

    "As you can see, Lord Emperor, the entire penins facing the Boiling Sea, along with its inds, pays you homage," Chikal exined. "As are allnds bordering the northern bordends and the southern Amaru Mountains. Your predecessors¡¯ forces have extended southeast of thetter, deep into the jungles."

    Her hand drifted south, momentarily pausing when it hovered over two points situated behind a recently drawn line: the cities of Chm and Bm. I searched her gaze and found only an imprable mask. Her emotions eluded me.

    Now that I had ess to high-quality imperial maps, the reasons for the Three-Rivers¡¯ and the Sapa¡¯s survival became apparent: geography. Dry aridnds separated us from most of the Three-Rivers Federation, alongside a dozen buffer tribes caught between them and Yohuachanca. As for the Sapa, their empire sprawled across mountainous terrain. Where weapons failed to halt Yohuachanca¡¯s conquests, nature had prevailed.

    "My suggestion," Chikal proposed, "is to head north and quell the coastal in tribes south of the Three-Rivers Federation. The dense jungle enveloping the southeast is sparsely inhabited and the terrain will impede expansion. That well is dry."

    Her rmendation would conveniently keep troops far from her home city, which would be the first to bear the onught of any war in the region. I silently analyzed the maps and let my advisors speak their minds.

    "Many northern tribes joined the Three-Rivers for mutual protection, but not all," caelel said. "The stragglers will be easy prey."

    "The Three-Rivers won¡¯t remain still as we mobilize troops close to their borders," Ingrid pointed out. "We should secure a treaty offering guarantees of safety first. Otherwise, they''ll intervene militarily."

    "Could the Three-Rivers challenge our armies?" I asked, praying for a resounding <em>yes</em>.

    "Of course not, oh Godspeaker." caelel chuckled. "The bison-eaters are a disorganized assembly of tribes with less than a tenth of our poption. They are more likely to scatter and retreat than to engage in battle."

    Chikal shared his assessment. "While I wouldn''t underestimate any adversary, Yohuachanca significantly outstrips the Three-Rivers in wealth, logistical capacity, equipment, and poption. They stand no chance of repelling imperial armies if we make a determined push north."

    I had hoped for a different answer. "Why have none of my predecessors attempted to conquer them then?"

    "The terrain and distance, Lord Emperor," Chikal replied. "The deserts wouldpel us to take detours, elongate our battle lines, and stretch our logistics thin. As the regioncks any state more stable than tribal confederacies, the northerners do not assemble vast armies like we do. Instead, they employ beasts and small raiding squads to execute surprise assaults, harass troops, feign retreats to set better ambushes... they mightck the numbers to stop our advance, but upation will prove costly."

    "Moreover, the northcks fertilends and resources," Ingrid pointed out. "Most emperors simply didn''t see the point in fighting over suchnds."

    <em>Not when easier prey and wealthier territoriesy to the south</em>, I thought bitterly. "So, in summary, the Three-Rivers can''t win a war, but peace is less expensive than conquest?"

    "If one considers onlynd and wealth," Chikal replied with a thin smile. "The calction changes when ites to blood."

    The Nightlords didn''t covet additional patches ofnd or rivers. They wanted <em>blood</em>. On paper, expanding northward would easily satisfy their demands. A handful of decimated tribes would suffice to meet the quota. Yohuachanca would emerge unscathed, if not stronger.

    So I dismissed that option.

    I looked south of the map and addressed the longneck in the room. "What about the Sapa Empire?"

    While Chikal looked at me as if I had gone mad, caelel''s smile became strained. "Oh great emperor, the Sapa¡¯s insolence offends the goddesses and their time wille," the eunuch said. "However, we can find ten thousand tributes closer to home."

    "The Sapa Empire is prosperous," I countered. The stark contrast between their ambassadors and those of the Three-Rivers sprang to mind. The former came adorned in gold, thetter in pelts. "Why not seize their gold along with their blood?"

    "Because acquiring ten thousand Sapa heads will cost a hundred times that in our people¡¯s blood," caelel retorted calmly. "You must consider your loyal subjects¡¯ welfare."

    I stared at the bastard in stunned silence, astounded by his sheer audacity. He had managed to utter those words with a straight face five minutes after proposing that we sacrifice ten thousand ves.

    Nheless, the more caelel objected to the idea, the more I became convinced that I was on the right track.

    Chikal said out loud what caelel wouldn¡¯t dare admit. "The Sapa Empire is no petty tribe, Lord Emperor. They are an empire that extends across countless mountains, boasting formidable armies on par with your own, ample gold to hire mercenaries, magic, and a sizable enough poption to sustain a prolonged conflict."

    I chuckled. "Chikal, are you suggesting that Yohuachanca might <em>lose</em>?"

    Chikal took a moment to carefully consider her next words. "If by ¡®defeat¡¯ you mean losing territory, Lord Emperor, then no," she said, her tone that of someone walking on eggshells. "The Sapa won''t pursue us beyond their mountains. However, I doubt we will be sessful in holding the region; not unless you are prepared to pay a blood tribute a hundred times costlier than what the Nightlords demanded of you. There are superior options avable."

    "I urge you to heed Lady Chikal¡¯s prudent advice, oh great emperor," caelel added. "We recognize your desire to chastise the non-believers, but unfortunately the time has not yete."

    I gazed at the eunuch. His smile had grown so thin that it barely concealed the apprehension and annoyance beneath. Had he discerned the trap I hadid for the Nightlords? I needed to cleverly conceal my motives.

    "Do you recall what you told me when we first met, caelel?" I asked him.

    caelel frowned in confusion. "I do not, oh great emperor."

    "You said that my predecessor Nochtli left us many legacies." caelel woulde to rue these words in time. "I have one year to leave Yohuachanca with a legacy that it will never forget. One year to ensure that history remembers my name."

    And hopefully as the Nightlord-yer.

    "Conquering the Sapa¡¯s mountains would indeed be glorious, oh Godspeaker," caelel responded diplomatically. "However, their end wille when the goddesses decide it. Have they asked this of you?"

    He thought pinching my strings would reel me in. A big mistake.

    "They haven''t forbidden me from anything," I countered. "My mission is to procure ten thousand sacrifices by any means. How I aplish that task is up to me."

    "Nevertheless, I would rmend seeking counsel with the Gods-in-the-Flesh beforehand," caelel urged, his tone soft and smooth. "Only with their divine endorsement can triumph be assured."

    Refuting his im would cast me in a heretic¡¯s light, so I kept my mouth shut. I briefly nced at my wives to gauge their reactions. Nl remained silent, utterly overwhelmed by the situation, while Chikal assessed my proposal with stoicism, but Ingrid¡¯s eyes were bright with satisfaction. I could tell that my ambition intrigued her.

    "Certainly, caelel," I said with false amiability. Just being polite to the toad wore my patience thin. "Chikal?"

    The amazonian queen immediately straightened in her seat, like a soldier preparing for the call to arms. "Yes, Lord Emperor?"

    "I want you to create strategic ns for potential campaigns against both the Three-Rivers Federation and the Sapa Empire," I instructed her. "I want to evaluate all alternatives."

    Another lie, although this one flowed easily enough. I already knew whom to target, but caelel¡¯s reaction clearly showed that I couldn''t dere war against the Sapa without significant preparation. False deliberations would let me buy time.

    Chikal assented with a nod. "As you wish, Lord Emperor."

    Was that a flicker of amusement I detected in her voice? She likely expected me to reconsider upon seeing the colossal task ahead. That poor woman, she would be disappointed.

    "Nl," I called, catching my fellow Nahualli off-guard.

    "Y-yes?" she replied, adjusting her position on the seat. "How¡­ how may I assist you?"

    <em>How should I handle her?</em> I wondered. My predecessors hinted at a method to awaken her Tonalli, but Nl seemed prone to fleeing or withdrawing at the first sign of trouble. Revealing too many secrets to her might prove unwise. <em>I better test her first.</em>

    "I want to review the empire''s current situation with you, particrly the tribute system," I said. "If I am to preside over Yohuachanca¡¯s destiny, I must understand how it works."

    With luck, I might find a w to exploit.

    "My lord''s thirst for knowledge honors him," Ingrid said with approval. "We all stand prepared to assist you in your endeavors."

    "I will try not to bore you," Nl replied, a timid smile gracing her lips.

    "You won''t," I reassured her. I meant tofort her, but Nl¡¯s anxious expression told me that she perceived my words as a veiled threat.<em> What should have I expected? She has been told all her life that she was cursed.</em>

    In contrast, Ingrid¡¯s bold attempts to curry favor were painfully transparent. "Have you nned any engagements following our meeting, my lord?" she asked me. "I requested the musicians to arrange a performance in your honor."

    I smiled and tried attempting to let her down gently. "I appreciate your thoughtfulness, Ingrid, but I will spend the afternoon with another."

    Her gaze hardened instantly. "Another?"

    "A concubine gifted to me by Lady Yoloxochitl," I replied. Although calling Necahual a concubine filled my mouth with a bitter aftertaste, at least it shouldn¡¯t raise too many questions.

    I was only half-right. Ingrid immediately squinted at me, her jaw clenching. I could tell she desperately wanted to ask for details, but held her tongue after I mentioned Yoloxochitl. She nced at caelel, whose putrid smirk boiled the blood in my veins.

    Wait, wait¡­ Eztli said Yoloxochitl was mad and desperate to be loved. Could I y on it to both earn her support in a foolish war and lower her guard? An idea quickly came to mind. One that I loathed, but that would serve my ends well.

    ¡°I have another mission in mind for you, Ingrid,¡± I said. ¡°A very important one.¡±

    Her annoyed eyes swiftly widened in interest. ¡°A mission?¡±

    ¡°Lady Yoloxochitl has been kind to me.¡± The lie had all the sweetness of a rotten fruit. ¡°I would like to thank her with a gift. A monument in her name. As my counselor on cultural matters, I thought you might have an idea.¡±

    Ingrid immediately pounced on the opportunity to please me. ¡°How about a statue of her?¡±

    ¡°The costlier the better.¡± That way I could strain the empire¡¯s budget too. ¡°A statue of gold with flowers that all would admire.¡±

    ¡°I believe I can arrange it,¡± Ingrid replied with a smile.

    ¡°I would also like for us to meet with your mother tonight,¡± I said. The Parliament suggested that I consult Lady Sigrun, and agreeing to Ingrid¡¯s proposal would hopefully cate her. I didn¡¯t need more festering bitterness in my life. ¡°Could you organize a dinner with her?¡±

    Now Ingrid¡¯s smile reached all the way to her eyes. She had been waiting forever for me to ask her that. ¡°I would be delighted, my lord.¡±

    I hoped her mother would live up to her reputation.

 Chapter Nine: How to Win Friends and Influence People

    Chapter Nine: How to Win Friends and Influence People

    Nearly six hundred years of endless conquests had refined the empire¡¯s tribute system into a terribly efficient tool of oppression.

    Nl and I spent most of the day reviewing its current state, which proved enlightening. First of all, tributes were divided into fifty administrative provinces, each overseen by an official called a calpixqui. These stewards assessed the economic potential of each region, discussed terms of tributes with various cities, collected them on Yohuachanca¡¯s behalf, kept detailed records, and reported any issue to the central government. Loyal provinces who joined the empire voluntarily obtained deals that were better than those who resisted assimtion. Chm, for example, only paid a third of what her sister-city Bm was taxed.

    The calpixqui collected the tributes four times a year, which could take the form of food, crafted goods, or ves depending on Yohuachanca¡¯s needs. The bureaucracy¡¯s demands reflected each region¡¯s capabilities. Provinces specialized in agriculture mostly sent maize and cotton, while mining towns sent gold and stone. Once they had collected the tributes, each calpixqui sent the ¡®harvest¡¯ back to the capital where it would be redistributed. Portions went to the emperor, the Nightlords, the military, and the priests, while the rest was stocked for use in times of need. The shares varied depending on circumstances; almost all the food went to the army, the Nightlords and priests kept the jaguar¡¯s share of the human sacrifices, while I kept most of the luxury items. My main role was to impress others with myvish lifestyle and splendor, after all.

    If a region failed to deliver the required payment, the assigned calpixqui could requisition it by force with the army¡¯s help. A province would sometimes attempt to rebel over the tribute every few years, but this rarely happened nowadays. Only smoking ruins remained of cities that dared to defy the Nightlords¡¯ demands.

    Even after reading the tax documents with Nl, I struggled to imagine the empire¡¯s wealth. The numbers were so absurd that they formed an abstract picture in my mind. My personal fortune as emperor alone simply boggled the mind. I owned dozens of smaller pces and vis, entire vaults filled with precious metal, thousands of ves¡­ I couldn¡¯t see any way to spend all my wealth in a year, let alone bankrupt the empire.

    A war might strain the tribute system, but it wouldn¡¯t cause it to copse. The bureaucracy had been purposefully designed to fund endless campaigns. I needed another way to sabotage it.

    <em>Everything revolves around the calpixqui</em>, I thought. These officials kept the river of gold and blood flowing. But even if I were to kill them all, the extensive imperial records would allow the bureaucracy to quickly rece them. <em>All papers and reports are gathered in my pce, however. If I could destroy them at an opportune time, it might disrupt the flow of tributes, at least for a few months¡­ but even then I¡¯m not sure.</em>

    Now I understood why the empire could afford a new emperor each year. Its resilient bureaucracy could survive madmen and entrics alike.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± Nl apologized as we finished reviewing thest reports. ¡°It must have been so bothersome.¡±¡°No, far from it,¡± I reassured her. ¡°I appreciate your guidance on this matter. Honestly, I¡¯m amazed by the depth of your knowledge.¡±

    ¡°You are too kind, my lord.¡± Nl blushed a bit, something all the more noticeable because of her pale skin. ¡°The priests said I had an¡­ an eidetic memory. I will never forget anything.¡±

    I believed her. Nl had an amazing understanding of the imperial administration, of what each province specialized in, and how much I could ask from them.

    ¡°Where do youe from?¡± I asked her. I was curious about what life another Nahualli experienced.

    ¡°Oh, I was born in Quetzaltenango,¡± Nle exined. ¡°I, uh¡­ I was raised by Lady Ocelocihuatl¡¯s priests.¡±

    ¡°The priests?¡± That was impossible. Red-eyed priests couldn¡¯t have children. The magic that bound them to their Nightlord overlords granted them unnatural youth and vigor, but made them sterile to a man. I suspected that was why the Nightlords didn¡¯t turn <em>everyone </em>into red-eyed thralls.

    Now she was all fidgeting and licking her lips in anxiety. ¡°My father¡­ my father gave me away to the temple when I was born.¡±

    Though I felt sorry for her, it didn¡¯t surprise me much. Many had wondered why my father insisted on raising me; the soothsayer¡¯s prophecy forbade others to murder me, not to give me away to an orphanage.

    ¡°I¡­ I would have been sacrificed, but the priests decided against it after reading my day signs. I was meant to serve the Gods-in-the-Flesh, they said.¡± Nl smiled shyly. ¡°I guess¡­ I guess they predicted I would be here.¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps,¡± I replied without truly believing it. The way through which the Nightlords selected their sacrifices remained obtuse. Perhaps they did keep a detailed schedule for future victims. ¡°So you¡¯ve never known your parents?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡­ I never met them.¡± Nl shook her head meekly. ¡°The priests treated me kindly enough. They didn¡¯t hurt me, unless I¡­ unless I asked stupid things.¡±

    As in, they probably did their best to ignore her and just reminded her she was a cursed girl lucky to be alive whenever they remembered her. No wonder she turned out so shy and insecure. With no loving parent to treat her kindly, she had internalized the lies instead of rejecting them.

    My silence caused her to blush. ¡°How¡­ how was your childhood?¡± Nl dared to ask me, which I took as a good sign. ¡°You mentioned your father¡­¡±

    ¡°My mother abandoned me,¡± I confessed. <em>Even though she was a catecolotl herself</em>. ¡°My father raised me alone before he died four years ago from the drought.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m¡­¡± Nl cleared her throat. ¡°I¡¯m¨C¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say sorry,¡± I interrupted her. ¡°You don¡¯t need to apologize to me for anything. I won¡¯t punish you for speaking your mind.¡±

    ¡°But¨C¡±

    ¡°No buts.¡± I shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re both cursed children, are we not? That makes us kin.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I see.¡± Nl joined her hands and mulled over my words. Thankfully, it seemed they got through to her. ¡°I¡¯ve¡­ I¡¯ve never met anyone like me before. I¡¯m d.¡± She blushed immediately. ¡°I mean, not that you¡¯re like me, but¡­¡±

    ¡°I know what you mean,¡± I reassured her with a smile on my lips.

    She sighed in relief. ¡°I¡­ I shouldn¡¯t hold you back any longer, my lord. You wished to spend the afternoon with your, uh, concubine, right?¡±

    ¡°You can call me Iztac if you want, Nl.¡± I had the feeling it would be an uphill battle until it stuck. ¡°Perhaps we could spend the afternoon together tomorrow? What do you like to do in your free time?¡±

    ¡°The afternoon?¡± Nl held her breath for a second. ¡°You mean¡­ alone?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied bluntly, causing her to redden considerably. I suddenly realized how that probably sounded to her. ¡°As friends.¡±

    ¡°Yes, uh¡­ I wouldn¡¯t mind, my lord Iztac.¡± Nl sighed in relief. I guessed an official date would put too much pressure on her shoulders. ¡°I¡­ I like to y board games. Do you like to y patolli? Or bul?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve yed patolli in the past.¡± Eztli always beat me at it, though I often won against Guatemoc when he epted a match. ¡°I¡¯ve never tried to y bul. You could teach me.¡±

    ¡°I would love to.¡± Nl beamed like the sun. ¡°So¡­ tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow,¡± I concurred with a strange feeling building up in my stomach. It took me a while to realize why.

    For the first time in my life, I might have made a friend that wasn¡¯t named Eztli.

    I still intended to test Nl to see if she could be an ally against the Nightlords¡­ but I would have still frequented her for the pleasure of herpany. She was right. It was nice to meet a fellow Nahualli. I loved Eztli, but she could never truly understand what I went through all my life. Nl might.

    After leaving Nl, Necahual and I spent the afternoon visiting the gardens and menagerie. My mother-inw came fully clothed this time. The priests saw fit to dress her in a ceremonial huipil blouse streaked with red and white flower motifs, alongside a small crown of feathers and ck onyx earrings. She would have looked like a nobledy, if not for the choker marking her as my property.

    Necahual arrived with a basket hanging from her arm, a pestle, a mortar, and an all-too-familiar re. She weed me with stone cold silence. A surge of anger boiled my veins. Though I hadforted her only a few hours ago, it seemed Necahual stubbornly decided to go back to hating me.

    <em>What did I expect from her? </em>I wondered. <em>Gratitude?</em>

    The wind whispered into my ear. <em>She does feel gratitude, and it disgusts her.</em>

    Good. I offered her my arm, which Necahual took for the sake of appearance with a look of visceral humiliation. Her forced reaction filled me with dark glee. After forcing me to behave ording to her wishes for years, the roles were now reversed.

    I found the promenade soothing nheless. The gardens breathed life, unlike the Land of the Dead Suns. I had almost missed the breeze blowing on my face.

    <em>In the sulfur pits, the darkness burns in exalted hatred</em>, the wind whispered, <em>with no one to hear it scream.</em>

    Almost.

    I paid close attention to Necahual as we walked among flowers. My mother-inw appeared genuinely amazed by the sheer variety of nts in the imperial gardens. Her eyes darted from one rare orchid to another, and we had to stop half a dozen times for her to pick them up.

    ¡°Will that be sufficient?¡± I whispered into her ear, too low for the guards trailing us to listen.

    Necahual scowled a bit, as if angry that I dared to breathe on her. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I need something undetectable,¡± I insisted. ¡°Symptoms that will be overlooked. Too quick a death and we¡¯ll be suspected.¡±

    Necahual red at me for daring to question her expertise, and then looked down on her basket. I nced at her harvest: a set of nts of various colors, mostly red, alongside a few small grains and moonflowers.

    ¡°I can make a poison from these,¡± she whispered back. ¡°Whoever ingests it will feel drowsiness after a few hours. They will suffer from diarrhea, abdominal pain, and then from a fatal seizure.¡±

    The idea of caelel shitting himself to death appealed to me. ¡°How long?¡±

    ¡°One to two days.¡± Long enough to avoid suspicion. ¡°The powder is tasteless if put in a drink.¡±

    Excellent. I could simply invite caelel to breakfast and slip it into his cacao drink. ¡°Make only a little. A satchel¡¯s worth I can hide on myself.¡±

    Necahual bit her lip in silent anger. ¡°Do not speak to me like that. I am not stupid.¡±

    ¡°I will treat you with courtesy when you return the favor.¡± I sneered at her. ¡°I saved your miserable life, and this is the thanks I get? Silence and res?¡±

    ¡°Thanks?¡± Her nails sank into my flesh. ¡°It is <em>your </em>fault that Eztli is¨C¡±

    I saw red for a second, my blood boiling in my veins and my fists tightening in rage. Necahual let go of my arm and recoiled away in fear upon my expression. If looks could kill, my re would have murdered her on the spot.

    A wiser person would have shut up rather than push their luck. Necahual wasn¡¯t one of them.

    ¡°This is all <em>your </em>fault,¡± she hissed under her breath. ¡°If you had¡­ if you¡¯d just listened¡­ my husband and my daughter would still be alive.¡±

    It took all my willpower not to punch her. Nobody would think twice if I did. But I held back. I was better than that.

    <em>The truth cuts deeper than any de</em>, the wind gleefully whispered into my ear.

    ¡°I see why my father chose my mother over you,¡± I said coldly.

    Necahual flinched as if I had pped her.

    ¡°He deserved better than a small, petty, hateful thing like you,¡± I taunted her. ¡°You could have never hoped to satisfy him.¡±

    Necahual pped me.

    Or rather, she tried. I grabbed her wrist before her hand reached anywhere close to my cheek. Necahual struggled against my grip, but much to her surprise I was both too strong and unwilling to let go. I¡¯d never fought back like this before.

    Since it was forbidden for anyone to raise their hand against Yohuachanca¡¯s emperor, the guards immediately raised their obsidian clubs to intervene. I raised my hand to stop them in their tracks.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Using one hand to hold on to Necahual¡¯s wrist, I used the other to grab the back of her head. ¡°It¡¯s part of the fun.¡±

    I pressed my lips against her own.

    I heard Necahual gasp and freeze in shock at the second contact. Her lips tasted different from Eztli; older, warmer, yet full of life. Yet they weed me all the same past the initial shock. I expected her to puke in my face, but instead she closed her eyes and returned the kiss.

    It¡­ it felt surprisingly good, actually. Not because there was any tenderness in this kiss, like with Eztli, but because it tasted of <em>revenge</em>.

    The soldiers exchanged a silent nce, and then took a step back. With no need to maintain the charade, I let go of Necahual. She caught her breath, her eyes wide open in shock. She didn¡¯t know how to react.

    ¡°Were you imagining my father in my ce?¡± I whispered into her ear.

    From the tears of rage and humiliation forming in her eyes, I had guessed correctly.

    ¡°Seems I hit a nerve,¡± I taunted her. ¡°It must have hurt, to see me each morning with my father¡¯s face and my mother¡¯s eyes. Looking at the mirror of your defeat.¡±

    ¡°Your mother was a <em>witch</em>,¡± Necahual hissed through her clenched teeth. ¡°A <em>monster</em>.¡±

    ¡°Yet Father didn¡¯te to you even when she left,¡± I mocked her. ¡°You hoped he would, didn¡¯t you? Maybe you thought he would elope with you?¡±

    ¡°How could¡­¡± Necahual¡¯s skin turned paler than a corpse. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ you¡¯re like her.¡±

    I sneered. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that why you tormented me for so long?¡±

    Necahual didn¡¯t answer. Another emotion had taken her over, banishing the disgust and anger: overwhelming, abject terror. It only further reduced whatever sympathy I felt for her. She only threw stones at me because she believed she wouldn¡¯t suffer any consequences for it. How <em>brave</em>.

    ¡°Ask yourself why my father never returned your feelings.¡± I stared into her eyes and told her the truth she needed to hear. ¡°Maybe he would have, if you stopped being such a <em>bitch</em>.¡±

    Then I delivered the killing blow.

    ¡°One so unbearable,¡± I said, ¡°that Yoloxochitl ¡®adopted¡¯ Eztli because she thought she could be a better mother than <em>you</em>.¡±

    At that moment¡­ At that moment, Necahual became livid, her gaze empty. Something had shattered inside her heart.

    I put my arm around her own for show. She shivered at my touch, but did not push me away.

    ¡°The only reason I saved you is because of Eztli,¡± I reminded my mother-inw. ¡°Never forget it. Never me me for what happened to her and yourte husband <em>ever again</em>. Do you understand me?¡±

    Necahual did not argue, nor did she curse me. She simply nodded meekly and followed along.

    We settled on a tense silence for the rest of the promenade, only broken by the noise of our steps. I knew it might have been wiser to talk to her sweetly, I would need Necahual after all. However, I didn¡¯t regret a single word I said. They had been years in the making.

    <em>Men spin beautiful lies to disguise the ugly truth</em>, the wind whispered. <em>To others and, most of all, to themselves. True change cannot happen without pain.</em>

    Change? Necahual? I struggled not tough.

    We made our way to a prison within my prison: the menagerie. The zoo was divided into sections meticulously designed for each animal collection that it housed. Beautiful stones adorned the well-crafted enclosures, with lines of text written on them to offer insight on the captive creatures. Aviary cages kept hundreds of brightly colored birds from the southern rainforests captive, singing beautiful songs next to feathered serpents. Swamp-like pits hosted snakes, crocodiles, and centipedes the size of my arm. Pumas, jaguars, coyotes, bisons, and even a sabertooth tiger from the north roamedfortable spaces, separated from hundreds of workers by barriers of thick wood and bard stone. Apes, monkeys, and giant slothszily ate leaves from trees under the afternoon sun.

    Other enclosures housed strange and unusual animals: snakes with two heads, deformed turkeys with four legs rather than two, and snow-white ocelots. I paused the longest at this section. Much like me, these animals were born different and suffered for it. People considered them bizarre anomalies, either curses or wonders. I wondered whether I was expected tough at them or marvel at their strangeness. Instead, I felt a strange sense of kinship.

    ¡°See that these are well-treated,¡± I ordered one of the menagerie¡¯s keepers. All of them bowed at my approach without meeting my gaze.

    ¡°Of course, Your Majesty,¡± the man replied obsequiously. ¡°I assure you that your animals are well taken care of. Dedicated hunters gather meat for the carnivores, workers clean their enclosures daily, and healers cure their ills.¡±

    It said something that an emperor¡¯s pets were better treated than most human peasants.

    We passed by massive fish ponds filled with freshwater on our way to another section. I blinked upon seeing a strange, blue, doglike creature with a hand for a tail staring at me from the other side of an enclosure. The animal immediately vanished inside the water once spotted.

    <em>An ahuizotl</em>, I recognized with a shiver. All fishermen near my vige learned to fear these animals. Crocodiles only attacked you when you bothered them or showed weakness, but the ahuizotl possessed a strange fondness for human eyes. They delighted in using their hand-tail to drag men and children underwater to drown them.

    I nced at Necahual, studying her expression. Her tears had dried. Her hollow eyes stared into the distance, unaffected by the natural marvels surrounding her. She moved along without a word or hint of understanding of the outside world. Did my words break her, or had they gotten her thinking?

    <em>Thinking?</em> I snorted inwardly. <em>She¡¯ll probably go back to spitting at me once she recovers.</em>

    ¡°I want to see Itzili,¡± I informed the section¡¯s keepers. Hearing my father¡¯s name snapped Necahual out of her trance. ¡°Where is he?¡±

    ¡°This way, Your Majesty.¡± The keepers immediately offered to guide me to the enclosure. ¡°Would you like to feed the beast?¡±

    I nodded sharply. The keepers guided us to an enclosure kept between a small horde of grazing trihorns and a couple of longnecks whose heads towered over the trees. Little Itzili roamed a space dedicated to him, which included a small pond and a nest of leaves.

    Feathered Tyrants were infamous predators that roamed the continent. The discovery of one usually resulted in arge hunt to either drive it off or kill it before it started preying on viges, with even the Nightlords often sending their spawn to hunt the creatures personally.

    Itzili was nothing like the ferocious monster I expected. When we arrived, we found the animal sshing himself in the water like a child. He looked up at us when the keepers opened the enclosure, before cautiously approaching. He stared at me with his strange reptilian eyes, though I couldn¡¯t tell if he remembered me from the audience.

    His wary behavior changed utterly when a keeper offered me a dead turkey. Itzili immediately realized I hade to feed him and started yapping happily. I found it adorable.

    ¡°Is it safe to indulge him?¡± I asked the local keeper. I only ever had experience with handling dogs and turkeys.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the keeper replied. ¡°Feathered tyrants are gregarious animals, and this one is ustomed to men. He won¡¯t bite unless he feels threatened. But Your Majesty must never forget that a tyrant will never be a friend. If they smell weakness, they will eat even long-time handlers without remorse.¡±

    <em>Much like a human emperor</em>, I thought while feeding one of the turkey¡¯s legs to Iztili. My pet tyrant leaped to catch it in midair with surprising agility. I wondered if he would keep the same swiftness once he reached adulthood.

    I ordered the keepers to leave Necahual and I alone with Itzili, mostly so the former could prepare her herbal potions in peace. My mother-inw pounded herbs together with her mortar and pestle, mixing them in ways that only made sense to a trained healer. As for me, I spent the next hour feeding Itzili. Once he had devoured the entire turkey, he let me scratch his feathers and scales.

    ¡°Are you even aware that you¡¯re a prisoner?¡± I whispered to the animal. ¡°Do you resent it?¡±

    Itzili looked up at me in confusion. He did not understand me.

    <em>Men are the most miserable of all animals</em>, the wind whispered into my ear. <em>For only they understand that they were born to die.</em>

    ¡°Can¡¯t you give me anything less cryptic?¡± I muttered under my breath. ¡°How about how I could start a war with the Sapa? Could you help with that?¡±

    <em>Pain is the wage of the damned</em>, the wind replied. <em>Happiness is never without its cost.</em>

    The Yaotzin wind always asked for a price. Secrets that would harm others. I knew a few, but they mighte back to haunt me if revealed. I needed to hoard more knowledge to sell away.

    <em>I need to recruit spies</em>, I thought. Sources who will feed me intel that I can then use to power my Augury spell. Would Lady Sigrun help me with that? What price would she ask for? Eztli¡¯s use of the secret passages could also help me gather information. <em>I need allies.</em>

    ¡°Why?¡± Necahual asked me without warning.

    I looked at her over my shoulder, a hand on Itzili¡¯s head.

    ¡°Why did you name this creature after your father?¡± Necahual asked me while pounding herbs.

    I shrugged. ¡°Because I loved him, why else?¡±

    My mother-inw bristled, but said nothing.

    Necahualpleted her task by evening. She had recovered enough from our discussion to offer me two small pouches of whitened powder. ¡°For a better sleep,¡± she said while handing me the first pouch. ¡°For an <em>eternal </em>sleep,¡± she added while giving me the second one after some hesitation.

    ¡°Do not try anything,¡± I warned her while slipping both in a pocket. ¡°If I die from ingesting it, it won¡¯t stick, and the Nightlords will make you suffer for it.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Necahual stared at me with some hesitation, struggling to find her words. ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I snapped at her. ¡°Speak up.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Necahual took in a deep breath, as if confessing to a great sin. ¡°I apologize.¡±

    I stood in ce for a few seconds, my mind struggling to register what she had just said. Necahual might as well have spoken in a foreignnguage, for I had never heard those wordsing out of her mouth before.

    ¡°I apologize for¡­ what I said earlier.¡± Necahual bit her lip. ¡°I did not think clearly, and¡­ I did not think.¡±

    ¡°No, you did not,¡± I replied harshly.

    To my surprise, Necahual did not argue. ¡°I understand you saved my life, Iztac, although you had every reason not to. I am not ungrateful. It¡­¡± She looked away. ¡°It would be easier if I could me you for everything. For what happened with your father, with my husband and Eztli. But¡­ I can¡¯t. Because it¡¯s not true.¡±

    It sounded like it physically hurt her to say that, so it was probably genuine. I still struggled to believe it. I half-wondered if both of the pouches she gave me contained poison. I wouldn¡¯t put it past her.

    <em>She fears your magic</em>, the wind whispered into my ear. <em>She has kept your mother¡¯s secret out of dread, for she finds submission preferable to death</em>.

    Of course. Necahual still remained a coward at heart. Still, from the way she avoided my gaze in embarrassment, she appeared genuinely ashamed. I didn¡¯t think the woman was capable of it. Perhaps my words did reach her a bit.

    ¡°I will never forgive you for all the years of abuse,¡± I warned her. ¡°But for the sake of our mutual survival, and for Eztli, I will try to look past it.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I will do the same.¡± Necahual nodded slowly. ¡°If you need my help, I will give it.¡±

    I doubted we would ever get along, but I might learn to tolerate her one day.

    The evening proved more pleasant than the afternoon.

    As it turned out, Lady Sigrun and her family¡ªas befitting a consort¡¯s kin¡ªupied apartments on the same floor as my own. Ingrid personally came to lead me into grand chambers of polished marble, wearing the same dress as from the morning council.

    ¡°I hope you shall appreciate the decorations, my lord,¡± she said while draping her arm around mine. Her touch felt quite pleasant, unlike with Necahual. ¡°Our apartments aren¡¯t asvish as yours, but we do our best to make them cozy.¡±

    Exotic might have been a better term. I¡¯d never seen simr decorations as what I found that night.

    The iridescent gemstones adorning the main hall¡¯s domed ceiling evoked the opalescent interior of a seashell. Layers of colored wood covered the walls, alongside knotworks representing strange horned warriors sailing on ships, world-devouring serpents, and wolves hunting after what I assumed were the moon and sun. The most beautiful piece remained a tapestry representing strange lights floating above a white sea. Bear furs from the north covered the ground, while torches mounted atop shield trophies glittered on the walls. Shelves full of scrolls, quills, jewelry, and potions stood next to intricate wooden chests. The ce possessed its own hearth, one facing a small rock shrine covered in carved symbols and arge handcrafted table.

    I stared in amazement at whaty upon that same table: an exquisite replica of a strange ship around the length of my arm. The vessel did not resemble any fishing boat I had ever seen, nor anything that flowed in the capital¡¯s waterways. It possessed a single sail, mighty oars, and a reptilian head protruding from the bow. Twenty wooden men the size of my finger sailed on its hull.

    ¡°What is this?¡± I whispered as I examined the handcrafted ship. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen this design.¡±

    ¡°This is the vessel that brought my mother from Wind to Yohuachanca, my lord,¡± Ingrid exined softly. My sudden interest in the ship appeared to please her greatly. ¡°The <em>Longstrider</em>.¡±

    For a man like me, who had dreamed of purchasing a boat to sail into the sunset, to see such a detailed replica of a ship up close was nothing short of a wonder.

    When I came closer, I realized that a detailed map was carved onto the table¡¯s surface. The design represented a vast sea with Yohuachanca and the known world rising from the west, and unknownnds to the east. The ship¡¯s position made it look like it was sailing westward toward the empire.

    <em>Fascinating</em>, I thought as I examined the eastern shores, which I assumed represented the distant Wind. <em>Truly fascinating.</em>

    ¡°You did not tell me your husband appreciated woodcraft, Ingrid,¡± a musical, crystal-clear voice said from my left.

    I turned my head in the speaker¡¯s direction. The most beautiful woman I had ever seen stepped into the hall from another room.

    The very sight of her took the breath out of my lungs. Her snow-white, unblemished skin appeared carved from marble streaked with pink at the cheeks. Her curly hair, the color of glittering gold under the summer sun, cascaded down her shoulders and back like a waterfall. Though she was taller than me, she possessed a slender graceful figure and moved with impable poise. She seemed about Necahual¡¯s age, though time did not grace her perfect face with any lines. Most striking were her pale emerald eyes, which sparkled with depth and intelligence.

    Her features already marked her as a foreigner, but so did her clothes. Unlike Yohuachancan dresses, her own, dyed with shades of pale gold and vibrant green, covered her arms as well as her legs. A thin ring of polished gold covered in strange letters adorned her neck; not as flexible as a ne, yet lighter than a ve¡¯s choker.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid the original <em>Longstrider </em>has long since sunk, Lord Iztac,¡± the woman exined with a pleasant smile that made my heart pound in my chest. Her voice was melodious with an ent I did not recognize, gentle yet regal. ¡°I carved this replica to the best of my ability, but memories are like tales, sometimes short on details.¡±

    It took me a few seconds to realize that this striking creature expected an answer from me. Ingrid¡¯s amused chuckle brought flushing to my cheeks. ¡°Lady Sigrun, I presume?¡±

    ¡°That is my name indeed,¡± the woman answered with a regal reverence. ¡°I pray you will find mypany most pleasant.¡±

    <em>The daughter is a shadow of the mother</em>, I thought while recovering from the shock. Then again, any star would look palepared to the sun. Not even the Nightlords nor Eztli could match this woman¡¯s allure, for shecked the aura of death and inhumanity that vampires exuded. <em>Even her voice sounds enchanting</em>.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure he will, Mother,¡± Ingrid said. ¡°Astrid, bow before your emperor.¡±

    I had been so struck by Lady Sigrun¡¯s beauty that I did not notice a small girl following in her footsteps. A ck-haired child dressed in more traditional clothes observed me with emerald eyes and a gentle grin. She looked no older than eight.

    ¡°Greetings, Emperor Iztac,¡± the girl said with a cute bow. ¡°Wee.¡±

    ¡°This is Astrid, my sister,¡± Ingrid exined gently. ¡°Adorable, is she not?¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± I replied. From the color of her hair and age difference, she was probably the daughter of another emperor. ¡°Do you have other siblings?¡±

    ¡°My only son, Fjor, left the nest long ago,¡± Lady Sigrun replied calmly. While her voice sounded gentle and innocent, her eyes assessed me with a look of calction. ¡°He was a warrior like his father, so he joined the army. Only women and children can stay in the harem, for obvious reasons.¡±

    ¡°I hope to meet him one day then,¡± I said courteously. Since I wasn¡¯t good with small talk, I changed the subject to the map. ¡°Is that the boiling sea under the ship?¡±

    ¡°And seven others,¡± Lady Sigrun quipped. ¡°It took us almost a year-long journey to move from Wind to Yohuachanca. The Boiling Sea covers little more than ake in the middle of a vaster ocean.¡±

    The more I examined the map, the more I realized howrge the world truly was. Yohuachanca was the greatest empire in history, yet it looked so small and insignificantpared to the sea¡¯s vastness.

    ¡°Thankfully, a map can hold more than one country on a single sheet of paper,¡± Lady Sigrun said wisely. ¡°Or a piece of wood, in this case.¡±

    An idea struck me like a bolt of lightning. ¡°A country,¡± I mused out loud, my hand trailing along the carved shores. ¡°Or a painted ocean.¡±

    ¡°My lord has a way with words,¡± Ingrid ttered me.

    ¡°Ingrid informed me you were curious about Wind, Lord Iztac,¡± Lady Sigrun said. ¡°Mayhaps you would like to hear tales of our journey over dinner?¡±

    <em>She reads me like an open book</em>, I realized. ¡°I would love to.¡±

    ¡°Astrid, would you be a dear and bring the tes?¡± Ingrid asked her sister before smiling at me. ¡°Has my lord ever heard someone y the harp?¡±

    I frowned in confusion. ¡°The harp?¡±

    ¡°He clearly has not, Ingrid.¡± Lady Sigrun¡¯sughter sounded like sshing water. ¡°Show him how well I taught you.¡±

    A few minutester, we sat onfy cushions near the hearth and enjoyed a dinner of fish and beans. Astrid served the tes and drinks, while her older sister brought over a strange string instrument nearly as tall as her. Ingrid sat and yed on it, the device making beautiful sounds whenever she plucked it.

    ¡°In Wind, it is customary to y music when we recount ancestral sagas,¡± Lady Sigrun exined as she served me food. ¡°The harp is gentler than the drum, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll agree.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± I confirmed. This harp instrument sounded so slow, so melodious, so unlike any of Yohuachanca¡¯s usual instruments. ¡°Why would someone dare to cross such a vast sea?¡±

    ¡°Greed and poverty,¡± Lady Sigrun answered with augh. ¡°Mostnds east of Wind were taken by strong lords, and Wind itself is awfully cold. Our captain, Leif, thought there would be warmer, richernds to settle west. I aspired for more than snow, so I signed on with the trip.¡±

    ¡°Your captain?¡± I frowned. ¡°You were a sailor, Lady Sigrun?¡±

    ¡°A warrior,¡± Lady Sigrun corrected, much to my surprise. ¡°Women are allowed to carry weapons in Wind. Life is harsh, so we learn to defend ourselves as soon as we can walk.¡±

    She began to tell me how she ended up boarding the <em>Longstrider </em>with two dozen other explorers in search of gold andnd. Four other ships joined them, but all either turned back or sank before they reached western shores.

    ¡°We attempted to raise a settlement, but the locals chased us off,¡± Lady Sigrun exined to the tune of her daughter¡¯s melody. ¡°A storm blew us off course north of the Boiling Sea, where the tribes informed us of a great empire with cities of gold to the south.¡±

    ¡°Yohuachanca,¡± I guessed. I wondered if the Winders would have dared to continue their journey if the tales spoke of my homnd as coated in blood rather than gold.

    Lady Sigrun¡¯s nod was slow, almost dramatic. ¡°So entranced by words of its glory, Captain Leif decided to continue on. Unfortunately, we ended up captured by savages along the way.¡±

    I tried to match her words with the map. I guessed the Longstrider¡¯s crew ended in the northern bordends bordering the Boiling Sea.

    ¡°An imperial raiding party rescued us, though most of my kinsmen perished from disease or starvation beforehand. I was brought before that year¡¯s emperor¡­¡± Lady Sigrun chuckled to herself while ncing at her daughter. ¡°Ingrid followed nine monthster.¡±

    It sounded like quite the daring tale, though I wondered if it was true. Yohuachanca was built on lies, and Lady Ingrid sounded quite happy about losing everyone she had ever known. ¡°Don¡¯t you miss Wind?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not.¡± Lady Sigrun waved a hand at her apartment. ¡°I will take this single room over my family¡¯s whole farm any day. Believe me, Lord Iztac, you too would grow bored of the biting frost and seals.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s a seal?¡± I asked her.

    Lady Sigrun pointed at a fur on a wall, which belonged to some kind of gray-furred rodent the size of a dog. She must have brought this one all the way from Wind when she first arrived.

    ¡°Seals are the caelel of the animal kingdom,¡± Lady Sigrun quipped. ¡°All they do is yap and squeal.¡±

    The joke drew a smile from me. ¡°Perhaps I should trade my advisor for a seal then.¡±

    ¡°It would give better advice, that¡¯s for sure,¡± Lady Sigrun said while slouching on the pillows like a sleeping jaguar on a rock. ¡°I preferred his predecessor. At least that one could sing.¡±

    <em>I hope his sessor will pick up the pace</em>, I thought.

    ¡°I hope his sessor will at least know how to dance,¡± Lady Sigrun echoed my own thoughts on the matter. Astrid came to deliver a honey cake dessert. ¡°The Nightlords are bound to grow bored of his ttery one day.¡±

    <em>Time to test her</em>, I thought. If she guessed correctly, I might ask more of her. ¡°Any idea who they would rece him with?¡±

    ¡°Almost certainly Tezozomoc,¡± Lady Sigrun replied. ¡°He has the age, experience, and support of the priesthood.¡±

    ¡°I would have bet on Tayatzin,¡± Ingrid argued, her hands plucking one string after another. ¡°He¡¯s the youngest eunuch, and the most energetic.¡±

    ¡°He is, which is why he won¡¯t be chosen.¡± Her mother tasted the cake with slow, aristocratic grace. ¡°The Nightlords do not want an energetic assistant to advise their emperor. They want someone who will calm his master¡¯s ardors and won¡¯t rock the boat. Tezozomoc will serve them well¡­ and the emperor, of course.¡±

    Lady Sigrun added thest part like an afterthought, like heavy sarcasm. Yet she still managed to sound innocent. Her eyes shone with mischief, revealing her true feelings. <em>She¡¯s been here for nearly twenty years</em>, I thought. <em>She knows how the game is yed</em>.

    Lady Sigrun held my gaze for a moment, before turning her attention to her daughters. ¡°Ingrid, can you y a little louder? Your poor mother can hardly hear you these days. Astrid, be a dear and go to bed.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Mother,¡± her youngest obeyed dutifully and vanished out of the hall, while her eldest started to sing over her music. Ingrid¡¯s strong voice echoed in the apartments alongside her melody.

    Lady Sigrun moved closer to me, leaning onto my shoulder. Her warm breath carried whispers into my ears.

    ¡°Let me deliver the poison in your pocket, my lord.¡±

    I froze.

    ¡°Do not fret, the rats in the walls can¡¯t hear us over Ingrid¡¯s song.¡± Lady Sigrun¡¯s fingers trailed a line along my cotton clothes. ¡°caelel will be on his guard around you. He will see iting, and your associate will perish.¡±

    ¡°How¨C¡±

    ¡°Why would you stand the presence of a woman you hate, unless you had something to gain from her? Once I learned she was a herbalist, the truth wasn¡¯t too difficult to glimpse.¡± Her hand moved into my pocket and seized a pouch. ¡°This one, or the other?¡±

    I clenched my jaw. I sensed my Tonalli awaken in response to the tension I felt, ready to tear out throats.

    Lady Sigrun stiffened, her eyes alert. ¡°You think of silencing me,¡± she guessed. ¡°I can sense your bloodlust.¡±

    <em>Could she sense magic too?</em> My hands tightened into fists. <em>No, or else she would have ratted me out. </em>¡°You have keen intuition, Lady Sigrun.¡±

    ¡°One does not survive long within these walls without one.¡± She faced me, her emerald eyes staring into mine. ¡°Your question was meant to test my knowledge, my emperor. I offer you a chance to prove my loyalty instead.¡±

    I held her gaze for a moment, my mind racing to consider my options. If I let her keep the poison, then she would have proof to rat me out with, but if she went through what I think she nned to do¡­ then her hands would be stained with enough blood for me to trust her. It was a gamble.

    I thought back to what my predecessors said about her. Lady Sigrun was ambitious, and clearly not stupid. She might have been Ingrid¡¯s mother, but at the end of the day she remained a concubine. The Nightlords cared little for her, and I could rece her with a word. She had more to gain by earning my favor over caelel¡¯s, and more to lose by making an enemy of me.

    ¡°The other pocket,¡± I whispered.

    Lady Sigrun grabbed the poison and hid it under a pillow so swiftly, that I doubt anyone watching us could have seen it. If Ingrid noticed anything, she didn¡¯t show it.

    ¡°I can tell a patient snake apart from a cowed songbird,¡± she said while resting her head against my shoulder. ¡°Do not invite caelel to breakfast, or his mistresses would suspect the truth. Let me handle him. He will die by the week¡¯s end.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve done this before,¡± I guessed.

    ¡°Of course. Though few of your predecessors dared to ask me to murder someone in their name. I find it refreshing.¡± Her finger yfully pinched my cheek, as if I were an adorable child. ¡°I know everything that happens inside this pce, except the hidden passages and forbidden areas. My reach extends beyond the walls too. If you need information on what happens outside, or to smuggle something in, I can help you. I have many other talents, as you will soon find out.¡±

    By now I¡¯d learned nothing was free in this world. ¡°What do you want in exchange?¡±

    ¡°First of all, I want you to treat my daughter well¡­ and then, I want you to treat <em>me </em>well.¡± Lady Sigrun let go of my cheek, her gaze sharp and calcting. ¡°Do we have an understanding, Iztac?¡±

    I squinted at her. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Lady Sigrun smirked at her daughter. ¡°Ingrid.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Mother?¡±

    ¡°The Emperor is tired,¡± her mother said with augh. ¡°Show him what he was missing out on with his Nightkin.¡±

 Chapter Ten: Behind the Veil

    Chapter Ten: Behind the Veil

    <strong>-----NSFW scene start ----</strong>

    I could barely see anything beyond her face.

    Oilmps near the bedroom¡¯s walls barely lit up the darkness. A pleasant smell of burning logs came from the firece, but I paid it no mind. I only smelled her flower perfume. The fur nket wasn¡¯t half as warm as her naked skin.

    ¡°Deeper,¡± Ingrid whispered with a whimpering sound. She moaned under me, her legs wrapped around me. Her arms pulled me closer as I drove into her again and again. She wouldn¡¯t let me go. ¡°Yes¡­ Here¡¯s your ce, my emperor¡­ Yes¡­¡±

    I could only answer with a grunt. I was on top of her, <em>in </em>her, holding her. The mattress creaked under us, but I didn¡¯t care. The whole world could have been copsing on my head and I wouldn¡¯t notice. I couldn¡¯t tell how long it had been since dinner. Seconds, minutes, hours? It didn¡¯t matter. I couldn¡¯t focus on anything <em>but </em>Ingrid.

    <em>It shouldn¡¯t feel this good</em>, I thought. Eztli and I¡­ we shared something special, so it felt wrong when Ingrid led me to the bed. I tried to protest, saying we didn¡¯t have to do anything, but then she did that thing with her mouth and fingers, and before I knew it, we were in bed.<em> I could die happy right now.</em>

    I tried to tell myself that Eztli said she wouldn¡¯t mind sharing me with the other wives, that Ingrid and I were married too, and that I needed to y up being the emperor so no one would suspect me. But these were just excuses. I was making love to Ingrid because it felt good. Nothing more.

    A blissful jolt of lightning coursed through my back and my body tensed. Ingrid tightened her embrace, as if afraid I would disappear. My loins ached and then I saw stars.

    I finished with a grunt.<strong>---- NSFW scene ends ----</strong>

    After the bliss came the emptiness. My breathing shortened as the rush of pleasure receded. Ingrid rxed her grip on me, her heartbeat slowing down. I rolled off her and stared at the ceiling, trying to put my thoughts in order. A mosaic of a red, bicephalous wolf loomed over me. Two creatures in one body.

    I didn¡¯t know why, but the sight drew a chuckle out of me. I would have bet my throne that Lady Sigrun put it there intentionally.

    ¡°We have pulque,¡± Ingrid murmured against my shoulder. She put a hand across my chest, her fingers caressing my nipples. ¡°Or chocte, if you prefer a sweet drink.¡±

    I could hardly think of anything sweeter than what happened just now.

    It had been so different from my first time with Eztli. First of all, Ingrid was warm to the touch; not lukewarm, but breathing and full of life. She was more experienced too. She taught me much.

    Still, no matter how pleasant our lovemaking was, I felt itcked something. My first time with Eztli was more¡­ affectionate? We went a long way and held nothing back. Whereas I always sensed a certain distance between Ingrid and I. Our bodies worked in sync, but our hearts did not beat as one.

    In the end, we were just using each other.

    ¡°Warm chocte would be nice,¡± I whispered as I snuggled against her. ¡°But I don¡¯t want you to leave the bed right now.¡±

    Ingrid smiled sweetly and then kissed me. A new jolt coursed through my spine, and my arms moved around her waist to pull her closer. If I wasn¡¯t spent, I would make love to her all over again.

    ¡°It was my first time with a man,¡± Ingrid confessed when she let go of my lips. ¡°I¡¯m d it was with you.¡±

    ¡°First time?¡± It actually surprised me. ¡°It didn¡¯t feel that way.¡±

    ¡°My mother taught me well. Men aren¡¯t allowed in the harem, except emperors, and the Nightlords forbade them from touching me.¡± She snuggled against me. ¡°I was meant for you, my lord.¡±

    The word ¡®lord¡¯ immediately soured my mood. ¡°Stop calling me that, Ingrid,¡± I said. ¡°Just call me Iztac, at least when we¡¯re alone. ¡±

    ¡°As you wish, Iztac.¡± Ingrid raised an eyebrow. ¡°You don¡¯t like being emperor, do you?¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°Are <em>you </em>looking forward to being sacrificed?¡±

    ¡°I prefer to think we¡¯ll live like gods for a year. Sure, thest days will suck, but how many peasants would trade their lives for ours?¡± Ingrid shrugged. ¡°We do not choose our destiny, Iztac, nor fight it. The best we can do is to make the best out of our fate.¡±

    Her reasoning made sense. After all, I briefly shared it on the first day of my tenure. With no way to keep my freedom, wallowing in luxury and epting my fate had seemed almost appealing. It would have meant bing no different than the animals in my menagerie, but they seemed happy enough.

    Yet I rejected that answer and decided to challenge fate.

    Still, I could hardly fault Ingrid for her choices. She had a family who would outlive her andcked my magic. Making the best out of her current situation made sense from her perspective.

    The bedroom¡¯s door opened and Lady Sigrun walked in with a tter. I instinctively pulled up the nket to better cover Ingrid¡¯s nakedness, but this only drew augh from her mother.

    ¡°You are kind to defend my daughter¡¯s honor, Lord Iztac,¡± Lady Sigrun teased me. She set the tter on a bed table and offered me a warm chocte drink. ¡°But we have nothing to hide from each other.¡±

    I sat against a pillow and epted the drink. My fingers brushed against Sigrun¡¯s for a second, and my eyes wandered to¡­ <em>other </em>parts of her body.

    <em>I wonder if she¡¯s as good in bed as Ingrid</em>, I wondered, blushing slightly at the thought. Doubly so when Sigrun smirked as if she had read my mind. <em>Get a hold of yourself, Iztac! Don¡¯t let your cock think for you!</em>

    That woman was an experienced politician, and quite dangerous. I needed to keep her at arm¡¯s length until I figured out whether she would make a good ally or an enemy.

    Sigrun¡¯s eyes glittered in the firece¡¯s light. ¡°You have more self-control than most, Lord Iztac, but you still have much to learn.¡±

    I didn¡¯t deny it. ¡°Would you teach me?¡±

    ¡°If that is your wish.¡± Sigrun kissed her daughter on the cheek. ¡°Ingrid, would you kindly y the harp after finishing your drink? I will give the emperor a massage.¡±

    ¡°Lucky you, Iztac.¡± Ingrid chuckled. ¡°Mother is a magician with her hands.¡±

    I hoped not. Sigrun was dangerous enough without sorcery.

    After satiating my thirst, Iy on the bed with my back exposed. Lady Sigrun began to coat my skin in oil while Ingrid put on a dress and brought the harp into the room. I briefly closed my eyes and listened to her notes.

    ¡°Is every room in this pce unsafe to speak in?¡± I muttered under my breath.

    ¡°For you? Yes.¡± I shivered as Lady Sigrun¡¯s hands traveled along my spine. ¡°The Nightlords always have at least one spy following the emperor around. His four consorts are under constant surveince too, though thankfully for me they usually ignore the imperial harem. Concubines do not truly matter in the grand scheme of things.¡±

    I suspected as much. No wonder Lady Sigrun could smuggle goods in. The Nightlords believed her beneath their notice, allowing her to gather influence rtively unimpeded.

    ording to my predecessors, Sigrun had umted quite awork of contacts over her time in the pce. There were so many things I needed; information I could use to sabotage the empire; ckmail material I could sell to the Yaotzin; agents I could trust to do my bidding. I needed¨C

    ¡°Everything,¡± I said. ¡°I want your full cooperation in <em>everything</em>.¡±

    Sigrun scoffed. ¡°Are you willing to give <em>me</em> everything?¡±

    ¡°I can give you what you want,¡± I replied. ¡°I will treat Ingrid well and see that your family is taken care of.¡±

    ¡°That is not enough.¡± Lady Sigrun''s hands began to press against my back, gently but firmly. "When you looked at the walls outside, what did you see?"

    "A pen."

    "A pen, yes. Everyone inside this pce, from the guards to the workers, is livestock for the Nightlords." Sigrun applied pressure on my shoulders. "You are a stallion, and we concubines are mares."

    "Stallion? Mares?" I frowned in confusion. "I do not know these animals."

    "I keep forgetting Yohuachanca doesn¡¯t have horses," Lady Sigrun said, confusing me even more. "Let me rephrase my point: you are a turkey and we are hens. Your role is to look good and feed our owners, ours is toy eggs, make chicks, and entertain you."

    Now her hands moved to my neck.

    "What do you think happens to hens who outlive their usefulness?" She asked me, her voice cold and deadly.

    I scowled. "They get eaten."

    "Our owners have us for dinner." Her thumbs pressed against my shoulders, which hurt me a bit. ¡°When your time ends and another emperor takes your ce, I will have to prove myself to them to avoid the altar. Everyone who doesn''t make the cut is culled."

    <em>The imperial harem reached three thousand concubines at its apex</em>, caelel told me on my first day. <em>Though we had to sacrifice those past childbearing age, the sick, the useless, and the infirm before your coronation.</em>

    That purge happened each year, and over five hundred emperors preceded me. I dared not calcte the number of victims in my head. Man or woman, ve or emperor, we were all meat in the end.

    ¡°There are only three ways a concubine can stay alive for long in this ce," Lady Sigrun exined as her daughter yed a higher-pitched, more lively song than thest. "One, they must know how to charm an emperor. They must be beautiful, wise, and entertaining."

    ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be too hard,¡± Iplimented her. ¡°Your beauty is only matched by your wit.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± she replied with a chuckle. ¡°But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Iztac. For some men, a woman is never young enough, thin enough, tall enough, etc.¡±

    Considering my predecessors still held her in high regard after death, I guessed she had been perfect enough for all of them.

    ¡°Second, they must prove their health and fertility." Lady Sigrun began to massage my hips and thighs. "A concubine¡¯s primary role is to bear the emperor¡¯s children. Those who can no longer conceive are in.¡±

    My eyes widened in surprise. "Do you want me to¨C"

    ¡°If needs be, yes.¡± Lady Sigrun''s fingers moved ufortably close to a certain area¡­ "I try to avoid having too many children so as not to umte weight, but it has been a while since I had Astrid. The Nightlords might grow to believe that the well has dried."

    Something about the way Lady Sigrun spoke of children¡ªas a resource to be carefully managed to stave off the executioner¡¯s knife¡ªdisturbed me to my core. I nced at Ingrid, looking for¡­ unease, I guessed? She answered me with a grin while plucking the strings. Her eyes did not smile when her lips did.

    "What happens to the children of concubines?" I asked her mother.

    "The boys leave to join the army when theye of age,¡± Lady Sigrun replied, themps¡¯ light reflecting in her eyes. "Most girls end up joining the harem as either concubines or true consorts. The Nightlords believe an emperor''s blood has magical properties and must be refined."

    I never truly considered having children¡ªI would have been lucky to find a wife with my condition. Knowing my sons and daughters would either be cannon fodder or breeding material only soured me further on the idea.

    ¡°And three, a concubine must be useful. And to do that, I will need to earn favors from a few individuals, which I can then trade to your sessor.¡± Lady Sigrun¡¯s hand trailed a line along my spine. ¡°So tell me, Lord Iztac¡­ what do you have to offer?¡±

    I thought over her words and immediately noticed a troubling detail. ¡°You speak as if I will die next year,¡± I said. ¡°As if my fate is set in stone. It doesn¡¯t have to be.¡±

    Lady Sigrun¡¯s eyes narrowed, although I couldn¡¯t tell if it was out of disdain or sympathy. ¡°I will not help you plot against the Nightlords and their kin, Lord Iztac. Pce intrigues carry their risks and rewards. Plotting against the vampires can only end in failure and disgrace. I¡¯ve been here for nearly twenty years, Lord Iztac, so take my word for it: you cannot kill a Nightlord.¡±

    ¡°Your daughter will <em>die </em>if we do not try.¡±

    Ingrid froze a second, her face unreadable. Her surprise onlysted a second before she started ying again.

    Her mother, meanwhile, simply shrugged. ¡°Ingrid will not survive the year, but Astrid and I will. We have made peace with the situation. You would better spend yourst year either enjoying yourself or putting your affairs in order than waste it on an impossible task.¡±

    An impossible task.

    Lady Sigrun didn¡¯t believe the status quo could change. Perhaps she had tried once, when she was younger and more na?ve. Watching nearly two dozen emperors fail probably hardened her.

    Could I reveal my magic to her? That we had a chance? No. Not only would she probably disbelieve my words, but they might make their way back to the Nightlords. Besides, sorcery let me hope for victory without guaranteeing it.

    Besides, I did not fully trust her yet. I should test her first.

    ¡°What favors would you need from me?¡± I asked her.

    Lady Sigrun smiled. Now, we were negotiating. ¡°First of all, Ingrid must be your favorite consort in public. Heed her advice when you hold court. Show her affection. As her mother, people wille to me.¡±

    I nced at Ingrid, who still showed no reaction.

    ¡°Second, you must regrly invite me too,¡± Lady Sigrun exined while massaging my back. I had to admit I found it quite rxing. ¡°Let me join you for breakfast, send me gifts, and show the world that you appreciate mypany. Once I suggest a set of appointments, you must follow through with them.¡±

    In short, I needed to tell the world that Ingrid and her mother were my favorites. That they had my ears. That way, whoever they looked favorably upon would receive a share of their wealth and glory.

    ¡°I see no issues in giving you what you ask for,¡± I replied. If we were to form an alliance, we were bound to meet regrly anyway. ¡°What will you give in return?¡±

    ¡°Not everything, but I can offer much.¡± She lowered her head until part of her hair brushed against my back. ¡°What do you need? Besides caelel¡¯s head on a tter? That one is for free.¡±

    Lady Sigrun was a true merchant. I should take a leaf from her book. I should start by asking much and settling down for apromise. ¡°I want information on the Sapa Empire, especially their delegation,¡± I said. ¡°I want ckmail material on this pce¡¯s staff. The guards, the workers¡­ you said you knew everything that happens within these walls. Well, I want to know it too.¡±

    ¡°You are quite greedy, Lord Iztac.¡±

    ¡°I can prove generous too.¡± The two of us could y the game. ¡°I have an alternate method to gain information from outside the pce. Secrets that might prove useful to you.¡±

    This immediately caught her interest. Though Lady Sigrun kept a neutral expression, I could almost taste her curiosity in the air. ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Will you name your contacts?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Of course not.¡±

    ¡°Then you do not need to know mine either.¡± I doubted she would take me seriously if I told her I spoke to the wind. ¡°My source repays secrets with secrets. If you give me incriminating information I can sell away, then I can fulfill a request of my own too.¡±

    Lady Sigrun studied my face, looking for any hint of trickery. I returned her gaze without a word.

    ¡°You are bluffing,¡± she said. ¡°You were a mere peasant a few days ago. While you might have made allies in the pce, your reach cannot reach farther than mine.¡±

    ¡°If you have a test in mind, pay the price and I will happily pass it.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t hurt to try,¡± Lady Sigrun conceded. ¡°I will not grant you ess to all my knowledge. You have not proved worthy yet of such argemitment from me, though that might change in the future. For now, let us work on a favor for favor basis.¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°Until we learn to trust each other?¡±

    ¡°Trust is more precious than gold within these walls.¡± Lady Sigrun smiled ear to ear, her perfect teeth white as chalk. ¡°I shall give you a sample of what I can get you, and see what you can do with it.¡±

    I hoped it would be worth its cost.

    Massages were quite rxing. Enough that I could find sleep without Necahual¡¯s drugs.

    Unlike myst two visits to the Underworld, Inded directly in M. I woke up in the za where Queen Mictecacihuatl taught me the Doll spell and received a biting wee.

    ¡°About time!¡± Xolotl gnawed at my arm for a good minute before he agreed to let me go. He licked his fangs. ¡°Mmm¡­ you have gained meat.¡±

    ¡°I suppose I do eat much better nowadays.¡± Eating meat regrly did wonders to help build muscles. I still remained quite gaunt, but I was no longer starved. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be off gathering lost souls?¡±

    ¡°Do I detect a hint of me in your voice?¡± Xolotl scratched his back. ¡°Is this about those two souls you brought to M? I would have gotten them eventually.¡±

    I snorted in skepticism. ¡°You lost them for decades.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s barely the time to blink for a god like me! Is that the way to thank good Xolotl for doing a thankless job?¡± The dog deity eyed me maliciously. ¡°You know, all of my twins are technically entitled to chewing you when you arrive in the Underworld. Maybe we should <em>all </em>take a turn.¡±

    ¡°Fine, fine.¡± I didn¡¯t have anything to win by antagonizing Xolotl, and I had another target in mind. ¡°Might you know where I could find the Market of Years?¡±

    Xolotl chuckled ominously. ¡°Oh, are you going to confront the old coyote?¡±

    Yes, though I had a secondary objective in mind. ¡°Do you know if they sell maps there?¡±

    ¡°You can find anything that was lost and forgotten at the market.¡± Xolotl tilted his head to the side, his eyes mischievous. ¡°I can show you the way if you like¡­ so long as you never doubt my work as a guide again.¡±

    That proposal smelled fishy to me. By now, I had frequented Xolotl long enough to realize he never did anything for free. He wanted a favor from me in return, though I wondered what. Since I needed to go to M¡¯s markets regardless, I epted the offer with a sharp nod.

    Xolotl led me out of the bone za and onto fossilized skin streets. As I examined the crooked, chalky buildings that towered over the alleys, I realized M was built on more corpses than just Mtecuhtli¡¯s. Walls of animal skulls loomed next to vertebra hallways. Most belonged to beasts, but I recognized a few human bones merged with the rest. Xolotl noticed my curiosity and decided to enlighten me.

    ¡°Everything dies, my delicious Iztac, but only humans have the force of will to keep going for long,¡± Xolotl exined. ¡°Once centuries pass and boredom settles in, the dead simplyy down. Their bones merge with the city, while their dulled minds fade into eternal slumber. This is the final sleep.¡±

    ¡°Are they¡­¡± I struggled to find the right word as I examined a human skull holding a torch in its mouth, lighting the alleyway. ¡°Aware? Like the Parliament?¡±

    ¡°The sleeping dead are no more aware than nts. Some of them wake up after centuries and try their hand at unlife again, but those are few and far between.¡± Xolotl chuckled darkly. ¡°As for your friends¡¯ skulls, the pain keeps them sharp.¡±

    The Parliament of Skulls experienced everything their sessors did. My death on the altar would force them to relive their own torment all over again.

    Xolotl guided me to one of the waterways crossing the city. A skeleton on a skiff awaited us, his bones wrapped in tattered ck clothes. ¡°The boatmen transport the dead from one district to another. This one will take you to the Market of Years, if you ask kindly.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at hisziness. ¡°You won¡¯t lead me to the market yourself?¡±

    ¡°I said I would show you the way, not that I would hold your hand. I have work to do, thank you very much.¡± Xolotl scratched his back. ¡°Is there something else you wish to ask of me?¡±

    <em>He wants to ask a favor from me, but a god does not beg a mortal for help</em>, I realized. He would rather portray it as a payment for a service. I pondered what he could do for me, before an idea hit me. ¡°You¡¯ve guided every single person who has ever died, right?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡± Xolotl immediately smelled an opportunity for a deal. ¡°Is there a specific soul you¡¯re interested in, my young mortal friend?¡±

    ¡°My father, Itzili.¡± He should have made his way to M, and a part of me deeply wished to meet him again; if only forfort. ¡°Could you find him?¡±

    Xolotl cackled. ¡°Not for free.¡±

    Of course. ¡°You want to chew my leg as well as my arm?¡±

    ¡°Tempting, but no.¡± Xolotl thought over his price for a few seconds before asking me another question. ¡°Do you still intend to travel down into the lower levels of the Land of the Dead Suns?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a choice,¡± I replied. The more information I gathered on the world above, the more I realized mastering sorcery would be my only way to escape the Nightlords¡¯ grasp. ¡°I¡¯ve found a way to fulfill Lord Mtecuhtli¡¯s request.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Xolotl tilted his head at me curiously. ¡°I have a twin down there. The god you mortals know as Quetzalcoatl. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to leave thisyer, let alone visit him.¡±

    Quetzalcoatl? He was one of the four suns I was supposed to visit and im the embers from, the lord of art and the wind. ¡°Do you want me to carry a message?¡±

    ¡°Of a sort¡­ but we can discuss it once you convince my king to open the gate.¡± Xolotl turned his back on me. ¡°There are thousands of Itzili in this city, but now that I¡¯ve tasted your blood it shouldn¡¯t take long for me to find him. We shall meet again on your next trip, my dear Iztac.¡±

    ¡°I thank thee, Lord Xolotl,¡± I replied with a formal bow. The favor sounded light enough, though it implied I would need to survive my trip down to the loweryers.

    Once Xolotl bolted back into the alleys, I asked the boatsman for a spot on his skiff, which he graciously agreed to.

    ¡°I seek the Market of Years,¡± I said. ¡°How much will it cost?¡±

    ¡°A conversation,¡± the undead replied, much to my surprise. ¡°You must be new. We boatmen do not guide the dead for money. We do it to stave off the final sleep.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I understand.¡± I nced at countless houses of bones. ¡°You need a hobby not to join them?¡±

    ¡°All of us must,¡± the boatsman said, his rotten teeth shing a smile. ¡°A good routine is the road to life.¡±

    It made a great deal of sense. Death freed souls of bodily needs and pleasures. When one couldn¡¯t drink, eat, or sleep, existence became truly dull without an active effort to carry on. Only work and y remained to keep a soul going.

    The boatsman used a long, rotten pole of fossilized wood to carry us across M¡¯s purple waters. The city¡¯s riverways were eerily quiet, with naught but the sound of raindrops hitting its surface to break the monotony. The Boatman¡ªwho had long forgotten his own name¡ªproved a nice conversationalist.

    ¡°So, if I understand correctly,¡± whispered the Boatman, ¡°If you fail to defeat these vampires, you will be sacrificed and spend eternity in torment?¡±

    ¡°Pretty much.¡±

    My host nodded to himself. ¡°That¡¯s rough, buddy.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is rough.¡± I sighed. ¡°But when I think of how many were sacrificed on my homnd¡¯s altars, my soul would be a mere drop in an ocean of blood.¡±

    ¡°If they have been at it for over five hundred years, these vampires must have reaped millions.¡± The Boatman shrugged. ¡°I am surprised. I thought almost all of us dead ones ended up in this city, one way or another.¡±

    ¡°I heard that dead warriors and women who perished in childbirth followed the sun across the sky,¡± I said. The priests said the First Emperor rewarded the brave by letting them follow in his celestial course.

    The Boatman shook his head. ¡°I heard the same tales when I was alive, but they were wrong. King or ve, warrior or coward, we all end up in the same ce. Those who die of lightning and drowning go to locan though.¡±

    ¡°locan? Thend of loc?¡± loc was said to have been the sun before his wife Chalchiuhtlicue.

    ¡°The secondyer of the Underworld beneath M, where Lord loc holds sway,¡± the Boatman confirmed. ¡°See, souls sacrificed to a god go to that god¡¯s realm when they die. Lord loc holds sway over those who perished from his storms.¡±

    Interesting¡­ I wondered if there was a connection between that mechanism and my own curse. Queen Mictecacihuatl warned me that all vampires descended from a god that arose from the Underworld¡¯s lower depths. If it was the First Emperor of legends, then perhaps it was he who prevented Yohuachanca¡¯s emperors from truly passing on.

    ¡°What can you tell me about the secondyer?¡± I questioned the Boatman.

    ¡°Not much. King Mtecuhtli does not let the dead venture into the lower levels, nor does he allow the creatures below to invade M. Which suggests that the ce must be a special kind of hell.¡± The Boatman lowered his back as we traveled under a bridge of interwoven spines. ¡°However¡­¡±

    ¡°However?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard rumors of a witch who can travel freely across the Land of the Dead Suns. She makes herir in a ce called Xilbaba, the House of Fright, somewhere in locan.¡± The Boatman shrugged. ¡°Might be nothing but empty tales though.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I replied, though if that witch was indeed the person I had in mind¡­ then I now knew where to look for my mother. <em>Xilbaba¡­</em>

    I heard the Market of Years long before it came into sight: flute melodies and the beat of thunderous drums echoed in the air for miles around the ce. Many other skiffs¡ªsome carrying dozens of lost souls¡ªtraveled in that direction, towards basalt zas and porphyry spires, to the point that it clogged the waterway where the Boatman dropped me nearby.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be quicker on foot from here,¡± he said. ¡°Just follow the music.¡±

    ¡°I shall.¡± I jumped onto the docks and politely bade him goodbye. ¡°Thank you for the conversation.¡±

    A few minutes afterward, I joined the crowds walking into the Market of Years.

    The ce drew a gasp from me, for it put even the capital¡¯s markets to shame. Hundreds of stalls crafted from the remains of colossal creatures¡ªfrom longneck ribcages to feathered tyrant skulls¡ªsprawled before me in maze-like lines. Skeletal merchants adorned with tattered garments beckoned visiting souls toe closer with slow gestures and weing whispers, to witness their wares.

    Since I stood out from the rest of the city as a catecolotl¡ªhaving flesh to cover most of my bones¡ªI brought attention upon myself. Merchants singled me out from the crowd, and I indulged them by checking out their stands.

    The dead had no need for food or drink, and since nothing alive made its way to the Underworld, I saw no fruit or meat. Instead, the merchants offered a vast array of crafted goods: obsidian mirrors, polished bone instruments, ceramic pottery, tattered textiles, and entangled tapestries. For the most part, these stalls did not change much from what one could find above ground.

    However, the deeper I went into the market, the stranger the offerings. A shop sold hundreds of keys made of various materials, from rusty metal to bone and stone. Another merchant sold tablets taller than me, each of which were inscribed with a carved monster; I heard voices whispering from within the stone when I approached closely. A third sold strange wooden boxes covered in odd symbols. I found these goods so odd that I stopped to examine them more closely.

    ¡°These are puzzle boxes, oh spirit,¡± the merchant exined, amused by my curiosity. ¡°The Ton civilization used them to keep secrets. Find the correctbination, and the box will reveal a message to you.¡±

    ¡°The Tons?¡± I squinted while studying one of the boxes. Each face was made of nine small cubes, which appeared capable of moving around. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of them.¡±

    ¡°They vanished a few hundred¡­¡± The merchant scratched the back of his head. ¡°A few thousand years ago? It has been so long, I can no longer remember.¡±

    I had to admit I was curious about what kind of civilization built these toys. ¡°How did you find these boxes?¡±

    ¡°I picked them up,¡± the merchant replied with a shrug. ¡°Goods trickle down from the stone skies, and the lost call to the lost. I gathered three, four, and before I knew it, one box found its way to me each century.¡±

    ¡°Very interesting,¡± I said while putting the puzzle box back on the stand. ¡°How much would these boxes cost?¡±

    ¡°I usually sell them for a year ofpany,¡± the merchant rasped with a crooked smile. ¡°But for a spirit, I am willing to settle for a month.¡±

    I finally understood the meaning behind the market¡¯s name. The Market of Years¡¯ currency was not gold, but time. The dead traded weeks, months, or years of service andpany in order to stave off their final sleep.

    Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have a month to spare, so I politely refused his offer and carried on. I checked the stalls until I found one that sold old, tattered scrolls and books. Most of them were written in deadnguages I couldn¡¯t understand, but one included an outdated map of the continent.

    ¡°You have a good eye, spirit,¡± the merchant ttered me. ¡°This is a map of the Boiling Sea from two hundred years ago.¡±

    ¡°Three,¡± I corrected him. Yohuachanca¡¯s frontiers were a fraction of what they were today. Half a dozen dead empires stood on the dry parchment, the ink shaping their borders an epitaph. Thankfully, the Boiling Sea itself hadn¡¯t changed at all. It would serve me well. ¡°How much for this one?¡±

    Thankfully, he didn¡¯t ask for time. ¡°What do you offer, spirit?¡±

    An idea crossed my mind. ¡°Have you ever flown?¡±

    The merchant stroked his bony chin. ¡°Flown?¡±

    I answered by adopting my Tonalli shape. A few startled visitors shrieked in surprise as my arms transformed into wings and my legs into talons, but many more gathered around me out of curiosity. I assumed most of them had never heard of a catecolotl, let alone seen one.

    ¡°I will buy your map for ten minutes of flight,¡± I offered the astonished merchant. ¡°I shall carry you in my talons as we fly over the city. You will remember this memory for centuries.¡±

    ¡°Oh my¡­¡± The merchant gave thought to my proposal and agreed with a nod. ¡°I would be thankful, oh spirit.¡±

    A few minutes and a short aerial tour of the cityter, I walked away from the stall with a map. The merchant¡ªwho went by the name of Tolteca¡ªoffered me a bag of worn leather to carry the map around in, in exchange for the promise that I woulde back to visit his stall. I actually intended to follow through; knowledge was power, and some of the scrolls he sold might contain secrets I could use.

    Unfortunately, transforming into a bird and offering a flying tour of M came with downsides; namely, hordes of bored skeletons all but begging for their turn. ¡°I will give you a mirror for ten minutes of your time, oh spirit!¡± one said. ¡°Will you take my son for a ride in exchange for a statue?¡± another offered. ¡°Please, crush me under your mighty talons,¡± a third all but pleaded with a tone far from chaste. ¡°I beg of you!¡±

    ¡°Uh, I am forbidden from harming the dead,¡± I replied to thetter while returning to my human form. ¡°I¡¯m looking for someone called Huehuecoyotl. Could you point me in his direction?¡±

    Ten fingers pointed in a gaudy tent¡¯s direction, one located on the very outskirts of the marketce. Its orange-and-purple coloring stood out from the other stall in many ways, and I couldn¡¯t recognize its texture; the cloth appeared to simmer like a fading dream, and the diaphanous veils covering the entrance glowed brighter than a rainbow. A garish-painted signboard stood near the threshold, with words appearing inmon Yohuachancan the moment I gave it a look.<blockquote>

    <em>Huehuecoyotl¡¯s Spirit Message Agency!</em>

    <em>Tired of waiting for friends and family to arrive? Contact your living rtives now! The service is to die for!</em></blockquote>

    That¡­ sounded fishy. Very fishy.

    I walked past the veils and into a space far bigger than the outside would suggest. A ring of ghostly mes floated at the edge of the room, illuminating it. Two undead sat on wooden chairs around a crystal sphere sitting atop a table and a crimson cloak. It seemed I had walked in the middle of a performance of sorts.

    ¡°Do you see, ma¡¯am?¡± A strange man sat behind the table, whispering with a voice brimming with power. Much like every other citizen of the Underworld, not a single scrap of flesh covered his bones. However, his skull belonged not to a man, but a canine of some kind. Unlike most people outside, his ceremonial clothes¡ªwhich included a cotton jacket and an embroidered cloak¡ªwere made of refined, colorful material rather than tattered scraps. ¡°Do you see your dear husband?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I see him,¡± the client said, an undead woman who differed from her fellows outside only from the golden rings glittering on her fingers. ¡°My Khuno¡­ he has remained faithful!¡±

    I approached closer to get a better look. These two stared into the crystal ball with such intensity that they didn¡¯t notice me. To my surprise, I witnessed images swirling on its surface. I saw a handsome man with Sapa-like features and graying hair in a vige with mountains in the background. The vivid level of detail astonished me. The color of the sky, the wrinkles on the man¡¯s skin, the sound of the wind blowing in the background¡­ I even detected a sweet, flowery smelling from the crystal ball. It was as if its surface was a window into the world above.

    <em>Is that an Augury spell?</em> I wondered as I watched the man whisper words before a strange stone totem in a tongue I could not understand. <em>No, my own version cannot show me visions. This is something else.</em>

    ¡°His devotion for you never wavered,¡± the coyote-headed man said¡ªwhom I now assumed was Huehuecoyotl. ¡°Countless women threw themselves at his feet, but none could match you in his heart.¡±

    ¡°He is praying¡­¡± The client covered her mouth in surprise. ¡°Has he finally be our tribe¡¯s shaman?¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Huehuecoyotl confirmed with a happy nod. ¡°The entire Quin tribe bows before his wisdom.¡±

    And then I remembered that Huehuecoyotl was a known trickster.

    ¡°He¡¯s lying to you,¡± I said with a snort of disdain. ¡°The Quin were conquered five years ago.¡±

    The women didn¡¯t appear to notice. ¡°I am so proud of him¡­¡° she whispered with a sob,pletely entranced by the vision. ¡°All this time, I thought he would only shame me¡­¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± I waved a hand in front of the woman¡¯s eyes. She did not even react. ¡°Hello?¡±

    ¡°Are you going to shut up, man?!¡± Huehuecoyotl snapped at me. ¡°She can¡¯t hear you, and I would appreciate it if you would stop interrupting my¨C¡±

    The conman stopped upon examining me more closely. His empty eye holes stared at my face, then at the fire in my chest, and finally, at my legs. His gaze strangely lingered the longest on them.

    ¡°Is that an ass?¡± he asked me, rising from his seat to take a better look.

    I held his gaze, too puzzled by his question to react. Something in his tone sent shivers down my spine.

    ¡°It <em>is </em>an ass, two beautiful mounds of flesh! And that stinger¡­¡± His empty eye holes lit up with a disturbing green glow. ¡°Is that a perfectly functional appendage?¡±

    His hand moved across the table and put his hand between my legs, at a spot which only Eztli and Ingrid dared to explore.

    To protect myself, I changed into a bird.

    My arms unfurled into ck wings whose span reached from one end of the tent to the other. My sharp beak let out a screech high-pitched enough to raise the dead. My nails grew into talons sharp enough to tear flesh asunder. Countless would have recoiled in fear at the sight of my transformation.

    Huehuecoyotl answered it with two words.

    ¡°Even better,¡± he muttered.

    What was wrong with this¡­ this fool?

    Huehuecoyotl¡¯s fascination with me broke the concentration of his spell. The pictures on the crystal ball¡¯s surface faded away, alongside the smell and sound, which allowed the client to return to reality. ¡°Mister? What is¡ªAH!¡±

    She fell out of her chair screaming upon seeing me. Huehuecoyotl waved a hand at her almost dismissively. ¡°Don¡¯t worry ma¡¯am, everything¡¯s under control!¡± Huehuecoyotl said. ¡°Take a good look, it¡¯s just a turkey spirit!¡±

    I red at him, but the woman immediately calmed down. ¡°Oh right, I hadn¡¯t noticed,¡± she said, even chucking at me. Me. A giant owl who could tear her to shreds. ¡°Poor me, scared out of her own shadow¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes, ma¡¯am, you need to take a rest!¡± Huehuecoyotl said while gently pushing her towards the exit. ¡°I¡¯ll send your regards to your husband!¡±

    ¡°But¨C¡± she protested.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a pleasure,e back never!¡± Huehuecoyotl all but shoved his customer through his tent¡¯s veil. Then he immediately turned to face me with hands trembling in excitement. ¡°Are you a catecolotl?¡±

    ¡°No, I am a giant turkey.¡± Now that we were alone in the tent, my eyes wandered from the strange coyote-man to his crystal ball. ¡°Was that the Veil spell you used?¡±

    ¡°Ah, and he¡¯s a smart customer too!¡± Huehuecoyotl crossed his arms and nodded with a smug grin. ¡°Indeed, my dear feathered visitor, this is all my Veil¡¯s doing! The pictures, the ces, everything! Even the tent¡¯s colors are fake!¡±

    He snapped his fingers, and the tent immediately gained a few hundred years. Holes appeared on the cloth, the cloak covering the table vanished, and even the pristine crystal ball turned into a half-shattered stone.

    I had to confess I was impressed. If the Veil spell could trick my senses so easily, or prevent that woman from hearing my voice, I could use it to hide my activities. Still, I couldn¡¯t close my eyes on Huehuecoyotl¡¯s trickery.

    ¡°So you indeed lied to that woman.¡± I red at this crook. ¡°Have you no shame, exploiting her grief?¡±

    ¡°Look, man, if someone is stupid enough to believe I can contact the living, clearly they¡¯re guilty of willful ignorance! They¡¯re the real criminals! I would even say I¡¯m doing a service, a public service!¡± He just kept inventing new excuses on the spot, too fast for me to counter them. ¡°I¡¯m not selling the <em>truth</em>, I¡¯m selling an <em>experience</em>! A good con is like good sex, it requires mutual consent! She¡¯s going toe back for more, you¡¯ll see¨C¡±

    At my wit¡¯s end, I activated my Doll spell and targeted that unruly mouth of his. I was very much inexperienced in it so I only managed to snap his jaw shut with enough strength to crack one of Huehuecoyotl¡¯s teeth. I immediately regretted my action, until he let out a muffled squeal of pleasure.

    ¡°Are you¡­ do you enjoy getting hurt?¡± I released him on the spot, my pity immediately turning to disgust. ¡°What is your problem?¡±

    If anything, Huehuecoyotl only managed to dig himself deeper. ¡°Do you understand what you can do with only a pelvis bone and your imagination? Not much!¡±

    I held his gaze in silence, looking down on him, judging him.

    ¡°Hey, hey,e on, stop looking at me like that¡­¡± The old coyoteughed in embarrassment. ¡°I would have reacted the same if you had a pair of breasts. I mean, can you imagine hundreds of years without seeing a piece of flesh? Seeing you, it¡¯s like witnessing the miracle of life all over again!¡±

    Xolotl¡­ That bastard, he <em>knew</em>. They <em>all </em>knew.

    <em>I have to bear it</em>, I told myself. For the sake of victory, I was willing to deal with this¡­ piece of garbage. <em>This is nothingpared to what I¡¯ve endured.</em>

    ¡°Anyway¡­¡± Huehuecoyotl slouched back in his chair, his legs crossed and his hands behind the back of his head. ¡°Why did youe to my humble shop, mister¡­¡±

    ¡°Iztac,¡± I replied, my blood boiling when Huehuecoyotl whistled at me. ¡°Stop it.¡±

    ¡°Come on, Izty, rx.¡± Unfortunately, my unease only encouraged the dirty coyote. ¡°I don¡¯t bite, I nibble.¡±

    ¡°<em>Stop</em> it.¡± I dared not return to my human shape, lest he do something inappropriate. ¡°I havee to learn the Veil spell from you. Just teach me and I¡¯ll be on my way.¡±

    ¡°Whoa, whoa, slow down, birdie. It took me many, <em>many </em>years of practice to master my Veil spell!¡± Huehuecoyotl licked his fangs in a way that I found deeply unsettling. ¡°If you want my expertise, you¡¯ll have to pay up one way or another...¡±

    <em>Come on, Iztac, he¡¯s toying with you</em>. I could see the mischief in his eyes. This old coyote delighted in making me squirm. If I was to triumph, I couldn¡¯t indulge him. I gathered my breath, thought over my options, and regained myposure.

    ¡°I am a catecolotl, he who can travel between the living world and the house of the dead,¡± I said with all the dignity I could muster. ¡°There is much I can offer you, Huehuecoyotl. Greater rewards than childish pleasures.¡±

    ¡°Greater rewards, eh?¡± Huehuecoyotl meditated on my words for a few seconds, a dark chuckle rising from his throat. ¡°Eh¡­ eh¡­¡±

    His chuckle grew into a billowingugh, then a burst of hystericalughter that echoed into the tent. I waited for him to calm down, as stoic and silent as a stone weathering the wind.

    ¡°Alright, alright¡­ I¡¯ll teach you my beautiful spell.¡± Huehuecoyotl rubbed a thumb and index finger together. ¡°If you pass a very simple test. A trifle, truly.¡±

    The Parliament¡¯s warning weighed heavily on my mind. <em>Expect to be pranked.</em> ¡°Go on.¡±

    Huehuecoyotl joined his hands, his teeth arranged into a ghastly smile.

    ¡°Make me <em>happy</em>,¡± he said.

 Chapter Eleven: The Fourth Sun

    Chapter Eleven: The Fourth Sun

    Huehuecoyotlughed like a child as I carried him in the air.

    The Underworld¡¯s winds battered my wingspan, and carrying the old conman proved quite difficult. Huehuecoyotl could hardly ride my back for two seconds before swinging his body from left to right in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the world below. I flew circles around M¡¯s walls and Mtecuhtli¡¯s finger towers while desperately trying to prevent my overactive passenger from falling.

    ¡°Amazing!¡± Huehuecoyotl whipped purple raindrops off his skull. ¡°A bit too wet, but amazing!¡±

    ¡°Are you happy yet?!¡± I shouted back, having carried him for half an hour already.

    ¡°Mmm¡­¡± Huehuecoyotl stroked his chin. He considered my question for a few minutes, before answering with a t, ¡°No.¡±

    I had never ridden a trihorn in my life, let alone a dead one.

    ¡°Run, my champion!¡± Huehuecoyotl shouted at me from the stands, his voice barely cutting through the noise and cheers of the roaring undead audience. ¡°You¡¯re almost there!¡±

    I gritted my teeth, my hands hanging to a skeletal trihorn¡¯s rib cage as it rushed across a stadium with giant bones for stands and a running track built out of fossilized flesh. Three other trihorn riders rushed after me with maddened lights glittering in their empty eyeholes. They would trample me to death in a heartbeat¡ªif they still had hearts¡ªif it meant getting ahead of me.

    As for how I ended up in this position¡­ I couldn¡¯t tell myself.My mount moved so fast that I would have fallen off without my Doll spell. Phantom strings allowed me to just barely redirect my trihorn in the direction I wanted. Even then, I was almost thrown off its back when it leaped over a trench obstacle. I shouted in panic as we crashnded past the finish line. The crowd erupted into cheers, though none louder than Huehuecoyotl, who had bet on my victory.

    ¡°Yes, yes, yes!¡± The old coyote jumped out of the stands and rushed to my side to congratte me. A wealth of new golden rings glittered on his fingers. ¡°You¡¯ve done it, Iztac! One to five odds, and you still did it!¡±

    ¡°Are you¡­¡± I didn¡¯t truly breathe in the Underworld, and yet I found myself gasping for air. I fell to my mount¡¯s side on the cold hard ground, staring at the rainy sky. ¡°Are you happy yet?¡±

    Huehuecoyotl scratched the back of his head, studied me thoroughly, and then delivered his judgment.

    ¡°Nope!¡± He snapped his fingers. ¡°But I know what would do it now, though!¡±

    There was a porphyry spire in M that offered the most ¡®romantic¡¯ view of the Market of Years. Getting safe ess to the roof cost me a whole hour of constant flights to bribe the guards.

    I would do anything for my ¡®boyfriend¡¯s¡¯ sake.

    The sight from the roof gave me pause though. I didn¡¯t notice until then, but what I mistook for a chaotic maze of tents, shops, and stalls was in truth a carefully organized tapestry in the shape of an impossiblyrge human heart. The endless lines of visitors flowed through fossilized arteries like living blood. How and why the city¡¯s merchants organized themselves to achieve such a feat escaped me. The market included thousands of participants; they couldn¡¯t have all synchronized so perfectly.

    I would have greatly enjoyed watching the day unfold with Eztli at my side. It would have been quite the entertaining date.

    But who needed a girl when I could share a moment with Huehuecoyotl and his <em>wonderful </em>personality?

    ¡°Fascinating, isn¡¯t it?¡± Huehuecoyotl asked at my side. The two of us stood near the roof¡¯s edge, with nothing but a wide open void to surround us. The ground many hundred feet below called out to anyone ncing at it to fall to their death. ¡°These dead aren¡¯t sleeping yet, but they¡¯re already part of the city.¡±

    What was my line again? Since I forgot, I decided to improvise.

    ¡°I find it inspiring,¡± I replied softly as I observed the crowds of customers travel through the market, their words and songs giving life to M. ¡°<em>This</em> is a living, beating heart.¡±

    ¡°Your presence makes me miss mine.¡± Huehuecoyotl sent me a longing, mischievous gaze. ¡°It would pound louder than a drum right now if I still lived.¡±

    How could he say those words without dying of shame? Did they ever work on anyone?

    ¡°Huehue¡­¡± My gaze lost itself in his shining eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t bring you here just to admire the view.¡±

    Huehuecoyotl pretended to be surprised. ¡°You did not?¡±

    ¡°You must have noticed by now. All these gazes we shared, the way my hands brushed yours¡­¡± It hurt my throat to say something so stupid. ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡±

    Huehuecoyotl covered his mouth with both hands. ¡°Oh, Iztac¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± I mustered all of my strength, all my willpower, all of my bravery, and then uttered the dreaded three words. ¡°I¡­ love you.¡±

    Huehuecoyotl gasped in shock and surprise. I couldn¡¯t say whether he was faking it or he felt genuinely impressed that I would actually go through with this mad scheme of his. His hands moved to his chest, as if to prevent his nonexistent heart from escaping his empty ribcage. ¡°Oh, Iztac¡­ this¡­ this is too much¡­¡±

    I concurred. How did I ever let him talk me into this roley nonsense? The things I did for infinite magical power¡­

    ¡°I had no idea¡­¡± Huehuecoyotl swooned like a maiden in love. ¡°I think I could die satisfied now, if I weren¡¯t dead already.¡±

    I held back a breath of relief and smiled. The torture was almost over. ¡°Have I made you happy atst?¡±

    Huehuecoyotl joined his hands together and regained some measure ofposure. ¡°I¡¯m touched, truly, and I believe we¡¯ve built a special connection. However¡­¡±

    My smile faded away.

    ¡°However, I believe one needs more than love to be truly happy,¡± the shameless coyote bastard said. ¡°You know what the void in my soul is missing? A luxury boat¨C¡±

    The me within my chest erupted as I shapeshifted into a vengeful owl. I was too angry to string a single sentence together, so I simply shrieked.

    ¡°Hey, hey, no need to bring talons into this!¡± Huehuecoyotl protested as I took a menacing step in his direction. ¡°You know the rules, right?! No violence!¡±

    I stopped for a few seconds, just long enough to figure out a loophole. I activated the Doll spell and targeted his legs.

    ¡°Wait, wait, what are you¨C¡± I caused Huehuecoyotl¡¯s knees to fail him before he realized the danger. ¡°Ah!¡±

    I watched Huehuecoyotl stumble off the roof with grim satisfaction, then I peeked into the void to watch the fall. His screams of fear and panic were music to my ears. And what to say of that delectable feeling that warmed my innards as he became smaller and smaller? I now understood what hawks felt when they dropped prey from above.

    Considering how annoying this swindler had turned out to be, I half-expected Queen Mictecacihuatl to congratte me if Huehuecoyotl actually hit the ground. Still, he didn¡¯t deserve to die twice. That would have been too easy after all the ridiculous nonsense he put me through today.

    So I dived after him, caught up to him in an instant halfway through the spire¡¯s length, and grabbed his shoulders with my talons. ¡°Oh, thank the gods!¡± Huehuecoyotl let out a short-lived sigh of relief. ¡°I knew you wouldn¡¯t let me¡ªAH!¡±

    I carried the coyote perilously close to the stalls, narrowly moving out of harm¡¯s way whenever my prey was a single hair away from crashing into an obstacle. The poor fool struggled against my grip as we made our way towards the canals.

    I flew so close to the water that Huehuecoyotl¡¯s feet briefly touched the surface. It only made him grip me tighter in his panic, which I found deeply amusing.

    ¡°You want a boat?!¡± I asked my prey with a joyful tone. ¡°Here, take your pick!¡±

    We lomed among surprised boatmen and narrow waterways, narrowly dodging wooden prows and bone-bridges. Boatmen stopped their skiffs dead in their tracks as we flew past them, while skeletal passengers ducked down to avoid a collision. Huehuecoyotl screamed like a child from start to finish.

    When I finally grew tired of carrying the swindler around, I slowed down and tossed him along a stone walkway. Huehuecoyotlid face-down on a road of paved bones, kissing the safe ground he had taken for granted. ¡°Ah¡­¡± he rattled, catching his nonexistent breath. ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    ¡°Had enough?¡± I asked the old coyote as Inded at his side. I didn¡¯t shapeshift back into a man, in case I had to give him a second tour. ¡°Otherwise, I can take you outside the walls too.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Huehuecoyotl rolled on his back like a dog whose belly demanded a good rubbing. His fearful rattle turned into a bellowing, joyful sound. ¡°Aha!¡±

    Of the ways he could have answered, I did not expectughter.

    I watched on, mesmerized, as Huehuecoyotlughed his ass off. He rolled left to right on the ground while holding his ribs.

    ¡°Oh my, that was¡­¡± He recovered enough of hisposure to rise back up. ¡°That was great.¡±

    I red at him and expanded my wings. ¡°Clearly I haven¡¯t tried hard enough.¡±

    ¡°Wait, wait!¡± Huehuecoyotl waved his hands at me so fast that I could feel a breeze on my feathers. ¡°I¡¯m serious, that was great!¡±

    ¡°Then teach me your damn spell!¡± I snarled, at my wit¡¯s end. ¡°All you¡¯ve done so far is exploit me for cheap tricks!¡±

    I had wasted most of the night on Huehuecoyotl¡¯s insane demands. They started innocently enough, like an aerial sightseeing tour of M or singing, but then escted to participating in races all the way to dering my <em>undying love</em> for the old coyote. Eztli would have mocked him for thest one.

    Having been bullied and the target of pranks in the past, I had grown thick skin over the years. <em>Don¡¯t let theughs get to you</em>, I told myself. I was ready to swallow my pride for the sake of learning magic. A beekeeper couldn¡¯t harvest sweet honey without exposing themselves to stingers.

    Yet Huehuecoyotl <em>still </em>managed to exhaust my patience.

    ¡°Hey, hey,e on, don¡¯t say that, Iz. Can I call you Iz?¡± That cursed swindler had the audacity to look <em>wounded</em>. ¡°I wasn¡¯t exploiting you, I was teaching you.¡±

    I held back the urge to peck him to death. ¡°Teaching me what? I fulfilled all your requests and I¡¯m still nowhere near close to learning the Veil spell.¡±

    ¡°My poor Iztac, that¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong.¡± Huehuecoyotl chuckled at my angered re. I had to admire his bravado if nothing else. ¡°What¡¯s the greatest quality for a Veil user?¡±

    ¡°Aplete and utterck of shame?¡±

    ¡°Come on, I¡¯m serious.¡± Huehuecoyotl crossed his arms and looked at me as if I were an unruly child. ¡°What¡¯s a Veil user¡¯s best quality in your mind?¡±

    Had I intimidated him into giving me a morsel of knowledge? Though it demanded great willpower to contain my rage, I decided to y along. ¡°Creativity?¡±

    ¡°Your answer proves you don¡¯t have any. As a reward for this night of pleasure, I will tell you the answer.¡± Huehuecoyotl wagged his finger at me. ¡°It¡¯s selflessness.¡±

    ¡°Selflessness?!¡± The nerve of this shameless fool¡­ unbelievable. ¡°Take a look at yourself. You don¡¯t have a single selfless bone in your body.¡±

    ¡°So cold and aloof¡­ Let me ask you a riddle¨C¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said impatiently. ¡°Oh wait, let me ask you one of mine: who is the old dog who¡¯s about to be dumped off M¡¯s walls if he doesn¡¯t give me what I want in the next five minutes?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not giving you what you think you <em>want</em>, Iztac.¡± Huehuecoyotl shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m giving you what you <em>need</em>.¡±

    And now he tried to sound wise and mysterious. Wonderful. Still, he did sound halfway serious¡­

    ¡°Imagine a woman, a beautiful woman, vain and difficult,¡± Huehuecoyotl said. ¡°Though it can be a man too if you want, I don¡¯t discriminate¨C¡±

    ¡°Get to the point,¡± I cut in.

    ¡°Fine, fine. A vain woman says she wishes to look at her own reflection. The most faithful one, she says. So shemissions two craftsmen to help. The first offers her a mirror, the most polished mirror in the world, that shows her exactly as she is, wrinkles and all. The second, an artist, draws a painting that presents her at her best, with smooth skin and a wonderful smile. Which of the two craftsmen is the most selfless?¡±

    I pondered the question for a few seconds beforeing up with the answer. ¡°The mirror-maker, because the mirror reflects the woman as she is, and not as the artist imagines her to be.¡±

    Huehuecoyotl¡¯s teeth morphed into a pleased smirk. ¡°Wrong!¡±

    ¡°Wrong?¡± Now I felt a little confused. ¡°Is it not selfless to tell the truth?¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t noticed the key detail,¡± Huehuecoyotl chastized me. ¡°The woman is vain. She <em>says </em>she wants to see her truthful reflection, and she may even think she does¡­ but deep down, what she <em>truly </em>desires is that fleeting feeling of vainglorious contentment. While the mirror-maker didn¡¯t bother understanding his customer, the artist guessed her true desire and fulfilled it.¡±

    Her true desire? I pondered Huehuecoyotl¡¯s words and tried to discern what his parable meant. Did it somehow rte to what happened tonight?

    <em>The old coyote is a trickster, </em>I thought. <em>Were his demands not mere whims, but lessons in disguise?</em>

    Huehuecoyotl agreed to teach me the Veil spell if I made him happy. It took me a moment to realize why I had failed. All along, I simply went along with what he said or thought<em></em>he <em>wanted </em>rather than what he <em>needed</em>.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know yourself,¡± I guessed, ¡°What would make you happy. That¡¯s why you¡¯reing up with all these stupid pranks.¡±

    ¡°Does anyone?¡± Huehuecoyotlughed at me. ¡°Everyone is a ve to something, Iztac. Few, however, are willing to ept it. So they bury their shameful feelings under mountains of lies and moral justifications. A man says he kills for his nation, and may even believe it. But if his country were to copse, he would turn into a bandit in a heartbeat, because murder is not a means to an end for him; it is the end.¡±

    I finally caught on. ¡°A true Veil user must understand their target better than they know themselves.¡±

    ¡°Now you¡¯re getting it.¡± Huehuecoyotl patted me on the wing with a sleazy grin. ¡°The secret of life is that most people don¡¯t know what their heart truly wishes to see. The best illusions show it to them.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just tell me that?¡± I snapped at him. My time in the sleeping world was awfully limited. ¡°You could have spared us hours of work!¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t ¡®work,¡¯ my slow-witted beautiful bird, it was a fun lesson.¡± Huehuecoyotl cackled happily. ¡°Nobody upstairs will ever tell you what they truly want because half the time, they don¡¯t even know it themselves. A heart¡¯s desire is a secret treasure you must excavate with your wits and your bare hands.¡±

    The old Nahualli put his hands behind the back of his head. ¡°I still don¡¯t feel all too peachy by the way,¡± he teased me. ¡°You¡¯re getting there, Iz, but I still need a little push to achieve true bliss.¡±

    A wave of anger and frustration surged through my spine. He still wasn¡¯t satisfied after everything? <em>No, wait, this is a test</em>. I mellowed out a bit after figuring this out. <em>He gave me a hint to solve his riddle.</em>

    We had gone through so many activities yet never once did Huehuecoyotlugh. Only when I threatened his unlife did he actually appear to enjoy himself. Did this old coyote enjoy being threatened?

    <em>No</em>, I thought after mulling over ourtest adventure, <em>he didn¡¯t look too pleased when I threw him off the spire. He wasughing too when I asked him to teach me his spell.</em>

    I studied Huehuecoyotl without a word, who grinned back at me. This man was a griefer, a daredevil, and a trickster. He seemed to find joy in annoying me, but I knew true bullies. I would never forget theughter of my ssmates when they tossed me into a sanitary pit.

    Huehuecoyotl wasn¡¯t a cruel man. He neverughed at what he had put me through today. He did not annoy me for its own sake. He struck me as a curious dog constantly poking a turtle to see how it would react.

    The truth hit me like a stone to the face.

    <em>He likes being surprised</em>, I realized. Huehuecoyotl onlyughed when I took him aback. He enjoyed the <em>unexpected</em>. But what would surprise a legendary trickster enough for him to feel bliss? A joke of legendary proportions, no doubt.

    A <em>divine </em>prank.

    ¡°Eh¡­¡± I chuckled to myself. ¡°I understand now.¡±

    ¡°You do?¡± Huehuecoyotl started viting my personal space again, his hands rubbing against my feathers. ¡°You¡¯re finally going to take me to your secret love nest?¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡± I grabbed him with my beak, the way a mother dog would carry a puppy, and tossed him onto my back. Being a giant owl did wonders for my neck¡¯s flexibility. ¡°You¡¯ll have to see and find out.¡±

    It was time to kill two birds with one stone, as they said.

    ¡°I was wondering how you were doing, Iztac,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl greeted me as wended in her husband¡¯s court. The ashen za dampened the sound of my pping wings into near silence. ¡°Have youe to train with me?¡±

    ¡°Very soon, oh queen of the Underworld.¡± I dumped Huehuecoyotl onto the ground before bowing before Mictecacihuatl. ¡°I havee to pay your husband his due.¡±

    ¡°Iz, you didn¡¯t tell me you had friends in low ces!¡± Huehuecoyotl dusted off his clothes and smiled at Mictecacihuatl. ¡°Oh my queen, how beautiful you are tonight! But then again, you are always beautiful. How¡¯s your husband treating you?¡±

    Mictecacihuatl ignored the trickster utterly. She didn¡¯t even spare him a single nce. ¡°I warned you that he would be insufferable, Iztac.¡±

    ¡°The tales did not do him justice,¡± I replied with a sigh.

    ¡°Did you mean that as a criticism or apliment?¡± Huehuecoyotl nagged me. ¡°Because it sounds intentionally vague.¡±

    Taking a leaf from Mictecacihuatl¡¯s book, I shapeshifted back into a man without answering him. The bag I bought from the Market of Years fit me in any form. I opened its content and unfurled the old, dusty map inside.

    ¡°Oh great queen of the dead,¡± I pleaded with Mictecacihuatl. ¡°I beseech thee to grant me an audience with King Mtecuhtli.¡±

    ¡°Your request is granted.¡± Was that a flicker of amusement I saw in her eyes when she studied my map? She appeared to have guessed my n. ¡°I shall offer a warning. If you cannot deliver my husband¡¯s tribute, do not expect a third audience.¡±

    Her tone gave me pause. ¡°Because King Mtecuhtli will not answer another demand, or because he will annihte me?¡±

    The queen¡¯s silence was an answer in itself. How worrying.

    ¡°I would like for Huehuecoyotl to witness the audience,¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Poor old me?¡± Huehuecoyotl gasped in false shock. ¡°Aww, I knew you cared.¡±

    Mictecacihuatl stared at the trickster with a look of utter annoyance. ¡°So long as he does not speak a word,¡± she decided. ¡°Otherwise, I shall smite him to dust.¡±

    ¡°My, the thought of being manhandled by a goddess fills me with¡ªmmmm!¡± Huehuecoyotl¡¯s jaw snapped shut on its own, much to his annoyance. It took me a moment to notice the near-invisible strings binding his maw to Mictecacihuatl¡¯s hand. ¡°Mmmm!¡±

    ¡°In time, Iztac, you will understand the main advantages of the Doll spell,¡± Mictecacihuatl mused. ¡°Silence.¡±

    Like any good teacher, she understood how to motivate her students.

    With Huehuecoyotl reduced to a silent spectator, I knelt among the ashes as Mictecacihuatl petitioned her mountain of a husband to grant me an audience. ¡°The young catecolotl has returned, my king.¡±

    For a long, agonizing minute, it seemed as if the goddess¡¯ appeal had fallen on deaf ears. However, I had grown more attuned to the invisible energies that pervaded the Underworld across my multiple journeys. A foreboding sensation filled the cold dead air. A subtle pulse coursed through the ground as if heralding an iing earthquake. The shadow that King Mictantecuhtli¡¯s colossal skull cast over me lengthened until it engulfed the entire za. Even the carefree Huehuecoyotl crawled onto the ground and did his best to look small.

    Ethereal stars lit up inside Mtecuhtli¡¯s empty eye sockets. Their eldritch radiance put the fire in my chest to shame and dimly illuminated the darkness. A terrible silence swallowed all noise, for the god tolerated no other sound than his own whispers.

    <em>¡°Your heartbeat quickens, little bird.¡± </em>Mtecuhtli¡¯s words sounded no louder than falling raindrops, yet they carried the weight of an ocean. <em>¡°Are you afraid?¡±</em>

    Of course I was afraid. My experience with the Nightlords had strengthened my will, and I believed I had found a solution to the god¡¯s request, but I was still an ant trying to bargain with a giant. Mtecuhtlu could wipe me out of existence with a stray thought. To dare presume how he would react was folly.

    The god might be bound to follow his word, but nothing would prevent him from crushing me afterward if I somehow annoyed him. My only hope was to be as polite and deferential as possible in the hope he wouldn¡¯t punish meter.

    ¡°Only the mad would not fear you, Your Majesty,¡± I replied, trying to find the most diplomatic words possible. ¡°My immortal soul is at your mercy.¡±

    <em>¡°It is. You would have been wiser to learn patience and never return.¡± </em>There was no anger or annoyance in Mtecuhtli¡¯s voice. I did not think the god was capable of such emotion. Death felt nothing. <em>¡°You kneel before me once more, yet I see no ocean of blood outside my walls. Have youe to me without a tribute?¡±</em>

    Now was the moment of truth. I gathered all of my courage, invited the frosty air of the Underworld into my throat and body, and thenid my map on the ground.

    ¡°There aren¡¯t enough bodies above ground to satisfy Your Majesty¡¯s demand,¡± I replied, my voice no louder than a whisper. ¡°So I shall shed the offering myself.¡±

    I raised my left arm and bit into my own veins. I gnawed at my own flesh until my teeth reached a thick liquid. A metallic, rancid taste filled my mouth.

    ¡°This is the world.¡± I raised my bleeding arm over the map. ¡°And this¡­ is the ocean.¡±

    Drops of my ckened blood fell onto the map and filled the Boiling Sea¡¯s drawing. The warm liquid flowing through my veins, thest vestige of life one could carry into the Land of the Dead Suns, flowed out of my veins and onto the paper below. It painted the drawn oceans with a dark crimson hue.

    ¡°I have brought the tribute you asked for, oh great king of the Underworld.¡± I grabbed the map and presented it to Mtecuhtli. I lowered my head in submission, and prayed to all gods who would listen to spare my life. ¡°An ocean of blood.¡±

    Huehuecoyotl watched the scene with a hint of muffledughter, his jaw too tightly bound for him to express his amusement. Queen Mictecacihuatl joined her hands together, her back as straight as an arrow.

    Her husband answered how I expected him to.

    <em>¡°I am not impressed.¡± </em>Mtecuhtli found my offering wanting. <em>¡°This is not what I asked for.¡±</em>

    I was warned he would try to haggle. Gods were bound by the letter of their word, not its spirit. ¡°This is the Boiling Sea, an ocean that stretches across the east,¡± I insisted. ¡°You asked for an ocean of blood.¡±

    <em>¡°This is naught but a puddle bound by ink.¡± </em>I believed Mtecuhtli was incapable of emotion, but I detected a hint of annoyance in his words. <em>¡°Cunning is the lowest form of intelligence, little bird, and no substitute for hard work.¡±</em>

    <em>No amount of hard work would let me fulfill this task, oh king of the dead</em>, I thought. <em>You asked for the impossible.</em>

    Thankfully, Queen Mictecacihuatl came to my rescue. ¡°My king did request an ocean of blood,¡± she pointed out. ¡°Cunning might be the lowest form of intelligence, but it is intelligence nheless. Shouldn¡¯t it be rewarded?¡±

    <em>¡°Wisdom is to be honored,¡± </em>Mtecuhtli replied coldly. <em>¡°I do not find his wit worthy of a reward.¡±</em>

    I was losing him. ¡°You promised me a sun¡¯s embers for my gift.¡±

    An invisible weight fell upon my shoulders, so great I dared not look up at Mictantecuhtli. I froze in anticipation, my tribute raised up by my trembling hands, the me within my chest flickering with dread.

    <em>¡°I gave my word, and I shall grant your request once you offer me a worthy price.¡± </em>Mtecuhtli let out a rattle that shook the very earth beneath my feet. <em>¡°There is more than enough blood above my gray city to fill an ocean. Return to me with a proper harvest or not at all.¡±</em>

    A harvest.

    The word brought me back to that fateful night when the Nightlords crowned me atop their sinister pyramid. They had harvested a bounty of their own, thousands of skulls andkes of blood, and then asked me to provide another after enving me. I felt the same fury I did back then, and the terribly painful sting of injustice.

    So great was my anger that I briefly forgot I was facing a god.

    ¡°I refuse.¡±

    The two words escaped my mouth on their own, and a terrible silence followed.

    Two eyes eachrger than the Blood Pyramid gazed at me impassibly. Not a single sound would escape from Mictantecuhtli¡¯s ancient teeth. Huehuecoyotl had frozen in ce, too frightened to even move. Queen Mictecacihuatl stared at me in shock.

    <em>I am dead,</em> I realized. <em>I won¡¯t leave this city alive.</em>

    Queen Mictecacihuatl attempted onest-ditch attempt to rescue me. ¡°My king¨C¡±

    <em>¡°Let the bird sing.¡±</em>

    The world around me slowly darkened. Mictantecuhtli¡¯s shadow thickened until a nket of ckness obscured everything: his queen, Huehuecoyotl, the map, the very ground beneath my feet. I could hardly see my own arms.

    I should have begged for mercy¡­ but I did not. My heart-fire remained resolute, and no fear clouded my mind. In fact, the knowledge that I would be smote to dust freed me in a way I couldn¡¯t properly exin.

    I was done begging arrogant gods for mercy.

    <em>I felt the same way back atop the Blood Pyramid</em>, I remembered. <em>I no longer care if I die, so long as I do not submit.</em>

    I rose to my feet and held Mtecuhtli¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°Even if I had the power to kill all life on the surface and fill your realm with their blood, oh great king of the dead, I would have denied your wish,¡± I said with a steady voice and an unflinching back. ¡°No god who demands that I kill in his name is worthy of my devotion. ¡±

    Mictantecuhtli¡¯s silence was <em>infinitely </em>more threatening than his words. But I did not back down.

    ¡°I came to you to save my soul and those of my people,¡± I said. ¡°You asked me to do an impossible task and I tried to carry it through to the best of my ability. If that is not enough for you, if you would rather delight in our suffering, then too bad. My blood is the only one you will ever get.¡±

    The darkness thickened further. Only the god¡¯s starry eyes and my own Teyolia heart-fire pierced this nightly veil, and thetter brought me little protection from the chilling cold of my iing death.

    <em>¡°There are fates far worse than being stuck in a pir, little bird.¡±</em>

    ¡°Then go ahead,¡± I replied defiantly. ¡°Lock me up in a fire pit, return me to the dust from which I came, eat my soul, and spit it out. My answer will be the same.¡±

    I would not betray my vow.

    ¡°I refuse.¡±

    My promise echoed in the darkness.

    No other sound followed in its wake. Neither the great lord of the dead nor I said a word. How much time did we spend like this, mute and still? Minutes? Hours? It felt like forever to me.

    All I knew was that I didn¡¯t break the silence.

    <em>¡°This is new.¡± </em>The ghostly light in<em></em>Mtecuhtli¡¯s eyes increased until it rivaled the northern star.<em> ¡°I have witnessed the first dawn and shall bury thest. But in all these centuries, no bird has ever been mad enough to challenge me.¡±</em>

    Perhaps I was mad indeed, and doubly so for doubling down. ¡°There is a beginning for all things.¡±

    <em>¡°On that we agree, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡±</em>

    I blinked in surprise. Mictantecuhtli never bothered to use my name before, for the fleeting lives of mortals were not worth remembering.

    <em>¡°I will grant you ess to the fourth sun¡¯s ashes and to my Gate of Tears.¡± </em>I heard Mtecuhtli¡¯s words, but struggled to understand them. <em>¡°Know, however, that once your Teyolia tastes a god¡¯s embers, no other sustenance will satisfy its pyre.¡±</em>

    The news should havee as a relief, but the tension in the air sucked all joy out of my heart. ¡°You¡­ you are not ying me?¡±

    <em>¡°Not today.¡± </em>Mtecuhtli did not bother to borate on the reason behind his whim. <em>¡°Gods are greater than men. When we stumble, the earth splits open and the stars fall down from the sky. Our power will magnify everything within you. Look upon thy heart and see what lies within.¡±</em>

    I gazed at the purple fire burning within my chest. The Parliament of Skulls called it an ursed me that brought chaos and disorder. Its baleful, unnatural embers glowed even in the Mtecuhtli¡¯s shadow.

    <em>¡°Darkness cannot create light, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± </em>Mtecuhtli warned me<em>. ¡°Spite feeds your heart¡¯s fire and pride fuels it. A sun born from your chest will spread chaos and torment rather thanfort.¡±</em>

    I recovered enough from my shock to answer. ¡°Good,¡± I muttered. ¡°May my heartfire wreak havoc on the false gods above.¡±

    <em>¡°Your impatience blinds you to the price you will pay for this power,¡± </em>Mtecuhtli whispered, each of his words heavier than stone. <em>¡°This has happened before.¡±</em>

    I struggled to understand the god¡¯s words for a moment. ¡°This¡­ this has happened before?¡±

    <em>¡°You tread on a path many others walked before you. One travels further ahead, and another reached the end long ago.¡±</em> Mtecuhtli let out a terrible rattle that shook my very bones. <em>¡°The power you seek ruined every single one of them.¡±</em>

    ¡°I¡­¡± I cleared my throat and tried to put my thoughts in order. ¡°I understand the risks involved, but I have no choice but to try anyway.¡±

    <em>¡°The wise would turn away from this madness. You will find only pain beneath my gray city. Whatever darkness you hope to purge from the living world will pale before what you will find underground¡­¡± </em>Mtecuhtli marked a short pause, as if hesitating to say more. <em>¡°And what you will bring back with you.¡±</em>

    I knew, deep within my bones, that this was myst opportunity to turn back. That I stood on some invisible threshold. Whatever bridge led me to this moment would copse behind me once I took a step forward.

    I had been warned of what awaited me underground: ancient terrors buried by the gods, secrets best left forgotten, stillborn worlds, forsaken creations of the heavens¡­ and my mother, whom all seemed to dread. Whatever deity sired the vampire curse crawled out of the depths. Perhaps another warlock brought it back after a poorly-thought dive into the dark.

    But none of the dead horrors below could match what I had seen among the living: an empire built on rivers of blood and towers of skulls, that slowly swallowed the world piece by piece, that forced mothers to whore out their own daughters as breeding ves and turned their sons into tools of war; a curse that corrupted the living and denied the dead their rest; a cruel system that spread war to the innocents and the guilty alike; a world that saw me only as a piece of meat bound to die on an altar of lies and falsehood.

    Whatever price I had to pay, Yohuachanca needed to <em>go</em>.

    ¡°I cannot turn back now, Your Majesty,¡± I whispered with determination. ¡°For my sake, and that of many others.¡±

    Necahual, Eztli, Ingrid¡­ so many would suffer a gruesome fate if I failed now. I could not let the chain of pain gain another link.

    Mtecuhtli, great king of the Underworld and god of the dead, epted my answer. <em>¡°So be it.¡±</em>

    ¡°But why?¡± I dared to ask. ¡°Why let me try?¡±

    <em>¡°Curiosity.¡±</em>

    Huehuecoyotl taught me that I should try to understand what others truly wanted to better cast them under a Veil. When I tried to understand the reason behind Mtecuhtli¡¯s change of heart, the answer appeared obvious to me. The old god had witnessed the birth of the current universe and those who preceded it. By defying him openly, I had gained his interest; and now he wished to see if I would seed where so many other warlocks had failed.

    The gods created mortals in their image. The lord of the dead wasn¡¯t so different from his subjects. They both sought an escape from their boredom.

    A purple pir of sunlight fell upon Mtecuhtli¡¯s obsidian crown and illuminated the darkness. I recognized the dim radiance of Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s sun.

    One of her tears spilled from above; not a drop of purple rain, but a small me norger than my fist. While its outeryer was as purple as M¡¯s rain clouds, its core shone with the color of bright jade. Watching it filled me with a vague sense of anguish andfort; a strange sensation that though the world was full of dread, someone, somewhere, shared my pain.

    I slowly seized the me within my hands and sheltered it within my palms. The fire did not burn me. A single breeze could snuff it away. These were fragile embers, the flickering tears of a dead sun.

    And yet¡­ and yet I felt the subtle power radiating from the fire. A magic greater than any spell, more subtle than the Veil, and stronger than the Doll. A miracle that, if cultivated, would burn away all my enemies.

    I did not hesitate.

    I slipped Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s embers through my skeletal ribcage. My Teyolia feasted on the goddess¡¯ fire. The divine spark fiercely ignited my Teyolia until its purple mes turned green.

    Visions shed into my eyes and anguished screams echoed into my skull. I saw a wall of water taller than monsters swallow cities of gold under the waves. A flood of despair swept away battlefields, and carried away screaming warriors and begging ves alike. I cried tears of anguish that drowned the world in destion as I shared in a goddess¡¯ pain and grief.

    But then came the <em>power</em>.

    A pulse of magic coursed through my veins, filling me with both terrible pain and indescribable pleasure. My bones were set aze from within. The ursed me consumed the goddess¡¯ jade and turned it purple. Her sorrow burned like oil to fuel the fire of my soul. The same thrill that possessed me once I took my first flight returned, stronger, sharper, and more focused.

    My vision changed from a flooded, doomed world to a pyramid of bloodsoaked corpses. I flew on jet-ck wings and heralded theing of a night from which the very stars recoiled. Screeching bats announced my arrival. Skulls whispered my name, though I could no longer understand it. I was the hungry death, the devourer of dawn.

    <em>I can do anything</em>, I thought, no, I <em>knew</em>. I could lift mountains and boil oceans. I could lift the sky and cast the stars down to earth. <em>I¡­ I¡­</em>

    I was a god a moment, and a mortal the next.

    The blissful thrill came crashing down like a receding wave. The surge of divine power swiftly weakened, and its sudden absence returned me to reality. I knelt on ashen ground, my trembling hands grasping at nothing. Mtecuhtli¡¯s shadow had receded, returning the world to normal. The visions and memories I experienced vanished like fleeting dust in the wind.

    My chest felt warmer though.

    I nced at my ribs. The purple brazier within it had grown and brightened enough to spill from my chest. Searing heat coursed through my bones. The Underworld¡¯s cold no longer troubled me. The me within my heart burned too strongly for death to dim it.

    I felt Mictecacihuatl¡¯s astonished gaze upon my back, and that of Huehuecoyotl too. But I paid them no mind. Not even King Mtecuhtli¡¯s overwhelming aura could disturb me. A single thought upied my mind at the exclusion of everything else.

    More.

    <em>More fire.</em>

 Chapter Twelve: A Taste of Hell

    Chapter Twelve: A Taste of Hell

    Fire coursed through my veins.

    The wound I had inflicted on my arm for Mictantecuhtli¡¯s tribute oozed with a dead sun¡¯s curse. My blood, once ck and dry, now burned like oil once it escaped my veins. Raging purple mes arose from it when it spilled onto the ground. I could feel their hunger and spite, their all-consuming desire to spread and burn everything that came within their reach.

    The fire did not consume my flesh, however, far from it. It flowed over my skin and my feathers harmlessly, sliding along them like a water¡¯s flow, filling me with a sense offort and confidence. I watched the fire lick my fingers with fascination, unable to turn my eyes away from it.

    ¡°Iztac.¡±

    It took a goddess calling out my name to shake me from my trance.

    I returned to reality to find Queen Mictecacihuatl looking over me with what could pass for concern. Huehuecoyotl stood behind her, arms crossed and eyes cautious.

    I struggled to recognize my surroundings for a moment. We had been taken underground¡ªif such a word carried any meaning in the Land of the Dead Suns¡ªin what appeared to be ancient catbs. The walls, built from skulls etched in obsidian, made for a haunting sight. Droplets of water rained from the ceiling, warm and salty to the touch.

    <em>What happened?</em> I wondered, the sound of my footsteps echoing on drenched stones. Was I so fascinated by my own me that I simply followed them along like a sleepwalking ve? ¡°Where are we?¡±

    ¡°Beneath my husband¡¯s city, in the catbs beneath M,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl reminded me. ¡°You have gained ess to the Gate of Tears and the third world¡¯s corpse.¡±¡°I¡­¡± I cleared my throat, trying to figure out how I got there. ¡°I do not remember much.¡±

    The Underworld¡¯s queen observed me warily. Was that a note of concern I detected in her ancient eyes? ¡°Beware, Iztac,¡± she warned me. ¡°Your Teyolia has grown stronger, but a mishandled me will consume its wielder. If you do not tame your power, you will be a ve to it.¡±

    ¡°This power is me,¡± I replied.

    Mictecacihuatl shook her head, crushing my hopes. ¡°Until you master it, you will only be borrowing Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s strength. It will take discipline for you to make it your own.¡±

    I half-expected Huehuecoyotl to make a joke at my expense, only to realize the old warlock was silent as a tomb. Had my audience with Mtecuhtli spooked him into caution? I did survive a god¡¯s anger and feasted on the remains of another...

    I nced again at my hand, this time resisting the lure of my me. The queen was right, I couldn¡¯t let it distract me. ¡°Is my blood truly burning?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Mictecacihuatl said. ¡°The effects will not be as visible in the world of the living, but your blood now carries the power of a dead sun. A vampire drinking it might as well be consuming a cup of poisoned water.¡±

    Good. Anything that ruined these parasites¡¯ feast put more oil in my burning heart.

    ¡°Would it kill them too?¡± I asked. The idea of my tormentors burning from the inside upon tasting the blood they so desperately craved filled me with glee. ¡°Will it burn them to ashes?¡±

    ¡°Not yet,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl replied. ¡°Your blood will burn the Nightkin like burning oil sears a mortal¡¯s flesh, but the Nightlords are old and strong. Your blood will not y them like their weaker kin.¡±

    Disappointing, but not unexpected. I had consumed a <em>dead</em> sun¡¯s embers. My blood didn¡¯t yet carry the vitality and heat of a living one. I needed more fuel to turn my heart into a charnel pit.

    ¡°However¡­¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl considered the matter a moment before offering advice. ¡°Your blood might weaken the Nightlords if they consume it. The fire will course through their veins as it does through yours, but it shall harm them from within. It will distract them for a short time.¡±

    So if I could trick a Nightlord into consuming my blood before a battle, it might grant me a chance to destroy them.

    That might prove more difficult than expected though. My blood was meant for the First Emperor¡¯s altar. Like a delicious fermented drink, the Nightlords would only feast on me on the Night of the Scarlet Moon and no sooner. By then, it would be toote to save myself. I would need to trick my tormentors into viting their own ritual.

    I could only see one Nightlord maddened enough to try it.

    <em>These walls are ancient,</em> I thought as we continued our descent. A few skulls belonged to old and ancient beasts such as feathered tyrants or longnecks, but I couldn¡¯t recognize most of them. I passed by the remains of giant beasts with more eyes than I had limbs, the colossal bones of primeval animals, and the coiling remnants of ancient serpents. <em>These creatures died long before our cities were born.</em>

    The simmering water drops from above drizzled onto the walls. They weren¡¯t purple like the Underworld¡¯s raindrops, but translucent, salty, and ephemeral. ¡°What are those, Your Majesty?¡± I asked Queen Mictecacihuatl. ¡°Those are not raindrops.¡±

    ¡°Both are tears,¡± the goddess replied calmly. ¡°All tears shed by the dead above make their way down there.¡±

    The weight of lifetimes of grief andmentationpounded into a drizzle underground. I should have felt cold and drenched from it, but I suddenly realized the water turned to salty steam the moment it hit the ground. The air was searingly warm and hot.

    <em>There is a fire below,</em> I realized. <em>A me that an ocean of tears cannot douse.</em>

    ¡°Here we are,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl dered as we reached the bottom of the fossilized stairs. ¡°The Gate of Tears.¡±

    The moment Iid eyes upon it, I realized a title like ¡®Gate of Torment¡¯ would have been a more appropriate name.

    The doorway loomed in the midst of an immense underground chamber. The tears that fell from the ceiling turned to steam the moment they fell from it, filling the room with a pale white mist. A terrible oval obsidian archway was aze with crimson mes illuminating the center. Arcs of crimson lightning crackled from the zing symbols etched into its surface. An adult longneck could have crossed the portal, but no one would have been mad enough to try; for only pain awaited beyond its threshold.

    Another world was visible beyond the gate, a hellscape of smoldering ash and rivers of molten rocks. The sky rained not purple tears of sorrow, but fireballs and zing stones. The dreadful stench of sulfur flowed out of the portal alongside a terrible whiff of burning flesh. A translucent veil separated this otherworldly realm of fire from M; as thin as a curtain of water, yet seemingly strong enough to keep the zing fire out.

    None of the fires burned as hot as the dreadful sun overlooking the destion. It was a searing blue as the mes consuming thend were red, the spectral orb floated amidst a sea of smoke and dust. The swirling whirlpool of clouds reminded of a baleful eye ring down at the world itself.

    ¡°This is locan, the House of loc,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl dered, her voice deep and heavy. ¡°The Cindends, where the third sun rains fire and the dead burn forever. The secondyer of the Land of the Dead Suns.¡±

    <em>A special kind of hell</em>, the Boatman had called it. If only he had known how right he was.

    I took a few steps forward closer to the threshold to peek, but I dared not cross it. The world beyond the gate exuded a sense of overwhelming dread and danger. I noticed ancient ruins and stone towers jutting from deserts of burning sands. Unlike the mismatched crumbling monuments from the firstyer, those were clearly the remains of devastated cities.

    ¡°What¡­¡± I gulped, struggling to find my words. Thisyer¡¯s mes inspired fear in my heart rather than fascination. ¡°What happened here?¡±

    ¡°In the third world, the rain god loc became the sun,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl said. ¡°A dispute among the gods led to a terrible drought. Mortals begged King loc to bring back the rain. One day, their constant prayers were finally answered.¡±

    Huehuecoyotl finally broke out of his silence, his voice somber. ¡°King loc rained fire from the sky in a fit of rage and burned the world to ash.¡±

    My eyes darted from the ancient ruins to the baleful blue sun looming over them. loc¡¯s shining eye still red at the world he had destroyed eons ago. I dared not imagine what crime could have been great enough to motivate such an apocalypse.

    The sight of locan gave me pause. The Underworld¡¯s firstyer was the only ce safe for the blessed dead. M was a sanctuary built atop a slumbering volcano.

    Queen Mictecacihuatlid aforting hand on my shoulder. ¡°Do you still wish to carry on with your journey, Iztac?¡±

    I nced at the me within my chest. It had grown stronger, enough to spill out of my chest a bit. Yet the Nightlords¡¯ marks still coiled around it like chains binding my very soul. I had made a step forward in my liberation, but it still remained out of reach. The sun within my heart wouldn¡¯t burn a Nightlord to cinders yet. The goddess said as much.

    I gazed at loc¡¯s blue sun. Its sinister radiance and power put Chalchiuhtlicue to shame. Seizing its embers, let alone reaching them, would prove a grueling journey; but the fire in my chest would not be denied. It hungered for the power beyond this gate and the freedom it represented.

    ¡°I cannot turn back,¡± I answered the goddess. ¡°Not now. Not until I am free.¡±

    The goddess epted my words with a sharp nod and a warning. ¡°This door only opens one way, Iztac.¡± She stared at the veil separating her realm from locan. ¡°Once you cross it, you cannote back.¡±

    My stomach¡ªwhat remained of it in the Underworld¡ªlurched. ¡°I thought a catecolotl coulde and go out of the Underworld?¡±

    ¡°There are other paths for a catecolotl to travel across theyers, but you will have to find them yourself.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl waved a hand at the world beyond the gate. ¡°Those Who Remain cannot be allowed to pass into the upper levels.¡±

    I squinted at locan. This burning world looked deader than M to me. I couldn¡¯t see the shadow of a single skeleton lurking among the ashen sands. ¡°Those Who Remain?¡±

    ¡°The third world¡¯s dead linger in the ruins of their lost realms,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl confirmed. ¡°The searing mes drove them mad with pain and united them in agony. Should they escape locan, they will visit their suffering on the peaceful dead and the living above.¡±

    I struggled to imagine what could endure in such a hell. The heat and mes should have turned any skeleton to ash by now.

    <em>Could my mother truly make herir in locan?</em> I wondered. <em>Whatfort could she find in this ce?</em>

    I weighed my options. Venturing into locan right now seemed like suicide, especially if I couldn¡¯t turn back to seek shelter in M. The Land of the Dead Suns¡¯ secondyer would be most unkind to me. I needed to master my new spells and magic if I hoped to survive it.

    ¡°My queen, I need more time to prepare for this journey,¡± I informed Mictecacihuatl. ¡°I please ask for a dy.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatlforted me with a kind nod. ¡°You have earned the right of passage. You are free to decide when to exercise it. Until then, I shall offer you my guidance.¡±

    ¡°I thank thee, oh great queen of the dead.¡± I bowed in thankfulness. ¡°If it is not too much to ask, I would like to dy our training until I can master the Veil spell. I must learn to hide my strength before I can grow it further.¡±

    ¡°A wise choice.¡± The queen nced at Huehuecoyotl. ¡°I leave our guest in your care for the time being. Treat him well.¡±

    Huehuecoyotl nodded sharply, though his bodynguage screamed how alert he was. ¡°As you wish, Queen Mictecacihualt.¡±

    His wary, respectful tone¡ªso unlike the irreverence he had shown the goddess when I asked for an audience with her husband¡ªimmediately drew a suspicious gaze from me. <em>That </em>was not normal.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl said as she vanished from sight in a cloud of bone dust and obsidian shards. ¡°We shall meet again, Iztac.¡±

    The goddess vanished, leaving Huehuecoyotl and me alone on a dead world¡¯s threshold. The dead Nahualli stared at me in utter silence, his gaze that of a wary dog unsure if he should bolt to safety or hold his ground.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you saying anything, old coyote?¡± I asked Huehuecoyotl. I took the conman¡¯s eerie quietness as a dire warning. ¡°What is wrong?¡±

    Huehuecoyotl appraised me sharply and then asked me a simple question. ¡°What is your mother¡¯s name, Iztac?¡±

    I held his stare without a word.

    ¡°Your silence is answer enough. There is only one name forbidden within M¡¯s walls. I¡¯m sure our beloved queen knows it too.¡± Huehuecoyotl¡¯s gaze lingered on my Teyolia. ¡°I should have guessed. You share her ambition.¡±

    From his tone, he didn¡¯t mean it as apliment. ¡°What do you know of my mother?¡±

    ¡°More than you, if you feel the need to ask.¡± Huehuecoyotl met my eyes. ¡°Do you know she tasted our sun¡¯s embers too?¡±

    I froze in shock.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t,¡± Huehuecoyotl grunted, his breath heavy with resentment. ¡°She bargained with our cunning queen for her magic and outwitted her¡­ then she swindled me too. She was charmingpany, and I confess to developing a little crush on her, but it didn¡¯tst long.¡±

    I found it ironic for a professional griefer toin about being swindled. ¡°She turned you down?¡±

    ¡°She turned me <em>off</em>.¡± Huehuecoyotl appraised me warily. ¡°I am a cheat and a con, but your mother was a thief of souls and destroyer of men. She had more ice in her heart than mes.¡±

    I red at him. ¡°I am not my mother.¡±

    ¡°I know, which is why I have not run away yet. But I see too much of her in you.¡± Huehuecoyotl sighed. ¡°Mark my word, my friend. Nothing good wille out of following in her footsteps.¡±

    ¡°What footsteps?¡± Iined, finally at my wit¡¯s end. ¡°What did my mother do to deserve such scorn? I was told she stole souls but no one will give me the details.¡±

    ¡°What <em>didn¡¯t </em>she do?¡± Huehuecoyotl shook his head. ¡°Your mother broke every single rule the afterlife has. She deceived the queen and king for power. She broke into the dead¡¯s homes, shattered their bodies, and stole their skulls to exploit their knowledge. She enved souls to suit her needs, and destroyed those who wouldn¡¯t serve her. And then, once she had collected a bounty of captured souls¡­¡±

    Huehuecoyotl pointed a finger at the portal and the hellscape beyond it.

    ¡°She took her prisoners with her to locan,¡± he said grimly. ¡°Never to be seen again.¡±

    A terrible chill traveled down my spine. ¡°She was a ver of souls?¡±

    ¡°A necromancer, yes. The kind that enves the helpless dead to forcibly serve rather than befriend them.¡± Huehuecoyotl crossed his arms, his eyes lingering on locan¡¯s burning rain. ¡°Much like you, she seeks to collect the four suns¡¯ embers.¡±

    <em>You tread on a path many others walked before you, </em>Mtecuhtli warned me.<em> One travels further ahead.</em>

    ¡°For what?¡± I asked, desperate for any morsel of information.

    Huehuecoyotl answered with a shrug. ¡°For power, what else?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that,¡± I insisted, trying to find an excuse for my mother¡¯s behavior. ¡°Mayhaps she needs that power to fulfill a noble end.¡±

    Much like I was ready to start a war and kill thousands to weaken the Nightlords. Some evils couldn¡¯t be defeated with noble means.

    ¡°What cause would excuse her crimes?¡± Huehuecoyotl shook his head. ¡°You will make a poor Veil user if you only look for what you want to see rather than what your heart and mind tell you.¡±

    ¡°All I hear is that you cannot tell for certain what my mother ns to do.¡± I turned my back on him and nced at the portal. ¡°She¡¯s out there somewhere.¡±

    ¡°And you would be wise to avoid her.¡±

    ¡°That is for me to decide.¡± Blood called to blood. I had to know why my mother abandoned me, and why she sought the sun¡¯s embers. I <em>needed </em>to know. ¡°Will you help me cross that desert?¡±

    ¡°You did make me happy for a brief time, so I will teach you my Veil spell.¡± Huehuecoyotl shrugged. ¡°But afterward, we shall meet no longer. Nothing good wille out of our association.¡±

    My zing fists tightened in anger. Something in his scornful tone deeply offended me. So many had used it when they learned about my so-called curse, weing me with an open mind before closing their heart to me. ¡°You are blind to me me for something another has done, trickster.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you listened, Iztac? A Veil user can tell what¡¯s inside a person¡¯s heart. In your case, anyone can see it.¡±

    Huehuecoyotl nced at the baleful me within my chest.

    ¡°Destruction.¡±

    We returned to the Market of Years afterward. The catb leading to the Gate of Tears apparently connected to multiple areas in M, the same way sewers drained water from one part of a city to another. I briefly wondered why one would require Mtecuhtli¡¯s permission to ess it before walls of bones and skulls closed behind us.

    Mtecuhtli was M. His realm¡¯s geography, the very ground, answered his will.

    Which made me question how my mother managed to get away with so many crimes undetected. I guessed she must have used the Veil spell to hide herself, which meant not even gods could see through convincing illusions. Even then, she was eventually discovered.

    I was thankful to Mictecacihuatl for giving me a chance even though she probably guessed my parentage, although I guessed she only did so to obtain my aid in running the Day of the Dead. Mtecuhtli might not have cared who my mother was, but the Queen of the Underworld certainly did. She treated me as my own person rather than another¡¯s inheritor.

    True to his word, Huehuecoyotl decided to do our lesson at his tent. ¡°Let me ask you a question, my young disciple,¡± he said as we sat around his divination table. ¡°When a vampire opens your veins, what does it want to see?¡±

    The question hit a bit too close to home forfort. ¡°Blood.¡±

    ¡°Burning blood?¡± Huehuecoyotl slouched in his chair, his feet on the table and his hands behind his head. ¡°Or a warm red liquid that they take for a delicious delicacy.¡±

    Was that a trick question? I tried to divine the meaning behind his words and remembered his words about a heart¡¯s desire.

    ¡°They want to see normalcy,¡± I guessed. ¡°What they expect to see.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Huehuecoyotl briefly pped. It seemed he was back to his old yful self now that we had left the catbs. ¡°Humans, vampires, everyone, when we see an open wound we expect blood to pour out of it. Fruity red blood. Because if the blood was blue, or if dust poured out of your veins, then it means something is wrong, and the mind doesn¡¯t want to spend energy on figuring out what¡¯s truly going on.¡±

    <em>The same way vigers reacted to me when they saw my hair and eyes, </em>I thought grimly. I was <em>different</em>, and different felt either <em>interesting </em>or <em>unsettling</em>. ¡°What you¡¯re saying is that the best illusions are those that look mundane.¡±

    ¡°You catch on quickly.¡± Huehuecoyotl raised his arms in a wide, mboyant gesture. ¡°Look.¡±

    I observed carefully as the dead trickster¡¯s power unfolded before my eyes. Huehuecoyotl only made his power¡¯s activation visible to me as a kindness¡ªI¡¯d seen him project illusions without any obvious signs¡ªbut it proved enlightening. Simmering ectosm in the shape of a coyote emerged from his dusty bones, pallid and translucent. It grew to epass Huehuecoyotl entirely.

    ¡°The Veil spell requires you to expand your Tonalli outside your body,¡± Huehuecoyotl exined, his features shifting. Flesh grew over his bones, golden eyes filled his empty eye sockets, and his tattered clothes gained a new life to them. A few secondster, I found myself facing a handsome man around Guatemoc¡¯s age, albeit one veiled in a coyote aura. ¡°See?¡±

    I chuckled. ¡°Was that how you looked when you were alive?¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps? I remember being the most handsome man of my time, but my memory has grown fuzzy in my old age.¡± Huehuecoyotl expanded his Tonalli aura further until it epassed me. When he spoke up again, his voice grew higher-pitched, as if he was truly alive again. ¡°Like glitterdust, your power ¡®colors¡¯ anything within its area of effect, disguising it as something else.¡±

    ¡°Hence the Veil name,¡± I guessed. I studied Huehuecoyotl¡¯s arm. His new skin was smooth and vividly detailed. I noticed the shadow of scars and red spots left behind by old diseases. ¡°This is so¡­ so real.¡±

    Unable to resist the temptation, I pinched Huehuecoyotl¡¯s arm. He immediately moaned in pleasure, but I was too surprised by what I felt beneath my fingers to care: warmth, smooth soft, supple flexibility. Everything that made skin, well, <em>skin</em>.

    I suddenly realized that Huehuecoyotl had reacted to my pinching attempt. The skin was either real, or the illusion gained enough substance to mimic a real one¡¯s properties. ¡°Does this work like Spiritual Manifestation?¡± I asked the trickster, gobsmacked. ¡°Did you turn your illusions tangible?¡±

    ¡°No, no, no.¡± Huehuecoyotl wagged a finger at me. ¡°The Spiritual Manifestation and Doll spells both require you to physically manifest your Tonalli, eitherpletely or partially. The Veil spell keeps it in its spiritual form.¡±

    ¡°Your skin and flesh feel real enough to me,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Enough that it hurt you when I pinched you.¡±

    Huehuecoyotl¡¯s new lips curved into an amused smile. ¡°Did it?¡±

    ¡°You faked it?¡± I asked, squinting in confusion. This liar¡­<em></em>¡°Why? To taunt me?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s fun, and because you would expect someone being pinched in the arm to feel pain.¡± Huehuecoyotl waved a hand at himself, changing the colors of his skin to blue. ¡°See? None of what you see is actually there. It¡¯s all make-believe. Spiritual camouge.¡±

    Camouge. I had seen enough smanders and other animals in the woods near Acampa to figure it out. ¡°Beasts avoid danger when their skin and fur match the grass among which they hide,¡± I whispered. ¡°This works the same with illusions?¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± Huehuecoyotl pped at me, as if I were a slow child who had finally answered correctly on a test. It felt patronizing, but I bore it for the sake of knowledge. ¡°The more a Veil¡¯s target disbelieves what they see, the more strain it puts on the spell. Inversely, if everything appears as they expect it to be, then their belief strengthens the mirage.¡±

    Hence why he reacted when I pinched his false skin. Since I expected men of flesh and blood to suffer when harmed, his reaction strengthened my mind¡¯s impression that he had truly returned to life. Which in turn caused my fingers to mistake the flesh and skin as real. How insidious.

    Still, I noticed a w in his reasoning.

    ¡°Then how do you exin this?¡± I waved a hand at my teacher¡¯s blue skin. ¡°I know this is an illusion. How can you still deceive me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a master of my craft,¡± Huehuecoyotl boasted. ¡°But even I wouldn¡¯t be able to deceive your senses for hours on end, my gullible disciple.¡±

    I ignored the jab. ¡°All I hear is that you can still trick my mind.¡±

    ¡°If you have the power, concentration, and mental fortitude. Even then, do you see the sweat on my forehead?¡± Huehuecoyotl punctuated his words with actual phantom sweating off his skin. ¡°In short, the easiest way to use the Veil spell is to use your Tonalli to project a pretty picture of what the target wants to see. Once their mind believes the fake is real, then the senses follow.¡±

    Fortunately, my current interest was to keep a low profile; to trick the Nightlords and their servants into believing everything was going as they nned. ¡°I assume it is more difficult to trick groups?¡±

    ¡°You would think so, but people are like turkeys. If a troupe follows a crocodile along, the lone crafty hen will doubt her own instincts. Collective belief strengthens an illusion enough to trick even the skeptics.¡± Huehuecoyotl shrugged. ¡°Of course, if doubts spread through the group, then the spell will put a terrible strain on you.¡±

    Thankfully, I did not expect to perform before a crowd. ¡°Can an illusion harm a target?¡±

    ¡°Do emotional scars count?¡± Huehuecoyotlughed. ¡°Wanna see?¡±

    I felt a sharp pain in my right arm, followed by a terrible sense of numbness running from my hand to my elbow. The sensationsted only a second, but caused my head to jerk in the appropriate direction.

    When I looked at it in rm, I saw nothing.

    I froze in astonishment, paralyzed by shock and surprise. Most of my arm was gone, with my ck blood now pouring onto the tent¡¯s ground.

    ¡°Argh!¡± I snapped in horror and surprise, covering my bloody stump with my left hand. It <em>hurt</em>. It hurt as much as when that foul creature gouged out my eye in the Underworld¡¯s wilderness. I <em>knew </em>it was all an illusion, but the pain felt real enough to me.

    However, no wound couldpare to the sensation of the void where my right arm should have been. My left fingers phased through the spot my forearm should have been and found only empty air.

    ¡°It¡­ it can¡¯t be gone¡­¡± I pressed on my stump, trying to disbelieve the illusion away. Yet the pain only sharpened and my missing arm did not reappear. ¡°How¡­ how do you do this?¡±

    ¡°Impressed yet?¡± Huehuecoyotl taunted me, amused by my suffering. ¡°I keep the vanishing head act for the adult crowd.¡±

    <em>This couldn¡¯t¡­ wait. </em>An idea crossed my mind. <em>The illusion had range.</em>

    I rose from my chair and rushed out of the range of Huehuecoyotl¡¯s aura. The terrible pain wracking my stumped right arm vanished the moment I escaped the old coyote¡¯s power. My missing limb returned alongside all its missing sensations, my left fingers holding on to my elbow.

    ¡°You bastard¡­¡± I grunted in anger. Even the blood I had shed on the ground was nowhere to be seen. ¡°You could have warned me!¡±

    ¡°I could have, but the mind bes easier to trick once it goes into shock. The wonders of confusion and all.¡± Huehuecoyotl¡¯s aura receded back into his body. His flesh and skin evaporated into nothingness, his clothes regained their dirty holes and former colors. ¡°Phew, I¡¯m spent.¡±

    <em>That spell is terrifying</em>, I thought while studying my right arm. I still half-doubted what my eyes showed me. <em>I could hide in in sight, torment my enemies with visions, turn cliffs into open fields¡­</em>

    Worse, I feared the Nightlords might know it as well. The Jaguar Woman had used the Doll spell to strangle me on the day of my coronation. ording to Queen Mictecicuahtl, she used the Veil spell to hide the strings when she used the spell.

    <em>If one cannot trust their mind, what can they believe in? </em>I thought grimly. ¡°Is there a way to protect oneself from illusions? Besides disbelieving it or escaping its range?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± Huehuecoyotl said with a chuckle. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve heard of truly obscure spells that allowed necromancers to see the truth in all things, but I¡¯ve never encountered one in my long life and longer afterlife.¡±

    I had to pray the Nightlords did not possess one. Even then, I would only use the Veil spell sparingly in their presence. It might be safe to use against their servants, but the risk of discovery was too great for now.

    ¡°Anyway, my young disciple, now is your turn. Let us begin with a simple test.¡± Huehuecoyotl pointed at my arm. ¡°Turn that rancid, burning vein-oil of yours into fruity blood.¡±

    I nodded sharply, then bit into my arm until droplets of burning blood fell onto the floor. I gathered my breath and summoned the power coursing through my veins. The same instinct that pushed my magic to fully manifest came roaring back, but regr practice helped me rein it in.

    Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s embers had strengthened my magic. I could feel it in my bones. The burning blood coursing through my veins carried more power for my Tonalli to call upon. I wondered if it would strengthen my Augury spell too.

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Huehuecoyotl whispered. ¡°Give it enough power to expand around you, but not enough to take physical shape.¡±

    My Tonalli¡¯s power expanded beyond my body in the shape of a ck owl. I carefully prevented it from manifesting physically like when I transformed, instead focusing on keeping it in a phantasmal state. The aura thickened into a phantom owl of purple fire that epassed my flesh and skin.

    ¡°Fascinating,¡± I muttered while studying my bleeding hand, now wreathed in ephemeral fire. ¡°What if I¡­¡±

    I focused on my fingers, turning them translucent. A terrible pressure swiftly smothered my hand; an invisible weight that my mes fought to push back. I immediately identified the source of my trouble: the skeptic in the room.

    ¡°Being greedy, are you?¡± Huehuecoyotl taunted me. ¡°See how much effort I put into entertaining people?¡±

    I had to concede defeat and dispel the invisibility illusion. The pressure vanished the moment I let go of it. I had underestimated the difficulty of tricking a trickster.

    <em>New test</em>, I thought. I focused on my hand once again, but this time cloaked my burning blood in a veil of deceit. The mes became invisible to the naked eye, and the fluid regained its ck-red hue. I still sensed a pressureing from Huehuecoyotl, but one far lighter and more manageable than what preceded it. Either the illusion felt more believable, or the trickster made an effort to lie to himself. I could maintain this trick for hours, long enough for the fire in my blood to dry it to dust.

    Huehuecoyotl¡¯s lessons on finding what the heart truly desired suddenly gained more weight. I could, in theory, try to force an illusion onto my enemies, but the effort it required would quickly exhaust me. Subtler disys would serve me better than grandiloquent spectacles.

    <em>Beware, Nightlords. </em>I nced at the fire in my chest. <em>You will never see your pyreing.</em>

    I practiced with Huehuecoyotl until I awoke in a woman¡¯s arms.

    I immediately knew that something was wrong.

    Ingrid¡¯s hands had never felt so <em>cold</em>.

    ¡°Did you sleep well, Iztac?¡±

    My heartbeat came to an abrupt stop upon recognizing the voice. I slowly raised my head, until I found myself face to face with a red-eyed woman of terrible beauty. I had wished for Eztli, and was disappointed.

    Only now did I realize my mistake. I had strengthened my heart-fire. A me bound to the Nightlords by their terrible ritual.

    ¡°So?¡± Yoloxochitl smiled sweetly at me, her white teeth sharper than swords. ¡°Is there something you forgot to tell me?¡±

 Chapter Thirteen: Flowers of Evil

    Chapter Thirteen: Flowers of Evil

    My heart pounded harder than a drum. My sun-blessed blood had turned to ice within my veins. My fingers had grown numb from the nerve-wracking tension, and I could feel the sweat falling off my forehead and onto Yoloxochitl¡¯s arms.

    I was naked in Ingrid¡¯s bed, alone and defenseless with a mad Nightlord holding me against her chest as if she wanted to devour me. I could cut the tension in the air with a sacrificial knife.

    How much did she know? How much did she <em>know</em>?

    <em>Calm down, Iztac, calm down</em>, I told myself, desperately trying to control my breathing and keep a clear head. <em>Mayhaps she only sensed a slight pulse of my Teyolia. She can¡¯t possibly know about the Underworld, or I would already be bound and caged. I have to assuage her fears without giving anything important away. Say as little as possible¨C</em>

    ¡°Why are you shaking, Iztac?¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s arms moved to my chest and held me in an unsettling embrace. Her skin was cold, colder than the Underworld. ¡°Could you be afraid of me?¡±

    Her kind smile unsettled me more than locan¡¯s terrible mes. At least I knew where to stand with thetter. I could hardly predict what Yoloxochitl thought behind that eerie, pleasant face of hers.

    <em>You must speak a half-truth, Iztac, </em>I told myself. <em>If she smells a lie, I am dead.</em>

    ¡°I am afraid,¡± I said, wording my words carefully. ¡°You have been kind to me, and I fear I have done something deserving of your scorn.¡±

    ¡°Oh, my poor child, no, no, do not say that.¡± Yoloxochitl held me closer to her, my back on her chest, her lips gently kissing my sweat-drenched cheeks. Another man might have found the gesture sensual, even affectionate, but it only made my skin shiver. ¡°Do you not understand, Iztac? You are perfect as you are.¡±I let her touch me without reacting much, waiting for it to be over. Yoloxochitl finally released me from her embrace and rose from the bed, her red, flowery dress flowing in her wake like an ethereal veil.

    ¡°The fault lies with another, Iztac,¡± she said with a demure smile. ¡°I was told you liked visiting the imperial gardens.¡±

    <em>With another?</em> My mind worked furiously to decipher the Nightlord¡¯s words. <em>Does she know about the Parliament of Skulls? </em>¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then let us go for a walk. The dawn is still a good hour away.¡± She joined her hands and pped. ¡°Dress your emperor.¡±

    Ingrid and Sigrun immediately walked into the bedroom with imperial clothes. Mother and daughter kept their heads down, avoiding both my gaze and that of Yoloxochitl. The Nightlord must have banished them both from their own chambers to keep me to herself.

    <em>Even the highest-ranked servant submits when the master walks in</em>, I thought grimly as my consort and concubine covered my nakedness with a turquoise imperial mantle. Ingrid at least sent me a brief gaze full of worry, though I couldn¡¯t tell if she feared for my safety or her own. Her fate was tied to mine. Her mother wisely acted no different than any ve.

    Once she had me clothed like a pretty doll, Yoloxochitl invited me to follow her out of Sigrun¡¯s apartments. Neither Ingrid nor her mother followed us. In fact, I immediately noticed the absence of guards of any sort. A Nightlord had no need for protection, but I took the absence of my usual jailers as a dire warning.

    <em>Is she leading me to the altar?</em> I kept thinking as we walked down the pce¡¯s stairs. Yoloxochitl indeed appeared to lead me toward the gardens, but I couldn¡¯t rule out the possibility it was all a trap. <em>The fault lies with another? What does that mean?</em>

    ¡°What do you think of this Ingrid?¡± Yoloxochitl asked without warning. Her eyes did not smile when her lips did.

    Did she find a way to me Ingrid in her madness? I felt like a man walking on a sword¡¯s edge, one step away from cutting myself. ¡°She is¡­¡± I tried to find apliment that wouldn¡¯t arouse the Nightlord¡¯s wrath. ¡°Charming.¡±

    ¡°I dislike her,¡± Yoloxochitl dered, a sneer of disdain spreading on her fair face. ¡°My sister Iztacoatl prefers exotic foreigners as her chosen consorts. All looks and no heart. That Ingrid is an opportunist, much like her own mother. She won¡¯t love you.¡±

    ¡°Not like you do, oh goddess,¡± I replied. I meant it as a jab, but managed to word it as apliment.

    ¡°You do not need to speak to me so formally, Iztac. We are family now, are we not?¡± Yoloxochitl gently stroked my hair, as if I were an adorable pet. ¡°You may simply call me <em>mother</em>.¡±

    I would rather have stayed an orphan, but I remembered Huehuecoyotl¡¯s lessons. Yoloxochitl¡¯s heart yearned for unconditional love; not the service and adoration of servants or the obedience enforced in her vampire children. I needed to be the dutiful son: the one who respected his elders and went along with their decisions when needed, but showed enough initiative to argue when needed.

    If I failed to talk my way out of this, if Yoloxochitl ripped my veins open to see if my blood burned in the open air, I would have to use the Veil; and if it failed to deceive her¡­ I would lose, and my skull would join those of my predecessors, but at least I would fight back.

    ¡°You need not worry, Mother Yoloxochitl,¡± I said, hating myself for calling her that at all. From the way her lips curved, she seemed to appreciate the name. ¡°Ingrid might share my bed, but my heart belongs to another.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Yoloxochitl stopped in the middle of a stair step. Her hand brushed against my chest, slowly, dangerously. ¡°You are a brave child.¡±

    I half expected her nails to sink into my flesh and rip my heart out. I was tempted to activate the Veil and slip away, but kept enough of myposure to not to show a hint of worry. Eventually, Yoloxochitl¡¯s hand traveled down to my navel, stopping short of my more intimate parts.

    ¡°At least Ingrid¡¯s line has proved fertile. She should give me grandchildren in time. The other consorts possess a good enough constitution too.¡± Yoloxochitl removed her hand from my robes, much to my relief. ¡°You might not realize it yet, Iztac, but fathering more blessed children is your holiest duty. Your sacred blood must keep flowing. Your seed enriches any soil in which it is nted.¡±

    <em>You will harvest none of the blood I sow, oh mother of madness</em>, I promised myself. ¡°I shall do my duty, Mother Yoloxochitl.¡±

    Yoloxochitl nodded, happy with my answer. ¡°I hope you beget a daughter,¡± she whispered wistfully. ¡°I will be very gentle when I adopt her.¡±

    The terrible memory of Eztli drinking her father to death shed in my mind. But this time I imagined a girl with white hair and blue eyes sinking her fangs into a helpless man¡¯s flesh in their ce: a daughter I might have one day, and the fate that would await her should the Nightlords have their way.

    <em>Never</em>, I swore to myself, using all my courage and willpower to hide my true feelings from my captor. <em>I will destroy you first.</em>

    Yoloxochitl started singing to herself as we stepped into the imperial gardens, blissfully unaware of my silent hatred for her. The tune was slow in its joyful innocence, barely breaking through the gentle night breeze.

    <em>She will sing the same way when she leads you to the altar</em>, the wind ominously whispered into my ear. <em>In this world of suffering, there is no greater madness than an innocent heart.</em>

    For someone called the Flower of the Heart, I doubted Yoloxochitl had one.

    ¡°I must ask you again, Iztac,¡± she said as we walked among the orchids, her hand trailing among the petals. ¡°Is there something you forgot to tell me?¡±

    Now was the moment of truth. It took all of my willpower to lie to her with a straight face. ¡°I do not remember hiding anything worth reporting to you, Mother.¡±

    I could have sworn the orchids¡¯ petals recoiled at my words. Yoloxochitl sent me a strange gaze. Where I expected anger at my lie, I instead foundpassion. ¡°My poor child,¡± she said. ¡°You still do not see? You are better than this.¡±

    <em>Would you expect me to discard the sun for you?</em> I thought, struggling to fake innocence. ¡°Mother, forgive me, but I still do not understand you.¡±

    ¡°That whore, Necahual,¡± Yoloxochitl answered. ¡°I know what she has done.¡±

    ¡°Necahual?¡± I stared at Yoloxochitl in utter confusion. She wasn¡¯t here for my Teyolia? ¡°What about her?¡±

    Now she looked displeased. ¡°Iztac, you need not lie for her sake.¡±

    <em>Has she discovered Necahual¡¯s poison?</em> I thought, desperately trying to figure out what was going on. My spine stiffened under the tension. <em>Has Sigrun betrayed me?</em>

    ¡°Yes, Iztac.¡± Yoloxochitl stroked my cheek in a way that would have felt motherly, if not for the cold edge in her eyes. ¡°I know that ungrateful wench tried to raise her hand against you again.¡±

    For a few seconds, I could hardly believe my ears. I was simply so taken aback, my mind so overtaken with fear and anxiety that the idea I might have misunderstood the reason behind Yoloxochitl¡¯s presence seemed utterly absurd to me. I expected the other shoe to drop, for the Nightlord to reveal she knew of my nightly escapade. But when I searched her displeased expression, I could find none of her fury directed at me.

    <em>She¡­ she doesn¡¯t know about my Teyolia?</em> I thought, gobsmacked. <em>But the ritual¡­ I don¡¯t¡­ what¡­</em>

    The wind whispered a riddle into my ear. <em>The Father of Night obscures even the brightest stars</em>, it said ominously. <em>Even the sun shall bleed in the final feast.</em>

    I hardly understood the cryptic warning, but I figured it meant my secret was safe for now, for whatever reasons. My pounding heart slowed down, and I would have breathed a sigh of relief if not for Yoloxochitl¡¯s next words.

    ¡°I should have her hand severed,¡± she said with a dangerous light in her eyes. ¡°Maybe her tongue too.¡±

    The tension in my flesh returned. My life was safe, but Necahual¡¯s was now once again on the line. ¡°Mother Yoloxochitl, you were misinformed,¡± I said, trying to word my supplication in a way that wouldn¡¯t imply any mistake on <em>her </em>part. ¡°This was all but y. I kissed her.¡±

    ¡°It did not sound like y from what I heard,¡± Yoloxochitl insisted. ¡°She tried to p you with her dirty hand. I would have executed her for less.¡±

    And I thanked the gods below ground that it wasn¡¯t the case. ¡°It was a ploy on my end,¡± I lied. ¡°I am taking my sweet time tormenting Necahual. I want to slowly put her through the same humiliations she visited upon me.¡±

    ¡°Then have her stoned,¡± Yoloxochitl ¡®helpfully¡¯ suggested. ¡°A disobedient ve deserves worse than admonishment.¡±

    My fists briefly tightened at the word ve, but too subtle for the Nightlord to notice. ¡°It is not her flesh I wish to break,¡± I argued, ¡°but her spirit.¡±

    Yoloxochitl frowned in confusion. ¡°Her spirit?¡±

    ¡°She has learned she can no longer raise her hand at me. That she was at <em>my </em>mercy.¡± That, at least, was true. ¡°I will have her work like the most lowly servant and break her spirit. Only then, once she realizes she is my ve, will I im her body.¡±

    The lie flowed out easily, because I believed half of it. Though we had formed an alliance, part of me did enjoy getting back at Necahual for years of abuse. My words sounded good enough that Yoloxochitl squinted at me with slight iprehension. ¡°I see¡­¡±

    Knowing it wouldn¡¯t take long for her to default back to her inner cruelty, I decided to distract her away from Necahual¡¯s fate. ¡°There is another thing I wished to confess, Mother Yoloxochitl.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Yoloxochitl immediately tilted her head to the side, immensely curious. ¡°What secret have you been holding from me, Iztac?¡±

    <em>That I am nning your death</em>, I thought. ¡°That I wished to thank you for showing me forgiveness and shielding me from your sister¡¯s wrath,¡± I said, the very words making me want to rip out my own tongue. ¡°So I ordered Ingrid tomission a statue of you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Iztac¡­¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s previous anger immediately vanished, reced with emotion. My empty gesture appeared to have well and truly moved her. ¡°That is so kind of you¡­¡±

    And more than she deserved. ¡°I wished to keep it a secret, but I believed you might wish to be consulted first.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate the gesture, but you did not need to.¡± She smiled sweetly, her fangs shining in the pale moonlight. ¡°How would you wish to represent me, my child?¡±

    <em>Dead and buried</em>, I thought. But as Huehuecoyotl so wisely taught me, she wanted to hear what her heart wanted. ¡°Kindly offering me a helping hand.¡±

    ¡°You are wise, Iztac.¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s hand moved to her eye, to wipe away a tear of blood threatening to form. My words had hit right at home, and Necahual was soonpletely forgotten. ¡°Few of the previous emperors understood me as you do.¡±

    Her lips closed into my forehead, kissing me the same way I had seen Necahual kiss her daughter when she offered her a gift. Eztli had always blushed in response; all I could do was suppress a shiver of disgust.

    <em>A cheap price to spare a life,</em> I told myself. <em>The more power I gather in the shadows, the quicker I can drag this fiend into the light.</em>

    ¡°Perhaps¡­¡± Yoloxochitl whispered gently. ¡°Perhaps I can show you the real me.¡±

    Something in her tone¡ªso rife with sinister, whimsical hopefulness¡ªput ice in my veins. ¡°The real you, Mother Yoloxochitl?¡±

    ¡°Like night and day, beauty and ugliness coexist within me. Long have I hoped for an emperor who could appreciate both.¡± She released her hold on my head, her crimson eyes two red orbs in a sea of darkness. ¡°Do you enjoy gardening, Iztac?¡±

    I noticed a subtle change in the environment. The orchids¡¯ petals shifted slightly, even though the night breeze no longer touched them. The herbs beneath my feet shivered like a frightened man¡¯s skin. The flowers¡¯ fragrance gained a terribly familiar metallic edge.

    Magic.

    ¡°I worked as a farmer,¡± I said evasively, struggling not to summon my Tonalli to protect myself from the danger I knew wasing.

    ¡°So you must be familiar with what it takes to keep a garden alive. A good gardener protects their flowers as if they were their children, for the most beautiful nts in the world are also the most fragile.¡±

    Her hand moved to my chin and raised it slightly, so she could look into my eyes.

    ¡°Much like you, Iztac,¡± she said. ¡°True beauty blossoms from pain and sorrow.¡±

    And as she spoke these words, I caught a glimpse of a shape wriggling beneath her left cheek. A furtive sight simr to a snake lurking beneath a bedsheet, or a worm digging below her head and down her neck as the white in her sclera darkened to pitch ck.

    <em>Her hands¡­</em> I sensed something unnatural lurking in her fingers as she held me, like boiling water waiting to erupt from the ground. <em>What¡­ What''s going on?</em>

    <em>The roots wriggle beneath the flesh</em>, the wind whispered ominously. <em>The flower of madness blooms with murder.</em>

    ¡°Come with me, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl whispered ever so gently. She took my hand into her own and invited me to step with her among the flowers. ¡°I will show you my secret garden.¡±

    Every primal instinct in my body screamed at me to run away, that something horrifying and unnatural was about to happen. I wanted to listen to them. To invent an excuse not to follow that madwoman into the bushes where the gods knew what terror she had cooked up for me.

    But I could not avert my gaze. If I wanted to learn the Nightlords¡¯ weakness, I had to step into the dark. No more than I could flinch from facing the hardships underground.

    So I followed Yoloxochitl through the imperial gardens. Though we tread the same grounds I visited during the day, the area slowly changed before my eyes. Red, star-shaped flowers I did not recognize bloomed from briar patches. The branches of trees intertwined into an archway leading us deeper into the vegetation. A tense silence overcame the songs of birds and the droning buzz of bugs. Even the chilly night air grew hot and humid

    ¡°Our blood carries power, my child,¡± Yoloxochitl said, her free hand brushing against the red nts. Their thorns wriggled in response, like children swooning over their mother¡¯s attention. ¡°It strengthens the flesh of those who drink it and purifies their souls of treachery. Men and beasts gain beautiful red eyes mirroring their purity.¡±

    The metallic stench grew overwhelming. I recognized the grove of trees around us. I had visited this ce with Ingrid and Nl on the day I met them both. I heard the sound of liquid falling into the water as we approached the imperial ponds.

    <em>Be strong, Iztac</em>, I told myself.<em> Do not show fear.</em>

    ¡°Flowers take the most after us,¡± Yoloxochitl mused. ¡°They recoil from the sun¡­ and feast at night.¡±

    She had hung two people above the fountain.

    Twisted ck trees had sprouted from beneath the water, their branches impaling the arms of two naked men. Needles of wood peeled skin and flesh to feast on the warm blood hidden beneath. Red droplets dripped from ruptured hands and fell into the water below. Crimson lily pads gathered in clusters to share in the feast of blood.

    Scars of whips and des covered the naked skin of the two men. Though muscled, blood loss had drained them of color into the pallid hue that preceded iing death. They felt familiar, but I did not recognize them until I noticed the red hue in their empty eyes. They were my guards.

    The very same guards that stood by when Necahual attempted to p me.

    <em>The powerful never reward loyalty, only usefulness</em>, the wind whispered. <em>Yet the weak always fail to learn.</em>

    ¡°But I¡­¡± My stomach soured at the sight of their chests rising and contracting. They were still alive. The nts would not let them die until they had drained everyst drop of blood. ¡°I stopped her.¡±

    ¡°It matters not to me. That they put you in danger at all is reason enough for punishment.¡± Yoloxochitl let go of my hand, her voice growing deeper. ¡°The very sight of them fills me with loathing¡­¡±

    I dared peek at her, and immediately regretted it.

    Yoloxochitl¡¯s slim, beautiful body had grown bloated and misshapen. Her robes tore under the strain of expanding flesh, which now threatened to burst open. Her eyes had sunk into her deformed bones. My breath grew short as I caught a glimpse of tentacles wriggling beneath her skin.

    ¡°Do not look away, Iztac.¡±

    Her voice had grown deep as a bottomless void, yet remained so kind, so very gentle, even as she shed her skin like a cloth.

    The monster burst from Yoloxochitl¡¯s body in the blink of an eye, as great as a tree and as thick as a bramble. A woman as thin as the Nightlord shouldn¡¯t have kept something so big and terrible hidden within herself, but neither the rules of nature nor those of sanity applied to this abomination. Its shape was vaguely humanoid, two trunks of flesh roots supporting a steaming chest of pulsing fruits filled with blood and arms covered in fungi blisters. The shadow of an elongated, eyeless red skull was throned atop the monster, its rows of white fangs sharper than any sword. The sides of the tentacled monstrosity swelled with root-like white tentacles grasping for more. Purple flowers grew on the body like a parody of a dress. The reddest of them bloomed on the chest, its flesh petals pulsating like a beating heart.

    <em>What¡­ What is this thing?</em> My mind came to a screeching halt as it tried to process what my eyes saw. The creature was neither nt nor man, nor even alive. <em>What¡­</em>

    ¡°This is simply nature at work,¡± the abomination said. Her tentacles grabbed one of the men and carried him across the pond, closer to us. ¡°Weeds that threaten my beautiful flower¡­¡±

    The red-eyed guard did not make a sound as his mistress weed him with a grasping maw.

    ¡°Must be nipped in the bud.¡±

    Her fangs closed on my guard, biting him in half from the waist up and spraying me with a shower of blood.

    It felt warm pouring down from above. The gruesome nectar drenched my skin and tainted my robes. I did not step away. I did not walk away. My body was frozen in ce by dread, my eyes unable to close, my ears unable to hear anything but the noise of fangs chewing flesh.

    I could only wait for the sunrise.

    The feast ended at dawn.

    Yoloxochitl did not leave a single bone behind. Once she finished, she shapeshifted back into her human shape, her naked skin drenched in blood. She held me into her loving arms and whispered, ¡°I love you,¡± before slithering away among the receding shadows. The vampiric flowers fled underground in her wake.

    When servants came for me a few minutester to carry me away, utterly ignorant of what terrible roots grew beneath their feet, I did not resist. I let them take my clothes and slid my naked body into steaming hot water.

    ¡°Iztac?¡± Necahual¡¯s voice whispered out to me through the mists of steam. I hadn¡¯t noticed her among the servants. Her hands were gentle when they cleaned the blood off my face with a towel. ¡°Iztac, what happened?¡±

    That was a new thing I heard in her voice: a slight hint of worry. I did not answer it with words. My unblinking eyes stared at the nearest wall, whose polished white marble surface reminded me of bones.

    <em>How many skeletons are buried under the gardens? </em>I wondered. <em>How many corpses have I stepped on in my afternoon strolls?</em><em>If all those nts require blood to survive, how much does it take to water them each day? Two men¡¯s worth of fluid?</em>

    That made it what, over seven hundred murders per year? For a garden. Not a Nightkin child or infrastructure with any tangible benefit, however grim.

    A garden. Seven hundred deaths a year. Only the gods could know how many of them. Fifty years? A century? That would make seventy-thousand. Seventy-thousand deaths.

    ¡°Stay away from the gardens at night,¡± I told Necahual, my voice hollow. ¡°For your sake.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I do not understand.¡±

    And she should thank the gods below for it. I did not borate. My mind kept wandering back to that horrid <em>thing </em>in the darkness. What kind of warrior could hope to uproot that bloody tree and pierce her rotten heart? None. None at all.

    The servants clothed me in smooth cotton robes, though I still felt dirty inside. Necahual offered me a cup full of a greenish mixture whose flowery fragrance did not smell of blood.

    ¡°For the nerves,¡± she said, somewhat awkwardly. It felt strange for her to act with kindness towards me. ¡°It will soothe your mind.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± I appreciated the gesture, but no drug would help me forget what I had seen. Nor did I want to. I needed to remember that the Nightlords¡¯ cruelty knew no bounds. It would make the tasks ahead easier to justify. ¡°It will help with my morning meditation.¡±

    Necahual nodded slightly, a hint of unease on her face. She followed me all the way to the Reliquary¡¯s threshold. Did she hope to protect me? Or was she afraid I would do something foolish in my current state?

    She did not need to worry. My mind was clear.

    I stepped alone into the darkness of the shrine and faced the bones of my predecessors. The skulls¡¯ eyes lit up at my approach. They did not offer greetings, or words offort. They would have been wasted.

    Instead, they spoke the truth. ¡°You have seen her true self.¡±

    ¡°Are they all like this?¡± I dared to ask. ¡°All four?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± my predecessors confirmed. ¡°Each advent of the Scarlet Moon strengthens the Nightlords¡¯ foul magic and separates them further from humanity. Their human skin is but a shell, an echo of what they discarded long ago.¡±

    The thing that called itself Yoloxochitl¡­ something like <em>that </em>didn¡¯t belong in this world nor the next.

    ¡°Now, do you understand why everything is forgiven in the pursuit of our goal?¡± The Parliament let out a grim rattle. ¡°You are not fighting undead women with more power than any mortal. You are fighting demons hiding beneath a mask of humanity. A veneer that grows thinner with each cycle of death.¡±

    I knew. I <em>knew</em>, but I didn¡¯t fully <em>understand</em>. Destroying such abominations would demand absolutemitment. I had wavered on the means to use and their consequences. No longer. A war was a small price to pay to rid mankind of these¡­ these demons.

    ¡°What weaknesses do they have?¡± I asked the Parliament.

    ¡°The same as all children of the night.¡± The skulls grinned as one. ¡°The sun.¡±

    Whose light now flowed through my veins. If I could lull Yoloxochitl into drinking my blood at the correct time, I could weaken her. Probably not to the point of destroying her outright¡ªMictecacihuatl¡¯s warning came to mind¡ªbut enough to give me a chance at ying her.

    But my blood was meant for the First Emperor¡¯s altar, to be shed on the night of the Scarlet Moon and no sooner. What would it take to tempt Yoloxochitl into viting that ancient tradition? Much effort, no doubt, and great sacrifices.

    <em>I will pay any</em>, I swore to myself. <em>My dignity, my body, my soul¡­ I will do whatever it takes.</em>

    ¡°We are pleased with your progress,¡± my predecessors congratted me. ¡°Your Teyolia burns with the embers of the fourth sun. In time, it will shine like the fifth.¡±

    ¡°Why did the Nightlords not notice?¡± I asked. ¡°My heart is bound to their ritual.¡±

    ¡°So are we,¡± the Parliament answered. ¡°Our spirits clouded your heart¡¯s transformation from the Nightlords¡¯ gaze. What happens in the Land of the Dead Suns shall remain hidden from their view, at least for now.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, my predecessors.¡± Still, I noticed the subtle warning. ¡°For now? Not forever?¡±

    ¡°Should you continue to harvest the embers, there wille a time when your heart shines too bright for our shadows to cover. The Nightlords will learn the truth then.¡±

    There woulde a time when my growing power would force a confrontation. ¡°How many suns will it take?¡±

    ¡°We cannot say. We have never been in our current position.¡± The Parliament¡¯s thousand glowing eyes stared at me with sympathy. ¡°Approach each sun as if it were yourst.¡±

    <em>How many would it take to burn the Nightlords to cinders</em>, I wondered. What happened tonight only strengthened my resolve to delve into locan as soon as I mastered my spells.

    ¡°Now tell us of your other exploits,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°Did you uncover new spells in the city of the dead?¡±

    I gave them a report on my progress, how I had unlocked the door to locan and the Veil spell. The previous emperors greeted my words with enthusiasm.

    ¡°Your progress pleases us,¡± they said. ¡°The Veil shall serve you well in the battles toe, whether waged on the battlefield or in a council room. Though venturing into locan appears premature for now. You best equip yourself in M.¡±

    ¡°I must still practice the Doll and the Veil spells more,¡± I warned my predecessors. ¡°But I am confident I can trick a few onlookers.¡±

    The emperors¡¯ skulls fell silent for a few seconds, meditating on my words. ¡°You n to use it today. To deceive the empire into starting a war.¡±

    They had guessed my n, and its consequences.

    ¡°Yes.¡± I¡¯d made my decision the moment I saw Yoloxochitl¡¯s true form. ¡°I¡­ I will do what I must do to bring this house of skulls down.¡±

    One must give before they receive. Thisw applied to magic and the gods. Now I realized it would apply to the world of the living too. I wouldn¡¯t win without making a sacrifice.

    The Parliament gazed at me with what could pass for grim sympathy. They offered me words offort. ¡°All sins are forgiven in the pursuit of a righteous cause, our sessor. Always remember these words. Our path is paved with blood and tears, but we must tread it nheless.¡±

    Thousands would die, but there woulde a night where no vampire would water their gardens with fresh blood. At least I prayed for it.

    ¡°You wish to meet with your fellow Nahualli tonight,¡± the Parliament murmured. ¡°It is now time to put hertent powers to the test.¡±

    ¡°You said you had a way of revealing her Tonalli?¡± I hoped Nl would be a catecolotl. An ally would greatly help me survive the Underworld.

    ¡°Indeed.¡± The Parliament¡¯s eyes glowed with a blue radiance, simr to the pale moonlight. ¡°Through our discussions with the dead that wandered through the Gate of Skulls, we have learned of the existence of a spell called the Gaze; one that relies on a sorcerer¡¯s Teyolia and reveals all that is hidden. Your inner radiance will dispel shadows and force out the truth. Use it on this Nl to unveil her animal spirit.¡±

    ¡°Can it shatter the Veil spell?¡± I wondered, squinting. ¡°Huehuecoyotl assured me no spell could.¡±

    ¡°The trickster puts too much faith in his power, but he is not entirely wrong,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°From what we were taught, the Gaze spell is only as strong as its wielder. A man¡¯s Teyolia is a feeble ember, barely able to show him the way in the dark, and a Nightkin does not even have that. Your heart, however, carries the power of a dead god¡¯s sun. It might help you dissipate weak illusions.¡±

    Good. If I could avoid trickery from the Nightlords, I could at least lift some doubts from my heart. ¡°How does one use this spell?¡±

    ¡°ording to what we learned, you must focus on your heartbeat,¡± the Parliament taught me. ¡°Look at the light within yourself and guide your Teyolia¡¯s me to your eyes. Let the sun shine through your gaze.¡±

    I sat inside the Reliquary and practiced as I was told. The spell came surprisingly easy to me. The fire slumbering within me desired to be unleashed unto the world. I guided the magical me coursing through my veins to my eyes, until purple light shone from them.

    My gaze illuminated the darkness around me, unveiling the obsidian walls of the Reliquary and other hidden details. Most importantly, I noticed four ephemeral, coiling chains of shadows binding my predecessors¡¯ skulls to the ground. The very same bindings that enved me to the Nightlords.

    <em>One day, I will sit in this room and watch them shatter, </em>I told myself. ¡°This spell is noticeable.¡±

    ¡°It should only reveal the truth to you,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°Cloak it in the Veil to hide it from others.¡±

    I called upon my Tonalli to hide the Gaze spell¡¯s blinding light behind an illusion of normalcy. While I managed to shroud my inner light, my eyes quickly started to hurt. They felt as if they were drying, and I had little choice but to stop both spells.

    <em>Fools looking at the sun too long go blind,</em> I realized. <em>The sunlight within me will do the same if I keep the Gaze spell up too long.</em>

    In this world full of liars, I would have to use the truth sparingly.

    ¡°Hours pass and your council meeting approaches,¡± the Parliament warned me. ¡°We know another Ihiyotl spell to teach you, but it shall wait until our next meeting. We wish you good luck until we meet again.¡±

    I nodded sharply as I rose to my feet. ¡°When Ie back, the empire will be at war.¡±

    The skulls ominously grinned at me. ¡°Good.¡±

    Somehow, their congrattions did not bring me any joy.

    I walked out of the Reliquary to find two new guards waiting outside. They appeared younger than Yoloxochitl¡¯s victims, though no less foolish.

    ¡°I will visit one of my consorts tonight,¡± I said. ¡°My dear Nl loves games and foreign objects. Gather my collection in her apartment.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, oh emperor,¡± answered one of them with a deep bow. ¡°Is there any object you wish to showcase in particr?¡±

    ¡°We are to y Sapa board games, so bring what we have on their culture.¡± <em>Especially that magical tablet</em>, I thought. <em>The Gaze will reveal to me its secrets, and the Veil shall add weight to my lies.</em>

    The Parliament of Skulls warned me that the Nightlords would not attack the Sapa unless forced to. With the Veil spell, I could gain the perfect pretext. One not even my cruel captors could ignore.

    By sunset, I would have my war.

 Chapter Fourteen: Shadow on the Wall

    Chapter Fourteen: Shadow on the Wall

    I began the bloodiest day of my tenure yet by practicing the Augury spell on the roof of the pce.

    It was quite easy to disguise as morning prayer, though I required the use of the Veil spell to disguise the mes rising from my blood when I offered it to the wind. Lady Sigrun gave me information to spare: morsels on which guard fucked which and what servant stole what from the kitchen. These tales wouldn¡¯t help me much in my quest, but the Yaotzin epted them as payment nheless.

    <em>¡°Hide these codices, Centehua,¡±</em> the wind whispered in an old man¡¯s voice.<em> ¡°Hide them from the priests where they will never be found. Therein lies the true history.¡±</em>

    <em>¡°I shall, Father,¡± </em>a woman¡¯s echo answered, far, far away. <em>¡°I shall bury them beneath the bricks of the western temple, right under their own feet. Their lies will cover the truth.¡±</em>

    As a test of my mysterious ¡®sources,¡¯ Lady Sigrun had asked that I find what happened to stolen codices written by a certain scribe called Mazatl. The Yaotzin¡¯s whispers let me piece out the truth. Mazatl, who worked on behalf of priests to write¡ªor rather, <em>rewrite</em>¡ªhistory codices ording to the imperial orthodoxy, kept private books detailing imperial history which the empire sought to suppress. He gave them away to his daughter Centehua, who then proceeded to hide them right under the priests¡¯ noses.

    I had no idea what Lady Sigrun sought to use such information for. Did she intend to recover the books for herself? Use them as leverage? Or to ckmail Mazatl and his family?

    <em>¡°Your sacrifice has earned you one more question,¡± </em>the wind whispered into my ear.<em> ¡°Speak wisely.¡±</em>

    I was tempted to ask for Lady Sigrun¡¯s motives for seeking the codices, if only to figure out her ns, but I quickly realized I needed something stronger. While I sought to make her an ally, she remained motivated by self-interest. I needed insurance.

    ¡°What secret would give me power over Lady Sigrun?¡± I muttered under my breath. ¡°What information would prevent any betrayal?¡±The morning breeze blew on my face. <em>¡°Fjor never joined the army.¡±</em>

    Fjor? I remembered the name as Lady Sigrun¡¯s son, who had left her household upon reaching adulthood. ¡°Has she lied to me about him?¡± I asked, utterly puzzled. ¡°Why? Where did her son go?¡±

    <em>¡°The ugliest truth fetches a high price,¡± </em>the wind answered.

    Curses. Pay with morsels, buy scraps. Much like any cunning merchant, the Yaotzin only tempted me to better shake me downter.

    Whatever the case, if discovering the true fate of Sigrun¡¯s son would ensure her loyalty to me, then it warranted an investigation. I would have to be careful though. If she learned of my investigation, she might very well react with a preemptive strike. She did lie to my face after all.

    <em>I cannot trust anyone within these walls,</em> I thought after finishing my ¡®morning prayers.¡¯ <em>Not without leverage.</em>

    As promised, I invited Lady Sigrun to breakfast and gave her a queen¡¯s ce at my table: she took the spot on my left and Ingrid the one on my right. The other consorts had to face me on the other side of the table, a subtle message that I was certain the servants noticed. By evening, the entire pce would know that Lady Sigrun and her daughter were now in the emperor¡¯s good graces.

    My other consorts¡¯ reactions told me much about their political skills. Chikal¡¯s eyes darted from Sigrun to me, so she clearly understood we had formed an alliance of some sort. Nl appeared utterly oblivious to the situation and greeted the older concubine with gentle courtesy.

    As for Eztli, she simply smirked in amusement. ¡°I did not know you appreciated mature women, Iztac. We should rob a retirement home for some variety.¡±

    ¡°Our Lord Emperor prefers wisdom and sound advice over the young¡¯s foolishness,¡± Lady Sigrun replied, her courtesy hiding the subtle insult.

    Eztli chuckled lightly, although her crimson eyes did not smile when her lips did. ¡°He has a woman for the mind, and another for the heart.¡±

    ¡°I wonder who will get the liver,¡± Ingrid quipped.

    Nl forced herself to smile, but even she had sensed the tension in the room. I didn¡¯t pay much attention; someone¡¯s absence at the table bothered me.

    ¡°Where is caelel?¡± I asked one of the servants, one of the four half-naked women working on delivering us food and drinks. Necahual was among them, pouring a red drink into her daughter¡¯s cup. ¡°Is heingte today?¡±

    Not that I wanted to see him, but I worried his absence might spell trouble down the line.

    ¡°I am afraid not, Your Divine Majesty,¡± the servant said. Oh, that was a new title. ¡°Poor caelel perished this morning.¡±

    ¡°Too ba¨C¡± I didn¡¯t finish my sentence, as my mouth caught on to what my ears had heard. My head snapped in my servant¡¯s direction. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Loyal caelel fell from the stairs on his way to this very meeting and broke his neck,¡± the servant said with a sad sigh. Necahual, who was nearby, froze upon hearing these words. ¡°By the time healers arrived, he was already dead.¡±

    ¡°He must have been too hasty to serve his emperor,¡± Lady Sigrun managed to say with a sorry expression. ¡°Why is it always the good ones who die so early?¡±

    I stared at her, utterly astonished by that woman¡¯s sheer nerve. The slight inflection of her brows, the way she blinked as if struggling to hold back tears, the subtle way her cheeks and lips strained to show just enough emotion to imply real sadness, but not enough to give herself away¡­ if I didn¡¯t know any better, Lady Sigrun might have persuaded me that she sincerely regretted caelel¡¯s passing. If I ever seeded in overthrowing the Nightlords, she should be an actress next. She had an incredible talent for it.

    <em>I¡­ so fast? </em>I thought, trying to recover from the shock. I knew I had ordered caelel killed, but I expected Lady Sigrun to poison him over the week, not murder him within a day¡¯s time. <em>This woman does not waste time.</em>

    Wait, what about the poison? If caelel died from a broken neck, what happened to Necahual¡¯s drug?

    ¡°That makes me think, I did leave your room in haste yesterday,¡± I said, staring at Lady Sigrun with a hand around my chocte cup. ¡°I hope I did not forget anything.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Lord Emperor, you need not worry,¡± Lady Sigrun replied, holding my gaze and giving nothing away. ¡°I cleaned up everything myself.¡±

    The cunning weasel, she kept the poison as insurance so I wouldn¡¯t betray her!

    Still, I couldn¡¯t help but admire Lady Sigrun¡¯s efficiency. I gave an order to have someone murdered, and not only was that target dead by sunrise, but she managed to obtain ckmail material to protect herself if I ever tried to throw her under a carriage. If I could earn her trust and loyalty, she would make for a powerful ally.

    It only solidified my choice to investigate her son. If she wasn¡¯t afraid to keep dirt on me, I should return the favor.

    ¡°That¡¯s awful,¡± Nl whispered. Unlike Sigrun, she appeared genuinely shocked. ¡°Did¡­ did he suffer?¡±

    The servant winced. ¡°From what I was told, mydy¡­ he was in agony for a full minute.¡±

    <em>Good</em>, I thought, my mouth hurting from the sheer effort it took me to suppress a smile. <em>I must learn how to hide my glee. It might give me away one day.</em>

    ¡°Good,¡± Eztli said, not bothering with subtlety. As for Necahual, she didn¡¯t hide her joy at all. Her cruel smile beamed with happiness and the satisfaction of an appeased grudge.

    ¡°I would like to visit his corpse,¡± I said. Oh my, how did I struggle to hide my joy! After my terrifying encounter with Yoloxochitl, this news filled me with <em>immense </em>happiness. ¡°To pay myst respects.¡±

    ¡°Of course, oh divine Godspeaker,¡± the servant answered with a bow. ¡°We shall have the body prepared in time for your visit.¡±

    ¡°I shall do it right after breakfast,¡± I decided. Watching caelel¡¯s remains would energize me for the day.

    ¡°The Nightlords will surely select a new advisor by tomorrow,¡± Chikal noted. If she had guessed what happened, she didn¡¯t show any hint of it. ¡°Until then, it is up to us to guide our Lord Emperor.¡±

    ¡°On that front, have youpleted ns for our summer campaigns?¡± I asked Chikal. ¡°I wish to decide which enemy we shall target with haste.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Lord Emperor.¡± Chikal pped her hands, and servants fetched us maps and documents. ¡°I have also taken the initiative of gathering reports on your army¡¯s current state.¡±

    ¡°Excellent,¡± I replied. The more I knew of Yohuachanca¡¯s armies, the better I could sabotage them.

    We spent breakfast listening to Chikal¡¯s reports. The council session proved much more bearable without caelel¡¯s false tteries and attempts to deter me from attacking the Sapa Empire. As befitting of her experience as a military leader, Chikal¡¯s exnations were concise, straight to the point, and no less enlightening.

    As befitting an empire that had been at war since its foundation, Yohuachanca¡¯s army was as refined as its tribute system. The core unit of my troops was an eight-thousand man strong toon called the xiquipilli, themselves divided between groups of four hundred and warbands of twenty soldiers. Each of them had at least one assigned porter to carry equipment, and who could be deployed as fresh troops. A tenth of those soldiers belonged to elite military orders such as the Nightflowers, who escorted the emperor and his generals into battle; holy fraternities dedicated to individual Nightlords, such as the Jaguar Warriors and Eagle Knights; and the infamous Shorn Ones, the most revered warriors in Yohuachanca¡¯s society, who each had captured at least ten sacrifices and aplished six heroic deeds. The empire¡¯s cavalry, mostly trihorn riders, and armored longnecks, made up one-twentieth of the imperial troops.

    Yohuachanca¡¯s ever-growing poption, and the fact each man received military training, allowed the empire to field vast armies. Chm and Bm were crushed by a human tide of four hundred thousand soldiers, and a previous emperor who ruled twenty years before me set the south on fire at the helm of seven hundred-thousand men.

    And that was just thend army. The empire recently started developing a navy, both to enve the people of the Boiling Sea in the east andunch raids in the west. Add in the support staff, and Yohuachanca¡¯s military probably exceeded a million members. I couldn¡¯t wrap my head around that mind-blowing number.

    ¡°In thest century, the empire has struggled less with raising armies and more with feeding them,¡± Chikal exined. ¡°Since porters have their limits, tributaries are now required to manage food stores to supply troops deployed to the frontier.¡±

    Once again, the tributary system proved itself as the empire¡¯s lifeblood. I needed to dry it out if I wanted to break Yohuachanca¡¯s backbone.

    When Ingrid leaned against me halfway through the lecture, I let her do so and put a hand around her waist. I didn¡¯t miss the way she nced at the guards and servants to check if they saw everything. I admit it bothered me. I felt like a girl¡¯s doll being prettied up to impress strangers.

    It was a small price to pay to secure her family¡¯s assistance in my fights toe, but a part of me still found it loathsome. It took me a minute to figure out why.

    <em>They¡¯re not even trying to fight back</em>, I thought, my eyes wandering from Ingrid to her mother. <em>The mother will stay a ve until she dies, the eldest daughter will be sacrificed on the altar, and the youngest will probably follow in a decade or so. Yet they would rather y the Nightlords¡¯ game than try to flip the table.</em>

    For all their talents, Lady Sigrun and Ingrid had surrendered. They could have tried to evacuate Ingrid, to escape the pce with her sister Astrid, and rebuild their lives somewhere else. Anything would have been better than toiling in this prison.

    My face must have given something away, for Ingrid stared at me with a strange look. Though it didn¡¯tst more than a second, I could have sworn I detected a hint of shame and anger in her gaze. She quickly corrected her expression when her mother sent her a sideways nce.

    Interesting. Could Ingrid resent her mother¡¯s n for her? The Yaotzin did warn me that she would bite rather than starve. If she had truly inherited Lady Sigrun¡¯s ambition, then she probably aspired to more than being a sacrifice on the altar.

    ¡°Attacking the Three-Rivers Federation would be a straightforward march north,¡± Chikal exined. ¡°Our main issue will be overextension and maintaining supply lines, since the north¡¯snds are poor. Arge army won¡¯t be able to live off thend, especially if the northerners scorch the earth on our way¨C¡±

    My eyes wandered to the rest of the audience. Lady Sigrun and Nl both listened; the former with keen focus, thetter with apprehension. My fellow Nahualli had been trained to administer the empire, not lead it in a war, and the subject clearly made her ufortable. As for Eztli, she didn¡¯t even bother to seem interested in the report. Instead, she yed with cacao beans, setting them up in patterns on her te.

    <em>It is time</em>, I thought. With everyone either listening to Chikal¡¯s lecture or distracted, I could use both the Gaze and Veil spells at once without too many skeptics focusing on my illusion. <em>Let us see what secrets you all hide from me.</em>

    Purple sunlight poured out of my eyes, wreathed under a cloak of illusion. I immediately sensed the weight of multiple people¡¯s attention falling on my Veil spell. The gaze of servants; the sideways nces Lady Sigrun, Ingrid, and Eztli often sent me; and an invisible presenceing from the wall to my left. A spy observed me from behind a secret passage.

    Neat. I hadn¡¯t realized that since the Veil struggled against the weight of others¡¯ observation I could use it to detect hidden spies. Perhaps I should try to keep the spell up constantly to protect myself.

    In any case, none of my observers were doubtful enough to disbelieve my illusion. I managed to hide my Gaze spell and gather precious information. First of all, I immediately noticed a phantom rope coiled around Ingrid¡¯s chest, one bearing the mark of a white snake. I recognized it as an exact copy of one of the four chains holding my Teyolia bound to the Nightlords. Simr enchantments protruded from all other consorts, the ropes losing themselves into the ground. I assumed these leashes connected all the way back to their masters.

    <em>Now, let us see what spirit you hide,</em><em>Nl</em>. I focused my Gaze spell upon my shyest consort and stared into the depths of her soul. I immediately noticed a great beast¡¯s shadow looming protectively over her.

    Whereas my Tonalli was d in ck feathers, Nl¡¯s was covered in white fur. The beast reminded me of a dog, but mightier and more majestic. Its silver fangs shone like ivory daggers while its blue eyes were as pale as mine. It took me a while to recognize the creature, but I remembered seeing one in my menagerie.

    A wolf.

    Nl¡¯s Tonalli was the wolf.

    Ugh, disappointing. I had hoped she would be a fellow catecolotl who could follow me into the Underworld. Still, I wondered what kind of magic a lupine Tonalli might possess; and why someone as shy as her possessed such a fearsome totem. Perhaps it belied inner strength of some kind?

    Moreover, the wolf-spirit appeared to detect me. It red back at me in defiance, baring its fangs, all but daring me to make a move on its mortal host and find out what would happen.

    <em>You have quite the fearsome totem watching over you, Nl</em>, I thought. <em>A pity it cannot protect you from the true enemy.</em>

    At least for now. The Parliament informed me they had a way of awakening Nl¡¯s Tonalli spirit. A wolf might not follow me into the sleeping world, but it might make a powerful ally in the waking one.

    Having received the answer I sought, my eyes wandered to the other people in the room. To my surprise, I noticed strange symbols on Lady Sigrun¡¯s cheeks. They reminded me of the foreign runes I had seen on her private altar, except these were drawn into the woman¡¯s very flesh. I sensed faint magic radiating from them, though nothing I could identify.

    <em>Could she be using the Veil spell? </em>I wondered, taken aback. My Gaze spell didn¡¯t detect the presence of any Tonalli. What kind of foreign sorcery was this? <em>Is she a witch in disguise, on top of all the other things?</em>

    Lady Sigrun noticed the stares I sent her way. An amused smile stretched at the end of her lips, and I looked away rather than bring more suspicions upon myself. I truly needed to investigate this woman further.

    Finally¡­ I dared to look at Eztli.

    I had dreaded the moment the second the Parliament taught me the Gaze spell. After witnessing Yoloxochitl¡¯s true form, I dreaded seeing Eztli¡¯s human shape hide a rotting terror underneath.

    What I saw¡­ What I saw was both cause for concern and relief.

    On one hand, my Gaze spell saw Eztli as I hoped to: my oldest friend, with paler skin, red eyes, and sharper teeth. She wore no dress of flowers nor did tentacles grow out of her flesh. I noticed hints of jet-ck bat wings folded behind her shoulders and nails sharper than ws, but otherwise, Eztli appeared¡­ not fully human anymore, but close.

    On the other hand, there was a gaping, bleeding hole where her heart should have been. A bottomless pit of darkness from which sprang a rope marked with Yoloxochitl¡¯s symbol. No Teyolia burned within her. Darkness had taken over where there once used to be light, leaving only a hungry void behind.

    And when her eyes turned in my direction, Eztli turned to meet them. I could tell she <em>knew</em>. She <em>knew </em>I was using some kind of spell to observe her true self. She squinted a bit, the way a normal person would when facing the sun. She found it ufortable, albeit not deadly.

    <em>I should have guessed she would sense the Gaze spell</em>, I realized. The spell focused a dead sun¡¯s light through my eyes. Of course a child of the night would find it ufortable, even if I hide it under a visual illusion. <em>If I use it in the Nightlords¡¯ presence, they will immediately notice it too.</em>

    The Gaze spell bothered Eztli slightly¡­ and yet she did not turn away. She returned my stare with a nk expression, as if torn between her vampiric survival instinct and her inner desire to see the sun.

    In the end, I canceled the Gaze spell; both to avoid hurting her and because my eyes started to dry up. For a brief second, Eztli wore that same dreadful look as when I woke up to see her staring at the sun through a window. An expression of utter despair, of bitter realization that she would forever recoil from the light she once basked in. It onlysted an instant before she regained her previous joviality.

    <em>Do you want to see the sun so much you¡¯d be willing to let it burn you, Eztli?</em> I thought grimly. From the way she stared at me, yes, she did.<em> I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t grant your wish.</em>

    I did wonder what effect the Gaze would have on vampires once I had consumed enough divine embers. I was delighted at the idea of burning the Nightlords to death with but a mere re.

    With her regainedposure Eztli smiled mischievously at me after I dropped my Gaze spell. I immediately recognized her expression. Eztli always used it when she had done something bad and yet managed to get away with it.

    <em>What are you trying to tell me? </em>I wondered, my eyes wandering to her te. She had assembled the beans into various shapes, from sets of cubes and rectangles crossed by lines. Most would have seen nothing more than a pointless puzzle, but I had memorized enough of the pce¡¯syout to recognize a shabby map of the current floor. The rectangles and cubes made up the rooms, but I didn¡¯t recognize the lines. If they represented passageways, then they didn¡¯t fit the floor¡¯s architect¨C

    Oh.

    The secret passages.

    My eyes met Eztli, and she began to subtly alter her beans¡¯ position. I memorized their positions and sent nces her way while half-listening to Chikal¡¯s perfect n of attack to assault the Three-Rivers Federation.

    Knowledge of the secret passages would serve me well for assassinations. With them, I could deploy my Tonalli through them thanks to Spiritual Manifestation and ambush targets with no one the wiser.

    ¡°This is nothing I haven¡¯t heard before,¡± I informed Chikal after Eztli swept away her cacao beans with a wave of her hand. From what she told me, the only real difficulty would be ensuring our army¡¯s battle lines didn¡¯t outpace our supply lines. ¡°Will it truly be so easy?¡±

    ¡°I would never underestimate any foe,¡± Chikal said with a shrug. ¡°But all things considered, the odds are overwhelmingly in our favor. You will gather your ten thousand tributes in a heartbeat, Lord Emperor.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t have to look that far for fresh blood, Iztac,¡± Eztli said while ying with the cacao. I caught Lady Sigrun glimpsing at her te a brief instant, her eyes squinting. ¡°Let us cull Acampa for a start.¡±

    ¡°Acampa?¡± Nl gulped. ¡°But¡­ isn¡¯t that your hometown?¡±

    Eztli smiled cruelly, her fangs sharp and deadly. Her smile reminded me of Yoloxochitl¡¯s, much to my dread. ¡°And none of us would miss it.¡±

    Necahual, who waited in a corner to refill our drinks, remained silent as a stone. As for Nl, she started chewing her lip, holding back aint.

    ¡°I have to admit I wouldn¡¯t miss Acampa either,¡± I said. Too many bad memories. ¡°But where¡¯s the glory in sacrificing our own people?¡±

    ¡°Our Lord is wise and kind,¡± Ingrid said with a smile. ¡°The people will not love a ruler who shies away from battle.¡±

    Perhaps they should, considering what cmity I was about to unleash upon them. Though I had finallye around to using all means avable to topple the Nightlords, I understood all too well the consequences of my actions.

    Innocents would suffer for the greater good.

    ¡°Still, waging war on the north against poor savages with even poorernds to conquer does not appeal to me,¡± I said. ¡°What of the Sapa Empire?¡±

    Chikal sighed as she unfolded another map. ¡°I will not lie, Lord Emperor, the Sapa Empire will prove far more difficult to subsume. Even if we were to throw all of our forces at the task, I doubt we will see its fall in your lifetime.¡±

    ¡°But we can at leasty the foundations,¡± I said mirthfully. ¡°As I said yesterday, I would rather ensure history remembers my name. Besides, our warriors deserve better than coldnds when worthy opponents and richer targets await in the south.¡±

    Lady Sigrun, who had remained mostly silent so far, decided to speak up. ¡°Your bravery does you credit, Emperor Iztac, and your instincts are ever sharp. I believe you will find the Sapa Empire far more fragile than Lady Chikal expects.¡±

    Chikal frowned at her. ¡°How so?¡±

    It was Ingrid who answered in her mother¡¯s ce. ¡°ording to our diplomats, there is a conflict brewing in the Sapa¡¯s royal house,¡± she said. ¡°The current emperor has recently died without naming a sessor, and though his eldest son has been hastily named heir, his brothers are fuming. Since powerful noble families and magicians support each of them, a civil war might loom on the horizon.¡±

    ¡°Moreover, much like Yohuachanca, the Sapa Empire has grown by assimting rival tribes,¡± Lady Sigrun added. ¡°Fortunately for us, their false gods and emperor do not earn the same love ours do from the poption. Should these provinces be offered assistance and better terms, they might turn their back on their conquerors.¡±

    And one of her discreet allies would profit from it, I presumed. I wondered who bribed Lady Sigrun to defend their interests in my halls. The Sapa Emperor¡¯s brothers, who hoped to unseat him? Or rebellious tributaries eager to throw off their conqueror¡¯s yoke by setting them against a rival nation? Whatever the case, their support would serve me well.

    The Sapa disappointed me though. I knew all empires were built on conquest, but I had hoped they would treat their tributaries well enough to make them want to stay under their banner. Perhaps these people were too far away from Yohuachanca to realize where the true evil resided. I would have to help them learn that.

    ¡°This is good news,¡± Chikal conceded. ¡°However, nothing unites a feuding tribe like an external threat.¡±

    I prayed the Sapa people would. Otherwise, they would not survive the iing conflict.<em> Be better than us, </em>I thought.<em> I beg of you. Be better.</em>

    ¡°Not if we support a faction¡¯s interests against concessions,¡± Ingrid replied calmly. I was all but certain she and her mother had rehearsed this very conversation. ¡°If we offered our help to one of them, we could negotiate new territories.¡±

    Chikal considered the offer for a short while. I didn¡¯t need magic to read her mind. This was more or less the same situation her city went through when Yohuachanca closed in on its doors.

    ¡°That could work,¡± the former queen said. ¡°My original n did not take this information into ount, but I see no reason why we could not y on multiple strategies.¡±

    ¡°What would you suggest?¡± I asked her, trying to gather as much information as possible before making a decision.

    ¡°The sea is the Sapa Empire¡¯s soft underbelly.¡± Chikal traced a line alongside the map¡¯s western edge and the southern continent¡¯s shores. ¡°They are a mountainous people, used to living in valleys and peaks rather than the sea. Not only do theyck a navy, but their ports are more or less undefended. My n was to send troops from ournd frontiers to distract them, then strike at the coast to establish a permanent foothold.¡±

    I had to admit the idea sounded good on paper. If we could seize the Sapa Empire¡¯s western edges, we would be able to threaten them from multiple directions. They would have to react.

    <em>Would Yohuachanca scare these princelings enough to band against us? </em>I wondered. I had actually no intention of sowing division between them, but even a queen like Chikal bent under the pressure. <em>They¡¯re siblings. Family should be more important than ambition.</em>

    Or at least I hoped so. I never had a brother or sister, so I couldn¡¯t tell.

    ¡°This strategy would allow us to secure the blood tributes, gather wealth, and set up bases for future raids,¡± Chikal concluded, albeit with a caveat. ¡°However, I draw a nk at how we could conquer the Sapa Empire¡¯srger ind cities. Not only are they well-defended and self-sufficient, but the mountainous terrain heavily favors them. It will take years for sieges to yield any result.¡±

    ¡°Are you not forgetting something, Chikal?¡± Eztli mused as she finished her bloody cup. ¡°We do have a way of bypassing those silly rocks.¡±

    Chikal squinted at her fellow consort, her expression nk. ¡°Last time I checked, soldiers do not fly.¡±

    ¡°Humans do not, no.¡± Eztli¡¯s smile turned sinister. ¡°But gods live in the heavens, do they not?¡±

    My Eztli, always so mischievous. She thought along the same lines as me. I still remembered the way a Nightkin swooped down from the sky to carry me screaming atop the Blood Pyramid.

    That was partly why I was so intent on fighting the Sapa Empire. And of mountains all but required aerial troops for a sessful conquest. Nightkin would make the best shock troops on the war¡¯s frontline, right in the line of fire of the Sapa Empire¡¯s archers. Whereas fighting the Three-Rivers Federation would give the vampires an excuse to stay hidden. After all, their mortal army wouldn¡¯t <em>need </em>them to conquer the north.

    Chikal scowled, her gaze set upon me. ¡°Would they lend us their strength?¡±

    She didn¡¯t wish to ask the real question: would the Nightlords support me in this ambitious scheme?

    I ruled as an emperor among men, but the Nightkin owed allegiance to their four queens. That was why Chikal did not include them in the army¡¯sposition, although they participated in Yohuachanca¡¯s campaigns: because they did not answer to me.

    Here lies my problem. I had to convince the Nightlords to authorize an invasion of the only nation who could possibly fight back against them, and which will require them to send their brood to the ughter. As the Parliament warned me, they would deny me unless I forced their hand.

    And I had a n to do just that.

    ¡°I will petition the goddesses for their favor in this endeavor,¡± I said diplomatically. ¡°My instincts tell me the stars align in our favor.¡±

    A part of me still felt a little remorse at the idea of starting a war against a foreign nation. Whenever guilt threatened toe rising to the surface, I pictured to myself Yoloxochitl tending to her garden of flesh in her true, terrible shape. No matter how many people I slew, it would still be a drop in the ocean of blood her kind left in her wake.

    I would not hesitate any longer.

    ¡°My Lord is wise to believe so,¡± Ingrid said with a satisfied smile, while Lady Sigrun settled on a firm nod. ¡°The Sapa Empire is showing weakness. Only a true emperor like Your Majesty may exploit it sessfully.¡±

    <em>She says out loud what her mother whispers into her ear,</em> I thought. I supposed a concubine couldn¡¯t give advice unless invited to do so. That privilege went to the emperor¡¯s consorts. <em>I¡¯m starting to pick up on these things.</em>

    In the end, it was all a game of make-believe.

    ¡°I will require your assistance in this, Ingrid,¡± I said, pulling her closer. All for show. ¡°As my consort in charge of diplomacy, I must rely on you to find the cracks in our enemies¡¯ armor.¡±

    ¡°Of course, my Lord.¡± Ingrid smiled and dared to kiss me lightly on the lips in return. The gesture was quick, calcted, all for the gallery. But if she and her mother helped me get my war, I was more than willing to return it. ¡°You can trust me.¡±

    My only worry was Eztli¡¯s reaction. To my surprise, she didn¡¯t appear to care at all. While Nl blushed in embarrassment as usual and Chikal observed the scene with a cynical look, my oldestpanion couldn¡¯t seem to care less. Even Necahual appeared more bothered than her daughter, though I wondered why.

    I would have the asion to discuss it with her in private. With breakfast over, the next item on my imperial agenda was public audiences. Yohuachanca¡¯s emperor acted as the final judge and jury on important legal cases, received petitions, and spoke on the Nightlords¡¯ behalf when it came to matters of religion. As Yoloxochitl¡¯s pick, Eztli would assist me in these tasks. A task she seemed to relish.

    ¡°Ready to quarter fools and cut off empty heads, Iztac?¡± she asked me with amusement. ¡°I daresay we can start reaping the tribute today.¡±

    Eztli didn¡¯t sound serious, but I couldn¡¯t really tell what she thought anymore. I hoped she was only ying a part like I did. Desperately so. ¡°Later,¡± I replied. ¡°First I wish to pay my respects to caelel.¡±

    Perhaps I should piss on his corpse? He had always loved sucking up to those stronger than him. No, that would be too crass and paint a target on my back. I could settle on silently relishing his death without giving anything away. Considering the ordeals ahead, I better practice hiding my emotions in public.

    ¡°Oh, me too.¡± Eztli chuckled and turned to face her mother, who was still waiting for orders in a corner. ¡°You won¡¯t mind taking her with us?¡±

    <em>Her</em>, I noticed. <em>Not ¡®Mother</em>.¡¯

    So did Necahual. Her crestfallen expression spoke volumes about her anguish. In this case, we both knew Eztli was faking it. She was ying the role of Yoloxochitl¡¯s perfect daughter, who had mostly discarded her mortal mother for an immortal one. Necahual had to understand that it was for her own protection, since that particr Nightlord was a vicious, jealous creature.

    But it still wounded her heart.

    Lady Sigrun, who had observed the situation, immediately exploited it. ¡°Lady Necahual, is it?¡± she asked her fellow concubine with a pleasant smile. ¡°Would you kindly join me for the midday meal? Afterpleting your morning tasks, of course.¡±

    Necahual frowned in surprise. ¡°A meal?¡±

    ¡°As fellow concubines and mothers of consorts, are we not inws?¡± Sigrun gently held Necahual¡¯s hands into her own. ¡°I understand how lonely life in this pce can feel. I felt the same when I first arrived. It took me time to find friends.¡±

    It was a tant attempt at sizing up Necahual¡ªeither as a threat or a potential ally. To her credit, my mother-inw realized it as well. A brief scowl of anger shed on her face, before being swiftly reced with a mask of courtesy.

    ¡°I would appreciate it,¡± Necahual said without truly meaning it.

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Lady Sigrun then offered me a bow. ¡°Will you join us, Emperor Iztac?¡±

    ¡°But of course,¡± I replied with courtesy. ¡°I will have to decline any offer of dinner, however. I have already promised my dear Nl.¡±

    Nl looked down. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Do not be, Lady Nl,¡± Lady Sigrun replied kindly, though I couldn¡¯t tell if she was sincere. ¡°I prefer quality to quantity when ites to enjoying one¡¯s time.¡±

    ¡°I do find your conversation pleasant,¡± I said. And it would be all the more interesting once we exchanged information. ¡°Until then, enjoy your morning.¡±

    So ended the council session. My schedule for the day was clear: afterpleting the justice audiences and reviewing public projects¡ªnamely, Yoloxochitl¡¯s statue¡ªin the morning and a midday meal, I would spend the evening ¡®alone¡¯ with Nl. I expected spies to observe us from the secret passages.

    In fact, I was counting on them. I required witnesses. Influencing multiple people with the Veil spell might prove difficult, but the spectacle I had in mind shouldn¡¯t feel too far-fetched. Everyone already expected the Sapa Empire¡¯s gifts to be poisoned.

    I left the council room with Eztli, her mother, and a score of guards in tow. The dead¡¯s remains were stored in the dungeons in the pce¡¯s basement. Our group descended through spiraling stairs into underground chambers, a bit too close to the Abode of Darkness for myfort. I half-expected Yoloxochitl to jump out of the shadows to greet me.

    ¡°How was little <em>Goldenhair </em>in bed?¡± Eztli asked without warning. Sheughed out loud when she saw me blush. ¡°Come on, Iztac, don¡¯t be shy. I want to hear it.¡±

    She was teasing me, but her nonchnce still bothered me. I couldn¡¯t exin why. I <em>should </em>feel relieved. I didn¡¯t need jealousy or in-fighting among people I hoped to make my allies. ¡°Technically talented, but passionless,¡± I confessed. ¡°We¡¯re just using each other.¡±

    Eztli¡¯s small smile betrayed her satisfaction. ¡°As I thought.¡±

    I squinted at her, holding back a scoff of amusement. ¡°It¡¯s not apetition.¡±

    ¡°Why would it be?¡± Eztli leaned in closer to me and whispered into my ear, too low for others to listen. ¡°They¡¯re all tools, are they not?¡±

    It might have been true, in a way¡ªmy rtionship with Ingrid was an alliance of convenience forced onto us by the Nightlords¡ªbut the cold, ruthless tone Eztli used was so unlike her that it sent shivers down my spine. My eyes wandered to her chest, at the spot where I saw a ck void not so long ago.

    Eztli¡¯s hand brushed against my stomach and moved down, very close to¡­ intimate parts. ¡°I already share this with chamber pots, so why not with dolls? Make use of it as you wish. That¡¯s what the old bats want from you: a shiny prince more preupied with bedding pretty girls and doing their bidding than fighting back.¡±

    My jaw tightened. ¡°I don¡¯t want to act that way.¡±

    ¡°But you will have to if you want to win the game. Yoloxochitl is already enamored with you, but she is gullible. It will take more work to convince the others that you are no threat at all.¡± Eztli¡¯s cold fingers moved up my chest, all the way to my heart. ¡°This is the only part of you I won¡¯t share.¡±

    A pity four vampires already bound it to their altar. Still, the passion in her voice warmed my heart, for she sounded sincere. ¡°Do you mean it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Her eyes wandered to Necahual, who followed us like our shadow. ¡°We do what we must to survive, and then we will start over.¡±

    <em>Start over</em>, I thought. I had no idea what I would do if we ever seeded in toppling the Nightlords. That mountain was so high I couldn¡¯t see anything beyond it. <em>If I find a cure in the Underworld¡­ perhaps I could return Eztli¡¯s heart to her.</em>

    That was my sincerest wish, but so much remained to be done.

    ¡°Ingrid had a brother called Fjor,¡± I whispered into Eztli¡¯s ear. ¡°I would like to know what happened to him. The priests must keep records of what happens to the emperor¡¯s children.¡±

    ¡°Of course they do. They keep records of everybody¡¯s lineage.¡± Eztli nodded sharply. ¡°I will share what I find.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Since Sigrun has spies everywhere in this pce, I can trust no one else.¡±

    ¡°You can trust Mother too.¡± Eztli looked over her shoulder. ¡°She is better disposed toward you than before. I can tell.¡±

    ¡°I guess we formed a truce.¡± The poison n was a bust, but as the Parliament said I best practice assassination on small fry before targeting truly dangerous enemies.

    We finally made our way to our destination: an underground crypt with a vaulted obsidian ceiling and alcoves holding corpses. Since the pce employed thousands of servants, some with dangerous jobs¡ªfeeding beasts at the menagerie often resulted in mauling or worse¡ªthe red-eyed priests stored their remains in this ce until they could be given a proper burial.

    caelel had been set on a bed of stone for our eyes only. The priests had done their best to make him presentable, but the corpse was too fresh to hide most wounds. His brown skin had turned pallid and his neck was puffy from damage. His spine was bent in a way that should be anatomically impossible, and from the way his skull was caved inward he must have hit a stonestep in his fall. His eyes were closed, though his expression was far from peaceful. The hypocritical smile he had shown me so many times, and the cruel grin he proudly wore when Guatemoc perished, were nowhere to be seen.

    I had to admit it. Seeing caelel¡¯s corpse filled me with <em>immense </em>satisfaction.

    I stared at his face, poking it to confirm he was indeed dead. To my delight, he was indeed stiff and cold.

    <em>He¡¯s dead,</em> I thought, struggling with all my heart not to smirk. Eztli already did it for the two of us. As for Necahual, she spat at his remains. A few guards appeared outraged at the gesture, but I stopped them with a raised hand. <em>I feel at peace.</em>

    I had ordered an enemy to be murdered and it happened so swiftly¡­ Was that the essence of power? To decide who lived and who died? No wonder it went to the heads of so many people. It felt delightful.

    My only regret was not killing caelel myself. I guessed I would catch up to him in the Underworld. He would find no rest in this world or the next.

    I knew his death wouldn¡¯t change much. The Nightlords would swiftly rece him with someone else. Still, it gave me hope for the future. When it came to cleaning out the trash, no piece of crap was too small to dispose of.

    caelel was the least and first of my enemies to die, but he would not be thest.

 Chapter Fifteen: The Laws of the Realm

    Chapter Fifteen: The Laws of the Realm

    In many ways, Yohuachanca¡¯s emperor was first and foremost a prophet.

    As the Godspeaker, my voice carried the weight of the Nightlords¡¯ authority. Though the red-eyed priests held me ountable to their mistresses, I acted as the final court of the realm on judicial and religious matters. I was a living effigy, a totem whose divinely-inspired judgment could tell apart right from wrong. Eztli lurked in the shadow of my obsidian throne, the night to my daylight.

    My agenda for today¡¯s grievance hearing, the first of my reign, was quite heavy. Items on the agenda included the organization of the year¡¯s religious festivals, justice cases my predecessor failed to settle before his death, and deciding the fate of various territories. I decided to address matters from the most urgent to the least. That way I hoped to finish in a good mood in time for my meal.

    ¡°Oh great Godspeaker, we bow before your divine majesty!¡± A group of red-eyed priests knelt at my throne¡¯s feet, the sound of their hands touching the ground echoing in my hall. ¡°We beg you to enlighten the people of the Boiling Sea and set them on the path to salvation!¡±

    I sat in silence, my face a mask of stone, as the priests exined to me how my glorious predecessors brought the eastern inds to their knees. I remembered quite well the presence of their ambassadors on the day after my coronation. They had given me gifts to show their fealty.

    The fact those same representatives weren¡¯t present today spoke volumes about how much power they held. Words from my religious studies came to mind: <em>woe to the conquered</em>.

    ¡°The people of the Boiling Sea worship spirits and false deities, oh Godspeaker,¡± a priest said. ¡°Vile sea monsters and broken idols. Though the children of the night led the conquest, many of the old temples still stand today and shamans still preside over sinful ceremonies. We beseech you to decide their fate.¡±

    My first instinct was to leave them be, if only to spite the priests. Still, I decided to ask for more details first. ¡°How did my predecessor begin with them?¡±

    ¡°Divine Nochtli, blessed his soul may be, proved too merciful,¡± the chief priest said. ¡°He allowed them to keep their faith so long as they paid tribute and obedience to the goddesses. It was his hope that the people would grow to love the empire if the transition of power proved smooth.¡±Considering Nochtli had been nning a coup against the Nightlords, I suspected he wished for the inders to join his aborted revolt. Clearly, he had miscalcted.

    ¡°Did the people of the inds love Nochtli?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Of course. When he gave his life to the goddesses, they sacrificed ves in his name so that they might guide him in the afterlife.¡±

    A gift that proved futile once his soul was entombed in a pir of skulls. Moreover, the inders did not rise in revolt for him when he was brought drugged to the altar. Their recent conquest had bled the fight out of them.

    ¡°The love of the masses is cheap and easy to earn,¡± Eztli mused. ¡°You get what you pay for, Iztac.¡±

    <em>The inders might be thankful for small kindnesses, but we will always remain a foreign conqueror to them</em>. I leaned in closer to Eztli, whispering. ¡°How do you suggest we proceed?¡±

    ¡°I see three options,¡± she whispered back while ying with her nails. ¡°You can keep things as they are. The inders will send you seashell baskets, our priests will grumble, and nothing will change. Otherwise, the priesthood can slowly begin to assimte the local culture.¡±

    That was the standard procedure in Yohuachanca. Inder priests would be bound to the Nightlords and gain red-eyes. Their words and books would be slowly rewritten to merge their gods with their new vampiric mistresses in their pantheon, until one day the people of the Boiling Sea would forget all of their traditions. The process might take decades, but in the end Yohuachanca would swallow them whole.

    Obviously, that option did not appeal to me. ¡°What¡¯s the third choice?¡±

    ¡°Why, but forced conversion of course!¡± Eztli¡¯s smile unveiled her fangs. ¡°We scour their temples of riches, burn them to the ground, then build new ones over the ruins! Local shamans must either convert or die!¡±

    A chill traveled down my spine. ¡°That will infuriate the inders.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Eztli shrugged, her smirk unwavering. ¡°You will need more sacrifices for summer, do you not? A paltry sacrifice I must say.¡±

    Moments like this reminded me that while part of Eztli remained within her new vampire self, bloodlust and cruelty had filled the hole Yoloxochitl left in her heart.

    Still, her solution made me wonder. The inders had witnessed Nochtli¡¯s death without intervention because they feared the Nightlords more than they liked him. What inspired me to take arms against them?

    Hate.

    Once hate grew stronger than fear, it inspired a mad form of bravery in the hearts of men. Enough to defy four goddesses in my case. The courage of the desperate.

    Eztli¡¯s heavy-handed approach would invite resentment. It was one thing to conquer theirnd, and another to destroy their entire way of life. The inders would fight back, even if outmatched. Since they had lost their armies, they would gut throats in the dark, set garrisons on fire, and make a nuisance of themselves. Their insurrection would be crushed in time¡ªall were¡ªbut it would weaken Yohuachanca¡¯s grip on the region in the short-term.

    ¡°Besides,¡± Eztli murmured into my ear like a demon inspiring wicked sins. ¡°All the wealth you seize from the inders¡¯ temples will go to you.¡±

    I quickly caught on to her suggestion. I could use the stolen gold for bribes, to buy out allies closer to home. Eztli had always been mischievous, and undeath had only strengthened that trait into outright deviousness.

    I had two choices before me. Either rule unjustly in the hope of driving Yohuachanca¡¯s people to revolt, or act as a merciful master in the hope that they would support me once Iunched a coup against the Nightlords. I could already tell which one was more likely to happen.

    The people of Yohuachanca loved my predecessor. They loved him so much that they apuded when vampires tore out his heart. Love was a fickle throne to stand on. That must have been why the Nightlords had chosen to rule through fear.

    Or perhaps I could try to do both. Be a tyrant to those whose help I couldn¡¯t expect to rise on my behalf, and generous to those who could be useful to me. I needed allies in the pce and enemies at the borders.

    I had made my decision. I faced the priests and delivered my judgment.

    ¡°Turkeys love a weak master who lets them wander around. In time, they forget to fear the hand that feeds them.¡± I joined my hands together. ¡°The inders require a sharp reminder of who truly rules this world.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman said my reign would be an age of darkness. Very well. Once I was done, historians would look to the centuries before as a golden age never to be seen again.

    ¡°I shall ban the worship of the false gods all across the Boiling Sea!¡± I shouted with a genuine smirk. One of delight for the chaos toe. ¡°Seize all their holdings! Melt down their gold and silver as gifts to the true gods, and tear down their temples so we might build new ones in their ce! Any foreigner that refuses to cooperate shall be executed on the spot!¡±

    Before what had happened with Yoloxochitl, I would have hesitated to speak these words. They still tasted bitter in my mouth. But I had alreadymitted to wage war on foreign soil. I had already bet on winning the ball game, so I might as well go all the way.

    ¡°In fact, we shall not stop at the Boiling Sea!¡± I dered, trying to channel some of Yoloxochitl¡¯s zealous madness in my voice. ¡°Let this decree apply to all of Yohuachanca¡¯s subjects, from north to south! For the sake of their immortal souls, we shall reform today¡¯s sinners into tomorrow¡¯s holy ones!¡±

    If Yohuachanca¡¯s victims would not rise up once they saw their gods torn down, they never would at all.

    The red-eyed priestscked the fangs of their vampiric overlords, but their smiles carried as many sinister overtones. ¡°It shall be done, oh Godspeaker.¡±

    <em>Beasts, all of them</em>, I thought after calming down and slouching down on my throne<em>. They do not need human blood to live, but they lust for it all the same.</em>

    My loathsome decree was signed with a stroke of a quill, promising the obliteration of all the recently conquered people¡¯s traditions. The priests, wisely expecting pushback, asked for military support; which I gave. The more spread out the empire¡¯s troops before the war with the Sapa began, the better.

    ¡°Wise choice, Iztac,¡± Eztli whispered into my ear with a giggle. ¡°I wonder how many will file aint over this.¡±

    Like most gods, I would see to it that these prayers never get answered. ¡°What¡¯s next on the agenda?¡±

    ¡°A boring lecture,¡± Eztli replied with a sigh. ¡°I am to brief you on the New Fire Ceremony and the other religious events of the year.¡±

    The New Fire Ceremony marked the end of the sr year and the renewal of the people¡¯s pact with the First Emperor. To purify themselves of their sins from the old year, citizens would cast old clothes, hearthstones, and possessions into temple mes. A very special one, fueled by the remains of my predecessor, would be relinquished to the new emperor for five days.

    At sunset, on the veryst day of the year, I would lead a procession of priests to Smoke Mountain in the east. Once I reached the summit, all fires in the empire except for my own sacred me would be extinguished. This would mark the end of the old world. My sacred me would light up a bonfire at Smoke Mountain¡¯s top, and torches would be carried across all corners of the empire to signify the beginning of a new era.

    One that I hoped would see the Nightlords extinguished.

    However, the New Fire Ceremony would only be the first of seven major festivals I was to oversee. In two months, I would rule over the Rain Festival, where I would beseech the sky to bless ournd with water with human sacrifices.

    Ceremonies would follow on Vernal Equinox, but they would be but a prelude to the muchrger Maize Festival, the year¡¯s most beloved and important ceremony behind that of the Scarlet Moon. There I would ensure a good harvest by deflowering virgins, nting seeds in the earth, and partaking in human sacrifices.

    The Summer Solstice would also host its own ceremony: the Masked Festival, where I would dress as the First Emperor in a y recreating Yohuachanca¡¯s mythical founding. I would kill impersonators of my long-gone predecessors'' enemies as human sacrifices.

    The fall equinox would host yet another Harvest Festival, which for once <em>wouldn¡¯t </em>involve human sacrifice. Instead, I would ughter sacred animals as a symbolic representation of my subjects¡¯ sins and assist in an empire-wide sweeping ceremony meant to purify thend of evil.

    And finally¡­ I would be sacrificed on the night of the Scarlet Moon.

    Hearing this list of rituals from Eztli¡¯s mouth soured my stomach. I was only four days into my tenure, though it had felt like four months to me. The year¡¯s nning promised one atrocity after another.

    ¡°So I will take care of a sacred me for the next five days?¡± I summarized. Worse, from what I understood, I would ascend to Smoke Mountain¡¯s summit while caked in ashes. ¡°Wonderful.¡±

    ¡°Pretty much,¡± Eztli confirmed. ¡°You start tomorrow. Priests will help you keep it aze, but you¡¯re expected to do most of the work.¡±

    Considering what I was nning, I doubted I would have much time for fire-stoking. The ceremony did present an opportunity though: namely, thest day¡¯s procession would allow me to leave the pce and spend the night on Smoke Mountain.

    Eztli guessed what I had in mind. ¡°Don¡¯t get your hopes up,¡± she whispered, too low for others to listen. ¡°The old bats will watch over your shoulder until dawn. For your own good, of course. A child shouldn¡¯t wander outside without his parents¡¯ supervision.¡±

    I scoffed. From the disdainful way she worded it, this sentence came straight out of Yoloxochitl¡¯s mouth. I wished I could burn her with her own so-called ¡®sacred me.¡¯ At least this promenade would give me a breath of fresh air outside the pce.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never climbed Smoke Mountain,¡± I murmured.

    ¡°Must be a pretty beautiful sight from all the way up there,¡± Eztli replied with a strange, distant look. ¡°I hope I can see it too.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see any reason why you can¡¯te,¡± I said. ¡°We could go watch the night sky as we used to. Smoke Mountain is said to be so tall that its peak looms above the clouds.¡±

    Eztli smiled back at me. ¡°You are sweet, Iztac.¡±

    Unlike her words, her eyes were utterly without joy. It filled my heart with worry. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Eztli answered with a tone that implied otherwise. ¡°It will make for a nice date.¡±

    It would have, under normal circumstances. The thought of Yoloxochitl and her sisters watching over us while we enjoyed a tender moment atop Smoke Mountain did not appeal to me much, but I had to make do with what I had.

    ¡°What is the next item on the agenda?¡± I asked one of my priestly attendants to move on, since the subject clearly made Eztli ufortable.

    ¡°Next month¡¯s marriages, oh Godspeaker.¡± The priests unrolled entire scrolls full of names and dates. ¡°As emperor, you possess the right of the first night of any new bride-to-be.¡±

    I knew what wasing, but it still took all of my strength to hide my disgust. The idea of forcing myself on innocent women only inspired horror in my heart. At least waging war on the Sapa would serve a greater purpose. ¡°I will abstain.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t,¡± Eztli said.

    I scowled at her, both in shock and horror. ¡°Are you approving this¡­¡± I struggled to string the words together. ¡°This <em>debauchery</em>?¡±

    ¡°Iztac, don¡¯t you see the bright side?¡± She leaned in closer to whisper into my ear once more. ¡°It will let you exit the pce.¡±

    My jaw clenched so tightly that my teeth started to hurt. Of course an emperor would not organize amoner¡¯s wedding for them. They would be hosted and feasted by the married families, adding insult to injury.

    Even so¡­ even so, I failed to even <em>entertain </em>the thought. At least until Eztli provided an interesting solution.

    ¡°You don¡¯t <em>have </em>to deflower the bride-to-be, silly,¡± she pointed out. ¡°You can simply choose to attend andin once you find her beauty beneath your imperial standards. Then you spend the evening in revelry far away from the old bats¡¯ gaze.¡±

    <em>That¡­ that might actually work</em>, I conceded. Who could me me if I traveled to a wedding, realized that the bride I visited did not live up to the tales, and then decided to grace the two families anyway with my presence? It would offer an opportunity to exit the pce now and then, perhaps to meet with allies outside its walls.

    It was best to do that only asionally. If I witnessed too many weddings without exercising my ¡®rights,¡¯ the Nightlords were bound to grow suspicious.

    ¡°How¡­¡± I cleared my throat as I questioned the priests further. ¡°How does this even work? There must be thousands upon thousands of unions each year across the empire. How would one even begin to select them?¡±

    As it turned out, the imperial bureaucracy had solved the issue many centuries ago.

    All weddings in the empire were prepared months early with the priesthood¡¯s benediction, since thetter kept strict records on genealogy and bloodlines. Due to distance, they only selected choices from among the capital and its surrounding region¡ªthough I could exercise my ¡®right¡¯ on a whim anywhere if I traveled to another part of the empire. Afterward, the priests sorted the ¡®candidates¡¯ by age, keeping only those between sixteen and thirty, and weighted bloodlines with ¡®appreciable traits¡¯: health, beauty, and intelligence. Finally, priority was given to families who invited the emperor to the festivities.

    ¡°Invitations?¡± I thought I had misheard for a moment. ¡°Are some families inviting me to bed their brides and daughters?¡±

    The priests nodded as one, much to my bafflement. ¡°Many do, oh Godspeaker. After all, is there no greater honor for a family to be graced with your divine presence?¡±

    ¡°In fact, Iztac, you received more invitations than the month has days,¡± Eztli mused. The situation appeared to amuse her as much as it disturbed me. ¡°You will have to deny most of them.¡±

    I sank deeper into my throne, trying my best to grasp the situation. I struggled to understand why anyone would invite me¡­ until I remembered the night of the Scarlet Moon. How could I forget the hopeful visages of so many men eager to be chosen as emperor while Guatemoc and I trembled with dread? Or how many apuded when the Nightkin carried me screaming to the Blood Pyramid?

    For most of Yohuachanca¡¯s citizens, being chosen as the year¡¯s emperor was the highest honor. I had be more than a man: I was a conduit connecting the false gods of the empire to their mortal subjects. The chosen sacrifice that was meant to keep the sun alight.

    An emperor visiting a peasant family meant the Nightlords smiled kindly on them. Many would see it as a great honor¡ªnay, a <em>blessing</em>¡ªrather than a curse. Such was the strength of the vampires¡¯ hold on my people. They had managed to turn cuckolding into a divine miracle.

    <em>I miss the Land of the Dead Suns</em>, I thought grimly. <em>The dead aren¡¯t half as foolish as the living.</em>

    ¡°I will think on it,¡± I replied evasively. ¡°More urgent matters demand my attention for now.¡±

    The priests bowed before me. ¡°Remember, oh Godspeaker, that all mortals serve at your leisure.¡±

    <em>¡°You might not realize it yet, Iztac, but fathering more blessed children is your holiest duty,¡± </em>Yoloxochitl told me. Her words echoed in my ears like the Yaotzin¡¯s curses. <em>¡°Your sacred blood must keep flowing. Your seed enriches any soil in which it is nted.¡±</em>

    <em>They do have a strange obsession with the emperor¡¯s children</em>, I mused disdainfully. Enough to allow their puppets to leave their cage on asion if it meant making more of them. <em>I haven¡¯t heard of any would-be prince or princess who had distinguished himself to warrant these efforts.</em>

    Come to think of it¡­

    Come to think of it, I¡¯d never heard a word of <em>any </em>emperor¡¯s children. How odd.

    I knew daughters were secluded inside the imperial harem, but sons were ostensibly sent to join the army. Yet I couldn¡¯t remember any general or famed warrior with imperial ancestry. Not a single one. Lady Sigrun¡¯s lies about her son¡¯s fate made that doubly suspicious, alongside the Yaotzin¡¯s insistence that the truth would fetch a high price.

    Were they sent to the altar on their way out of the pce? I didn¡¯t remember any imperial prince being sacrificed, though it might be because I never bothered to look it up. Eztli shouldn¡¯t have any issue identifying them among the priests¡¯ records if that were the case.

    <em>What do the Nightlords need the emperor¡¯s sons for?</em>

    I would need to ask the Parliament of Skulls for details tomorrow. I had a bad feeling about this matter; a terrible intuition that something sinister was afoot behind the scenes.

    This impression wouldn¡¯t leave me for the entire morning, enough that I struggled to focus on the justice cases I had been expected to solve today. The first was rtively boring: a session dispute over the inheritance of Xochipilli, a prominent merchant from Quetzaltenango. The man had perished without a clear heir. ording to the priest¡¯s reports, his first wife¡¯s son, zohtzin, argued that he should inherit due to being the oldest heir; while the second wife¡¯s son, xc, argued that since his mother was of higher social status their father meant to give him everything. Local magistrates failed to deliver a verdict, so they petitioned me for my judgment.

    Eztli appeared as bored as I was by the reports. ¡°You should seize the father¡¯s assets and be done with it,¡± she suggested. ¡°This should teach them the danger of wasting our time.¡±

    I was tempted to go along with the suggestion, but that would achieve little except disinheriting both families. I forced myself to think the situation over. I had so little time and so few powers of my own that I couldn¡¯t let any opportunity pass.

    How would my predecessors suggest that I act in this situation?

    ¡°What made Xochipilli such a powerful merchant?¡± I questioned the priests.

    ¡°Thete Xochipilli owned all inns within Quetzaltenango¡¯s limits, alongside its brothels and breweries,¡± one of them answered. ¡°In hister age, he started to buy simr establishments in other cities, including Your Divine Majesty¡¯s capital.¡±

    This aroused my curiosity enough to shake me out of my distraction. So far I had focused on fostering unrest in the empire, but I also required allies outside the pce¡¯s walls. Sigrun had proved to me how valuable a web of agents could be. This judgment might offer me an opportunity to start building my own.

    <em>Whoever receives my benediction will be grateful to me personally</em>, I reasoned. <em>Maybe I could leverage it somehow.</em>

    ¡°Are both of Xochipilli¡¯s sons in the capital?¡± I asked the priests, who both nodded. As expected, they had made the journey just in case I requested an audience. ¡°I shall receive them tomorrow and give them a chance to plead their cases personally.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, oh supreme emperor,¡± the priests answered while Eztli rolled her eyes in annoyance. She hated dragging things on.

    The next case involved a heated dispute between the cities of Huitzmpa and Tonalco over a fertile patch ofnd between their territories. While the former intended to put it to use for agricultural purposes, thetter wanted to start a mining operation. Both cities¡¯ rulers argued that they had an ancestral right to the location, and rather than risk angering either of them the magistrates referred the matter to the emperor¡¯s judgment.

    I immediately smelled a chance to sow discord. Much like Xochipilli¡¯s inheritance, I summoned both sides to plead their cases during the week through representatives.

    ¡°What are you waiting for?¡± Eztli murmured to me in annoyance.

    ¡°The best offer,¡± I answered bluntly.

    This caused her to smirk. ¡°I knew you would make an excellent merchant.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± I sighed as the audience came to an end. ¡°In any case, I am spent.¡±

    Eztli nodded happily. We were done for the day. ¡°I will hunt down Ingrid¡¯s missing brother in the meantime,¡± she murmured into my ear. ¡°Take good care of Mother for me, and little Nl too.¡±

    ¡°Nl?¡± I repeated. I expected Eztli to ask me to look after Necahual, but not a fellow consort.

    ¡°I like her.¡± Eztli gently stroked my hair. ¡°She reminds me of you a few years back. All sweet and innocent.¡±

    ¡°I was never so gentle.¡±

    ¡°You were,¡± Eztli replied with a chuckle. ¡°Only somewhere along the way, you learned the meaning of bitterness.¡±

    I had no answer to that. ¡°Mind if I ask you for a favor, Eztli?¡±

    ¡°Another missing child to hunt?¡±

    <em>What do the Nightlords do with the emperor¡¯s sons? </em>The question was on the edge of my lips, but I held back. I had a more pressing matter to deal with. ¡°Could you ensure there are fewer eyes looking at us this evening? I would like to enjoy a more private moment with Nl. I believe she deserves that at least.¡±

    I expected Eztli to crack a joke about that ¡®private time,¡¯ much like what happened with Ingrid. Instead, though, she studied my face before answering. She knew me all too well. ¡°Of course.¡±

    After the audience, I briefly reviewed the statue project with Ingrid¡ªthe final expense ought to be as ridiculous as it was unnecessary¡ªand then enjoyed a short meal with Lady Sigrun and Necahual in the former¡¯s room.

    While Necahual remained on edge from start to finish, barely eating her food or saying anything, Lady Sigrun did her best to help her break out of her shell. She asked questions about her life in Acampa, confided about her own past, and questioned her about medicines that would help Astrid focus on her lessons¡­ which eventually broke through to Eztli¡¯s bitter mother.

    ¡°I can brew passionflower potions for you,¡± Necahual suggested kindly. While she had only ever shown me bitterness in the past, she took her healer duties seriously. ¡°It will soothe your daughter¡¯s nerves.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Lady Sigrun replied graciously, though I suspected she already knew the nt¡¯s properties. ¡°Astrid can hardly stay still for five minutes before her mind wanders somewhere else. Not even the gods canmand her attention.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of gods,¡± I said, my eyes gazing at her private shrine and the strange sigils carved on it. ¡°What are those symbols meant to represent?¡±

    ¡°Those are runes,¡± Lady Sigrun exined. ¡°In my homnd, these marks represent the gods and invite their protection.¡±

    <em>Is that why you secretly carved them on your pristine flesh?</em> I thought. I still wondered how she managed to hide them.

    Necahual¡¯s eyes widened at the confession. ¡°You worship foreign gods inside the pce?¡±

    Lady Sigrun¡¯s smile turned mischievous. ¡°Wind¡¯s gods and those of Yohuachanca are the same. Our cultures simply gave them different names. I simply worship the Nightlords in my own way.¡±

    The lie was so wlessly executed it could havee out of a priest¡¯s lips. Neither Necahual nor I were blind to the truth, but we did not question it.

    ¡°What¡­¡± Necahual cleared her throat, as if afraid to ask. ¡°What gods does this shrine pay homage to?¡±

    ¡°The goddess of beauty and the goddess of death,¡± Lady Sigrun exined. ¡°You know them as Iztacoatl, the White Snake, and Ocelocihuatl, the Jaguar Woman.¡±

    Beauty and death¡­ what an interestingbination. I had wondered how she managed to stay so beautiful at her age and what trickery she used to y caelel. I had the suspicion that both events were connected somehow.

    Lady Sigrun had to be a witch of some kind. Not a powerful one, or else she would have sensed my Gaze spell. And I hardly believed the Nightlords would have let a sorceress operate in their midst for so long if she possessed any aptitude that could directly threaten them. The fact she could hide the runes on her skin from mortals attested to her true nature. This made me wonder if she had taught Ingrid anything.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I will have to leave soon,¡± I said now that we had emptied our tes. ¡°Nl must be waiting for me.¡±

    ¡°I understand, my emperor.¡± Lady Sigrun met my gaze. ¡°Do you have time for a song before leaving?¡±

    I nodded sharply and Lady Sigrun hastily pped her hands. Astrid walked into the room with a smaller, handheld version of her sister¡¯s harp instrument. Necahual was about as surprised as I was.

    ¡°What kind of tool is this?¡± she asked Astrid, who shyly smiled back. She probably wasn¡¯t too used to strangers.

    ¡°A lyre,¡± Sigrun answered on her daughter¡¯s behalf. ¡°Astrid, would you kindly y a song for your brother-inw? Something joyful.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Mother.¡± Astrid pinched the instrument¡¯s strings and started ying an upbeat melody. She was less talented than her sister at music, but her lyre provided enough noise to give us privacy.

    While Necahual was focused on the song itself, Lady Sigrun leaned closer to my side of the table and went straight to the point. ¡°Who will you choose among Xochipilli¡¯s heirs?¡± she whispered into my ear.

    That she knew the details of an audience only priests were privy to didn¡¯t surprise me in the slightest. ¡°Are you not going to suggest a pick?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Lady Sigrun replied as she poured me a cup of chocte. ¡°Instead, I expect Your Majesty to tell me which of them he intends to voice his support for ahead of time, so I can ept the winning bid.¡±

    Her words drew a smile from me. ¡°Is it not a sin to take credit for work one hasn¡¯t done?¡±

    ¡°It would be a greater sin to appear fallible,¡± Lady Sigrun replied unabashedly. ¡°Besides, I would be in your debt.¡±

    ¡°Duly noted.¡± I saw no reason to deny her wish. ¡°My contact also provided an answer to your test.¡±

    I recounted to Sigrun what the Yaotzin told me while paying close attention to her mannerisms. My mother-inw¡¯s face gave nothing away¡ªit might as well have been made of marble¡ªbut I noticed her eyes briefly blinked when I mentioned Mazatl¡¯s daughter. She was good, <em>very </em>good; but not perfect either. I might learn to read her better with time.

    ¡°I am surprised,¡± Sigrun said, and for once she appeared entirely truthful. ¡°Few even know that the man has a daughter, let alone her name. He is a very private person. The fact you learned this information within a day¡¯s time, if it proves correct¡­¡±

    ¡°<em>Once</em> it proves correct,¡± I insisted. The Yaotzin never lied. While I couldn¡¯t rule out the possibility that Mazatl¡¯s daughter didn¡¯t go along with his wishes, I doubted the wind wouldn¡¯t have informed me. Like any good merchant, it required repeat customers.

    ¡°Did the Nightkin tell you?¡± Lady Sigrun asked. I smiled in response without giving anything away. ¡°You have grown better at hiding your thoughts, Lord Iztac.¡±

    ¡°I will take that as apliment.¡±

    ¡°It is one.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± I noticed Necahual turning away from Astrid¡¯s song and squinting at us. She probably figured out we were scheming together, but wisely did not mention it. ¡°I do wonder why you need that information though.¡±

    She smiled at me. ¡°The answer might cost you.¡±

    <em>Ever the opportunist, I see</em>. ¡°I will pass for now.¡± I was more interested in her runes anyway. ¡°I have another request for you.¡±

    Lady Sigrun nced at Necahual, who returned her gaze. ¡°You want me to look after her now that her daughter has grown distant.¡±

    ¡°You are quite astute,¡± Iplimented her. From the way Necahual stared at us, she had guessed what we had whispered about. ¡°Can I count on your support?¡±

    ¡°I shall teach her court etiquette in return for your assistance on the Xochipilli case,¡± Lady Sigrun promised with a sharp edge in her gaze. ¡°It is gettingte, Emperor Iztac. Your consort must be waiting for you.¡±

    Indeed. I loudly thanked Lady Sigrun for the meal and song, kissed her daughter Astrid on the forehead, and did the same with Necahual¡¯s cheek. ¡°Be wary,¡± I whispered to her, too low for our host to hear. ¡°She is an ally for now, but a fickle one.¡±

    Necahual bit her lower lip without answering, her nod almost imperceptible. She was a novice at this game, but she had good instincts. A lifetime of keeping her emotions bottled up inside her heart probably helped.

    <em>I am starting to get it</em>, I thought while leaving Sigrun¡¯s chambers with guards shadowing my steps. <em>How this game is yed.</em>

    The world of the living and that of the dead did not differ much. In both cases, one had to first give in order to receive in turn. Everything I did on the behalf of another should have a price attached to it. The right information was worth more than gold, and there was nothing more precious than trust.

    These were simple rules to follow. At least so far.

    Nl¡¯s chambers, as befitting those of a consort, were located within a short distance of mine. I immediately noticed a strong smell of cacao when I approached its barkwood door.

    ¡°Nl?¡± I raised my hand to knock on the door, but a guard did it for me. ¡°Are you there?¡±

    I heard her answer from the other side with a trembling voice. ¡°C-C-Come in!¡±

    I exchanged a nce with one of the guards, who opened the door. ¡°Keep watch outside,¡± I told them after crossing the threshold. ¡°I will call for you if I need it.¡±

    Though I suspected they would rush in on their own by the evening¡¯s end. I intended to make noise.

    Unlike Lady Sigrun and Ingrid¡¯s tidy apartments, Nl¡¯s quarters reminded me of the capital¡¯s chaotic marketce. The antechamber alone was a spacious hall of shelves filled with maize, squash, and most of all, cacao beans. The smell of it was almost intoxicating, and I nearly stumbled on a grinding stone filled with chocte. From the look of it, Nl had to have stopped midway through the process.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry!¡± I heard Nl apologize from two rooms over. ¡°I am so sorry, my lord, my emperor, I¡ªthe oven is not working properly! I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    ¡°The oven?¡± I blinked in astonishment as I followed her voice. ¡°You have a kitchen in your quarters?¡±

    ¡°A-A small one, yes!¡±

    She was cooking for herself? In a pce with <em>thousands </em>of servants?

    Nl¡¯s constant litany of apologies led me straight into her quarters¡¯ main room, arge hall with a central table surrounded by scattered board games and other exotic decorations. Exquisitely crafted patolli boards with jade pieces waited next to a miniature replica of a ballgame court whose wooden yers were held by sticks. Ceramic pots were piled in a corner next to painted dolls, bizarre y figurines, obsidian mirrors, and a collection of various shiny stones with as many colors as the rainbow. I failed to find a pattern of any sort. I couldn¡¯t even identify half the trinkets in this room.

    However, none of the strange items in Nl¡¯s collection could stand up to the Sapa¡¯s tablet.

    As per my orders, my servants had transported it to Nl¡¯s apartments; though since it was ten feet high and half as wide, they had to put it sideways to fit it inside the hall. It remained as impressive as the day the ambassadors presented it to me, with its smooth volcanic stone surface covered in silver patterns mimicking the sky. An eclipsed sun of an obsidian stone circled with gold upied the design¡¯s center.

    <em>What did the Sapa call it again? The Chaskarumi? </em>Its surface felt strangely warm when my fingers brushed against it. <em>They said they used it to calcte the movement of the stars...</em>

    It was the eclipsed sun that fascinated me the most, however. I almost imagined the Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s dead one in its ce, a purple circle raining tears onto a grim god¡¯s skull. How would the Sapa have represented locan¡¯s sky? A sapphire surrounded with burning rubies?

    ¡°I am so sorry, my Lord Iztac.¡± I turned my head to the side to see Nl walk out of an obsidian archway to my left. I caught a glimpse of a stone oven behind her. ¡°I, I wanted to bake cacao sweets for you, but the fire, the fire is not¡­ it¡¯s not good enough¡­¡±

    ¡°I told you, call me Iztac, and skip the lord part,¡± I replied with a warm smile. ¡°I¡¯ve got enough tterers topensate.¡±

    I meant it as a joke, terrible as it was, but it only caused her further distress. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I forgot.¡±

    I sighed and studied Nl. I had expected the most shy of my consorts to wear a dress or something formal; the way Ingrid had when I visited her mother. Instead, she weed me in amon, dirtied sleeveless blouse covered in chocte stains and she had soot on her white hair and hands.

    ¡°You need not apologize, Nl,¡± I reassured her. The wolf inside her was buried very deep. ¡°But, forgive me for asking¡­ Why do you have a kitchen in your quarters?¡±

    ¡°I, uh, I cooked for the priests all my life.¡± She smiled shyly, her fingers trembling. ¡°It¡­ it calms me when I¡¯m stressed.¡±

    Considering how she looked, it didn¡¯t help much. ¡°I apologize if I put pressure on you,¡± I said. ¡°I intended for today¡¯s afternoon to be a rxing moment.¡±

    ¡°No, no, this is all my fault, I¨C¡± Nl blushed enough to turn her pale skin scarlet. ¡°It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve hosted someone.¡±

    ¡°Truly?¡± I squinted at the dozen or so games she hadying around. ¡°What are these for then?¡±

    ¡°I, uh¡­¡± Somehow Nl became even redder. ¡°I¡­ I mostly y against myself. I switch from one chair to another.¡±

    That was both strangely adorable and terribly sad. If anything though, it made me appreciate her more.

    <em>She is painfully awkward and transparent</em>, I thought, <em>but it is all genuine.</em>

    ¡°Well, now you have a partner,¡± I replied with amusement. ¡°Though you¡¯ll have to teach me how to y most of these.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, of course.¡± Nenelt nodded joyfully. ¡°I have patolli, Sapa games, that new <em>Board & Conquest</em> from the north. Which one would you like to try first, lor¡ªIztac?¡±

    ¡°Surprise me.¡± I hoped that by encouraging her to take charge, she would grow morefortable around me. ¡°We have the afternoon and evening ahead of us.¡±

    ¡°Oh, then we can try the Sapa games,¡± she happily suggested. Her eyes turned toward the Chaskarumi. ¡°They are almost as pretty as this tablet.¡±

    ¡°I like it very much,¡± I confirmed. Though I would have to destroy it by the evening¡¯s end.

    All the pieces were now in ce.

    I activated the Gaze and the Veil spells in tandem. I immediately felt the weight of others¡¯ attention on my shoulders. Nl, a rat hiding within the walls¡­ and someone else.

    This third presence immediately put me on edge. My entire n revolved around deceiving a handful of people with my Veil spell. The more onlookers present, the greater the risk of failure. Moreover, the presence was <em>close</em>. So close it might as well have been¡­

    Standing right in front of me.

    I turned my sun-empowered eyes toward the Chaskarumi. My Gaze spell dispelled the illusions that covered its surface. The stars remained as sparkling as ever, shining lines of metal in a sea of ckened stone. But the eclipsed sun¡­

    The obsidian stone at the center of the tablet had grown a reddish, vertical line in its middle. The golden circle¡¯s curves had stretched left and right into a familiar shape. The same one I saw each morning when I cleaned before an obsidian mirror.

    An eye.

    <em>Someone </em>was observing us through the tablet.

    <em>Good</em>, I thought, a smile on my lips. This would make things <em>so </em>much easier.<em> Keep watching. You will like what you see.</em>

 Chapter Sixteen: The Plot

    Chapter Sixteen: The Plot

    A vicious battle raged on a board of wood.

    Two teams of six warriors faced one another along square-shaped tracks. Each of these six had been chosen among hundreds to represent a god in this sacred confrontation. Half of the contestants had already crossed the finish line. Two of the opposing runners were so close that they could see it. They jumped from square to square in an attempt to ovee their rival, for the glory of their patron deities.

    A racer overcame the other through a burst of speed, jumping across six squares in a single leap¡­ only for the ground to copse beneath his feet and reveal a pit of pitch-ck darkness.

    Only the gods could save him now.

    ¡°Your token hasnded on a ck square,¡± Nenelt noted as a roll of the dice, putting my figurine in jeopardy. ¡°You must send it back to the beginning.¡±

    ¡°I activate my protection tumi,¡± I said, dramatically raising an amulet representing a smiling totem. ¡°It protects my token from harmful effects.¡±

    ¡°It would¡­ if I didn¡¯t have a cursed tumi!¡± Nl viciously flipped a skull-topped amulet she had won early in the game. ¡°It negates your tumi¡¯s effect and forces you to discard it!¡±

    ¡°You snake!¡± I cursed as my figurine went all the way back to square one. It hurt all the more since it had been about four spots away from the finish line. ¡°Did you sit on that tumi for an hour while waiting for this exact opportunity?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Nl said with amusement as she cruelly rolled the dice. Her hand moved her fifth figurine past the finish line and crushed my hopes. ¡°Better luck next time.¡±Of all the board games yed in Yohuachanca, none matched patolli in poprity.

    The game was yed on a cross-shaped board whose four arms were each divided into twelve squares, and two to four yers could participate at once. To win, a yer needed to move six pieces around the board. How movements were determined depended on the yers¡¯ wealth. I had only ever yed it with Eztli by rolling marked beans, while I had seen rich merchants use wooden dice. As befitting an emperor¡¯s consort, Nl used a silver die and ivory figurines on an exquisitely crafted wooden board. Specific squares possessed special effects, such as forcing a piece all the way back to the beginning, disrupting a yer¡¯s moves, or skipping squares.

    As it turned out, the Sapa Empire yed a variant of the game called ¡®tumi.¡¯ The rules were nearly the same, but with a major change: if a yer¡¯s piecesnded on specific squares, they could select one of the eponymous tumis from a set of ten. These small trinkets, which took the form of semicircr bronze des topped by a totemic visage crafted from precious metals and stone, possessed unique powers that a yer could call upon at will once per session.

    It would take me more than luck to win this game. I had only managed to put two figurines past the finish line while Nl was one token away from victory. She had already won the previous two games as well.

    To my astonishment, my consort¡¯s behaviorpletely changed once at the gaming table. Her shyness and awkwardness were gone. Both had drowned to death in a flood ofpetitiveness that the girl had held back deep within her heart. Perhaps she wasn¡¯t such a wallflower deep down.

    ¡°Here I go again,¡± I said while rolling the dice. I advanced my token by six steps andnded right on a tumi square. The true gods had smiled on me atst. ¡°Perfect.¡±

    ¡°There are only three tumis left,¡± Nenelt said as she presented me with the various trinkets still avable: a masked trickster; a jaguar, and an eyeless crone. ¡°The trap tumi, the jaguar tumi, and the seer tumi.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the mighty jaguar.¡± The jaguar tumi made it so that when one of my figurines caught up to one of Nl¡¯s, it would send it back to square one once by ¡®eating¡¯ it and let me roll a second dice in a row. Considering the current state of the board, it would be more useful than the other options.

    I admitted I preferred ying tumi over patolli. Patolli was mostly a game of luck; you had little control over the board besides rolling the beans and dice, so you either prayed to the gods fervently enough for them to listen or bit your tongue at your rotten luck. In a way, it fit the realm of the Nightlords quite well.

    Tumi gave yers many more options. Not only could they choose any of the amulets when theynded on the right square, they needed to y them at the right times to maximize their odds of victory. Nl had sat on her cursed tumi for many turns to better crush my hopes at the right time.

    <em>I suppose it¡¯s appropriate</em>, I thought as my third token chased after Nl¡¯sst.<em> The Nightlords think that my life''s a game of patolli, when in truth I¡¯m ying tumi.</em>

    I could only hope my spells could secure my future victory. As Nl very clearly stated from the beginning, no single tumi guaranteed victory. They only made it more likely.

    In the end, my token managed to catch up to Nl¡¯s piece and send it back to square one. It let me put a third figurine past the finish line, though that wasn¡¯t enough to prevail.

    ¡°I win again,¡± Nl rejoiced as she moved her final token past the finish line after another twenty minutes of y. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    For once, she said it with a proud smile rather than an awkward expression. Good. She was starting to grow morefortable around me.

    ¡°Excellent game,¡± I congratted her. ¡°Seems like I have some training to do to catch up to you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t beat yourself over it, I¡¯ve yed it for years,¡± Nl reassured me. ¡°You are learning quickly too, Iztac. Give it a couple more sessions and you¡¯ll be the one beating me.¡±

    I noticed that she no longer stammered when speaking my name. I supposed there was no better way for a girl to build up confidence than by defeating her husband at board games. So far we had yed patolli, bul, the miniature ballgame, and multiple rounds of tumi. Thest one held my attention the longest so far, beyond its use for my n.

    ¡°What are these tumi supposed to represent?¡± I wondered out loud. ¡°Foreign gods?¡±

    ¡°I think so,¡± Nl confirmed, though her smile appeared a little strained this time. ¡°They have more than we do.¡±

    ¡°So the tumis represent the gods answering the Sapa people¡¯s prayers,¡± I guessed. I stroked my chin to look halfway wise for my audience¡¯s sake. I had seen old people do this to appear smarter than they actually were. ¡°Interesting¡­ very interesting.¡±

    Realizing that we were taking a pause from the game, Nl set aside the board and game pieces. ¡°Did¡­ Did ying this game help you understand the Sapa more?¡±

    ¡°I think so,¡± I replied. ¡°This might determine how we invade them.¡±

    I immediately sensed an invisible presence¡¯s attentioning from the tablet.

    Though I had canceled the Gaze spell due to its harmful effects on my eyes if I used it too long, I kept the Veil up in a very subtle way by slightly altering one of my clothes'' feathers¡¯ color. This change barely required any mental effort on my part, but it allowed me to sense how many onlookers observed me¡­ and how intensely.

    <em>You¡¯ve been waiting days for this moment, haven''t you? </em>I thought while observing the tablet from the corner of my eye. Whatever wizard spied on me, I hoped his superiors treated him better than mine.

    ¡°See, Nl, if the Sapa people believe that their gods will answer their prayers in times of trouble, it means we could focus on destroying their temples first,¡± I exined. ¡°If their deities fail to protect them in their hour of need, or worse, fold before our own, it would break their spirit.¡±

    I sincerely hoped the Sapa¡¯s deities would indeed shield them from Yohuachanca¡¯s, but I didn¡¯t expect much. Xolotl did warn me that all the true gods were dead and gone.

    ¡°I¡­ I suppose it would.¡± Nl shifted on her cushion. Our current subject of conversation unsettled her. ¡°Are we¡­ I mean, are you¡­¡±

    ¡°Set on starting a war?¡± I sighed, somewhat sincerely. ¡°What other choices do we have? The Nightlords spoke clearly to me. Either I shed foreign blood or my subjects would pay the price. Our citizens¡¯ safety takes priority.¡±

    ¡°I understand, but¡­¡± Nl joined her hands, her fingers trembling. ¡°Could we¡­ I do not know, ask for volunteers?¡±

    ¡°All of those already perished on the Scarlet Moon¡¯s eve.¡± It wasn¡¯t even a lie. The rare zealots ready to die for their faith already surrendered their lives before I even sat on my throne. ¡°Moreover, this war would benefit our country. The Sapa Empire is on the brink of copse, its wealth ripe for the taking.¡±

    The oppressive feelinging from the Chaskarumi strengthened further. This confirmed that whoever spied on me from afar could both see <em>and </em>listen.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll ever get a better chance to take them down,¡± I insisted, trying to make it sound like a regrettable necessity. ¡°They are divided, their coast is undefended, and they think they can buy their way out of trouble.¡± I waved a hand at the Chaskarumi. ¡°This tablet alone is proof enough of it. Gifts do not buy safety.¡±

    I was giving away as much information on theing campaign as I could without arousing suspicion. If they had any sense, the Sapa spies in charge of observing me would report everything to their superiors.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Lor¡ª<em>Iztac</em>.¡± Nl¡¯s moment of confidence had passed. Now she seemed unable to meet my gaze. ¡°But¡­ Can I ask you a question?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Nl.¡± The situation was eating away at her. ¡°What is on your mind?¡±

    ¡°If¡­ we do as you say and conquer the Sapa Empire¡­¡± Nl gulped. ¡°Then its people will be our subjects, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± I frowned. ¡°What of it?¡±

    ¡°If the goddesses ask the next emperor to bring new tributes¡­ they will have to invade another country.¡± I nodded sharply. If I failed to take down the Nightlords, the Three-Rivers Federation would surely be their newest target. ¡°The world isn¡¯t limitless. If we continue down this path¡­ Yohuachanca will eventually conquer all of it.¡±

    She finally mustered enough bravery to meet my gaze.

    ¡°Once all the people in the world be citizens of the empire¡­¡± she whispered, her eyes heavy with fear and sorrow. ¡°Who will the future emperors sacrifice then?¡±

    Poor girl. If only I could tell her I felt the same way. The Nightlords¡¯ greed and bloodthirst would never be sated. They would outgrow even the world.

    ¡°I do not know,¡± I replied. ¡°One way or another, we won¡¯t be here to see it.¡±

    It was aplete lie. If I failed to bring down Yohuachanca, I would witness everything from atop a pir of skulls. I would weep in guilt and shoulder the bitter sting of failure for centuries.

    ¡°I understand, but¡­¡± Nl chewed her lip nervously. ¡°I feel that we are only passing on the burden to another.¡±

    ¡°We are,¡± I replied bluntly, causing her to flinch. I immediately regretted it. ¡°Nl, what other option do we have? Sacrificing our own poption?¡±

    ¡°Is there¡­ Maybe there is another way to feed the goddesses?¡± Nl suggested, though, from her doubtful tone, she didn¡¯t believe in it herself. ¡°Perhaps¡­ Perhaps we could find an animal whose blood they can consume and¡­ breed it?¡±

    <em>They are already doing that</em>, I thought grimly. <em>They are breeding humans. </em>¡°You know as well as I do that the gods will not settle for turkeys, Nl. I wish there was another way too, but this has to be done.¡±

    ¡°I know¡­¡± Nl let out a sigh. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­ I know you¡¯re trying to do your best as emperor, but¡­ this feels wrong.¡±

    Because it <em>was</em>. ¡°We must do as we must in this world. If another way presents itself, I will take it without a moment¡¯s hesi¨C¡±

    I stopped myself halfway through my speech. I straightened my back and clenched my fists, my heartbeat hastening.

    The moment hade for me to unveil my ploy and failure was not an option.

    Nl stared at me in confusion. ¡°Iztac?¡±

    ¡°Do you feel that?¡± I asked her, ncing around aimlessly and feigning suspicion.

    ¡°Feel what?¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s watching us.¡± My eyes wandered across the room and settled on the tablet. ¡°It¡¯sing from there.¡±

    The pressure cast by the spying spell on my Veil intensified twofold. Whatever sorcerer observed me on the other side would have been wiser to simply drop it, but I remembered Huehuecoyotl¡¯s lessons. The mind was easier to trick when it went into shock.

    ¡°There¡¯s¡­¡± I rose from my seat and pretended to examine the Chaskarumi more closely. ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with this tablet.¡±

    ¡°Something wrong?¡± Nl asked, utterly confused. ¡°It seems normal to me, Iztac. Pretty even.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure¡­ I¡¯m not sure myself.¡± I moved my hand on the tablet¡¯s smooth surface. ¡°I feel as though¡­ as though we¡¯re being watched.¡±

    If this tablet contained a trap, the moment was now or never to trigger it. Part of me hoped for it. It would spare me the trouble of injuring myself.

    Unfortunately, though the foreign gaze observing me through the tablet did not lessen in intensity, no magical spell stuck me where I stood. I expected as much. A device with offensive applications might not have survived the red-eyed priests¡¯ scrutiny. The Sapa Empire¡¯s sorcerers chose subtlety over force.

    But the Nightlords didn¡¯t have to know that.

    <em>I¡¯m sorry</em>, I silently apologized to all of the Sapa people. <em>Forgive me</em>.

    ¡°Call the guards,¡± I said, my heart pounding in my chest. The moment of truth hade. ¡°There¡¯s something wrong about the tablet¨C¡±

    Smoke poured out from the Chaskarumi¡¯s eclipsed sun.

    Or at least, that was how Nl and the spy in the walls perceived it. My Veil spell expanded beyond my body to cover the tablet and myself in its embrace. The strain on my mind grew stronger as I wove my illusion into the world. I shaped a cloud of purple mists from nothing, a swirling abyss of eldritch magic erupting from the tablet like a volcano.

    Shining red eyes opened within the whirlpool and red at me.

    <em>This is it</em>, I thought, my heart pounding so hard in my chest I could hear the beat echoing in my skull. <em>Better make it convincing.</em>

    Everything devolved into nned chaos.

    I copsed on my back, faking paralysis and helplessness. Nl shrieked in terror before I even hit the floor. The two guards outside flung the door open and barged into the gaming hall with their obsidian clubs. Perhaps they had expected to confront a human assassin who had managed to sneak into the apartments. Nothing could have prepared them for what I had conjured.

    Huehuecoyotl warned me that the more shocking an illusion, the more it threw onlookers off their game. While they might eventually grow to disbelieve what their own eyes showed them, there would be a brief moment when their minds were so taken aback that it would suspend all logic and skepticism. A bird falling off a tree didn¡¯t have time to consider whether or not the ground would kill them or not. Their instinct drove them to fly away.

    For a brief second, all the weight that previously poured onto my Veil spell vanished. Disbelief, skepticism, confusion, all were washed away by a tide of terror as a terrible monster materialized in thefortable room. The smoke coalesced into a twisted horror with two gaunt limbs ending in three razor-sharp ws.

    I took inspiration from the creature I had encountered in the Underworld and built upon its monstrosity with all the details I had learned from the Sapa¡¯s culture over thest few days. I gave this creature a ghoulish mask based on the tumis topped with a dozen red eyes shining like stars, a bent ugly shape, and a dozen screaming faces for skin.

    I had long thought over what shape my illusionary creature should take. In the end, I settled on a monstrous ghost. After all, they worshiped their ancestors and feared their displeasure, while the Nightlords thought themselves above it. It felt¡­ <em>appropriate</em>.

    For all onlookers, a monster straight out of the Underworld¡¯s darkest depths had materialized in half of its terrible glory. Its torso remained bound to the tablet, as if the horror was stuck through a doorway. I had the illusion lunge at me with a shriek.

    To their credit, the guards immediately moved to protect me. They had trained for years to protect their emperor, and their predecessors¡¯ fate at Yoloxochitl¡¯s hungry fangs only impressed upon them the consequences of failure.

    The Spiritual Manifestation and Veil spells were antithetical to the other in a way. The former required my Tonalli to take physical shape in the world; thetter required it to stay immaterial. Using both at once exhausted me quicker than carrying loads of stone during battle training at school, yet I persevered nheless.

    My empowered Teyolia burned within my chest. The divine energies within it fueled my magic the same way a beating heart helped my lungs to gather air. Its mes let me materialize my Tonalli¡¯s talons and cloak them in a veneer of illusion. To outsiders, my talons appeared like two of the monster¡¯s wed hands.

    They tore out a guard¡¯s throat with such strength that his head went rolling at poor Nl¡¯s feet. His blood surged from his severed neck and painted my robes red.

    I felt a little guilty upon hearing Nl¡¯s screeching screams, but only a little. I felt little to no pressure on my Veil spell anymore. Now that it had imed a victim, the monster appeared all too real. Even the mysterious sorcerer spying on me through the tablet felt utterly entranced by the gory spectacle.

    The remaining guard froze upon seeing hisrade¡¯s corpse copse at his feet, and then attempted to behead my illusion with a swing of his weapon. His obsidian de phased through my monster¡¯s misty neck without inflicting damage.

    The man¡¯s disbeliefsted a second before my talons sank into his chest. My ws tore through his cotton armor and flesh alike. They ripped his ribs open in a waterfall of blood and organs, his guts spilling onto the floor.

    <em>Serves you right</em>, I thought as I watched my second captor copse onto the ground in a state of shock. Thankfully, the strain of maintaining my corporeal talons twisted what would have been a gleeful smirk into a pained expression. <em>Now, if only more woulde more swiftly. I can¡¯t maintain this for long¡­</em>

    Warm hands grabbed my shoulders, drawing me out of my trance.

    ¡°Get up!¡± Nl shouted in panic. She vainly attempted to drag me across the floor and away from the creature. ¡°Iztac, please, we need to go!¡±

    Anyone else would have fled in fear in her stead. Instead, kind Nl instead chose to shelter me. I would have whispered words of admiration for her surprising bravery if it didn¡¯t risk ruining my devious n.

    ¡°Run,¡± I whispered for both of our sake. I no longer sensed the spy in the wall, which meant the Nightlords would send reinforcements any minute now. ¡°Run.¡±

    I needed her to flee. If the monster avoided harming her, it would raise suspicions I could have done without. <em>Please Nl, leave me here¡­</em>

    She did not.

    Nl¡¯s hands gripped my shoulders with surprising strength. I had the monster re at her and raise its arms threateningly in the hope it would break her resolve. Instead, she moved between the creature and I for a reason I could not fathom.

    I couldn¡¯t believe my own eyes. Nl was trembling and shaking like a tree, her clothes drenched in guard blood, her breathing so strong and intense it would have put a longneck to shame¡­ yet here she stood in front of me, arms raised to protect the puppetmaster from his own creation. She was trembling and terrified, but she still attempted to protect me.

    I never had anyone try to protect me in the past besides Eztli, so¡­I admit I was moved.

    If only it didn¡¯t risk ruining everything!

    My monster couldn¡¯t be seen sparing the emperor¡¯s consort from harm after murdering two guards. I had my creature tower over her threateningly, to no avail. Nl had frozen in ce in a mix of utter fright and determination.

    <em>Nl, please be a coward this time</em>. I apologized in my heart as I had the monster raise a w. With luck, she would flee. Otherwise¡­ I would do my best to merely scratch her. <em>Just jump out of the way!</em>

    My creature brought down its ws, aiming to strike me and only lightly graze Nl¡¯s skin, only for a dreadful tension to fill the room.

    I stopped my creature midswing as a raw sensation of danger wrapped its icy fingers around my heart. For a moment I thought the Nightlords had materialized somewhere in the room at the edge of my gaze. A low, bestial growl told me otherwise.

    Nl was trembling, but not from fear.

    Her pale blue eyes glowed with a vivid, eerie light while her mouth grew fangs in between her teeth. I watched on, astonished, as new muscles bulged from her flesh and stretched her petite frame enough to tear off her clothes. Wild silvery fur sprouted all over her pale skin and her nails protruded into sharp ws.

    The beast Nl had be snarled at my illusion with a snout and a maw full of fangs. She towered over the false monster that previously overshadowed her.

    <em>What¡­ </em>Now it was my turn to learn terror, my breath slowing down and my blood turning cold. <em>What is this?</em>

    Nl lunged at my creature with a savage roar.

    My illusion dispelled on its own, as did my talons. Both dissipated into a cloud of smoke as Nl shattered the tablet with a single blow. ck stones flew across the hall, with some bouncing off my chest, alongside silver stars and the golden circle that used to represent the eclipsed sun. Nl snarled and raged, her mighty hands punching the leftover rocks into scraps and pebbles. The very ground trembled from her sheer strength.

    <em>Is that spiritual manifestation? </em>I wondered<em>. </em>No, she did not manifest her Tonalli outside her body. She <em>became </em>it.<em> Or it took her over because of the stress.</em>

    Thankfully, no one was left to notice my deception. The walled spy had long left to seek allies and I felt the Sapa sorcerer¡¯s invisible presence disappear with the Chaskarumi¡¯s destruction. As for Nl, she was too maddened to care.

    In fact, I started fearing for my own life.

    When she finally stopped smashing what remained of the Chaskrarumi, the wolf-human hybrid Nl had turned into faced me with cold, hungry eyes. She reached over eight feet tall in her current state, towering over me like how an adult would cast a child in its shadow. Her hands could hold and crush my skull in their palms. I doubted she would need to. Her fanged maw could tear me apart in an instant.

    ¡°Nl¡­¡± I whispered, raising a hand in an attempt to¡­ I do not know, calm her? Reassure her I meant no harm? ¡°Nl?¡±

    My consort showed no hint that she recognized me. Her canine eyes betrayed no hint of intelligence beyond bestial savagery. She barred her fangs at me as if to intimidate me. Did she identify me as the monster¡¯s source in her current state? Or had her bestial Tonalli taken her over sopletely that it treated everything as a threat?

    ¡°Easy, Nl¡­¡± I whispered while crawling back. I prepared to use the Doll spell to defend myself if the worst came to be, though I had the feeling it wouldn¡¯t help me much against a creature over thrice my weight. ¡°It¡¯s me, Iztac. We yed tumi together.¡±

    I would have loved to say that an evening spent ying board games had forged an unbreakable bond between Nl and me.

    It didn¡¯t. She opened her jaw and attempted to bite my head off so fast that her maw reached my throat before I could react. By the time activating the Doll spell crossed my mind, I already felt the tip of her fangs on my skin. She could have tore it out in a blink.

    Nl stopped before delivering the killing blow. I looked into her wide eyes full of dread and fear. Her mouth remained wide open and yet frozen in ce. Her extended hands would never reach my chest. She was floating in ce, her feet a few inches above the ground, her body trapped midway through her attack as if the march of time had halted suddenly. An all-too familiar power had seized her utterly.

    A terrifying presence loomed behind me, the very air turning colder than winter¡¯s cruelest nights. My breath turned to mist, and my heart stopped beating within my chest.

    ¡°Good dog,¡± a dreadful, familiar voice whispered.

    I dared to look over my shoulder.

    Ocelocihuatl, the Jaguar Woman, smiled back at me.

    I had never seen her without her mask. Perhaps she had no time to put it on, or she no longer felt the need to wear a ceremonial disguise within the pce. Her dreadful beauty more than matched that of her sister Yoloxochitl, albeit wilder and more savage. Her mane of hair was a paler shade of red than her eyes, almost orange, and topped by a golden diadem in the shape of a jaguar¡¯s ears. Her skin-fitting robes were made of true spotted fur and ckened feathers, however. ult symbols covered both her full cheeks and her strong, sleeveless arms, each of them pulsating with power.

    ¡°Your prayers have been answered, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡± While the Nightlord showed none of Nl¡¯s previous fury, she radiated a different kind of savagery. The sophisticated cruelty of a great cat toying with its prey, the viciousness of a mountain lion preparing to pounce without a sound. ¡°You are safe now.¡±

    Being eaten by a wolf suddenly became halfway appealing.

    The Jaguar Woman waved her hand and threw Nl across the room. My transformed friend crashed through her kitchen wall and finished her course against the stone oven, which cracked under the pressure.

    I had to admit it was an impressive disy of magic. The ease at which the Jaguar Woman¡¯s version of the Doll spell¡ªcloaked in the Veil to hide the strings¡ªdisarmed Nl and tossed her aside like a ragdoll reminded me of how Queen Mictecacihuatl caught me the first time we met. Either the Nightlord¡¯s skill in magic matched that of a goddess or my untrained eyes couldn¡¯t tell the difference yet.

    I sincerely hoped for thetter. The possibility of a false goddess¡¯ power rivaling that of a real one terrified me, especially since I would have to confront her in battle in less than a year. Had five hundred of those bloodthirsty rituals imbued the Nightlords with a sliver of divine magic?

    This only made it more imperative for me to strengthen my Teyolia with godly embers. I would stand no chance otherwise.

    <em>How did she even sneak up on me?</em> I thanked the gods below that I failed to activate my Doll spell in time, or else the Jaguar Woman would have caught me in the act. <em>Can she jump out of shadows or phase through walls?</em>

    ¡°Stay down, dog,¡± the Jaguar Woman ordered without raising her voice.

    The beast who used to be Nl whined and crawled in submission, her snout against the ground, her eyes pleading for mercy.

    The Jaguar Woman allowed herself an arrogant smile that made me want to puke. ¡°Good girl.¡±

    I spent the rest of the evening being interrogated.

    Nl was still trapped in the skin of a wolf when the red-eyed priests chained and dragged her away like a mad dog in need of a beating. I felt tremendously sorry for her. She had transformed trying to protect me from danger.

    ¡°Worry not, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡± By now, I was convinced that the Jaguar Woman always called me by my full name as a way to demean me. To remind me that I was neither an emperor nor a ruler worthy of respect, but a mere man. ¡°The first change is violent, but not permanent. My servants will beat the wolf out of her.¡±

    Her phrasing caused me to gulp. ¡°Beat it?¡±

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s smile showcased her sharp, terrible fangs. ¡°How do you think men tamed wolves into dogs?¡±

    <em>I will see to it that this wolf bites your hand one day, oh cruel queen of the night,</em> I swore in my heart. <em>You will tame neither of us.</em>

    If I had the power to turn back the march of time, I would have done my best to spare Nl whatever torment the priests had nned for her. But what was done was done. I would have to live with the guilt and consequences, which promised to be heavy.

    After the Jaguar Woman studied the tablet¡¯s remains, I was brought to the Abode of Darkness below the pce to meet with the Nightlords. While the White Snake and the Bird of War manifested through the statues in their likeness, Yoloxochitl came in person to ¡®support¡¯ me.

    ¡°My poor child, you are safe¡­¡± Yoloxochitl hugged me the same way I hugged Necahual after she threatened her with rape. She stroked my hair and whispered kind words into my ear. ¡°No one will harm you now. I swear it.¡±

    <em>No one but you?</em> ¡°Worry not, Mother,¡± I replied while returning the hug. ¡°I was unharmed.¡±

    I buried my head into Yoloxochitl¡¯s ck hair to hide my disgust. From the re the Jaguar Woman sent us, I wasn¡¯t the only one feeling that way. Either she found her sister¡¯s disy of affection humiliating, or she didn¡¯t buy my poor boy act in the slightest.

    ¡°I will decimate your guards for their ipetence, and our warlocks too,¡± Yoloxochitl swore angrily after letting me go. ¡°They swore to us that the tablet presented no danger. No danger at all!¡±

    Sugey¡¯s voice came out of her statue. ¡°Our thralls have been negligenttely, but I would hear what happened from our emperor¡¯s own mouth.¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Yoloxochitl put a hand on my shoulder. ¡°Iztac, tell us everything.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, Mother,¡± I replied, my heart pounding in my chest. <em>Come on, Iztac, you¡¯ve rehearsed this in your head many times.</em>

    I proceeded to recount the evening¡¯s events to the Nightlords. I did not lie, mostly because I feared they might sense the deceit in my voice. Instead, I simply omitted key details. I confessed how I had been considering waging war on the Sapa to obtain the required tribute¡ªan admission which drew augh from the Bird of War¡¯s statue¡ªand gathered cultural artifacts as a way to understand their culture.

    ¡°You felt you were being watched?¡± The Jaguar Woman squinted at me. ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I am not sure how to exin it,¡± I replied with a trembling hand. It wasn¡¯t a lie. I still didn¡¯t understand how the Sapa¡¯s spying device managed to avoid detection until my Gaze spell identified its true nature. ¡°I sensed an¡­ an invisible pressureing from the tablet, if that makes sense?¡±

    ¡°Your Nahualli powers must have manifested,¡± Yoloxochitl said with a proud nod. ¡°They let you cast away this web of deceit.¡±

    My heart skipped a beat. ¡°Nahualli?¡±

    ¡°A child blessed and cursed by the stars,¡± the Jaguar Woman exined calmly. Unlike her sister, her expression remained utterly unreadable. ¡°Much like the consort I chose for you embodies the wolf, an owl sleeps within your soul.¡±

    ¡°The owl?¡± I feigned surprise. <em>Damn that witch, she knows</em>. ¡°Forgive me, but I struggle to understand.¡±

    ¡°Your totem is the owl,¡± the Jaguar Woman answered with a hint of annoyance. A patient teacher she was not. ¡°A wise and knowledgeable spirit.¡±

    <em>But one you don¡¯t understand everything about</em>, I thought while faking confusion. <em>Or else you would prevent me from sleeping. The true dead keep a catecolotl¡¯s secrets.</em>

    ¡°We are getting off-track,¡± Sugey¡¯s voiceined. ¡°Carry on with your tale, Emperor Iztac.¡±

    I remained on edge from start to finish, though I wasn¡¯t half as frightened as that time Yoloxochitl took me away to the park. If the Nightlords had learned my true nature, I would already be done for. Nl¡¯s unexpected transformation had helped muddle already troubled waters and obscured the so-called goddesses¡¯ sight.

    From time to time I nced at Yoloxochitl, as if to seek her support, which she returned with warm smiles and small nods of encouragement. I did not need them, nor did they bring me any joy. But they helped sell the image of a cowed emperor who had learned whose approval he ought to seek.

    ¡°A creature of smoke?¡± Sugey¡¯s statue marked a short pause. ¡°Our priests detected no such thing. They have grown weak andx in their old age.¡±

    Iztacoatl¡¯s voice surged from her own representation. ¡°You are too harsh with them, sister. They did find the spying spell, did they not?¡±

    ¡°A spying spell?¡± I repeated in genuine surprise. ¡°W-why? If you knew the tablet held a trap, why let it trigger?¡±

    The Jaguar Woman squinted at me with a cold gaze for daring to speak up uninvited. I immediately faked submission by lowering my head.

    ¡°Our reasons are not for you to know, child,¡± she rasped.

    Sugey, the Bird of War, appeared to disagree. ¡°We intended to turn the spell against the Sapa at an appropriate time. To feed them false information and deceive them.¡±

    ¡°Who could have expected them to be foolish enough to hide an assassin within a b of stone?¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s statue let out a dark, chillingugh. ¡°How brazen. I did not know the Sapa¡¯s lords could summon such a creature, let alone shield it from our gaze.¡±

    As I suspected, the Nightlords remained unsure of the Sapa Empire¡¯s true capabilities. Their sorcerers zealously guarded their magical secrets. The assassination attempt, while unlikely, appeared usible to the Nightlords. After all, they might possess simr spells hidden from the rest of the world.

    ¡°Perhaps our current emperor is wise to seek battle with the Sapa Empire,¡± Sugey mused. ¡°It has been too many decades since I enjoyed a true war. If these foreigners are brave enough to fight us back rather than cower, then they might prove a challenge.¡±

    ¡°This bravery reeks of madness to me,¡± Iztacoatl replied. ¡°I fail to see what the Sapa Empire hoped to aplish by attacking our Godspeaker. Sess wouldn¡¯t have prevented a war. The mere attempt all but secured our hostility.¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. Her suspicious gaze settled on me. ¡°This fiasco seems a little too¡­ <em>convenient</em>.¡±

    It took all my willpower not to show weakness. My mind remained strong, but I could already feel invisible, icy fingers touching my throat.

    Yoloxochitl scowled at the Jaguar Woman in displeasure. Apparently, she noticed too. ¡°Convenient for <em>whom</em>, my sister?¡±

    ¡°Therein lies the question.¡± The Jaguar Woman met my gaze, unblinking. ¡°What are you hiding from us, Iztac Ce Ehecatl?¡±

    <em>She is the most dangerous of them</em>, I thought while trying toe up with a good distraction. <em>The most cunning and perceptive.</em>

    ¡°I¡­¡± I gulped as if afraid of speaking too much. ¡°I am not sure I should bring this up¡­¡±

    ¡°Speak,¡± the Jaguar Woman ordered. The invisible noose around my neck tightened a little further.

    Yoloxochitl¡¯s scowl deepened, but she did not intervene. Some mother she was when confronted with resistance.

    ¡°I¡­¡± I did not fake the terror in my voice. If I failed to convince the Nightlords now, I would not see the light of day again. ¡°I remember the night Mother Yoloxochitl took me under her wing. She¡­ she sensed an evil spirit lurking in the shadows.¡±

    ¡°My dear Iztac speaks the truth.¡± Yoloxochitl nodded to herself. ¡°I smelled a foul invader a few nights ago.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, I remember you mentioned an incident the night you imed that peasant,¡± the White Snake said. That the Nightlords considered forcing a child to kill her own father a mere ¡®incident¡¯ filled me with disdain. ¡°The Sapa ambassadors already delivered the tablet to the pce at that point.¡±

    ¡°You believe that could have been the same creature?¡± Sugey pondered out loud.

    I nodded slowly. ¡°If I may be so bold¡­ Maybe I was not the creature¡¯s target.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman scoffed in disdain. ¡°You insinuate this monster intended to target <em>us</em>?¡±

    <em>One day, it will</em>. ¡°In my vige, we are taught that dogs hunt by smell,¡± I recounted, trying to weave half-truths into a usible exnation. ¡°Sometimes, they mistake a beast for another because they trust their nose over their own eyes. I¡­ I dare not presume anything, but¡­ I was present with Mother Yoloxochitl when the spirit first appeared.¡±

    Yoloxochitl¡¯s eyes burned with anger. ¡°This trap was set for me, but the beast could not tell us apart.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman remained unconvinced. ¡°Why not send the tablet as a gift to us then, instead of our prophet?¡±

    ¡°To avoid suspicion?¡± Iztacoatl suggested. ¡°The strings would have been too obvious otherwise.¡±

    Sugey grumbled in frustration. ¡°Does it matter why the snake bit?¡± she asked. ¡°No. What matters is that it <em>did</em>.¡±

    ¡°There must be consequences for this brazen attack, my sisters,¡± Yoloxochilt dered. ¡°A reckoning.¡±

    ¡°I have read Chikal¡¯s ns,¡± Sugey said with a hint of bloodthirst. ¡°They appear credible to me. The Sapa Empire left its nk exposed to us.¡±

    I noted that the Nightlords appeared to keep an eye on their chosen consorts¡¯ activities and observed them bicker among themselves. As my predecessors guessed, Sugey was a warmonger. As befitting her title of the Bird of War, the opportunity of fighting a foe daring enough to challenge their puppet emperor appealed to her. Meanwhile, Yoloxochitl¡¯s madness and paranoia served me well. She truly believed my tale that an invisible enemy sought to harm her through me, her prized possession, and as usual she intended to react to this offense with overwhelming violence.

    The two other Nigthlords would prove harder to convince.

    ¡°We cannot let this go unpunished, that is true,¡± Iztacoatl replied. ¡°However, I am not too fond of sustained wars. The Sapa Empire will not fall in a year and we have other means to retaliate. Let us simply execute their ambassadors and call it a night.¡±

    ¡°The moment to conquer the Sapa Empire has note yet,¡± the Jaguar Woman added. ¡°Victory will neither be quick nor certain.¡±

    I was about to open my mouth and argue my case when Yoloxochitl beat me to it. ¡°Not if we use the weapon, sisters.¡±

    A terrible silence followed.

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s icy grip on my throat lessened to almost nothing as she turned her attention to her sister. The otherworldly presence of the White Snake and the Bird of War weakened, and their connection to their statues was briefly disrupted. I took it as an ill-omen. Goddesses did not fall speechless easily, even fake ones.

    ¡°It isplete,¡± Yoloxochitl stated with confidence. ¡°We only need to test it.¡±

    ¡°That will spoil the food,¡± Iztacoatl warned. Was that <em>uneasiness </em>I detected in her tone?

    <em>The ¡®weapon¡¯? </em>I frowned. What weapon could possibly unsettle a Nightlord? Did my predecessors fail to inform me?

    The Jaguar Woman nced at me with a baleful re. The same one she sent me on the night of my coronation before strangling me into unconsciousness. She was considering doing the same here and now, only holding back because it was already toote to shut her sister up.

    <em>I shouldn¡¯t be hearing this,</em> I realized. <em>The cattle shouldn¡¯t learn the means of its demise.</em>

    ¡°Not all of it,¡± Yoloxochitl replied before ncing at Sugey. ¡°It shall cull the weak and spare the strong. You will still have your war, my sister. Short and sweet.¡±

    Sugey marked a short pause, before referring to her elder sister. ¡°What do you say, Ocelocihuatl?¡±

    The Jaguar Woman, first among equals, pondered her answer. I could tell I had failed to convince her. She remained unconvinced by my tale. However, the truth mattered little to one who had built an empire on lies. Justice mattered less than appearance and opportunity.

    When she released her grip on my throat, I knew my foes had chosen the path of greed.

    ¡°Rejoice, Iztac Ce Ehacatl. The gods assent to your request.¡± The Jaguar Woman smiled at me. ¡°The Sapa Empire will learn fear.¡±

    I returned her smile with one of my own.

    The true battle had begun.

 Chapter Seventeen: Consequences

    Chapter Seventeen: Consequences

    ¡°The weapon?¡±

    I nodded before the Parliament of Skulls. Once the Nightlords let me go, I immediately went to report to my predecessors. ¡°Iztacoatl mentioned it would spoil the ¡®food¡¯,¡± I said, my lips twisting in disdain, ¡°Whatever that means.¡±

    My words gave even the dead pause. ¡°Of all the Nightlords, Iztacoatl is the cruelest,¡± the skulls whispered. ¡°If she protested against the use of this weapon, then its cost must be grim.¡±

    Having witnessed Yoloxochitl eat her own men and the Jaguar Woman nearly strangle me to death, I grimly pondered how the White Snake could somehow be worse. ¡°Have you no knowledge of what such a weapon might be, my predecessors?¡±

    The emperors¡¯ skulls wriggled on their pir. If they still had necks, they would probably have shaken their heads. ¡°The Nightlords managed to keep certain secrets from us, such as this weapon. However, we can make conjectures. Are you certain Yoloxochitl developed it?¡±

    ¡°I believe so,¡± I confirmed.

    ¡°Yoloxochitl is a middling sorceress whenpared to her more aplished sisters, so we doubt it is a spell. No spear or bow, however refined, would impress her sisters.¡±

    ¡°So we can rule out improved equipment.¡± I crossed my arms, trying to remember any key detail that might help us uncover the truth. ¡°They said <em>the </em>weapon. Singr.¡±

    ¡°If it risks ruining the Nightlords¡¯ blood supply, then it must be a poison of some sort,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°Yoloxochitl does have a certain gift for gardening.¡±A chill traveled down my spine. I had seen firsthand what kind of nts she catered to. ¡°Could it be a flower from her garden?¡± I suggested. ¡°Odious seeds that will bloom at night to devour the living?¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps,¡± my predecessors replied. ¡°You must discover the truth. If the Nightlords are confident this weapon will turn theing campaign to their advantage, it must be destroyed as soon as possible.¡±

    How ironic. I had sparked a war with a foreign empire and now plotted how to help them win as efficiently as possible.

    ¡°Cultivate your rtionship with the Flower of the Heart,¡± my predecessors suggested. ¡°This remains your best option to uncover the truth so far.¡±

    Unfortunately, they were right. I had no desire to spend any more time in Yoloxochitl¡¯s twistedpany than necessary, but the fate of the war would depend on it. <em>The closer we grow, the easier the kill</em>, I thought. <em>She can¡¯t do worse than what I have already seen.</em>

    I kept telling myself that, and the Nightlords kept proving me wrong.

    ¡°That matter aside, we are very pleased with your progress, our sessor.¡± The Parliament¡¯s eyes lit up all at once, their radiance briefly strong enough to cast away the Reliquary¡¯s shadows. For a moment, it seemed as if dawn itself threatened to rise from the darkness. ¡°Your n, however risky, shall herald a new war fraught with opportunities.¡±

    ¡°It cost Nl dearly,¡± I replied, my fists tightening. I never meant to involve her. Not this way.

    ¡°It is unfortunate that your consort awakened her totem under these circumstances,¡± the skullsmented, though they showed littlepassion for Nl herself. ¡°We had hoped to cultivate her gifts in secret. Still, the wolf is a strong totem and we will not let the Jaguar Woman shackle it. We can make use of her.¡±

    I felt a little ashamed at asking, ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°The wolf is a totem of kinship, who draws power from the moon,¡± my predecessors exined. ¡°With enough training, your consort will learn how to control her transformation and gain enough strength to rival the lesser Nightkin. It will be an asset in battle.¡±

    ¡°Why would the Nightlords let her transform?¡± My jaw clenched on its own. ¡°The Jaguar Woman made her intention to ¡®tame¡¯ Nl all too clear.¡±

    ¡°One can shackle the wild, but never truly conquer it.¡± The skulls let out a cold, sinister chuckle. ¡°When a Nahualli awakens their bestial form in the Jaguar Woman¡¯s care, she always proceeds the same way: she marks them with spells that let her both trigger the transformation at will or punish it with terrible pain. Many Nahualli among us suffered from this treatment.¡±

    I thanked fate for blessing me with a subtler totem, or it would have happened to me too. ¡°Why does the Jaguar Woman do that?¡± I asked. ¡°She selected Nl as a consort <em>because </em>she was a Nahualli from what I gathered, so she must gain some benefit out of it.¡±

    ¡°She does,¡± the Parliament confirmed. ¡°The Jaguar Woman has learned how to drain magic as well as blood. She will feed on Nl¡¯s power, diminishing your consort¡¯s potential and strengthening her sorcery.¡±

    The witch waited for Nahualli¡¯s powers to mature the way a farmer waited for a vegetable to grow full before the harvest. Disgusting.

    ¡°We have developed countermeasures over previous cycles,¡± the previous emperors reassured me, though their solution proved far more sinister than I would have liked. ¡°Subtle alterations to the Jaguar Woman¡¯s design will let you subtly usurp control over her bindings. You will gain equal power over young Nl¡¯s transformation.¡±

    ¡°This¡­ This is not what I wish for.¡± I gulped. ¡°Is there no way to simply break the spells controlling Nl and let her run free?¡±

    ¡°Not without alerting the Jaguar Woman.¡± A thousand eyes gazed at me in silence. ¡°What concerns you, our sessor?¡±

    ¡°You suggest that I further tighten Nenelt¡¯s leash,¡± I replied with a sigh of exhaustion. ¡°I would rather free her and have her join us out of her own free will.¡±

    The Parliament of Skulls meditated on my words for a few seconds before answering. ¡°Perhaps she will in time,¡± they reassured me. ¡°But so long as the Jaguar Woman remains in this world, your consort¡¯s fate shall remain out of her own hands. Any freedom you offer will be an illusion, a mirage. To break her mistress¡¯ shackles, you must use all the means at your disposal.¡±

    ¡°I understand necessity isw, but¡­¡± I struggled to exin why treating Nl this way bothered me. How was exploiting a loophole in the Jaguar Woman¡¯s spells less righteous than starting a war that would kill thousands? ¡°Nl¡­¡±

    She was like me. A Nahualli that was rejected for her appearance and then exploited by others for their personal gain. I kept seeing myself in Guatemoc¡¯s ce as he watched me tend to the fields.

    <em>She is like y, soft and weak and easy to twist</em>, the Yaotzin had warned me about Nl once. <em>She will be either your puppet or someone else¡¯s, bound by love¡¯s cruel strings.</em>

    ¡°I would be treating her the same way I was, as a tool.¡± That was what troubled me the most. ¡°What would that make me, my predecessors?¡±

    ¡°What you wish to be,¡± the Parliament replied without hesitation. My guilt and remorse washed over them like water on an ancient stone. ¡°There is no good or evil in this world, Iztac Ce Ehecatl. Only that which we believe in. The end matters as much as the means, our sessor. The Nightlords will exploit your consort for their own profit, while you shall make use of her talents so she can one day earn her freedom.¡±

    That only sounded like a justification to me. The same kind of prayers my citizens had when they saw their kin led to the altar; empty promises that all would be right in the end, that the world was a cruel ce, and that there were no other ways.

    ¡°Let us ask you a question, our sessor.¡± I felt the weight of centuries worth of judgment on my shoulders. ¡°If young Nl had not been your reflection¡­ if you did not learn to know this girl in all her imperfections¡­ if she had been a stranger you met on the road¡­ would you hesitate as you do now?¡±

    My jaw tightened. I dearly wanted to say yes, that I would treat a stranger the same way I would care for a friend¡­ but it would have been an empty lie. I had started a war that would leave thousands dead or suffering in vampire bellies.

    ¡°You would not.¡± The previous emperors sounded neither surprised nor condemning. Instead, they dispensed advice. ¡°Listen well, Iztac. Those who let their feelings cloud their judgment will always stumble before they can reach their goal. Attachments can be both the roots that fuel a soul¡¯s strength, and the ropes that bind it to suffering.¡±

    I thought back to Eztli, to whom I clung to in spite of what she had be in the hope I could see her returned to normalcy. ¡°Do you suggest I let go of <em>everything</em>?¡±

    ¡°Cherish the bonds you have formed when they grant your strength,¡± my predecessors said, ¡°but do not let them blind you to the truth, or distract you from your duty. Thousands of Nls will perish by the time we bring down Yohuachanca, and not all casualties will be strangers you do not care for. This is a fact you must ept.¡±

    I once again thought back to what happened with Nl. I did not wish to involve her in this manner, but when she tried to rescue me¡­ I would have sed my Veiled phantom on her to sell my lie. I would have felt guilty, but I would have done it nheless.

    She was trying to protect me, and I had been ready to harm her anyway.

    <em>I hadn¡¯t considered her feelings</em>, I thought. I took the easy path without thinking of other ones. <em>No matter what my predecessors say, I shouldn¡¯t reward kindness with cruelty.</em>

    ¡°I refuse to be the very evil I fight against,¡± I said resolutely. ¡°I will do what I must to destroy the Nightlords, but¡­ there has to be another solution we haven¡¯t considered yet. Perhaps the Land of the Dead Suns holds spells that can let me free Nl without recing her master with another.¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps,¡± the Parliament conceded cautiously. ¡°It might cost you time and effort.¡±

    ¡°I will bear that burden,¡± I stated resolutely. ¡°I will do what is necessary, not what is convenient.¡±

    ¡°Your principles do you credit, our sessor,¡± the Parliament whispered back, a little more kindly. ¡°Though we wonder how long you can afford to stay true to them.¡±

    ¡°As long as I can.¡± I sighed and moved on, though I promised myself I contact the Yaotzin and Sigrun to check on Nl. ¡°What happens next? I was told the New Fire Ceremony would take ce over the next five days. Will it be canceled?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± the Parliament replied sinctly. ¡°For the foreseeable future, the Nightlords will not let word of this event reach the outside world. The New Fire Ceremony will happen as scheduled, both for the sake of its religious significance and to dy foreign spy reports. The Sapa delegation will certainly be put under house arrest and interrogated within a few days¡¯ time.¡±

    I could already guess what form this interrogation would take. The red-eyed priests understood perfectly how to arouse pain in the human body. After all, they carved them open for a living.

    ¡°The ambassadors will im their innocence in the tablet affair, probably truthfully,¡± the Parliament exined to me. ¡°We doubt their superior informed them of the Chaskarumi¡¯s properties. The Nightlords will not care. They will be kept as hostages and then publicly sacrificed once their armies start marching.¡±

    My phantom did not kill any ambassador, but I had condemned them to death all the same.

    ¡°In the meantime, a few things will happen.¡± My predecessors¡¯ eyes lit up all at once. ¡°Security around the pce will tighten. More guards will keep an eye on you and the Nightlords¡¯ servants shall survey magical activity more closely.¡±

    ¡°I shall not use magic again within the pce¡¯s confines,¡± I reassured them. With caelel dead, I didn¡¯t have any obvious target to turn my talons on anyway. I was content at training in the Underworld for now.

    ¡°The time for the hunt shalleter, in the spring.¡± The light in the skull¡¯s empty eyes dimmed a little. ¡°As emperor, you will be expected to bring luck to soldiers by joining them on the frontline. Another Nightlord shall escort you.¡±

    I guessed easily enough. ¡°Sugey,¡± I said. ¡°She relished the thought of fighting the Sapa herself.¡±

    ¡°The Bird of War bears her name well.¡± The Parliament let out a rattle that could pass for a snort of contempt. ¡°Of the four sisters, she craves the blood of warriors over all others. She is proud of her strength and far too reckless. She will be the easiest to lure into a trap.¡±

    Indeed. My predecessor Nochtli proceeded the same way. His trap failed since he relied on warriors rather than warlocks, but where strength failed, my magic might seed.

    ¡°I may not need to sully my hands personally,¡± I whispered. ¡°There might be warlocks among the Sapa capable of destroying her under the proper conditions.¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps,¡± my predecessors replied, albeit cautiously. ¡°We stand by our words. When ites to fighting the Nightkin and Nightlords, you can only rely on your own sorcery.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Relying on others would be a terrible mistake. Still, perhaps the Sapa could help soften Sugey up for the kill.

    ¡°As your advisor in matters of war, your consort Chikal shall also rise in prominence. We suggest you spend the next few weeks earning her allegiance and preparing the campaign. We shall advise you on how to approach generals who mighte to support your cause.¡±

    I nodded in agreement. Chikal was the consort I had spent the least time with, and she remained an enigma to me in many ways. This would give me the opportunity to test the waters with her.

    At the same time, I would continue to cultivate a spywork from within the pce and convince Yoloxochitl to tell me more about her weapon. By night, I would spend time practicing my spells and preparing for the journey to locan. My schedule for the next few weeks appeared clear enough to me.

    ¡°Is there anything special about the New Fire Ceremony?¡± I asked my predecessors. ¡°Or is it all lies and theatrics?¡±

    ¡°If there is a cosmic significance behind the ceremony, we could never divine one. However, we did not possess a divine Teyolia either. Your Gaze spell might reveal to you secrets hidden from us.¡± The Parliament¡¯s eyes turned to the Reliquary¡¯s threshold, beyond which night had long fallen. ¡°You best rest now, Iztac. Your escort will start growing suspicious otherwise.¡±

    Wise. A squad¡¯s worth of guards anxiously awaited my return. Considering what Yoloxochitl had done to ast set and how their predecessors perished by my talons, they might lose their nerve and break into the Reliquary to check in on me.

    However, onest question burned on my lips.

    ¡°I have a final query, my predecessors,¡± I said, choosing my words carefully. ¡°One that has little to do with our current struggle, but that will not leave my mind.¡±

    ¡°Ask away.¡±

    I raised my head until my eyes locked with a thousand more. ¡°What happened to your sons?¡±

    An unsettling silence fell upon the Reliquary.

    Now that was unusual. Terribly unusual. I had never seen the emperors¡¯ skulls left speechless by anything. Surprised, yes. But never speechless.

    Their silence spoke volumes too. If the Parliament of Skulls had no answer to my query, they would have said as much. Their glimmering ghostlights red in and out of existence in a strange dance. The eyes of a dozen skulls lit up brightly for an instant, only for others to eclipse them a momentter.

    <em>They¡¯re holding a debate</em>, I realized. Individual souls exchanged thoughts with the rest of the collective in an attempt to find amon position. What secret could be terrible enough to disrupt their assembly?

    After what felt like long, agonizing minutes, the Parliament finally answered my query. Their whispers, previously unified, now reverberated in discordant tones. ¡°We apologize, our sessor, for we cannot reach a consensus.¡±

    ¡°You cannot?¡± I blinked in astonishment. That was unheard of. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°A third of us believe you deserve to know the truth;¡± the dead emperors answered. ¡°Another third argues that you are not ready to hear it yet. And thest third thinks you are better off not learning this truth at all.¡±

    <em>Trust not the skulls</em>, the Yaotzin had warned me. <em>They keep secrets from you.</em>

    ¡°I am not ready?¡± My fists tightened in my anger. ¡°Do you mistake me for a child, unable to hear an adult¡¯s truths? Do you not trust me?¡±

    Over six hundred skulls stared at me as one. ¡°It is not that we do not trust you, Iztac Ce Ehecalt. In our current state, we have no choice but to put all of our hopes in you. However¡­¡±

    The shadows around me lengthened and the ghostlights dimmed. The night had invaded the Reliquary, trapping me in cold, baleful ckness.

    ¡°There exists a darkness so deep that only the ckest hearts can witness it unflinchingly,¡± the skulls whispered ominously. ¡°A night that will swallow even the star burning in your chest.¡±

    My blood froze when I realized that my predecessors would not tell me the truth not out of distrust, but out of <em>concern</em>.

    The Yaotzin wouldn¡¯t tell me either. Not without paying a high price. Since the winds of chaos traded in suffering and cruelty, the implications appeared grimmer and grimmer the more I considered them.

    ¡°If you won¡¯t tell me, then it means the truth is worse than anything I can imagine.¡± I guessed, my voice growing lower. ¡°A cruelty so awful to behold, you fear that it will break my spirit.¡±

    The Parliament¡¯s cold silence only confirmed my suspicions.

    ¡°Listen well, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡±

    My spine stiffened, and I held my breath.

    ¡°There is a secret maze beneath the Blood Pyramid,¡± the skulls whispered. ¡°A ce forbidden to all but the Nightkin and their progenitors. Neither priests nor emperors are allowed within these chambers. Though a few among us managed to discover the truth through our wits and research, only a handful ventured into these depths to witness the truth with their own eyes. It is there you will find the answers you seek¡­¡±

    My heart pounded so hard it hurt.

    ¡°And if you dare look at the truth,¡± the dead whispered, their words half a warning and half a curse. ¡°You will <em>never </em>forget it.¡±

    I did not make a sound. Not a single murmur.

    ¡°Go to sleep now, child,¡± said the emperors. ¡°We pray that you might dream of lighter things.¡±

    I left the Reliquary without a word.

    I did not find sleep easily.

    My room was colder and darker than before. Neither fur nor sheets offered mefort. Red eyes watched me in the dead of night, observing my chest rise and fall with my breathing.

    My chambers once gave me an illusion of privacy. Though I knew of spies in the walls, I had been allowed to sleep without servants or guards within the chambers. Not tonight. Not after a false demon attempted to take my life. Six guards were posted in each corner of my room on Yoloxochitl¡¯s orders, zealously protecting me from an enemy that did not exist.

    I was surrounded, and yet so alone.

    I could not call for help either. Summoning Eztli might raise suspicion, especially since I asked her to reduce the number of spies in the secret passages if she could. The thought of asking for Ingrid crossed my mind. I knew we only used each other, but I wouldn''t have minded a pair of warm hands to hold me right now to cradle me into a gentle sleep.

    A nce at the guards in my room killed the idea in its crib. I did not want my captors to stand in a corner and watch us making love, or even cuddle. It would ruin anyfort I could hope to find in this cursed pce.

    I tried to close my eyes and ignore those watching me. I tried to think of Nl, suffering in the dungeons below, and the thousands who would soon die by my fault. Instead, my predecessors¡¯ words haunted me.

    <em>You will never forget.</em>

    In the end, I took the sleeping draught Necahual had prepared for me. Its sweetness summoned a fog that overtook my mind, covering my dark thoughts with a daze of nothingness. The brief moment of oblivion that preceded my fall into the Land of the Dead Suns came as a relief.

    I awoke in the dead za, among the bones.

    I found Xolotl waiting for me, sitting on a bed of ashes. I extended my arm and waited for him to chew it.

    And waited.

    And waited some more.

    ¡°You are not tasting me tonight?¡± I asked Xolotl after a while, a bit confused. Had the god grown sick of chewing my bones?

    Xolotl smelled my tender arm, and then dramatically snubbed it by turning his head away. What a show-off. ¡°You do not deserve me,¡± he said, as if biting my arm was somehow an honor. ¡°You mean, deceptive child.¡±

    That was new, and unexpected. I immediately guessed the probable cause. ¡°Is this about Huehuecoyotl?¡± I asked with a groan. ¡°What has he done in my absence?¡±

    ¡°Who cares about that old coyote?¡± Xolotl red at me. ¡°I am deeply upset with you, Iztac. How dare you y with my heart after all I¡¯ve done for you? Have I not been kind and helpful?¡±

    ¡°Helpful, yes, kind is debatable,¡± I replied with a scowl. Was he mocking me? I thought it might be a prank of some kind or an attempt to extort another favor from me, but he seemed genuinely annoyed. ¡°Will you tell me what this is all about? I must practice my spellcasting and the nights are short.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, y the fool.¡± Xolotl put a leg over another; his eyes ring at me filled with judgment. ¡°You have lied to me, Iztac. You did not tell me your father was killed by a vampire.¡±

    Of all the things the god could have said to me, I would have never guessed <em>that</em>. I stared at Xolotl as my mind struggled to make sense of his words, my eyes looking for any hint of a joke. I didn¡¯t find any. He was entirely serious.

    ¡°I think I would know if that were the case,¡± I replied with heavy sarcasm. ¡°No Nightkin touched my father.¡±

    ¡°Then how did he die?¡± Xolotl asked.

    ¡°The drought killed him.¡± The answer came quickly, the details a little slower. ¡°We were starved for food and fresh water, and my father¡­ my father gave me everything he could scrounge up. The heat and thirst¡­¡± It still hurt to remember these days, even after so many years. ¡°They became too much for him.¡±

    I expected Xolotl to show indifference, as he usually did. To my surprise, his canine features eased up a little instead. ¡°You are telling the truth.¡±

    ¡°Of course I am,¡± I snapped back. I did not like to remember Father¡¯s death, or what followed. ¡°Is it about my request?¡±

    Xolotl nodded slowly. ¡°I could not find him.¡±

    As I feared. ¡°He must be lost outside the city,¡± I said. ¡°My father died over four years ago, but the souls I have rescued were trapped for deca¨C¡±

    ¡°No, Iztac, you do not understand.¡± Xolotl snorted; his pride wounded. ¡°I am the <em>god </em>of guides. If I <em>want </em>to find a lost soul, or a forgotten treasure, I <em>always </em>seed. It is my nature, my cosmos-mandated job. I could not find your father¡¯s soul <em>anywhere</em>.¡±

    I almost mocked Xolotl for hisck of work ethic, only for his words to hit me like a wave.

    A god couldn¡¯t find my father¡¯s soul.

    ¡°Maybe you missed him,¡± I tried to argue, hoping Xolotl had simply made a mistake.

    ¡°I have visited every Itzili who has ever existed,¡± Xolotl exined in annoyance. ¡°After many dead ends, I even tracked down your paternal grandparents for answers.¡±

    ¡°My grandparents?¡± It suddenly urred to me that yes, I had those. They had perished before my birth, so I never knew them. In fact, I didn¡¯t remember Father ever mentioning them. ¡°They¡¯re in M?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and guess what? They are still waiting for their son to arrive.¡± Xolotl sighed and started licking his paw in frustration. ¡°Oh, by the way, they were pretty happy to learn that they had a grandson. You should go pay them a visit. They seemed kind enough.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± I admit the idea had never crossed my mind. Not only were they strangers to me, but I was a Nahualli. A curse on their son¡¯s household. They would likely me me for their son¡¯s disappearance over weing me in their midst. ¡°I do not have time for it. Maybe next year.¡±

    If I survived that long.

    ¡°Suit yourself,¡± Xolotl replied before squinting at me. ¡°Are you certain your father did not fake his death?¡±

    I red at Xolotl for hisck of tact. ¡°I buried him myself.¡±

    Instead of backing down, the god foolishly dug himself deeper. ¡°Are you sure it wasn¡¯t a secret twin?¡± he dared to ask me. ¡°Those things happen more often than you thi¨C¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± This shouldn¡¯t be happening. ¡°My father died years ago! He should be here, in the Underworld, in M¨C¡±

    Wait a second.

    Xolotl warned me that he could only roam the Land of the Dead Suns¡¯ firstyer. He could not ess the depths below, hence his request that I deliver a message to his brother Quetzalcoatl.

    And my mother had left M in disgrace with a bounty of stolen souls.

    <em>Could my father have been one of them?</em> I wondered.<em> It would exin it.</em>

    ¡°Ah, I see.¡± Xolotl seemed to have guessed at what gnawed at me. ¡°You think the spirit thief absconded with his soul to locan.¡±

    My parents must have reunited in the Underworld, and when Mother fled M, Father followed her. His love for her remained intact in spite of her disappearance.

    I hoped the feeling was mutual.

    <em>I must find them</em>, I told myself. I had already decided to track down my mother, and knowing my father was with her only cemented my choice. <em>Rumors said Mother built air in a ce called Xilbaba. I need to find more information.</em>

    ¡°Well, in that case, I cannot fulfill the terms of our bargain,¡± Xolotl confessed with a grunt. ¡°Curses, I wasted a full day on a pointless errand.¡±

    I seized my chance. ¡°I am still willing to deliver a message to your brother,¡± I reassured Xolotl. ¡°If you cannot fulfill your end of our bargain, I have an alternative favor in mind.¡±

    ¡°Are you trying to short-change a god?¡± Xolotl bolted to his feet in outrage. ¡°I knew Huehuecoyolt would be a terrible influence on you!¡±

    ¡°Toote,¡± I mused. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, my idea shouldn¡¯t take too much effort for a skilled guide such as you. All I need is advice.¡±

    ¡°Advice?¡± Xolotl¡¯s ears perked up in interest. ¡°Ah, you should have said so sooner. Of course, humble Xolotl will dispense his wisdom, if you ask nicely.¡±

    ¡°I request knowledge, not wisdom.¡± I doubted he had much of the second to give anyway. ¡°I will venture into locan soon to carry on with my quest. I need information on the dangers that await me there, and how to survive them.¡±

    ¡°That ce is forbidden to me, remember?¡± Xolotl grumbled. ¡°I cannot advise you on how to survive a ce I cannot enter.¡±

    ¡°But rumors about the ce managed to find their way to M,¡± I pointed out. The Boatsman had at least a vague understanding of how loc imed souls and the Market of Years was abound with esoteric relics of bygone ages. ¡°All that is lost and forgotten eventually makes its way to M. Surely that must include records of locan.¡±

    Xolotl considered my words for a moment and found merit in my proposal. ¡°I could scavenge the wastes outside these walls for a scroll or a map of locan, true¡­¡±

    ¡°I would be thankful for anything <em>useful</em>,¡± I said, insisting on thest part.

    ¡°And if I bring you the information you seek, will you swear to fulfill my request in turn?¡± Xolotl asked. I nodded in confirmation, much to his delight. ¡°Very well. I hope this won¡¯t be another fool¡¯s errand, but if I find anything, I will return to you with haste.¡±

    I would pray for his sess, but since Xolotl was already a god, it would have been silly. Instead, I wished him good luck as he left. This time, he was happy enough to chew my arm on his way out.

    I wondered how long it would take for him to return. If Xolotl¡¯s powers truly allowed him to find anything he wanted, perhaps he woulde back before the night¡¯s end.

    Wait, if he truly can find anything¡­ then it meant Chipahua and Ueman spent decades lost in the misst purely because the god had been toozy to search for them.

    <em>The lives and happiness of us mortals mean little to gods</em>, I bitterly pondered while sitting among the bones. <em>True or false, it makes no difference. Neglect is the best we can hope for.</em>

    I wove myself in a cloak of illusions. Huehuecoyotl had made it clear that he did not want to see me again after teaching me his secrets, so I would need to practice on my own.

    I immediately sensed an invisible presence weighted on my Veil spell.

    I had summoned a simple illusion that turned my ck feathers white. A simple workout before I started practicing more intense exercises. The za was empty and Xolotl was long gone, yet a foreign gaze pressed against my spell.

    However, what alerted me was the sense of familiarity that pervaded this particr presence. I recognized it immediately.

    After all, I had felt it not too long ago.

    I activated my Gaze spell and looked around. The weight pressing on my illusion vanished the moment sunlight started pouring out of my eyes. I detected no hidden ghost, no assassin waiting to ambush me from the shadows. Yet I knew I hadn¡¯t dreamed it.

    Whatever Sapa sorcerer spied on me through the Chaskarumi tablet had eyes in the Underworld.

 Chapter Eighteen: From the Skin

    Chapter Eighteen: From the Skin

    Invisible eyes watched me all night long.

    I searched every corner of the ashen za. I sought shelter in anonymity by hiding among the thousand dead corpses that walked through the Market of Years. I put on a dozen disguises and slithered among towers of skulls. All these efforts failed to deter my stalker nheless.

    ¡°I seek you no harm!¡± I shouted to empty space while sensing the spy¡¯s eyes on me. ¡°I wish to pay! We share amon foe!¡±

    No voice answered my words. Either the Sapa spy couldn¡¯t answer me, or they didn¡¯t believe me in the slightest. I knew which of these two options was more likely. After three attempts atmunication, I gave up for now and focused on escaping my pursuer. They clearly would only listen to my pleas if forced to.

    I felt their invisible stare following me everywhere, only fleeing when I activated my Gaze spell. These moments offered me little respite, for my elusive stalker returned the moment sunlight stopped pouring out of my eyes. Only when I hid in the secret bone tunnels leading to the threshold of locan did I escape their attention.

    <em>Whoever they are, they need an open sky to stalk me</em>, I thought while standing in the shade of a tunnel¡¯s threshold under a skull mound. I took a step into the dead sun¡¯s light and immediately sensed this familiar spying spell brush against my Veil. I immediately returned to the shadows to escape it. <em>And they do not relent.</em>

    I would have expected an ambush of some kind by now, but Mictecacihuatl hadid down thews of her realm on my first night in M. To bring violence into the city¡¯s walls meant inviting her and her husband¡¯s wrath. I guessed even a Sapa sorcerer would rather avoid angering a pair of gods.

    Could my pursuer be a catecolotl? It would make the most sense. It would be foolish to expect my mother and I to be the only owl-spirits in the world. I felt stupid not to have considered that one of them might work for the Sapa. A catecolotl could easily spy on me from atop a bone tower under the cover of a Veil and retreat back to the shadows whenever my light threatened to expose them.

    Still, their ability to track me gave me pause. I had stepped outside a different exit than the one I used to enter the tunnels; yet the watcher detected me the moment I stepped out of hiding. Either they happened to look at this mound at the exact moment I threatened to walk into the light, which was unlikely, or they used a spell whose inner workings escaped me.<em>I need to take them by surprise</em>, I thought while venturing back into the tunnels. <em>Search for an elevated point and corner them. Then we can hold a proper conversation.</em>

    I crawled back into the dark, under a roof of bones and between walls of calcified ribs. I walked past half-sleeping dead undergoing the early processes of their long sleep. Some had already started fusing with the city, their legs merging with the ground like trees spreading their roots. The peaceful silence almost made me want to join them, to take a brief serene rest from the chaos my life had be.

    Many would join the cohort of the dead in theing months, though it would take years for most of my victims to make their way to M. I wondered if caelel was out there, walking the rainy wastes on his way to this shelter, pondering what brought him down.

    <em>Perhaps I should look for his soul to kill him again</em>, I briefly mused before banishing such a fantasy out of my mind. While the likes of caelel hardly deserved a peaceful rest, the grueling journey to M would torment him enough. I hardly had the time to pursue this grudge for now.<em> My predecessors might have a point. Some attachments can be ropes binding us to suffering.</em>

    I hardly understood theyout of M¡¯s tunnels, but they seemed navigable enough. I wondered if Mtecuhtli watched over me from afar, opening paths and closing others to ease my journey. I doubted it. The ancient deity seemed likely to have forgotten me already.

    After a long walk, I reached another exit. I carefully stuck to the shadows without exposing a single feather of mine to the dim sunlight of Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s sun. The tunnel had led me to the shadow of a great bone tower, near the city¡¯s outer wall. No invisible eyes weighed on my Veil spell for now.

    Since my stalker hadn¡¯t located me yet, I activated my Gaze spell and looked at the sky. The sunlight pouring out of me let me discover invisible details my regr eyes had missed: the intricate web of pulsating strings linking the corpses making up the towers of M; the subtle tapestry of bone walls rearranging itself to adapt to the falling rain; the slow, subtle tremors spreading through the chalky ground beneath my feet. The dead might make up this city, but M felt alive to me, the same way a tree was. Mtecuhtli¡¯s realm spread its roots and expanded its branches across the centuries, gently weing more and more souls into its sheltering embrace.

    As fascinating as the sight was, my eyes focused on the cloudy skies above the ancient city. I searched for a bird, an owl, an invisible Nahualli scouring the heavens in search of prey.

    Instead, I saw a strange object floating above the bone tower: an ornate mask topping a semi-circr de. Everything was dulled and grayed in the Underworld, but the precious gold making up this strange totem reflected the dim sunlight well enough. The mask was in the shape of a gilded skull with emerald eyes and gemstone teeth, watching the city below with unparalleled focus. I immediately recognized the object.

    A Tumi.

    A skull-sized Tumi rather than one I could crush within the palm of my hand, but a Tumi nheless.

    <em>How unexpected, </em>I thought, utterly puzzled by this turn of events. <em>Is this a Nahualli form of some kind? No¡­ it looks like a mere mask of gold instead of a shapeshifter. It doesn¡¯t seem to sense my Gaze spell either.</em>

    Come to think of it, the Sapa sorcerer hadn¡¯t canceled their spying spell in the waking world when I uncovered their tablet¡¯s secret. Neither did I hear of magic that could observe others from afar. Even the Yaotzin offered only whispers of past trauma and betrayal rather than a glimpse of the present.

    <em>Could the sorcerer be a Tumi?</em> I observed the mask carefully. It floated aimlessly above the city, its glowing eyes casting a faint light over it. I would have bet a fortune in cacao beans that it could track down anyone stepping into its radius. It did not move an inch. It simply floated in ce, waiting for me to step back into sight. <em>Let¡¯s see if it can defend itself.</em>

    I cast the Doll spell and summoned a wispy, wed string from my finger. I had never tested this power¡¯s full range before, but now was as good a time as any.

    The length of a bone tower separated me from my target. As expected, the longer the string of my power unraveled, the greater the strain on my Tonalli. I stretched my shadow into a thin line of power that grew thinner and thinner with each new step gained. I had to wrap it inside a Veil of illusions to keep it hidden from sight.

    The Tumi detected my string nheless.

    Its emerald eyes snapped in my direction the moment my Doll spell expanded out of the shadows and into the mask¡¯s light. I sent my string forward like a fisherman with his hook in a swift attempt to capture my prey. I caught only air. The Tumi became translucent in an instant before dissipating into nothingness. The mask had vanished like my own illusions.

    <em>It¡¯s not really there</em>, I realized as I retracted my string. It was a projection. A shadow on a wall. <em>How odd that it can detect the Doll spell even when under a Veil, but not my Gaze spell.</em>

    I quickly guessed the reason why. The Doll and Veil spells both relied on my Tonalli, my animal spirit, while the Gaze called upon my Teyolia, my heart-fire. The Sapa sorcerer¡¯s magic could not detect thetter. Interesting.

    I patiently waited for the Tumi to reappear for many minutes, all in vain. I had either spooked the spirit away for the night, or they wereying in wait somewhere else.

    ¡°You have made a dangerous enemy, Iztac.¡±

    I looked up at the bone tower. A familiar figure descended from the sky and gracefullynded in the shade near me.

    It was the first time I saw Queen Mictecacihuatl with my Gaze spell active. Thedy of the Underworld had been a terrible figure even cloaked in illusions. My eyes let me perceive the true weight of her station. Her flowing robes carried a storm of dust as old as time. Her yed flesh was a mask, a veneer of life on fossilized bones carved with ult symbols. Her beautiful ebony tresses had taken on the color of ashes, and the marigolds she carried on her person wilted at once. Only her shining Teyolia remained vibrant and lively.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The goddess let out a low chuckle. ¡°I am <em>old</em>.¡±

    In spite of her light tone, her words carried great weight. She had been the first woman to ever die. A daughter of the first humanity, who had witnessed five dawns and endured through the ages. It amazed me that such an unfathomably ancient being could prove to be so down to earth and amiable towards a lowly mortal such as me.

    ¡°Queen Mictecacihualt.¡± I bowed before the goddess and canceled my Gaze spell out of respect. ¡°My most sincere apologies. I didn''t mean to offend you.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± Without my sunlight to expose her true self, the goddess regained a more familiar shape: a regal queen wrapped in yed skin,vish robes, and blooming marigolds. ¡°I wear a Veil of my own to ease my subjects¡¯ minds. Between you and I, I would rather appear as a living woman, but I have found that reminders of their lost lives fill the dead with sorrow.¡±

    A Veil? Was the Gaze so powerful that it could pierce through a <em>goddess¡¯ </em>illusions? Though I doubted she put too much effort into it, I still took pride in my magic¡¯s potency. ¡°I didn¡¯t intend to carry grudges into your realm, oh goddess.¡±

    ¡°So long as none of you break my husband¡¯sws, this matter is none of my concern,¡± Mictecacihualt replied calmly, her gaze turning to the empty spot the Tumi used to upy. ¡°It does irk me to have a delinquent soul so brazenly intrude on M. If they so wish to linger among the living, they should have the courtesy not to disturb the dead.¡±

    ¡°A delinquent soul?¡± I asked, trying to make sense out of the goddess¡¯ words. ¡°That sorcerer was no Nahualli?¡±

    ¡°No, they are not,¡± the queen replied. ¡°No more at least. I would wager that they number among the <em>Mallquis</em>.¡±

    ¡°The Mallquis?¡± I repeated. ¡°Forgive me, Your Grace, but the term is unknown to me.¡±

    ¡°I would expect as much. Those sad souls are few and far between.¡± The goddess turned to face me and dispensed her wisdom. Her hands joined together, her voice deep and soothing. ¡°Much as I dream of my mortal life, Iztac, some dead refuse to pass on. Where we see the long sleep as a peaceful rest, they see their own annihtion. Or perhaps they believe the living cannot survive without their wisdom and guidance. There exist spells that allow dead sorcerers to linger in the waking world.¡±

    My fists clenched in disappointment. ¡°The Mallquis are vampires.¡±

    Could the Sapa Empire be no better than Yohuachanca? I had dared hope other countries would be free of the Nightlords¡¯ blight.

    ¡°No, not at all.¡± Mictecacihuatl shook her head. ¡°Vampires have never truly gone through the Gate of Skulls. They are half-lives staving off my husband¡¯s grasp with blood and malice. The warlock pursuing you has already died, but used an anchor to pull back their soul to the waking world. It is a miserable existence, little better than what your guides are experiencing.¡±

    ¡°My predecessors cannot cast spells,¡± I pointed out. If they could fight the Nightlords themselves, they already would have done so.

    ¡°The Mallquis might possess more freedom than the anguished souls guiding your steps, but they are cold, dead things nheless.¡± To my surprise, the goddess sounded more sad and disappointed than furious with these mortals trying to cheat her out of her and her husband¡¯s due. ¡°All pleasures are denied to them. Their flesh rots, as does their soul. They are hanged men who would rather cling to their nooses than fall, who would rather gasp for breath and suffer forever than ept their end.¡±

    Queen Mictecacihuatl looked into my eyes, her shining gaze full of wisdom.

    ¡°What kind of existence is that, Iztac?¡± she asked me with the utter certainty only an eons-old deity could possess. ¡°That is no life worth living. No life at all.¡±

    I imagined a horde of gilded Tumi skulls standing atop a pir, much like my predecessors. The previous emperors were willing to sow war and chaos to escape this fate. I could hardly fathom why anyone would force themselves into that state out of their own free will.

    Then again, I was willing to sacrifice much to secure my freedom and avoid the altar. The Sapa sorcerer after me held enough influence within his own nation to enchant a gift meant for a foreign emperor. They were powerful, magically <em>and </em>socially.

    For a mighty sorcerer standing atop their own pyramid of blood and power, eternal suffering might seem an appealing trade-off to cling on to their influence. Or perhaps they bore this pain to protect their realm. Yohuachanca had threatened the Sapa Empire for centuries; the Sapa sorcerer spying on me might believe his nation required his help to stave off the Nightlords¡¯ hunger.

    Or at least, I hoped so. I wished to believe the Sapa Empire¡¯s rulers cared for their subjects more than the four monsters holding my leash.

    ¡°Remember this, Iztac,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl said. ¡°None can escape the grinding march of time forever. Everyone finds their way to this city one way or another. My husband always reaps his harvest in the end.¡±

    <em>¡°Learn patience,¡± </em>King Mtecuhtli had told me once. <em>¡°Everything dies in time, even worlds.¡±</em>

    This veryyer, built from the corpse of a past universe and on top of three others, was proof enough of his wisdom.

    ¡°Why are you telling me this, oh Queen of the Underworld?¡± I wondered. ¡°Do you wish me to send the Mallquis to his final rest?¡±

    ¡°You are kind, Iztac, but there is no need for your intervention,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl replied with amusement. ¡°They will find their rest on their own, given time.¡±

    Of course, though I had the feeling I might have to expedite the process. I was the emperor of an enemy nation who orchestrated an inevitable war for his own benefit. The Mallquis was¡ªor were; I could not exclude the possibility the Sapa Empire hid more than one¡ªmore likely to wee me with threats and curses rather than an offer of friendship.

    Moreover, they knew I was a catecolotl now. They might be able to attack me in the Underworld or send someone after me. Dead gods were willing to form contracts with mortals after all, and I had encountered a monster on my way to M. The world abounded with fools, whether upstairs or down here. One of them might be mad enough to risk Mtecuhtli¡¯s wrath and attack me in M for a high-enough reward.

    <em>Maybe I¡¯m a bit too hasty here</em>, I told myself while trying to assess the facts at hand. <em>This Mallquis is both powerful and a foe of the Nightlords. Even if I can¡¯t forge an alliance with them, we still share amon enemy. I could use a warlock of their caliber.</em>

    I decided against striking at the Mallquis for now. I still hoped to either make an ally out of them if possible, or at least direct them towards the Nightlords. I would better focus on trying to establish friendlymunication than engage in hostilities. This would serve my long-term interests the best.

    Still¡­ if the worst came to pass, I needed to possess the tools to defend myself. Destroying the Mallquis wasn¡¯t the favored option, but one I had to consider nheless.

    ¡°Might I enquire about your wisdom, oh goddess?¡± I petitioned Queen Mictecacihuatl. ¡°I will pay any price you request.¡±

    The goddess answered me with an amused chuckle. ¡°I will not charge you for mere advice, my dear child.¡±

    I stared at her in silence for an instant, much to her confusion. ¡°What bothers you, Iztac?¡±

    ¡°Your generosity never ceases to amaze me, oh great queen,¡± I confessed. After all the backroom deals and haggling I had to enduretely, simple kindness felt both refreshing and unconceivable. ¡°I am truly thankful for your benevolence¡­ and unsure how to return it properly.¡±

    ¡°A true gift does note with strings attached. The world above would be a far better ce if the living would simply stop treating each other as potential tools or enemies.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl let out a sorrowful rattle. ¡°It takes death for most of them to understand this simple truth.¡±

    <em>Tools or enemies</em>, I pondered. Somehow the Queen¡¯s gentle words filled me with guilt. I could hardly imagine the Sapa sorcerer seeing me as anything else. <em>I suppose the world would indeed be a better ce with more Nls in it.</em>

    I hoped destroying the Nightlords would push Yohuachanca on a better path. I had to believe it. That my fight would matter in the long-term, and not just for me.

    ¡°Although¡­¡± Mictecacihuatl put a hand on her mouth as if to stifle augh. ¡°If I had a request to make, I would like you to stop distracting Xolotl so much. He has been disregarding his duties.¡±

    I chuckled back in embarrassment. Any night Xolotl spent searching for artifacts on my behalf was one where he didn¡¯t guide wayward souls to M. ¡°Our current deal will probably be ourst.¡±

    ¡°I suspected as much, my child,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl replied with gentleness. ¡°Now, I suppose you wish to know how to deal with a Mallquis?¡±

    I nodded dutifully. ¡°You spoke of an anchor; oh goddess. Would destroying that object send their soul back to the Underworld?¡±

    ¡°Your mind is sharp, Iztac,¡± the Queenplimented me. ¡°Yet you miss the forest for the trees. No object can keep a soul in the waking world.¡±

    That would have been too easy... ¡°Do they anchor themselves to a ce?¡±

    The queen¡¯s yed lips morphed into what could pass for a smile. ¡°Why do you think vampires consume the blood of the living?¡±

    My fists clenched. Of course undeath would require a ghastly price. ¡°Only life can pay for life.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl confirmed. ¡°Unlike vampires, the Mallquis do not require the blood and Teyolia of men, but their breaths and Ihiyotl. They are kept from passing on by prayers and rituals performed by their living descendants, usually in return for protection.¡±

    That sounded¡­ almost reasonable. Prayers were cheap and did not cost the donor¡¯s life, unlike the vampiric thirst for blood. Many in Yohuachanca prayed to their ancestors on lesser altars for luck or wisdom. The only difference was that the Sapa¡¯s dead might actually answer.

    I did notice a detail in the goddess¡¯ words though. ¡°You said living descendants, oh queen,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Do you imply the prayers of strangers would fail?¡±

    ¡°The Mallquis are tethered to the world by their own bloodline,¡± the queen replied. ¡°Moreover, no small prayers would provide powerful enough Ihiyotl to keep the dead among the living. They require regr and borate rituals to maintain their existence¡¯s foundation. The interruption of which might prove fatal.¡±

    So much like how a maize field requires a flow of water to survive, I would need to disrupt this flow of breath to destroy the Mallquis if we came to blows. My predecessors would probably suggest that I y the Mallquis¡¯ n and rtives, to starve them out of a bloodline. I did not particrly relish the idea of staining my hands with more innocent blood, especially if simply sabotaging family rituals would achieve the same result.

    <em>That¡¯s a long-term solution to a long-term problem</em>, I thought. I had yet to identify the Mallquis after me, let alone the n that supported its existence. Threatening them would prove an even taller order.

    I couldn¡¯t say the same for my own safety. The Mallquis knew exactly what I was, and where I was. This gave them a potent advantage if they decided to strike rather than pay.

    ¡°How far do you believe the Mallquis¡¯ spying spell extends, Your Majesty?¡± I questioned the goddess. ¡°Could they pursue me into the depths below?¡±

    ¡°My husband stands between thisyer and locan, ensuring that both realms stay separate,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl reassured me. ¡°No gaze, no matter how powerful, will pierce through his vigil.¡±

    Then I needed to move to locan the moment negotiations failed. The Mallquis might have been simply testing the waters in preparation for an ambush. The more time I gave them to prepare, the deadlier the strike. I couldn¡¯t afford to wait too long for an alliance that might never materialize.

    I heard a howl in the wind, followed by a cloud of dust. Xolotl had hurried to join us, running and stopping so fast that he wiped a whirlwind of ashes in his wake. He carried a codex in his jaws.

    ¡°My queen.¡± Xolotl bowed graciously before Mictecacihuatl. ¡°How good to see you today.¡±

    ¡°My faithful Xolotl,¡± the queen replied kindly, though it did not prevent her from scolding her vassal. ¡°You have been inattentive in your dutiestely.¡±

    ¡°This mortal is to me,¡± Xolotl said, happily throwing me under the wagon. He dropped the book within his jaws at my feet. ¡°King Mtecuhtli has given him a taste for impossible tasks.¡±

    ¡°You seem to have seeded with this one,¡± I replied while picking up and examining Xolotl¡¯s gift. I immediately recognized it as a dense codex of fossilized skin, bound by bent ribs and other bones. The carving of a skull blinded by three bandages on which the symbols of three suns were painted showed on the cover, right above words written in an ancient form of Yohuachancan. That particr jargon had long fallen out of use, though the red-eyed priests taught it to me at school for the purpose of reading ancient holy texts.<blockquote><em>Skin Codex of Yohuachanca, Second Volume - The Fire Sun.</em></blockquote>

    ¡°What is this book?¡± I asked, my hand trailing on its surface. It felt unbelievably ancient, and a quick flip of the page showed that some were damaged or missing. Words and detailed illustrations were carved into the leather.

    Xolotl shrugged. ¡°What you sought. My power guided me to it.¡±

    ¡°Why have you formed a contract with Iztac, my faithful hound?¡± Queen Mictecacihualt questioned Xolotl.

    The dog god lowered his head in submission. ¡°I wish him to send my brother a greeting.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl nodded sharply. ¡°I understand now. This is a once in an eon opportunity indeed. Family has its way of interfering with duty.¡±

    I had guessed as much. Xolotl¡¯s twin, Quetzalcoatl, lurked in the Underworld¡¯s penultimateyer, where he shone as the second dead sun. Few traveled so far, and fewer could hope to survive to reach this destination.

    I activated my Gaze spell to better examine the book and sensed no magic radiating from it. It was a perfectly normal book as far as I could tell. I flipped through the first few pages, which were too damaged for me to read, only to stop at the drawing of a terrible figure from the waist up: a sinister humanoid with pale blue skin, rows of sharp fangs that belonged more to a jaguar than a man, and ringed white eyes full of malice. An exquisite headdress of quetzal feathers and harvested snake eyes sat atop its forehead, while a dress of spider webs covered a mighty torso of rippling muscles. This entity screamed power and danger.

    The paints and colors suffusing the carvings remained vivid¡ªa rarity for such an ancient tome¡ªand the level of detail left me unsettled. I could almost imagine the creature posing for the writer.

    Queen Mictecacihuatl read over my shoulder. ¡°Very interesting,¡± she muttered to herself. ¡°This is an urate representation of our brother, loc.¡±

    loc. The third sun shining above locan.

    ¡°Your brother, oh goddess?¡± I repeated, unsure of what she meant.

    ¡°A figure of speech,¡± the queen borated. ¡°loc and I belong to the third generation of gods that followed the origin of all, Ometeotl, and the four celestial deities.¡±

    ¡°It is indeed quite lifelike,¡± Xolotlmented with a whistle. Unlike his mistress, the dog god appeared unchanged to my Gaze spell. He didn¡¯t bother hiding anything for the sake of lesser beings. ¡°The writer must have stood in Lord loc¡¯s presence.¡±

    <em>That </em>caught my attention. The only way for someone to encounter loc was to either have been alive during the time of the third sun or ventured deeper into the Underworld than I had. I immediately started tranting the page following the illustration.<blockquote><em>¡®loc - The Rainmaker, who gives life and takes it away. He who nurtures the earth with bountiful rain and ushers in chaos with violent thunderbolts. loc is an ancient deity of the third generation, created by the four celestial gods to shape water and sky. He is brother to Mictantecuhtli and Chalchiuhtlicue, his second wife, and master of all that falls from the sky. Rain, hail, lightning, and storms are his to dispense as he pleases.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>In the dawn of the third world, loc shouldered the duties of bing the sun. A prideful god, loc saw to it that the third race of man would prosper under his care and shame the creations of his predecessors, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca. The third iteration of life was blessed with fertile rain, bountiful harvests, and heavenly guidance. The humans built great cities and monuments that honored loc above all other gods.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>In his arrogance, loc made an enemy of Tezcatlipoca, the first sun. Through pernicious sorcery and charming words, Tezcatlipoca lured away the lesser goddess Xochiquetzal, whom loc loved dearly, and made her his consort. loc¡¯s grief knew no bounds, bringing evesting drought upon the world. Mankind begged the god for the return of his blessing, answering the god¡¯s grief with demands and anger.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>Disgusted by the ungratefulness of mortals, who loved him only for the gifts he bestowed upon them, loc answered their prayers with a rain of fire. His wrath cleansed the third world of life, until gentle Chalchiuhtlicue soothed his pain with her unconditional love. Only then did loc agree to let her be the fourth sun and recreate mankind.¡¯</em></blockquote>

    A chill traveled down my spine as I remembered locan. Whatever slights the mortals of that realm inflicted on the god, I could hardly fathom what crime deserved such an apocalyptic response. The writer gave a particrly dreadful portrait of the god.<blockquote><em>¡®loc is a jealous deity, quick to anger and slow to forgive a slight. Souls who perish from storms, floods, and lightning be his property and are spirited away to a secret paradise of eternal springtime and verdant bliss. There they rest in peace away from the mes that consume locan, for a god¡¯s generosity shines all the brighter when surrounded by his cruelty. loc still rages against life¡¯s third incarnation, unable to forgive their imperfections. To travel through locan means to shoulder his rain of mes and searing gaze. To demand a blessing from him is to court annihtion, for loc¡¯s gifts are his to deliver as he pleases.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>However, loc¡¯s fiery temper is only matched by his fits of boundless generosity. Those who honor loc without making demands of him will eventually reap a harvest of boons in turn. To honor loc, one must wear blue paint on their body and a fanged mask to reflect the vain god¡¯s own visage. This offers temporary protection from the fire rains searing locan¡¯s surface, though it invites the wrath of the Burned Men.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>To meet with loc one must reach his paradise, where his chosen souls live in abundance. This secret ind drifts above the clouds raining fire upon locan, never staying in one ce for long. Those who try to invade it by force always meet a violent end, but those whoe bearing gifts will find temporary shelter in the god¡¯s manse.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>It is imperative that those who approach the great loc do so without any expectations. Having been disappointed by his own creations¡¯ ungratefulness, loc loathes beggars and merchants alike. He reserves the worst of his wrath for swindlers. One must never give him the impression that gifts sent his way shoulde with hidden strings, though he will demand gratitude for the boons he himself bestows upon a visitor.¡¯</em></blockquote>

    The more I read, the more anxious I became. How was I supposed to petition this deity for his embers if he answered petitions with violence? Stealing them hardly sounded like an option. If loc caused an apocalypse over perceived ungratefulness, a thief would earn a fate worse than death.

    Thankfully, the codex dedicated an entire chapter to loc, which I could study at my leisure over this night and the next. The details about the blue paint and mask also offered me a hint of how to survive locan¡¯s fiery rains. It would help me prepare for my journey.

    It seemed Queen Mictecacihualt shared my curiosity about this document. ¡°Where did you find this book, my fair Xolotl?¡±

    ¡°In the outer wilds, my queen,¡± Xolotl replied with a shrug. ¡°This lost book fell from upstairs, like all the others.¡±

    This book came from the world of the living¡­ and yet it described ayer of the Land of the Dead Suns in great detail. I flipped through the pages, stumbling upon tarnished maps of a dry, desertednd. A fewndmarks caught my attention: a tall spire called <em>Tamoanchan</em>¡­ and a ck pyramid named <em>Xilbaba, the House of Fright</em>.

    My mother¡¯sir.

    I promised myself to look into it more, perhaps against my better judgment. Other chapters described the danger that awaited me with locan. Horrifyingly lifelike illustrations of yed men and beasts stood next to walls of text full of warnings.<blockquote><em>¡®Woe to the dead of locan, Burned Men and Scorched Spirits. When loc rained blessings upon the third iteration of life, he filled their hearts with his own pride. The third mankind prospered beyond its predecessors, building great civilizations, harnessing the twin powers of me and water, and forming alliances with lesser totems. However, they soon grew entitled to the gifts loc bestowed upon them. Though they honored him above all other gods, they started worshiping themselves in the form of great stone heads.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>When the third sun wallowed into grief and condemned thend to drought, mortals and lesser deities alike petitioned him for rain. When their prayers fell on deaf ears, their mages raised a great tower, Tamoanchan, hoping to reach the clouds and force them to return rain to the world.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>This disy of arrogance, and men¡¯s attempts to take by force the gifts he once bestowed upon them freely, enraged loc. He answered his creations¡¯ prayers for rain with a hail of fire that cleansed the surface of life. The prideful men of the third world and the lesser animal deities who supported their rule had their skin yed from their flesh by the searing heat. But in the Land of the Dead Suns, it is always possible to be deader.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>The Burned Men still haunt the ruins of their civilizations and mourn their lost glory, their pride reced with agony. Old rivalries have long been forgotten, reced with a kinship born of suffering and undying hatred. Having grown feral, they congregate in primitive tribes and bands that attack outsiders on sight. They do not fear destruction, but neither do they wee oblivion. In their madness, all they can think of is to share their pain with the universe.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>Though the Burned Men will attack any outsiders, they reserve the worst of their fury for those who remind them of loc. The color blue drives them into a maddened frenzy. Among them are a number of totems who shared their fate when the third world came to an end; though diminished emberspared to mighty loc¡¯s sun, these Scorched Spirits still wield great power and fury.¡¯</em></blockquote>

    locan would truly be a test of strength, wit, and resolve.

    ¡°There, you should have everything you need to survive on your trip,¡± Xolotl said impatiently. ¡°Now, it is your turn to deliver on your end of our deal.¡±

    ¡°A contract is a contract,¡± I conceded. This document would indeed help me travel across locan safely. ¡°What message do you wish me to deliver to Lord Quetzalcoatl?¡±

    ¡°Tell him¡­¡± For the first time since I mentioned my mother, Xolotl almost appeared well and truly solemn. He considered his words carefully before delivering his message. ¡°Tell him that I forgive him¡­ for leaving me behind.¡±

    I did not understand his message¡¯s significance, though Queen Mictecacihuatl appeared to do so. It wasn¡¯t my ce to ask for more. I had promised to deliver it. My obligations stopped there.

    ¡°I shall,¡± I promised. ¡°You have my word.¡±

    ¡°You better follow through, Iztac.¡± Xolotl nodded thankfully, though his gratitude did notst long. ¡°I have wasted two nights on this errand.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, my hands holding onto the codex.

    I wasn¡¯t certain Xolotl himself understood the significance of this book. The fact it had fallen from the world of the living, while describing the Land of the Dead Suns, meant its writer had traveled from one world to another. I had missed a truly important detail in the title.

    Yohuachanca¡¯s name came from its founder.

    I held in my hands a book written by the First Emperor himself.

 Chapter Nineteen: Witchs Dawn

    Chapter Neen: Witch''s Dawn

    The more the author wrote about loc, the less ttering the portrait of the god became.<blockquote><em>loc prizes the suffering of children, as he resents never bestowing his seed upon Xochiquetzal¡¯s fertile womb. The tears of the young are his favored drink, their hearts his delicacy. In ancient times, tribes sacrificed the young atop mountains in his name by drowning them in water. It matters not to mighty loc whether those sacrificed are men or beasts; so long as they are taken before their life can truly begin.</em></blockquote>

    Any god who requested human sacrifices was unworthy of worship; I had said as much to Mictantecuhtli. I refused to go against this belief, even for the sake of earning loc¡¯s embers.

    ¡°Is loc truly so¡­¡± I looked up at Queen Mictecacihuatl. Now that my deal with Xolotl had been struck, he had left to return to his duties and left me with his mistress. ¡°Cruel?¡±

    Queen Mictecacihuatl let out a sigh. ¡°s, my brother loc is much like the storms he rules over. His passions and excesses know no moderation.¡±

    That was one way to put it. At least the next paragraph indicated that loc weed sacrificed children into his paradise in locan after they perished in his name. As if offering them a good afterlife somehow erased the sin of their murder.

    The more I read about loc, the more he reminded me of Yoloxochitl. Mad and dangerous to know.

    I did not wish to stain my hands with more innocent blood, let alone screaming babes, but how could I earn loc¡¯s favor then? The tome did not list any other gift that might warrant his attention, and the text warned me thoroughly against approaching the god with an offer for trade. I could not deal with loc as I did with Mictantecuhtli. While thetter had been fair and willing to exchange a service for a service, the former would react with hostility.

    I could try to steal the embers if all else failed, or trick loc into giving them away¡­ but robbing a god who had burned an entire world to cinders in a fit of rage struck me as madness. Moreover, I would still need his guidance to enter the nextyer. I considered all my options, trying to find a solution that would let me deal with loc withoutpromising my principles.

    Wait¡­ perhaps I was looking at it the wrong way. So far I had considered approaching loc on my own while praying to make a good impression¡ªan unlikely prospect.However, there was <em>one </em>person whom loc would not refuse a request from.

    My eyes looked up to the sky. The crying sun of M rained purple tears upon thend below, mourning for the lost mankind she convinced her husband to let her create.

    ¡°Clever owl,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatlmented. She had guessed my intentions. ¡°Indeed, when our brother wallowed in grief and fury, Chalchiuhtlicue mended his wounded heart. Now that they have be the suns of two dead worlds, they can only reunite on rare asions when the cosmos aligns. He will not deny her emissary anything.¡±

    loc wasn¡¯t the one I needed to court. Much like how Mictecacihuatl¡¯s favor earned me an audience with her husband, I needed to convince Chalchiuhtlicue to support me in my quest.

    However, I immediately realized the problem.

    ¡°My Queen,¡± I whispered, staring at the sky. ¡°How does one speak with the sun?¡±

    The goddessughed back at me. ¡°You are looking the wrong way, Iztac.¡± She pointed a finger at my chest. ¡°Search inside, not up.¡±

    I did not ponder the queen¡¯s words for long. I had weed Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s embers within my Teyolia and built a connection with her through them. Perhaps I could establish a direct line ofmunication with the fourth sun through meditation.

    ¡°Be mindful that Chalchiuhtlicue is in many ways my opposite,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl advised me. ¡°Where my husband and I preside over death, loc and her oversee fertility. She is the patroness of life-giving rivers and childbirth¡­ and thedy of sorrow. Remember, death is cold but never cruel. It is life¡¯s warmth that brings suffering.¡±

    ¡°She will ask me to pay a price for her favor,¡± I guessed.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The goddess smiled kindly at me. ¡°Though I suspect she will look fondly on your quest, she will drive a harder bargain than my faithful Xolotl and I.¡±

    So long as it did not involve sacrificing children or harvesting their tears, I was willing to negotiate on a great many things.

    ¡°Thank you for your wisdom, oh goddess,¡± I said with a respectful bow.

    ¡°You are kind, my child.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl nced down at my book, her fingers flipping the pages to maps of locan. ¡°However, I would worry more about reaching our brother loc than convincing his wife to support you. Great terrors await you in locan.¡±

    My eyes instantly wandered to the most ominous of the notedndmarks: the ck pyramid of Xibalba, where my mother nested. The volume dedicated an entire chapter to this sinister ce.<blockquote><em>Xibalba - The House of Fright</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>Among the mes stands Xibalba, the House of Fright. Neither men nor gods built this ckened city and its central pyramid. As far as the tales go, Xibalba arose on its own from the corpse of the third world with the first nightmare, as it appeared in older incarnations of the universe. Xibalba is more than a ce; it is a symbol. So long as fear will persist among the living, the House of Fright will endure.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>While the dreams of mortals often show them glimpses of the heavens and the Underworld, nightmares bring slumbering minds to Xibalba. There the sleeping minds endure terrible trials and torment at the hands of its dreadful inhabitants, dead deities of terror and cruelty. Those who die of fright in their sleep suffer a worse fate: their soul is bound to the ckened city and nurtures the growth of its countless terrors.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>The lords of Xibalba are a cruel lot, both masters of their realm and its prisoners. They reign over the city from its ck pyramid, bickering among themselves and devising ever clever plots to torment their sleeping visitors. To them, fear is more than a game; it is an art. They respect those who weave the brush of pain and scorn those who let fright conquer them.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>Xibalba is a dreadful ce, but also one built on great and terrible sorceries. Warlocks who venture there might leave with powerful spells and secrets, though the lords of Xibalba fetch a high price for their knowledge. Whether friends or foes, those who enter the city can only earn their freedom by winning a game on the ball court. Few survive to regret it.</em></blockquote><blockquote><em>As a Tzinacantli, I feel drawn to this ce. The bat in me sees a nest. A ce that my soul can call a home¡­</em></blockquote>

    ¡°¡®Tzinacantli?¡¯¡± I whispered. The rest of the page had be unreadable, erased by time. ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°Tzinacantli,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl muttered the word a few times, as if searching for a distant, long-forgotten echo. ¡°It has been many centuries since I have heard of a bat-totem¡­¡±

    A bat-totem? On one hand, it made a great deal of sense. The First Emperor and his daughters were heavily associated with bats, the wings of the night. On the other hand¡­ It did raise interesting questions.

    ¡°The First Emperor was not a catecolotl?¡° I questioned the goddess. ¡°How could he journey across the Underworld then?¡±

    ¡°The catecolotl was not the only kind of Nahualli to travel between life and death,¡± the queen said. ¡°There used to be two others: the Tzinacantli, the bat-totems; and the Tzahualli, the spider-totems.¡±

    I remained silent for a moment as I digested this piece of information. The Parliament of Skulls had never mentioned either of these totems, and the vampires above had no knowledge of the Land of the Dead Suns. If their progenitor could travel to the Underworld, he did not pass on the knowledge nor ability to his progeny.

    As for spiders¡­ I remembered very well myst encounter with one.

    ¡°I slew a monster in the mists around M,¡± I whispered. ¡°A dreadful spider with eight long arms and human hands¡­¡±

    ¡°You must have fought one of the Tzahualli¡¯s dead spawns.¡± The yed skin covered Queen Mictecacihuatl¡¯s skull twisted into an expression of disdain and revulsion. ¡°A terrible appetite consumes these Nahualli. They hunger not for the flesh, but for frightened spirits.¡±

    I shuddered. ¡°The spiders feed on souls.¡±

    The goddess nodded sharply. ¡°The Tzahualli hunted our subjects for sport for many centuries. My husband grew weary of their depredations and ordered them wiped out from hisyer. Few to no spider-totems have arisen since. If any remain, they are either well-hidden or restrain their appetite to the living world.¡±

    <em>Or they might hunt in loweryers</em>, I thought while examining the map of locan. Mictantecuhtli¡¯s sway only extended to M. Ancient terrors still lurked beneath our feet.

    ¡°As for the Tzinacantli, none have visited M in many centuries, either in life or death,¡± the goddess said. ¡°I doubt they are born anymore. Their totem does not see fit to dwell within human souls anymore, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°That makes me wonder how Nahualli are born,¡± I muttered out loud, unable to suppress my curiosity. Why was I born with white hair and blue eyes? What cosmic fate decided it? I had asked myself these questions many times, and I would finally receive an answer.

    ¡°Nahualli are bridges between man and animal,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl exined. ¡°Your soul is an emanation of the owl-totem; the mask through which a cosmic force expresses itself. The totem¡¯s influence waxes and wanes with time.¡±

    Considering Yohuachanca had been founded six centuries ago, and the bat-totems stopped appearing around this time, I quickly gleaned a hint of a connection.

    ¡°Your Majesty, do you believe the rise of vampires is linked to the Tzinacantlis¡¯ disappearance?¡± I asked the queen of the dead.

    ¡°It would seem likely, would it not?¡±

    Of course it did. Whatever allowed the First Emperor to emerge from the Underworld¡¯s depths as a god affected the totem that granted him his magic in the first ce. I had the feeling that the vampire curse could be a corruption of the Tzinacantlis¡¯ transformation, though I could not tell for certain yet.

    I needed to gather more Skin Codices. The one Xolotl brought to me was only the second volume, which implied the existence of more. The book in my hands had also suffered damage. I might be able to find intact copies in the living world. It would surprise me greatly if the Nightlords and their red-eyed priests did not keep at least records of their progenitor¡¯s writings.

    <em>¡°Hide these codices, Centehua,¡±</em> the Yaotzin had whispered into my ear yesterday.<em> ¡°Hide them from the priests where they will never be found. Therein lies the true history.¡±</em>

    The <em>true </em>history¡­

    Lady Sigrun had been looking into secret codices the red-eyed priests sought to hide. It could have been a coincidence, but my gut told me otherwise. Did she learn about the First Emperor¡¯s texts somehow and seek to recover them?

    Queen Mictecacihuatl¡¯s amusedugh drew me out of my thoughts. ¡°I see I have given you much to think about, Iztac,¡± she said. ¡°I shall take my leave and leave you to your meditation.¡±

    ¡°I apologize, oh goddess,¡± I said, utterly embarrassed. ¡°I did not mean to show you disrespect.¡±

    ¡°You did not. Duty calls to me too.¡± The goddess smiled kindly at me. ¡°I hope my words have helped you in your quest.¡±

    ¡°They did.¡± I knelt before the queen of the dead in gratitude. ¡°I shall make it up to you on the Day of the Dead.¡±

    ¡°I look forward to it,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl said with amusement as she floated away into the air. ¡°I bid thee good luck in youring flights, owl-child.¡±

    I wished a thousand blessings upon her while she left, though I doubted a goddess would need them. I had the feeling the living world would be a much different ce if she had dominion over it.

    <em>Not all gods are cruel</em>, I mused while sitting under the purple sun with my legs crossed. I rested my hands on my knees and closed my eyes.<em> But few of them are kind.</em>

    I had to pray Chalchiuhtlicue would prove as understanding as her sister.

    One did not need to breathe in the Land of the Dead Suns, to the point that Mtecuhtli forbade the presence of sound itself in his vicinity. Still, I tried to inhale, to focus on the dust-heavy air flowing into my chest. Wind fueled fire. The breath empowered the me within my heart.

    My caged Teyolia warmed up in response to my focus. Though it had grown in power after consuming the embers of the Fourth Sun, it remained small; a fire that demanded more fuel before it could growrge enough to scorch thend and sky. I perceived it as a baleful purple me shining alone in a sea of darkness, under a violet sunset. The rattling noises of M vanished in the distance, reduced to nothingness. The air became cold and wet, dripping with sorrow.

    The ursed me inside me burned with hatred, anger, and ambition. My Teyolia carried my desire for freedom and vengeance against my captors.

    Lady Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s sun, meanwhile, radiated sadness. I immediately felt crushed under a terrible weight. An immense burden of suffocating guilt, of crushing despair, descended upon my soul. A sensation of salty, flowing water filled my throat.

    <em>I¡¯m drowning in invisible tears</em>, I thought. It wasn¡¯t as terrible as the night I consumed her embers. My Teyolia had grown stronger since. Enough to let me keep my wits in a goddess¡¯ presence.

    I realized now why King Mtecuhtli delivered to me the Fourth Sun¡¯s embers rather than Chalchiuhtlicue herself. She was simply too wrapped up in her own grief to listen to mortal prayers anymore. I hoped my voice would break through the walls around her heart.

    ¡°Lady Chalchiuhtlicue?¡± I whispered through my mouth and the fire of my soul.

    My me shone brighter when I uttered these words, though the sun above it remained unmoved. And why wouldn¡¯t it be? The goddess mourned over a dead world. How could my pleapare?

    Still, I would not relent.

    ¡°Lady Chalchiuhtlicue, great sun of the Underworld anddy of water,¡± I beseeched her, louder. ¡°Please heed my prayer.¡±

    The goddess did not answer.

    But she did listen.

    I could feel her will in the air. A brief respite in the silent downpour of sorrow-tainted sunlight. A lightening of the pressure crushing my heart. I sensed I would have only one short chance to make my case, so I chose my words carefully.

    ¡°I will soon venture into locan to meet with your husband.¡±

    The pressure evaporated. Inside this spiritualndscape, M¡¯s purple sun took the shape of a great eye looking down on me. I had Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s attention for now.

    ¡°I sought your embers from King Mtecuhtli and weed them into my heart. I am thankful for this gift.¡± I gathered my mind, choosing my words carefully. ¡°But the living world¡­ It¡¯s full of pain. My people lead short lives filled with terror and suffering under the yoke of tyrants. My soul suffocates from the noose tightening around my heart.¡±

    Even in my mind, I could still see the Nightlords¡¯ chains dancing around my Teyolia. No sunlight could hide my ve brands.

    ¡°Our children are sacrificed to false gods, who drink their blood and consume their souls,¡± I argued, knowing this argument would resonate with the goddess of childbirth. ¡°I understand you feel terrible about what happened to this world, and the one that came before¡­ but I beg you to help me in saving mine, to offer a brighter future to the living children above this stone sky.¡±

    Chalchiuhtlicue didn¡¯t answer me with words. I did not expect her to. She had be a sun, a force of nature as pervasive as the earth and the wind. Instead, I sensed her will in the air, in the subtle wave of warmth that washed over me like a gentle wave. As Queen Mictecacihuatl guessed, her sister appeared to sympathize with my plea.

    ¡°I need your husband¡¯s embers and power to shatter my chains,¡± I whispered. ¡°To bring salvation to the world above. I know you have given me much already, but I must request your help once again. I will pay the price you ask for.¡±

    <em>So long as it does not involve shedding children¡¯s blood</em>, I kept to myself. I wondered if the goddess heard this stray thought of mine.

    An eerie silence filled my mind, only broken by the brief sound of running water. A single raindrop of light fell before my Teyolia, and the dream came to an end.

    A powerful force washed my soul away. When my eyes snapped open, I found I hadn¡¯t moved an inch from my meditative spot. I was still sitting with my legs crossed, none the worse for wear.

    But something had changed.

    A sealed urn sat before me.

    It was a small cylinder made from blue-colored ceramic, barelyrger than my fist. Carvings of loc¡¯s fanged visage covered its surface alongside pictures of mating serpents. I noticed an inscription written in anguage I did not recognize, though I somehow managed to divine its meaning as if a spirit whispered it to me.

    <em>For my love.</em>

    As far as divinemandments went, this one was abundantly clear. I was to act as Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s messenger and deliver a gift to her husband. The task sounded simple enough¡­ until I examined the package more closely.

    The urn weighed surprisingly little, but I immediately felt its fragility the moment I seized it with my talon. A simple shock would shatter it to pieces. Moreover, the urn was hermetically sealed. I could not check its contents. My Gaze spell could pierce through illusions, but it couldn¡¯t see through ceramic. I detected no magicing from this gift, no enchantment that would protect it from harm.

    The gift was exactly what it looked like.

    A fragile urn I would have to transport intact across a fiery, monster-infested wastnd.

    ¡°Crap,¡± I muttered.

    The Sapa sorcerer did not bother me for the rest of the night.

    With little to no interruptions, I split my time in the Underworld between deciphering the Skin Codex and preparing for my journey. While I assumed I would find loc¡¯s paradise by flight, if the fiery weather proved impossible to navigate through I assessed a few high ces where this promisednd would likely drift: dreadful Xibalba; the ruined tower of Tamaochan, which dominated the ravaged world; and holy mountains once dedicated to the rain god.

    I knew which of these areas I would visit first. For my sake and that of my father¡¯s soul.

    <em>¡®The lords of Xibalba fetch a high price for their knowledge.¡¯ </em>The codex¡¯s dire warning haunted me. My mother had left for this ce with a bounty of stolen souls. I couldn¡¯t help but fear the worst.

    I prayed to whatever gods that would listen that my mother wasn¡¯t as heartless as they said. I wanted to believe otherwise, that there was a perfectly justifiable reason behind her behavior and that her crimes had beenmitted in the service of a greater cause.

    Much like mine.

    My n to travel across locan was rtively simple: wear the appropriate mask and body paint to survive the fire rains, then weave a Veil to make me look like one of the Burning Men. loc should be able to see through my disguise and thus spare me from his incandescent wrath, while the ghosts haunting his realm should be fooled by my illusions.

    Or at least, I hoped so. I couldn¡¯t tell whether my n would work until I crossed the threshold into the secondyer.

    Moreover, transporting the urn and the codex without damaging either demanded extensive preparations. I needed to carry them in a bag that would protect them both from fire, heat, shocks, and the Burning Men¡¯s inevitable attacks. Not to mention that I had to obtain blue body paint and a mask of loc.

    Thankfully, the Market of Years offered a few solutions.

    ¡°Are these ribs?¡± I asked the merchant as I examined his product: a frame made of two stout femurs the length of poles and bound by curved bones, supporting a carryingpartment made ofyers of thick white scales. ¡°And these¡­¡±

    ¡°Are Macetail scales,¡± the skeletal merchant exined with a proud nod. ¡°Took me fifty years to collect the entire set!¡±

    Of all the beasts that walked the living world above, few were more difficult to y than a Macetail. While a Feathered Tyrant possessed incredible strength and ferocity, a Macetail¡¯s body was covered in thick bone armor strong enough to shatter obsidian des and repel arrows. The few creatures who dared to pierce this protection also needed to contend with the tail-weapon that gave them their name.

    Living merchants usually transported goods on cacaxtli, stout carrying frames used by porters to ferry loads across the empire. This contraption reminded me of them, though most were made of wood rather than near indestructible bones. It would cost a fortune among the living.

    ¡°Can I try it?¡± I asked and quickly received the merchant¡¯s blessing. The bone cacaxtli weighed heavily on my shoulders when I put it on, to the point I nearly copsed on my back. ¡°Ouch!¡±

    ¡°Macetail scales are quite heavy,¡± the merchant noted with amusement.

    That was one way to put it. I doubted I could move with it without using either the Doll spell or shapeshifting into a giant owl. ¡°Don¡¯t you have anything lighter?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you ask for the sturdiest protection?¡± The skeleton shrugged his bone shoulders. ¡°I have lighter carrying frames, but they¡¯ll burn and break easily enough.¡±

    I cursed upon realizing I had little choice. The trader was right: lighter cacaxtli wouldn¡¯t survive the journey to locan, let alone my belongings.

    Would reinforcing my body in the living world strengthen me in this one? I assumed as much since I kept most of my flesh in the Land of the Dead Suns. Otherwise, I would have to stick to my owl form for most of my journey.

    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take it,¡± I said while grumbling.

    ¡°Good,¡± the merchant replied with a chuckle. ¡°It¡¯ll cost you a year of entertainment.¡±

    I managed to haggle the price down to a full night of unforgettable illusory pleasures. The merchant¡ªa dead citizen of Yohuachanca as it turned out¡ªhad always fantasized about the life of an emperor and wished to experience it for himself.

    For his sake, I decided to stick to showing him the harem, the gardens, the baths, and the empty delights the pce had to offer. I believe he wouldn¡¯t appreciate seeing Yoloxochitl¡¯s special brand of <em>motherly kindness</em>, her garden of hanged guards, or the murders and very.

    After outlining our deal, I promised to return the next night to deliver my payment. He agreed to hold my belongings until my return, which I thanked him for. I already felt my mind threatening to wake up.

    The darkness that preceded my awakening always filled me with dread.

    Each time I opened my eyes, I expected Yoloxochitl or one of her sisters to wait for me with some new cruelty. My trips to the Land of the Dead Suns had be a respite, a safe haven from the daily atrocities the Nightlords prepared for me. As odd as it sounded, I would rather linger with the dead than stay among the living.

    I woke up the same way I fell asleep: alone in my bed and surrounded by guards.

    However; the men standing watch in the morning were not the same ones that escorted mest night.

    Four giants stood in each corner of my room, each of them wielding a shield of hardened wood and obsidian-tipped spears. They were threateningly tall, pushing nearly eight feet with wide shoulders and arms thicker than a tree¡¯s trunk. Padded cotton armor protected their muscled chest, forearms, and legs. I could not see their faces. Each of them wore dreadful bronze masks covering their entire head themed after various animals: a jaguar, a crocodile, a serpent¡­

    I immediately sensed that something was wrong with these men. Their body proportions felt¡­ <em>off</em>. Their arms were slightly too long, their legs too thick. Their shields appeared too heavy for a man to carry with one hand as they did. I noticed stitches and scars on the parts of their skin left exposed, as if they had suffered terrible surgery under a healer¡¯s knife. And they were <em>pale</em>. Almost as much as me.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked them, unable to suppress the wariness in my voice.

    None of the guards answered me. In fact, I detected no hint that they even heard me. I slowly rose from my bed, half-naked, and walked up to the closest of them.

    ¡°Look at me,¡± I ordered. ¡°In the eyes.¡±

    The giant lowered his mask, letting me peek at what hid within their masks¡¯ holes.

    Nothing.

    I couldn¡¯t see eyes of any sort, whether red or blue or ck. Those masks held nothing but darkness. Moreover, I immediately noticed an unsettling detail¡­ or rather, the <em>absence </em>of it.

    I could not hear these guards breathe.

    ¡°Are you alive?¡± I asked, though I could already guess the answer.

    The¡­ the thing stared back at me without a word.

    ¡°Can you take off your mask?¡± The guard shook its head in utter silence. ¡°Then cut your shoulder open with your spear.¡±

    A man would have at least hesitated. The creature in front of me turned its own weapon against itself the moment I finished my sentence. It did not doubt my order, nor did it consider its own well-being. It simply cut a line across its naked right shoulder. The skin appeared as thick as the padded cotton armor protecting the rest of the body to me. The same boiling ck tar boiling within the Nightlords¡¯ Abode of Darkness dripped from the wound. It quickly cooled when exposed to air, sealing the gash in seconds.

    What kind of creature was this? It was no vampire, but nothing alive either. I wondered if it could even think for itself.

    I did not have to wonder for long. My chambers¡¯ doors opened and half-naked female servants walked in to dress me, their heads looking down to avoid my gaze. I noticed Necahual was among them. She dared to send me a quick nce, one that hardlysted a second. Her eyes quickly darted to the new guards in dread.

    A man I did not know followed in their wake. He was tall and strong, though not as much as the four giants, with gray hair and lined features. This surprised me since his eyes were a pale shade of red. Priests usually stopped aging when they received the Nightlords¡¯ blessing, yet this stranger appeared well past his prime. Though he wore a simple cotton cloak, he walked with the same presence as a trained warrior.

    ¡°Greetings, oh greater Emperor of the Heavens and Earth.¡± The man knelt before me, his voice strong like shing rocks. ¡°I am Tezozomoc. The four goddesses have selected me to rece thete caelel. I pray Your Imperial Majesty will find my services agreeable.¡±

    I hoped so too. Killing too many of my advisors on such short notice would arouse suspicion. I recognized the name too. Lady Sigrun mentioned him as caelel¡¯s most likely sessor; correctly too. What else did she call him?

    Ah, yes. Someone with age, experience, and who wouldn¡¯t rock the boat.

    I studied the man carefully as my servants dressed me up in my imperial robes and set the breakfast table. Whether or not he would prove more tolerable than caelel did not matter to me, he remained a thrall to the Nightlords and thus my enemy.

    Still, I decided to test the waters. To assess if he would be another butt-kissing snake or someone I could at least tolerate the presence of.

    ¡°What happened to my previous guards?¡± I asked, waving a hand at my new set of jailers. ¡°Those four clearlyck certain¡­ attributes.¡±

    ¡°In the light of your personal guards'' sinful and repeated fits of ipetence, the goddesses decided to change them.¡± I did not ask if they had been fired or killed, though I hoped for thetter. ¡°Lady Sugey selected these four attendants personally.¡±

    ¡°Selected,¡± I replied, ¡°or created?¡±

    Tezozomoc lowered his head further to better hide his ignorance. ¡°I am not privy to a goddess¡¯ secrets, Your Imperial Majesty.¡±

    At least he spoke straight and to the point. He hadn¡¯t bombarded me with empty ttery either so far, which I considered an improvement over his predecessor. However, I had the feeling I wouldn¡¯t extract much information from him. The Nightlords clearly didn¡¯t believe him to be important enough to share their secrets with.

    ¡°What of my consorts?¡± I asked, the memory of Nl thrown across a wall by the Jaguar Woman ring in my mind. ¡°Are they safe and well?¡±

    ¡°Lady Nl is still recovering from her illness under the goddesses¡¯ care.¡± I suppressed a wince and a pang of guilt at Tezozomoc¡¯s wording. The Parliament of Skulls had already warned me about what the Nightlords would do to Nl. ¡°Lady Ingrid is safe and sound, as is Lady Chikal.¡±

    I tensed up. ¡°What of Eztli?¡±

    ¡°The Flower of the Heart called Lady Eztli to her side,¡± Tezozomoc replied calmly. I immediately noticed Necahual tensing up as she set the breakfast table. ¡°Both apologize for not greeting you this morning. The goddess herself promised to visit you tonight, once her heavenly duties are fulfilled.¡±

    I did not particrly look forward to seeing Yoloxochitl again, but it would let me check on Eztli and gather more information on the Nightlords¡¯ secret weapon.

    ¡°I look forward to it,¡± I lied.

    Tezozomoc nodded sharply, before sending a dark look at the servants. ¡°If it pleases Your Imperial Majesty, may we speak in private?¡±

    Oh? Come to think of it, I noticed that he had evasively qualified Nl¡¯s condition as an ¡®illness¡¯ rather than anything more specific. He clearly worried about eavesdroppers.

    ¡°My ve Necahual will stay to pour our drinks,¡± I replied, startling my mother-inw. I gave her a sneer of pure and utter arrogance. ¡°Mother Yoloxochitl taught her how to hold her tongue.¡±

    Necahual clenched her jaw in restrained fury, but swallowed her anger and nodded obediently. Tezozomoc raised an eyebrow with a hint of disapproval.

    A minuteter, the three of us sat at the breakfast table with only my guards forpany. Today¡¯s meal involved a tter of fish and potatoes imported from our southern territories. I ordered Necahual to serve the two of us, much to her clear frustration.

    It was for her own sake. I had convinced Yoloxochitl to spare Necahual on the grounds that I desired to thoroughly humiliate and dominate her. Considering the rampant paranoia that would follow the Sapa disaster, I needed to constantly reinforce this lie among outsiders. This n would spare her an early grave.

    That, and I had to admit it felt somewhat enjoyable to boss her around after the way she treated me in the past.

    ¡°First of all, I formally apologize on the priesthood''s behalf forst night¡¯s incident,¡± Tezozomoc said. Astonishingly, he even sounded sincere; that or he lied better than caelel. ¡°This will <em>not </em>happen again.¡±

    ¡°I hope so, for your sake.¡± It didn¡¯t take me much enough to channel righteous anger. I felt that way all the time. ¡°My consort and I nearly perished.¡±

    ¡°I can guarantee Your Imperial Majesty that there will be no repeat ofst night¡¯s incident,¡± Tezozomoc stated with confidence. ¡°We have detained the Sapa delegation and are currently investigating the pce for any sign of foreign influence among Your Imperial Majesty¡¯s servants.¡±

    ¡°Is that why you wished to discuss the situation in private, Tezozomoc?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± My advisor coughed as Necahual filled his chocte cup. ¡°Would His Imperial Majesty allow me to say a personal remark?¡±

    caelel never asked permission, though he disguised his venom under a veneer of sweetness. ¡°What bothers you?¡±

    ¡°I do not believe it wise to mistreat those working under oneself, even a bed ve,¡± Tezozomoc said. ¡°I understand that Your Imperial Majesty might seek to demean that woman for the wrongs she caused you in your former mortal life, but she has functioning ears and her heart will fester with resentment. She might nder Your Imperial Majesty or worse, share her knowledge with enemies of the state.¡±

    I stared nkly at Tezozomoc, searching for any hint of hypocrisy. I found none. He truly believed in his own advice, the way the old grew ever confident of their own wisdom with time.

    Of course, he conveniently ignored that I was myself a prisoner bound to the altar through no fault of my own other than four vampires¡¯ caprice.

    I guessed his point stood nheless. If the Nightlords hadn¡¯t wished to earn my hatred, they should have treated me better.

    ¡°What is stronger than hatred, Tezozomoc?¡± I asked my advisor.

    ¡°Faith,¡± he replied without hesitation.

    <em>You¡¯re wrong, fool</em>, I thought while ncing at Necahual, who did her best to hide her anger and resentment under a mask of nkness, <em>enough hatred can ovee anything</em>.

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong,¡± I said out loud. ¡°Fear is stronger than hate. Mother Yoloxochitl taught her that much.¡±

    I met Necahual¡¯s eyes, which I found startlingly familiar. I had worn the same expression in the past.

    ¡°After all,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s how <em>she </em>kept me under her yoke for all those years.¡±

    I watched as the fire of Necahual¡¯s anger was blown away by a surprise, and then a very special kind of shame. My mother-inw nced at our fish tter, so very simr to the rare feast her husband and daughter had been allowed to partake in while she forced me to serve them. I recognized the emotion in her gaze all too well.

    Guilt.

    To my own astonishment, Necahual seemed to finally reflect on what she put me through now that she was in a simr situation. Could she actually improve as a person? I dared not keep my hopes up considering our disagreements, but the mere possibility amazed me.

    Tezozomoc mistook Necahual¡¯s shame for an admission of despair, though he appeared doubtful of the point I was trying to make. ¡°I pray Your Imperial Majesty is wiser than I am.¡±

    ¡°So do I,¡± I replied imperiously before changing the subject. ¡°I will witness these interrogation sessions personally. These fools tried to have me killed. I want them to regret it.¡±

    Moreover, there might be a chance that one of the ambassadors possessed information on the Mallquis and how to contact them. Unfortunately, I would likely have to execute them if only to create more outrage among the Sapa people. Now that I had set alight the fire of war, I needed to nurture it.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Tezozomoc bowed his head obediently. Unlike caelel, he didn¡¯t appear keen on obstructing me. ¡°While the next few days will be dedicated to the New Fire Ceremony as expected, I have taken the liberty of changing your morning¡¯s schedule to include a meeting with Lady Chikal and other military advisors. Imperial generals have been recalled to the capital as per the Bird of War¡¯s orders. They should arrive within a week¡¯s time.¡±

    The Nightlords did not waste time when it came to bloodshed.

    So far so good. My predecessor nearlyunched a sessful coup by recruiting generals, and ording to the Parliament of Skulls a few rebels among them remained undiscovered. Theing days would provide the opportunity to cultivate allies inside the military, or at least test their loyalties.

    However, tonight¡¯s issues with the cacaxtli showcased a small issue, which a look at my arm only confirmed.

    Namely, I was no warrior.

    I had started to gain weight¡ªthe good kind¡ªnow that I ate to my heart¡¯s content, but I remained rather gaunt for my age. My predecessors warned me that soldiers followed the brave and the victorious. While I knew only my magic could ovee the Nightlords, I could not reveal my spells until I was ready to take on the Nightlords in open battle, if at all. To the empire¡¯s warriors, I was no future sorcerer and sun-eater, but a frail emperor unfit to be a simple porter.

    They would die for their god-appointed emperor, but not for Iztac Ce Ehecatl.

    I needed to change that, to be a figure they would love and respect. And for that, I had to look the part.

    ¡°War ising to Yohuachanca, and our enemies will strike at me again,¡± I dered. ¡°I must prepare for it. See to it that my schedule involves fighting lessons. I must be able to defend myself inbat if the need arises.¡±

    Tezozomoc visibly frowned. ¡°Your Imperial Majesty, your concerns are unwarranted,¡± he said, his eyes wandering to the silent guards. ¡°No foe will approach you ever again in your new guards¡¯ presence.¡±

    ¡°I pray you¡¯re right,¡± I replied with a sharp smile. ¡°But that remains to be proven.¡±

    The rebuke caused Tezozomoc to scowl. Good. I¡¯d long noticed that people worked harder when they had something to prove. ¡°I understand,¡± he said. ¡°I shall see to it that Your Majesty receives the best trainers. Lady Chikal will prove a most worthy sparring partner, I believe.¡±

    I hoped so too. Chikal was the consort I knew the least about so far, the one best at keeping her true feelings hidden. The next few days would be my chance to understand her better, and to see if I could make an ally of her.

    I dismissed Tezozomoc after breakfast with the pretext that I wished to prepare for my morning meditation. My new advisor excused himself with a deep, respectful bow. Unlike caelel, I sensed no subtle mockery in the gesture.

    Either this man yed a very subtle game, or he was perhaps the kind of priest I feared the most.

    A true believer.

    ¡°It is best toy low for a while,¡± I whispered into Necahual¡¯s ear as she cleaned the tter, too low for the guards to hear. ¡°War ising, and the Nightlords will cut off any head that stands too tall.¡±

    I briefly worried about Lady Sigrun, before realizing that she had probably survived half a dozen or more disasters across her career.

    My mother-inw stared into my eyes, studying my face. I did not need magic to tell what crossed her mind. Necahual was smart. She must have guessed that I had somehow started this very same war and somehow gotten away with it.

    However, her confusion did notst long. Necahual¡¯s expression darkened, her jaw clenching, her lips straining. She gulped, her eyes briefly fidgeting from one side of the room to the other. Her trembling fingers clenched back and forth.

    She wanted to ask me something. Something that ashamed her.

    I squinted at her. ¡°What is it?¡±

    She finally mustered the courage to whisper back an answer. ¡°Teach me.¡±

    ¡°Teach you what?¡±

    ¡°Witchcraft. What¡­ what you and your mother can do.¡± Necahual inhaled sharply, as if confessing to a secret sin. ¡°I want you to teach me.¡±

 Chapter Twenty: The War of the Flowers

    Chapter Twenty: The War of the Flowers

    ¡°Witchcraft?¡±

    A mocking rattle echoed through the Reliquary, deep and scornful. I didn¡¯t like it. There were few things as disturbing asughing skulls. A good chunk of my predecessors appeared to find Necahual¡¯s demand terribly amusing.

    The rest¡­ far less so.

    ¡°Magic is a blessing, not an art,¡± the grimmer skulls said dismissively. ¡°One must be born with the aptitude before they can learn anything. Try as she may, this Necahual will never be a Nahualli. It simply cannot be done.¡±

    I feared as much. If bing a sorcerer was easy, spellcasting traditions would have spread far and wide by now. I still didn¡¯t understand why Necahual even asked me to teach her; I thought her encounter with my mother had instilled in her a visceral disgust for anything magical.

    ¡°She will not take that answer well,¡± I muttered. Necahual had appeared strangely determined.

    ¡°Then perhaps you should just get rid of her,¡± my predecessors suggested. ¡°This Necahual already knows too much to our liking. She is a security risk.¡±

    ¡°I will not kill her,¡± I replied. Besides the fact I needed allies, Eztli would never forgive me for it. ¡°I believe she will understand if I tell her the truth.¡±

    My first instinct was to tell Necahual of the Day of the Dead and induct her into Queen Mictecacihuatl¡¯s priesthood. Then she could touch the divine, albeit briefly.¡°We hope she will listen,¡± my predecessors said without really believing it. ¡°But heed our warning. Mortals rarely react well to being denied their heart¡¯s desire. At best, she might try to fruitlessly learn on her own, wasting her time and bringing attention upon her; at worst, she will use you of keeping secrets from her and ckmail you. Watch her carefully.¡±

    I nodded in agreement and prepared to move on to more pressing matters when a small voice broke ranks with the Parliament.

    ¡°If I may¡­¡± a particr skull bulged out of the pir, its empty eyes radiating an otherworldly light. ¡°What is this Necahual¡¯s day sign?¡±

    ¡°Her full name is Necahual Ce Quiahuitl,¡± I answered with a frown. What did her day sign have to do with the matter at hand?

    ¡°Ce Quiahuitl,¡± a hundred dead emperors whispered as one. ¡°The first day of the Rain Month. No wonder she turned to herbalism, her day sign blesses the soothsayers and bewitchers.¡±

    ¡°The First Day of Rain carries its curses too,¡± the lone skull said with a content tone. ¡°She could be a Mometzcopinque.¡±

    The word did not mean anything to me, though the other skulls appeared to recognize it. ¡°Doubtful,¡± the other emperors argued back. ¡°If she had a patron¡¯s eye, it would have already manifested.¡±

    ¡°Is one not standing before us?¡± the dissenting skull replied while gazing at me. ¡°With the embers of divinity within him¡­ our sessor would count for the ritual.¡±

    I straightened up as my predecessors started whispering among each other so quickly that I only grasped a few tidbits. <em>¡°It could be¡­¡± ¡°Would she even agree to it?¡± ¡°The risks¡­¡± ¡°The rewards¡­¡±</em>

    I waited for the dead emperors to reach a consensus, which eventually, they did.

    ¡°Listen well, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± the skulls whispered, none louder than the previous dissenter. ¡°This Necahual will <em>never </em>be a true sorceress nor wield magic of her own. However¡­ this does not mean she cannot <em>borrow </em>it.¡±

    ¡°Borrow magic?¡± I almost asked <em>¡®from whom,¡¯ </em>until I connected the dots. ¡°From <em>me</em>?¡±

    ¡°Possibly.¡± Hundreds of hollow gazes stared at my chest. ¡°Absorbing the Fourth Sun¡¯s embers into your Teyolia has granted you a spark of divinity. Whether it will be enough to sustain the ritual we have in mind remains to be seen.¡±

    That¡­ that was strange. Sharing my magic around would let me recruit powerful allies. I would have expected the Parliament of Skulls to mention the option earlier. The fact they hadn¡¯t meant that it carried downsides.

    ¡°Would sharing my power diminish it?¡± I asked. This seemed the most likely exnation to me.

    ¡°Somewhat,¡± my predecessors confirmed. ¡°There are paths for individuals eager to embrace the supernatural. Costly, lesser paths, but paths nheless. Bing a Mometzcopinque is one of them. It is a dark road open only to women born on specific day signs.¡±

    Requirements which Necahual appeared to fit, from what I understood. ¡°Magic always carries a cost,¡± I pointed out.

    ¡°One paid to you, our sessor,¡± the skulls replied. ¡°To be a Mometzcopinque, a would-be witch must find a patron willing to sponsor their ascension. Usually, this patron is either a god or a spirit seeking to expand their influence in the living world. Once a pact is formed, the witch and patron partake in a ritual that transforms the former into a Mometzcopinque.¡±

    ¡°What would this transformation mean for Necahual?¡±

    ¡°She will gain unique powers,¡± the Parliament exined. ¡°She will be able to transform her arms into wings and her feet into sharp talons at will. Her nails will cut through stone. Her hands will carry the strength of ten men, and mes will fall from the sky at hermand to set her foes alight. She will be a fearsome creature that can rival the Nightkin in strength, but one that can walk undetected in the sun.¡±

    ¡°But she will never equal the Nightlords,¡± I guessed. Still, this sounded like a useful transformation, especially if Necahual could still hide in in sight. ¡°What is the catch?¡±

    ¡°It is twofold. First of all, most patrons request their new servant to kill in their name in return for their sponsorship, such as blood sacrifices. Most Mometzcopinques were feared as childkillers or yers of men.¡±

    ¡°A requirement I can waive, I hope.¡± Otherwise, Necahual would be no better than a Nightkin.

    ¡°Yes, but the pact¡¯s true price is much greater.¡± The Reliquary¡¯s darkness only thickened. ¡°A Mometzcopinque sells their soul to their patron.¡±

    My fists clenched on their own.

    ¡°The Mometzcopinque ritual involves tying the witch¡¯s Teyolia to their patron¡¯s through a bond that only death alone can break,¡± the Parliament exined grimly. ¡°The patron¡¯s heart-fire will fuel the witch¡¯s transformations, but from that moment on her life is borrowed. If the patron decides to take back their gift at any point, or perishes on their own, their inner fire will waste away to nothing.¡±

    Now I understood why few spirits offered that deal. ¡°This is no different than very,¡± I said, somewhat unsettled. ¡°No¡­ this is worse. There is no escape other than death.¡±

    It was no different from how the Nightlords recruited followers. They promised foolish mortals power and immortality, bribing them with eternal youth and respect while shackling their souls as they did with mine. They used their magic to own people, body and soul. Turning Necahual into Mometzcopinque would be just transforming her into a Nightkin; one that answered to me and could walk in the daylight.

    I couldn¡¯t walk down the same path.

    ¡°You said it yourself, our sessor. The greater the magic, the greater the cost.¡± The skulls let out a grim rattle. ¡°Of course, nothing prevents you from letting this Necahual do as she wishes. You can offer her power and then loosen the leash around her neck until you both forget that it exists.¡±

    ¡°But it will never go away.¡± Besides the fact that enving another human being in such an intimate, permanent way disturbed me, I doubted Necahual would agree to it. The man she distrusted would hold her life in his hands until his own death. ¡°This¡­ is there no other alternative?¡±

    ¡°None that we know off,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°Not all mortals are meant to dance with the gods, Iztac Ce Ehecatl. Most fade away in the shadow of brighter stars.¡±

    Quite cruel words, but they sadly described Necahual¡¯s life quite well. She had lost the love of her life to my mother, her daughter and husband to a vampire, and even her freedom to me¡­ I wondered if her desire to learn witchcraft was an attempt to step into the light she envied so much.

    <em>Will she ept her ce or grasp for more?</em> I wondered. I would have expected the first, but then again, I would have never guessed Necahual would change her mind about magic. She still had the ability to surprise me.

    ¡°Let us speak of other things, my predecessors,¡± I said. Necahual was a minor issue for now, and I had more pressing matters to deal with. ¡°What of the Mallquis? How should I handle it?¡±

    ¡°Our priority should be to identify the Mallquis¡¯ identity first and foremost,¡± the Parliament decided. ¡°So long as they remain hidden, they hold an advantage. We doubt they will inform the Nightlords of your status as a catecolotl, but so long as the Mallquis remains unounted for, that information might make its way back to our tormentors.¡±

    That was what I dreaded most. If the Mallquis shared the truth with Sapa officials, Yohuachancan spies might stumble upon it byplete ident and report back to the Nightlords. I needed to establish contact with the Mallquis as soon as possible, if only to ensure that they would keep my secret to themselves.

    ¡°Should I consult the Yaotzin?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You can try, but we doubt it will suffice,¡± my predecessors replied, as I feared. As I had seen with the Nightlords, powerful sorcerers can shield their secrets from the wind of chaos. ¡°However, we have pondered more¡­ <em>mundane </em>ways to identify them. Have you heard of the Ayllus, our sessor?¡±

    ¡°I have indeed.¡± I happened upon the name when I did research on the Sapa Empire. ¡°They are groups of families, whether bound by blood or marriage, that make up most of the Sapa Empire¡¯s poption. They are very simr to our own Calpulli.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± the Parliamentplimented me. ¡°Most Ayllus can trace back their existence to amon ancestor, an Apu. Since the Sapa people share a deep bond with the mountains in which they live, an Apu¡¯s existence is often confused with the spirit of the mountain where they were born and buried.¡±

    I immediately caught on. ¡°You suspect the Mallquis to be one of these Apus?¡±

    ¡°We find it usible,¡± the skulls replied. ¡°Apus receive worship from themunities that upy their mountains. This would provide ample faith to sustain an ambitious Mallquis.¡±

    I pondered this for a while and quickly realized I had a potential lead.

    ¡°The tablet¡¯s spells were carved into its very stone,¡± I muttered to myself. ¡°If I can find which mountain quarry it came from, or where it was carved, then the local Apu will likely be the sorcerer that enchanted it in the first ce.¡±

    ¡°Your wits have sharpened, our sessor.¡± My predecessors sounded genuinely pleased. ¡°You are learning quickly.¡±

    ¡°Only thanks to your guidance,¡± I replied, though I did appreciate thepliment. ¡°I will interrogate the ambassadors. Mayhaps they possess the information, or at least a lead.¡±

    It might take time, but once I had identified the Apu I could see how to establish directmunication with them. I still hoped to negotiate¡­ if not an alliance, then at least a non-aggression agreement of some kind. Since the Mallquis¡¯ existence relied on that of their Ayllu, I could perhaps trade thetter¡¯s safety for their assistance. For now, I could only gather information.

    After discussing the Sapa situation at length, the Parliament of Skulls gave me a list of the generals involved in Nochtli the Fourteen¡¯s failed coup. I couldn¡¯t tell yet which of them had perished or been reced since, but I would soon confirm that once they reached the capital.

    I left the Reliquary with a great deal of information and my predecessors¡¯ blessing. Tezozomoc and my mother-inw were waiting for me outside alongside my silent guards.

    ¡°Did your morning meditation grant you enlightenment, Your Imperial Majesty?¡± Tezozomoc asked courteously.

    ¡°Somewhat,¡± I replied evasively before turning to my mother-inw. ¡°You will follow me all day long, Necahual. If I am to train my body, I might need a healer on hand.¡±

    Necahual bowed dutifully. She understood I meant to talk with her in private once we found the opportunity. ¡°As you wish, Your Majesty.¡±

    My eyes wandered to her hands, joined together in suppressed anxiety. I had told her I would consider her request after my morning meditation, so she likely expected an answer soon. If she knew the price to pay for power, I doubted she would be so eager to hear from me.

    I shrugged and walked away with my followers in tow. As promised, Tezozomoc had set up a meeting with Chikal and other war advisors in my council room. Thetter turned out to be the leaders of Yohuachanca¡¯s four major warrior societies: the Nightflowers, the Jaguar Warriors, the Eagle Knights, and the infamous Shorn Ones.

    While over sixty generals oversaw Yohuachanca¡¯s vast army, military fraternities transcended the frontiers between toons. The men that waited for me in the council room represented the elite of my troops and never left the capital. They would form the backbone of the Sapa campaign.

    ¡°Lord Emperor.¡± Chikal weed me with a deep bow. She hade dressed for battle, as usual. I wondered if she ever let go of her cotton armor. ¡°I am relieved to see you safe and sound.¡±

    ¡°I see you have been informed ofst night¡¯s treacherous attack, Chikal,¡± I said while sitting on a cushion. Everyone else in the room bowed and avoided my gaze. ¡°Let¡¯s not mince words. We are now at war with the Sapa Empire.¡±

    Chikal nodded slowly, her eyes squinting at me. Was that a hint of suspicion I detected in her gaze? It was true I had pushed for a conflict with the Sapa Empire for a while¡­

    Chikal remained by far the most enigmatic of my four consorts. Nl was about as transparent and innocent as a young woman could be; Ingrid was a social climber dedicated to strengthening her family¡¯s influence; and Eztli¡­ Eztli was a tortured soul. I would go as far as to say that I hade to understand all of them, that I had gotten a solid grasp of their personalities and aspirations. I even shared intimate moments with each of them.

    Chikal, however, had never once lowered her guard since the moment I met her. I knew her history as a conquered queen, who had betrayed a sister city for the sake of her own people, but I wasn¡¯t certain which conclusions she had drawn from the experience. Had she given up on fighting back against the Nightlords, like Lady Sigrun? Or did she secretly hold the small hope of overthrowing them once the stars aligned in her favor?

    I needed to obtain answers to these questions, one way or another.

    ¡°I vow to assist my Lord Emperor in the battles toe,¡± Chikal replied dutifully after correcting her expression. ¡°As do the men behind me.¡±

    Four soldiers knelt behind Chikal. I appraised them carefully. All of them were taller than me, though not nearly as much as my monstrous guards.

    Thergest and most muscled of them belonged to the Shorn Ones, as his unique appearance indicated. Much like every member of his elite order, his head waspletely shaved apart from a long braid falling over his left ear. The right side of his fearsome face was painted blue, the other red. His war costume wasced with gold and blue feathers. Every single patch of his exposed skin bore a battle scar. All Shorn Ones swore never to take a step backward on the pain of death, even when faced with enemy des.

    I recognized the Eagle Warrior and the Jaguar Knight from their attire: the former wore exotic padded armor adorned with feathers, and the other with jaguar fur. Otherwise, they couldn¡¯t be any more different. The Eagle Warrior was a lithe, handsome young man around ten years older than me, with a calm, cid expression. The Jaguar Knight, though muscr, was getting on in his years. His hair was streaked with gray and his face was wrinkled by old scars. Still, his warm smile made him appear less intimidating than expected.

    I distrusted the fourth man the moment I met his eyes. The crimson hue marked him as a thrall to the Nightlords. He was more gaunt than his fellows, but his long ck hair and fearsome face made him appear more threatening nheless. He alone went shirtless, though he wore a crown of flowers and pants of maguey fibers.

    ¡°Introduce yourself to your emperor,¡± Tezozomoc ordered on my behalf.

    ¡°I am Patli, Grandmaster of the Nightflowers,¡± the man with the flower crown said. His voice was deeper than a cavern and his tone unyielding. ¡°I swear to you that no foe will harm you on my watch.¡±

    The Shorn One mmed his fist against his chest. ¡°Coaxoch¡¯s de stands ready, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°My parents gifted me the name of Amoxtli, Lord Emperor,¡± the Jaguar Knight said with a warm smile that did not reach the eyes. ¡°I have served twenty of your predecessors. I hope you shall find noints with my service.¡±

    The Eagle Warrior, as the youngest, dutifully introduced himselfst. ¡°This one¡¯s name is Cuauhteztli, oh Great Lord of the Universe. Your will is mymand.¡±

    <em>None of them have been reced</em>, I thought, which pleased me greatly. The Parliament of Skulls had given me extensive details on each of these men and their allegiances.

    Patli, as befitting of an order meant to protect the emperor and generals on behalf of the Nightlords, ced his loyalty in his false gods. Nochtli the Fourteenth spent most of his reign plotting around the man¡¯s gaze. I could trust him to protect me from outside threats and assassinations, but he would report any treachery to his vampiric masters.

    Coaxoch was a wild card. A brute who cared little for politics and allegiances. The Shorn Ones made a vow never to retreat from battle and the man lived up to it. He lived for battle and mayhem. The enemy¡¯s identity did not matter, so long as the blood flowed. However, the man fought for the strongest side. He had promised Nochtli his support in the coup if thetter managed to y the Bird of War in battle; a trade my predecessor failed to deliver on.

    Amoxtli had secretly supported Nochtli¡¯s coup. The man was getting on his years, but the Nightlords had refused him the kiss of immortality. Being denied the opportunity to recapture his vigorous youth had left him bitter and resentful toward the empire¡¯s undead masters. Nochtli never fully trusted him, since he was liable to turn his cloak if the vampires changed their minds, but he could make a powerful ally if well-cajoled.

    Finally, Cuauhteztli was neither a schemer nor a brute, but an earnest man who followed his duties. Though his order worshiped the Bird of War, he was equally dedicated to following the current emperor¡¯s orders. His loyalty between his distant god and his yearlymander-in-chief had yet to be tested.

    <em>I¡¯m not going to run a military coup with these four anytime soon</em>, I thought. <em>But I cany the groundwork. And for that, I need to start with a good impression.</em>

    ¡°Tezozomoc informed me that each of you leads our nation¡¯s elite military orders,¡± I said respectfully. The four men nodded. ¡°It pleases me to have mighty warriors at my side. You may sit.¡±

    By now, ying the authoritative emperor came¡­ I wouldn¡¯t say <em>naturally</em>, but easily enough. Facing the Underworld¡¯s dangers and the Nightlords¡¯ madness had burned away what little fear I may have had of my fellow man. The key was to act like King Mtecuhtli: to speak with the voice of an ancient mountain who stood above mortal concerns. A god who didn¡¯t <em>expect </em>to be obeyed, but <em>knew </em>others would bow before his power and wisdom.

    My advisors all sat around me, with Tezozomoc and Chikal each taking a ce at my side. I ordered Necahual to serve them drinks

    ¡°Though we have restrained the treacherous Sapa ambassadors, it is only a matter of time before word of their plot¡¯s failure reaches their superiors,¡± I dered. In all likelihood, the Mallquis had already warned his fellows. ¡°I wish to strike them as soon as the New Fire Ceremony concludes, before they have time to organize. How many men can we mobilize within that timespan?¡±

    This question was a ploy. Chikal had already given me a rundown of the empire¡¯s military forces yesterday, so I knew exactly how many soldiers I could call upon in the short and long term. My goal was to gauge my generals¡¯ personalities, and see which of them had fire in their veins and who preferred caution to bravery.

    ¡°The four fraternities always stand ready to march at any time, Your Majesty,¡± Coaxoch answered immediately. ¡°Ten xiquipilli toons protect the capital¡¯s region too. If the goddesses smile on us, Your Majesty may lead a hundred thousand men on the new year¡¯s dawn.¡±

    ¡°Our Lord Emperor may not need such a force,¡± Amoxtli argued, more calmly. ¡°Fifty thousand other soldiers currently man our southern frontier. While their standing orders are to keep the border free of invaders, they can move into Sapa territory at any time.¡±

    Patli snorted. ¡°Fifty thousand men spread across leagues upon leagues of jungles and mountains won¡¯t go far, Amoxtli. They can raid the frontier, but not expand it.¡±

    ¡°Do we truly need a decisive push?¡± Amoxtli wondered. He turned his head in my direction while carefully avoiding my gaze. ¡°What are your objectives for this campaign, Lord Emperor?¡±

    ¡°My goal, as ordained by the heavens, is theplete and utter subjugation of the entire Sapa Empire.¡± A short silence followed my bold deration, which I swiftly broke. ¡°Though the goddesses might im my heart before I see this day, it is up to me toy the foundations for this great victory.¡±

    ¡°A tall order,¡± Amoxtlimented with slight skepticism.

    ¡°A glorious order,¡± Coaxoch replied with more enthusiasm. ¡°The mountain people will make for fine sacrifices.¡±

    Patli nodded sharply. ¡°If the goddessesmand it, it shall be done.¡±

    Only one of the four had yet to speak. Cuauhteztli kept his arms crossed, his mind in deep meditation. As he was the youngest of the generals present and represented the least prestigious of the main fraternities, I wondered if he preferred to let his colleagues take the lead. That, or he remained cautious.

    I forced him out of hisfort zone. ¡°What is your opinion, Cuauhteztli?¡±

    The eagle warrior cleared his threat. ¡°Oh great lord, would you allow me to suggest an alternative?¡± When I offered him a sharp nod, the man gained a bit more confidence. ¡°Why not challenge the Sapa Empire to a series of Flower Wars?¡±

    <em>Flower Wars? </em>My thoughts briefly wandered to Yoloxochitl¡¯s garden, until I remembered where I had heard the term before.

    Flower Wars were an archaic form of warfare where enemies agreed to meet in battle at a preselected ce and time. Soldiers would wage duels not to kill, but to capture their foe; usually for the purpose of human sacrifices. The Nightlords invented the practice after a terrible famine slew so many soldiers that a conventional war against neighboring countries had be infeasible in the short term.

    ¡°What purpose would it serve?¡± I asked, slightly confused.

    ¡°We will not conquer the Sapa Empire in a year,¡± Cuauhteztli said. ¡°Their mountains form a natural fortress. To win, we must destroy their spirits by showcasing our martial prowess. The Sapa will have no choice but to ept the conflict or appear as cowards.¡±

    Amoxtli quickly voiced his support. ¡°I agree with the proposal. Our numbers dwarf those of the Sapa people. Losses in manpower will affect them more sharply than us. Hence our best bet is to bleed them out of their best warriors, <em>then </em>make a decisive push. This strategy worked against the Yucan Empire.¡±

    ¡°After sixty years of attrition,¡± Tezozomoc pointed out. ¡°While the Sapa Empire would likely agree to this proposal to avoid a conventional war, I doubt the goddess will ept such half-measures.¡±

    ¡°Flower Wars will bring honor to a few and blood for the goddesses, but our soldiers fight for spoils,¡± Coaxoch grunted in disdain. ¡°For gold, fornd, for women. We can only earn those by marching on cities.¡±

    ¡°And how do you suggest we do that?¡± Amoxtli argued. ¡°Not only are their cities well-fortified; but as Cuauhteztli pointed out so keenly, the mountains will make any progress long and untenable.¡±

    ¡°The mountains will not protect the Sapa from the children of the night,¡± I said, many eyes turning at me. ¡°The goddesses will send their spawn to fight with us.¡±

    ¡°If so, then victory is assured,¡± Patli said with a grim, terrible smile.

    Amoxtli did not stand down. ¡°Even so, we need soldiers to hold these cities. Our logistics¨C¡±

    ¡°Our men can feed themselves in the field,¡± Coaxoch interrupted him in his anger. ¡°All I hear are excuses to justify your cowardice. Have the Jaguars Knights turned into ocelots while I wasn¡¯t looking? My Shorn Ones will take those mountains alone if that¡¯s what it takes!¡±

    A sh of fury passed over Amoxtli¡¯s face, though he kept it under control. ¡°The Shorn Ones might be excellent at taking positions, but keeping and defending them are a whole other matter.¡±

    ¡°The goddesses wouldn¡¯t have authorized this war if they weren¡¯t confident in our inevitable sess,¡± Patli argued. ¡°If the Sapa prove difficult to convert, then we will decimate their cities. That way, we will have fewer mouths to feed.¡±

    Cuauhteztli hesitated a moment, as if unsure if he should interrupt the argument, before powering through. ¡°This would foster resentment,¡± he pointed out, correctly. ¡°Once wordes out, other cities will fight to the death.¡±

    Coaxoch smirked ear to ear. ¡°And how would that be a bad thing? There is no glory in fighting cowards.¡±

    ¡°You Shorn Ones can only think of battle,¡± Amoxtli said with scorn. ¡°His Majesty¡¯s goal is not to <em>exterminate</em>, but to <em>subjugate</em>.¡±

    ¡°And our emperor will be long dead before thetter happens if he follows your cowardly ways,¡± Coaxoch rebuked him.

    Patli nodded in support. ¡°The goddesses prophesied that Emperor Iztac would usher in an age of glory,¡± he said. ¡°The heavens favor the bold.¡±

    <em>Destroying your masters will undoubtedly be my most glorious moment</em>, I thought, my fingers trembling in annoyance.

    I gleaned quite a few important details from this argument. First of all, the jabs between Coaxoch and Amoxtli implied that the military fraternities did not always get along. Although they fought as part of the same army, they were rivals. Maybe I could exploit these tensions in the long run.

    Moreover, while they were no doubt all excellent warriors, these four appeared rtively single-minded. None of them suggested exploiting the divisions among the Sapa Empire, unlike Chikal beforehand, nor exploiting our superior naval power tounch a surprise attack.

    I supposed it made sense. Yohuachanca¡¯s warlords and generals never trulymanded the army. They always answered to a higher authority, that of the emperor, his war consort, or the Nightlords. They had been bred for strength and discipline, not creativity. That, and it had been many decades since Yohuachanca confronted a foe it could not simply browbeat to submission through mere numbers and military superiority.

    <em>Theyck imagination</em>, I thought while ncing at Chikal. <em>Unlike someone else in the room</em>.

    My consort hadn¡¯t spoken a word yet, and in fact hardly seemed to pay attention to the soldiers¡¯ dispute. Her amber eyes instead gazed at me with that same nk, unreadable look I hade to expect from her.

    Just as I was gauging the soldiers, she was doing the same with me.

    I smiled at her, genuinely amused by her caution. To my surprise, Chikal swiftly returned the gesture and then focused her attention back on my generals. I had the feeling she had somehow reached a certain conclusion about my person¡­ though I couldn¡¯t tell which one yet.

    ¡°Enough,¡± I said. The argument came to a screeching halt. I briefly basked in the silence, waiting for my council to focus on my words, and then spoke up again. ¡°I have reached a decision.¡±

    I could not settle on a standard Flower War. Not only would it hardly bleed the Nightlords¡¯ forces, but it would result in a long conflict of attrition rather than the destructive disaster I aimed for.

    However, I needed to impress my warriors if I were to earn their loyalty. Much like a Flower War was meant to showcase the empire¡¯s strength to a conquered people, it was the opportunity for an emperor to demonstrate his prowess. I could not let the opportunity pass.

    Hence, I decided to have my torti and eat it too.

    ¡°My consort, Chikal, proposed a bold strategy,¡± I exined. ¡°To strike the Sapa Empire through their soft underbelly, the sea. We shall gather a great army, take their ports by storm under the Nightkin¡¯s protection, and establish a foothold. Meanwhile, we will lure the Sapa¡¯s eyes elsewhere.¡±

    Amoxtli scowled. ¡°How so, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°We shall offer them a Flower War to a ce of our choosing to the southeast,¡± I said. ¡°We will invite their best warriors to fight our own and defeat them honorably¡­ while at the same time, the rest of our forces will strike their homnd in the back through the western sea.¡±

    Of course, I would find a way to leak the information about the naval attack to the Sapa Empire. The Nightlords would find no smooth sailing on my watch.

    ¡°It is a bold n, Your Divine Majesty,¡± Tezozomoc said, though I sensed the doubt in his voice. ¡°But, if you forgive my worries¡­ how can you be sure the Sapa Empire will ept the challenge and send their best troops?¡±

    ¡°Simple.¡± I smiled ear to ear. ¡°Because I will lead our side in person.¡±

    And with luck, I might lure the Mallquis out of hiding.

    The war council ended up more productive than expected. Everyone approved my n¡ªor if they had doubts, they kept them to themselves¡ªand promised to carry it through. The military brotherhoods would already start to mobilize ahead of the meeting with the empire¡¯s other generals, which would probably take ce after the New Fire Ceremony and right before the official deration of war.

    For my part, I had already detected hints of rivalries between the warrior brotherhoods. I smelled blood in the water. Cracks to exploit. I needed to assess which groups might potentially support my efforts against the Nightlords, and those that required elimination.

    For now, Chikal agreed to run a sparring session to train me for the uing false Flower War. My pce possessed a private training yard near the garden, which was mostly used by guards in need of a workout. I had the feeling my new, silent escorts wouldn¡¯t require as much upkeep to stay in shape.

    Instead, Chikal and the amazons I added to my consorts¡¯ protection detail had requisitioned the terrain for themselves. They had been spared from the Nightlords¡¯ purge, though unfortunately not by virtue of their merit. While I allowed them to bear weapons, they were still officially nothing more than concubines and bed ves. A status that many of the amazons resented, if I could trust the res they sent me behind my back.

    ¡°Before I can help you sharpen your skills, Lord Emperor, I must see where you stand as a warrior,¡± Chikal dered as Necahual and other servants clothed me in traditional war cloths: splendid, gilded cotton armor adorned with blue quetzal feathers and supplemented with leather strips to protect my legs. ¡°A true warrior understands his strengths and weaknesses.¡±

    <em>I draw a nk at the former</em>, I thought to myself. I had always been deemed a failure of a warrior at school, since Icked the strength, stature, and endurance for battle. At best I was slightly quicker than most, but not enough to dominate an opponent. A career as a lowly porter was all I could have hoped for in the military. <em>Especially since I cannot use my magic in public.</em>

    The wind whispered encouragement into my ear. <em>Only on the final nights will owls and bats dance in the sky.</em>

    They couldn¡¯te soon enough.

    ¡°I would like to see your endurance, Lord Emperor.¡± Chikal ordered some of her amazons to give me a carrying frame filled to the brim with bags of stone. ¡°Can you run around the yard five times?¡±

    I doubted I would survive one.

    Or at least¡­ That was what I believed until I put the carrying frame on my back. To my surprise, it didn¡¯t seem so heavy. In fact, I felt light.

    ¡°Are the stones hollow?¡± I asked in confusion.

    Chikal chuckled back in sincere amusement. ¡°If you say that, Lord Emperor, then we haven¡¯t put in enough of them.¡±

    My consort had the amazons increase my burden with more bags. The carrying frame finally started to weigh on me, though not as much as I expected. I started to race around the yard, expecting to pant within five steps.

    I did not fall.

    I did not slow down to catch my breath. I did not stumble under the weight on my back. I did not tire out. My back remained straight, unbroken. Ipleted a yard turn, then another.

    By the time I carried on to my third turn, Tezozomoc and a few of the amazons did not hide their fascination. Some of thetter had been ring at me not too long ago, and now it seemed I had earned a sliver of respect.

    Most telling was Necahual¡¯s reaction. My mother-inw understood my limits <em>perfectly</em>. After all, she contributed to them by denying me any meat. And here she stood on the sidelines, staring at me with a spooked expression. She struggled to believe her own eyes.

    <em>It can¡¯t be thanks to better food alone</em>, I thought as Ipleted my fourth turn. I still suffered from malnourishment a week ago. I couldn¡¯t have caught up to experienced warriors in such a short time.<em> It¡¯s unusual.</em>

    No. Not unusual. <em>Unnatural</em>.

    <em>A heart of mes burns brighter than flesh, </em>the wind whispered. <em>One day, it shall turn thy bones to ashes.</em>

    My Teyolia strengthened my body.

    Consuming the Fourth Sun¡¯s embers had done more than reinforce my magic and fill my veins with divine fire. It infused my muscles with greater vitality. It made sense to me. I was walking the path of godhood. If I kept consuming the ashes of dead suns, I would soon grow stronger than any man.

    Which was bound to be noticeable.

    Should I slow down? For now, I hadn¡¯t done anything truly spectacr. I wasn¡¯t running faster than the wind or carrying a boulder with one hand. I was simply performing better than expected at a physical exercise. There could be many exnations for it. Better food, more confidence, the fact that the Nightlords¡¯ magic had brought me back from the dead at least once and restored my stabbed heart¡­

    I looked at Chikal. My consort was testing me as much as I assessed her. I knew she expected more from this exercise than just gauging my endurance.

    I had a hard time figuring out what the amazon queen thought, since she revealed very little of herself whether in words or actions, but I had noticed her smiling at me more often. My unexpected stamina appeared to please her.

    <em>Strong men make for better tools</em>, the wind whispered. <em>For all men are fools in a woman¡¯s hands.</em>

    Did Chikal think she could exchange favors for favors, as Lady Sigrun before her? Or perhaps the wind was taunting me in the hopes I would give in to my curiosity and trade more secrets with it.

    In the end, I decided not to overdo it. I slowed down uponpleting my fifth tour of the yard and pretended to catch my breath, though I could have easily run ten more.

    ¡°Impressive disy, Lord Emperor,¡± Chikalplimented me. She whistled, and amazons tossed a wooden training stick to each of us ¡°Will you allow me the honor of a spar?¡±

    ¡°If you wish, Chikal.¡± The stick felt light as a feather in my hand. ¡°It¡¯s about time we stop dancing around each other, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Chikal¡¯s smile turned almost predatory. ¡°I agree.¡±

    She charged at me without warning, closing the gap between us in an instant. She flung her weapon at my throat before I could even answer.

    I barely had time to raise my weapon and parry the blow, the strike sending aftershocks traveling through my arms. Chikal was <em>quick</em>. Quicker than the monster I¡¯d fought in the Underworld, and <em>far </em>stronger than I expected. I could feel the weight of her tightly sculpted muscles when our sticks shed.

    Moreover, an invisible pressure radiated off her. Her amber eyes had dted like those of a jaguar on the hunt. Everything in her bodynguage, from her expression to subtle shifts in posture, screamed <em>danger</em>. It was all the more startling whenpared to the calm control she had shown beforehand. It was as if a wild beast had suddenly broken free of its leash.

    It was a show. A practiced tactic to throw enemy warriors off their game. It might have worked on another man who had never seen battle, never tussled with death. But I did far more than that. I stared into the face of death and impressed it enough to grant me power.

    So I pushed back with all my might. Chikal proved stronger than me, so she did not fall back, though I stood my ground nheless. A small sess.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t taken off the carrying frame yet!¡± Iined.

    Chikal answered with another strike that sent me reeling. The weight I carried nearly threatened to send me tumbling to the ground. ¡°Do you expect your foes to wait for their turn, Lord Emperor?¡±

    I gritted my teeth and conceded her point. But both of us could fight dirty. I lowered my stick, grazed the ground, and threw a volley of dirt at her face.

    Chikal covered her eyes with a smile, which gave me just enough time to throw the carrying frame off my back. Then I charged with all my strength and speed. Our sticks shed and cracked with each impact and parry. Tezozomoc, Necahual, my guards¡­ they no longer existed. Keeping Chikal¡¯s weapon away from my throat demanded all of my attention.

    Conflicting thoughts crossed my mind. Should I try to overwhelm her with all I had? Should I focus on tiring her out? Should I circle around her? All the lessons I had learned at school blurred inside my skull. Which advice should I trust?

    Worse, the rush of battle started to awaken my slumbering Tonalli. I felt the owl in me threaten tosh out on instinct. I struggled not to manifest shadowy talons and tear her to shreds. The beast inside me wished nothing more than toe out and kill.

    Chikal¡¯s smile faded away, reced with a scowl of pure anger.

    I saw her. I finally <em>saw </em>her.

    The <em>real </em>Chikal. The fearsome warrior queen who had hidden in in sight under a nk mask of caution. A wild jaguar who relished the thrill of battle. The same bloodlust that motivated Coaxoch coursed through her veins¡­ but she did not let it control her actions. She had tamed her appetite for violence, mastered it, and refined it. She wielded her wrath like a de, unsheathing it when needed, but never letting it interfere with her self-interest.

    Her furious look faded away in an instant, like a morning mirage. Her fa?ace of self-control returned, partly. She couldn¡¯t hide the anger in her gaze. Somehow, I had insulted her.

    Our ytime ended with her kicking my ankle so hard that I copsed. I bit my tongue so as not to scream. If I hadn¡¯t consumed the Fourth Sun¡¯s embers, the blow would have shattered my femur; even the leather straps around my leg failed to soften the blow. She pinned me to the ground with one hand, a knee on my arm, and her stick against my throat.

    Never before had I felt the difference between a true warrior and an amateur so keenly. I never stood a chance. Not even with weapons.

    And yet, when her eyes met mine, I could only see frustration within them.

    ¡°You are holding back,¡± Chikal used me with a venomous tone. ¡°Do you mean to insult me?¡±

    I didn''t mean to disrespect her, but she was right. I was holding back. My Tonalli raged within my chest, struggling toe out and defend me even when I wanted it to stay quiet. By dividing my attention between our sh and suppressing the true power within me, I had insulted Chikal¡¯s pride as a warrior.

    I noticed my guards taking a step closer at the edge of my gaze. I stopped them with a wave of my free hand. Chikal did not even nce at them.

    ¡°You win,¡± I conceded.

    If our sticks had been made of obsidian rather than wood, Chikal would have gutted me on the spot. ¡°Among my people, there is no greater insult than going easy on a fellow warrior,¡± she said with a cold, dead voice. ¡°Do you think me beneath your concern, oh <em>Lord Emperor</em>?¡±

    The title had a mocking edge to it. I suddenly realized that it had always been a hidden insult in her mind. A way to say she didn¡¯t owe me any respect beyond those afforded to me by my station. That she respected the emperor¡¯s office, the way the conquered had to bow before their conqueror, and not the man upying it.

    ¡°No,¡± I replied, coldly. I supposed I could drop the mask too. We were finally having a heart to heart. ¡°But I have greater concerns.¡±

    ¡°You want to hide your true skills from <em>them</em>.¡± Chikal¡¯s eyes squinted. ¡°You nned it.¡±

    I tried to y the fool. ¡°What are you¡­¡±

    Chikal pushed her weapon closer to my throat, enough that I struggled a bit to breathe. She leaned in closer to my face, so close I felt her breath on my lips.

    ¡°The assassination attempt,¡± she whispered into my ear. ¡°You set it up, somehow. You were looking for a pretext to start this war since the moment we met. So tell me.¡±

    Chikal¡¯s smile radiated malice.

    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I turn you in, <em>Iztac</em>?¡±

 Chapter Twenty-One: Dangerous Women

    Chapter Twenty-One: Dangerous Women

    I thought over Chikal¡¯s words with unblinking eyes, and then answered, ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    Chikal applied more pressure, her expression once more a nk mask that let none of her true emotions shine through. While she considered my answer, I nced briefly at our audience. Tezozomoc and the others were far away enough that they wouldn''t understand us if we kept our voices low, but we were in the open. I couldn¡¯t use the Veil without also affecting Chikal, not to mention the risks of discovery, and the wind¡­

    The wind.

    ¡°Let our secrets go unheard,¡± I muttered under my breath, ¡°and I shall feed you well tonight.¡±

    A breeze suddenly blew in my face, drowning my breath with its whistle. The Yaotzin had epted the covenant¡­ or so I hoped.

    Chikal frowned at me. ¡°What did you¨C¡±

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± I repeated, keeping my voice as low as possible. Just in case. ¡°use me without any proof. See if the Nightlords believe you. See if they <em>care</em>. They <em>want </em>this war as much as I do.¡±

    ¡°Then why did that half-man caelel so fervently try to dissuade you?¡± Chikal red at me. At least she had the decency to lower her tone enough that I struggled to hear her myself. ¡°How convenient that he perished on your assassination attempt¡¯s eve too¡­¡±

    ¡°Is it my fault he couldn¡¯t tell up from down?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Your efforts will be for naught.¡±I was bluffing, of course. I doubted the Nightlords would believe Chikal, but it might increase their suspicions and make my work unfathomably more difficult. I needed to remain beneath notice as much as possible.

    ¡°All you will seed in doing is making an enemy of me,¡± I said. <em>That </em>much was true. ¡°And you don¡¯t want that.¡±

    ¡°I see you fight better with words than with weapons,¡± Chikal replied with scorn. ¡°Both pale before what the Nightlords can do to the two of us.¡±

    ¡°So you will sell me out to them the way you treacherously betrayed your sister city of Bm?¡± Chikal visibly flinched at my words, her confidence briefly shaken. I smiled and pushed my advantage. ¡°How did that work out for you? Oh yes, your loyalty was repaid with a forced marriage, an eventual sacrifice, and your people¡¯s envement.¡±

    Chikal¡¯s grip on her training stick tightened so much that the wood cracked under the pressure. ¡°You know nothing, <em>male</em>.¡± She made thest word sound like an insult, which it probably was for her. ¡°I did what I had to do as queen of Chm to protect my people. The Nightlords would have exterminated us otherwise.¡±

    I had stepped on the root of the problem. Fear. She feared the Nightlords more than anything. Would her hatred of them prove stronger, I wondered?

    ¡°You too fight better with words than weapons then,¡± I mocked her back. ¡°I didn¡¯t take amazons for cowards, let alone their queen.¡±

    Chikal¡¯s eyes red with anger. ¡°You forget your ce, puppet emperor.¡±

    ¡°No, queen of nothing, <em>you </em>have.¡± I held her gaze with contempt. ¡°The Nightlords might pull my strings, but I still possess more power than you <em>ever </em>will.¡±

    <em>When weak, project strength,</em> the breeze whispered. <em>When strong, hide it.</em>

    If she wanted to threaten me, then the two of us could y the same game.

    ¡°If you try <em>anything</em> against me, I will have your people wiped out from the face of this earth,¡± I warned her. ¡°The Nightlords asked me to gather ten thousand tributes in a few months¡¯ time. A word from me, a <em>single </em>word, and your city will pay that price. Soldiers will raze it to the ground, vampires will feast on its people, and the priests will erase it from history. Chm will <em>never have existed</em>.¡±

    Chikal became livid, her anger and contempt briefly reced with a hint of fear. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare¡­¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°I¡¯ve started a war with a million-strong empire, but you think I will hesitate to y a few thousand lives? Do you think the <em>Nightlords </em>would hesitate? They don''t care where the bloodes from, so long as it flows.¡±

    ¡°You will never have the chance,¡± Chikal replied with a scowl. ¡°A single strike from me, right now, and your lifees to an end.¡±

    ¡°Do your worst,¡± I replied, calmly calling her bluff. ¡°I stabbed my own heart on the very first day of my tenure in an act of defiance, and the Nightlords <em>still </em>brought me back. You will fail to put me into the ground, and you will pay the price for your foolishness.¡±

    Chikal said nothing as she observed me closely. I knew my words had hit her right in the heart. The fact she hadn¡¯t yet delivered a killing blow was proof enough of it.

    ¡°You are not lying,¡± she said. Was that a hint of respect I detected in her voice? ¡°You truly did try to spite them on your first day¡­¡±

    ¡°I did,¡± I confirmed. ¡°You think currying favor with the Nightlords will make them grateful to you, or you hold hope servitude will ease your people¡¯s burden? You¡¯re wrong. Vampires feel no gratitude, only hunger. They devour the loyal and the treacherous alike. They do not deserve our adoration, let alone our respect.¡±

    Yoloxochitl had massacred loyal guards in a fit of madness, and her sisters did not evenment about caelel¡¯s death, even after he served them all his life.

    ¡°We agree on thest part at least,¡± Chikal conceded. ¡°And yet, here we are.¡±

    ¡°For now,¡± I replied evasively, my eyes wandering to Tezozomoc and the guards. ¡°Let me go now, before they grow suspicious.¡±

    After a short silence, Chikal released her weapon¡¯s hold on my throat, rose back to her feet¡­ and offered me her hand to rise up again. I epted it. Her grip was strong, almost enough to crush my hand.

    ¡°You fought well, Lord Emperor, but your defense iscking,¡± Chikal dered loudly, albeit more for the sake of our audience than mine. ¡°We shall assess your footwork and shield work next.¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡± I hesitated a moment as she stepped away before calling her by name. ¡°Chikal.¡±

    The amazon queen looked over her shoulder, her face once again unreadable.

    ¡°I could have easily sacrificed your city to the Nightlords and called it a day,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Consider why I did not.¡±

    Chikal nodded sharply, then barked out orders. A minuteter, Tezozomoc helped me trade my stick for a rounded wood shield reinforced with deer skin and feathers.

    ¡°While it is not my ce to question Your Imperial Majesty¡­¡± My advisor cleared his throat. ¡°Is there something wrong with Lady Chikal? I was starting to worry for your safety.¡±

    It took all my resolve and self-control to hide my fear under a mask of serene boredom. ¡°What did you overhear?¡±

    I prayed he hadn¡¯t heard much. If he had overheard anything sensitive¡­ if he did, I would have to kill him swiftly. Yet another assassination would carry tremendous risks of discovery, even if sessful.

    ¡°Not much, the wind being strong as it is,¡± Tezozomoc replied. ¡°But if I understood correctly¡­ you threatened to have her home pay the goddesses¡¯ tribute.¡±

    <em>Whether above and below, the salted seas are made of tears</em>, the wind taunted me.

    Of course. They didn¡¯t call the fickle Yaotzin the <em>enemy of both sides </em>for nothing. The treacherous wind had let just enough information slip away to foster discord without implicating me directly.

    ¡°I put her in her ce,¡± I replied bluntly, which was <em>technically </em>true. ¡°Chikal still thinks of herself as an amazon queen. Serving a man does note easily to her.¡±

    ¡°Ah, of course. I had feared something like this would happen. Her empty pride cannot stand that Your Majesty overshadows her.¡± Tezozomoc nodded to himself. ¡°If I may, why did Your Imperial Majesty simply whisper threats instead of uttering them out loud. No one will me you for chastising your consort in public.¡±

    Damn it, he had grown a little suspicious. ¡°Have you met Mother Yoloxochitl?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve had the pleasure, yes. She loves Your Divine Majesty like a son.¡±

    ¡°Like all good mothers, she is protective of her adopted children.¡± The very sentence left a bitter taste in my throat. ¡°If word of this reaches her¡­ I fear she will worry too much and punish Chikal severely when a private remark would make here around just as well.¡±

    Tezozomoc nced at my new guards. He knew all too well what had happened to their predecessors. ¡°Understandable,¡± he said. ¡°Though I believe your concerns are unwarranted. Lady Chikal is under Lady Sugey¡¯s protection. The sisters do not wage war on one another.¡±

    ¡°I hope the goddesses are wiser than us men,¡± I lied through my teeth. ¡°But nheless, I would rather that this matter stays between us. We can hardly afford division for now.¡±

    ¡°As Your Majesty wishes.¡± Tezozomoc did not insist any further and vacated the field as we started a new training drill. Three amazons armed with sticks attacked me from all sides while Chikal watched from afar.

    Their interaction proved enlightening. Chikal was¡­ well, still a warrior-queen at heart. The way the amazons looked at me differently after I showcased better physical prowess than expected spoke volumes about their culture. They respected strength and despised weakness. I wondered how much of this bout had been a genuine attempt at intimidation, or Chikal just testing the waters.

    Either way, standing my ground had been the right decision. My words might have been harsh, but they garnered some respect. Would it be enough to make my consort an ally though?

    A blow against my shield forced me back to reality. The amazon guards attacked me from all sides, aiming for my legs and arms. I felt like I was training at school once again, ying the warrior under the watchful red eyes of the priests.

    While I always proved mediocre at drills, the lessons still stuck. I remembered the footwork exercises, the physical punishment when I failed to hold a shield correctly, and the thousand words of advice on how to properly stand one¡¯s ground when faced with enemies. And the power I had gained from the Fourth Sun¡¯s embers had finally granted me the strength to carry them through.

    Still, I had simply moved from mediocre to average. I managed to hold my ground against the warriors, parrying their blows, and even bashing one away with my shield. However, keeping my Tonalli restrained proved to be an equal struggle. The owl within me simply couldn¡¯t tell the difference between a mock fight and a real one. It was¡­ distracting.

    My opponents¡¯ speed and teamwork eventually proved too much. While I blocked a blow with my shield from one warrior and avoided a strike from another, the third snuck behind me and hit me in the back. The blow hurt a bit.

    ¡°If that had been an obsidian club, Lord Emperor, you would be dead,¡± Chikal pointed out to me. ¡°Try again.¡±

    We repeated this exercise three more times, each one bing easier than the previous one. I learned quickly. I stayed on the move to avoid being cornered or nked, I bashed faces with my shield whenever I found an opening, and I parried and deflected and dodged when able.

    <em>It isn¡¯t just my body</em>, I realized. <em>My reflexes have sharpened too</em>. I reacted quicker, learned quicker. I did not tire either. No matter how hard the amazons tried to rush me, no matter how many blows I blocked or dodged, no soreness seized my muscles. I could have fought on forever.

    <em>The newborn sun grows brighter, </em>the wind echoed in the distance.<em> Until one day, it shall shed its mortal coil and set the night aze.</em>

    After the fourth bout, I pretended to stop to catch my breath so as not to arouse suspicion. While most of my audience appeared more impressed than anything, Tezozomoc among them, neither Necahual nor Chikal were fooled. The former tended to my bruises with ointments and a clenched jaw, as if biting her own tongue; thetter observed me with crossed arms, mulling over my performance.

    ¡°What a splendid bout, Your Imperial Majesty,¡± Tezozomocplimented me as he gave me a waterskin. ¡°You possess a true champion¡¯s potential.¡±

    ¡°I still have much to learn,¡± I replied in between sips. Chikal had crushed me easily on this earth, and a monster had nearly murdered me in the Underworld. I had taken the first steps on the path, but the road to strength was a long one indeed. ¡°I need more practice.¡±

    ¡°Even mighty jaguars are born small,¡± Tezozomoc reassured me. ¡°It takes time to sharpen one¡¯s teeth.¡±

    ¡°And we have so little of it,¡± Chikal pointed out. ¡°We shall now practice hand-to-handbat, Lord Emperor.¡±

    ¡°Three-on-one again?¡± I asked, my fellow sparring partners being as exhausted as I pretended to be.

    Chikal shook her head. ¡°I shall be your opponent.¡±

    I held her gaze, returned the waterskin to Tezozomoc, and then tossed my shield and stick aside. Our helpers emptied the training ground while my consort and I faced each other. We both adopted a standard fighting stance, hands raised into fists. We circled each other in silence, looking for an opening.

    Chikal jumped at me without warning.

    I attempted to intercept her with a punch, but she deftly moved out of my arm¡¯s way, grabbed it, and pulled me closer. Not having expected such a bold move, I struggled not to stumble onto the ground. Before I knew what hit me, Chikal had moved behind my back, put an arm around my neck, and choked me with her elbow. I wed at her flesh with my nails, but since she was both stronger and taller than me, she managed to lift me above the ground. I struggled to breathe, my feet dangling in the air.

    ¡°Why?¡± Chikal whispered in my ear while loosening her grip. ¡°Why did you decide to attack the Sapa Empire instead of an easier target? For gold and glory?¡±

    <em>For a throne of bones and a crown of blood</em>, the wind said.

    ¡°For chaos¡¯ sake,¡± I coughed back. Damn it, her strength matched that of a coiling snake. Even Tezozomoc appeared a bit worried. He probably thought Chikal meant to rough me up and whispered taunts into my ear.

    ¡°You want to weaken the Nightlords¡¯ regime from within¡­¡± Chikal realized. ¡°You are a fool if you think they can be defeated. A brave fool, but a fool nheless. Resistance is pointless.¡±

    ¡°Did your people not kill Nightkin by dragging them into the sun?¡± I grunted.

    ¡°We did.¡± A thin smile formed at the edge of Chikal¡¯s lips. ¡°<em>I</em> did.¡±

    ¡°Then we can, no, <em>should </em>fight back.¡± To prove my words, I stepped to the right, pulling all my weight against Chikal¡¯s arm. This sudden movement loosened her hold enough for me to kick her in between her legs. Chikal coughed in pain and released her hold. ¡°Better that than tonguish in servitude until our usefulnesses to an end.¡±

    My escape was short-lived. Chikal grabbed my right arm, pulled it behind my back, and then threw me to the ground. I crashed head-first into the dirt while my consort pinned me to the ground, her body leaning against me as if to wee me in a carnal embrace.

    ¡°The spawn are mortal, their creators are not,¡± she whispered into my ear, her voice nowcking in confidence. ¡°I have seen her in action, The Bird of War. I bore witness to her true self. A feathered beast strong enough to grind stone to dust and cleave a warrior in half with a single blow.¡±

    An experience that shook her as much as me witnessing Yoloxochitl¡¯s true self. ¡°I have seen what the Flower of the Heart hides beneath her pristine skin,¡± I replied, unblinking. ¡°So yes, they¡¯re strong¡­ and yet so weak that they must crawl away from the rising sun.¡±

    Chikal let out a chuckle. ¡°I too desired nothing more than to fight and die on my feet, Iztac.¡±

    Iztac? Not Lord Emperor?

    <em>Martyrs garner admiration, </em>the wind whispered in my ear. <em>Even when their message goes unheard.</em>

    ¡°But my loyalty to my sisters in Chm proved greater. When I realized resistance meant extermination, I swallowed my pride for my kin¡¯s sake. Such is a queen¡¯s duty. I will do anything to ensure my people¡¯s safety.¡±

    ¡°Then we should work together,¡± I argued. ¡°We both have a year to live, and once you are gone your city will lose what little protection you can provide. So long as your people live under the Nightlords¡¯ yoke, they are one word away from being ughtered.¡±

    Chikal leaned in closer, her breasts against my back, her lips against my ear. ¡°Can you free Chm, Iztac?¡±

    My jaw clenched on its own. ¡°Not yet.¡±

    ¡°Not yet, not ever.¡±

    ¡°Not <em>yet</em>,¡± I insisted with confidence. ¡°And until that dayes, I can make your people¡¯s lives easier. I can exempt Chm from war requirements or tributes. We have more to gain from cooperating than fighting each other.¡±

    Chikal held her breath. I turned my head slightly to better look at her face. She mulled over my words, briefly considered giving in to the light of hope¡­ and then morosely smothered it.

    ¡°I shall not help you plot against the Nightlords,¡± Chikal decided sternly.

    As I feared. Much like Lady Sigrun, she hade to believe in the false goddesses¡¯ aura of invincibility. I couldn¡¯t risk revealing my powers to sway her either; not until she had earned myplete and utter trust.

    ¡°But I shall not betray you to them either,¡± Chikal added, leaving the door open. ¡°If you prevail by some miracle, it will serve Chm¡¯s interests. Until then, I will look the other way.¡±

    She would serve me as a loyal consort and advisor, but would not exceed her duties. Saddening. At least I had talked her out of bing an enemy, and I still saw the potential to make her a friend.

    ¡°If one of the Nightlords were to perish,¡± I started, ¡°would you change your tune?¡±

    Chikal nearly scoffed, swallowed her doubts to consider the situation rationally, and then let out a shrug. ¡°Most likely.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I replied. ¡°I shall remember it.¡±

    Then I suddenly headbutted her in the nose.

    I felt something moist and warm on my hair¡ªblood most likely. Chikal didn¡¯t expect it, nor the elbow strike I gave her in the chest. I managed to throw her off my back with savage resistance, then kicked dust in her face. It gave me enough time to jump back to my feet. Tezozomoc, who had looked ready to separate us by force, cracked an amused smile.

    Chikal did not hurry up. She calmly wiped the dust off her face, rose back up, and faced me. ¡°Clever boy,¡± she said with a thin smile. ¡°Sweet talking me into lowering my guard.¡±

    ¡°Victory excuses everything,¡± I replied while returning her smile. ¡°I hope you found my performance suitable.¡±

    Chikal¡¯s smile quickly faded away. ¡°You have good instincts and passable physical aptitude, but little to no technique. I request at least two hours of daily drills.¡±

    ¡°Granted.¡± I turned to Tezozomoc. ¡°Find a ce in my schedule where I can fit them in.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, Your Imperial Majesty.¡± Tezozomoc bowed slightly. ¡°If I may, we should proceed with interrogating the Sapa ambassadors while we still have time. The goddesses will request your presence at sundown for the New Fire Ceremony.¡±

    An event I did not look forward to.

    <em>Do not forget our covenant</em>, the wind warned me, <em>a traitor''s wages are paid in suffering</em>.

    Tonight would be a busy time.

    ¡°I must take my leave,¡± I informed Chikal. ¡°I expect you to prepare the generals¡¯ assembly in my absence.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Iztac,¡± my consort replied with a short, respectful bow.

    ¡°Iztac?¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Not Lord Emperor?¡±

    ¡°I can use both if you prefer.¡± Chikal put a hand on her waist, her cold eyes appraising me with what could pass for appreciation. ¡°I admit I¡¯m pleasantly surprised. I feared you would prove a weakling, but you have fire in your veins.¡±

    My heart skipped a beat, though I managed to keep a straight face. If only she knew¡­

    Interrogating the Sapa ambassadors proved to be a different challenge than I expected. When I walked into their cells and found myself weed with the nauseating stench of blood and charred flesh, I immediately realized how the red-eyed priests had intended to extract confessions from their prisoners.

    What I had seen then¡­ those terrible stone wheels and bone spikes and sharp metal pyramids dripping blood¡­ I would rather forget. The ambassadors¡ªtruthfully¡ªproimed their innocence, but their pleas had gone unheard. Yoloxochitl¡¯s cruelty paledpared to the sublimely nauseating horrors her servants inflicted on our prisoners.

    And worst of all, the priests didn¡¯t even take joy in the torture.

    I had watched the torturers¡¯ reactions almost as acutely as those of the prisoners. If they had shown a perverse enjoyment in their craft¡­ I would still have <em>hated </em>them, but at least I would have <em>understood </em>it. But these people showed neither cruelty nor remorse. They carved men open with nk faces and unblinking red eyes, their hands swinging des with the steadiness of veteran butchers. Inflicting pain was no more than a job for the priests. A task they had long grown indifferent to.

    The Nightlords had managed to make the worst evils <em>banal</em>.

    <em>These animals¡­ These animals don¡¯t deserve a quick death, </em>I told myself on my way out of this den of terror, my thoughts too weak to drown out the screams. <em>One day¡­ one day, they shall share their victims suffering. I swear it.</em>

    Though the extracted confessions proved of little value, the priests did provide potentially helpful information. The stones used to carve the Chaskarumi tablet came from the city of Paitili in the Antisuyu region of the Sapa Empire; a ce with walls made of the purest gold, protected by mountains on one side and rainforests on the other.

    The local Apu was called Inkarri¡­ and that was all the ambassadors could tell me. The man¡ªthey believed him to be a man¡ªhad founded the city over a century ago, bequeathing his name and title to his descendants. Our prisoners believed the current Apu was some great-grandchild of the original, though they never met him in person. How odd. How suspicious.

    At least I had a lead, meager as it was.

    ¡°I am truly sorry that Your Imperial Majesty had to see this,¡± Tezozomoc apologized as we exited the dungeons. Necahual and other servants awaited us outside; I had spared her a few more nightmares. ¡°We tried less intrusive methods at first, but failed to make progress.¡±

    <em>Of course you failed, their blood was on my hands alone.</em> ¡°Death would have been kinder than what I saw today, Tezozomoc.¡±

    ¡°It would have been,¡± my advisor conceded. ¡°But the heavens do not forgive the earth¡¯s slights against them.¡±

    A long-winded way to say the ambassadors deserved a hundred torments for daring to strike a living god. Though he was a more tolerable advisor than caelel, this moment starkly reminded me that Tezozomoc remained a red-eyed priest first and foremost. His sincere fanaticism simply let him justify the most horrendous of crimes.

    <em>And I can¡¯t even scold him for it without arousing suspicion</em>, I thought grimly. I had to feign vengefulness to sell my lie. The best I could do was to argue against these shameful tortures on practical grounds.

    ¡°I doubt we will extract much from them,¡± I warned Tezozomoc. ¡°Whoever ordered me dead clearly did not trust these fools with important information.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so,¡± my advisor replied. ¡°We have mobilized our spies in the Sapa Empire and are awaiting reports from them. If the Inkarri Apu ensorcelled the cursed tablet, we shall confirm it with haste.¡±

    ¡°We employ spies among those savages?¡± If I could give this information to the Sapa Empire¡¯s leadership, all the better.

    ¡°Quite a few, Your Imperial Majesty. While infiltrating the Sapa Emperor¡¯s court has proved difficult, we have prated their bureaucracy and political establishment. Lady Ingrid will probably tell you more. She is meant to oversee matters of foreign diplomacy, including our nation¡¯s foreignwork.¡±

    ¡°Send her to my bedchambers tonight,¡± I dered. ¡°This matter cannot wait.¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡± Tezozomoc coughed, as if suddenly remembering a trivial matter. ¡°While it pales before the events at hand, Xochipilli¡¯s sons still await an audience with Your Imperial Majesty.¡±

    ¡°I have not forgotten them.¡± They had simply slipped out of my mind. ¡°Call them over now. There is still an hour before twilight.¡±

    Tezozomoc coughed in embarrassment. ¡°Your Imperial Majesty, if I may, the New Fire Ceremony demands a ritual cleansing¡­¡±

    ¡°Then summon them to my baths,¡± I mused with a shrug. ¡°If those two are wise, they will not waste their emperor¡¯s time while he washes.¡±

    Tezozomoc hid his sigh behind a deep bow. ¡°As Your Imperial Majesty wishes it.¡±

    ¡°Call Lady Sigrun too,¡± I ordered. I had promised to inform her which of those two I would select, so that she might receive a bribe and strengthen her influence. ¡°She will help clean me.¡±

    A few minutester, Necahual was helping me undress in the pce¡¯s bathhouse. Theplex, asrge as a small district, was a study in opulence. A marble pool vaster than a ballgame court sprang up at its center, surrounded by exquisite fountains and smaller baths filled with either warm or cold waters. Windows and vents artfully diverted steam to the outside.

    No sooner had Necahual deftly undressed me that I slid into the warm waters of a tub. A lifetime of bathing in rivers made me appreciate such luxury. I let out a sigh of pleasure as I leaned back, letting the warmth and steam wash away the soreness in my muscles, my exhaustion, and my dark thoughts. I heard a quick rustle of clothes behind me. I noticed Necahual piling my clothes out of the corner of my eye and then filling a small kettle with hot water. My silent guards were posted in each corner of the room, ready to taint the waters with blood at the first sign of danger.

    <em>Even in this ce, I can¡¯t rx,</em> I thought. Necahual poured her kettle behind me, the water streaming on my shoulders. It smelled of nts and grant oils. <em>No matter how much I want to.</em>

    ¡°What did you see?¡± Necahual asked behind me, the noise of running water hiding her words. ¡°In the dungeons¡­ You returned paler than when you came in.¡±

    ¡°You heard the screams, did you not?¡± I scoffed. ¡°Blood and terror. The answer is always blood and terror.¡±

    A week into my tenure, and I was already sick of both.

    ¡°I see,¡± Necahual muttered, her expression grim. Her mind probably conjured terrible pictures, none as horrifying as what I saw. ¡°What of¡­ the other thing?¡±

    Watching my improved physical prowesses had only heightened her interest in learning magic.

    ¡°There is a way,¡± I confessed, ying with the water. ¡°But the price is too high.¡±

    Necahual squinted at me. ¡°For you?¡±

    ¡°For <em>you</em>,¡± I replied.

    Necahual¡¯s lips twisted in anger. ¡°Will I lose Eztli?¡±

    <em>You already lost her long ago, </em>I thought, but her answer did give me pause. Was her daughter¡¯s life the price she was most afraid to pay? She might be a half-decent mother underneath all her scorn and bitterness.

    ¡°No,¡± I replied. ¡°The price will be yours alone to support.¡±

    Necahual shrugged in relief. ¡°Then I will dly pay it.¡±

    We would see how long that resolve wouldst.

    ¡°Is that why you want to learn witchcraft?¡± I asked her as she started to wash my shoulders with a soapy sponge. ¡°To save Eztli?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Necahual confirmed. When I thought her familial love alone had proved stronger than her distaste for magic, her voice became a little more unsteady. ¡°And¡­ and for myself.¡±

    I looked over my shoulder. Her hands stroked the sponge with anger and bitterness. My mother-inw gathered her breath and mustered her courage.

    ¡°I have had enough,¡± Necahual confided.

    ¡°Of what?¡±

    ¡°Of feeling weak.¡± Her eyes avoided mine out of shame. ¡°Of <em>being</em> weak.¡±

    Her deep frustration spoke to my heart, for I shared it.

    ¡°It¡¯s unbearable, isn¡¯t it?¡± I said as she scratched my back with the sponge, washing away the dirt and sweat. ¡°That¡¯s how you made me feel for years.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± she admitted, her tone lower than earlier. ¡°I¡­ I apologize for it.¡±

    I shrugged. As I warned her before, while I would try to move forward I would not forgive her either.

    ¡°I need your help, Iztac,¡± Necahual insisted. ¡°I want my daughter back. I want the strength to take her back. Even if¡­¡± She cleared her throat, struggling to find the right soft words. ¡°Even if¡­¡±

    I snorted. ¡°Even if you must be a monster?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± At least she did not deny it. ¡°I¡­ I will do anything you ask of me. ept any price I can pay.¡±

    ¡°Even if that price is <em>everything</em>?¡± I pointed out.

    Necahual bit her tongue and nodded without hesitation. It was easy to consent to a great sacrifice when one didn¡¯t understand it.

    ¡°Disrobe,¡± I said suddenly.

    Necahual froze in ce, the sponge falling from her hands and into the water. She stared at me in shock, wondering, no, <em>praying </em>that she had misheard.

    ¡°Disrobe,¡± I repeated myself, pointing at the other end of the tube. ¡°In front of me.¡±

    Necahual bit her lips, then silently moved to the other side of the tube. She faced me with a hint of fear, then untied her belt and let her cotton clothes slide onto the sshed marble floor. She tried to protect her modesty by covering her breasts and pubic hair with her hands, but I dissuaded her with a look. Necahual reluctantly let go, letting me admire her.

    Eztli had inherited her beauty from her mother and much like my other concubines, other ves made sure to pamper her. Necahual appeared to have lost a few years since she settled in the pce. Priceless oils helped smooth her wrinkles; her long ck hair was cleaned andbed; good food had improved her health.

    Another man might have been aroused at the sight of her nakedness, but I only saw yet another reminder that the Nightlords made pampered pets of us all. We were no better than turkeys fattened for ughter.

    The experience was deeply ufortable for the both of us¡­ as it should be.

    ¡°Get into the water,¡± I ordered her after a while.

    Mustering what little dignity she had left, Necahual silently slid into the tube. Her eyes were full of fear, as they should. Her arrival sent small waves sshing out of the tube. The moment she came within reach, I grabbed her jaw with my hand and pulled her lips closer. Her unsteady breath blew warm air on my face.

    ¡°<em>That¡¯s</em> what it means, to give me <em>everything</em>,¡± I warned her sternly. ¡°Eternal very and humiliation. Your soul will be mine. Your life will be mine. You will have power, yes, but only as much as I give you. Do you <em>understand</em>?¡±

    Necahual red back at me. ¡°My life is already at your mercy.¡±

    ¡°No, it is not. You still have a chance to escape with your freedom, however meager it is. Only death will wipe away this particr ve brand.¡± And even then I wasn¡¯t so sure. ¡°You will live the rest of your existence knowing that you are at my mercy, that I could do <em>anything </em>to you on a whim. You will fear me the same way the priests fear their <em>gods</em>.¡±

    Only then did I release her jaw. Though Necahual¡¯s natural bitterness returned in full force, her somber expression told me I had shaken her resolve.

    ¡°If you¡¯re not willing to spend the rest of your existence like this, as a higher power¡¯s property,¡± I warned her. ¡°Then you should reconsider learning witchcraft.¡±

    Necahual bit her tongue without answering. I hoped I had scared her straight.

    I heard footsteps hitting water. Tezozomoc and Lady Sigrun approached our tub, the former clothed, the other hiding her nakedness under a thinly woven sheet of cotton. Ingrid¡¯s mother appraised the scene with a calcting, amused look.

    ¡°Your Imperial Majesty.¡± Tezozomoc stared at Necahual, who instinctively covered her naked breasts. He must have mistaken our interaction for something more intimate. ¡°Are we interrupting¡ª¡±

    I suppressed a surge of disgust. ¡°You interrupt nothing.¡±

    Tezozomoc clearly didn¡¯t believe me, much to my annoyance. I told myself word of this would pacify Yoloxochitl at least. A meager reassurance.

    ¡°Are the sons ready to settle their father¡¯s inheritance?¡± I asked. Tezozomoc nodded in agreement. ¡°Then send them to us with haste.¡±

    Tezozomoc excused himself with a bow and left to pick up Xochipilli¡¯s heirs. Lady Sigrun moved closer to the tube¡¯s edge, her radiant golden hair falling like a waterfall on her shoulders.

    ¡°I am d to see you safe and sound, my emperor,¡± she said politely. ¡°My dear Ingrid worried for your safety, as did I.¡±

    A polite lie. She probably knew by now the Nightlords¡¯ grip transcended even death. ¡°Your concerns are wee, but unwarranted,¡± I replied calmly. ¡°As you can see, I am safe and sound, though in need of cleaning.¡±

    Lady Sigrun smiled ear to ear. ¡°I will be d to assist.¡±

    She let go of her cloth, revealing her perfect figure and pristine skin whiter than the bathhouse¡¯s marble. To my slight embarrassment, my eyes basked in the glory of her body, of her perfect curves and sublime legs. Her golden hair reminded me of a waterfall as she slowly slid into the water to join us. She gracefully swam closer like a fish andfortably took a ce to my right.

    While Necahual scrubbed me with a sponge without a word, still mulling over the warning I gave her, Lady Sigrun gently stroked my chest with her delicate fingers, tracing lines along my navel. Her mere caress sent jolts of pleasure through my skin. Such was the state in which Tezozomoc found us in when he returned with two men in tow.

    ¡°Move closer,¡± I ordered Necahual. I pulled one arm around her waist and the other around Sigrun¡¯s, then pulled them close. While Necahual recoiled slightly at my touch, whether out of shame or disgust, Lady Sigrun weed it. She understood I meant to give these men a spectacle, that we were all actors on a stage.

    ¡°Your Imperial Majesty.¡± Tezozomoc knelt onto the water-soaked floor, imitated by the two men following him. My guards gathered around them in utter silence, weapons ready to strike at a moment¡¯s notice. ¡°Allow me to introduce the sons of thete Xochipilli: zohtzin the elder and xc the younger.¡±

    I gave the two a passing nce. Xochipilli¡¯s sons couldn¡¯t be more different, though their faces shared a familial resemnce.

    zohtzin, the eldest heir, was a man in his early twenties, with well-groomed short brown hair and practical traveling garbs. He appeared very much like an aspiring merchant eager to im his fortune through clever wits, with strong muscles developed from years of carrying loads across the road.

    His younger and better-born brother, xc, couldn¡¯t have been older than sixteen, with a slim and refined frame that immediately told me he hadn¡¯t worked a single day in his life. His high-status clothes included eagle feathers and jewelry.

    Both avoided my gaze, as was proper when in an emperor¡¯s presence, though they were trembling. xc in particr struggled not to ogle at thedies in mypany.

    While short, my experience with rulership had taught me a valuable lesson: that symbols mattered more than words. These two had put immense effort into putting on a good show¡­ yet I weed them naked in thepany of beautiful women without a care in the world.

    It didn¡¯t beat weing them from atop the imperial throne, but it showcased the emperor¡¯s power, splendor, and prestige. The message was clear. Their lives, their <em>futures</em>, were at my disposal.

    ¡°You have five minutes each to make your case,¡± I said sternly. ¡°Which one should go first though, I wonder¡­¡±

    ¡°Your Imperial Majesty, may I suggest you listen to xc¡¯s plea first?¡± Tezozomoc proposed. ¡°By virtue of his esteemed mother Yaretzi¡¯s lineage, he possesses noble blood.¡±

    zohtzin clenched his fists in annoyance. He clearly didn¡¯t like being reminded of hismon origins.

    ¡°If I may argue otherwise, my emperor,¡± Lady Sigrun suggested. ¡°The young should always listen to their elders, should they not?¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I replied. ¡°I shall listen to zohtzin first then.¡±

    I had promised Lady Sigrun my help on the matter. Her presence at the audience, and the fact I had listened to her advice over another advisor, would add credence to her boast that she could influence my decisions. She would extract any price she wished from them now.

    Each brother shortly argued their case in turn, though I already knew the details. zohtzin had been the eldest son of his father¡¯s first wife and putative heir. He had helped develop his father¡¯s business since the moment he came of age. He understood how to run the inns, brothels, and breweries histe sire had left behind. As the oldest and most experienced of the two brothers, he believed himself the best suited to manage Xochipilli¡¯s inheritance¡­ and I was tempted to agree with.

    His brother xc, meanwhile, based his argument not on merit, but on birth. His mother was an influential noble from Yohuachanca¡¯s capital and used her family¡¯s influence to help Xochipilli buy property in the capital. As a scion of an esteemed lineage with the right connections, he argued that his father¡¯smercial empire would prosper better under his influence.

    ¡°My mother¡¯s uncle was an emperor and her aunt a consort,¡± xc exined with a honeyed tone, as if it would help build kinship between us. ¡°Her beauty is only matched by her wits, though both pale before those of your exaltedpanions, oh Great Emperor.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± I smiled and decided to test the waters. ¡°Perhaps I should wee her into my harem then. A fresh widow¡¯s heart wanders without a man to warm her bed.¡±

    My bold words shocked both zohtzin and Necahual, while Tezozomoc did his best to hide his disapproval. I meant it as an intentional provocation, to see just how far xc was willing to go in greed¡¯s name. A good son would have kept silent or tried to protect his family¡¯s honor.

    xc was not a good son. ¡°I would dly introduce my mother to Your Imperial Majesty, if it pleases you.¡±

    In short, they were both opportunists eager to curry imperial favor. Good. Very good.

    ¡°You may both go,¡± I said, dismissing the two men. ¡°You have given me much to think about.¡±

    In truth, I had already selected a winner, but I would wait for them to try bribing Lady Sigrun first before announcing my choice openly. Both brothers thanked me profusely, and then crawled out of the bathhouse under Tezozomoc¡¯s watchful gaze.

    ¡°Quite the pair, those two,¡± Lady Sigrun mused. ¡°Who will my emperor choose?¡±

    ¡°Is it not obvious?¡± I shrugged. ¡°xc.¡±

    Necahual scowled in disapproval. ¡°That snake does not deserve it.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Lady Sigrun replied with a chuckle. ¡°Hence why he will pay more to get what he wants.¡±

    That was my reasoning as well. zohtzin was by far the superior choice, with experience and diligence to match¡­ but his brother was both better connected and willing to do anything for the inheritance. As unjust as it sounded, xc would better serve my interests.

    ¡°My emperor is wise and far-sighted,¡± Lady Sigrun said with a mischievous tone. ¡°The war he prophesied shall soon be upon us.¡±

    She was no more blind to my plot than Chikal before her.

    ¡°Luck smiles on me.¡± I marked a short pause for emphasis. ¡°And those that I favor.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Lady Sigrun leaned in closer to whisper in my ear. ¡°You will be pleased to learn that your source¡¯s advice proved true. I shall recover the books I seek with haste.¡±

    Now was my chance. ¡°The First Emperor¡¯s codices?¡±

    Lady Sigrun was an experienced politician and a master of spycraft. She had spent decades hiding her true feelings and strengthened her self-control the way Chikal intended to train my body.

    So when her eyes subtly widened in genuine shock and surprise, I <em>knew </em>I had thrown her off her game. She <em>was </em>collecting the First Emperor¡¯s writings.

    ¡°The second volume is quite the interesting book,¡± I said, pushing my advantage. ¡°Such strange theological views, don¡¯t you agree?¡±

    Even Necahual, who did not understand my statement¡¯s significance, sensed their importance. However, I had failed to shake Lady Sigrun¡¯sposure. Her look of surprise did notst long.

    ¡°My emperor is wise indeed.¡± Lady Sigrun rested her chin on my shoulder, her hands gently tracing lines down to my navel. I felt something else rise as her fingers caressed me. ¡°And well-learned.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we could exchange reading rmendations tonight,¡± I suggested.

    ¡°But of course.¡± She gave me a smile full of shining, perfect teeth. ¡°My emperor learns quickly.¡±

    Yes, I did. The more I understood this game¡¯s rules, the better I yed it. From Chikal to Xochipilli¡¯s sons, I was starting to figure out how to use the emperor¡¯s powers effectively. I might not be Yohuachanca¡¯s ultimate authority¡­ but I was still pretty damn close.

    ¡°It is time, Your Imperial Majesty.¡±

    I turned my head at Tezozomoc, who had returned.

    ¡°Lady Yoloxochitl and Lady Eztli await you,¡± he said. ¡°The New Fire Ceremony is upon us.¡±

 Chapter Twenty-Two: The Sulfur Sun

    Chapter Twenty-Two: The Sulfur Sun

    The pce¡¯s temple reeked of blood and tar.

    I hade to expect the former from all the vampires¡¯ creations, but thetter hade to surprise me. From the Nightlords¡¯ dark abode at the center of my pce to their secret altars, every ce of significance to these parasites¡¯ false religion included at least one pool of the ck, viscous substance.

    A moat¡¯s worth of that filth filled the pce¡¯s temple, surrounding a hill of ashes standing tall under a ck dome of obsidian. Arge hole in the ceiling let the moon illuminate the room with its ephemeral light. Murals representing cosmic phenomena, from the dance of constetions to the rise of an eclipsed sun, adorned the sturdy wall. Rows after rows of stone benches filled the hall, with no one to sit upon them.

    The temple¡¯s true masters looked down on me from above. I felt their crimson eyes gaze upon me the moment I stepped alone into this unhallowed sanctuary. I looked up to match their res.

    A flock of Nightkin hung upside down from the ceiling, their talons sinking into the obsidian to lock them in ce, their jet-ck wings furled like mantles of darkness. I could hardly distinguish their numbers in the darkness. Dozens, maybe hundreds of them? Whatever the case, a court full of vampires had gathered to witness this ceremony.

    ¡°Come, Iztac,¡± an oh-so-familiar voice called out to me.

    Yoloxochitl¡¯s kindly whispers never failed to inspire dread.

    I crossed a bridge of stone over the moat of tar and walked into the moonlight. Yoloxochitl awaited me at the ashen hill¡¯s bottom alongside Eztli. I couldn¡¯t tell how I managed to keep a nk expression when I saw them.

    Yoloxochitl had lowered her robes just enough to reveal her naked chest. Eztli knelt in front of the Nightlord, her fangs biting into her left breast and suckling her vampiric progenitor¡¯s sick ck blood.The scene might have seemed tititing to some, but not to me. Eztli¡¯s sharp fangs pierced through her mistress¡¯ skin deep enough to reach the swelling veins below, yet not a single drop trickled down. My consort¡¯s eyes were lost in an expression of ultimate pleasure and satiation. She didn¡¯t even notice my presence. Her hands tightly gripped Yoloxochitl¡¯s breast, squeezing it, holding on to it. The more Eztli tasted the Nightlord¡¯s blood, the thirstier she became. I almost thought she would chew out her flesh to make the process faster.

    The thirst had overtaken her mind.

    Yoloxochitl appeared to share in her brood¡¯s pleasure too. She moaned and chuckled with each suction, her eyes closed, her tongue sticking out of her cursed mouth.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I heard her whisper, her hand gently caressing the back of Eztli¡¯s head. ¡°Yes, my daughter, feed on¡­ If thou be thirsty, then drink¡­¡±

    Another man might have found the scene arousing. I personally struggled not to vomit.

    A lifetime ago, I had witnessed women breastfeeding their infant children on Acampa¡¯s riverbank. The beautiful miracle of a mother nourishing the new life they had helped bring into this cruel world. The scene before my eyes was a mockery of this sacred human moment, a twisted reflection of reality cast on a cursed obsidian mirror. An ancient parasite feeding its ill-gotten blood to a stolen daughter. Necahual¡¯s usurpation as a living mother, a reminder that Eztli¡¯s life now belonged to another.

    The fact I knew exactly how the Nightlord looked beneath her beautiful human mask only heightened my disgust.

    ¡°Mother Yoloxochitl,¡± I said, hoping reminding them of my presence would end this twisted union.

    Thankfully, it did. Yoloxochitl smiled at me sweetly, then gently shooed Eztli away from her breast. My friend and consort whined like an animal denied its meal, but did not resist the Nightlord¡¯smand. The bite marks she had left on Yoloxochitl¡¯s breast closed instantaneously.

    ¡°Greet your husband properly, my daughter,¡± shemanded.

    Sanity instantly returned to Eztli¡¯s gaze. She blinked a few times, as if awakening from a pleasurable dream, then noticed my presence atst. The blissful smile on her lips swiftly faded, a sh of shame crossing her dted eyes.

    ¡°Iztac,¡± she said, ck blood dripping down her chin. ¡°Sorry for the mess.¡±

    <em>She doesn¡¯t like me seeing her like this, but vampires arepelled to obey their progenitor¡¯s orders</em>, I remembered to my own disgust. <em>One night I shall free you.</em>

    ¡°How does it feel?¡± I asked her, slightly afraid of the answer.

    ¡°Wonderful, Iztac. Like drinking the heavens themselves.¡± Eztli forced herself to smile for Yoloxochitl¡¯s sake and licked the ckened blood on her face, consuming everyst drop. ¡°You should try it too.¡±

    I know she only meant it to stay in the Nightlord¡¯s good graces, but the very idea of sucking Yoloxochitl¡¯s blood, of inviting any part of her into my body, repulsed me to my core. I loathed the thought of that parasite strengthening her already unbearable hold over my soul and body.

    Yoloxochitl smiled kindly at Eztli before covering her breasts with her robes. ¡°He cannot,¡± she said before turning her attention to me. ¡°You cannot, Iztac.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± I wondered while doing my best to hide my relief. Come to think of it, wouldn¡¯t it have been easier for them to bind me the way the Nightlords bound their red-eyed priests?

    ¡°Your blood must stay pure,¡± the Nightlord replied calmly. ¡°My sisters and I share a bond with you deeper than any familial tie. However, our union requires bnce. The north cannot encroach on the south, nor the west on the east.¡±

    The truth became clear to me. Beneath all the esoterism, the Nightlords simply didn¡¯t want either of them to gain more power over whatever ritual bound my soul to their altar. They had ruled so long by sharing power and not vying over it.

    I was almost tempted to drink Yoloxochitl¡¯s blood and sow chaos between the sisters, but a mere nce at Eztli¡¯s ecstatic, addled expression convinced me otherwise. To partake in a vampire¡¯s blood would mean tightening my own chains.

    ¡°Moreover, while our blood would preserve you from time¡¯s sway, it would also wither your loins,¡± Yoloxochitl said. ¡°Your divine blood must keep flowing, my son.¡±

    As always, I was nothing more than a breeding turkey. I was almost tempted to ask Yoloxochitl what happened to the previous emperors¡¯ sons, to lift the veil of that particr mystery from my mind.

    <em>No, not yet</em>, I told myself. Patience. I needed to build more trust beforehand, lest I arouse suspicion.

    ¡°What of my blood?¡± I asked cautiously, hiding my malice behind a mask of generosity. The very thought of letting a vampire feed on me disgusted me, but the Parliament of Skulls promised me that the fire in my veins would hurt them. ¡°Would you partake in my blood if I offered it, Mother Yoloxochitl?¡±

    <em>Will you let my burning blood incinerate your veins from within? </em>I thought. <em>Will you bite my neck and partake in this poisoned meal?</em>

    ¡°You are very kind, my child, but I must refuse,¡± Yoloxochitl replied, albeit with a hint of reluctance. I caught a brief sh of thirst and desire when she stared at my neck. ¡°I am forbidden to taste your blood until the Scarlet Moon. There arews that even<em> I</em> must obey.¡±

    I had expected that answer, and did not push the subject further. Even if she decided to feed on my blood¡ªa prospect that frightened me as much as I relished the thought of poisoning her¡ªIcked the strength to overpower her afterward. Feeding her my blood would weaken the Nightlord, but it would not destroy her.

    I too would be patient. Yoloxochitl felt the thirst and fought back the hunger. She <em>wanted </em>to drink my blood, only holding herself back from fear of punishment; and when there was a will, there was a way. Forbidden pleasures possessed an allure that made them difficult to resist, and Yoloxochitl had proved herself to be deeply impulsive; enough to upset her sisters¡¯ ns and go against their will by iming Eztli as a Nightkin. Shecked the Jaguar Woman¡¯s self-control. She would give in if properly pushed.

    The Parliament of Skulls asked me to cultivate my rtionship with Yoloxochitl until I could learn more about her fatal weapon. And I could go farther. I couldy the groundwork for her demise. Be the snake in the grass closing in for the fatal bite.

    Vampirism had unbnced Yoloxochitl¡¯s mind and filled it with dark obsessions. Her madness followed a logic of its own. I had to y into it. To put a Veil on her deeper than any illusion, to slowly lower her mental defenses until she finally gave in. A seduction of a sort.

    ¡°Now, my son, give your mother a kiss,¡± the Nightlord said.

    I dutifully obeyed, my lips touching her cold, lifeless cheek. <em>Think of victory</em>, I told myself, blocking the horrific memories of vines and ws erupting from under that pristine skin. <em>Everything is permitted in the pursuit of victory</em>.

    ¡°How was your training today?¡± Yoloxochitl asked as if she cared.

    ¡°We were told you performed admirably,¡± Eztli mused with a mischievous, malicious smirk. ¡°Much to our dear Chikal¡¯s appreciation.¡±

    ¡°I have heard that your amazon consort proved¡­¡± A sh of anger passed in Yoloxochitl¡¯s eyes. ¡°Rough.¡±

    ¡°She is a harsh teacher, but a fair one,¡± I argued, hoping to spare Chikal a deadly visit. ¡°No man has be a great warrior from being coddled.¡±

    ¡°That is true, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl confirmed. ¡°However, much like an eagle looks down upon turkeys struggling on the ground, an emperor stands above the petty indignities of battle. Your spear is an army, and your shield is a thousand protectors ready to die for you.¡±

    ¡°That may be so, Mother, but I remember you saying that our poor soldiers deservedfort.¡± That was how she had justified trying to enve Necahual not so long ago. ¡°Seeing their emperor share their struggles will be like balm to their wounded hearts.¡±

    ¡°It is one thing to be bold, Iztac, and another to be wise,¡± Yoloxochitl dered with what could pass for wisdom. ¡°Promise me not to endanger yourself, child. It wounds me to see you threatened.¡±

    <em>Then you should spare me the altar</em>. Her terrible actions spoke louder than her empty words. ¡°I have no doubt your benediction shall grant me victory,¡± I said, baiting her. ¡°Though if I may ask¡­ what is this great weapon that will turn the tide against the Sapa?¡±

    ¡°Patience, Iztac.¡± Yoloxochitl lightly stroked my cheek, as if to reprimand an overeager child. ¡°Miracles must be seen, not heard. This flower shall bloom in due time. An emperor¡¯s duties to his subjects pale before those he owes the heavens, and for now, a greater task awaits you.¡±

    I nodded dutifully, suppressing a sh of anger. The time hadn¡¯te yet. ¡°As Mother wishes.¡±

    ¡°Worry not, all your prayers shall eventually be answered.¡± Yoloxochitl waved a hand at the hill of ash, inviting me to look upon it. ¡°The yeareth to an end, Iztac. As emperor, it is your duty to see that past afflictions and sins do not carry into the new cycle of the world.¡±

    I looked up at the hill¡¯s summit and caught a glimpse of a figure kneeling at its top, hands joined in prayer. A shiver went down my spine as I realized what ¡®sin¡¯ I would purge from this world.

    A headless, desated corpse with a perfectly carved hole at the center of its chest towered high above me. Though its mummification had made him thinner, I immediately recognized to whom this husk once belonged to. Even in death and desecration, the Nightlords had clothed him like an emperor, with rich finery and golden filigranes.

    I stared at the beheaded corpse of Nochtli the Fourteenth, whose skull had joined my reliquary.

    I had witnessed my predecessor¡¯s murder alongside the rest of the empire, watching in silent dread as the Nightlords carved his chest open and fed his heart to their sinister sire. Should I fail to defeat the sisters, my remains would one night stand atop this altar in silent desecration.

    ¡°These are the past emperors¡¯ ashes.¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s hands settled on my shoulders, her nails sharp as an eagle¡¯s talons. She loomed behind me like death¡¯s shadow. ¡°Much like my father before them, they too have suffered the penance of fire. While their skulls rest in the reliquary, their remains shall fuel the mes of a new year free of sins.¡±

    <em>I ought to throw you into the fire then</em>, I thought. ¡°I see no me yet.¡±

    ¡°For you must light it with your own hands,¡± Yoloxochitl exined. ¡°For the next four nights, you shall tend to it from sunset to sunrise. Feed it. Cherish it. Then, on the fifth day, you shall ascend to the top of the world and herald the dawn of a new year.¡±

    ¡°Sunset to sunrise?¡± My heart stopped. ¡°I¡­ forgive me, but I had nned for Ingrid and her mother to visit me tonight.¡±

    And moreover, I had promised the Yaotzin a payment for the night. If I failed to deliver in time, I dreaded to imagine the resulting penalty.

    ¡°They shall await until dawn,¡± Eztli whispered into my ear. ¡°Do not worry. I shall keep youpany until then.¡±

    ¡°These next few days shall be trying, my child,¡± Yoloxochitl said, her tone gentle but firm. ¡°But the cosmos demands it.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t expected this, nor been informed. Moreover, it would disrupt my journey to the Underworld. While I could catch up on some hours of sleep in the morning, my imperial agenda would force me to awaken early.

    ¡°Is this year different?¡± I asked, hiding my frustration behind a veil of curiosity. ¡°I was not told that the ritual would take all night.¡±

    ¡°Every fifty-two years mark the beginning of a new celestial cycle,¡± Yoloxochitl replied. ¡°This requires more effort on your part, for you do not inaugurate a new year alone. You shall shepherd in a new era for our empire.¡±

    Thest one, I hoped.

    With few options left, I removed my sandals and began to ascend the mountain of ashes. Eztli followed behind me as my shadow. Whereas my feet soon turned gray from the remains of my burned predecessors, her own skin remained untouched.

    <em>A vampire climbing a dead mountain with none of their malice staining them</em>, I thought. They felt terribly cold on my skin, without any warmth. <em>How terribly appropriate for the current situation.</em>

    ¡°Do you truly think there are only six hundred corpses beneath us?¡± Eztli sinisterly whispered into my ear. ¡°Seems too few if you ask me.¡±

    ¡°Only the emperors are remembered,¡± I guessed as we continued our ascent. I had witnessed enough cremations that even the tallest of men hardly left a handful of ashes after death. To raise a hill would take countless thousands.

    ¡°I always wondered what happened to the flesh and bones of my dinners after I fulfilled my thirst.¡± Eztli dusted some of the ashes from her robes. Her skin might be spared from their clutches, but her clothes were not. ¡°Do you think some of them are father¡¯s?¡±

    I stopped briefly and peeked at her from over my shoulder. Eztli returned my gaze with cold sad eyes. ¡°I am serious,¡± she said. ¡°I do not know what they did with his remains.¡±

    While I was relieved she still showed some concern for Guatemoc¡¯s corpse after killing him herself, I didn¡¯t expect her to discuss the matter with such eerie calmness.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I replied. ¡°And between us, I hope he¡¯s not here. He deserves better than being trampled upon.¡±

    Eztli looked away, hiding her thoughts from me. ¡°I suppose¡­¡±

    Once again, I found myself wondering how much of my old friend remained inside the vampire she had be¡­ and if that spark of humanity would survive the allure of her undead sire¡¯s blood.

    Eztli smiled back at me. She knew me well enough to guess what was on my mind.

    ¡°Her blood does not affect me more than pulque does, Iztac. Though it does taste far better than any drink.¡± Eztli lightly kissed me on the neck, her lips still warm from the recent feast. ¡°Unless you want me to breastfeed you mine?¡±

    A chill traveled down my spine. ¡°No, I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m joking, Iztac. You have enough mothers as it is.¡± Eztli¡¯s smile faded. ¡°I don¡¯t like it.¡±

    I snorted. ¡°The breastfeeding?¡±

    ¡°The way you look at me,¡± she replied. ¡°I would rather see youugh <em>with </em>me than be sad <em>for </em>me.¡±

    An awkward silence settled between us, and we continued our ascent without a word.

    I struggled to understand Eztli¡¯s behavior. I had the feeling she attempted to hide her pain and sorrow under a veil of wit and cruel humor, but no matter what she said I was certain these breastfeeding sessions ate away at her humanity. Pulque and alcohol drove men to madness if abused. A Nightlord¡¯s blood drove their priests into vish devotion. If Eztli consumed too much¡­ she mightpletely fall under Yoloxochitl¡¯s sway and reveal our treachery.

    I had to find a way to break or subvert their budding blood bond. Perhaps I should feed Eztli the blood of the other Nightlords. This might dilute her particr enthrallment to Yoloxochitl¡­ no, that would probably worsen things.

    The First Emperor¡¯s codices had to provide insight on the matter. He had sired the curse after all.

    At longst we reached the top under the pale moonlight. I stood before Nochtli¡¯s mummified remains in silent contemtion. A bundle of dry reedsy within the open chest cavity, alongside a wood spindle and small bow meant to trigger a fire. I counted fifty-two of the former, one for each year of a sr cycle.

    <em>You stood in my ce once, my predecessor</em>, I thought. <em>Was this the moment you decided to rebel? It did you no good, but I swear to the true gods, I shall avenge you and all of those who helped me climb to you.</em>

    With Eztli watching over my shoulder I aligned the spindle to the middle of the reeds, tied the bowstring around it, and then moved the small bow left and right. I knew the motions by heart. No man could reach adulthood without learning how to start a fire. The thought of burning the Nightlords to death gave me the strength to carry on with the task.

    My resolve swiftly paid off. A spark ignited among the dry reeds, feeble yet alive. A me grew within Nochtli the Fourteenth¡¯s chest cavity, slowly consuming the reeds to grow in strength. Smoke arose from the beheaded corpse¡¯s severed neck and moved up towards the hole in the ceiling.

    ¡°This takes me back,¡± Eztli mused. She raised her hands towards the newborn me, her fingers touching it so close I worried she might catch fire herself. ¡°I miss the warmth.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± I asked. The reeds wouldn¡¯tst all night.

    ¡°You will stay here to tend the fire, give it prayers, curses, confess your crimes, whatever you want.¡± Eztli shrugged. ¡°Meanwhile, I shalle back and forth with old things to burn. Yours is the easy part.¡±

    In short, she would resupply me while I wasted my time watching over the me until sunrise. ¡°Who will take over during the day?¡±

    ¡°Priests, I suppose?¡± Eztli shrugged. ¡°This is all for show.¡±

    The Parliament of Skulls thought the same. My predecessors never found what magical purpose, if any, this ritual served beyond its symbolism. Was this truly a trick of the mind meant to add weight to a false religion, or did it serve a higher purpose?

    I meant to check for myself.

    I peeked over my shoulder, the eyes of the Nightkin upon me while Yoloxochitl watched me from the hill¡¯s feet. I cloaked myself in the Veil and felt the weight of their attention upon me. Thankfully, as Huehuecoyotl taught me, I gave them an illusion of what they expected of me: me staring at a small fire in silent contemtion. No tide of disbelief came to wash my magic away. The vampires had witnessed this scene y out time and time again for more than six hundred years.

    So long as I did not turn the Gaze spell directly at them, they would not sense its radiance. Henceforth, I knelt before my predecessor¡¯s remains and moved my face close to the budding fire.

    <em>Reveal your secrets to me</em>, I thought as I activated my Gaze spell and stared into the newborn me. <em>If you keep any.</em>

    The sunlight of my heart poured through my eyes and illuminated the small me my hands had brought into the world.

    I saw nothing out of the ordinary. The light of my soul revealed no secret my own eyes couldn¡¯t perceive before. This fire carried no magical power whatsoever.

    <em>This is all a fraud</em>, I thought, unsurprised and yet still disappointed. <em>Another lie atop a pyramid of falsehood.</em>

    I took a deep breath and I mentally prepared myself for the tiresome, pointless task ahead of me. The smoke filled my nostrils, followed by a terrible stench. I coughed in surprise and nausea, much to Eztli¡¯s confusion.

    ¡°Are you well, Iztac?¡± she asked me softly.

    ¡°Do you smell that?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Smell what?¡±

    That terrible stench of rotten eggs and the smell of burning corpses. I could hardly inhale a whiff of smoke without wanting to vomit. It felt oh so familiar, though it took me a while to recognize it.

    Sulfur.

    Necahual and other women often used it in our vige to chase away vermin after the harvest season. I had always disliked the smell of it. However, nothing couldpare to the odious smoke rising from this me.

    <em>Did the Nightlords put sulfur in with the reeds?</em> I wondered, observing the ze with renewed attention. I detected no such fuel. <em>Does ite from the me itself?</em>

    I gazed once more into the fire, searching with my eyes¡­ until I saw it.

    A ck spot in the center. A blot of darkness in the light¡¯s very heart. A small point norger than a needle¡¯s head, unchanging and unwavering.

    The longer I stared at it, the stronger my heart pounded in my chest. Its beat echoed like a war drum in my head, a searing heat growing in my chest. The longer I stared at the blot, the harder it became to look away. Eztli¡¯s words became distant whispers that my mind could no longerprehend.

    The nauseating stench of sulfur overwhelmed me like a tide. The fumes addled my mind and overwhelmed my senses in a nauseous flood of confusing sensations. The blot grew to epass it, the seed of darkness blooming into an all-consuming night. Thick shadows as warm as blood swallowed the light of my Gaze spell, leaving me alone in the endless ck.

    A new me arose from nothing when I thought myself bereft of radiance¡­ yet this fire offered nofort. It was blue and streaked with yellow, the poisonous inferno rising from the sulfur pits.

    <em>Something </em>stared back at me. Something <em>great </em>and <em><strong>terrible</strong></em>.

    A pressure as overwhelming as King Mtecuhtli¡¯s judgment fell upon my soul; not the cosmic weight of death¡¯s unfeeling gaze and the burden of eons past, but the primal fear of an endless night and the agony of bottomless hunger. I felt my lungs drowning in an ocean of blood and the piercing bites of a million screeching bats. I shared a thirst that no sea could ever hope to satiate, heard the call of a final feast of murdered stars, looked upon a crown of terror, and listened to the scream of a mountain of seared flesh burning in a boiling sulfur pit. I felt its terrible gaze y my mortal skin and peek at the feeble fire within my chest, at the four leashes coiling around my soul and the withered hands holding them.

    Great fangs sharper than obsidian towers shed in the me with indescribable fury and a tongue uttered a curse carrying the venom of transcendental hatred. A single word with the power to shatter stone, a fatal usation, and a deadly prophecy of retribution toe.

    <strong>T????????????????????r???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????a??????????????????????????????????i???????????????????????????????????????????????t????????????????????????????????o??????????????????????????????????????????????r?????????????????????????????????????s???????????????????????????????</strong>

    By the time I canceled my Gaze spell and pulled back to reality, a concert of screeches and pping wings filled the hall. A mighty wind blew on my face, sending a cloud of ashes flying in all directions; the cinders suddenly as hot as if they had been extracted from a freshly made fire.

    The temple had descended into chaos. The Nightkin flock screamed above me. They flew through the hole in the ceiling like the bat swarm that they were. Eztli had gone still at my side, her skin paler than snow, her crimson eyes staring at Nochtli¡¯s ming heart with utter dread. She had frozen in ce the way a rabbit froze when facing a jaguar¡¯s presence.

    The me had turned blue.

    Not the azure from loc¡¯s sun, no, but the yellow-tainted blue me born of sulfur pits. It had consumed the reeds and now glowed within the chest cavity without spreading further. No smoke rose from it, though its nauseating smell remained all-consuming.

    ¡°It finally happened,¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s voice whispered behind me. How did she climb the hill so silently? ¡°After so many centuries¡­ it has finally happened.¡±

    Her cold hands coiled around me like snakes, one hand touching my chest, the other my belly. I felt the Nightlord lean against me, holding and fondling me like a prized pet. I thanked my instinct for canceling my spells in rm before she could catch sight of them.

    ¡°Oh Iztac, you are wonderful.¡± She kissed me on the cheek and the neck, half like a mother happy with their child¡¯s performance, half like a favored lover. It raised shivers on my skin all the same. ¡°You are a blessed child, the holiest of rulers.¡±

    I held my breath in silence. A terrible cold followed her promations, and three winged shadows descended from the ceiling from the same hole through which the Nightkins escaped. I could hardly distinguish them through the clouds of ash, and when theynded on the hill they had all taken back human forms. Eztli, having finally regained her senses, knelt instantly as three hooded, masked figures surrounded us.

    <em>They¡¯re here</em>, I thought, my blood running cold. <em>They¡¯ve answered the call.</em>

    The other Nightlords had joined their sisters to witness this strange miracle. They formed a circle around Nochtli¡¯s remains, as if ready to tear him limb from limb again.

    ¡°I thought the chains broke, but this¡­¡± Sugey, the Bird of War, crossed her arms. Was that dread or joy that I saw in her trembling fingers? ¡°This is it¡­¡±

    Iztacoatl nodded in excitement. ¡°The me burns with smokeless sulfur. A sacred hunger that requires no sustenance.¡± She raised a hand, feverishly approaching the me. ¡°All the power we can drain from this¡­¡±

    The Jaguar Woman angrily pped her sister¡¯s hand away from the fire.

    ¡°Restrain yourself,¡± she chided her sibling. ¡°Those are favorable auspices, but fraught with peril.¡±

    <em>Chains? </em>I wondered. Did they mean the chains around my soul? A few of their words drew my attention too. <em>Drain? Not gain?</em>

    ¡°I do not understand,¡± I whispered, fishing for information.

    ¡°Our Dark Father has blessed your divine rule, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl replied with motherly pride. ¡°This age, <em>your </em>age, shall be one of blessed darkness and glory. Fifty-two years of terror await our enemies.¡±

    ¡°Our sister speaks true, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. The blue me¡¯s hue reflected in her exposed eyes. ¡°Your term will be the most important since our empire¡¯s foundation. Feed the me, child. Feed it.¡±

    ¡°With what?¡± I rasped.

    ¡°Blood.¡± The Jaguar Woman turned to Eztli, her tone hasty and imperious. ¡°Fetch him blood!¡±

    I spent the night trying to douse that cursed me.

    If the Nightlords wanted it to burn, then it made sense for me to smother it in return. I had little luck with that.

    First of all, the four sisters stood watch over their twisted prize. They observed my work with the zeal of taskmasters. I was only allowed to pour the cups of blood Eztli climbed the ashen mountain back and forth with.

    The longer the night went on, the more I started to doubt that anything could extinguish this unnatural fire. It consumed blood and wood alike without leaving any waste. The fluids did not boil or turn to steam at its contact. They simply vanished into the blue fire.

    The me neither grewrger nor hotter no matter how much blood I fed it. I was filling a bottomless hole from which nothing escaped. My task appeared as pointless as it was mind-numbing.

    ¡°The dawn approaches,¡± Yoloxochitl said after many hours. ¡°Go rest, my child. You have earned it.¡±

    ¡°We shall meet again at sundown,¡± the Jaguar Woman added. ¡°Do not dy.¡±

    I considered disobeying, but her tone implied that they would drag me to this ce if I did. Whatever purpose this ritual served, the Nightlords considered it important enough to oversee personally.

    I climbed down the ashen mountain with Eztli¡¯s help. She had helped me transport bloody cups all night long without ever uttering a word. Her hollow gaze was empty of its usual mischief and bravery.

    ¡°Eztli?¡± I asked once we finally left the temple. I admit I found myself relieved to escape this ce, though it was short-lived. My silent guards dutifully nked me the moment I walked into the next corridor. ¡°Eztli, are you well?¡±

    My friend and consort suddenly seemed to remember my presence. ¡°Do you remember that time we found a snake in the river, two years back?¡±

    ¡°Of course I do.¡± It had given her quite the scare then.

    ¡°That me¡­ It frightens me the same way, Iztac.¡± Eztli rubbed her arms with her hands. I had never seen her so scared since¡­ since she had turned. ¡°It wants to eat me. I can tell.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t let it harm you,¡± I promised her.

    At this moment, she gave me the strangest of looks. Despair, sorrow, and something I couldn¡¯t quite understand. Something unbelievably sad.

    ¡°You are sweet, Iztac,¡± Eztli said softly, ¡°But what makes you think I want you to?¡±

    She vanished into the shadows before I could ask her what she meant.

    ¡°Eztli?¡± I called out to her, shaken by her response. ¡°Eztli?¡±

    Only my silent guards¡¯ steps answered me. I was surrounded by armed men, and yet alone once again. Somehow, Eztli¡¯s words frightened me as much as whatever terror the Nightlords brewed in that me of theirs.

    Tired as I was, I did not return to my chambers immediately. Instead, I went to the reliquary, officially to meditate, unofficially to consult with my predecessors.

    The previous emperors¡¯ skulls were already awake when I arrived, their empty sockets shining with an eldritch glow. I took it as a dire warning. They had witnessed tonight¡¯s events through our link, and found it concerning.

    ¡°What happened?¡± I asked immediately. ¡°What was <em>that</em>?¡±

    ¡°Something that¡¯s never happened before.¡± Six hundred skulls marked a short pause, their minds clearly struggling to understand what they had witnessed. ¡°The me has never turned blue since the New Fire Ceremony started, nor did the Nightlords show so much interest in its upkeep. This is unprecedented.¡±

    A word that did not warm my heart. As for the creature I had witnessed in the fire¡­ that glimpse into an abyss of absolute evil and hunger¡­

    ¡°That thing in the me¡­¡± Remembering it alone caused my heartbeat to quicken. ¡°Could it be¡­?¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps,¡± the Parliament replied. They had guessed the likely source of the power within. ¡°Or maybe not. We cannot be certain yet.¡±

    The previous emperors spoke with wisdom, but I sensed their fear beneath the caution. The four sisters were feeble shadowspared to that entity¡¯s power and malice.

    ¡°There is another detail you should know, our sessor,¡± the skulls said. ¡°When the sulfur me lit up, we sensed a surge of power rising from deep below the Blood Pyramid.¡±

    ¡°The Blood Pyramid?¡± I immediately thought of whatever horror took ce there; something so terrible the Parliament would not speak of it. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s unclear as of now, but we can warrant a guess,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°The ritual sacrifice of emperors to their progenitor imbues the Nightlords with magic. The New Fire Ceremony and the Scarlet Moon probably feed into each other somehow. A threshold of some kind has been crossed, whether from the weight of six hundred years of sorrow or because of some cosmic alignment.¡±

    I supposed their mountain of ashes had grown big enough. ¡°The Nightlords hope that this sulfur me will strengthen them.¡±

    ¡°All the more reason to douse it, our sessor. The quicker the better.¡±

    ¡°Douse it with what, water?¡± I replied dryly. ¡°It consumes all thates in contact with it. Neither will the Nightlords let me out of their sight.¡±

    The skulls fell into the silent gloom. They had no more solutions to offer than I did.

    For perhaps the first time since we formed an alliance, they were at a loss at what to do next. We had ventured into unknown territory where old wisdom could not help us.

    I reyed tonight¡¯s events in my mind, trying to grasp their significance. I was certain important details, if not overlooked, would prove key to our future victory.

    The First Emperor still existed. The Nightlords feared his wrath, my soul was bound to his altar, and the vampire curse endured. Tales said he had be the new sun in the sky in a great act of benevolence and that without blood to sustain him, he would cast the universe into eternal darkness.

    If¡­ if the entity I had received a glimpse of was indeed the First Emperor, then he was indeed burning. Not in a sun¡¯s heart though. I had witnessed a dead sun and tasted their embers. The mes consuming the First Emperor were of a different sort, their smell unmistakable.

    A sulfur cage.

    Neither did I feel any kindness or martyrdoming from this dreadful vampire progenitor. I only tasted a sip of endless hate and bottomless hunger. No fire burned half as hot as that monster¡¯s wrath. As for that final curse he uttered, not at me, but at the four parasites iming to be his daughters and heirs¡­

    <em>Traitors</em>. The word echoed in my head, sharp and clear. <em><strong>Traitors</strong></em>.

    ¡°What if¡­¡± I cleared my throat, a risky idea forming in my mind. ¡°What if we <em>didn¡¯t </em>douse the me?¡±

    The old emperors wisely listened. ¡°Exin yourself.¡±

    ¡°I caught a glimpse of what fuels the fire,¡± I reminded them. ¡°Whether it was the First Emperor or something else, it resents the Nigthlords with a hate that surpasses even ours. That, and the sisters¡­ they said they would <em>drain </em>power from the me.¡±

    ¡°You believe that this power is not granted willingly,¡± the Parliament guessed. ¡°It is stolen.¡±

    ¡°I think so,¡± I confirmed. ¡°What if instead of canceling the Nightlords¡¯ ritual, we could cause it to backfire on them? Let the entity reap its revenge against them?¡±

    For the second time since I had met them, the skulls making up the Parliament started silently debating between themselves. Such was the gravity of my suggestion.

    ¡°We presume that you understand the risks at hand,¡± they said upon reaching a consensus. ¡°Sorcery of this magnitude is like wielding an obsidian dagger without a hilt. A single mistake might spell your destruction.¡±

    ¡°We have all perished once before,¡± I replied with determination. I had stabbed my own heart to spite the sisters on the very first night of my rule. I could do it again if needed. ¡°While I would rather live to see Yohuachanca crumble, I will dly offer my life to drag the Nightlords down into the Underworld¡¯s depths.¡±

    ¡°Your resolve does you credit, our sessor.¡± The dead emperors rattled in approval. ¡°We must ponder this further and gather more information. Until then, you should rest and think, our sessor. We can discuss our options with a clearer mind afterward.¡±

    I excused myself with a final bow, so tired that I relished the thought of going to bed. Yet my mind remained worried. If the First Emperor truly fueled that sinister ritual, then it made it all the more imperative to study his codices.

    I needed to obtain those books by whatever means necessary.

    Only then could I cut the vampire curse off at its source.

 Chapter Twenty-Three: Wrath of the Condor King

    Chapter Twenty-Three: Wrath of the Condor King

    Once, when I trained to be a merchant, I received a wise piece of advice: the only thing worse than debt was beingte for its payment. Especially once your debtor was called the <em>Enemy of Both Sides</em>.

    When the wind blew on my face under dawn¡¯s light, my body and mind tired from yet another night of terror and sorcery, I knew I would not get away with giving away meager gossip. The Yaotzin had shielded my words from listening ears against the promise of important information by sunrise; yet the sun had risen already. I could only pray that the chaotic forces of the cosmos had decided to show patience.

    <em>Patience is the virtue of the powerful</em>, the Yaotzin whispered ominously in my ear as I triggered my Augury spell. <em>Do not waste ours.</em>

    I joined my hands and considered what information I could share. I considered what gossip I had gathered, what secret betrayals and jealousies I had uncovered. The murder Sigrunmitted on my behalf, the truth about the Sapa invasion, Chikal¡¯s dubious allegiances¡­ Most of what I had learned mighte back to harm current and potential allies.

    However, I had spent many days gathering information about my foes. I now saw a way to kill two birds with one stone.

    ¡°The Nightlords have lit a sulfur me for the New Fire Ceremony tonight,¡± I whispered under my breath. ¡°A me from which they hope to harness great magical power.¡±

    The Yaotzin desired to trade secrets that would harm others. Let the Nightlords¡¯ enemies learn of their witchery.

    The wind suddenly grew stronger. The quiet breeze became a gust strong enough to send one of my imperial headdress¡¯ quetzal feathers flying away. I had the Yaotzin¡¯s full attention.

    ¡°They intend to drain the strength of a powerful being.¡± I almost mentioned the First Emperor, but the Yaotzin only epted the truth. While I strongly suspected the identity behind the source of the Nightlords¡¯ wicked mes, I still couldn¡¯t confirm it. Caution would prevail. Besides, I could always sell that information awayter. ¡°A being of darkness and hunger raging in a sulfur cage.¡±No cryptic words nor dire prophecy answered me. The wind kept blowing, carrying my whispers away to those who would pay the price to hear them. I couldn¡¯t tell if I should take it as a good or a bad sign.

    ¡°Was it sufficient?¡± I whispered under my breath. ¡°Are we even?¡±

    <em>A great price you have paid, and the debt is settled</em>, the wind answered me this time. <em>The birds shall listen. Wings of gold and shadow talons, condor king and mother of witches.</em>

    ¡°The birds?¡± Condor? I had never heard that word before. Mother of witches was almost as elusive, though I had my suspicions on whom it might be. ¡°What do you mean? To whom will you share this information?¡±

    <em>An even trade you must make</em>, the Yaotzin replied, never missing an asion to shake me down. <em>Foes of the sisters do not friends make.</em>

    Of course the wind would word its answer so cryptically. I would kill for a straightforward sentence. Still, the meaning sounded simple to me: the Nightlords¡¯ rivals were not necessarily my friends. The enemy of my enemy was often just that, and no more.

    I didn¡¯t mind, so long as they would work to ruin the Nightlords¡¯ ns first and foremost.

    Once I hadpleted the Augury, I moved to my chambers with a headache and sore muscles. My enhanced Teyolia¡¯s divine endurance still had its limits. Chikal¡¯s training and a night spent praying over a cursed me had left me drained.

    I didn¡¯t think awakening the sulfur me had changed me in any way¡­ or if it did, I couldn¡¯t tell yet. I¡¯d better take this information to Queen Mictecacihuatl. She would provide good advice.

    As expected, I found Ingrid and her mother waiting for me, both of them d in the most sumptuous of dresses. Servants, Necahual chief among them, had brought a harp and set the table for the evening dinner which I had missed.

    ¡°Lord Emperor,¡± my consort greeted me with a smile. The dark rings around Ingrid¡¯s eyes indicated they had been there all night. ¡°We thought ourselves bereft of your presence.¡±

    ¡°My apologies for theteness,¡± I said as Necahual helped me remove my imperial headdress and cloak wordlessly. My silent guards took position in all corners of the room, observing the scene with their weapons in hand. ¡°The goddesses required my presence longer than I expected.¡±

    ¡°Our emperor needs not to apologize to us,¡± Ingrid replied courteously. ¡°Our lives and nights are spent at your leisure.¡±

    Her mother proved more inquisitive. ¡°If memory serves, the goddesses never kept an emperor for so long,¡± she pointed out. ¡°I assume this New Fire Ceremony will be different from its predecessors?¡±

    <em>You have no idea</em>, I thought. <em>Although¡­ Maybe she does have a clue. I can never tell with her</em>. ¡°We¡¯ve reached the end of the fifty-two year cycle,¡± I reminded her. ¡°Exceptional times call for exceptional rites.¡±

    ¡°I will consider myself lucky to witness them then,¡± Lady Sigrun mused with a smile and calcting eyes. ¡°Our emperor¡¯s reign is unlike any of those that came before.¡±

    ¡°The goddesses have recognized his exceptional destiny,¡± Ingrid ttered me. ¡°Will our Lord Emperor eat with us?¡±

    ¡°I am too tired for it,¡± I confessed. Or to do anything else, truthfully. ¡°Maybe after I rest.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps my mother and I can help you with that,¡± Ingrid replied coyly. ¡°Let her massage your body while I soothe your soul to sleep with sweet songs.¡±

    Recognizing the hidden suggestion for what it was, I lightly kissed Ingrid on the lips. The taste of her warm skin let me forget Yoloxochitl¡¯s cold touch. ¡°I would appreciate a luby,¡± I said. ¡°And to wake up with you at my side.¡±

    ¡°Always,¡± Ingrid replied courteously.

    At this point, we yed the role of happy newlyweds perfectly.

    A minuteter, I was resting naked on my bed with my face against the pillow. Lady Sigrun climbed on my back to massage it while her daughter began to y a tune on the harp. The beautiful melody echoed in my chambers, with only the three of us and the silent masked guards to enjoy it. I could almost forget my troubles.

    Almost. Whenever my eyelids threatened to close and lull me to sleep, I saw a sulfur me ring in the dark.

    ¡°Is that fear I sense in your flesh, my emperor?¡± Lady Sigrun whispered as her soft hands traveled across my back and elbows. Her daughter¡¯s song drowned our discussion in its joyful chorus. ¡°Your spine is straight and your flesh tight. What frightens you so much?¡±

    <em>That horror in the sulfur me, </em>I thought. ¡°Disappointing the goddesses,¡± I lied.

    ¡°A fear all men share.¡± She traced a line along my spine. ¡°But today¡¯s dread runs deeper.¡±

    I was starting to wonder if she could read minds. ¡°How are you so perceptive, Lady Sigrun?¡±

    ¡°Lifelong practice, and a deep understanding of human nature.¡± She began to massage my shoulders. ¡°You will not enjoy the former, but you might develop thetter. You show the potential for it.¡±

    I hoped so. I still remained a student in the presence of a master.

    ¡°Do you know what these guards are?¡± I asked Lady Sigrun while ncing at our silent observers. Between their silence and eerie stillness, they might as well be made of stone rather than flesh. ¡°Are you certain the song will drown out our voices?¡±

    ¡°So long as we keep our voices low,¡± my concubine replied with a hushed tone. ¡°Even then, I do not believe these creatures are capable of speaking. They are no more than puppets of flesh without intelligence.¡±

    She didn¡¯t think they were alive anymore either. ¡°What do you think they hide beneath their helmets?¡±

    Lady Sigrun¡¯s smile had a sinister edge to it. ¡°Nothing.¡±

    I was tempted to check for myself, but I had my fill of horrors for tonight.

    ¡°I must admit I am impressed, Lord Iztac.¡± Lady Sigrun sounded genuinely respectful, but she was such a liar that I could hardly tell whether or not she meant it. ¡°When we first met, I thought you would be rather forgettable.¡±

    ¡°Forgettable?¡± I scoffed. ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°I have shared the bed of nearly two dozen emperors before you,¡± Lady Sigrun said as she continued to massage me. ¡°Many were brave and ambitious, a handful were cunning, some were cowardly¡­ but very few were noteworthy. You can count yourself among that number.¡±

    I smiled as a surge of pleasure traveled through my shoulders. Lady Sigrun had found a sore spot to soothe. ¡°Did you tter all my predecessors?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Lady Sigrun replied with a light chuckle. ¡°But I rarely meant it.¡±

    And I knew better than to take her at her word.

    ¡°Now¡­¡± Lady Sigrun leaned down to whisper into my ear. ¡°About that book you mentioned earlier¡­¡±

    ¡°I have the second volume,¡± I replied with a low tone, going straight for the kill. Ingrid subtly started ying a bit more aggressively to better cover our voices. ¡°Not on myself, of course.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Lady Sigrun repeated like a trained songbird. ¡°What proof do I have that you speak true?¡±

    ¡°I can memorize and recite passages, if you¡¯d like.¡±

    ¡°I would like to see that,¡± Lady Sigrun replied. ¡°How did you even find this document?¡±

    <em>A dog god fetched it for me.</em> ¡°I cannot reveal my source.¡±

    ¡°I assume it is the same one that whispers well-kept secrets in your ears?¡± Sigrun studied my face, looking for a sign that she had guessed right. I let nothing through. ¡°Why are you interested in these codices, my emperor?¡±

    ¡°Why are <em>you</em>?¡± I replied.

    Lady Sigrunughed lightly. ¡°Knowledge without power is worthless, but power without knowledge is blind. Only those who understand the past can hope to shape the future.¡±

    In short, she hoped to use these codices as leverage to gain power and influence in the future. How crafty and farsighted. Or at least, that was what she wanted me to believe. Besides the valuable information kept within the codices¡ªintel that would help me navigate the Land of the Dead Suns¡ªI wondered if the First Emperor encoded spells within them; sorcery I could use against his treacherous brood.

    I suspected Lady Sigrun sought the secret power contained within those pages too. I was certain that she practiced a form of witchcraft right under the Nightlords¡¯ noses, even though she was no Nahualli. For now, I would y the fool. It would take time to uncover her secrets.

    ¡°I share your opinion, Lady Sigrun,¡± I said, hiding my suspicion under a veil of caution. ¡°I am curious as to how my empire was founded.¡±

    ¡°So am I.¡± Now that she had finished with the shoulders, Sigrun began to massage my thighs. ¡°You know the official history is a lie. Otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t be hiding this conversation.¡±

    I snorted. ¡°What is true in this cursed ce?¡±

    ¡°Little, hence why truth is so precious.¡± She moved on to massage my arms. I felt rxed, healthier, and better than before. ¡°I would dly coborate with you toplete the full codex.¡±

    ¡°How many volumes do you have?¡±

    ¡°Mazatl only has a tranted copy of the first volume. I can arrange to smuggle it into the pce, though only if you can return the favor with the second.¡±

    We¡¯d already started negotiating. ¡°I could transcribe my volume to paper,¡± I said. ¡°But it will be difficult to do so unnoticed. The walls have eyes as well as ears.¡±

    Lady Sigrun¡¯s hands rested on my shoulders, her lips moving closer to my ear. ¡°Do you desire me, my emperor?¡±

    The sensual way she said it sent a shiver of pleasure down my spine. ¡°What does that have to do with the matter at hand?¡±

    ¡°In my homnd, it is customary for men to write songs and poetry to women they desire¡­ especially in our runguage.¡± Lady Sigrun caressed my left cheek, causing blood to flush to it. It seemed to amuse her. ¡°I could teach it to you.¡±

    A code. She was offering to teach me how to code messages between us.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t I direct songs towards your daughter?¡± I mused while ncing at Ingrid. My consort appeared fully focused on her performance. If she could hear our conversation, she hid it well.

    ¡°You should.¡± Lady Sigrun stroked my hair. ¡°But I would appreciate a few for myself.¡±

    I looked over my shoulder and studied her smile. I could interpret it in so many ways. A subtle invitation to pay more attention to her for the sake of her image; a suggestion on how to lower suspicion; and a hook meant to further charm me.

    ¡°Has xc bribed you yet?¡± I asked suddenly, testing the waters.

    ¡°He has,¡± Lady Sigrun confirmed. ¡°He gave me beautiful jewels.¡±

    I held her gaze. ¡°Perhaps you should put them on by the time I wake up.¡±

    A sh of amusement passed over her gaze. ¡°If my emperor insists.¡±

    I knew it. She <em>was </em>teasing me. It might have worked on many other men, but I knew better than to buy into it. Lady Sigrun wanted to worm her way into my heart so she could obtain a better deal for herself than the one I currently offered. My discovery of the volumes had raised my appeal from a potential puppet to a dangerous ally. She meant to tame me.

    Should I pretend to fall for it? Let her think she could cast me under her spell the way I had blinded others with the Veil, so she would lower her guard? Or would she respect me more if I rejected her advances? What would give me better negotiating power?

    These questions coursed through my mind, but I was too tired to consider them. The massage and luby had worked. I let out a yawn. I was too tired for sex, too tired for thought, too tired to worry.

    I closed my eyes and the darkness imed me.

    Something was wrong.

    I felt it the moment sleep seized my mind. I had descended into the Land of the Dead Suns many times. I knew what to expect. The darkness, the cold, the dulling of my senses as my soul left its body of flesh to descend into the realm of the dead. The journey was akin to a gentle fall into the water.

    This time, I encountered an obstacle. Something viscous and slimy that stuck to the feathers of my soul. A sick pale fog swelled around me, filling my nostrils with the stench of rot and death. I couldn¡¯t see an inch ahead of me, but I could feel the tendrils catching me.

    My first instinct was to transform into my Tonalli form, which I did. My arms twisted into wings and my legs into talons, only for the bindings to tighten their hold on me. I struggled against invisible tendrils sticking to my back and limbs.

    What was happening?!

    ¡°How droll,¡± I heard a soft, soothing voice whisper in the mist. ¡°A bird caught in a web.¡±

    I immediately activated the Gaze spell, the sunlight of my soul clearing the mists and unveiling the trap in which I hadnded.

    I was in a cavern of some kind, with smooth obsidian walls without exits of any kind. A colossal spider¡¯s web covered every surface, its spinning strands holding the dusty bones of men and beasts alike in midair. I mistook them for silk for an instant, until I realized its texture matched another substance.

    Hair.

    I hadnded in a web of human hair.

    ¡°Is that fear that I smell, owl-fiend?¡± The voice from earlier taunted me with a tone as soothing as whistling leaves. ¡°Struggle as much as you like. I rather enjoy it.¡±

    ¡°Show yourself, coward!¡± I shouted back in defiance, looking around while struggling to escape the sticky strands keeping me bound. ¡°Face me, if you dare!¡±

    A drop of liquid fell a few inches to my left, melting away a strand. ¡°Look above you, little bird.¡±

    I did.

    A monstrous spider thricerger than a trihorn loomed over me, bloated and corpse-like.

    The arachnid immediately reminded me of the creature I had in on my way to M, but bigger, meaner, and even more grotesque. Its eight spindly legs ended in wed handsrge enough to hold and crush a man within their wed fingers. Whereas the beast I had once killedcked any eyes, this festering mass of flesh and chalky fur had too many of them. Dozens of slimy dark orbs as ck as midnight gathered in clusters all over its body.

    Most terrible of all was its face. Green bile dripped from its razor sharp fangs under a skeletal and all too human visage. Eight empty eye socketsy where the forehead should have been. Festering white worms emerged from them, their maws circr rows of fangs.

    The monster appeared to be as undead as the rest of the Underworld¡¯s denizens, but the yellow life-fire burning in its thorax said otherwise. Its vital glow nearly rivaled mine. This monster was as alive as I was, a soul from the living world visiting the dead at night.

    A Nahualli.

    ¡°Tzahualli,¡± I guessed, shocked beyond words. ¡°You are a Tzahualli. A spider-totem.¡±

    ¡°A knowledgeable fellow.¡± A tongue slithered from between the creature¡¯s fangs and licked them. ¡°Good. A cultured mind makes for excellent soul seasoning.¡±

    ¡°But you were all destroyed,¡± I replied, trying to buy time with words while I figured a way out of this mess. This monster oozed malevolence, and I doubted it would stop for a friendly chat. ¡°King Mtecuhtli wiped your kind out from the firstyer!¡±

    ¡°That is true,¡± the creature said, almost joyfully. ¡°But we are not on the firstyer, my sweet food. We are on the threshold, trapped before the Gate of Skulls in air of my design. The dead king¡¯s hand cannot grab us here.¡±

    If so, then I couldn¡¯t hope for a rescue. I turned my Gaze around, looking for an escape. This cavern had no hole to fly through, no door to open, no entry of any kind. How did I even fall into this web at all?

    <em>This is not a normal space,</em> I thought while trying to escape the web. Unfortunately, the more I struggled, the stronger the strands became.<em></em>I might be able to cut them with the doll spell, but my captor would know immediately. Spiders can sense even the most subtle vibrations in their web.<em> I need to get this monster closer. I won¡¯t have two chances to take it by surprise.</em>

    Thankfully for me, the Tzahualli appeared so certain of its victory that it allowed itself a moment to brag.

    ¡°Under normal circumstances, I would have hunted you down in the waking world,¡± the spider said. ¡°s for you, I found your soul less guarded than your body. The price paid for your head more than covered the risks involved.¡±

    ¡°The price?¡± The wording gave me pause. ¡°You were <em>paid </em>to attack me?¡±

    ¡°Nothing personal, my sweet. I am what you could call a hired hunter.¡± The spiderughed sinisterly. ¡°My employer should arrive sometime soon to confirm your demise.¡±

    I had guessed the sponsor¡¯s identity long before it materialized next to the spider.

    The tumi that had haunted me the night before appeared in a sh of light, its radiance illuminating the dark cavern and banishing what fog my previous spell hadn¡¯t cleared. The golden mask floated down closer to me with glowing eyes. I stared back at it with the Gaze.

    Some said eyes were the mirror of the soul. They were right. A humanoid reflection stared back at me through the tumi: a desated skeleton with gilded bones shining as bright as the sun and clothed in regal robes of woven silver. Sharpened rubies reced the teeth and two emeralds reced the eyes. Great feathered ck wings sprouted from its shoulders. A white ruff surrounded the neck, while the head of a bird I did not recognize sat atop the skull. A dark redb sat atop the head like a crown.

    ¡°Do you know who I am, oh Emperor of Blood and Darkness?¡± The male voiceing from the tumi was high-pitched, like a distant echo resonating through old mountains. ¡°Say my name, thrall to death, if you dare.¡±

    ¡°You are Inkarri,¡± I said with a re. I had tried to gain his attention for a while, and my wish had finally been granted. ¡°An Apu and Mallquis of the Sapa people.¡±

    ¡°That I am, the light that guards the mountains, for this night and all the nights toe. The condor king that protects the holynd of the Sapa.¡± The gilded reflection raised a finger at me. ¡°Which <em>you </em>wish to despoil with war and murder.¡±

    ¡°For a greater cause!¡± I argued, pointing at my chest. ¡°Look upon the bindings on my heart and the chains that hold my life-fire!¡±

    ¡°A thrall to the dark, that is what you are,¡± the Mallquis replied with contempt. ¡°Guilty of deception and instigating war!¡±

    ¡°A war I will do my best to lose!¡±

    My outburst took Inkarri aback. Since the spider had made no move to attack, I figured I still had a chance to pay.

    ¡°I seek to destroy the Nightlords too, and for that, I have to sow discord among their ranks,¡± I exined. ¡°A war will present the perfect opportunity to weaken the sisters¡¯ armies from within. We share the same objective, you and I. To destroy those four demons who would make us food.¡±

    ¡°And we would have been ready to wee them properly in due time, were it not for your treachery,¡± Inkarri replied, unconvinced. ¡°Now the Nightlords strike when we are most vulnerable, unprepared, <em>divided</em>.¡±

    ¡°But you will have an ally in the highest echelons of your enemy¡¯s highmand.¡± Which should more than make up for the Sapa¡¯s internal divisions. ¡°We could coborate. I can give you troop information, help you set traps to destroy the sisters¨C¡±

    The Mallquis interrupted me with a sinister rattle. ¡°You would help us win the war you started?¡± he asked. ¡°You expect me to believe you, a warlock who deluded his masters and subjects alike? Not even for a noble cause, but for selfish survival?¡±

    ¡°I did it for both.¡± This discussion wasn¡¯t going well. Then again, it didn¡¯t start well either. ¡°I have no desire to feed the Nightlords¡¯ hunger, but their destruction shall free our respective people from their threat. Starting a war offered the best odds to do both.¡±

    Green mes glowed in the reflection¡¯s emerald eyes. ¡°You traded the <em>certainty </em>of my homnd¡¯s suffering for your <em>potential </em>survival.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I have.¡± I would shoulder that sin. ¡°I fought back the best I could with the tools granted to me. What is done is done, though I take no joy in it.¡±

    ¡°What makes my people¡¯s lives less valuable than yours?¡± The Mallquis could hear me, but he clearly did not listen. ¡°I have felt the tremors of thend as it shudders in dread, the howling wind that whispers ofing cmity, the warnings of the stars. Your reign heralds an age of darkness where the deathless bats feast supreme. It cannot end any quicker.¡±

    ¡°It will end quicker if we work together,¡± I pointed out.

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Inkarri¡¯s tumi floated back as if disgusted by my mere existence. ¡°It shall end tonight.¡±

    I squinted and quickly cast a Veil spell around me. The more we spoke, the more I realized my words were wasted on Inkarri.

    The Mallquis had already made up his mind

    ¡°We Sapa have tried to y the emperors for countless moons,¡± Inkarri said. ¡°No sorcery could put them down for good. The flesh can die, but so long as the soul remains chained, the Nightlords can always recreate a receptacle to house it. Their sleeping souls did not fall through the Land of the Dead Suns either¡­ until now.¡±

    ¡°Killing me will change nothing,¡± I argued onest time, still hoping for a peaceful solution, ¡°and cost you an asset.¡±

    ¡°I think not,¡± the Mallquis said. ¡°If you die here, catecolotl, your soul shall be wiped clean from the Underworld. Not even the vampires¡¯ wicked progenitor will be able to recover your extinguished Teyolia. Your vile spirit will cease to be, and your body will be an empty husk unfit for the altar. The Nightlords will be too busy trying to salvage this disaster to wage war on my people. The chain of sacrifice will finally shatter, and the vile empire on which it rests along with it.¡±

    ¡°Then it is settled,¡± the spider said. The drooling Tzahualli had clearly been struggling to hold back its hunger. ¡°I shall feed on your still pulsing Teyolia.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The tumi turned its attention back on me. ¡°If you truly fight to end the Nightlords¡¯ terror and return the light of hope to the world, wicked emperor, then offer thyself to nothingness.¡±

    Calling upon the power within my Teyolia, I triggered the Doll spell and cloaked it in a Veil. Talons of darkness erupted from my chest, invisible to the eyes of the Tzahualli and tumi alike. Thetter descended closer to me, its legs trembling with giddiness.

    ¡°How much?¡± I asked.

    ¡°How much?¡± the spider replied.

    ¡°How much did this ghost pay you for this dirty deed?¡± I asked, waiting for the assassin toe closer. ¡°I¡¯ll give you twice the amount if you eat <em>him</em>.¡±

    The tumi let out a rattle. ¡°Do not trust nor underestimate this foul viin,¡± he advised his chosen assassin. ¡°He is a powerful warlock. Finish him off now.¡±

    ¡°Now, now, no need to rush anything,¡± the spider said. Unlike its employer, its arrogance blinded him to the danger ahead. ¡°Do you have two divine Teyolias to offer, owl-fiend? Otherwise, I¡¯m afraid no meal will satisfy my gourmet tastes better than your own hea¡ª¡±

    Invisible talons of darkness gutted it.

    Thick yellow blood sprayed upon my feathers from above. A surprised gargle of pain followed, the Tzahualli desperately covering a gashing wound below its head with its spidery legs so as to not bleed out.

    I had hoped to decapitate the monster in one swift stroke the same way I had torn my own guards in half earlier, but it was too big, too strong. The best I could do was distract it.

    ¡°Here is your answer, condor king,¡± I told the surprised tumi. ¡°The very same I had given the Nightlords when they decided to sacrifice me.¡±

    I immediately turned my Doll spell against the strands binding me. My shadow talons shredded them apart, freeing my body from its sticky chains. My wings pped with the strength of a mighty gust that sent the tumi flying backward.

    ¡°I <em>refuse</em>.¡±

    These two had made the same mistake as all the others. They had underestimated me.

    The furious Tzahualli let out a roar and fell upon me with all its weight and mass. But now that I was no longer bound, I flew away more swiftly. Though every inch of the cavern¡¯s walls was covered in web, I had enough space to maneuver.

    ¡°It is true, I do want the Nightlords to perish,¡± I said. ¡°But I would rather live to see it.¡±

    I would not die on anybody¡¯s altar. Not a vampire¡¯s, nor a spider¡¯s. No one would feed on me. <em>No one</em>. I had no guarantee my death would end anything either. The Nightlords had six hundred years to refine their ritual. My demise might cause them some trouble, but I doubted that it would cause Yohuachanca to copse on itself.

    If I were to die, it would be on my own terms.

    My resistance left the Mallquis unmoved. ¡°You shall not survive that long,¡± he warned me before barking orders to his assassin. ¡°Destroy him.¡±

    ¡°dly,¡± the Tzahualli rasped through the blood pouring from its fangs. It leapt at me with strength and speed belying its immense size. I avoided a fatal collision, but it managed to grab one of my talons with its dirty hands. Its ws closed on mine with a grip strong enough to shatter stone.

    I was strong, but not enough to carry a beast thrice my size. The Tzahualli pushed us down towards the cave¡¯s bottom, where it could hold me at its leisure. It tried to catch my wings with another of its hands the same way its kind¡¯s dead spawn had tried to on my journey to M, its fangs out and ready to bite.

    It might have worked had I not been training in using the Doll spell. My shadow talons stabbed the monster¡¯s hand and severed it from its body. With no bird to hold onto, the spider fell to the bottom of itsir with a loud crash.

    <em>This creature is no sorcerer, </em>I realized. It seemed unprepared for my spells. Of course it couldn¡¯t be a warlock. Its kind had been banished from the Land of the Dead Suns and it never faced a foe that could fight back. <em>The body is strong, but the mind is weak.</em>

    ¡°If you had any bravery, coward, you would havee to fight me yourself!¡± I snarled at the tumi. ¡°Or confronted the Nightlords before I forced your hand!¡±

    ¡°I do what I must so that my descendants may live,¡± the tumi replied while conveniently floating out of my reach. ¡°Such is a Mallquis¡¯ duty. To endure deathlessness for the sake of the living.¡±

    How quick were immortals willing to sacrifice lives other than their own. I might be walking the same path, but at least I did not pretend to be more righteous than I was.

    I ignored the tumi and focused back on the spider below. If Inkarri could intervene to support his assassin, he would have already.

    ¡°I have your scent, fool,¡± the Tzahualli said as it prepared to jump at me again. ¡°No matter where you run, I shall track you.¡±

    ¡°Who said anything about running?¡± I replied.

    I was done fleeing and hiding.

    But to kill this creature¡¯s body, I had to crush its spirit first.

    To do that, I called upon the Veil spell and cloaked myself in a fresh memory. My feathers burned with illusory sulfur and darkness surged from my Teyolia. I pushed back against the weight of the monster¡¯s disbelief to shock it with a vision of the creature I had seen in the Nightlords¡¯ me. When I opened my mouth, my spell changed my words into a dreadful curse.

    <strong>G??????????????????i??????????????????????v???????????????????e??????????????????? ????????m???????????e???????????????? ???????????????y???????????o??????????????????????u??????????????????r???????????? ???????????????????????s???????????????????????o????????????????????????u???????????????l??????!??????????????</strong>

    Whereas I had faced a god without blinking, my foe did not show the same bravery.

    The Tzahualli screeched in fear and turned its back on me. It rushed into a corner of the cavern, perhaps looking for a hole to crawl in.

    That was the opening I waited for. I swooped in from above and tackled its back with all my strength and viciousness. My owl instincts, exacerbated by my divine heart-fire, guided my ws.

    Unlike this foolish spider, I did not y with my food. The bird within me was a hunter, a stalker in the night.

    I went straight for the kill.

    The Tzahualli¡¯s Teyolia shone within its arachnid thorax, protected by humanoid ribs. My Doll spell unleashed ephemeral talons that split them open with a fearsome crack. It was only now that I realized how strong the spell was in closebat. Once I focused my power and will, I could crush stone and bend metal. The power of my soul trumped many times what my own hands could achieve. The Tzahualli thrashed and fought back in despair, but I held on to him with persistence and cleaved his back apart.

    His hearty exposed to me.

    Like a crow tearing out a piece of flesh from a corpse, my beak extracted the Teyolia from its receptacle. The Tzahualli screeched in pain and agony, its soulbound scream reverberating through its web. The cavern¡¯s walls cracked and shattered like ss. Whatever totemic magic that held its existence in ce came to an end.

    The ground copsed beneath us and we swiftly crashed onto a stand of fossilized bones. I heard hundreds of voices let out cries of fear and surprise while our impact raised a cloud of ashen dust. I pped my wings to clear it, revealing familiar crowds of undead.

    The Market of Years.

    We had crashed through the frontier between worlds and manifested back where I had woken up. The tumi had vanished from sight. All that remained were its servant¡¯s dead remains beneath my feet.

    ¡°Poor choice of assassin,¡± I whispered as the Teyolia I had captured dissipated on its own. Death had imed this hunter.

    The next one would be more dangerous.

    This assassination attempt had clearly been a rushed job, a desperate measure to y me before my armies could mobilize. Inkarri had sacrificed preparation for the sake of expediency, selecting a tool unfit for the challenge.

    Though I relished in my victory, I knew it was mostly meaningless. Inkarri remained safely out of my reach and tonight¡¯s debacle had cost him nothing. If anything, he had learned not to underestimate me anymore. He would make a second attempt. A deadlier one.

    M was no longer my sanctuary.

    I had to leave.

 Chapter Twenty-Four: Welcome Home (Book I Conclusion)

    Chapter Twenty-Four: Wee Home (Book I Conclusion)

    Word of my ambush spread quickly.

    The dead did not waste anything. By the night¡¯s end, a new stand made from the Tzahualli¡¯s remains would join the Market of Years. I had no idea what kind of goods someone would sell within the bones of a giant spider-totem¡¯s corpse though. Trinkets made from dead bugs? Clothes made from colored webs? Or perhaps Huehuecoyotl would repurpose it into a new attraction? That coyote had a ir for the dramatic.

    In any case, Queen Mictecacihuatl swiftly arrived once alerted of themotion. Much like her husband, she seemed aware of anything happening within M¡¯s walls at any time. The presence of a Tzahualli, even a dead one, probably invited her full and immediate attention.

    ¡°That was a brazen attempt,¡± the queen said after she listened to my tale. ¡°I suspected a few Tzahualli lurk in the loweryers, but it bothers me to hear one is still stalking thend of the living.¡±

    ¡°That one won¡¯t harm the dead anymore, at least,¡± I replied.

    ¡°You have my gratitude for this. Those consumed by the Tzahualli are denied an afterlife. You have avenged many souls and preserved others yet toe.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl looked up at the Land of the Dead Suns¡¯ stone ceiling. ¡°Still, I cannot help but wonder if there are others active among their kind. If one has survived our purge, why not more?¡±

    I feared as much. Inkarri must have recruited the spider-totem who would let him organize this ambush the quickest. He would certainly be able to secure contracts with a morepetent Tzahualli and organize another ambush in time.

    ¡°Is there any way to avoid a simr trap?¡± I asked the goddess.

    When the Queen of the Dead paused for a brief moment, I already knew the answer would be a firm <em>¡®no</em>.¡¯ ¡°Violence is forbidden within these walls and shall not be tolerated. If your enemy attempts to y you here, he shall suffer my wrath. However, your foes are correct. Neither my king¡¯s reach nor mine extends to souls trapped on the threshold between life and death. Otherwise, I would have helped your predecessors pass on properly.¡±¡°Are there no spells to prevent them from intercepting me? A Veil that could hide my descent into the Underworld?¡±

    ¡°Not to my knowledge. The passage between life and death always shows the soul at its most vulnerable. Your Teyolia is like a candle in the night, easy to track for those who can see in the dark.¡± The Queen joined her skeletal hands together. ¡°There is another possibility, child, albeit with its own harsh cost.¡±

    ¡°Moving into locan,¡± I guessed. She had already suggested a simr scenario to escape the Tumi¡¯s surveince.

    ¡°That would be the easiest solution,¡± the goddess confirmed. ¡°Once you cross into the secondyer, your soul will skip the firstyer once you fall asleep. Instead of crossing the Gate of Skulls that separates thend of the living from our realm, your spirit will instead pass through my husband¡¯s everwatching gaze. No spider will be able to catch you mid-fall, because they will not know in whichyer you wouldnd; and if they try to find out, my king¡¯s hand shall squash them.¡±

    A thought I relished immensely.

    ¡°However, I must remind you that locan is a perilous ce,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl said. ¡°There is no sanctuary to be found under its rain of fire, no city of the dead to offer you peace and repose. The dangers you will find there might exceed those your foes up above cane up with.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, but I can prepare for locan¡¯s dangers while Inkarri¡¯s attacks will alwayse as a surprise to me.¡± I let out a sigh. ¡°It seems I will have to move deeper earlier than expected.¡±

    A true shame. I had grown to enjoy M over the nights I spent within its rattling walls. As odd as it sounded, a city of honest corpses felt more weing than a luxurious pce full of servants and traitors. It helped me escape the Nightlords¡¯ grasp and that nagging, constant sensation of danger.

    M helped me <em>breathe</em>.

    Without it as an escape for my troubles above¡­ my life in the waking world would only grow wearier. I could tell.

    Queen Mictecacihuatl gave me a look of purepassion. She had sensed my distress. ¡°I am truly sorry, Iztac. If I could offer more help, I would.¡±

    ¡°You have already helped me more than you can imagine, oh kind Queen of the Dead.¡± My heart overflowed with gratitude. ¡°You have shown me morepassion than most of my own kind, and your wise advice helped guide me in troubled times. I shall not forget it.¡±

    ¡°I shall not forget you either, Iztac. You will always be wee in M.¡± Her gaze lingered on my chest. ¡°However, I feel great doom stands between you and your eternal rest.¡±

    ¡°Nothing escapes you, Your Majesty.¡± I hoped she could offer onest piece of advice before I continued my descent into locan. ¡°A sulfur me burns in my pce.¡±

    Queen Mictecacihuatl listened attentively as I recountedst night¡¯s tale. How the Nightlords¡¯ ritual led to the creation of a smokeless fire connected to an ancient and primeval horror. Having existed since the dawn of life, I doubted the goddess of death could feel fear.

    And yet¡­ and yet the way her yed flesh tensed up as I recounted my tale did not escape me. I couldn¡¯t tell if it was out of anger, annoyance, or another human emotion, but my story definitively unsettled her.

    I took it as a <em>dire </em>warning.

    Queen Mictecacihuatl was as old as the first humanity and watched the world end four times across countless eons. She had weed my pleas to travel into the depths of the Underworld and defeat the Nightlords withpassion, but <em>never </em>personal concern.

    Whatever my captors had nned bothered the very architects of the cosmos.

    ¡°Do you know how the fifth sun came about, Iztac?¡± the goddess finally asked me, breaking the silence.

    ¡°Only the Yohuachancan myth,¡± I replied after recovering myposure. A tale I already knew to be deceitful. ¡°When the fourth world came to an end, the great Yohuachanca, the First Emperor, offered a covenant to mankind. He would sacrifice himself to be the fifth sun and return light to the world, but in exchange mortals would have to sacrifice their blood to keep him and his descendants fed.¡±

    ¡°A lie inspired by the truth, but a lie nheless,¡± the queenmented. ¡°The truth, as you no doubt suspect, is very different. I was fortunate enough to witness the momentous asion with my own eyes.¡±

    I nodded sharply and listened in respectful silence. The goddess paused for a short moment, gathering her thoughts before revealing to me the secret tale of creation.

    ¡°Long before Yohuachanca arose to dominate thend, the gods gathered after the demise of the fourth humanity,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl exined to me. ¡°My husband argued against the recreation of life, as he always does whenever the world is remade.¡±

    It didn¡¯t surprise me. King Mtecuhtli had never been alive and considered death to be the true state of existence.

    ¡°Quetzalcoatl stole the bones of the dead to create a new incarnation of mankind, but there was no sun to illuminate the darkness.¡± The goddess waved her hand at the fire in my chest. ¡°To ignite a sun, a god must give up their Teyolia, their heart-fire. Even among the divine, few possess a strong enough me to achieve this feat. Of the celestial host, only two gods proved worthy candidates: proud and mighty Tiztecatl, son of loc and Chalchiuhtlicue, born of two suns and with the arrogance to match his origins; and humble Nanahuatzin, who had suffered a life of hardship, poverty, and misery, yet gained a strong will from it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of either of these gods,¡± I confessed.

    ¡°The vampires erased word of their existence, as they try to extinguish mine,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl replied before returning to her tale. ¡°Tiztecatl volunteered for the task because he believed it an <em>honor</em>; Nanahuatzin, because he thought it was his <em>duty</em>.¡±

    I had heard simr folktales often enough to guess how it would turn out.

    ¡°We gods gathered at the apex of a stillborn world and lit a great bonfire atop a mountain. Tiztecatl and Nanahuatzin were asked to step forward and sacrifice their most valuable possessions to the mes. The former gave rich offerings of gold, jade, and coral; thetter could only offer his own blood. It was decided that strong and noble Tiztecatl would be the new sun, while Nanahuatzin would be his moon and assistant. Tiztecatl was asked to jump into the bonfire, so that his Teyolia might rise from it and ascend into the sky.¡±

    ¡°But he did not,¡± I guessed. This always happened in the priests¡¯ stories, who loved to condemn the proud and rebellious to better exalt the humble and dutiful. ¡°He proved unfit for the task.¡±

    ¡°He did.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl let out augh. ¡°Four times Tiztecatl tried to jump into the sacred fire. Four times he recoiled upon sensing the searing heat on his skin. Tiztecatl had never tasted pain before, and now he learned to fear it. The gods were disappointed, none more than Tiztecatl¡¯s parents, who had both made the ultimate sacrifice without hesitation. After their son¡¯s fourth failure, they called upon Nanahuatzin.¡±

    The goddess marked a short pause. ¡°Do you know what his name means, Iztac?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Nanahuatzin means <em>¡®full of sores.¡¯</em> It is a cruel name.¡±

    ¡°Nanahuatzin lived up to it. He was born so deformed his godly parents abandoned him, and lived an existence of shunned misery. Though kind Xochiquetzal adopted him he had few friends, chief among them were my faithful Xolotl, noble Quetzalcoatl, and his cunning brother Tezcatlipoca. But his pain had taught him resolve, and the little kindness he received showed him the value of life. When he was called to the bonfire, Nanahuatzin did not even hesitate before jumping in.¡±

    Was that respect I detected in the queen¡¯s voice? ¡°You sound like you admire him, oh goddess.¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl replied with fondness. ¡°The living forget acts of valor quickly, but we dead ones remember them forever.¡±

    Coming from a goddess as old as time, that was high praise.

    ¡°I cannot boast of raising a sun into the sky,¡± I said, ¡°But I hope to be as worthy of remembrance as Nanahuatzin one day.¡±

    ¡°You do remind me of him, Iztac,¡± the goddess said with a small chuckle. ¡°Nurture your inner strength, child. Bravery does not rise from magic or power, but one¡¯s resolve in the face of suffering.¡±

    I thought over the lesson, and offered a nod of appreciation. The goddess continued her tale soon after.

    ¡°Tiztecatl was so shamed and humiliated that he immediately followed his rival into the bonfire to prove himself,¡± she said. ¡°Soon two lights rose in the sky, each a reflection of the gods who gave them life: Nanahuatzin, who sacrificed himself out of bravery, ascended as the fifth sun; Tiztecatl, who gave his life out of wounded pride, became the moon. The remaining lesser gods thus gave their Teyolia to fuel the wind and give movement to the stars. They sacrificed themselves to breathe life into the cosmos. Now mortals have taken upon that duty.¡±

    ¡°Mortals?¡± My gaze wandered to my chest, where my Teyolia burned. Whereas the dead only had darkness between their ribs. ¡°Is this linked to our heart-fires?¡±

    ¡°Very sharp, Iztac. Yes indeed. When a mortal dies, whether man or beast, their Teyolia ascends to fuel the fifth sun while their Tonalli goes on to rest in the Underworld.¡±

    This meant that by devouring both, vampires did worse than prevent the dead from enjoying their afterlife. They slowly starved the sun of power and threatened the universe¡¯s very stability. They were an infection cursing life itself.

    ¡°This is a heartfelt tale, Your Majesty, and I thank you for sharing it with me,¡± I said, albeit with some confusion. I believed the queen told me the unblemished truth¡ªshe had witnessed these events in person after all¡ªbut their significance escaped me. ¡°However, how does it rte to the Nightlords¡¯ sulfur me?¡±

    She answered me with another question. ¡°Why do mortals create statues of the gods and give them offerings?¡±

    ¡°Because they hope to establish contact through them,¡± I replied with confidence. That was why Queen Mictecacihuatl needed a priestess to run the Day of the Dead ritual. Thetter would serve as her anchor into the living world.

    ¡°We gods have power over our representations and representatives,¡± the goddess confirmed. ¡°But the reverse is also true.¡±

    It took me a moment to realize the magnitude of her statement. ¡°Acts visited upon your representations affect you?¡± It beggared understanding. ¡°But¡­ that¡¯s not possible. If so, then any statue¡¯s destruction would harm you.¡±

    ¡°Most gods are so powerful that symbolic acts rarely affect them much. The destruction of my temples and statues left me disturbed, but it did not shackle my power.¡± The goddess met my gaze, the ghostly hue in her empty eyes reminding me of the sulfur me¡¯s radiance. ¡°However, a symbolic ritual,plex and thoroughly repeated, might eventually weaken my very essence.¡±

    A shiver ran through my spine as I connected the dots.

    The Scarlet Moon.

    ¡°I am the First Emperor incarnate, or so the red-eyed priests say,¡± I muttered under my breath, horrified. ¡°They affect <em>him </em>through <em>me</em>. Like a doll burned to curse the one it represents.¡±

    ¡°You y the role of yournd¡¯s founder, who ascended to divinity as the god of pain and hunger,¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl whispered, her tone as haunting as a skull rattling in its tomb. ¡°You are wed to four consorts, who each stand as the living reflections of the people your captors used to be. You all y at being emperor and masters of the realm, until one night these four living women are devoured by the vampires they were fated to be. Your captors then proceed to ritually tear apart the living incarnation of their divine father.¡±

    A rehearsal. The Scarlet Moon was a rehearsal. The echo of an ancient crime kept alive and meant to entomb the past. A betrayal which the Nightlords repeated each year on their father¡¯s precious human doll.

    Which meant that the New Fire Ceremony represented a simr ritual. One targeted not at the First Emperor, but at Nanahuatzin.

    At the sun.

    At the <em><strong>sun</strong></em>.

    <em>They¡¯re¡­ they¡¯re insane. </em>I thought Yoloxochitl was the only madwoman among the Nightlords, but now I realized all four sisters werepletely and utterly <em>mad</em>. They spent over six-hundred years refining a ritual aimed at the sun on which all mortal life relied on. <em>Insane.</em>

    What could they hope to aplish? Extinguish the sun and enshroud the universe in eternal darkness? It would kill the very humans on which the leeches rely on to feed! Certainly even the likes of the Jaguar Woman realized that!

    ¡°Why?!¡± I begged Queen Mictecacihuatl for an answer, my voice breaking from the creeping dread and disbelief. ¡°Why?! What could they hope to aplish?!¡±

    ¡°I cannot say what the vampires n to do,¡± the queen replied, her voice heavy with concern. ¡°But the ce that you people call Smoke Mountain is where we once raised the fifth sun. It cannot be a coincidence.¡±

    No, it could not. This did not reassure me <em>at all</em>. The Nightlords had spent centuries rehearsing a parody of the world¡¯s creation, until atst a cursed god of hunger and hatred blessed their vile enterprise.

    I tried to calm down, telling myself I still had days to stop whatever they nned. I had time to think it through. Precious little time. I reyed the New Fire Ceremony in my mind, searching for any detail that might help the Queen of the Dead enlighten me.

    ¡°Drain,¡± I muttered twice, once a mere hush, another a firmer word. ¡°They said they would <em>¡®drain¡¯ </em>power from the me. Were they talking about the flow of Teyolia?¡±

    Were they trying to rob the sun of its own sustenance?

    To my sorrow, the goddess had no more answer than me. ¡°I cannot say, Iztac,¡± she said, her yed skin tense as a bowstring. ¡°However, the danger is real. Like the moon and the tides, the cosmos follows a cycle where magic ebbs and flows. The cosmos is at its most malleable on thest five days of a fifty-two year cycle, for this is the moment when the power of chaos is at its apex. Usually impossible feats of sorcery be possible on that date.¡±

    There were no curse words strong enough to answer <em>that </em>revtion.

    I wasn¡¯t blind to the goddess¡¯ worries. She couldn¡¯t tell what the Nightlords nned to do at the ceremony¡¯s conclusion, but what mattered was that they might <em>seed</em>.

    <em>I must stop it, </em>I told myself, my hands shaking, my fiery blood now colder than winter snow. No matter the cost, no matter its aims, I <em>had </em>to stop that ritual. Not only for my sake, but that of the world itself.

    ¡°The fifth sun shall be thest your kin shall see, Iztac.¡± The goddess marked a short pause heavy with finality. ¡°The gods have all sacrificed their Teyolia so that the current world might live. Should the current sun be extinguished, no one shall step up to raise its sessor.¡±

    As if I didn¡¯t have enough weight on my shoulders as it was!

    ¡°Can¡¯t <em>you </em>stop it?!¡± I dared snap at Queen Mictecacihuatl, too fearful and frustrated. ¡°You are a goddess, a <em>real </em>goddess! Surely this situation warrants your intervention!¡±

    ¡°I have no dominion over the living world,¡± she reminded me, her voice oozing sorrow.

    ¡°But I do! I can travel between worlds!¡± I knelt before her. ¡°Trade me the power to break this ritual before it¡¯s toote! I shall give thee my flesh and soul if I must!¡±

    Queen Mictecacihuatl bristled. ¡°You know not what you ask.¡±

    ¡°I do!¡± This situation went far beyond my personal salvation. The Nightlords¡¯ ritual might threaten the world and the very existence of mankind as a whole. ¡°Don¡¯t you have more spells to give?! More secret strength to lend?!¡±

    ¡°I have given you all the help I could provide, more than you know.¡± The goddess shook her head and let out a rattle of pure regret. ¡°There existws that have bound me since the dawn of time. I am powerful, that is true. But I am not free to do as I please.¡±

    I opened my mouth to argue further¡­ when the queen avoided my gaze.

    There were gestures so simple that,ing from the right person, carried more weight than mountains. Queen Mictecacihuatl was the first woman to ever die, a goddess only two generations removed from the universe¡¯s origin. Shemanded all souls who had ever perished.

    Yet she avoided a mortal¡¯s gaze.

    Out of shame. Out of sorrow. Out of frustration.

    The gesture took the wind out of my sails. The goddess wanted to help from the bottom of her divine heart, but she was just as lost on how to proceed as I was.

    <em>Even the gods had limits,</em> I realized. <em>Otherwise they would not need humans to keep the sun alive.</em>

    <em>The world above belongs to mortals and its fate would remain in mortal hands.</em> I breathed the chilly air of M and fought to regain myposure.<em> In my hands, and the few I can convince to fight with me.</em>

    Much like Nanahuatzin, all I could do was to remain resolute in the face of danger and push on anyway. I had done so on the night of the Scarlet Moon. And I would do so again.

    ¡°I shall disrupt this ritual before it reachespletion,¡± I swore to the goddess. ¡°One way or another.¡±

    The queen met my eyes again, though the light in them flickered weakly. ¡°I cannot offer insight on how to extinguish the sulfur me, but I can tell you this, Iztac: even the strongest lie eventually yields to the simplest truth. No matter how powerful your enemies appear, remember that their rule is built on weak foundations.¡±

    ¡°I shall keep your advice in mind.¡± For all the good it would do. ¡°I promise.¡±

    I would also make sure neither Nanahuatzin¡¯s memory, nor even Tiztecatl¡¯s, would be sacrificed on the First Emperor¡¯s altar. No matter their reasons, both had given their souls to bring mankind light. I would not let them be forgotten to the profit of a vampiric usurper.

    ¡°It is time for me to go,¡± I whispered with a heavy heart. ¡°I only have a few hours of sleep left.¡±

    ¡°The doors to locan await you underground.¡± The goddess¡¯ skeletal teeth morphed into what could pass for a sad smile. ¡°We shall meet again, Iztac, on the Day of the Dead.¡±

    If I lived that long. ¡°I shall provide a suitable priestess,¡± I humbly promised. ¡°I already have my sights on potential candidates.¡±

    Necahual seemed like the best choice for a priestess, followed closely by Sigrun, if I could convince them to go along with it.

    ¡°Much will have changed by then, but I can tell that you will deliver.¡± Queen Mictecacihuatl put a hand on her heart and waved it at mine. I recognized it as a humble gesture of goodbye. ¡°You have my blessing on your journey, Iztac.¡±

    I knelt and offered her my warmest thanks. I would miss her greatly.

    I had the feeling the gods I would meet below would prove far less pleasant.

    It took me hours of preparation and paying a dead merchant with unforgettable illusions¨Che had asked for a full night¡¯s worth against his Macetail carrying frame, to which I haggled down the duration¡ªbut I finally descended into M¡¯s depths well and fully prepared.

    I walked down bone-stairs with a mask of loc on my face and blue body paint all over my flesh and bones. My back bent under the weight of the heavy armored carrying frame and its contents: my second volume of the First Emperor¡¯s codices, the urn Chalchiuhtlicue asked me to deliver to her husband, and other supplies that should help me brave locan¡¯s incendiaryndscape. I should be able to avoid the worst of the secondyer¡¯s hazards bybining my disguise with a well-crafted Veil.

    All in all, I was as prepared for the next step of my journey as I would ever be. M¡¯s bowels opened up before me and led to the Gate of Torment. The doorway to locan hadn¡¯t changed since myst visit. The obsidian archway leading to the secondyer awaited me with pulsing mes and zing shes of crimson lightning.

    A golden tumi floated in front of it.

    If I still had a beating heart inside my chest rather than a searing me I would have had a stroke on the spot. Instead, I immediately triggered my Gaze spell while summoning the Doll¡¯s talons, ready for yet another fight¡­

    Only for the mask to disappear before my sunlit eyes.

    ¡°A!¡± A familiar trickster raged from one of the chamber¡¯s corners. ¡°That¡¯s cheating!¡±

    <em>That voice</em>, I thought, immediately recognizing the <em>bastard </em>to which it belonged.<em> Impossible. He said he didn¡¯t want to see me again.</em>

    In spite of all reason, here he was, waiting for me with other guests.

    Huehuecoyotl hadn¡¯t changed a bit since Ist had the displeasure of encountering him. He still radiated the same empty bravado and insolence he showed in all our interactions,zily leaning against locan¡¯s archway as if it were normal furniture rather than a window into an underground hellscape. He wasn¡¯t alone either. Xolotl was also present, alongside two familiar skeletons I could never forget.

    After all, I had saved their afterlives.

    ¡°Ueman? Chipahua?¡± I could hardly believe my eyes. ¡°Is that you¡ªAH!¡±

    I had almost forgotten the sensation of Xolotl¡¯s jaws closing on my arm. I did not miss it though. Huehuecoyotl held his empty rib cage as heughed at my pain while Ueaman and his sister exchanged an embarrassed nce.

    ¡°Do you, uh¡­¡± Ueman scratched the back of his skull. A futile gesture since he had no hair left, but living habits die hard. ¡°Need help?¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine,¡± I said while gritting my teeth. Xolotl actually released his grip a bit earlier than usual. ¡°Was that truly necessary?¡±

    ¡°I am entitled to chew your flesh and bones each time you visit the firstyer,¡± Xolotl reminded me. ¡°Did you think you could escape without paying good Xolotl¡¯s due?¡±

    No. No, I definitely did not.

    But still, I was surprised to find him waiting for me at locan¡¯s threshold withpany. I assumed Xolotl wanted to remind me of our second deal and the message I had to deliver to his brother Quetzalcoatl, but the others had no stake in my departure. One in particr had made his displeasure with me known.

    ¡°Why are you here, Huehuecoyotl?¡± I asked the trickster as he finally calmed down. What was his game? ¡°I thought you never wanted to see me again?¡±

    ¡°I stand by what I said. Your heart is full of hate and its light will bring naught but destruction to the living.¡± Huehuecoyotl shrugged his shoulders. ¡°But you know me. I¡¯m a yful man. I always bet against the odds.¡±

    I squinted at him, unsure how I should take this. I thought he would ask me a favor, orugh at me, but he did neither of these things. It took me a while to realize he had no ulterior motives, or at least none that I could identify.

    ¡°Are you here to tell me farewell?¡± I asked, utterly bbergasted.

    ¡°Well, you did dere your undying love to me atop a giant spire.¡± Huehuecoyotl smirked at me as he dared to remind me of that particr fiasco, the shameless bastard. ¡°It would be uncouth of me <em>not </em>to tell you goodbye, little bird that you are. Not after the passionate night we spent together.¡±

    ¡°Brother, what is he talking about?¡± Poor Chipahua asked her brother while I fought back the urge to strangle Huehuecoyotl where he stood.

    ¡°You will understand when you¡¯re old¨C¡± Ueman suddenly stopped himself before he could say something terribly stupid to his dead sister. ¡°I will tell you another day.¡±

    ¡°We did not¡­¡± My protests died in my throat when I heard Huehuecoyotl¡¯s cackling. That wily trickster delighted in embarrassing me, so I decided to deny him. ¡°Whatever. I don¡¯t care.¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t break up on the best conditions,¡± Huehuecoyotl lied to the other undead.

    ¡°How surprising,¡± Xolotl replied with heavy sarcasm. Clearly, he too had suffered from the coyote¡¯s pranks. ¡°I wait for the day someone will scrap you with great expectations.¡±

    I cursed myself for my stupidity. Of course Huehuecoyotl had an ulterior motive. He wanted tough at me onest time.

    I would have been furious under other circumstances, but to my surprise I couldn¡¯t muster the strength to be mad at him. If anything I felt¡­ strangely pleased. The same way I had been after losing a ssh fight with Eztli near the river or ying that Tumi game with Nl.

    I had forgotten what it meant to have fun.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a while, great Iztac,¡± Ueman said as he found the courage to greet me. His sister Chipahua nodded sweetly at me. ¡°Lord Xolotl informed us that you intended to leave M, so we insisted that we attend your departure.¡±

    Xolotl informed them? I nced at the dog god, who scratched his back rather than face me.

    ¡°Much has happened since west met, and I must take my leave of this gray city,¡± I conceded to Ueman. ¡°But please, stop calling me ¡®great.¡¯ Iztac will do fine.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t do that.¡± Ueman shook his head in denial. ¡°We do owe you our afterlives. I do not want to sound disrespectful.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± I replied with a heavy sigh upon realizing he wouldn¡¯t budge on the matter. ¡°How have you been since west crossed paths?¡±

    ¡°All is good. We were sorted with our ancestors, with whom we share a house.¡± Ueman let out a chuckle. ¡°It is a bit strange to talk with grandparents we never met in life, but they dote on my sister.¡±

    Good for them. They had earned a peaceful rest after spending decades trapped in the Underworld¡¯s mists.

    Chipahua approached me and raised her skeletal hands at me. A small trinket shone within them; a rainbowy snail¡¯s shell. Pretty, if a bit tarnished by time and slightly cracked.

    ¡°For you,¡± Chipahua whispered shyly.

    ¡°Chipahua found it near theke of tears outside the city walls,¡± Ueman said. ¡°We know it¡¯s not much, great and powerful Iztac, but we hope you will appreciate this gift.¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± I said, touched by the gesture. I took the shell into my palm as if it were a precious treasure. ¡°It is pretty.¡±

    ¡°It is <em>marvelous</em>,¡± Huehuecoyotlmented with a salesman¡¯s enthusiasm. ¡°A captured rainbow shining like the sun!¡±

    It shone the more since it came without expectations, unlike the gifts I received above ground. This shell might not be a magical tablet or a pet Feathered Tyrant, but I would value it more than the others for what it represented.

    Gratitude.

    There were people worth helping in this harsh world of ours.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I told Ueman and his sister after storing the seashell into my carrying frame with my other precious possessions. ¡°I shall carry it with me to the Underworld¡¯s depths.¡±

    ¡°A bold promise,¡± Xolotlmented with some cynicism, while Huehuecoyotl crossed his arms with an enigmatic look on his canine face.

    ¡°No, great Iztac, we thank you for your kindness and bravery.¡± Ueman and his sister bowed before me. ¡°We shall pray for your sess on your journey.¡±

    I offered them a final nod of respect and bade them farewell as well. I stepped towards locan¡¯s threshold, facing the smoldering hellscape beyond it.

    ¡°Remember our promise,¡± Xolotl said.

    ¡°I shall,¡± I replied. ¡°Until we meet again.¡±

    I took onest breath and then stepped forward.

    The veil separating the firstyer from the next was no thicker than a scroll of paper. I faced no resistance, no pushback. In fact, I fell through the entire portal the moment I touched it with my hand. My body, my soul, my very essence was called through the gate in the blink of an eye.

    I felt the change within the very depths of my soul. A weight that fell not on my body, but my spirit. I sensed the familiar and terrible presence of King Mtecuhtli watching over me, like the guardian of a gate granting me passage. The death god offered me no farewell nor blessing. His almighty voice instead echoed in my skull one final time to impress ast warning in my thoughts.

    <em><strong>¡°Do not be what you fight against.¡±</strong></em>

    I crossed the passage, abandoning M¡¯s cold for locan¡¯s heat.

    No words could properly describe thetter. I felt as if I had walked into an oven, no, a bonfire. I stepped onto ashes warmer than the Nightlords¡¯ pile of them inside my pce and faced a storm of cinders blown by howling winds onto my face. The blue paint and mask I wore repelled them before they could y the flesh from my bones, but I still felt the terrible heat nheless.

    The noise of booming thunder erupted above me where once there was only silence. A thick smell of sulfur filled my nostrils alongside old dust and primeval ashes. The underground ceiling of bones gave way to a smoke-filled whirlpool of clouds dominated by loc¡¯s baleful sun. Andscape of molten rivers and deste spires sprawled before me, an invitation to destion. Though I couldn¡¯t see them yet, I knew the Burning Men haunted these ruins, waiting to strike.

    I immediately called upon the Veil to hide myself under a cloak of illusions, to no avail. An overwhelming will blew away my disguise like the wind did to a sandcastle. The light of loc¡¯s sun crushed my illusion under the weight of denial and disbelief.

    ¡°A clever n,¡± a woman¡¯s voice echoed behind me, high and mighty. ¡°But one that was doomed from the very beginning.¡±

    I froze in shock and surprise.

    I¡¯d only heard that voice in passing, whispered to me by the Yaotzin when it revealed Necahual¡¯s darkest secret to me¡­ and whom she feared the most.

    I slowly turned around, the carrying frame heavy on my back, my Doll spell ready to fire at the first sign of danger. A copy of the Gate of Torment stood behind me, surrounded by a desert of dust. The obsidian archway was empty, with no door to M opened within its confines. As forewarned, this had been a one-way trip.

    A giant ck owl was perched atop the gate, her icy blue eyes studying me. I faced a reflection of my own Tonalli, but bigger, more experienced, and deadlier as well.

    ¡°loc¡¯s sun burns away the lies that caused him distress,¡± she said calmly. ¡°Your Veil spell is useless on thisyer¡¯s surface. You will have to bear his fury or that of his victims.¡±

    I did not answer.

    She didn¡¯t mind. She stepped down from her perch and transformed midfall. Her talons became feet before they hit the ground. I faced a middle-aged woman with long white hair and a dress of ckened feathers. A dark wooden mask covered the upper part of her face, revealing only two blue lights for eyes. A purple me even darker than mine burned inside her exposed ribs. I stared at my twisted mirror, my forgotten past and possible future.

    ¡°Wee home, my son,¡± my mother greeted me.

    Ichtaca. Mother of witches and M¡¯s greatest criminal. The one who gave birth to me, both to my human flesh and the owl-soul I wouldter be.

    A flood of conflicting emotions burst out from within me. Joy at seeing a family member alive, even one I had never truly known; a gaping emptiness left from growing up without a mother; abandonment issues I had spent years suppressing; anger at her departure; caution for her history of crimes; and fear of what she had done with my father¡¯s soul. I stood still as so many thoughts waged a battle within my soul.

    Was a simr conflict taking ce within my mother¡¯s mind? Her face was a mask, her eyes unreadable. I noticed her fingers slightly twitch now and then, though I couldn¡¯t tell whether it was out of emotion or wariness. Did she expect us to hug or fight?

    I activated the Gaze spell, just in case. My sunlight-fueled eyes pierced through no illusion. My mother hade to me without hiding anything. It reassured me, but not enough to lower my guard.

    ¡°How long have you been waiting?¡± I finally asked, my fists tightened and all my senses alert for any sign of danger.

    ¡°Since the day you were born.¡± A proud smile formed on her lips. ¡°I knew you would grow into a Nahualli the moment the midwife dragged you screaming into the world. I had hoped the owl-totem would select you as its catecolotl, but I couldn¡¯t be sure.¡±

    ¡°You could have found out earlier, if you hadn¡¯t abandoned me and Father!¡± My blood boiled with anger. ¡°Instead you left us to suffer alone!¡±

    Her smile faded away.

    ¡°Do you think I wanted to?¡± Though she did not raise her tone, Mother sounded almost as angry as I was. ¡°Leaving you and Itzili behind was by far the hardest decision I had to make in my entire life.¡±

    ¡°Then <em>why</em>?!¡±

    ¡°Because I had <em>no choice</em>,¡± she insisted angrily, stressing thest part. ¡°The Nightlords were onto me and desired to add me to their sick imperial breeding program. They would have made me a concubine or consort had I not fled into the night. Those parasites wish to breed Nahualli like we do <em>turkeys</em>.¡±

    I wanted to believe her. I desperately wanted to believe her. That there had been apletely rational reason that exined why she had abandoned her family without ever bothering to contact me again.

    But for all of my heart¡¯s desire, she was a stranger to me. A ghost I had resented and idealized at different times of my life, yet never truly known except through the tales of her cruelty.

    ¡°If you cared, you would have taken Father and me along,¡± I used her. ¡°Or at least sent a message.¡±

    ¡°I had to flee on short notice. I considered contacting you many times, Iztac, but the red-eyed priests would have used you as a hostage if I ever tried.¡± My mother crossed her arms. ¡°Distancing myself from you was the only way to let them ignore your existence. To give you a chance at a better life.¡±

    A better life?

    A <em>better </em>life?!

    ¡°A better life?! Look at me!¡± I pointed at my eyes, at my owl mask. ¡°Look at <em>me</em>!¡±

    She held my gaze in silence.

    ¡°How could you look at my eyes and hair and think I would <em>ever </em>have a better life than literally <em>anyone else</em>?!¡± I used her. ¡°You were there with Father on the day I was born! The day when the soothsayer condemned a cursed freak before our entire vige!¡±

    ¡°They were mundanes,¡± she answered with a touch of arrogant disdain, ¡°and forbidden to y you. What could they have done to you?¡±

    A bitterugh escaped my mouth. ¡°Mock me for a start,¡± I rasped angrily. ¡°And beat me, and starve me, and stone me, and throw shit at me, and p me, and shun me¨C¡±

    ¡°<em>Good</em>.¡±

    Her cold answer hit me harder than a p to the face.

    ¡°Good?¡± I repeated weakly, more shocked than anything.

    ¡°<em>Good</em>.¡± She red at me with ice in her eyes and in her heart. ¡°You think a parent¡¯s duty is to coddle their child? No, Iztac. A parent¡¯s duty is to prepare their child to face reality. A reality that is cold and merciless, where the weak suffer as they must and the strong constantly look over their shoulder, where pain ismon and kindness preciously rare.¡±

    She took a step toward me, her forehead within inches of mine.

    ¡°So yes, all the suffering you went through was for the <em>best</em>,¡± she said with confidence that bordered on the frightening. ¡°Because it taught you how it feels to be weak; that nothing is ever given, only imed by strength, cunning, and force of will. It is only when the body is battered that it grows a <em>backbone</em>.¡±

    ¡°The best?¡± I red back at her in fury and disbelief. ¡°How <em>dare </em>you¨C¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be here otherwise,¡± she cut in, her words as sharp as a knife¡¯s edge. ¡°Instead, you would have wallowed in the pce¡¯s pleasures or stepped away from the knife that would have awakened your power. You would never have defied the gods themselves and passed through this threshold. Pain is the anvil on which the human heart is forged.¡±

    The worst part was she sounded as if she believed each and every word. Empty excuses were not spoken with such unblinking conviction. My mother truly believed that abandoning me to sixteen years of sorrow made her a <em>good parent</em>.

    She was just as bad as Yoloxochitl, except in the other direction.

    ¡°I am proud of what you aplished through your grit and bravery,¡± my mother whispered, though it came off as empty after all that she had said earlier. ¡°And now that you have stepped beyond Mtecuhtli¡¯s reach, I can help you.¡±

    ¡°Like you helped me by surrendering me to Necahual¡¯s embrace?¡± I snorted. ¡°I¡¯ll pass.¡±

    ¡°I am sincere.¡± My mother looked at my chest with what could pass for regret, feigned or otherwise. ¡°I¡¯d hoped the Nightlords would leave you and your father alone since they mostly target women, but I should have known they would select a Nahualli this year. They need one to raise their twilight sun in the sky.¡±

    I squinted, my surprise temporarily oveing my anger. ¡°Their twilight sun?¡±

    My mother opened her mouth to borate when a terrible, inhuman howl echoed in the distance. A scream full of rage and suffering.

    ¡°We can discuss the past and how to break your curse in Xibalba,¡± Mother said. ¡°We will be safer there than in the open.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going <em>anywhere </em>with you.¡±

    ¡°Itzili is waiting for you there too.¡±

    The mention of my father¡¯s name shook me to my core. I did not dare address the subject yet, since I feared for his soul¡­

    My mother tilted her head to the side. ¡°You do not trust me.¡±

    I stifled a bitterugh. ¡°No, I do not.¡±

    ¡°Fair. Let me give you a choice then.¡± My mother straightened up, the ashes flowing over her feathered dress like water on a turtle¡¯s scales. ¡°You can continue your journey as it is, fighting your way through rains of cinders and the Burning Men¡¯s arrows. It will be dangerous, especially for an untrained warlock like you. You have barely tapped into your true potential, my child. It might be enough to survive long enough to meet with loc and obtain his benediction. Your chances are slim, but they are not nonexistent.¡±

    I was prepared. As best as I could be in a week¡¯s time. But she was right, it would be dangerous. I clenched my jaw, fought back the urge to argue, and forced myself to listen for the time being.

    ¡°Or, you use your reason,¡± my mother said. ¡°Youe with me to Xibalba and meet with your father. There I shall teach you properly. I will show spells you can hardly imagine and rituals that will help you defeat the vers who leashed your soul. I will show you how deep the abyss of magic goes. When you resume your journey, you will be better than <em>prepared</em>. You will be <em>ready</em>.¡±

    She had rehearsed these words the moment I crossed the archway. I could tell. The conversation hadn¡¯t gone the way she wanted, but it reached its intended destination nheless.

    ¡°So what will it be, my son?¡± My mother extended a hand to me. ¡°Will you give me a chance to make up for lost time?¡±

    My first instinct was to spit on her palm. But I had had a week of practice forcing myself to think rationally in the face of great evils.

    Though my heart was a maelstrom, I tried to consider her proposal with a cool head. I didn¡¯t have the luxury of making more enemies than those I already umted. I had agreed to look beyond Necahual¡¯s abuse, I could at least give my own mother a chance. If only to keep her out of my way.

    I couldn¡¯t look past her dark reputation, however; and our discussion clearly showed me that she lived up to the tales. Her invitation could be a trap¡­

    <em>What would it change?</em> I told myself. I had nned to go to Xibalba to check on my father¡¯s soul anyway. Mother would be waiting for my arrival one way or another.

    Besides, she held answers to my questions. About magic, about the Nightlords¡¯ ns, and my totem¡¯s secrets. If she indeed offered to treat me as a student rather than an intruder, then¡­ then I would have to bite my tongue. I needed all the power and allies I could obtain to overthrow the Nightlords. Now more than ever.

    ¡°If this is a trap¨C¡± I said, but she didn¡¯t let me finish.

    ¡°You will leave, I know. You have no need to worry.¡± Another smile shed on her face, warm, yet with a somewhat sinister edge to it. ¡°Another thing before we fly away.¡±

    She transformed back into an owl of darkness, her great wings cast a dark shadow on the archway behind her.

    ¡°How do you feel,¡± she asked, ever so softly, ¡°about bing a god?¡±

 Chapter Twenty-Five: Mother & Son

    Chapter Twenty-Five: Mother & Son

    Ash rained relentlessly upon locan, each ke burning as if it came straight out of the oven.

    The Land of the Dead Suns¡¯ secondyer was even more sterile and lifeless than the first. M had been an unliving city of the dead bustling with activity. The marshes andkes of tears surrounding it had been gloomy, but hospitable enough for lost souls to travel through.

    I could hardly believe any form of life or unlife could survive long in locan as I observed it from above. Vast volcanic wastnds of fine pumice, pulverized ss, and soot-buried ruined cities covered a smolderingndscape. What the cinders didn¡¯t coat like mountain peak snow, raging mes consumed. The sky rained fire and thend churned smoke through great stone pits and sundered mountains. The wind howled as it carried the heavy smell of sulfur and burning flesh.

    None of theyer¡¯s hazards touched me above the clouds. mes and cinders alike slid over my blue-painted feathers and the mask of loc I carried on top of my owl face. These symbols protected me from the wrath of theyer¡¯s angry, jealous sun¡­ for now at least. The carrying frame weighed heavily on my back. Even in my Tonalli form, its heavy load slowed down my flight considerably.

    My mother showed none of my issues. She did not need paint and a disguise to protect herself from the rain of ash. It bothered me greatly until I used the Gaze spell. When sunlight poured out of my eyes to reveal the hidden and the invisible, I noticed a very subtle detail about my mother: a current of air swirled around her talons and feathers, so close to her I could hardly notice it with the naked eye. That wind coated her body like a protective cloth, repelling the fading mes and ash.

    ¡°What do you carry?¡± Mother asked me as we flew. ¡°It must be precious for you to bring such cumbersome cargo.¡±

    I hesitated to answer truthfully. I did not trust my mother yet, and I doubted I ever would. She clearly lived up to her reputation as a criminal and spirit thief. I only followed her because she possessed the knowledge I needed, and because I wanted to confirm my father¡¯s survival. I couldn¡¯t trust her with the First Emperor¡¯s codex, let alone the urn that the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue asked me to deliver to her husband loc.

    A silence settled between us, which my mother swiftly broke. ¡°It is best that you do not bring your package into Xibalba proper,¡± she warned me. ¡°If it is so precious that you will not share its content with your own blood, then the twelve Lords of Terror would delight in using it against you.¡±

    ¡°The Lords of Terror?¡± I¡¯d read about them in the First Emperor¡¯s codex. ¡°They are the demonic masters of Xibalba, are they not?¡±¡°They are its masters and its prisoners both,¡± Mother replied with a short nod. ¡°Those primordial nightmares have existed in one form or another since mortals first experienced fear. They taught me a great many things.¡±

    ¡°But you do not trust them,¡± I guessed.

    ¡°Trust is for fools. Do not bring anything to Xibalba that you might lose or see turned against you. The Lords test the strong and drag the weak to hell.¡± Mother looked forward to the horizon. ¡°Everyone can enter Xibalba, but only the truest of the brave can escape it. For most mortals, it is hell. For a sorcerer, it will be a training ground. Once you pass the Lords¡¯ trials and win your freedom, then you will be ready to conquer locan and meet with its master. You will leave the House of Fright as a powerful sorcerer, or not at all.¡±

    A powerful sorcerer¡­

    My mother clearly possessed greater sorcery than me from her years of experience. Still, a doubt kept gnawing at me. If she possessed the kind of magic I needed to take down the Nightlords, why hadn¡¯t she confronted them herself yet? Why would she rather hide than fight?

    I could only see two reasons. The first was that all the power in the world wouldn¡¯t guarantee sess against the Nightlords; a prospect I tried very much not to think of. The second option was that she simply didn¡¯t care enough to make an effort to overthrow them, even with my life on the line.

    I didn¡¯t know which option I liked the least.

    ¡°How does that spell protecting you work?¡± I asked Mother after canceling my Gaze spell. I¡¯d better fish for information as soon as possible. ¡°You seem tomand the wind itself.¡±

    ¡°This spell is called the Cloak, my son,¡± she replied. ¡°An Ihiyotl defensive spell born of the Ehecatl wind.¡±

    ¡°The Ehecatl?¡± That was the patronym given to those born under the auspices of the Wind month, like me. My name Iztac Ce Ehecatl literally meant<em> ¡®the white born on the first day of the wind.¡¯</em> This system allowed priests and soothsayers to make predictions based on birth. ¡°Not the Yaotzin?¡±

    ¡°The Yaotzin draws its power from the curses of humanity,¡± my mother replied. ¡°The Ehecatl is born from its thanks and blessings.¡±

    <em>In this world, every force begets its opposite</em>, I thought as I remembered the red-eyed priests¡¯ old lessons. <em>Male and female, light and day, blessing and curse. Where Quetzalcoatl whispers to kings who govern with a just heart, Tezcatlipoca encourages the ves to rebel in freedom¡¯s name. Where Xipe Totec taught man how to cultivate the earth, Huitzilopochtli told mortals how to master fire.</em>

    Perhaps those false priests could speak the truth now and then.

    ¡°That wind never whispered to me.¡± How wonderful it would have been to hear it. All I ever listened to were threats, tales of sorrow, and cryptic prophecies.

    ¡°Because it is weak.¡± My mother let out a snort. ¡°Gratitude is rare, while anger is plentiful.¡±

    No matter how sad it sounded, I didn¡¯t argue with her. I had learned that lesson from experience.

    A lesson that my mother had apparently put me through willingly, leaving me at the mercy of Necahual and fools who hated me on sight for how I looked. I could have forgiven her for running away from the Nightlords¡ªmany nights spent in theirpany had taught me to fear and loath them both¡ªbut leaving me and Father behind? That I could not get past. Nor the fact she had only bothered to contact me again <em>after </em>I had awakened my owl-totem. I had the very distinct impression she wouldn¡¯t have cared half as much if I hadn¡¯t been a Nahualli.

    My mother Ichtaca was not a nice person. Our very meeting earlier had made that clear. If I had any illusion that she might have hidden a good heart beneath those ck feathers, I now stood corrected.

    But for all her coldness and twisted ideas of parenthood¡­ She remained my birth mother and a witch of great power. The moment she gave me details about that Cloak power, I immediately sought to make it mine. The me within my heart desired more spells, more magic to use against the Nightlords.

    ¡°What spells do you know?¡± my mother asked me.

    My hunger for knowledge must have shown in my bodynguage. ¡°Spiritual Manifestation, the Doll, the Veil, the Gaze, and the Augury.¡±

    My mother paused for a short instant, the silence only broken by the noise of distant thunder and eruptions. ¡°To learn five spells in a week¡¯s time is nothing short of astonishing,¡± she said, ¡°but insufficient to take on any of the Nightlords. We will need to follow through with an intense training regime if you are to survive the year.¡±

    I snorted. Her words reeked of condescension. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have been in such a position if you had been willing to teach me earlier.¡±

    ¡°And how?¡± My mother looked over her wingspan, her blue eyes meeting mine. ¡°A catecolotl only awakens in those who taste death. Would you have preferred that I try to drown you in the crib in the hope you would survive with powers?¡±

    ¡°It would have beat stabbing myself in the chest.¡± I matched her gaze as we passed through a sulfurous cloud. ¡°How did you even awaken your totem yourself?¡±

    She turned away from me to stare at thendscape ahead. ¡°By being strangled when I was six.¡±

    Her cold words took the wind out of my sails.

    My mother did not borate further, her gaze set on the journey ahead. Herment alone spoke more than any speech.

    My father hadn¡¯t told me much about his wife even when he was alive. I¡¯d only learned details from him, Guatemoc, and other vigers. That she was a witch from another ce than Acampa and who settled there after marrying my father, but not much else. No one would tell me how they even met.

    Now that I knew my mother to be a Nahualli, a dark picture easily formed in my mind. The soothsayer who oversaw my birth considered me cursed, but she also forbade everyone from harming and killing me for fear of unleashing the evil within me onto the world.

    However, I knew for a fact some people in Acampa wouldn¡¯t have minded seeing me exiled or watching me perish, though they never dared to take matters into their own hands. They certainly didn¡¯t help me eat during the drought. Those cowards probably believed the curse would only apply to them if they slew me personally.

    My mother probably received a simr prophecy in her youth¡­ and faced madder fools than those who lived in Acampa.

    A terrible noise drew me out of my thoughts; a deep, mighty screech cutting through the sound of distant thunder and earth-shattering stones. I nced around in search of its source, but I could only see fire clouds.

    ¡°Down,¡± my mother said, pointing at a dust-filled ravine below. ¡°We need to take cover.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it invite the Burned Men to hunt us?¡± I asked. ¡°Unless they can fly?¡±

    ¡°They cannot,¡± my mother conceded, ¡°but their dead gods can.¡±

    She dived toward the ground before I could ask for more details. I briefly hesitated to follow after her until I heard the screech again, louder, <em>closer</em>. Whatever creature made the sound seemed to have picked up on our presence.

    I¡¯d been warned by both M¡¯s inhabitants and the First Emperor¡¯s codex that greater terrors than Burned Men haunted locan. Ancient spirits of the old world who had perished in loc¡¯s mes or great terrors that were buried underground by King Mtecuhtli so they would not prey on the dead¡¯s souls.

    Could one of these entities be after us?

    Having recently survived a tussle with a spider-totem eager to eat my soul, I was in no hurry to confront another challenge. I followed after my mother as we descended closer to the ground. We passed by the petrified remains of calcified forests and descended into a dry canyon of old craggy stones. How many centuries had they spent battered by the wind and ashes? Hundreds? Thousands?

    Whatever the case, the whole ce was coated in ash now. As strange as it sounded, the closer we approached the ravine, the quieter the noise became. The cinders seemed to smother every sounding their way.

    My mother found a jagged hole in the canyon wall wide enough for us to enter; the remains of a cave that hadn¡¯t been entirely obstructed. Shended first and retook her humanoid form before taking cover inside. I swiftly imitated her. The cavity was roughlyrge enough for three men to venture into, its dark walls were covered in hardened volcanic rock. A few old inscriptions and paintings were carved into their surface.

    ¡°Stay on your guard,¡± my mother warned me. ¡°The Burned Men usually live underground. This tunnel might lead to one of their hideouts.¡±

    I guessed as much from the cave paintings. This ce had been inhabited, and might still be for all we knew. I activated my Gaze and swiftly illuminated the tunnel. It went on and on into the canyon¡¯s depths, far beyond what my light could reach.

    The noise outside continued to strengthen. Its source had to be less than a mile away from the canyon.

    ¡°What are we hiding from?¡± I asked my mother. If only my Veil spell worked under loc¡¯s sun, we could have turned invisible and hidden better.

    ¡°Azcapalli,¡± she replied while being careful to stay in our hole¡¯s shadows. ¡°See for yourself.¡±

    I dared to move near the hole¡¯s edge to peek at our pursuer. Its shadowy wingspan passed over the canyon and briefly obscured loc¡¯s sun. At first, I thought the creature was simply so high in the sky that my mind yed a trick on me¡­ but the longer I observed, the more I felt in awe of its immense size.

    The¡­ bird¡ªif one could call that thing a <em>bird</em>¡ªwasrge enough to carry an adult longneck within its talons. If the creature once had feathers, the mes of locan had burned them away long ago, leaving only festering mes and yed burned flesh caked in smoldering ash. Its translucent wings reminded me of that of a bat, except each was long enough to cover an entire district. A backward-sweeping crescent of flesh adorned its skeletal head alongside a massive beak and two burned ck eyes filled with seething hatred. Smoke arose from its ribcage like thest remains of a dead fire; I saw no mes burning within, no Teyolia to fuel that undying cadaver.

    Only malice kept it moving.

    I knew hatred better than most men, but I had rarely seen such hate in the monster¡¯s ck stare. That was not the cold, calcted anger that fueled me. It was something more primal, aimless, and savage.

    I had seen that kind of seething rage in dogs trained to fight in the capital¡¯s pits. A lifetime of pain that had beaten away all fear and kindness, leaving nothing beyond depthless loathing for all that lived. That creature¡¯s existence was one of agony, for its size was its curse. In this destend, there was no hole big enough to hide from loc¡¯s fiery rains. The monster screeched with each pping of its wings as falling mes bounced off its yed flesh.

    ¡°What is that thing?¡± I whispered as I watched it run circles above the canyon. Thankfully, the creature¡¯s wingspan was toorge to let it enter it.

    ¡°He was a god once,¡± my mother confirmed with a hint of pity. ¡°Not one of the great celestial beings whose Teyolia could power the sun, but a powerful spirit of the wind nheless. The Third Humanity worshiped him as a god of songs and beauty.¡±

    I could hardly believe that festering horror had been fair to look upon once. ¡°Why is he after us?¡±

    ¡°Because the living reminds him of what he has lost.¡± To my surprise, Mother did not appear frustrated with the creature. If anything, she appeared almost¡­passionate. ¡°What he no longer has, he must destroy. It soothes his pain, however briefly.¡±

    I understood the feeling. I had killed caelel for satisfaction¡¯s sake after all. However, it annoyed me since I had done nothing to deserve that creature¡¯s hatred besides the crime of existing.

    ¡°Do you still think that pain teaches us to be stronger?¡± I asked Mother. I couldn¡¯t resist the urge to take a jab at her.

    ¡°Pain teaches us when it serves a purpose,¡± she replied calmly. ¡°What loc has done, and still does, is no more than pointless cruelty.¡±

    At least we agreed on that part.

    The monster, Azcapalli, let out a series of soul-haunting screeches. The world answered his supplications with silence and it soon perched near the canyon¡¯s edge. His house-sized talons grabbed onto the stone, while his hateful eyes waited for any sign of movement. His gaze passed over our cave without stopping. The shadows provided good enough cover.

    Mother remained unconcerned. ¡°He will leave soon. The mad have no patience.¡±

    ¡°How long is <em>¡®soon¡¯</em>?¡± I asked.

    She shrugged. ¡°Hours, days?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have days,¡± I replied, my voice brimming with frustration. ¡°The Nightlords will conclude their New Fire Ceremony in five of them.¡±

    ¡°The wise do not pick unnecessary fights,¡± Mother argued back. ¡°Yes, our spells and cunning could ovee Azcapalli. But what would we gain from it besides injuries? His Teyolia has faded away, the pain has devoured his mind, and he has no treasures to offer us. Leave the fleeting glory to the warriors. We sorcerers fight for knowledge and power.¡±

    ¡°Then we should look for another exit to slip past his gaze,¡± I pointed out. ¡°We are wasting time here.¡±

    ¡°No, <em>you </em>are wasting time here.¡± My mother calmly sat in the shadow of a wall. ¡°Instead of wallowing in thinly-veiled resentment for something that happened years ago¨C¡±

    ¡°You <em>abandoned </em>me,¡± I hissed. ¡°Forgive me for not worshiping the ground you walk on.¡±

    She ignored me. ¡°You should instead tell me the details of this ritual, so we can sabotage it.¡±

    ¡°<em>We</em>?¡± I crossed my arms in skepticism. ¡°Will you assist me in fighting the Nightlords? Will we confront them as mother and son, two sorcerers against the might of Yohuachanca?¡±

    Mother smiled thinly. ¡°I will make you the sorcerer you were born to be. Then you will break your own chains.¡±

    As I thought. For all of her power and wisdom, she feared to confront the Nightlords in the open.

    ¡°You value your own life more than your family,¡± I used her.

    ¡°I do,¡± she replied coldly.

    I looked away, partly out of disappointment, and mostly because her answer did not surprise me. ¡°You won¡¯t even deny it.¡±

    ¡°Would you even believe me if I did?¡± Mother¡¯s expression softened a little. ¡°I do care for you, my son. I have used the Yaotzin to follow your progress since you were a child. I am proud of what you have aplished, and I want to see you seed.¡±

    Empty words. ¡°Just not enough to fight for me.¡±

    ¡°Not enough to <em>die </em>for you,¡± she corrected me as if it made any difference in my case. ¡°I would rather see you live, and I will assist you in your quest for freedom. I will teach you my secrets and offer what advice I can. But I will not die for you.¡±

    ¡°Instead you will train me to kill the Nightlords for you at no cost for yourself.¡± I wasn¡¯t even angry anymore. Just bitter. ¡°How <em>convenient</em>.¡±

    For once, Mother¡¯s gaze turned into a potent re. I had gotten under her skin.

    ¡°The sisters¡¯ destruction would benefit me in the short term, I will not deny it,¡± she confessed. ¡°But whether or not the Nightlords perish is secondary to your survival. I would ept an oue where all of them continue to rule Yohuachanca so long as you are alive and free.¡±

    I didn¡¯t believe her. The Nightlords would never surrender me, least of all Yoloxochitl. My freedom would be honest and earned with blood.

    ¡°Moreover,¡± Mother continued, pausing for a few seconds as she chose her words. ¡°For all of their cruelty, I am not certain destroying the Nightlords would do the world any good in the long term.¡±

    I held my breath, waiting for the joke¡¯s punchline. It never came. When I realized she was entirely serious, I found myself so outraged I couldn¡¯t even form a proper sentence. I choked on my own disbelief.

    ¡°Nature abhors a vacuum,¡± Mother exined herself. ¡°The Nightlords are the pirs on which Yohuachanca stands. If they disappear, the empire copses.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I rasped upon finding the strength to speak again. ¡°Let that pyramid of blood and bones crumble to dust.¡±

    ¡°So that chaos and destion may rece it?¡± Mother replied, insisting on her madness. ¡°The surviving Nightkin and their thrall nobles will wage wars to establish a sessor to theirte mistresses. The blood shed on the altar will be little more than a drop in the bucketpared to what the ambitious will spill for power¡¯s sake.¡±

    ¡°I would trade a hundred years of war against another year of systemic torture, ughter, rape, and abuse.¡± Standing at the helm of Yohuachanca¡¯s government had only deepened my disgust for my own empire. My predecessors were right. <em>Anything </em>beat the current state of things. ¡°I will not ept a world in which the Nightlords continue to rule.¡±

    Mother squinted at me. ¡°Even if you have already won your freedom by then?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied without hesitation. And I <em>meant </em>it. ¡°One way or another, I <em>will </em>destroy them all.¡±

    I owed it to Guatemoc, to Eztli, to Nl, to the future emperors that would follow me if I failed, to the countless men sacrificed on the altars, to the many women enved as concubines and murdered at the Nightlords¡¯ whims. I could not forgive the vampires for the week of nightmares they put me through, and I knew the new year would only give me more asions to witness more of their crimes. Each time I thought the vampires couldn¡¯t horrify me more, they proved me wrong.

    So no. Even if I managed to break the chains holding my soul without destroying those who held my leash, I would still tear their throats out. Every fiber of my being demanded it.

    ¡°I see,¡± Mother said with a neutral, grounded tone. I couldn¡¯t tell whether she approved or disapproved. She wouldn¡¯t help either way. ¡°It is your choice.¡±

    ¡°It is.¡± And I would not falter. ¡°What oue are you aiming for, oh mother of mine? For us both to ascend to godhood?¡±

    ¡°Is that not why you came here, my son? To follow in the First Emperor¡¯s path?¡± Mother tilted her head to the side like the owl she was on the inside. ¡°You tasted a sun¡¯s embers already. Surely you know what reward awaits once you have gathered them all?¡±

    Yes, I did. The purple me in my heart pulsated with hunger at the mere mention of embers. It sought to consume more power, to grow in strength until it could rival the sun itself in radiance.

    However, for all my desire for freedom and power, I remained wary of where this quest might lead.

    ¡°I have seen him,¡± I whispered. ¡°The First Emperor. Or at least, I think I did.¡±

    My mother¡¯s gaze sharpened and she listened in silence. I had her full attention.

    Nothing in the Underworld¡¯s bowels had unsettled me half as much as the <em>thing </em>I glimpsed in the Nightlords¡¯ sulfur me. King Mtecuhtli had inspired great dread in me, but he proved to be as fair and reasonable as death could be. There was nothing rational about the first vampire. He was darkness and pain made manifest. A primeval curse and cmity of bottomless malice.

    ¡°He is¡­¡± Even now, I struggled to find the right word to describe him¡­ <em>it</em>. ¡°Hunger. He is hunger<em></em>incarnate. A bottomless pit that nothing can satisfy.¡±

    ¡°He is,¡± Mother replied, her voice low as a whisper. ¡°He emerged from the Underworld as a god of hunger, hatred, pain, and darkness. A divine effigy to human misery.¡±

    King Mtecuhtli¡¯s final warning echoed in my mind: <em><strong>¡°Do not be what you fight against.¡±</strong></em>

    ¡°Is he who you want us to be?¡± I asked my mother, dreading the answer. ¡°<em>What</em> you want us to be?¡±

    Her careless shrug sent shivers down my spine. ¡°You have seen Queen Mictecacihuatl. She too was a mortal once. The first woman. Her ascension did not deprive her of the good inside her. If anything, it magnified it.¡±

    ¡°Queen Mictecacihuatl is an admirable goddess,¡± I conceded. She had earned my respect the most out of all the deities I had encountered so far, real or otherwise. ¡°Whom you betrayed, or so I was told.¡±

    ¡°For no personal reasons. I simply needed knowledge some of her subjects possessed, but weren¡¯t willing to give me willingly.¡± Mother shrugged off the matter, as if stealing souls and betraying a goddess was a trifling matter. ¡°To answer your question, yes, I would like us to ascend to godhood. I would have included your father, but he is not a Nahualli. He cannot ascend.¡±

    ¡°Father?¡± It surprised me to hear him mentioned in my mother¡¯s ns.

    ¡°Why do you think I took his soul with me when I fled M?¡± Mother nced at the sunlight peeking through the hole. Our pursuer was still out there, waiting for us. ¡°I hoped to revive his Teyolia in the Land of the Dead Suns and give him a chance at ascension. So far I have had little sess. The Underworld cannot birth new life.¡±

    I mulled over what she said. I always assumed Mother moved on from Father after abandoning us; that she had found another family to rece us with. Assuming she wasn¡¯t lying, then she had been waiting for him to die so they could reunite here in the Underworld. I struggled to reconcile this information with the rather poor image I had formed of her.

    Abducting your dead husband¡¯s soul so they could both undergo a dangerous journey to be gods sounded almost romantic¡­

    ¡°Do you love him?¡± I asked softly. ¡°Father?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Mother replied without hesitation. ¡°As much as I love you.¡±

    She meant it as reassurance, I took it as a warning. I truly needed to check on my father¡¯s soul as soon as possible.

    ¡°Why do you want us to be gods?¡± I asked her. ¡°So we would no longer need to fear the Nightlords?¡±

    ¡°In a way,¡± Mother confirmed. ¡°Once we stand at the top of the world, no one can harm us. We will no longer have to fear death or very. We will no longer be subject to this universe¡¯s rules, for we will write them. Power is freedom, my son. Freedom from <em>fear</em>.¡±

    I nodded sharply. Her motive didn¡¯t differ much from mine. It was a terrible thing to be weak, to see your life at the mercy of someone stronger than you. My mother mightck the chains binding my soul, but the threat of the Nightlords ruled her heart all the same.

    I could only hope neither of us would transform into their abominable progenitor.

    ¡°You said you saw the First Emperor,¡± Mother said, changing the subject. ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you know, if you have been using the Yaotzin to keep tabs on me?¡±

    ¡°I want to hear the details from your own mouth.¡±

    After a moment¡¯s hesitation, I recounted what happenedst night to her. At this point, I needed any help I could get to sabotage the ritual. If Mother was genuine in her desire to help, now was the time to prove it.

    My mother listened to my tale in silence. Though she kept herposure, I caught a hint of tension in her bodynguage. She feared the Nightlords¡¯ ritual as much as the gods themselves.

    ¡°Queen Mictecacihuatl is correct, the Nightlords likely intend to reshape reality through their ritual,¡± she said. ¡°However, I do not think they intend to drain the current sun of its strength. Instead, I suspect they wish to rece it.¡±

    I squinted. ¡°To <em>rece </em>it?¡±

    ¡°Think about it, my son. The Nightlords have spent over six centuries convincing their empire that their father had be the sun in the sky. They repeated the New Fire Ceremony at each year¡¯s end, retelling the lie over, and over, and over again. The rehearsals are over, and the y will unfold when the universe itself is likely to believe in it.¡±

    It took me a moment to connect the dots, and a chill traveled down my spine when I did. I remembered Queen Mictecacihuatl¡¯s warnings that the cosmos was at its most malleable at the end of a fifty-two year cycle. The power of magic and chaos reached its apex then.

    ¡°They want to turn the lie into truth,¡± I realized, horrified by the scale of the vampires¡¯ ambition. ¡°They want to ce their progenitor in the sky as the new fifth sun.¡±

    My mother nodded. ¡°No sorcerer has ever attempted a ritual soplex and powerful. But it has a chance of seeding, which is all that matters.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I whispered. ¡°What would they gain from it?¡±

    ¡°I cannot say for certain, but if my hypothesis is correct¡­¡± Mother joined her hands together, her gaze utterly focused. ¡°First of all, it would cause their progenitor to feed on the souls of the dead. Anyone perishing will have their Teyolia consumed by the sulfur sun. Such a buffer of life may very well keep the First Emperor¡¯s hunger sated.¡±

    A process which, considering how the vampire curse worked, likely meant that mortal souls would not pass on to the Underworld anymore. A vampire god¡¯s belly would be the new afterlife for all living beings.

    ¡°Letting their progenitor usurp the sun will likely grant the Nightlords immense power,¡± my mother continued her exnation. ¡°Vampirism will be a cosmic keystone, and all those affected by it will share in the bounty. Moreover, a sulfur sun fueled by their progenitor might not burn them like the current one does.¡±

    ¡°The day will no longer offer sanctuary to the living,¡± I guessed. A prospect that angered me almost as much as the afterlife¡¯s destruction. The very thought of these parasites parading under the sun they once crawled away from disgusted me.

    Worse, it meant the vampires would shed their only known weakness. They would no longer need fallible priests and servants to operate in the sunlight. They would be unstoppable, and the world would know eternal terror days and nights.

    Not on my watch.

    I couldn¡¯t resist taunting more. ¡°Do you think the Nightlords are no longer a long term problem?¡±

    ¡°I have flown into that one, have I?¡± Mother¡¯s jaw clenched in frustration. ¡°I will admit that I find this development¡­ concerning.¡±

    What a gentle understatement when faced with a potentially <em>sun-shattering</em> cmity. ¡°Then do you have any idea how I can extinguish their sulfur me?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t,¡± Mother replied dryly, ¡°But you won¡¯t need to. A powerful ritual is akin to a y. It requires actors, props, and a stage. All must y their role to perfection. If any element is disrupted, then the ritual fails.¡±

    ¡°The Nightlords and I are the actors,¡± I summarized. ¡°The sulfur me is the prop, and Smoke Mountain is the stage.¡±

    I could read between the lines: if I couldn¡¯t destroy the me, then I ought to sabotage another aspect of the ritual.

    ¡°The Nightlords won¡¯t let you interfere with their prized me, and they will force you to y your part whether you like it or not,¡± Mother stated. ¡°However, securing the world¡¯srgest volcano is harder than preventing a single me from dying out. You will have an easier time sabotaging the stage itself, so that it crumbles beneath the actors before the ceremony can reach its apex.¡±

    Iughed at her absurd suggestion. ¡°And how am I supposed to destroy a mountain?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t,¡± Mother replied. ¡°Have you heard of the Curse?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°I have heard of curses, but from your wording I assume it is a unique spell?¡±

    ¡°The kind only a catecolotl can perform,¡± she confirmed. ¡°Owls are doom¡¯s messengers. By temporarily binding your Tonalli to an individual, you invite cmity to strike them. The ground crumbles under their feet. Their house copses. idents be frequent. Their children sicken and die. The Curse takes and takes, until deathes as a mercy.¡±

    The idea of cursing vampires with bad luck immediately appealed to me. ¡°I assume it won¡¯t affect the Nightlords?¡±

    ¡°I doubt it will,¡± Mother confirmed, much to my chagrin. ¡°Their magical defenses surpass your current stage of power. However¡­ there is always a loophole to exploit.¡±

    Mother grabbed a ck feather from her owl mask. ckened mes coursed through its vane and stained it with malice. She then nted it on the ground like a cursed gpole.

    ¡°The Haunt is a more powerful version of the Curse that targets a location rather than an individual,¡± Mother exined. ¡°By marking an area with your Tonalli, you curse the verynd to suffer from doom and cmities. It won¡¯t matter if you cannot arm the actors if the stage itself copses on them.¡±

    My eyes widened in astonishment as her mad n became clear to me. ¡°You want me to curse <em>all of Smoke Mountain</em>?¡±

    ¡°Not for long, and not all of it.¡± A verbose way to say <em>¡®yes.¡¯ </em>¡°The Haunt¡¯s duration depends on multiple factors. The size of the area, its thematic resonance with death and doom¡­ What you need is to trigger the curse on the New Fire Ceremony¡¯s eve, to stain it with cmity. Then all that <em>can </em>go wrong for those performing the ritual <em>will</em>.¡±

    I clenched my fists. ¡°<em>I</em> will be performing the ritual.¡±

    ¡°The Haunt¡¯s curse will not affect its caster,¡± Mother replied. ¡°But I won¡¯t lie. There will be terrible consequences that I cannot predict for many, <em>many </em>people. The ritual¡¯s failure will induce an equally terrible bacsh.¡±

    I meditated on her words. I could see the blood written on the walls. The Nightlords¡¯ six-hundred year long ritual was meant to alter the cosmos itself. Its bacsh might mean anything from natural disasters to something equally cmitous. I had no way of predicting the consequences; only that they would be catastrophic.

    However¡­ The alternative meant letting the Nightlords reshape reality itself in their own image. It meant the destruction of all mortals¡¯ afterlives and the start of a dreadful era where vampires ruled supreme. I could hardly imagine anything worse short of extinguishing the Fifth Sun, and even then the dead¡¯s souls would pass on to M.

    While I hoped to find a less drastic solution to sabotaging the ritual, if all else failed¡­ if all else failed, I had to consider that alternative.

    Besides, while it sounded callous, a cmity befalling Yohuachanca on the onset of a major war with the Sapa would serve my purpose well. It might force the Nightlords to expose themselves on the frontline to reassure their living and undead followers alike.

    ¡°How must I proceed?¡± I questioned my mother.

    ¡°You will need to mark Smoke Mountain with your Tonalli¡¯s feathers,¡± she exined. So far so good. ¡°Moreover, to increase your odds, you should perform a counter-ritual. A series of actions aimed at symbolically striking against its actors that will strengthen the curse.¡±

    ¡°You mean the Nightlords?¡± I remembered Queen Mictecacihuatl¡¯s warning that symbolic representations of a god could affect the real deal. I assumed the Haunt worked in a simr way. ¡°So I must, what, destroy statues of them? Burn dolls made in their image?¡±

    ¡°Usually, yes.¡± Mother¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°However, considering the Nightlords¡¯ power and the scale of their ritual, the curse will demand greater effort.¡±

    A shiver traveled down my spine as I realized what kind of price could pay for my foes¡¯ demise. The only price that death magic hungered for.

    ¡°You will need living dolls.¡± Mother¡¯s blue eyes flickered in the dark. ¡°You will need <em>sacrifices</em>.¡±

 Chapter Twenty-Six: A Curse in the Family

    Chapter Twenty-Six: A Curse in the Family

    My answer was short and to the point.

    ¡°No,¡± I said, first to myself, then to my mother. ¡°No. There has to be another way.¡±

    Mother tilted her head at me with a quizzical expression. ¡°Why such a reaction?¡±

    ¡°<em>Why</em>?¡± How could she take a good look at me and say these words? ¡°The entire reason I fight the Nightlords is to avoid being sacrificed in one of their magical rituals. Now you ask me to do the same to others?¡±

    Now she seemed even more confused. ¡°Yes, what of it?¡±

    I stared at her for a moment before realizing the problem. My mother was a thief of souls. Of course she wouldn¡¯t see the issue with sacrificing others in ult rituals. She supported me in my quest because I was <em>her </em>son, not because she was against what the Nightlords did to their subjects and puppet emperors alike.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be what I fight against,¡± I protested.

    Mother answered my doubts with cold logic. ¡°Forgive me, my son, but have you not started a war? Tell me how it is worse to kill a dozen men on a mountain¡¯s slope than ten thousand on the battlefield?¡±

    My jaw clenched all the harder from the fact she had a point. ¡°I saw no other alternatives then.¡±¡°Lies,¡± Mother replied imcably. ¡°There <em>were </em>alternatives avable to engineering an international crisis¡­ but none of them would have been as effective at weakening your foes and securing your power base, am I wrong?¡±

    I lowered my head in silent shame. When faced with an honest truth, I didn¡¯t find the strength to lie to myself.

    She was right, it was hypocritical of me to draw the line here after I¡¯d crossed so many earlier from murder to assassination. I¡¯d sowed the seeds of disasters whose bloom would im countless innocent lives. Worse, I knew the Nightlords would force me to participate in human sacrifices during my year of rulership. Nearly all of the religious festivals involved spilling blood.

    Even then¡­ even then the idea of putting others through the same fate the Nightlords nned for me lurched my stomach. It felt like a betrayal, not just of others, but of myself. There had to be a better solution.

    ¡°Can¡¯t I slice a longneck¡¯s throat?¡± I asked. ¡°If the ritual demands blood, then such a beast will offer a hundred men¡¯s worth of it. Enough to fill ake.¡±

    ¡°You think magic has anything to do with blood?¡± Mother snorted in disbelief. ¡°Animal sacrifice would not suffice. We need victims who can symbolically represent the Nightlords or Smoke Mountain itself.¡±

    ¡°The Nightlords liken themselves to animals,¡± I pointed out, still trying to find a way out of sacrificing my kinsmen. ¡°They do not call Ocelocihuatl the Jaguar Woman for nothing. Can¡¯t I skin a beast in her ce?¡±

    ¡°You are more likely to anger the true god than its imitator if you try that.¡± My confusion must have shown on my face, for Mother let out a chuckle. ¡°Have you not noticed yet?¡±

    ¡°Noticed what?¡±

    ¡°The Nightlords have been trying to slowly rece the four celestial gods in men¡¯s hearts and minds for many years now,¡± she exined. ¡°Xolochitl, the Flower of the Heart, imitates Xipe Totec, father of agriculture. The Jaguar Woman impersonates the sorcerer Tezcatlipoca. Iztacoatl mimics our Feathered Lord Quetzalcoatl and Sugey promotes herself as Huitzilopochtli¡¯s sessor as master of war.¡±

    Now that she mentioned it, the simrities were quite eerie. The soldier god Huitzilopochtli was often represented by a hummingbird, and Sugey called herself the Bird of War¡­ I cursed myself for not noticing it earlier.

    ¡°They are trying to slowly erase them from mortal memories the same way they are trying to ouw Queen Mictecacihuatl¡¯s worship,¡± I guessed. It didn¡¯t surprise me much. ¡°Do they gain power from it?¡±

    ¡°Not yet, but who knows?¡± The flicker of a dark smile stretched across Mother¡¯s face. ¡°If they seed in recing the sun, they might try to rece the true gods in a few centuries.¡±

    ¡°Do not insult my intelligence with such tant maniption.¡± I red at her. ¡°You only say that so I will go through with your counter-ritual.¡±

    ¡°I mean what I say,¡± she insisted. ¡°Do you think the vampires¡¯ thirst for power will ever be sated? They will <em>always </em>want more.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t deny it,¡± I confessed. If the Nightlords¡¯ arrogance let them hatch a plot to rece the very <em><strong>sun</strong></em>, then they were capable of <em>anything</em>. ¡°So you think animal sacrifices won¡¯t work?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Mother replied bluntly. ¡°To disrupt a ritual of the New Fire Ceremony¡¯s magnitude, you will need humans ughtered in a way that symbolically strikes at our targets. The more the better.¡±

    My fists curled in frustration. ¡°What¡¯s the minimum number?¡±

    Mother stared at me as if I had gone mad. ¡°The <em>minimum</em>?¡±

    ¡°One for each Nightlord? Half a dozen?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I want to reduce casualties to a minimum.¡±

    ¡°You cannot.¡± Mother kept hitting where it hurt. ¡°Our counter-ritual will pile bodies upon bodies in the best of cases, yet the deaths that will result from our enterprise will pale before the cosmic dawn of a sulfur sun.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I rasped. ¡°You do not need to remind me.¡±

    ¡°Apparently I must.¡± Her tone deepened in her quiet anger. ¡°Stop questioning yourself, my son. Doubt dulls the de of the mind. The very foundations of our universe are at risk, and you squabble over a few dozen lives?¡±

    ¡°The universe would be safer if you helped me with the ritual!¡± I snapped back at her. Her criticisms were getting on my nerves. ¡°You live in the same world as I do, yet why must I be the one to dirty my hands?! If you think this is the best way to stop the Nightlords¡¯ ritual, then why don¡¯t you do it yourself?!¡±

    ¡°Quiet, son,¡± she said sharply, her eyes ncing into the tunnel. ¡°<em>Quiet</em>.¡±

    I opened my mouth to protest when I heard a faint noiseing from deeper inside the cavern. I immediately activated my Gaze spell and prepared to fight whatever might hide there.

    The lighting from my eyes illuminated the nearby walls, revealing cave paintings of longnecks, ancient birds, and other animals. Crude carvings crafted with red dust covered more ancient inscriptions written in anguage I could not recognize. The tunnels descended deeper into the earth beyond my Gaze spell¡¯s reach.

    The rattling noise of bones and nails scratching against stone echoed from further ahead.

    ¡°The Burned Men?¡± I whispered under my breath.

    ¡°Most likely,¡± Mother replied with surprising calm. With the giant undead bird outside blocking our way out, we had little room to deal with enemies. ¡°Cast a Veil. Show me what you can do.¡±

    ¡°But you said loc unveiled all lies in his territory.¡±

    ¡°His light does,¡± Mother replied, pointing a finger at the tunnel¡¯s exit while reminding me that we were enshrouded in shadows. ¡°It will not reach us here.¡±

    If she said so¡­ I cast my Veil spell and nketed us both in an illusory barrier. We became one with the nearest stone wall, as invisible as fresh air, as silent as inert dust. I also canceled my Gaze spell in case our foes could sense it the way vampires did. I stood next to Mother as we heard the noise grow stronger, closer, sharper¡­

    A shambling horror emerged from the darkness, looking for blood.

    Many times have I walked among M¡¯s citizens, whose death had stripped the flesh and skin off their bones. The appearance of the city¡¯s skeletal inhabitants surprised me at first, but their friendly and human demeanor won me over quickly.

    There was nothing human about this creature except for the shape. It was a corpse alright, one with pulsating red flesh covering its bones. The burning winds of locan had yed the skin off its raw muscles. An empty hole bled where it¡¯s heart should be and hate-filled ck eyes peered at us; the same malice that fueled the dead spirit Azcapalli, but sharpened with human intelligence and malice. Its pointed teeth opened and exhaled smoke.

    The Burned Man was neither alone, nor unarmed. Another of its kindred followed right after first, both of them wearing dust-stained rags and rusty metal tes; the remains of some armor I supposed. They wielded strange des of a dull gray metal unlike anything I¡¯d seen. They resembled daggers, but longer than clubs and far sharper. Neither of them carried torches, but the darkness did not seem to bother them.

    The two walked into the tunnel, their weapons grazing the stone floor and their throats letting out a threatening rattle. They stepped in front of us without noticing anything wrong. Mother and I had to lean back against the wall so as not to bump into the undead. Their ck eyes could see in the dark, but not through my sorcery.

    The Burned Men walked to the edge of the tunnel while carefully avoiding loc¡¯s sunlight. Did it burn them like the vampires I sought to destroy, or did they simply fear the god who scorched their entire world? Whatever the case they still took a moment to look outside the cave for any sign of intruders. One of the two made hand signs to itspatriot, who replied with a rattle.

    <em>Words</em>, I realized. <em>The pain stripped them of their sanity, but not their intelligence.</em>

    ¡°What are those?¡± I whispered to Mother, the Veil preventing our words from reaching the Burned Men. ¡°The weapons they carry?¡±

    ¡°Steel swords,¡± Mother replied. ¡°Steel is a metal alloy.¡±

    An alloy? My knowledge of metallurgy only extended to gold and copper. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of it. Is it better than obsidian?¡±

    ¡°Much better and more durable. The Third Humanity discovered many wondrous things, and they have not forgotten all of them.¡± Mother¡¯s hand moved to her owl mask. ¡°This is a good opportunity to learn.¡±

    I observed her with rapt attention. Mother plucked a ck feather from her mask, kissed it lightly, and then whispered words to it.

    ¡°I want him to suffer,¡± she said. ¡°I want him to stumble and fall, for pain to wrack his bones and tear off his flesh. I want him to burn and suffer a thousand humiliations.¡±

    The feather darkened as cruel wishes flowed out of Mother¡¯s lips. Its ckness somehow deepened into wispy shadows and ephemeral darkness. A witch¡¯s curses taking solid form in the world.

    ¡°Now watch.¡± Mother stealthily crouched without a sound and ced the feather against one of the Burned Men¡¯s shadows. The former swiftly merged with thetter and vanished from sight. ¡°To use the Curse, you must cast off one of your own feathers and nt it in the target¡¯s shadow. This stains the target¡¯s Tonalli with doom¡¯s call.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have to wait long to see the effects. The targeted Burned Man looked over his shoulder as if he had heard us, only for a stone under his feet to crumble at the tunnel¡¯s edge. The yed corpse suddenly lost bnce, stumbled near the exit, and fell off into the canyon with a frightful cry. Itsrade watched the scene with what could pass for silent glee. It neither helped nor called out to the other warrior; it simply observed the fall with malice. The fiery rains had burned away all sense of kinship.

    ¡°Did the feather cause the fall?¡± I whispered to Mother. The ident had been so subtle I didn¡¯t detect any trace of magic.

    ¡°Yes and no. The feather does notmand the flow of destiny, it simply makes it easier for doom to manifest.¡± Mother carefully watched the second Burned Man without summoning another feather; mayhaps she thought two Curses would be one too much. ¡°In general, it is best to suggest humble cmities. The more likely an event is to happen naturally, the easier it is for the Curse to turn it from a <em>possibility </em>into a <em>certainty</em>.¡±

    A simple enough rule to understand. The Curse did not create oues from nothing, it simply improved the odds of them happening. A man was more likely to die from a bad fall than from battle, so telling the feather to induce the former would make the Curse likelier to take effect.

    After a while, thest of the Burned Men lost interest in the tunnel and turned away, leaving its kindred to fend for itself outside. The creature briefly paused in front of the cave paintings as if to reminisce on long lost times before retreating further into the dark. I did not cancel my Veil immediately in case it returnedter.

    I briefly stepped closer to the tunnel¡¯s edge while avoiding loc¡¯s sunlight. The cursed Burned Man was nowhere to be seen. The canyon was so deep I could hardly see the bottom from our current position.

    ¡°How long does a Cursest?¡± I questioned Mother.

    ¡°Until the feather is removed, whether by magic or death,¡± Mother replied calmly. ¡°Experienced sorcerers can remove the feather from their shadow by plucking it with their Tonalli, but the uninitiated cannot cure themselves. The best they can do is mitigate a Curse¡¯s effects if they learn of it and avoid situations that would trigger it. Otherwise, they will carry it until their final hour.¡±

    As far as spells went, this one might be the most cruel yet. It would probably fail to affect the Nightlords, but it would let me subtly assassinate their servants with little threat of discovery.

    ¡°The Haunt requires a simr process, but you must ce the feathers into fresh corpses and then bury them in the ce you wish to curse. The spell should thenst until the corpses decay.¡± Mother smiled at me, anticipating my protests. ¡°Animals will do in most cases. You may use birds or rodents when a cosmic ritual is not involved.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I rasped. ¡°But it does not invalidate my priorint.¡±

    ¡°It does not,¡± Mother conceded without changing her mind. ¡°I cannot perform the counter-ritual myself, son.¡±

    ¡°Because it would endanger your fragile life?¡± I asked with heavy sarcasm.

    ¡°Because since you will carry out the New Fire Ceremony ritual, your spells will have an easier time disrupting it than mine.¡± Mother paused for a moment. ¡°However¡­¡±

    I squinted at her. ¡°However?¡±

    ¡°I can secure the sacrifices and arrange for their death.¡± Mother observed my face sharply. ¡°Your assistance will be required to nt the feathers, but your hands won¡¯t have to wield the knife.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t impressed. Giving the order to kill someone was the same as killing them yourself. I would simply use an intermediary as the weapon rather than use a dagger. It would make the operation easier though, and force Mother to tie herself to it more directly. If she had a stake and role in it, she was less likely to betray me at a critical juncture.

    I let out a tired sigh. ¡°Is there truly no other option?¡±

    ¡°Triggering Smoke Mountain eruption is one,¡± Mother quipped. ¡°No mountain, no ritual.¡±

    I shuddered, though I couldn¡¯t tell whether it was because of Mother¡¯s idea or the fact she seemed capable of humor. ¡°Is it even possible?¡±

    ¡°Everything is possible with effort,¡± Mother replied with a shrug. ¡°However, the cost and result of such an action would no doubt put a Haunt to shame.¡±

    I snorted in disdain. My mother seemed to take the death of thousands no more seriously than a slight change in weather. Human life no longer mattered to her, if it ever did.

    ¡°I must think about it,¡± I said. I still hoped to find another, more palpable solution, and I needed to consult the Parliament of Skulls on the matter. I did not yet trust my Mother entirely. If she neglected to inform me of key details, my predecessors might help dispel her lies.

    ¡°Not for long,¡± Mother warned me, ¡°We only have a handful of days left.¡±

    ¡°Then begin to teach me now.¡± Even if a better option came up, the Curse and Haunt spells would help me out on my quest. I plucked a feather from my owl mask and examined it. ¡°Must I simply whisper words to it?¡±

    ¡°You must infuse the feather with your malice,¡± Mother exined. ¡°Whisper the target¡¯s name to it. Voice your grievances and offer suggestions. The purer and more personal the grudge, the crueler the Curse. Weave your hateful will into cmity¡¯s threads.¡±

    Hate was the one thing I would never run out of.

    I spent the next half an hour or so practicing the Curse with Mother, which mostly involved plucking feathers from my body and then whispering hateful words to it. Both came easily to me, yet no matter how many cruelties I came up with my feathers never gained the shadowy hue that Mother demonstrated.

    ¡°You must use <em>all </em>of yourself,¡± Mother advised. ¡°The Curse blends all three pirs of magic. Your Tonalli provides the feather and substance, but it is your Ihiyotl that anchors cmity, and your Teyolia that produces the malice.¡±

    ¡°I thought the Curse spell relied on my Tonalli alone?¡± I asked.

    ¡°All spells focus on a primary aspect of your soul, but it does not mean the others do not influence the result,¡± Mother replied. ¡°You must have noticed that your Doll and Spiritual Manifestation spells grew in power after you consumed the fourth sun¡¯s embers. If both relied on your Tonalli alone, why would strengthening your Teyolia improve them? Much like a strong heart helps the lungs quicken your breath, a spell will grow stronger if you can call upon all of your soul¡¯s resources.¡±

    ¡°And how do I do that?¡±

    ¡°Look inward,¡± Mother exined clearly. ¡°Remember events that put you through pain and echo the cmity you wish to brand the feather with. Do you wish to see a man fall? Then reminisce how it hurt to fall yourself. Do you wish to see a woman spurned by men? Then meditate on how it felt to be rejected yourself. Your Teyolia will burn with hateful mes, and your Ihiyotl will give them purpose through your words.¡±

    I closed my eyes and meditated on a hated memory. I reminisced on that terrible night when I watched Eztli murder her own father on Yoloxochitl¡¯s orders. How helpless it felt to watch the unthinkable.

    ¡°I wish to see this boy watch his father die,¡± I whispered to the feather, the fire in my heart burning balefully and my words dripping with venom. ¡°I want him to stand by helplessly as his loved ones suffer. I want him to feel <em>weak</em>.¡±

    A cloud of darkness floated around my feather when I opened my eyes again. Mother nodded in appreciation before ordering me to practice it again.

    For all of her failures as a parent, she made for a pretty straightforward teacher as far as magic was concerned. Whereas Queen Mictecacihuatl had been attentive and Huehuecoyotl an utter pain to deal with, Mother spoke factually, pointed out my mistakes, and exined the underlying logic behind our brand of sorcery. She was refreshingly direct.

    ¡°The more information you give to your feather, the stronger the Curse," Mother exined. "A feather that targets a named person will inflict more harm than one meant for all of the world''s men."

    ¡°Can a Curse be tracked back to its caster?" I asked. If the Nightlords noticed a feather, it wouldn''t take them long to piece the truth together.

    ¡°If the sorcerer is inexperienced," Mother said before quickly reassuring me. "I will teach you how to hide such things."

    I wondered how far I could push curses. If they could influence probabilities, would I be able to triggerplex scenarios with thorough nning? If I nted feathers on two different people and then cursed them to die by another¡¯s hand, would it cause them to fight? Moreover, the Haunt¡¯s ability to stain a location might serve me well in the pce itself.

    I needed to experiment further, but it would wait for another time. My soul felt weaker, its spiritual essence pulled up towards the waking world.

    ¡°I¡¯m about to wake up,¡± I warned Mother. Leaving my carrying frame and its precious contents in a Burned Men-infested tunnel did not sit well with me. ¡°We need to hide my belongings.¡±

    ¡°I will take care of them in your absence,¡± Mother said sharply. ¡°And wait for your return.¡±

    ¡°I do not know when I will sleep again.¡±

    ¡°Hours or days, it matters not. I will be there when you sleep again.¡± Mother let out a shrug. ¡°I rarely leave the Underworld nowadays.¡±

    I woke up before I could push her for details.

    My awakening was rude and sudden.

    I wasn¡¯t used to sleeping during the day after a sleepless night, so I supposed my body struggled to adjust. My flesh felt sore and tense. The prior day¡¯s exhaustion carried over into the next.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± I grumbled as my eyes struggled to adjust to the luminosity. My bed felt so coldpared to locan¡¯s searing heat, and just as unweing. ¡°What¡­ what time is it?¡±

    ¡°Past midday, my lord,¡± Ingrid¡¯s voice answered my question. I turned towards my bedside and found her standing there, fully clothed. Tezozomoc was there too. I wondered how long they had been waiting for me to wake up. ¡°The sun is high in the sky.¡±

    ¡°I took the liberty of canceling your morning appointments and dying the generals¡¯ assembly until this afternoon for the sake of Your Majesty¡¯s rest,¡± Tezozomoc said.

    ¡°You did well.¡± I would have been too tired for morning audiences anyway. I already struggled to sit up on my own mattress. ¡°What is the n for the day?¡±

    ¡°Lady Chikal will oversee your afternoon training after the generals¡¯ assembly,¡± Tezozomoc exined. ¡°The Goddesses will then summon you at sundown for the nightly prayer ceremony soon after your evening bath.¡±

    As expected, I would spend the night praying over their cursed sulfur me. This did not sit well with me. The winter solstice had only recently passed, so nights remained long. If I could sleep from dawn to midday, I could hardly squeeze four to five hours of sleep in each day until the New Fire Ceremony; preciously short interludes to spend on spellcasting practice.

    Should I take naps to catch up? No, it would hardly offer time for me to truly fall asleep. I would hardly stay longer than a few minutes in the Land of the Dead Suns before being yanked back to the waking world.

    What other options did I have? I would still need naps to keep my mind sharp. Tiredness would dull my wits and weaken my body at a critical juncture.

    Perhaps I should take an hour before or after the evening baths to practice Spiritual Manifestation? While my body would fall into torpor, I could have my Tonalli travel around under an illusory Veil.

    Come to think of it, I¡¯d memorized a map of the pce¡¯s secret passages thanks to Eztli. I could have my Tonalli escape the pce through them. My flesh would recover in a state of half-sleep, and my soul could spy on people inside my prison¡­ or contact individuals beyond its walls.

    I could already think of a few.

    ¡°Are xc and his mother still in the city?¡± I asked Tezozomoc. ¡°And zohtzin?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± my servant replied. ¡°All of them await Your Majesty¡¯s judgment.¡±

    ¡°zohtzin?¡± Ingrid raised an eyebrow. ¡°I thought my Lord Emperor intended to select his brother as their father¡¯s heir?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t changed my mind.¡± <em>But the scorned brother might yet prove useful. </em>¡°I will announce my decision another time though.¡±

    Tezozomoc nodded sharply. ¡°Your Majesty is wise to preserve their strength and focus on more important matters. Shall I summon the generals soon?¡±

    ¡°After my daily meditation.¡± I needed to consult my predecessors. Much had happened since west met, and critically important events would follow. ¡°What should I expect from it?¡±

    ¡°Lady Chikal and your military advisors will present Your Majesty¡¯s military strategy for theing war to the empire¡¯s generals,¡± Tezozomoc exined. ¡°As customary, all of Your Majesty¡¯s consorts will be present.¡±

    ¡°<em>All</em> of them?¡± I repeated, my heartbeat quickening. ¡°Has Nl recovered?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, Your Majesty,¡± Tezozomoc replied. ¡°The Goddesses released her this morning, and she is eager to serve you again.¡±

    I didn¡¯t fail to notice Ingrid¡¯s eyes squinting in displeasure. I didn¡¯t bother to hide my joy and relief. Nl suffered terrible injuries partly by my fault, and was delivered to the Jaguar Woman¡¯s<em></em>cruel ministrations. I was eager to see her again safe and sound.

    I could only hope the Nightlords didn¡¯t treat her too harshly.

    ¡°Good,¡± I told Tezozomoc. ¡°You may go for now.¡±

    The red-eyed priest offered me a bow and then left the room. Lady Sigrun walked out of my bathroom almost at the same time, wearing nothing other than a jaguar fur mantle that covered everything but the head and ankles.

    ¡°I am pleased to see our Lord Emperor has woken up,¡± she greeted me with her melodious voice. ¡°You worried us.¡±

    ¡°You did not sleep well, my lord.¡± Ingrid gave me a worried look. ¡°Did you have nightmares?¡±

    Yes, of a spirit-spider trying to eat me alive and a charnel realm of yed men. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied sharply. ¡°You could say that.¡±

    ¡°Do you wish to talk about it?¡± Ingrid asked kindly. For once, her concern seemed sincere. ¡°Fears are like words, my lord. They go away when spoken aloud.¡±

    Which, considering the Yaotzin existed, meant that they woulde back strongerter. ¡°Maybe another time,¡± I said evasively. ¡°I am thirsty.¡±

    Ingrid didn¡¯t insist further, and Necahual soon arrived to serve me a chocte cup. As usual, she avoided my gaze and those of my silent guards. A thought crossed my mind as she approached me.

    A Curse spellsted until removed¡­

    I discreetly activated the Gaze spell while cloaking it in a Veil. My truth-peering eyes swiftly set on Necahual¡¯s shadow. I studied it carefully, looking for what I knew would be there. It took me a good minute to tell its shape away from the rest.

    As I suspected, my Mother was a petty woman.

    A ck feather was subtly woven in Necahual¡¯s shadow. No wonder she had been unlucky in love. Mother must have ced this Curse early in my father¡¯s courtship or when Necahual discovered her identity as an owl-witch; since I could detect it, I assume she did so very early. Whatever the case, my mother-inw had carried the feather for years.

    I was tempted to remove the feather on the spot, if only because the Curse might affect Necahual when I needed her assistance the most, but I didn¡¯t know yet how to do so safely. I decided to leave the matter forter once I¡¯d mastered the spell.

    ¡°If my lord will forgive me for asking,¡± Ingrid said while I sipped my chocte cup. ¡°But would you agree to let me witness your training session?¡±

    ¡°My training session?¡± I repeated, somewhat surprised. ¡°The one with Chikal?¡±

    ¡°If my lord does not mind,¡± Ingrid confirmed. Her mother observed her sharply, her expression an imprable mask. ¡°I have always been curious about amazons. I would love to see them in action.¡±

    Whether Ingrid asked me that request out of genuine curiosity or to keep an eye on my other consort, I saw no reason to deny her wish. I assented with a quick nod.

    ¡°Must I bring food too?¡± Necahual asked with a low tone after I emptied my cup.

    ¡°No, not yet,¡± I grumbled. ¡°I¡¯m too tired to eat right now.¡±

    Lady Sigrun smiled ear to ear, a flicker of mischievousness in her eyes. ¡°Perhaps our Lord Emperor needs more rest.¡±

    My eyes lingered on her fur mantle. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind another massage.¡±

    ¡°I believe my Lord Emperor would appreciate a little novelty.¡± Lady Sigrun turned to her daughter. ¡°Ingrid, if you would kindly assist me.¡±

    The daughter was usually as unppable as her mother, so it surprised me to see Ingrid blush. My consort smiled sheepishly, almost as if she were embarrassed by the request. Now I was well and truly curious.

    ¡°If my lord would kindly sit near the bed¡¯s edge,¡± my consort said, her cheeks pinkish.

    I did so. Ingrid¡¯s hands undid my loincloth, but instead of removing her own clothes as I expected her to she instead knelt before me. She moved her head near my manhood for a reason I couldn¡¯t fathom. What was she¨C

    Oh.

    Oh¡­

    I admit the contact of her lips startled me at first. Ingrid was timid at first, but my moan of surprise seemed to embolden her. Her mouth was wet and sweet, her hands warm and gentle.

    Necahual lowered her head as she left the room, probably to hide either her disgust or her embarrassment. Lady Sigrun stayed and watched the scene without blinking. It added a certain transgressive appeal to the whole affair.

    Ingrid slid up and down, like she once did with her thighs on our first night. It felt¡­ exciting. Strange, but exciting. I closed my eyes, rxed, and focused on that feeling of pressure building up¡­ until I finally let go.

    My loins ached and then came the bliss, that brief moment of absolute peace and contentment. My mind cleared like the sky and my strained back suddenly rxed.

    "Does our Lord Emperor feel better now?" Lady Sigrun asked as her daughter''s lips let go of me.

    "It was, uh¡­" Now it was my turn to blush. "Something."

    "Salty?" Ingrid suggested as she wiped her mouth with her hand. She smiled sheepishly at me. "I hope my lord will forgive my inexperience on the matter."

    "I¡­" I wouldn''t mind her practicing this on me more often, but I was too embarrassed to say it. "I appreciated it."

    "My Lord Emperor should call us again after his training," Lady Sigrun said with a chuckle, her hand suggestively brushing against her fur coat. "He has seen nothing yet."

    How could such a simple, graceful gesture make my blood pump so quickly? Worse, her n indeed filled me with renewed energy; for I now had something to look forward to.

    Still, work came before pleasure. Ingrid and her mother helped me put on my imperial clothes, and I took the opportunity to ask thetter for information.

    ¡°I need the brothers¡¯ current address,¡± I whispered into Lady Sigrun''s ear. ¡°Quickly and discreetly.¡±

    ¡°A two-story mansion in the northern district for xc, a smaller inn located a street away from his sibling,¡± my spymaster whispered back without hesitation.

    How quick. If so, then the brothers¡¯ lodgings were only a short walk away from my pce. How appropriate. How <em>convenient</em>.

    ¡°I can arrange a message if you wish,¡± Lady Sigrun suggested, having guessed my intent.

    ¡°No need.¡± I would deliver <em>that </em>one in person; in a manner of speaking. ¡°How much will this information cost me?¡±

    Herugh sounded like a waterfall. ¡°Your best efforts when you call on us again."

    It wasn¡¯t even a request. She knew I wouldn¡¯t resist.

    By the time I left my bedchambers for the Reliquary, my muscles had rxed and my mind had sharpened. I entered my predecessors¡¯ tomb with a renewed sense of purpose.

    ¡°We sensed a change in the Land of the Dead Suns, our sessor,¡± the Parliament noted as I sat before them. ¡°You have entered locan earlier than expected.¡±

    ¡°A Tzahualli attacked mest night,¡± I exined while sitting down. ¡°Much has happened.¡±

    A thousand eyes glowed in the dark. ¡°Tell us.¡±

    I recountedst night¡¯s events to my predecessors, from Inkarri¡¯s ambush to my descent into locan, my reunion with my mother, and the information I¡¯d gathered on the Nightlords¡¯ n. The more I spoke, the more I felt tension rising in the room. The emperors¡¯ skulls whispered between one another by the time I finished. My information had sparked quite the stir among them.

    ¡°The Sapa Apu¡¯s ability to target you in the Underworld is worrying,¡± the skulls dered after a moment¡¯s consideration. ¡°Queen Mictecacihuatl is correct, he no longer has the means to ambush you as you fall asleep so long as you remain in the loweryers. However, we doubt a sorcerer of Inkarri¡¯s standingcks for other means of being a nuisance.¡±

    ¡°You think he will send other assassins?¡± I would be surprised if he didn¡¯t.

    ¡°It might take him much more time and effort, for fewer fiends haunt locan than M, but he will find it easier than targeting the Nightlords themselves.¡± It said something about my captors that an ancient undead sorcerer would rather strike me in another world entirely than confront the Nightlords in this one. ¡°The situation will change once the wares to his nation¡¯s doors and forces him to protect his living subjects. Until then, stay on your guard.¡±

    They did not need to advise me. Inkarri hoped to stop a war with Yohuachanca in its infancy by striking me down before imperial troops could mobilize. Once they did, he would focus on defending his own territory rather than trying to assassinate me quietly. I could expect to suffer the full brunt of his hostility until spring.

    ¡°What of my mother?¡± I questioned the skulls. ¡°I have my own opinion of her, but I would like to hear your viewpoint.¡±

    My predecessors pondered their answer for a good minute before speaking it aloud. ¡°Your kin she might be, but you would be wise not to trust Ichtaca. Her reputation as a dark witch and thief of soul appears well-earned.¡±

    ¡°I do not trust her either,¡± I said. I could count the number of allies I fully relied on with one hand, and even then I remained wary. The Parliament of Skulls itself didn¡¯t hesitate to withhold information from me when its members wished to. ¡°Do you think she is lying about wanting to help me?¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps, mayhaps not,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°You have seen Yoloxochitl. Even the vilest of monsters often cares for their progeny in their own way.¡±

    I prayed to all the gods that my mother would not show me the same kind of <em>love </em>as the twisted Nightlord.

    ¡°Some will do terrible things to foreigners that they would never consider for their friends and kin,¡± my predecessors continued. ¡°Ichtaca may be that kind of warlock, but be wary. She is clearly ruled by her fears. Fear of discovery. Fear of the final death. Fear of the Nightlords. She will assist you only as long as she might remain hidden and safe.¡±

    ¡°I expected the same.¡± My fists tightened. ¡°As for her n¡­¡±

    ¡°Whether or not this particr New Fire Ceremony aims to rece the sun or not, we cannot allow it to proceed to its conclusion.¡± The Parliament let out a sinister rattle. ¡°Ichtaca is not wrong. We might have to resort to extreme methods to foil the Nightlords¡¯ n.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d hoped not to resort to more murders,¡± I confessed.

    ¡°But you will, if you must.¡±

    I nodded. I wanted to explore less sinister alternatives, but if there were none¡­ if there were none, I would not recoil from sacrifice. Victory and the world¡¯s fate both demanded it.

    ¡°Have you no other solution to provide, my predecessors?¡± I asked without hoping for much.

    ¡°Unfortunately, your mother¡¯s n seems the most likely to seed,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°Targeting the priests who shall apany you on your process to Smoke Mountain might help disrupt the ritual, but their mistresses will easily rece them. Moreover, there is another element we must consider. The Nightlords have invested time and effort into this ritual. Should Ichtaca¡¯s n seed inpromising it, the sisters will investigate. They will not stop until they find a responsible party.¡±

    Damn it, I hadn¡¯t considered that. I¡¯d been so focused on finding a way to counter the Nightlords¡¯ rituals that I hadn¡¯t nned for what woulde after. Mother might teach me how to hide my feathers, but I still needed better protection.

    ¡°I need someone to shift the me to,¡± I whispered. ¡°A patsy.¡±

    ¡°You already know who we are thinking of.¡±

    Yes, I did.

    And I knew exactly the person who would let me nt the evidence.

 Chapter Twenty-Seven: War & Games

    Chapter Twenty-Seven: War & Games

    Sixty generals hade from all corners of the empire to die in my name.

    With the inclusion of the four leaders of the warrior fraternities and Tezozomoc, who represented the priesthood, this brought the total number of advisors to sixty-five; sixty-nine with my consorts. I¡¯d never faced such arge assembly of people since my coronation.

    I hoped to cut down that number <em>significantly </em>by the end of my rule.

    As expected of an emperor, I arrived at the assemblyst. Warriors old and young sat on the ground in the shadow of my throne room¡¯s marble columns. All knelt before me as I ascended the steps towards my obsidian throne, a sea of muscled men draped in feathers and cotton armor. I paid more attention to the old veterans. Most soldiers died young, so those who had lived enough to be fathers and grandfathers were either terribly cunning or incredibly strong.

    I found it strangely difficult to tell them apart from each other for the most part; only members of the various fraternities were allowed to wear more exotic uniforms like jaguar fur and quetzal feathers. For the most part, my generals felt interchangeable; a detail I assume the Nightlords nned for.

    I counted no women among their numbers either. It didn''t surprise me much since Yohuachanca¡¯s military doctrine enforced strict gender rules when it came to the army, but it felt somewhat saddening after seeing Chikal and her amazons in action. I suspected my consort could match any of these generals in battle ande out on top.

    Yet in Yohuachanca, women were meant to produce more soldiers to fuel the empire¡¯s expansion while men died in battle. I¡¯d never truly questioned that state of affairs until I ascended to the throne, but now it struck me as unfathomably cruel and restrictive. Doubly so since despite the fact the Nightlords were women, Sugey herself did not hesitate to wage wars personally.

    We mortals were <em>all </em>disposable resources assigned as the Nightlords saw fit.

    The four representatives of the warrior fraternities who had advised me earlier, Coaxoch, Cuauhteztli, Amoxtli, and Patli, upied a ce of status below my throne, but one lower than my consorts and Tezozomoc, who were allowed to stand next to me. Chikal hade dressed for battle, as befitting of her station as my minister of war; Ingrid offered me a respectful reverence; while Eztli smiled mischievously.And then I noticed Nl.

    My heartbeat hastened the moment our eyes met. I hadn¡¯t seen her since the tablet incident, where she awakened her wolf totem and fell into the Jaguar Woman¡¯s terrible ministrations. I had worried so much for her safety that simply seeing her alive came as a relief.

    Nl seemed well, at least physically speaking. Her pristine skin showed no hint of scars or the kind of torture I hade to expect of the Nightlords. Servants had dressed her in ample, traditional robes adorned with jaguar fur, pearls, and feathers. A glittering ring of silver sat atop her long white hair woven with pale flowers, making her look quite queenly.

    But when she immediately lowered her gaze and anxiously joined her hands, I knew she indeed bore new scars; the kind the naked eye could not see. Moreover, I immediately noticed the hint of a tattoo beneath her shoulders. Nl immediately raised her robes slightly to cover it fully, her teeth biting her lips in silent shame.

    I immediately felt the crushing weight of guilt falling on my shoulders.

    Nl had awakened her Tonalli while trying to protect me from a monster of my own creation. While I never intended to hurt her, I¡¯d been ready to cross that line if it meant securing a war with the Sapa; and in the end, she did suffer because of me.

    I had to make it up to her somehow.

    ¡°Nl,¡± I said while I stood before my throne.

    This time she dared to look at me. Half a hundred speeches and well-rehearsed words offort crossed my mind, but when I met her pale eyes so simr to mine, I forgot all of them and smiled.

    ¡°It is good to see you again,¡± I said from the bottom of my heart.

    Nl briefly gasped, her cheeks reddening. ¡°I¡­ me too, Iz¨C¡± Nl immediately stopped herself upon remembering we were at a public meeting and quickly bowed. ¡°My lord Iztac.¡±

    Her adorable clumsiness soothed my bitter heart. I sat on the throne in a lighter mood than when I entered the room.

    While Eztli appeared amused by this brief interlude and Chikal observed it with her usual coolness, Ingrid squinted in disapproval. I briefly wondered why before remembering that my deal with her mother involved treating her as my favorite. Did she think a brief show of affection to a friend in pain would jeopardize her standing?

    I suppose I shouldn¡¯t have done that before all of my realm¡¯s generals, but for once I couldn¡¯t care less about decorum. I wanted to atone for what I did to Nl, even in a small way. I supposed I would make it up to Ingrid by asking for her input a few times during the meeting. That should assuage her wounded pride.

    ¡°You stand in the presence of the Godspeaker!¡± Tezozomoc announced. ¡°Emperor of Yohuachanca and master of the world!¡±

    My mind more or less slipped away as he started reciting my titles. I cleared my throat when he finished, the entire hall growing silent. I rehearsed the speech I had carefully prepared with my predecessors one final time; these people only knew me as this year¡¯s emperor, and I would not have two chances to make a good first impression. Thankfully, the Parliament of Skulls had centuries of experience refining this art.

    ¡°Thank you all for making the long journey to my capital, my generals,¡± I addressed my audience. ¡°For centuries, warriors such as yourselves have stood vignt over the blessed people of Yohuachanca. Our empire¡¯s writ extends as far as your spears¡¯ reach.¡±

    Though I was younger than the dozen veterans who listened to me, the words came easily. I had grown almostfortable in my current role, and facing the likes of King Mtecuhtli granted me more nerves than most.

    ¡°The empire requests your strength once again. The treacherous Sapa people made an attempt on my life while pretending to extend a hand of friendship.¡° After a short moment of hesitation, I waved a hand at Nl. ¡°My consort was nearly in during the attack.¡±

    Nl shrank in ce. If she could have turned invisible, she would have. I somewhat regretted using her like this, but it had to be done.

    ¡°This act cannot go unpunished,¡± I dered. ¡°The Sapa have defied the heavens, thinking their mountains shall protect them. It is now our duty to bring them down to earth. We shall march on their golden cities, tear down their hills of stone, and return home crowned in glory. Your resolve will be tested, by our foes and the gods alike¡­ but you will prove worthy. For the goddesses and their children themselves will stand witness to your trials.¡±

    And I would ensure they would not survive long enough to deliver a final verdict.

    Acmations weed my speech, though how much of this apuse was sincere remained to be seen. How many times had these generals been summoned to the capital to hear simr words? Yohuachanca had been at war since its creation. The oldest of my soldiers had survived a lifetime of blood conflicts.

    I waited for silence to return before waving a hand at Chikal. ¡°My consort will now exin to you what strategy we have chosen to shatter the so-called Sapa Empire,¡± I dered. ¡°I expect you all to y your roles to the fullest of your abilities.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, oh Great Emperor,¡± Chikal said with a respectful reverence. ¡°We will not disappoint you.¡±

    I honestly hoped they did. The more disastrous the invasion went, the more the Nightlords and their spawn would be forced to expose themselves to salvage it.

    Chikal and Tezozmoc proceeded to detail the n the former had formed with my other advisors to the assembly. The gathering itself was mostly a question about who would be assigned which role; certainmanders would follow me in battle while others would have the task of managing the most ambitious coastal raid in our nation¡¯s history.

    Another matter to discuss would be the attack¡¯s timing; our n relied on officially challenging the Sapa to a formal Flower War on an agreed-upon ce and date as a distraction while our main force would strike their coast from the sea. This meant a great deal of negotiation with our enemies would take ce before any actualbat.

    ¡°I expect much from you in this case, Ingrid,¡± I whispered to my consort while Chikal continued her public address. ¡°As my chief of diplomacy, do you believe the Sapa would deny us a Flower War?¡±

    ¡°My lord selected a bold n,¡± Ingrid ttered me. She rxed a bit now that I publicly paid her more attention. ¡°I do not think they will refuse. Considering their current political instability, any would-be emperor will jump at the chance to gain victories and legitimacy. Of course, I expect my lord to crush them, but a Flower War will seem a betterpromise than a full-blown conflict.¡±

    I thought the same. Denying the offer of localized duels would seem like cowardice.

    ¡°Moreover, I believe I have found a way to all but guarantee an answer from my lord¡¯s enemies and utter chaos among their ranks.¡± Ingrid smiled deviously. ¡°We will address the war deration to the Sapa Emperor without naming him.¡±

    I thought over her proposal, but Eztli caught on to the trap¡¯s insidiousness before me. ¡°Oh, very clever,¡± shemented, leaning in to meddle with the discussion. ¡°Since the eldest and youngest sons of thete Sapa Emperor are at each other¡¯s throats over who will take the throne, this would imply we recognize whoever answers our challenge as our enemies¡¯ head of state.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Ingrid replied courteously, though smile became a little more strained. She did not like her rival¡¯s intrusion. A fact that clearly amused Eztli. ¡°We should send the deration as soon as possible. Waiting too long will give the Sapa time to settle their differences through diplomacy.¡±

    I nodded in agreement, though I privately hoped for the exact opposite. If a direct threat from a foreign ruler and the counsel of a Mallquis sorcerer couldn¡¯t unify the Sapa royal house against Yohuachanca, nothing would. Nothing except perhaps the death of a prince in battle.

    ¡°Which of the Sapa brothers will answer our challenge, I wonder,¡± I muttered under my breath.

    Ingrid chuckled lightly. ¡°The one with the most to prove.¡±

    She proved her sharpness once again. These would-be emperor siblings fighting over inheritance reminded me of the feud between xc and zohtzin. I supposed all families behaved this way when a father did not settle his affairs before passing.

    I¡¯d intended to settle the dispute in xc¡¯s favor, since he could offer me the most support, but Ingrid¡¯s remark gave me a devious idea of my own. I could still make use of the spurned brother if I yed my pieces carefully¡­

    Thankfully, the subject of the invasion¡¯s timing soon came up.

    ¡°Forgive humble tilpa,¡± one of the generals said after being granted the right to speak, ¡°But it will take at least a month¡¯s turn to mobilize a fleetrge enough to overwhelm the Sapa¡¯s coastal cities.¡±

    <em>tilpa? </em>I recognized the name as one of Nochtli¡¯s secret allies during his aborted coup. As more names from that list came up, I confirmed a few of his supporters had managed to keep their allegiances hidden. Not all of them, but a handful.

    So far so good. I had already thought of a way to talk with these potential allies without having guards and priests watching over me, which I would test during my nap.

    ¡°Even taking into ount the fleet¡¯sunch, I would wager on two weeks of smooth sailing before our troops might see enemynd,¡± another general suggested.

    ¡°It''s a pity that we have to keep some ships on the wrong coast to deal with the eastern inds,¡± Eztlimented lightly at my side. ¡°Since Your Majesty ordered forced conversions, the locals have started to prove¡­ <em>difficult</em>.¡±

    ¡°And whose fault is that?¡± Ingrid replied, her sarcasm thinly veiled by courtesy.

    Mine, since I¡¯d purposefully done my best to foster revolts within the empire; though Eztli did give me the excuse to make it reality.

    Eztli gave Ingrid a hypocritical smile worthy of thete caelel. ¡°My, but who else than me? An emperor is never wrong, only badly counseled.¡±

    She meant it as a joke, but the remark was sharply insightful. Since the Nightlords needed the emperor alive until the next Scarlet Moon, they would rather shift the me on underlings whenever convenient.

    ¡°If I understand well¡­¡± I started, my voice cutting through the chit-chat like an obsidian sword through flesh. ¡°You say it would take one to two months to organize the naval assault?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, Lord Emperor,¡± Chikal replied. ¡°It may be best to organize the Flower War slightly earlier to keep the Sapa¡¯s forces upied on the wrong front.¡±

    ¡°Our astrological consultations confirm that a Flower Warunched during the Wind month would bring great fortune to Your Majesty¡¯s efforts,¡± Tezozomoc added. ¡°The stars will align during that time.¡±

    The imperial sr calendar would reset after the New Fire Ceremony. The first month would be Crocodile, then Wind, <em>my </em>birth month. Since I was born on its first day, starting a campaign then would make for a powerful symbol. Moreover, as emperor, I would be expected to oversee a sacred rain festival in the following House month.

    I wasn¡¯t certain of how to interpret the priests¡¯ auspices, however. The Nightlords wielded great powers and understood the cosmos enough to consider reshaping it in their image. While I knew they were no true gods, their astrological predictions might contain a kernel of truth. They did predict my birth as a Nahualli after all.

    Thankfully, Eztli read my mind and spared a potentially suspicious question. ¡°Will the emperor¡¯s efforts go well, or the war?¡± she asked Tezozomoc. ¡°This might prove a subtle, yet important, difference.¡±

    ¡°An emperor is favored by fortune during their birth month,¡± Tezozomoc replied calmly. ¡°I assume the goddesses will smile on all of their speaker¡¯s actions during that time.¡±

    An evasive answer if I¡¯d ever heard one. Eztli also seemed equally amused. ¡°So you say the emperor¡¯s reign can only decline after that month flies by.¡±

    Tezozomoc smiled in embarrassment. ¡°I have no doubt His Imperial Majesty will steer his own fate towards a glorious future.¡±

    ¡°I shall endeavor to do so,¡± I replied, though I doubted Tezozomoc and I shared the same vision of a ¡®glorious future.¡¯ I turned to Ingrid next. ¡°Do you think you can negotiate a Flower War for the Wind month?¡±

    ¡°I believe so,¡± Ingrid confirmed. ¡°A campaign on the onset of spring would give the Sapa emperor imants a chance to face my lord in battle and gain legitimacy before the rest of their realm may settle for one or the other.¡±

    ¡°Then it is settled.¡± I gave Ingrid a sharp nod. ¡°I will be relying on you for this one.¡±

    Ingrid put her hand on her chest. ¡°I shall not disappoint you, my lord.¡±

    Assuming I sessfully foiled the New Fire Ceremony and that the Sapa Empire epted the deal, this left me with a month to thoroughly sabotage the invasion before it could actually begin.

    My n for the generals went far beyond recruiting supporters among their numbers. Once Mother taught me to disguise my feathers, I wouldy Curses on the invasion¡¯s key figures to ensure that it would end in a disaster. I couldn¡¯t infect every member of the assembly without risking discovery, but a few well-ced spells should achieve the expected result.

    Henceforth, I spent most of the assembly taking notes of which general would be assigned to which part of the invasion. My predecessors had also given me a list of those who supported Nochtli¡¯s aborted coup, so I would check which of them survived the Nightlords¡¯ purge. I could not afford to curse potential supporters.

    <em>None of this will matter if the Nightlords rewrite the cosmos</em>, I thought. <em>Unfortunately, that matter will require all my attention in the short term.</em>

    The generals would likely stay in the capital a few days after the New Fire Ceremony¡¯s conclusion to n the invasion¡¯s finer details. I would have opportunities to scout them out then.

    ¡°I have high hopes for what we might achieve together,¡± I told the generals as the assembly reached its end. ¡°While other duties are before me, please remain my guests until the New Fire Ceremony concludes. Let us begin a new era of glory for Yohuachanca together.¡±

    Tezozomoc immediately bowed before me, quickly imitated by the generals¡¯ assembly. ¡°I will immediately make the necessary arrangements, Your Imperial Majesty.¡±

    I nodded sharply and watched as the guards escorted the generals away from the throne room. My priests and jailers would have their hands full with so many dignitaries in the pce. This should give me a few opportunities to slip past their watch.

    When my throne room became quiet again, with naught by my consorts and guards to share mypany, I finally took the opportunity to check on a friend.

    ¡°You have been very quiet, Nl,¡± I said softly.

    Nl shifted ufortably next to me. Whereas my other consorts participated in the nning session, she had been silent as a tomb from start to finish. Even while Nl had always been the most shy and reserved of the four, she would oftenment on state matters anyway. Herck of military experience could not exin everything.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Nl cleared her throat and looked down on the cold stone floor. ¡°I am sorry, Iztac.¡±

    ¡°For not speaking up?¡± I shrugged. ¡°War is not your domain.¡±

    Nl bit her lips in shame. ¡°For¡­ for...¡±

    Before I could say anything, she fell to her knees sobbing.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry I attacked you¡­¡± Nl knelt, her forehead touching the ground. ¡°I swear, I¡­ I could not¡­ I could not control myself¡­ I never wished to bring you harm¡­ I swear¡­¡±

    I was so shocked I dared not say a thing. Her words took aback my other consorts too. Chikal observed the scene in silence, her thoughts hidden behind that facade ofposure she had long mastered, while Ingrid took a step back as if Nl had suddenly be poisonous.

    Eztli¡¯s reaction was the most puzzling. Since vampirism corrupted her, I¡¯d only seen her react to others¡¯ pain with disinterest. A wall had arisen between her ckened heart and humanity itself. Yet in this moment, she looked at Nl with a sorrowful look that could pass for pity.

    ¡°Nl, behave yourself,¡± Ingrid said, albeit weakly. It seemed that all of her mother¡¯s acting lessons had not prepared her to deal with someone in pain. If anything, the whole scene clearly made her ufortable.

    As for me¡­ the guilt I felt earlier was nothingpared to the sharp pain growing in my heart. Truth was, the thought that Nl would me herself for transforming and nearly striking me while in a wolf state hadn¡¯t even crossed my mind. I half-expected her not to remember what happened while in that form. Moreover, she had transformed in the process of trying to protect me from what she believed to be a threat to my life.

    Who in their right mind would have condemned her for that?

    No one, except for Nl herself. She had spent all her life being told that she was a demon and saw all those lies seemingly justified.

    ¡°I knew¡­ I knew I was unfit¡­¡± Nl started to cry. ¡°This curse¡­ I should not¡­ I was warned, but¡­¡±

    ¡°But nothing,¡± I said, unable to take this anymore. I immediately rose from my throne, decorum be damned, and bent the knee next to my friend and consort. ¡°Nl? Nl, look at me.¡±

    When she would do nothing else but sob, I grabbed her shaking shoulders with my hands and forced her to raise her head. She finally looked up to me, her pale eyes red with tears. Somehow it made it worse. It felt like that night Necahual broke down before me all over again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t me you for anything,¡± Iforted her. ¡°You¡¯ve saved my life.¡±

    The lie came easily and tasted all the bitter for it; doubly so since it had be the truth as far as the world was concerned. She did try to save me from a monster of my own creation and suffered for it.

    This irony hit all the harder since my words fell on deaf ears. When I struggled to find the right words to shake Nl out of her grief, I received help from an unexpected ce.

    ¡°As Iztac said, there is nothing to atone for,¡± Eztli said. She put a hand on Nl¡¯s hair and gently stroked it. ¡°From what I heard, you tried to defend him from an assassin. You have shown great courage.¡±

    ¡°But then I¡­¡± Nl joined her hands, her fingers shaking. ¡°That thing inside me¡­ it nearly killed him anyway¡­¡±

    ¡°Silly Nl, don¡¯t you know?¡± Eztli smiled joylessly. ¡°Only the goddesses alone can harm an emperor.¡±

    Even when the new Eztli tried to showpassion, her behavior still managed to leave me unsettled. I still appreciated the gesture.

    ¡°Nl, don¡¯t cry.¡± When my words failed to reach her, I simply decided to hug Nl. Her head fell on my left shoulder as she let my arms close around her. She felt so thin and fragile within them. ¡°I am thankful, I swear. You have nothing to be ashamed of.¡±

    Eztli kept stroking Nl¡¯s hair while I held her. Eventually she calmed down enough to stop sobbing and return the hug. I turned to my other consorts, who had observed the scene in silence without interfering. Chikal¡¯s expression could have been carved from stone, and Ingrid appearedpletely at a loss on how to act. Had she never seen someone cry before?

    ¡°Our training will have to wait,¡± I warned them.

    ¡°It might be for the best,¡± Chikal replied with a neutral voice. I still couldn¡¯t tell whether she approved or disapproved of my conduct. ¡°The day is well underway anyway.¡±

    ¡°We will recover the time lost tomorrow,¡± I said before turning to Ingrid. ¡°My apologies. I know you wanted to observe in the training session, but it will have to wait for another time.¡±

    ¡°No, no, no need to apologize, I understand,¡± Ingrid said quickly. She dusted her robes and swiftly regained herposure. Her brief moment of weakness hade and gone. ¡°How about we take a bath together?¡±

    I squinted at her. ¡°A bath? Right now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, all of us.¡± Ingrid nced at Nl. ¡°Warm waters would help soothe her heart.¡±

    I hesitated a moment, before realizing Ingrid might have a point. The imperial baths did wonders for rxation and Nl clearly needed a little pleasure in her life right now. I nced at the others. ¡°Is that agreeable with you?¡±

    Chikal shrugged her shoulders. ¡°I would appreciate a moment¡¯s rest.¡±

    ¡°You know me,¡± Eztli replied with a mischievous smirk. ¡°I love water fights. I always win them.¡±

    ¡°Not all of them,¡± I replied, her quip making me crack a smile. I had briefly been reminded of better times. I gently broke my hug and faced Nl. ¡°Would you like that?¡±

    Nl wiped her tears, then offered me a small, gentle nod.

    Less than an hourter I found myself slipping into the vast marble pools of my pce¡¯s baths. The warm waters and the flowery incense in the air nearly lulled me to sleep immediately.

    Ingrid was right. This ce did have a way of soothing one¡¯s worries.

    Speaking of Ingrid, she arrived first alongside Chikal and proved as graceful in the water as her mother before her. The two made quite the contrasting pair, one small and slender, the other tall and strong.

    I¡¯d never seen Chikal naked before, and I had to admit that seeing her strong abs and raw muscles did not leave me indifferent. That woman was in better shape than most male warriors, her healthy body chiseled and sharpened by a lifetime of training. Her tanned

    skin bore a dozen healed scars near the thighs and chest. My eyes briefly lingered on them.

    Chikal quickly noticed and smiled slightly as she walked into the baths. ¡°Are you fond of scars, Lord Iztac?¡±

    ¡°Someone told me each scar held a story once,¡± I exined.

    ¡°Wise words.¡± Chikal pointed at two marks near her left breast. ¡°I received this one from an enemy arrow and the other from a sister¡¯s de. Thetter nearly killed me.¡±

    ¡°A sister?¡± Ingrid asked curiously. ¡°I did not know you had any.¡±

    ¡°All the daughters of Chm and Bm are sisters,¡± Chikal exined. ¡°We might not share the same parents, but we are all kin nheless.¡±

    I noticed a sh of suspicion in Ingrid¡¯s eyes, though it did notst long. ¡°What could cause a sister to strike at another with the intent to kill?¡±

    ¡°A great many things.¡± Chikal shrugged her shoulders as she sat at the bath¡¯s edge and rested her arms on the marble. ¡°In this case¡­ you could call it a political disagreement.¡±

    Since that particr mark seemed more recent than the rest, I guessed Chikal received it after betraying her sisterhood to Yohuachanca.

    ¡°I believe you showed interest in witnessing our training session?¡± Chikal asked Ingrid. ¡°Are you interested in warfare?¡±

    Ingrid showed a rare moment of hesitation before raising and lowering her chin. ¡°The women of my mother¡¯s native Wind are allowed to carry weapons and fight,¡± she exined. ¡°So tales of the brave amazons fearlessly waging war on even the mighty Yohuachanca always resonated with me.¡±

    ¡°Your homnd¡¯s people are wise, Ingrid,¡± Chikalmented. Though she didn¡¯t directly criticize Yohuachanca, her derisive tone revealed her true feelings on the matter. ¡°Any girl should learn to fight for the day when men fail her.¡±

    ¡°Interesting phrasing,¡± I noted. ¡°Did something of the sort lead the amazons to shun men?¡±

    ¡°So say our legends,¡± Chikal confirmed. ¡°Our ancestors overthrew the yoke of foolish rulers who nearly led us to extinction. It is quite a long tale.¡±

    ¡°I would like to hear it,¡± Ingrid said. ¡°I have always been fascinated by how myths shape cultures.¡±

    Chikal gave Ingrid a sharp, pointed look. Although the fallen queen remained a master at hiding her emotions, I sensed a certain wariness in her posture.

    ¡°Come to think of it,¡± she said. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you carry any weapon before, Ingrid.¡±

    ¡°Mother refused to train me.¡± Ingrid lowered her body into the water until only her head peeked out of it. ¡°She said a warrior¡¯s skills would not serve me in my chosen role.¡±

    <em>And she was probably right, </em>I thought. As a consort born of an imperial concubine, Ingrid would never see battle in her life. Her mother probably preferred to focus on teaching her spycraft and diplomacy instead.

    ¡°Do you regret it?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°A bit,¡± Ingrid admitted.

    ¡°Is that why you were interested in our lord¡¯s training?¡± Chikal asked, her eyebrows furrowing in my direction. ¡°Or to ensure I would not make a move on him?¡±

    <em>Going straight for the throat</em>, I thought as I watched Ingrid tensing up. I kept my mouth shut and observed them.

    ¡°I do not know what you mean,¡± Ingrid lied, slightly taken aback by Chikal¡¯s bluntness.

    ¡°You do,¡± Chikal replied sharply. ¡°I saw the way you acted during the assembly, ring and seething whenever he showed other women more attention than he should. You see our situation as a fight over a limited resource: his favor.¡±

    Ingrid¡¯s gaze grew colder. ¡°We need not be enemies.¡±

    ¡°That is up to you, not me.¡± Chikal snorted. ¡°My only concern is to preserve my city from destruction. I am not interested in fighting over scraps of power, let alone those of a <em>male</em>.¡± She spoke thest word with barely hidden resentment at her current position. ¡°Let me do my job without interference and we will get along swimmingly.¡±

    ¡°How can I trust someone who sold out her so-called sisters for a ce <em>here</em>?¡± Ingrid responded with terrible coldness. ¡°These scraps are all the power you have left.¡±

    Chikal¡¯s hands curled into fists. ¡°I did what I had to do for my people.¡±

    ¡°So do I,¡± Ingrid replied.

    ¡°My my my?¡± Eztli¡¯s mocking voice cut through the argument like a sword through paper. ¡°Hasn¡¯t this gotten interesting?¡±

    I felt almost thankful when Eztli and Nl entered the baths soon after; the former naked as the day she was born, thetter with a linen towel covering her back and chest.

    ¡°Please, go ahead and kill each other,¡± Eztli teased them. ¡°I haven¡¯t eaten yet.¡±

    ¡°This does not concern you,¡± Ingrid replied. Chikal¡¯s attention now focused entirely on Eztli, whom she probably saw as the greater threat.

    ¡°Of course it does. We should try to get along, don¡¯t you think?¡± Eztli fearlessly jumped into the pool like she used to do while we lived in Acampa, sending waves in all directions. ¡°We are all fellow ves here.¡±

    Ingrid recoiled as if she had been pped, while Chikal¡¯s jaw clenched so tightly I worried she might break a tooth. Eztli had said aloud the truth they did not want to acknowledge. At least it killed this pointless argument and let me focus on a more important matter.

    Although she no longer cried, Nl did not join us in the water. She anxiously stood at the pool¡¯s edge without daring to touch it.

    ¡°Come,¡± I invited her gently. ¡°It¡¯s warm. You¡¯ll love it.¡±

    ¡°Are you¡­¡± Nl¡¯s hands tightened on her towel. ¡°Are you sure, Iztac?¡±

    ¡°You have nothing to fear,¡± I reassured her. When she wouldn¡¯t follow through anyway, my eyes lingered on her towel. I had a vague idea of what she so desperately feared to unveil, but I would not fault her for it. ¡°Or to hide.¡±

    Nl hesitated some more, but my kind words reached out to her heart. She slowly removed the towel, revealing her slender, pale figure¡­ and her naked back.

    Ingrid covered her mouth in horror. Chikal¡¯s eyes widened, herposure briefly shaken. Only Eztli did not appear surprised, mostly because like me she hade to expect the worst out of the Nightlords.

    I found myself at a loss of words, anger burning in my veins.

    The Parliament of Skulls had warned me that the Jaguar Woman would mark Nl with spells meant to control her transformation. I didn¡¯t expect that sentence to be <em>literal</em>.

    The tattoo on Nl¡¯s back was the most haunting piece of art I had evere across, as disturbingly vivid as it was fascinating. A shackled silver wolf screamed under a pitch-ck eclipse, spiked obsidian chains coiling around its throat and legs. The vicious restraints carved the beast¡¯s back open and dragged out a howling, bloody red shadow out of it. The picture painted the grim image of a wolf having its soul ripped from its flesh and shackled under a dark sun¡¯s auspices.

    I briefly dared to use the Gaze on Nl in conjunction with the Veil to observe Nl¡¯s totem. I immediately regretted it. The phantom image of a leashed wolf shed before my eyes; a proud great beast muzzled and shackled by the same ck chains that bound my own heart.

    I realized my mistake when Nl turned red from shame and embarrassment. The looks we¡¯d sent her only worsened her mood.

    ¡°It¡­ It won¡¯t happen again,¡± Nl said weakly. ¡°The transformation. Lady Ocelocihuatl said so. She¡­ she took care of it. She said this mark will seal the¡­ the beast.¡±

    My predecessors knew a way to subtly subvert the Jaguar Woman¡¯s control without her knowledge, to usurp ownership of the terrible spell; but I had no way of truly freeing Nl without alerting her tormentor.

    Now that I saw the mark, the very thought of going through with the skulls¡¯ n sickened me. I would be the worst kind of ver: the one that oppressed his own kind.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ good,¡± I lied through my teeth in an attempt tofort her. ¡°This tattoo is¡­ beautiful.¡±

    ¡°<em>She</em> is beautiful, Iztac,¡± Eztli added, catching on to my n. ¡°She could be covered in scars and make them look good.¡±

    Thepliments might be utterly insincere, but they seemed to reassure Nl nheless. When I beckoned Nl to join us in the bath she slowly followed through, covering her breasts with her arms.

    ¡°You need not be so shy, Nl,¡± Ingrid noted. While she remained wary of her fellow consort, I noted a hint ofpassion in her gaze. ¡°We are all naked as worms here.¡±

    ¡°I am sorry,¡± Nl apologized, blushing ear to ear. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s my first time bathing with a boy.¡±

    ¡°I was the same,¡± Eztlimented with a devious expression I knew all too well. ¡°Then I found a trick to ease things up.¡±

    I had survived enough water fights to see her sneak attacking. I raised my arms to protect my face as Eztli¡¯s hand sshed the pool¡¯s surface and sent a wave straight at me. Nl gasped in surprise while Ingrid blinked a few times.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have done that,¡± I warned Eztli, briefly forgetting all the horrors I¡¯d been through these past few days. ¡°I¡¯ve dered a war, you know?¡±

    ¡°But can you win this one?¡± she teased me.

    I answered with a vicious wave of my hand that sent water all over her face. Nl¡¯s surprise turned into a giggle and Chikal smiled thinly at the spectacle.

    Ingrid, however, clearly disapproved. ¡°My lord, must you truly rise to her provocations?¡±

    ¡°Have you never fought this way?¡± Eztli asked her.

    ¡°No, of course not,¡± Ingrid protested. ¡°It is childish.¡±

    ¡°Then you should make up for lost time,¡± Eztli noted before sshing water at Ingrid¡¯s face for her trouble. At first shocked, Ingrid attempted to keep herposure.

    ¡°Stop it,¡± Ingrid said. Eztli sent another wave her way. ¡°Stop it,¡± Ingrid repeated, an ultimatum that Eztli utterly ignored. ¡°Stop it!¡± Ingrid repeated, only for another ssh to convince her that pacifism had never been an option. Her mask of self-control slipped and turned into a sneer of anger. ¡°Fine!¡±

    Only then did Ingrid begin to retaliate with a ssh of her own. Shecked my or Eztli¡¯s experience, but she was both a fast learner and a sore loser. She would not ept defeat. Soon Ingrid and Eztli ignored me as they waged a battle of their own; a spectacle that seemed to amuse even the mighty Chikal.

    ¡°That looks¡­ that looks fun,¡± Nlmented shyly.

    ¡°Do you want to try?¡± I asked her. ¡°I will fight you if you want.¡±

    ¡°Oh, uh¡­¡± She smiled sweetly. ¡°I would never dare¡­¡±

    Too much, too soon. ¡°How about a patolli game?¡± I suggested. I carefully avoided mentioning the tumi, in case it woke up bad memories. ¡°I will have guards bring in a board and we could y in the water.¡±

    My suggestion caught Chikal¡¯s interest. ¡°Patolli, you say?¡±

    ¡°You y it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I prefer more strategic games, but I do not mind ying that one,¡± Chikal replied, much to my surprise. The amazon queen sent a brief nce at Ingrid¡¯s and Eztli¡¯s childish feud. ¡°The Nightkin is right. We should try to get along.¡±

    There might be room for diplomacy after all.

    I suddenly realized I¡¯d never spent time with all of my consorts at the same time that did not revolve around work. I¡¯d enjoyed more personal interactions with each of them, some of them intimate, but not with all four.

    <em>Perhaps I should do this more often</em>, I thought as I focused on the delightful feeling of warm waters flowing on my skin.<em> I¡¯ve spent so much time focusing on the other matters that I forgot we¡¯re all on the same sinking boat.</em>

    ¡°Oh?¡± As I expected, the possibility of ying a board game put Nl in a good mood. ¡°Oh, that would be great. The more yers we have, the better.¡±

    ¡°Then say no more,¡± I said. ¡°I will have one brought to us immediately.¡±

    Considering the night ahead of me, I weed a breath of fresh air.

 Chapter Twenty-Eight: Puppets Strings

    Chapter Twenty-Eight: Puppet''s Strings

    As always, Nl proved undefeatable in battle.

    Unlike the deeply strategic Tumi game, Patolli relied almost entirely on luck. When a yer rolled the dice, their only real choice was to either advance an existing pawn ording to the given result or put another in y on the board. That was all. There were no special effects to call upon, no magic trick to escape destiny¡¯s jaws. Since the game ended once a yer got rid of all their pawns by reaching the board¡¯s end, Patolli focused on making the best out of a dice roll. Mortals did not decide fate¡¯s whim, but they could make the best of it.

    Either Nl possessed phenomenal luck, or she had an uncanny intuition when it came to board games. We were on our fourth game and she appeared on the verge of winning this one too.

    ¡°You are good, Nl,¡± Chikalmented as she advanced her pawn by four spaces. ¡°Very good.¡±

    ¡°You are not so bad yourself,¡± Nl replied cheerfully. Whilst she remained in the lead so far, Chikal did notg too far behind. ¡°No one has pushed me this far before.¡±

    ¡°It saddens me to hear that,¡± Iined. My poor pawns trailed twelve spaces behind the two.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fret,¡± Eztli mused at my left. ¡°You were never that good at Patolli.¡±

    Ingrid smiled thinly at me to my right. ¡°Luck simply does not favor you today, my lord.¡±

    When did it ever smile on me? Perhaps I should check my own shadow for a cursed feather. It would exin so many things.At least Eztli and Ingrid were both offering me much needed moral support now that their water fight ended without a clear winner. I wouldn¡¯t say the childish feud had let them grow closer, but my consorts¡¯ general mood definitely improved around each other.

    ¡°I shape my own destiny,¡± I said before rolling the dice. Victory might be beyond my grasp, but I refused to surrender without a fight. ¡°If luck disdains me, then I must make my own.¡±

    ¡°A good way to live.¡± Chikal nodded in appreciation. She did not lose herposure even after Nl rolled the highest number possible, all but securing her victory. ¡°You would love ying Stone Warriors.¡±

    ¡°Stone Warriors?¡± Nl asked, her eyes looking up from the board in interest. ¡°Is that an amazon game? I¡¯ve never heard of it.¡±

    ¡°Our generals use it to train at troop deployment,¡± Chikal replied. ¡°The game is yed with stone miniatures representing two armies, and does not allow for dice nor any form of luck.¡±

    ¡°No luck?¡± Eztli scoffed. ¡°Where is the thrill then? The surprise?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a match of pure skill and wits,¡± Chikal answered as she moved her pawn forward by three more spaces, deftly dodging a trapped spot. ¡°It is a good game¡­ but terrible training.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± I asked, slightly surprised. I would think a game that allowed a yer to control all the variables would help sharpen their strategic skills.

    ¡°Stone Warriors involves both sides fighting with the exact same amount of troops on an open field, with no dice nor luck involved. The rules stay invariably the same and the soldiers always act as their general wishes them to. It is the fairest of all games.¡± Chikal shook her head. ¡°How does this mirror a true war, Lord Iztac?¡±

    ¡°I see what you mean,¡± Ingrid said, quickly guessing at the issue. ¡°Two sides may possess vastly disproportionate resources of manpower, equipment, and logistics.¡±

    Chikal nodded sharply. ¡°Soldiers may misunderstand a general¡¯s strategy, or even betray them. Dead warriors do not magicallye back to life for the next battle. Leaders obey and discard rules whenever either brings them an advantage. An unforeseen change in weather may doom a perfect operation or provide a crucial dy. I have yet to find a game that can take all these elements into ount.¡±

    ¡°<em>Board & Conquest</em>es the closest, but it has its limits too,¡± Nl said softly. The Patolli game ended with a final roll of the dice and herst pawn reaching the finish line. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ this is the end.¡±

    ¡°Do not apologize for winning, child,¡± Chikal said after epting her defeat with grace. ¡°You should celebrate life¡¯s victories. They are so few and far between, not to mention short-lived.¡±

    <em>Quite the cynical take on life</em>. Chikal might have kept her dignity, but her true feelings shone through her words¡¯ bitter edge.

    ¡°We could y another game,¡± Eztli suggested. ¡°All of us.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps another time,¡± I said with a yawn. I needed to take a nap so I could survive a full night praying before the Nightlords¡¯ sulfur me.

    ¡°It is gettingte,¡± Ingrid confirmed. Her arms coiled around mine and tightly held onto me. ¡°My lord needs to rest.¡±

    Eztli smiled at the scene, her fangs shing beneath her lips. ¡°Indeed he must. He will spend the night with <em>me </em>after all.¡±

    Ingrid¡¯s eyes did not smile when her lips did. Was she jealous of Eztli? Ugh, what a liability. I already had my hands full with the Nightlords. I couldn¡¯t afford to handle yet another private war.

    ¡°I understand,¡± Nl said, albeit without hiding her disappointment. ¡°Maybe we could y tomorrow instead? We can meet at the baths again.¡±

    ¡°I would not mind it after a hard day¡¯s training,¡± Chikal mused. ¡°If our emperor allows it.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± I replied, ¡°but only if you bring your Stone Warriors game.¡±

    ¡°Oh, great idea,¡± Nlmented, her eyes alight with interest. ¡°I would be delighted to try it.¡±

    Her enthusiasm amused Chikal. ¡°With pleasure.¡±

    I walked out of the baths happier and more rxed than when I went in. Servants immediately arrived with towels to dry us up, with Necahual included among their number. Since a duo of amazons took care of Chikal and I caught Ingrid exchanging words with her own maids, I wondered if each of my consort possessed their own assigned staff¡­ and how loyal they were to their mistresses.

    ¡°I am surprised to see you being so kind with Nl,¡± I whispered to Eztli as her mother dried our backs with a towel. I caught Necahual¡¯s fingers shaking as she touched her daughter¡¯s skin; sensing its coldness no doubt reminded her of her failure to protect Eztli from the Nightlords¡¯ grasp.

    ¡°What can I say? She reminds me of you.¡± Eztli shrugged as her mother dried her hair. ¡°She alone bears her heart on her sleeve.¡±

    I nodded in agreement. Whereas Ingrid and Chikal pursued their own political agendas, Nl didn¡¯t have an insincere bone in her body. I admit it made me think fondly of her. She might very well be a true friend.

    s, Tezozomoc soon arrived to ruin my good mood. The red-eyed priest bowed before Eztli and me before delivering the grave news. ¡°Lady Eztli, your divine mother calls for you.¡±

    How shameless of him to speak these words before Necahual. My mother-inw¡¯s crestfallen expression only worsened my mood, as did Eztli¡¯s nk face.

    ¡°I see,¡± my consort said with little enthusiasm. ¡°I shall go with haste.¡±

    Necahual and I watched Eztli leave the imperial baths with the heavy steps of a condemned prisoner bound for execution. It tore my heart to see her like this, especially since I could do little to help her now. Necahual¡¯s eyes followed her daughter until she vanished from view, her hands clenching the towel with fury.

    Tezozomoc noticed the gesture, but thankfully did notment on it. ¡°Your Majesty?¡± he asked me next. ¡°Lady Sigrun also asked me if you intended to call upon her services.¡±

    A thrilling sensation traveled down my spine. I remembered Lady Sigrun¡¯sst words to me when I asked how I should pay for hertest piece of intel: <em>¡°Your best efforts when you call on us again."</em>

    I nced at Ingrid, who pretended not to listen in on our conversation and yet did nheless. I had identally snubbed her by showing more attention to Nl during the general assembly. Now would be the asion to fill her hunger for fame and attention.

    ¡°I would delight in herpany,¡± I answered Tezozomoc. Ingrid briefly nced in our direction but quickly corrected her expression.

    ¡°I shall see that she learns it.¡± Tezozomoc gave me onest respectful bow before leaving. I admit that while he proved a much needed improvement over his predecessor, caelel, the less I saw this man, the better.

    I turned to Necahual, whose hollow gaze made me pity her a little. While I felt little sympathy for her because of our prior history, but I didn¡¯t think <em>anyone </em>deserved to see their own child torn away from them.

    ¡°I am sorry,¡± I told her.

    Receiving my pity seemed to jolt Necahual from her gloomy mood. She answered my words with a re and then bent slightly to dry my shoulders.

    ¡°I stand by my decision,¡± she whispered into my ear with cold resolve. ¡°I wish to learn witchcraft.¡±

    I nced at Nl, whose servants covered the ve tattoo with a white cotton robe. Necahual¡¯s situation would not differ much from his consort¡¯s own if she continued down this path.

    ¡°You do not know what you ask for,¡± I told her once more.

    ¡°Mayhaps, but it will be better than what I have now.¡± Necahual¡¯s lips strained into that awful, hateful expression I had grown familiar with over the years. ¡°<em>Nothing</em>.¡±

    She grasped for power in an attempt to regain her agency. Part of me wanted to grant her wish. The more spellcasters and tools at my disposal, the better. However, part of me did not relish in furthering another¡¯s envement; especially since I would hold the leash myself.

    Necahual was no Nahualli. The Parliament of Skulls knew of a way to turn her into a Mometzcopinque, a creature with magic of its own, but the process would bind her soul to me. I would take another step toward bing yet another ver.

    ¡°What good is there in borrowed power?¡± I asked her. ¡°You will¨C¡±

    Her nails sank into my shoulders.

    ¡°You think this is about <em>me</em>?¡± Necahual whispered with a hint of disdain. ¡°I will do anything to see my daughter freed and happy again. <em>Anything</em>. I do not care how you use me so long as I can get her <em>back</em>.¡±

    The anger in her voice felt too vivid to be false. I could always trust Necahual¡¯s hatred.

    The contrast with my own mother, who helped me only so long as she could afford not to risk anything, filled my heart with jealousy. If a petty soul like Necahual could find depths of resolve when it came to protecting her child, what excuse did Ichtaca have?

    ¡°Please,¡± Necahual pleaded as she let go of my shoulders. Sorrow and despair overwhelmed the anger in her eyes. ¡°She¡­ she is all I have left.¡±

    For all the resentment and bitter memories I kept for my mother-inw, I couldn¡¯t help but admire her choice. I had impressed upon her the cost of witchcraft and she would still pay it for Eztli¡¯s sake.

    If it was her choice¡­

    ¡°Fine,¡± I whispered back. ¡°I will see what I can do.¡±

    I found it hard to fathom that a woman like Necahual could find an ounce of courage in her situation, but I would respect her decision.

    Necahual answered my words with a small nod and a brief, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    I wondered how much it hurt her to say those words.

    I offered my arm to Ingrid after Necahual finished dressing me. She swiftly took it and then I bade goodbye to my other consorts for the time; with a particr focus on Nl.

    ¡°Do you feel better now?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°I do, my lor¨CIztac.¡± Nl blushed slightly. ¡°You are very kind.¡±

    ¡°I had a pleasant afternoon too, Nl,¡± Ingrid said courteously while conveniently forgetting her water fight with Eztli. ¡°I look forward to ying games with you myself another time.¡±

    I suspected Ingrid said those words only so she could keep an eye on Nl, but thetter¡¯s answer took her aback. ¡°Me too, Ingrid,¡± Nl replied with utmost sincerity, before taking Ingrid¡¯s hands into her own. ¡°I hope you won¡¯t not find me too boring.¡±

    ¡°Why would I?¡± Ingrid replied with an insincere smile.

    ¡°Well, you are¡­¡± Nl¡¯s cheeks turned crimson. ¡°You are so cultured and refined¡­ I do not want to embarrass you¡­¡±

    Ingrid observed Nl with a strange gaze. She reminded me of a bird of prey searching for any kind of weakness or deceit, only to find herself confused when she failed to detect any. Her sharply trained political mind struggled with the possibility that Nl¡¯s clumsypliments hid no ulterior motives.

    Ingrid eventually regained herposure and lightly kissed Nl¡¯s hands. ¡°Do not worry about that, Nl,¡± she said lightly. ¡°The four of us stand as equals in the gods¡¯ eyes.¡±

    A fact that Ingrid clearly resented, but Nl believed her anyway. We gently kissed each other on the cheek, promising to meet again tomorrow, before servants led her back to her bedroom.

    ¡°I stand by what I said earlier, Lady Chikal,¡± Ingrid said as myst consort prepared to take her leave. ¡°I would like to witness your next training session, if you will have me. For curiosity¡¯s sake.¡±

    ¡°Suit yourself.¡± The amazon queen shrugged her shoulders. She didn¡¯t care either way. ¡°I will be waiting for you tomorrow, Iztac.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll make up for today¡¯s loss,¡± I promised. Unlike Nl, Chikal did not kiss me goodbye, nor did I make an attempt to do so. Whereas I¡¯d shared a bed with the others, or at least grown friendly with them like with Nl, the amazon queen kept our rtionship strictly professional for now.

    I would make an effort to break past this barrier over the next few days. I wouldn¡¯t say my consorts had be friends¡ªthe tense exchanges between Ingrid and Eztli attested to their mutual defiance. Nheless, I believed we had taken the first step towards understanding each other.

    One day, we might all work in harmony against our true enemy.

    ¡°Shall we retire to my chambers, Ingrid?¡± I asked.

    I expected her to agree with a smile. Instead, she appeared almost¡­ reluctant. ¡°If my lord wishes.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°You don¡¯t want to?¡±

    ¡°No, no, let us return.¡± Ingrid shook her head and forced herself to smile. ¡°My mother awaits you.¡±

    <em>You? </em>I noticed her odd turn of phrasing.<em> Not </em><em><strong>us</strong></em><em>?</em>

    Ingrid dragged me by the arm back to my apartment without anyment. I sensed the tension in her hands, but the way she avoided my gaze convinced me to keep my mouth shut. My consort was in no mood to discuss what bothered her.

    Ingrid¡¯s prophecy proved correct once we returned to my bedchambers and the guards closed the door behind us.

    Lady Sigruny naked on my bed.

    Before I went to sleep earlier this morning, I¡¯d asked her to put the bribe jewels she received from xc on. She¡¯d followed mymand to the letter. A splendid emerald ne fell on her bosom, right below her torc, while rings of gold centered around her arms and thighs.

    I had already seen her naked in the baths, but this¡­ the way her ne¡¯s glowplimented her eyes, the sight of gold on her milky white skin, of her hair falling on her breasts¡­ I couldn¡¯t put it into words. Her jewelry heightened her allure the way statues of gold enhanced a temple¡¯s majesty. I stared at her perfect curves without a word, my lips unable to utter a word.

    Lady Sigrun smiled at me with teeth whiter than pearls. Her right hand traveled up her neckline, brushing against her full bosom and ne; the left moved to her thighs. I was watching a well-rehearsed spectacle meant to quicken my pulse, and it worked beautifully. My blood boiled in my veins and my manhood stirred against my loincloth.

    Lady Sigrun nced at Ingrid, who swiftly removed my clothes. I hardly paid attention to her warm touch on my skin. The daughter was but a shadow of her mother, and thetter had effortlessly put me under her thrall.

    ¡°Come over here,¡± Lady Sigrun boldly ordered me, as if <em>I </em>were the ve and <em>she </em>the master.

    The nerve of her¡­ I admit my body very much wanted to obey hermand and join her, but my mind held back. So many days of scheming and treachery had made me wary of everything. I knew that much like she did not hesitate to throw Ingrid into my bed to influence me, Lady Sigrun would only offer me pleasure as a hook to obtain more concessions from me. She hungered for a queen¡¯s power.

    However, I knew what awaited me afterward: a full night spent fueling a cursed me with four vicious vampires breathing down my neck, followed by short hours of sleep trapped in a burning hellscape with Mother Dearest. Once I considered my trips to the Land of the Dead Suns an escape from the harsh reality of my waking days. No more. I would rest neither among the living nor the dead.

    I might as well enjoy myself where I could. Evacuate the tension building up in my flesh and mind. The Nightlords designed this pce as a golden cage, with countless pleasures meant to dull my senses.

    What harm was there in using a few of them for release¡¯s sake?

    <em><strong>---- NSFW Scene Starts -----</strong></em>

    So I anxiously walked up to the bed, doing my best to ignore the silent guards watching us with utter stillness. Ingrid did not say a word, her face once again nk and expressionless. I couldn¡¯t tell whether she disapproved or simply tried to hide her embarrassment. She nced at her mother, looking for instructions; and in response Lady Sigrun silently gestured at the harp in the corner of the room.

    She would not share me this time. Not even with her daughter.

    <em>Is this truly happening?</em> I crawled onto the bed before I knew it and Lady Sigrun weed me without a word. I felt her daughter¡¯s eyes on my back as she started to y the harp. Somehow this only heightened the thrill.<em> Or am I still dreaming?</em>

    I had shared a bath with Lady Sigrun before, and a bed with both Ingrid and Eztli. This time felt different, however. Stupid as it sounded, I still hesitated to touch Lady Sigrun. I knew she wouldn¡¯t push me away¡ªshe¡¯d invited me after all¡ªbut the difference in age and experience suddenly became clear to me. Though she kept her youth and beauty, Lady Sigrun was old enough to be my mother. She was a mature woman who had bedded over fifteen emperors and outlived them all; a queen who bore three princes and princesses without losing her legendary beauty.

    I could brush it all off when we were merely ying stage games for outsiders, but now I felt¡­ not intimidated, but anxious. Like a man who had only climbed hills now facing the challenge of an ancient mountain.

    Sensing my wariness, Lady Sigrun clutched my hands, lightly kissed my fingers, and then pushed them against her bosom. All my hesitation vanished the moment I touched her. A jolt of lightning traveled through my skin.

    ¡°Earn me,¡± she said softly.

    The sheer confidence in her words floored me. Somehow Lady Sigrun reversed our situation in a single sentence: <em>I </em>was the one who had to prove himself worthy of <em>her</em>. She challenged me, <em>dared </em>me to show I possessed the strength to hold her attention.

    I knew it was a ploy, a tactic meant to arouse my desire; I was the one with the crown, the emperor. I held the power of life and death over her.

    But just like the Veil ensnared the weak-willed into believing in an illusion, her n worked. I¡¯d never wanted a woman more than this pale witch from the east.

    I desired her fiercely. I desired her beauty, her wits, and her intelligence. And if she had been capable of loving me, I would have wanted her heart too. I knew she was only beckoning me because she hoped to profit from our union after I¡¯d proved my skills, but the mere fact she thought this dance was necessary aroused me. I felt worthy.

    So I began to explore her, to touch her. Her smooth unblemished skin smelled of flowers and oil. I traced lines along her neckline and then seized her breasts. They felt like fruits in my hands, firm yet soft. Her fingers brushed against my hair and pushed my head closer to her bosom. Lady Sigrun let out a small gasp as I suckled her nipple. Her flesh tasted of salty sweat and spice.

    ¡°Pleasure me,¡± she ordered as her free hand guided one of mine between her legs. She moaned softly as I jammed my fingers in herdy parts, the sound making shivers run down my spine.

    The rest was a blur, a whirlwind of kisses and whispers. Lady Sigrun proved an experienced teacher. Whereas I stumbled a lot with my previous partners, I only had to follow her directions this time. Somehow she always knew where to touch me to heighten my pleasure. A brush here, a bite there¡­ I tasted her breast, her neck, her belly, her everything. Each brush of her fingers unleashed a jolt of lighting through my skin.

    The fact Ingrid watched our coupling only heightened the experience. It gave our embrace a forbidden thrill, forck of a better term. Perhaps it was her mother¡¯s ploy¡ªit certainly felt that way¡ªbut I didn¡¯t mind. I didn¡¯t care. I wanted to im her, to own her, to <em>conquer </em>her.

    Lady Sigrun finally granted my wish. She let me crawl above her, my manhood erect. She spread her legs and grabbed my shoulders with her hands, inviting me, weing me, daring me to im the prize I¡¯d earned.

    I could not resist. I did not want to resist. My hands grabbed her thighs and she buried her face in my neck as I thrust into her. I expected a rush of immense pleasure, a moment of absolute bliss.

    Instead, I felt the trap¡¯s jaws closing on me.

    The realization cut through the fog of pleasure like a de of obsidian through flesh. A sensation of alertness and danger seized my heart instantly. A jolt of unease traveled through my back and caused my spine to stiffen.

    <em>What is this?</em> I closed my eyes and focused. My breath was short, my body in the throes of pleasure, but my heart ached in my chest. <em>My heart¡­</em>

    My Teyolia.

    I focused on my divine heart-fire. I sensed the presence of another me besides mine; smaller, weaker, <em>hungrier</em>. A zing torch to the hateful sun of my soul, but one that burned in perfect synchronicity with my own Teyolia.

    Lady Sigrun sensed my sudden tension. Her legs coiled around my back before I could pull back, like the jaws of a great beast closing in on me.

    I activated the Gaze the moment I opened my eyes again, covering the spell under a Veil. The invisible runes covering Sigrun¡¯s skin appeared to me, shining with the same gilded light as the torch connected to my heart-fire.

    ¡°Calm down, my lord,¡± Lady Sigrun softly whispered into my ear. Her arms seized me, her left hand sliding into my hair to better hold my head close. ¡°Let me guide you¡­¡±

    ¡°What¡­¡± I clenched my teeth, seething. ¡°What are you doing to me?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know?¡± Lady Sigrun smiled ear to ear. ¡°To receive, you must first give.¡±

    My eyes widened. <em>Death and beauty</em>, I remembered. <em>These runes represent the goddesses of death and beauty.</em>

    ¡°When you asked about the runes¡­ You wanted to learn my magic, did you not?¡± Lady Sigrun pulled my head into her bosom, our bodies joining in flesh. ¡°To receive my knowledge and pleasure¡­ you must give in return.¡±

    Death and youth. The pieces suddenly fell into ce. I finally understood how Lady Sigrun had managed to remain so beautiful and ageless. Did my predecessors know? Probably not. Her method was subtle. So subtle I would have noticed had I not tasted a sun¡¯s embers and strengthened my Teyolia earlier.

    ¡°It might feel different this time,¡± I warned her.

    ¡°Good,¡± she replied with a soft exhtion. ¡°Worry not¡­ I will only take what you give me¡­¡±

    I nodded and then thrust. She moaned and pushed against me, biting into my neck like a vampire. I closed my eyes to better focus on my Teyolia, to both bask in the pleasure and fully understand the process. Our heart-fires aligned like the sun and moon during an eclipse.

    My loins ached and then came the bliss, that brief moment of absolute peace and contentment. My mind cleared like the sky while a surge of lightning traveled through my spine.

    <em><strong>---- NSFW Scene Ends-----</strong></em>

    I gave Lady Sigrun more than my seed; I gave her <em>mes</em>.

    As our bodies became one, so did the fires of our souls. Some of my lifeforce flowed into her own; mere embers to the sun burning in my heart, but a searing flow of mes for her own meager Teyolia. Lady Sigrun let out a high-pitched cry during our union, her skin bing searingly warm against mine.

    The connection between our souls faded away. The fog of pleasure over my mind lifted as my manhood deted. I looked upon Lady Sigrun, my sweat falling on her pink cheeks and youthful skin. Her smile of contentment filled me with masculine pride, but I was too exhausted to enjoy it for long. I copsed against her chest while gasping for air.

    ¡°That was¡­ wonderful, my lord,¡± Lady Sigrun whispered into my ear. Her hands stroked my cheeks and hair. ¡°Wonderful.¡±

    It did feel that way, at least in the moment. An ultimate rush of pleasure right before the wave of exhaustion.

    ¡°That is how¡­ You stay so young and beautiful,¡± I managed to whisper as I pulled out of her. ¡°You¡¯re a witch¡­ no¡­ you¡¯re¡­¡±

    ¡°A vampire?¡± Lady Sigrun scoffed in amusement. She kissed my neck right where she bit me earlier. ¡°I do not drink blood, my lord.¡±

    No. Instead, she used another body fluid to consume a man¡¯s Teyolia. She drained the vitality of her lovers to strengthen her own. <em>Death </em>transformed into <em>beauty</em>. And she had quite the appetite too. This single session left my body exhausted, so a normal man would have lost years of their own lifespan.

    But since emperors neversted more than one, who could notice? They would me the exhaustion on a harsh day of work without thinking twice about it.

    ¡°How?¡± I asked her, the sound of Ingrid¡¯s harp covering our discussion. I¡¯d recovered enough for my breathing to slow down. ¡°You¡¯re not a Nahualli.¡±

    ¡°I cannot do what you do, no.¡± Lady Sigrun smiled at me. ¡°I¡¯ve suspected you were a sorcerer of great power for a while, but now that I¡¯ve tasted your lifeforce I am convinced of it. I could not exin your mysterious knowledge and interest in the codices otherwise¡­ nor why the Nightlords catered such great hopes for you.¡±

    I crawled over her and looked into her eyes. It took all of my willpower, and a Veil, to hide my unease behind a mask ofposure. That was bad, truly bad. I should have expected her to figure out my magical gifts from my interests in the First Emperor¡¯s codices. The previous emperors counted Nahualli among their numbers. Of course someone of her intellect would have figured it out.

    I doubted she knew I could travel to the Underworld or that I¡¯d staged all steps of the Sapa attack on my person, but she already knew too much. I could dispose of her easily enough with my current skills¡­ no, no, someone with her skills would have taken precautions. Besides, I still needed her to gather the emperor¡¯s codices. She had all the tools to ckmail me.

    My best bet was to remind her how unwise it would be.

    I cast a subtle Veil; an illusion that covered my gaze alone. When Lady Sigrun looked into my eyes, she saw two sulfur mes burning with the First Emperor¡¯s boundless fury. The mirrors of my irises reflected the cosmic terror the Nightlords prepared to unleash upon the world.

    However wise andposed she was, Lady Sigrun remained a mortal. She had never faced a god before, not even the illusion of one. A sh of fear lit up in her gaze.

    ¡°You do not want to make me your enemy,¡± I whispered with all the malice in the world. It wasn¡¯t a threat, but a fact. ¡°You were wise to keep my secrets so far¡­ and you will be wiser to continue down that path.¡±

    My hand moved up her neckline and subtly caressed her throat. ¡°Loyalty and treachery both carry their own rewards.¡±

    Lady Sigrun quickly corrected her expression. The fear was gone, but the caution remained.

    ¡°The thought never crossed my mind, my lord,¡± she whispered back. ¡°Our interests align.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± I removed my Veil spell and let my eyes return to normal. ¡°You did not answer my question.¡±

    Lady Sigrun gently caressed my back as if I were a savage animal to soothe. ¡°It is said that the world came from a primordial being that sprung from nothingness. You people call it ¨­mete¨­tl and mine call it Ymir, but the tale is the same: when faced with loneliness, this primordial entity split into male and female before siring the first gods.¡±

    Tired as I might be, it didn¡¯t take me long to figure it all out. ¡°Male and female were once one¡­¡±

    ¡°The union of a man and a woman allows them to tap into great power,¡± Lady Sigrun confirmed. ¡°My people call this form of magic the <em>Seier</em>.¡±

    A man and a woman¡¯s Teyolia could connect during a coupling under specific circumstances; and since the power came from the union itself rather than the individual, one did not need to be a sorcerer to practice it. At least from what I gathered.

    I rolled to my back and nced at Ingrid, who still yed the harp in the background. She avoided my gaze, staring down at the floor as her hands pinched her instrument¡¯s strings. I couldn¡¯t tell whether she avoided my gaze out of shame at seeing me in her mother¡¯s arms¡­ or guilt.

    ¡°Does she know?¡± I whispered into Sigrun¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she replied while lovingly stroking my chest. ¡°I taught her the draining spell, just in case.¡±

    I frowned and activated my veiled Gaze spell. To my surprise, Ingrid¡¯s skin showed none of her mother¡¯s runes. She hadn¡¯t used the spell on me without my knowledge, nor did she intend to. I guessed it wouldn¡¯t serve Ingrid well, since she would die at the year¡¯s end anyway.

    ¡°What practical applications does this <em>Seier </em>magic have?¡± I asked Sigrun. If this brand of sorcery could provide me with any tactical advantage, then I wanted to master it. ¡°Besides keeping one youthful?¡±

    ¡°Plenty.¡± Lady Sigrun smiled at me. ¡°I could teach it to you.¡±

    ¡°But not for free.¡± Never for free. Much like how she murdered caelel to convince me of her skills, she had given me a taste of power to better negotiate future trades. ¡°What will it cost me?¡±

    ¡°I will think over it. Your immense lifeforce might let me achieve feats formerly beyond me.¡± Lady Sigrun lightly kissed me on the lips, the sweetness of the gesture banishing my exhaustion. ¡°Rest now, my lord. You have earned it.¡±

    I did. My body felt so tired that keeping my eyes open so far had been a struggle.

    So I closed them and rested my head against Lady Sigrun¡¯s bosom.

    But I did not sleep.

    My body went numb beneath the bed sheet and my breath slowed down. A Veil of illusions cloaked my body and hid the shadow emerging from my chest from all gazes. When I opened my eyes I looked upon my own sleeping human face.

    Casting both the Veil and Spiritual Manifestation spells at once took a great deal of willpower from me; so much so that I couldn¡¯t maintain my Tonalli¡¯s physical form. My soul emerged from my flesh as an ephemeral ghost of smokey feathers and shadowy talons, an intangible spirit unable to fully materialize among the living.

    Perhaps that was for the better. The wispy strands of my soul faded through Lady Sigrun¡¯s fingers without alerting her to my spirit¡¯s presence. The Veil hid me from view with no one the wiser.

    Fully escaping my own body as a disembodied Tonalli proved to be a strange experience. Whereas I kept physical sensations in the Land of the Dead Suns, now I felt numb all over. I intellectually knew where each limb was supposed to be and how to move them, but pping my wings blew neither air nor filled my feathers with any stimulus. No perfume nor sweet taste filled my beak. At least I could listen to Ingrid¡¯s music and see the world in color.

    My bodyy on the bed in deep torpor, a corpse-like slumber, a dreamless sleep that neither pleasure nor pain could wake it from. Lady Sigrun rested next to me as if she owned the bed while Ingrid kept ying. Mother and daughter exchanged a heavy nce.

    I was almost tempted to stick around and spy on them, but I did not have time. I floated through the nearest wall and phased through the stone without issues, abandoning my bedroom for a cramped, secret tunnel hidden from view.

    I immediately sensed a presence in the dark passage. The absence of a torch or light of any sort caused me to struggle for a moment to find it, until I noticed two pairs of red eyes glittering in the shadows.

    Nightkin.

    Of course the Nightlords would increase security around me after the tablet incident. A pair of Nightkin could tear through stone and any assassin trying to take my life. They observed my body with unnerving vignce, their attention so great that they failed to pierce through my Veil. I observed them for a second in case they might sense my presence, before fleeing through the tunnel.

    I thanked Ezti in my mind for providing me with a map of the secret passages earlier. They were rtively easy to navigate through and nothing like the tangled maze I imagined. The passages and hidden stairways clearly lined up to the pce¡¯s rooms, allowing spies to follow my movements wherever I went.

    Now I could turn this weapon against my captors.

    <em>Maintaining the Manifestation is easier than I expected</em>. Strengthening my Teyolia with divine embers had increased my Tonalli¡¯s resilience; I might have been able to fully manifest had Lady Sigrun not drained me beforehand.<em> I should be able to stay in this form for a while if I pace myself¡­ and as long as no one ambushes me.</em>

    I could not defend myself in my current state. Materializing my talons taxed my mind too much, let alone casting a spell like the Doll. I could weave a Veil easily enough since it relied on keeping my Tonalli in an ephemeral state anyway, but a physical confrontation would end in defeat.

    Neither could I afford to linger outside my body for too long. I had a short few hours before nightfall, at which point Tezozomoc would wake me up for the Nightlords¡¯ ceremony. A failure to awaken might be a cause for concern, and thus risk discovery of my powers.

    <em>Teyolia theft.</em> The more I thought about Lady Sigrun¡¯s method of maintaining her youth, the more parallels I saw with the vampiric kiss. Both involved draining a target¡¯s heart-fire and lifeforce through physical contact. Did they work ording to simr principles? Would studying Seier further my understanding of the vampiric curse?

    There was a connection to be found. I could feel it in my bones.

    I continued flying through the tunnels, following the mental map I¡¯d memorized earlier, and then phased through a wall. Rays of sunlight blinded me as I took flight under a bright winter sky. No words could properly describe the joy I felt when my wings carried me above my menagerie and the thick pce¡¯s walls.

    I hadn¡¯t taken a step outside this cage of gold and stone since the Night of the Scarlet Moon.

    The bustling streets of the imperial capital had never looked so beautiful to me from above. Great temples of red brick stood taller than hills and cast great shadows on statues and mosaics of all the beasts of the earth. Fleets of ships sailed to an immense port, delivering goods from all corners of the earth to wily merchants and hungry consumers. The city could not rival M in size and majesty, but it remained the home of countless thousands. All of the wealth and splendor of Yohuachanca gathered within its markets abuzz with songs and activity. Even the terrible Blood Pyramid and its za gained a certain aura of majesty when looked over from above.

    <em>If only I could simply fly away from this prison.</em> A nce at the chained fire in my chest dissuaded me easily enough. <em>My soul remains shackled wherever I go.</em>

    With luck, the New Fire Ceremony might grant me my freedom back.

    ording to Lady Sigrun¡¯s information, the brothers zohtzin and xc upied locations near my pce while waiting for my judgment. Although I nned to rule in favor of thetter, I sought the former¡¯s current home among the great noble mansions, temples, and merchant houses forming my capital¡¯s wealthiest district. I quickly found what I was looking for: a mighty five-floor inn decorated with statues of two-headed serpents and jolly ocelot faces. I silently phased through the windows and searched my target throughfortable bedrooms, baths, and great halls.

    I found zohtzin inside a set of apartments on the fifth floor, praying before a small private shrine dedicated to the Nightlords. An offering of food and pulque burned inside a brazier, which I considered a waste. I knew very well what zohtzin was praying for, and his wishes would go unanswered.

    However, he could still be of use to me.

    <em>A perfect opportunity. </em>I perched on the shrine and expanded my Veil. <em>Now, let us see if I remember how King Mtecuhtli sounded.</em>

    zohtzin looked up at the shrine upon finishing his prayer, and gasped in shock as I revealed myself to him; not as an owl of darkness, but as a great condor of light and gold. The very image of the Mallquis who tried to ensnare me in the Underworld not too long ago.

    ¡°I am Inkarri,¡± I lied, using illusions to mimic the deep and ancient voice of King Mtecuhtli. ¡°Messenger of His Divine Eminence, the First Emperor. I havee to deliver the heavens¡¯ words to you, zohtzin. Listen well.¡±

    I sense the weight of the man¡¯s disbelief pushing against my Veil, but he was a man untrained in sorcery. My divine appearance at a shrine, my voice borrowed from the god of death himself, my confidence inspired by the great powers I had danced with in the Underworld¡­ All of these elements crushed his doubts under the overwhelming weight of zeal, faith, and surprise.

    The heavens had listened to his prayers and answered them with a miracle.

    I felt a little ashamed about crushing his hopes.

    ¡°Tomorrow, the mortal emperor will announce that he has chosen your brother xc as your father¡¯s sessor,¡± I dered. ¡°Your treacherous sibling paid for lies to reach the emperor¡¯s ears, and your hard work shall go unrewarded.¡±

    ¡°W-What?¡± zohtzin blinked in shock and disappointment at the decision¡¯s injustice. His wrath was so great that he dared toin before a divine messenger. ¡°But I¡­ I worked myself to the bone to serve my father and preserve his legacy! xc is a rotten fool unfit to lead!¡±

    Which was why I selected him. The man would do <em>anything </em>for power.

    However, as a wise man once said, <em>let no crisis go to waste</em>. The scorned brother would prove useful; doubly so since he stood to lose everything.

    ¡°Worry not, child,¡± I interrupted zohtzin. Guilt¡¯s cold hands briefly seized my heart, but I powered through anyway. ¡°Your dedication has impressed my masters; the great gods who reward perseverance and hard toil. The mortal emperor¡¯s decisions may yet be overturned and true justice returned to thend.¡±

    It was yet another lie, but one zohtzin was desperate to believe.

    ¡°s, the heavens only help those who help themselves. You must prove your faith for fortune to favor you. A quest you mustplete on my master¡¯s behalf.¡± I used the Veil to increase the glitter of my feathers for the sake of impressing him. ¡°As a master innkeeper, you must be acquainted with the Sapa and their game of Tumi.¡±

    zohtzin frowned in confusion. ¡°I am.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± If birds could smile, I would have. ¡°This year shall soone to an end and the gods shall reap a toll of foreign offerings upon Smoke Mountain. You must pay your own due on this sacrednd, unseen and undetected; lest your brother sabotage you once more.¡±

    zohtzin drank in my words with rapturous attention, unknowingly putting his own noose around his neck.

    I had my pawn and my patsy.

    It was time to set the trap.

 Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Value of a Life

    Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Value of a Life

    I flew back to the pce, the fading light of the setting sun casting long shadows on my path.

    My excursion went surprisingly well. Although I couldn¡¯t say with certainty whether zohtzin would adhere to my instructions or reconsider his decision, I remained confident. The revtion of his brother being chosen as the heir on the morrow would cement his determination. Desperation had a way of erasing caution from men¡¯s minds.

    By adopting Inkarri¡¯s identity, I also guaranteed that suspicions would fall upon the Sapa should zohtzin be caught. I felt a pang of guilt for manipting him this way. Unlike those I¡¯d tricked in the past, the man was innocent of any crime besides being in the wrong ce at the wrong time. He deserved his father¡¯s inheritance more than his brother.

    s, necessity knew now. The Nightlords¡¯ ritual threatened more than Yohuachanca. Loathe as I was to follow my mother¡¯s advice, I resolved to do my best with the means at hand.

    <em>The most daunting task still lies ahead: cursing Smoke Mountain itself</em>. Mother promised me her assistance, and for all of my grievances against her parenting I would have to trust her on this one. <em>Four nights remain.</em>

    I soared over the pce walls without encountering any resistance. It felt a bit too convenient for my taste. My prison was supposed to keep me in and outsiders out. So why could my spirit travel about so easily?

    Activating the Gaze spell in my current form proved mentally demanding, but not impossible. The pce quickly revealed its secrets to me. My fiery eyes revealed intricate lines of light tracing a colossal glyph in the ground; a primitive yet immense representation of a humanoid figure. The pce¡¯s architecture covered its chest and head, while the gardens and walls formed the rest of its anatomy. The Reliquary stood enveloped in Underworld mist on the glyph¡¯s head. The lingering grudges of my predecessors permeated every inch of this monumental barrier.

    Of course the pce possessed magical protections against intruders. The desecrated remains of former emperors powered its magic from what I could tell; perhaps that was why the Nightlords began gathering them in the first ce. Each new skull added to the pile fortified their sessors¡¯ prison.

    My predecessors had previously shown the ability to protect my divine Teyolia from detection. If their spirits fueled the pce¡¯s barrier, then they could probably influence it enough to grant me passage.How ironic. The very spell designed to fend off intruders had inadvertently allowed me to roam about undetected.

    I turned my Gaze to the Blood Pyramid and felt a chill run down my spine when I took a closer look. A sinister spiritual miasma born of innumerable sacrifices poisoned the very air around the vile edifice¡ªa monument to malevolence and brutality. Worse, a crimson mystical barrier stronger and more formidable than the one surrounding the pce enclosed the Blood Pyramid. It took on the form of a monstrous beast with expansive crimson wings, menacing horns, and outstretched ws.

    A bat.

    <em>It¡¯s even better protected than the pce</em>. I doubted I would enjoy the same exemption if I tried to cross <em>that </em>barrier in spirit. <em>I will need to find a way past those defenses.</em>

    I remembered my predecessors¡¯ ominous warning. A secret maze sprawled under the Blood Pyramid, a womb of darkness and death. The empire¡¯s cruelest secrets awaited discovery in its depths. It was there that I would uncover the truth behind the fate of the past emperors¡¯ sons.

    I was beginning to wonder if the Nightlords raised the imperial pce as a decoy. The secrecy and magical protections surrounding the Blood Pyramid appeared much more extensive than those defending the empire¡¯s seat of government. I didn¡¯t think it was the case¡ªthe Sulfur Sun¡¯s creation involved both sites at once¡ªbut it implied that the Blood Pyramid¡¯s secret could shake Yohuachanca¡¯s foundations.

    But that revtion would have to wait until after the New Fire Ceremony.

    I phased back through the pce¡¯s walls and entered its secret passages. I flew past Nightkin lying in concealed corridors without arousing suspicion. Good. Now that I¡¯d confirmed I could travel around the pce rtively undetected, I could think of expanding my operations. I imagined spying on Tezozomoc, my generals, and even my consorts under the cover of an afternoon nap. Wandering the pce in spirit-form would open new opportunities to build my spywork or secretly curse key targets.

    I would nheless need to stay clear of the Nightlords on these future expeditions. Yoloxochitl had detected my presence in her vicinity the first time I experimented with Spiritual Manifestation. I couldn¡¯t take that risk again.

    I slipped back into my room under the cover of invisibility. A good two hours had passed since my departure. Lady Sigrun and Ingrid shared my bed, each positioned on opposite sides of my inert body. The former rested peacefully, exuding the confidence of a queen who had reimed her lost throne; thetter, however¡­

    I loomed over Ingrid and studied her face. My consorty naked by my side, her hands clenched tightly around the bed sheet, her eyes wide and fixated on the nearest wall. Her expression was somber, a stark contrast to the polite smile she usually disyed in public.

    Ingrid had allowed herself to lower her guard since she believed me asleep, and I hated what she hid behind herposed facade.

    Ingrid¡¯s vacant stare reminded me of that dreadful time I¡¯d caught Eztli gazing at the sun through an obsidian ss window right after we consummated our rtionship. That awful look of utter desperation would haunt me for the rest of my life.

    Ingrid¡¯s eyescked the same depth of despair as Eztli¡¯s, but the simrity hit unsettlingly close to home.

    <em>What¡¯s going on with her? </em>I pondered. I had noted a change in Ingrid¡¯s demeanor following her mother¡¯s and my¡­ <em>intimacy</em>, but I had anticipated difort at most¡ªnot this profound unhappiness. Her pain ran much deeper. <em>She must carry a greater burden than I thought.</em>

    Ingrid had imed that she epted her fate thest time we discussed their impending sacrifice. That she had made peace with her inevitable death. The notion of resisting her unjust destiny did not seem to enter her mind. Or at least, that was how it looked to me back then. Perhaps she simply hid her anguish better than most.

    I could not let her suffer in silence like Eztli.

    I reintegrated into my body with no one the wiser. My limbs and fingers felt numb as my spirit slowly regained dominion over them. My weightless wings became heavy arms and my ephemeral talons reverted back to legs bound by gravity¡¯sws. It took a few seconds for my immaterial soul to grow used to physical sensations again.

    It almost felt <em>wrong </em>to be flesh once more.

    ¡°Ingrid?¡± I softly whispered into my consort¡¯s ear.

    Ingrid peeked over her shoulder and greeted me with a fake smile. ¡°You are awake, my lord?¡±

    Had I not caught a glimpse of Ingrid¡¯s true self, I would have mistaken her for the very incarnation of contentment. She possessed a real talent for acting. Her reaction reminded me so much of Eztli.

    ¡°I am.¡± I held my tongue and briefly considered how to approach the matter, before opting for bluntness. ¡°What bothers you, Ingrid?¡±

    She feigned confusion. ¡°Nothing, my lord.¡±

    I held her gaze, then put an arm over her waist to pull her closer. She did not resist me. Her back pressed against me, her chest softly rising with each breath. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, Ingrid¡¯s fingers clenched mine. I did not say a word. I simply held her close while she turned to stare at the wall, her fake smile fading away.

    Some gestures spoke louder than any word.

    I lost track of time as we stayed there, silently intertwined. I knew it wouldn¡¯tst forever. The Nightlords would summon me for their nightly ritual soon. I was content to simply be there for Ingrid until that moment came, offering her my shoulder to cry on. So many emotions danced across her face¡ªfear, anxiety, doubt¡­ Her innate caution shed with her desire to speak her mind.

    ¡°She is already recing me,¡± Ingrid murmured, her words so hushed I struggled to hear them.

    <em>She? </em>I squinted as I struggled to make sense out of Ingrid¡¯s words. Was she referring to Lady Sigrun? It seemed usible that Ingrid might harbor resentment over sharing her husband with her own mother. I tried to imagine sharing a woman with my father and¡­

    Ugh. My mind wandered to a dark ce I would rather avoid.

    Yes, I could imagine why the current situation might bother Ingrid. Still, hadn¡¯t she worked to set up this very situation from the start? I sensed her grievances ran deeper than jealousy or disgust.

    Then it struck me.

    Ingrid was <em>born </em>to be my consort. She had spent her life confined within these prison¡¯s walls and trained to be my advisor, all in the service of her family¡¯s ambitions.

    But Lady Sigrun had swiftly taken her ce. By using her own daughter as a stepping stone, she had schemed her way into my council, my bed, and my life. Her subtle magic and her vastwork of spies had made her irreceable. Ingrid probably felt like a ceholder whose time in the sun hade to an end.

    If Lady Sigrun was to assume her roles both in my bed and as my advisor, where would that leave Ingrid? The cruel and rigid imperial system denied her any other purpose.

    ¡°No one is recing you,¡± I whispered before nting a kiss on her neck. ¡°You¡¯re my favorite.¡±

    It was only half a lie. While I remained closer to Eztli and fond of Nl, I would honor my pact with Sigrun. I wouldvish Ingrid with praise and attention. This ought to reassure her.

    When Ingrid looked at me with the same strained smile as before, I knew I¡¯d missed the mark. Either she did not believe my words, or they failed to reach her at all.

    My bedchambers¡¯ doors opened before I had the chance to correct my mistake. Tezozomoc entered with a polite bow, a cadre of silent guards shadowing his steps. ¡°It is time, Your Majesty.¡±

    Lady Sigrun stirred beside me as she roused from her slumber. Ingrid tensed beside me, her bodynguage reminiscent of a child bracing for reprimand. ¡°You should go, my lord,¡± she urged me. ¡°The goddesses await.¡±

    ¡°Yes, they do,¡± I replied, doing my best to hide my frustration.

    I had to leave just when Ingrid needed me the most.

    The sulfur me burned atop a candle of ashes.

    This marked my second night feeding the sphemous ze, but it was also the first where I noticed the architectural details. The towering mountain of ashes built from my predecessors¡¯ incinerated remains was bathed in a dark shade of gray akin to tarnished wax. It stood alone surrounded by a moat of boiling ck tar reeking of death and decay. The sulfur me burned with a bright blue light, yet the shadows did not recoil from it. Instead, they seemed to <em>embrace </em>it. Even the pale moonlight appeared to be swallowed by all-encroaching darkness. I did not miss the obvious symbolism.

    This ursed candle would <em>not </em>keep the night at bay.

    An evil miasma choked the air. An acrid stench of rotten eggs filled my nostrils. The taste of wriggling maggots lingered on my tongue. A suffocating heat pervaded the great hall to the point I started sweating under my cotton robes.

    <em>The evil grows stronger with each passing night</em>. The sulfur me¡¯s size remained unchanged since myst visit, but its intensity grew nheless. It appeared stronger, <em>hungrier</em>. A pitch ck sphere grew at its core, like the ominous pupil of a baleful eye staring back at me. <em>And something is.</em>

    ¡°Come, child,¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s voice beckoned, both sweet and revolting all at once. ¡°We are waiting for you.¡±

    <em>We</em>. Once more I would spend the night in the four sisters¡¯ ¡®tender¡¯pany. If only I could go back to Lady Sigrun and Ingrid.

    I stepped alone on the stone bridge crossing the moat and briefly stole a glimpse at the boiling tar below. Its temperature had increased since myst visit, enough for clouds of noxious smoke to arise from its bubbling surface.

    Now that I thought of it, where did the vile substancee from? Was the pce built atop a bottomless pit of it? What purpose did it serve? So many questions filled my mind, and I had few ways to find the right answers.

    I brushed these thoughts aside once I caught sight of Yoloxochitl. The Nightlord greeted me at the base of the ashen mountain, cradling a semiatose Eztli in a wicked parody of a mother¡¯s embrace. The dark stain on my consort¡¯s lips and the dazed stupor in which her mind seemed lost confirmed my worst fears. Yoloxochitl had once again force-fed Eztli her blood.

    By now, hiding my fury beneath a mask ofposure had almost be second nature. ¡°Greetings, Mother Yoloxochitl.¡±

    Yoloxochitl¡¯s smile was usually sincere in its madness. So when she weed me with strained lips, I immediately knew something was wrong. ¡°Wee, child.¡±

    <em>She is displeased with me</em>, I realized to my utter terror. Yoloxochitl¡¯s anger always spelled violence and murder.<em> Why? She was singing my praise after I set her cursed me alight! Did she sense my spirit escaping the pce?</em>

    ¡°Have I fallen from your grace?¡± I asked, feigning the anguish of a lonely child fearful of disappointing their loving parent. ¡°If I have done something wrong, I never¨C¡±

    ¡°You are faultless, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl reassured me with a tone that implied otherwise. ¡°You are still young, and that witch has ensnared many men before you.¡±

    That witch? Did she mean Lady Sigrun? Did her influence perturb Yoloxochitl somehow?

    ¡°Forgive my sister¡¯s sour mood, oh beloved emperor,¡± a sweet, singing voice said from behind my back. ¡°Losing our wager disappointed her greatly.¡±

    A shiver of unease crawled down my spine as I sensed a loathsome presence looming over me. The shadows lengthened and split to let their masters slither around us. A pack of graceful predators surrounded me, ready to tear me apart at the slightest provocation.

    The Nightlords weed me without their masked robes on.

    I¡¯d regrettably grown familiar with Yoloxochitl and had already seen the Jaguar Woman¡¯s true face the night of the tablet incident, but it was my first time seeing the others in their full splendor.

    The red-eyed priests described Iztacoatl as a goddess of beauty. Her divinity might be an illusion, but she was undeniably a breathtaking vision to behold, with her smooth pale skin, her hair as ck and lustrous as the night sky cascading over her shoulders, and her exquisite face sculpted to perfection. Her capricious eyes flickered between a vibrant red and a mesmerizing shade of gold, captivating my attention more profoundly than her crown adorned with golden plumes.

    All Nightlords enjoyed an inhuman allure, but Iztacoatl eclipsed all her sisters. Perhaps it was the absence of Yoloxochitl¡¯s palpable madness or the Jaguar Woman¡¯s frigid indifference that set her apart, or the way her charming smile somehow concealed the lethal fangs lurking underneath.

    Whereas Iztacoatl possessed the same mysterious aura as Lady Sigrun, Sugey reminded me of Chikal. Despite sharing the same hair and eyes with her sisters, her face bore the ruggedness of cured leather and a pronounced jawline. She boasted a muscture rivaling that of my elite warriors and the jaguar-like grace of a trained amazon.

    <em>How can such fair faces hide such wicked minds? </em>I had learned the answer to that question when Yoloxochitl unveiled her true, monstrous form to me. These four were no more than hideous nightmares hiding behind a dream¡¯s mask.

    ¡°Personally, I am ted with my victory,¡± Iztacoatl dered as she invaded my personal space, her cold fingers gripping my shoulders with the deceptive gentleness of a jaguar toying with its prey. ¡°You have chosen well.¡±

    ¡°Forgive my ignorance, oh great goddess,¡± I said while feigning submission. ¡°I do not understand what you refer to.¡±

    ¡°We wagered on which concubine you would choose to bed first. Consorts did not count, mind you. Since Sigrunes from my personal stock, I have emerged victorious for the fifth consecutive year.¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s lips moved closer to my ears, though no breath escaped them. ¡°I might reward you for your exquisite taste.¡±

    <em>Like I need a skin rash</em>. In spite of all my efforts, I could not suppress a chill traveling on my skin; a reaction that Iztacoatl maliciously celebrated with a sly chuckle.

    Sugey snorted derisively. ¡°Do not get too cocky, sister. That cherished ve of yours is getting on in her years.¡±

    ¡°Sigrun has proven to be my most prolific breeding stock in centuries,¡± Iztacoatl replied with nonchnce. ¡°She is refined, intelligent, and possesses an exotic allure. Time has only served to enhance her vor.¡±

    I hid a shudder of revulsion. The Nightlords spoke of Lady Sigrun and myself not as sentient beings, but as livestock. They viewed our lives as nothing more than a source of entertainment and food.

    Still, I covered my seething hatred with a facade of pleasantness. ¡°I am sorry, Mother Yoloxochitl. Had I been privy to your wager, I would have chosen differently.¡±

    ¡°No, no, no.¡± Iztacoatl shook her head. ¡°No cheating.¡±

    ¡°All is forgiven, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl replied with unexpected grace. Much to my frustration, she started yfully stroking the dazed Eztli¡¯s hair like a doll. ¡°I am pleased that you have finally taken steps to pass on your bloodline.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± the Jaguar Woman said, her cold voice sharper than her sisters. She alone did not acknowledge me, her gaze fixed solely on the sulfurous me and the mountain of ashes beneath it. ¡°This fire¡¯s glow is proof enough of the high esteem our Dark Father holds for you.¡±

    I doubted the entity I had glimpsed within the sulfurous me was capable of such sentiments. A mere nce at the cursed fire reminded me of its endless hatred, its insatiable hunger, and its unrelenting loathing for all existence.

    <em>Traitors</em>, the entity¡¯s words echoed in my skull. <em>Traitors, traitors, </em><em><strong>traitors</strong></em><em>.</em>

    ¡°The next year¡¯s rituals will be of paramount importance, as will our impending conquest of the Sapa Empire.¡± The fact that the Jaguar Woman said <em>conquest </em>rather than <em>war </em>spoke volumes about her supreme confidence. ¡°Opportunities to pass on your precious lineage will be few and far between, Iztac Ce Ehecatl, but you must take them all the same. For your progeny will one daye to rule this earth."

    <em>As your ves?</em> My daughters would be concubines, and my sons would suffer a fate so terrible my predecessors would rather not speak of it. The Nightlord¡¯s promises were as hollow as her future.

    ¡°I will do my best,¡± I lied through my teeth.

    ¡°Your current best is not enough.¡± The Jaguar Woman finally deigned to face me, her icy, calcting stare infinitely more threatening than Yoloxochitl¡¯s madness or her other sisters¡¯ cruelty. ¡°Nochtli the Fourteenth bedded all his consorts in his first week and fathered over forty children over his reign. You clearly do not share his appetite for femalepanionship.¡±

    ¡°Nochtli the Fourteenth was never threatened with an assassination attempt, my sister. Nor did he ignite our sulfur sun,¡± Yoloxochitl defended me. ¡°Our dear Iztac does not have time for small pleasures yet.¡±

    ¡°His pleasures are also his sacred duty,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied, her voice echoing with unwavering conviction. ¡°He is a Nahualli and our era¡¯s prophet. The blood must flow.¡±

    Why were they so <em>obsessed </em>with the emperor¡¯s children? The Nightlords¡¯ single-minded focus on perpetuating imperial bloodlines disturbed me to my core. What would make my sons and daughters so precious to the vampires?

    Perhaps I was thinking along the wrong lines. Queen Mictecacihuatl taught me that actions visited on a god¡¯s symbols and representations could affect the deity itself. Imperial princes and princesses might not matter for their individual identities, but what they embodied.

    The Nightlords imed to descend from the First Emperor, or so the tales said. Although said stories were fraught with lies, that part seemed true so far. This meant an emperor¡¯s sons and daughters were symbolically associated with this loathsome quartet of false deities. Maybe the Nightlords derived greater power from their sacrifices than other men and women?

    Would I find an imperial grave beneath the Blood Pyramid? Or something even more sinister?

    The Jaguar Woman turned to Iztacoatl, her voice sharp as she asked, ¡°How many concubines do we shelter?¡±

    ¡°Nearly three thousand,¡± Iztacoal replied. "All wet and willing."

    The Jaguar Woman responded with a scoff of disdain. ¡°Three thousand is too much. Even should our current emperory with a different one each night, he would scarcely grace a tenth of our existing stock.¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± Sugey said. ¡°We should cut down on quantity and focus on quality.¡±

    My eyes widened ever so slightly. I understood all too well what the Nightlord meant by <em>¡®cutting down¡¯ </em>numbers.

    ¡°The New Fire Ceremony will call for a banquet of blood,¡± Iztacoatl suggested with eerie enthusiasm. ¡°We could thin their numbers in time for the celebration.¡±

    ¡°No need to wait that long,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied. ¡°Our sulfur sun thirsts for blood here and now.¡±

    I had to act before these monsters unanimously agreed on feeding thousands to their cursed me. I cleared my throat just loud enough tomand attention, yet soft enough to maintain politeness. Four pairs of eyes instantly fixated on me, the tension in the air as palpable as the edge of a de.

    ¡°If I may plead with you, oh goddesses?¡± I said, my heart pounding vehemently in my chest as I carefully chose my next words. ¡°It is true that I didn¡¯t have the time yet to see all the beauties the imperial harem has to offer, but I hoped to take my pick after the New Fire Ceremony. I would be loath to see these wonderful women consigned to the mes before I could examine them myself.¡±

    Sugey snorted contemptuously. ¡°Greedy, aren¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°To offer one¡¯s blood to the Sulfur Sun is the pinnacle of honor,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. ¡°A tribute will feed our Dark Father in the sky and uphold cosmic harmony.¡±

    I could hardly fathom the nerve of this monster, who so easily pretended to protect the very bnce she sought to destroy in her mad grasp for power.

    ¡°It is true that while we must ensure the prosperity of our current generation, we must also not neglect those yet unborn,¡± I argued. ¡°The conquest of the Sapa wille at a great cost of lives. We will need more children to maintain our current poption¡­ and the flow of sacrifices."

    The Nightlords only craved onemodity. The same thirst for blood motivated them. Moral arguments would fall on deaf ears, but appeals to their long-term self-interest might buy the poor women consigned to the harem at least a temporary reprieve.

    "I shall y my part and so will my sessor," I promised. "Once I have conquered the Sapa Empire and returned peace to our territories, what other task will the next emperor have other than to sire children? Let him find glory in his progeny, for I will have deprived him of other conquests.¡±

    Iztacoatl erupted intoughter at my boast, and my words brought smiles on Yoloxochitl and Sugey¡¯s lips. Not the kind that inspired dread, thankfully. I took it as a good sign. I believed I had a chance of swaying them, until I checked the Jaguar Woman¡¯s reaction.

    She did not smile.

    The Jaguar Woman observed me with the chilling calction I hade to fear most of all. Her unblinking eyes studied my face like a ferocious beast searching for a weakness. My heart pounded faster and faster in my chest. At least the heat would cover the source of my sweat.

    ¡°I can hear the frantic rhythm of your heart,¡± Iztacoatl whispered teasingly into my ear, her voiceced with mockery. ¡°Calm down, puppet emperor. Do you think we will devour you if you displease us?¡±

    ¡°He is wise to fear us,¡± Sugey noted with a touch of snide arrogance. ¡°Has he finally learned his lesson?¡±

    Yoloxochitl immediately attempted to reassure me. ¡°Your words carry weight, Iztac. We shall take your proposal into earnest consideration.¡± Her gaze then shifted towards the Jaguar Woman. ¡°What is your stance on this matter, dear sister?¡±

    A tense pressure settled in the hall as her question went unanswered. The Jaguar Woman¡¯s silence was ten times more threatening than all the others¡¯ crueltiesbined. I wisely held my tongue. I could tell the wrong remark would trigger a terrible reaction.

    ¡°Sister?¡± Yoloxochitl asked with a hint of concern.

    The Jaguar Woman remained focused on me alone as she asked me a question. ¡°What do you think is the value of a human life, Iztac Ce Ehecatl?¡±

    I lowered my gaze, furiously trying to think of an appropriate res¨C

    ¡°I am not interested in what you <em>think </em>I want to hear,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. Could she read minds? ¡°I want your heart¡¯s answer.¡±

    <em>Curses</em>. I couldn¡¯t lie my way out of this one. She would see through it in an instant.

    ¡°A human life is precious and must be spent sparingly,¡± I finally answered, ¡°if at all.¡±

    Iztacoatl¡¯s hands slid from my shoulder to cover her mouth as she struggled to stifle a burst ofughter. Her sister Sugey didn¡¯t bother to show the same restraint and swiftly let out a hearty chuckle. Even Yoloxochitl gave me a smile akin to a parent humored by a child¡¯s innocently absurd promation.

    The Jaguar Woman did notugh. Not even the faintest hint of a smirk marred her sinister scowl.

    I¡¯d made a mistake. I could feel it in my bones. Somehow I¡¯d offended the monstrous tyrant, said the wrong thing, and now she¨C

    ¡°Very well,¡± the Jaguar Woman said.

    My back tensed up. Did my ears deceive me?

    ¡°There is no need for us to act with haste on the matter, and you have demonstrated your favor with the divine,¡± the Jaguar Woman said with a regal, magnanimous tone. ¡°You have swallowed your insolence and learned to put duty ahead of your desires. Obedience carries its rewards. The culling shall wait until another night.¡±

    A fool would have sighed in relief, but not I. The Jaguar Woman had nearly strangled me to death within minutes of my coronation and brutally scared Nl to enve her very soul. She knew <em>nothing </em>of mercy.

    Her gracious favor could only hide a gruesome punishment.

    ¡°I expect you to dedicate yourself to Yohuachanca¡¯s glory.¡± The Jaguar Woman looked up at their sulfur me. ¡°Now, fulfill your duty. Feed the me with your prayers and offerings.¡±

    ¡°Go,¡± Yoloxochitl whispered to Eztli upon freeing her from her wicked embrace. My consort nearly stumbled and massaged her forehead as if struggling with a headache, but quickly recovered from her previous stupor.

    I knew better than to linger among monsters. I gently took hold of Eztli¡¯s arm and guided her to and then up the hill of ashes. The Nightlords watched our ascent without following us. The cinders burned under my feet.

    ¡°Are you holding up, Eztli?¡± I asked my friend as we climbed the ashen slope.

    I expected Eztli to answer with a lie, but her silence caught me off-guard. She looked at the sulfur me ahead of us without a word. Her tepid fingers would not clutch mine when I squeezed her hand.

    ¡°Eztli?¡± I repeated, more and more worried. ¡°Please, talk to me.¡±

    ¡°I am well,¡± she lied, hastily wiping Yoloxochitl¡¯s remaining ck blood off her lips.

    A wave of nausea washed over me. ¡°You do not look that way to me.¡±

    ¡°I am well <em>enough</em>.¡± Eztli shook her head, her red eyes zing with anger and resentment. ¡°I do not want to talk about it.¡±

    Every fiber of my being hated seeing her suffer in silence, yet Eztli¡¯s re stopped me in my tracks the moment I attempted tofort her again. Why could I curse my foes and travel to secret worlds forbidden to the living, but not help a friend in need?

    Reaching the apex of the hill, I positioned myself in front of the Nightlords¡¯ Sulfur Sun. Its warmth offered no sce. I stared at its unnatural blue glow, then briefly dared to look over my shoulder. I saw the Jaguar Woman whispering with her sisters. Whatever they discussed, it seemed to amuse Yoloxochitl and irritate Iztacoatl.

    I had the terrible feeling that I would soon discover the source of their argument, much to my sorrow.

    I spent this night like the previous one: I whispered empty, meaningless prayers to the sulfur me. Eztli traveled up and down the hill with the night¡¯s offerings. Instead of blood, she gave me other strange goods to feed to the fire: bones old and new; straw dolls; and death masks. All of them mementos of the dead.

    The Nightlords¡¯ Sulfur Sun would feed on the living and the dead.

    ¡°Where do you think they go?¡± Eztli asked after many hours of mind-numbing work.

    ¡°What goes where?¡± I replied.

    ¡°The offerings. The me devours everything we throw at it without spitting out smoke or cinders.¡± Eztli¡¯s gaze fixated on the fire¡¯s dark core, her expression filled with a haunting contemtion. Something in it chilled me to the bone. ¡°Do our offerings go somewhere far away? Or do they cease to exist when the me touches them? What do you think is true?¡±

    I remembered the time I dared to look into the cursed fire with the Gaze and the jaws waiting inside it.

    ¡°They fall into a stomach,¡± I answered. ¡°A belly that is never full.¡±

    Eztli nodded slowly, then left to pick more offerings. I caught her muttering a single word as she climbed down, ¡°Disappointing.¡±

    I knelt before the me and waited for Eztli¡¯s return. I wondered if our task served any purpose at all beyond symbolism. I¡¯d grown weary of it.

    At least the dawn would rise soon, then I could go back to sleep and plot the ritual¡¯s end.

    The ck blot in the fire¡¯s heart pulsed in response. Darkness briefly overtook my vision and swallowed me whole. I heard a dark whisper brush against the walls of my mind and the nauseating sound of gnashing teeth.

    Y?????????o?????????????u?????????r????????????????? ?????????????????????????d?????????????????a??????????w????????n????????????? ?????????????????w?????????????i????????l???????????????l???????????? ??????????????????n?????????????e????????????????????v????????????????????????e??????????????????????r?????????? ???????????????c?????????????????o??????????????????m???????e?????????????????????????.

    I recoiled in surprise and looked away from the heart¡¯s ck core. I hadn¡¯t dared to use the Gaze with the Nightlords in the hall, and I <em>still </em>heard that vile creature in the fire.

    ¡°Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡± I froze in dread upon recognizing the Jaguar Woman¡¯s voice. She had ascended the hill in a sh. ¡°You have performed well tonight.¡±

    <em>How can she do that?</em> It wasn¡¯t the first time the Jaguar Woman had managed to sneak up on mepletely undetected. Could she appear and disappear at will? Or disguise her presence better than any Veil? I needed a way to confirm it.

    ¡°I live to serve,¡± I lied. <em>For death freed me.</em>

    ¡°As a token of my gratitude, I shall bestow upon you the gift of wisdom: the value of a human life.¡± The Jaguar Woman loomed over me. ¡°Turn around.¡±

    I obediently moved away from the me and nced at the temple. An audience of Nightspawn had gathered to pray in the light of their Sulfur Sun below¡­ and they had brought mortal guests. The Nightlords had gathered in a circle, with Yoloxochitl holding Eztli close and Iztacoatlying im to Ingrid. My two consorts appeared terrified, but not for their own sake.

    Their mothers knelt at the mountain¡¯s feet side by side, clothed in the most splendid of dresses. Necahual trembled in ce, her hands shaking with abject fear; and while Lady Sigrun portrayed an expression of serene detachment, but her eyes betrayed her disquiet.

    ¡°Do you recognize these two?¡± the Jaguar Woman asked.

    I swallowed my fear. ¡°Yes, I do.¡±

    ¡°Are they not akin to night and day?¡± The Jaguar Woman did not wait for a reply. ¡°Each mother to a consort and each a ve to an emperor. A foreign captive who wields great wealth and prestige; and a poor woman of our people stripped of everything. One bestowed pleasure upon you in exchange for favors; and one who visited pain on you for free. Certainly, you must see the work of fate in bringing them together under this roof.¡±

    My blood ran cold with dread. I could see only one reason why the Nightlords would bring concubines to this wicked ce. ¡°Goddess, I do not understand¨C¡±

    ¡°Oh, I believe you do. You are wiser than most of your predecessors and show great potential.¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s tone never wavered, whether she offered scorn orpliments. "Nheless, I sense a detestable frailty in your behavior. A weakness you mistake for a strength."

    Her hands mped onto my shoulders, not with Yoloxochitl¡¯s perverse tenderness or Iztacoatl¡¯s mischievous brutality, but with an assertion of ownership. Her nails sank into my skin, staking her im over me as her possession. Her puppet. Her <em>tool</em>.

    "Human lives have no intrinsic value, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± the Nightlord said. ¡°Hence it is the emperor''s duty to give their existence meaning. One of these two women will be cursed with life. The other will be honored with an illustrious demise. Your will alone shall determine their fate."

    ¡°I need them both alive,¡± I rasped.

    ¡°You need <em>neither </em>of them,¡± the Nightlord replied coldly. ¡°There will always be more women, more men, more thralls. Each of them can be reced. Your failure to grasp this truth is why they were chosen.¡±

    I looked down on the sacrifices and then at their daughters. All of them stared back, pleading for my mercy.

    ¡°Now.¡± The Jaguar Woman waved her hand at the sacrifices. ¡°Which one of them will you kill?¡±

 Chapter Thirty: The Reward of Service

    Chapter Thirty: The Reward of Service

    Time behaved so strangely. There were moments in my life where months blurred into weeks, and where seconds seemed as if they hadsted centuries.

    Tonight belonged to thetter case.

    The march of time hade to a crashing halt. A thousand thoughts crossed my mind in the blink of an eye. The temple had fallen into a terrible silence and a hundred gazes lingered on me; none with more tension than the two women whose lives I now held in the palm of my hand.

    The entire world waited for my decision. My heart pounded louder than a war drum and my blood boiled within my veins. Unbearable pressure crushed my shoulders, and the Jaguar Woman¡¯s hands holding on to them from behind did not improve things.

    I was trapped.

    And like any cornered animal, my owl soul raged inside my heart. I felt its silent call for arms, the caress of its invisible talons ready to strike, the burning hatred fueling the fire of my soul. Every fiber of my being demanded that I <em>fight</em>. Only the shackles of my reason held it back.

    To reveal my powers now, in the very center of the Nightlords¡¯ power with all four sisters watching me, would be suicide. The Jaguar Woman alone had showcased spellcasting prowess far beyond mine. I was not ready to fight her, let alone the other Nightlords.

    All I could do was¡­

    ¡°I refuse,¡± I whispered under my breath.The words escaped my mouth on their own. They sounded so strange to me, like my inner voice briefly breaking through the mask of submission I had grown ustomed to.

    I shouldn¡¯t have said that. I shouldn¡¯t, but I couldn¡¯t help myself. It was stronger than me. When faced with such cruelty, my spine stiffened rather than bent.

    I knew it was a mistake long before I sensed the Jaguar Woman¡¯s hands tighten on my shoulders. I had said those very same words to her atop the Blood Pyramid once. She had nearly strangled me to death in return and offered me a warning. I still remembered the words clearly.

    <em>¡°I will have none of your backtalk, insolent ve.¡±</em>

    The heartless witch tolerated no dissent, no matter how trivial. This parody of a trial was my punishment for failing to meet her expectations. The answer to my brief outburst would be even more terrible unless I could somehow salvage it.

    <em>Think, think!</em> I told myself, calling upon all my willpower and wits to find a way out of this situation. <em>You need to make those words seem like panic and not rebellion!</em>

    ¡°Please, esteemed goddess, I beg of you,¡± I dered with a trembling voice. I looked over my shoulder and into her cold dead eyes. Mine were wide with genuine fear. ¡°Please¡­ do not make me do this.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s most frightening quality wasn¡¯t her terrible power or cruelty, but the fact I couldn¡¯t read her at all. She answered my pleas with the same unfeeling gaze I had grown ustomed to. I couldn¡¯t tell whether my fear amused or angered her. I couldn¡¯t tell if she felt <em>anything </em>at all.

    ¡°It pleases <em>me </em>to force <em>you</em>,¡± she finally said, her words sharper than swords. ¡°My father¡¯s me demands blood. It shall have it.¡±

    Blood.

    One way or another, <em>someone </em>would die tonight. That certainty hit me like a wave upon a shore. The Jaguar Woman would ept no other oue. She would not give me the luxury of mercy this time.

    Still, I struggled to find a third oue. A solution beyond those presented before my eyes. A witty n that would not turn one of my consorts into an orphan. If I could not fight, what leverage did I have? My own life?

    Should I threaten to jump into the Sulfur Sun as a ckmail attempt? Considering how it devoured everything fed to it, it might very well destroy my flesh and soul beyond the Nightlords¡¯ power to revive me. Since they needed me for the New Fire Ceremony, I assumed such an act would disrupt their n.

    But that was all it was: an assumption.

    Besides the fact I didn¡¯t wish for my soul to be devoured by a cursed me for all eternity, I had no guarantee my death would disrupt the Nightlords¡¯ ns. Perhaps the whole emperor charade had only been meant to bring their vile Sulfur Sun into the world. My presence at the Smoke Mountain ritual could be nothing more than empty protocol, a final y to top a centuries-long charade.

    With the Jaguar Woman standing between me and the fire, I doubted I could even get past her; not without revealing my powers at least.

    Who else than me would stop the Nightlords ritual if I perished? Mother might make a token effort, but she would not risk her life. She would never take the dangerous steps required to achieve victory. And even if my desperate bluff seeded, the Nightlords would not forgive this act of defiance. I would never enjoy any taste of freedom. My secret war against the vampires would end before it truly began.

    No. The Jaguar Woman desired innocent blood. She wanted me to surrender what shreds of mercy I still possessed, to shed my humanity like how a lizard sheds its tail, topromise my morals for her own amusement.

    For the sake of my ambition, and those I loved¡­ I would have to y along.

    My throat hurt as I uttered my next words. ¡°Does¡­ does it have to be them, oh merciful goddess?¡± I swallowed my hatred and my shame. ¡°Can¡¯t other souls¡­ can¡¯t other souls satisfy you?¡±

    The Jaguar Woman narrowed her eyes at me. ¡°Would you offer another in their ce?¡±

    At least she did not blow off my proposal immediately. My heart slowed down slightly, but I knew better than to rejoice. Who else could I offer? I would have suggested Tezozomoc if I could, but she would onlyugh at me.

    ¡°There are¡­¡± My voice died in my throat. Every fiber of my being, every ounce of pride left in me, fought against the shackles of my reason to keep me silent. Shrugging them off felt like betraying myself. ¡°There are¡­ other concubines.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman often threatened to smile. She rarely did so, but the shadow of her wicked smirk alone sent shivers running down my spine. The glitter in her cruel eyes promised a hundred nights of terror.

    This entire mess began because I sought a way to spare those poor women a gruesome death. Because I had dared to argue with this brute of a false goddess. The Jaguar Woman no doubt delighted in putting me back in my ¡®proper ce.¡¯

    ¡°A consort¡¯s mother shares their daughter¡¯s holy blood,¡± the Jaguar Woman said, her toneced with a hint of amusement. ¡°It is most precious to us.¡±

    ¡°I am sure other concubines share¡­ imperial blood.¡± How many princesses would I betray tonight? ¡°Surely an emperor¡¯s daughter would satisfy the me more than a consort¡¯s mother.¡±

    <em>Forgive me</em>, I prayed in my heart. <em>Forgive me. I need these two.</em>

    ¡°True, but you must still prove your resolve to me.¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s half-hearted smile faded away. ¡°One hundred lives. One hundred sacrifices, and then I shall reconsider.¡±

    Her vile arrogance made me want to puke. I swallowed my disgust all the same and offered a weak nod.

    It nauseated me to agree to those terms, but I needed two allies more than a hundred strangers. If I could not save these women¡¯s lives, at least I would give their death meaning. I would avenge them one day. I swore it.

    The Jaguar Woman studied my expression for a while. It seemed my decision confused her.

    ¡°How easily do mortals visit evil on their kindred, so long as they do not know them,¡± shemented with cold stoicism. ¡°You would rather kill one hundred women you have never met rather than take the life of an acquaintance, even one whom you hate. Fascinating.¡±

    ¡°I want Necahual to suffer,¡± I replied weakly. ¡°By my own hands.¡±

    ¡°Is that truly reason enough to sacrifice a hundred lives in her ce?¡± The Jaguar Woman nced at Eztli. ¡°Or do you want to spare the girl more sorrow?¡±

    I kept my mouth shut. Unfortunately, the Jaguar Woman had guessed right.

    Necahual¡¯s head would already be on the chopping block under normal circumstances. She had been a source of misery for most of my life and her current usefulness to my cause was debatable. Lady Sigrun brought her spyingwork, intellect, magic, and a full volume of the First Emperor¡¯s codices to the table. By herself, Necahual wasn¡¯t worth ten souls, let alone a hundred. Her importance stopped at being Eztli¡¯s mother andst living rtive.

    And thereiny my problem.

    Eztli¡¯s face was the very picture of indifference, for she could not afford to show sentimentality with Yoloxochitl watching over her back. Her red-rimmed eyes, however, revealed her true feelings. She stared at me with fear and dread, the way a desperate priest would pray to their god for a miracle.

    I remembered too well the depressing way Eztli stared at the sun through the obsidian window, or her obsession with the sulfur me. She chafed under her unbearable situation even more than me; and unlike me, she had no secret Underworld to escape to. The Nightlords have taken her life and saddled her with a miserable existence; one that filled her with pain and loathing.

    My oldest friend was unraveling at the fringes. I feared Necahual¡¯s demise would push her over the edge.

    ¡°Touching,¡± the Jaguar Woman mused with a mocking tone. ¡°I have reconsidered.¡±

    I held on to my breath.

    ¡°One hundred concubines shall be sacrificed tonight, as you promised.¡± The Jaguar Woman nced down at Sigrun and Necahual. ¡°And one of these two shall be the one-hundred and first.¡±

    I knew it wasing. A part of me knew it the moment I proposed mypromise, and still her petty cruelty managed to shock me into a brief silence.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked in disbelief.

    "This is the cost of indecision, Iztac Ce Ehecatl: if you fail to seize an opportunity, then you shall reap only loss and bitterness.¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s amusement reeked of malice. ¡°The obsidian crystal cries under the carver¡¯s care, but it cannot be a dagger without shaving off part of itself. I will sharpen your edges whether you want it or not.¡±

    ¡°What value is a Godspeaker that cannot speak?¡± My fists curled into fists. Part of me knew I should just shut up and deal with the options I¡¯d been dealt with, but it was beyond me. ¡°What kind of lesson is that?¡±

    ¡°Here is your mistake, Iztac Ce Ehecatl. You believe you can negotiate with us. With the <em>gods</em>." What the Jaguar Womancked in divinity, she more than made up for in sheer arrogance. "Your role is to speak with our voice, to carry out our will, and to enforce our demands. This is one. Choose which of these two will die to save the other."

    Hatred coursed my veins. I had met gods, <em>true </em>gods, great and small, kind and terrible, but none of them so cruelly heartless. Every wording out of the Jaguar Woman¡¯s mouth mocked the true deities of the world and the world they gave their lives to preserve.

    "I refuse to choose between them,¡± I hissed like a furious snake. Anger gave me wings and made me forget caution. I refused to y along with that fraudulent goddess¡¯ vicious game! "If one must survive by fate''s decree as you say, then let them draw straws."

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s hands moved from my shoulders to my skull. Her skin was colder than ice and her nails sharper than talons. She forced me to face her with such speed and strength I briefly feared that she might snap my neck.

    ¡°Here it shows again,¡± the Jaguar Woman hissed with quiet fury. Her hands pressed against my head so hard it hurt. ¡°That unsightly spark of insolence. I knew yourst lesson was not enough to douse its me. We shall correct that mistake tonight.¡±

    She forced me closer until our noses touched.

    ¡°Listen very well to what I am about to say, <em>insolent ve</em>.¡±

    I looked into her red-rimmed, bloodshot eyes, and then I saw it. A malice so great and so deep as to rival the horror lurking inside the sulfur me. Cruelty refined to an art.

    ¡°My sister Yoloxochitl has spoiled you because she clings to the trappings of nostalgia. Whereas she doubts her purpose, I understand exactly what I am.¡± Her pupils were slitted like those of a jaguar ready for the kill. ¡°I am a <em>goddess </em>whose will is <emw</em>. Death bows to my power and life ends at mymand. Thisnd and all of its people exist at my sufferance.¡±

    Unlike Yoloxochitl, the Jaguar Woman wasn¡¯t <em>mad</em>.

    She was <em>evil</em>.

    Guatemoc once argued with me that good and evil were abstract constructs, a matter of point of view. He had been mistaken. So deeply mistaken. True malevolence existed, and it began to whisper such terrible secrets to me.

    ¡°If the next word thates out of your mouth is not a name, Iztac Ce Ehecatl, then I shall kill them both.¡± The threat hung in the air like a ck curse that grew stronger with each word spoken. ¡°Right here, right now, right under their daughters¡¯ eyes. I shall kill your concubines, all three thousand of them, and tear out their throats. Your pce¡¯s halls will run red with their blood. The stench of death will reach leagues away. And I shall kill them all in <em>your </em>name.¡±

    Her face changed in an instant. Bloodstained and ck-spotted orange fur covered her skin, and snarling fangs tore through her lips. Her skull reshaped itself in the form of a fearsome, gnarling blend of bat and jaguar; the ugliness of both and the charm of neither, lean and mean and vicious. Slitted red eyes red at me with savage, yet carefully calcted fury.

    The owl inside me stopped struggling to escape. The fierce pressureing from my heart cooled down instantly, the way a deer froze when finding itself face to face with a predator ready to tear out their throat. My very soul quaked in dread the way it once did when I knelt before King Mictecacihuatl. The pressureing from the Jaguar Woman was <em>unbearable</em>.

    Death had me within her grasp. Her fangs were ready to tear out my throat in a blink.

    ¡°We own you,¡± the beast rasped with a foul breath filled with rotting stench. ¡°We <em>own </em>you,¡± she repeated slightly louder, as if it would make it true. <strong>¡°We </strong><em><strong>own </strong></em><strong>you.¡±</strong>

    By the time she released me, I found myself stumbling. I nearly fell off the ashen mountain¡¯s slope, only for an invisible force to pull me back. The Jaguar Woman would not let me escape her grasp. Her strings recalled me to her side like an obedient puppet.

    ¡°Now choose,¡± she said, once again wearing the skin of a woman rather than her true monstrousness. The bloodstained fur and savagery were gone, reced with a thin veneer of vampiric regality. ¡°Wisely.¡±

    I gathered my breath, my skin sweating so much I felt like I was swimming in my robes. My chest hurt worse than it ever did before. The owl inside me had gone quiet, my animal spirit spooked into silence.

    <em>This¡­ </em>I looked at my own trembling hands and then at our audience below. Vampires and mortals alike studied me with a mix of confusion and impatience. If they had seen the Jaguar Woman transform into a monster, they showed no hint of it. <em>I¡­ what¡­</em>

    Had it all happened in my head? Or so quickly that no one else noticed? Had they even heard our discussion? It didn¡¯t seem that way to me.

    Did any of that happen at all?

    Whatever the case, the threat felt all too real to me; as did the headache burning my skull from within. I held on to my forehead while trying my best to regain my bearings andposure. I struggled to string two thoughts together. My knees barely seemed capable of holding my own weight.

    <em>She is serious. </em>I gasped while trying to calm down. I failed. My chest hurt almost as much as my head. <em>There is no way out of this. She won¡¯t let me take any.</em>

    I couldn¡¯t negotiate with her, I could deceive her, I couldn¡¯t fight her. I couldn¡¯t do <em>anything</em>.

    ¡°It is unbing of an emperor to make a goddess wait,¡± the Jaguar Woman threatened me behind my back. I sensed two pointed fangs lingering near my skull and ready to carve it open. ¡°Unless you seek to keep silent so as not to break our ord? It would be amusing, no doubt¡­ and so very foolish.¡±

    What choice could I make? I nced at Sigrun and Necahual, whose lives hung in the bnce. Both knew I could do magic, as did their daughters. Both could reveal the truth as revenge if I selected any of them.

    The two women remained silent. Unlike me, both of them knew better than to speak out of turn in a Nightlord¡¯s presence. Their eyes said so much though. Lady Sigrun squinted in the face of my hesitation, her gaze sharp and threatening. She <em>expected </em>me to save her. She had worked to make herself useful to me specifically so I would protect her in her time of need.

    No doubt she wondered why I even considered choosing Necahual¡¯s survival over her own. Lady Sigrun offered me her spywork, her sorcery, her skills, and her intellect. For all I knew she had even taken steps to ensure my secrets would leak in the case of her death, or to destroy the First Emperor Codex to cover her tracks.

    Seeing that I still hesitated, Lady Sigrun lowered her hand over her belly. She slowly massaged it and held my gaze at the same time.

    My eyes widened when I understood the not-so-subtle message. I turned to Ingrid, who also noticed the gesture. She swiftly looked away from her mother with a grim expression. I recalled the words she whispered to me after Iid with Lady Sigrun.

    <em>She is already recing me</em>.

    Another Ingrid.

    Lady Sigrun sought to bear another Ingrid. Another daughter meant to die a cruel death, to stave off her mother¡¯s demise.

    Lady Sigrun used her magic during our coupling. I thought she had simply taken some of my vitality, but what if she had instead used her magic to secure a child? A bargaining tool to use against me and the Nightlords alike?

    For all I knew, <em>three </em>lives hung in the bnce rather than two.

    <em>That scheming snake.</em> Why didn¡¯t I see it? Plots within plots! <em>I knew she was a viper and I still let her bite me.</em>

    It was a low blow, but could I truly me her? Lady Sigrun used the weapons avable to her. She understood this game¡¯s rules and yed to win. She seized all the advantages required to ensure her survival.

    I reluctantly turned at Necahual next. She quivered like a leaf in the wind, but to my astonishment, she studied Lady Sigrun carefully. She then looked up to me with depths of bravery I never expected from such a loathsome soul.

    My brows curved in surprise. Was she¡­

    Necahual nodded at me, so subtly I almost did not notice. She was trembling with fear, her heart heavy with sorrow, and yet her resolve did not waver.

    Necahual was asking me to sacrifice her.

    When she said that she would do anything to save her daughter, she meant each and every word. Necahual would throw away her life if it meant giving me an advantage to do just that. She knew Sigrun would serve my cause better, and thus increase her daughter¡¯s odds of survival in the long term. She would pay the ultimate price if required.

    <em>Why is that hag finding her courage now of all times? </em>It would have been so much easier to sacrifice Necahual if she had shown cowardice in the face of death. That way I could have hated her until she drew herst breath. <em>Doesn¡¯t she realize that she is cursing her daughter to a life of loneliness?</em>

    Curse¡­

    The Curse.

    A great and terrible idea crossed my mind. The Nightlords wanted to sacrifice Necahual to the sulfur me, unaware that my Mother cursed her. Would the ritual go wrong if fed such a poisoned offering? The odds were long, but the potential rewards¡­

    <em>If it works¡­</em> I resisted the urge to re at the Jaguar Woman.<em> You do not own me, wicked beast. You do not own any of us.</em>

    Eztli red at me. She had noticed her mother¡¯s gesture and now silently begged me not to follow through. She moved her lips without letting any sounde through, but I guessed her words easily enough.

    <em>Don¡¯t do it, </em>Eztli said silently. <em>Not her.</em>

    She would not like my answer. I wish I could settle for a third option rather than the lesser evil.

    <em>I am sorry, Eztli</em>. I apologized to my dear friend in my heart. <em>Please, forgive us. Please understand. She is doing this for you¡­ and I am doing this for the world.</em>

    ¡°Necahual,¡± I whispered, so low only the Jaguar Woman heard it.

    I could not save her life, but I could at least give her life meaning.

    ¡°At longst,¡± the Jaguar Womanmented behind me, before clearing her throat and addressing the audience with a deep, regal voice. ¡°Our emperor has made his choice!¡±

    The audience held their breaths, at least for those who <em>could </em>breathe.

    Lady Sigrun kept herposure, though her steady back and posture betrayed her confidence. Ingrid held her hands together, shifting ufortably as Iztacoatl leaned on to listen to the announcement. Sugey and the rest of the Nightkin eyed both women with bestial bloodlust.

    As for Necahual¡­ when I looked at her with a guilty heart, I knew she knew I had chosen her. She looked down at the stone ground with resignation.

    The betrayed, horrified re Eztli sent me hurt more than any de. Her expression twisted into a ghastly scowl of fury. Her nails became like ws and her eyes reddened into two pits of crimson. Her back bent slightly like a great cat preparing to pounce on an opponent. My heart skipped a beat in dread.

    If I would not save Eztli¡¯s mother, then she would do it herself; or more likely, she would die trying. She had nothing else left to lose. The vampire curse had taken everything else, fear included.

    <em>Don¡¯t do it, Eztli.</em> I inhaled sharply and waited for the inevitable disaster. <em>Don¡¯t!</em>

    ¡°Kill the blonde one,¡± the Jaguar Woman said.

    The order echoed in the temple, and a terrible silence followed in its wake.

    Lady Sigrun¡¯s confident eyes widened slightly as her mind processed what her ears told her. Necahual¡¯s head snapped at me in shock, while her astonished daughter flinched in surprise. Ingrid covered her mouth with her hands.

    I looked over my shoulder, praying I had misheard. The Jaguar Woman leaned in to whisper one final cruelty in my ear.

    ¡°Here is your final lesson, our Godspeaker.¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s lips stretched into a ghastly, sinister smirk. ¡°You wield no power that does not derive from our providence.¡±

    Eztli immediately moved to grab Lady Sigrun¡¯s shoulder alongside another Nightkin. My first consort struggled to hide her relief and jubtion at this sudden turn of events. She alone showed joy in the face of tragedy.

    Ingrid let out a scream, which drew a look of annoyance from Iztacoatl. Yoloxochitl did not hide her disappointment, but did nothing to stop the execution. I was too shocked, too taken aback toe up with an answer.

    ¡°I am pregnant!¡± Lady Sigrun shouted.

    Her desperate words hit me like a p to the face. The Jaguar Woman raised her chin slightly, and Lady Sigrun¡¯s captors loosened their hold on her.

    ¡°I have shared the emperor¡¯s bed,¡± Sigrun hastily said. I would never understand how she managed to keep a cool head in such a cruel situation. ¡°I can feel it in me. I shall bear him a child.¡±

    ¡°How can you be sure?¡± Yoloxochitl asked with sudden interest.

    Lady Sigrun straightened up. ¡°I took precautions.¡±

    <em>So she did use Seidr to conceive</em>, I guessed, my hands tightening so much it hurt. <em>That witch</em>¡­

    ¡°Perhaps you are pregnant,¡± the Jaguar Woman said with a neutral, unwavering tone. ¡°What of it?¡±

    The sheer callousness in her voice took the wind out of Sigrun¡¯s sails. My concubine quickly regained herposure, though her expression became slightly more strained.

    ¡°I bear a child in me,¡± Lady Sigrun insisted. She ced her hands on her belly, perhaps hoping to appeal to whatever shreds of mercy the vampires still possessed. It seemed to work on Yoloxochitl at least. ¡°A princess of his blood; he who has lit your sulfur me and shall herald an age of glory.¡±

    ¡°And that gives you protection from us?¡± The Jaguar Woman squinted at Sigrun with what could pass for genuine confusion. ¡°From your sacred duty as our sacrifice?¡±

    Even the worst of viins would have hesitated at killing a pregnant woman. It didn¡¯t even phase the worst of the Nightlords.

    ¡°No,¡± I whispered. I couldn¡¯t muster the strength to speak louder. ¡°No¡­¡±

    I doubt anyone heard me, but my distress must have shown on my face. Eztli¡¯s jubtion briefly faded away, while Yoloxochitl took a step forward to plead my case.

    ¡°Sister, another can satisfy the me,¡± she argued with the Jaguar Woman. ¡°We could dy her execution until she gives birth¨C¡±

    ¡°Her unborn child will die before it can live,¡± the Jaguar Woman interrupted her with a sharp tone. Her icy gaze remained set on Lady Sigrun. ¡°An emperor¡¯s blood is precious to us, true, but no offering maypel us to act in any way you wish. All life in this world is born to feed us.¡±

    Her mind was made up. Nothing could change it. Anything I would say would only make it worse. The Jaguar Woman meant to <em>hurt </em>me. To stab my heart and twist the knife until I screamed.

    ¡°It¡¯s not¡­¡± Ingrid sobbed, tears forming in her eyes as she realized death hade to her family. ¡°It¡¯s not supposed to happen¡­ not this way¡­¡±

    ¡°I have a book,¡± Lady Sigrun said, trying to bargain her way out of a gruesome execution. ¡°I have information, knowledge¨C¡±

    ¡°Spare your breath, fool!¡±

    All eyes turned to Necahual. My mother-inw kept her head down in resignation, her nails sinking onto her knees.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you see? They have already made up her mind.¡± Necahual briefly bit her lower lip. ¡°Nothing will save you.¡±

    ¡°Shut up,¡± Lady Sigrun hissed at her fellow concubine. ¡°You know <em>nothing</em>.¡±

    ¡°She understands more than you do, <em>ve</em>,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied with contempt. ¡°I can read your entire life written in your eyes. If I please the emperor, he will love me. If he loves me, he will protect me. If I have his children, I shall please the goddesses. If I please the gods, they shall not kill me. If I do this and that, I will be <em>safe</em>.¡±

    I watched on as the light of hope died in Lady Sigrun¡¯s eyes with a heavy heart. I knew what it meant to be weak. To crawl in the mud for scraps of food. Lady Sigrun had been captured in her youth, spared for her beauty, and then forced to serve as an imperial concubine in a foreignnd. She made the most of her situation and through wits and strength of will, she managed to carve a small kingdom for herself. One she ruled for over fifteen years; fourteen more than any emperor.

    But what value could a ve¡¯s kingdom possibly have? Her reign would end with a snap of her masters¡¯ fingers.

    ¡°I betrayed my homnd for you,¡± Lady Sigrun rasped. ¡°I told you of Wind, of my people¡­¡±

    ¡°And we shall grace them with Yohuachanca¡¯s glory in due time,¡± Sugey replied with a snort of rueful disdain. ¡°Your countrymen will bless your memory in time.¡±

    I did not hide my disappointment, and neither did Ingrid. I should have seen it sooner. Ingrid told me she had been her expedition¡¯s only survivor; I thought Yohuachanca spared her for her beauty, but now the truth became clear to me. She had taught the Nightlords about Wind¡¯s existence to secure her survival when they first caught her.

    ¡°You still fail to understand,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. ¡°We punish those who defy us, but we are notpelled to reward those who please us. Your loyalty is already expected. Our mercy and kindness are subject to our whims, not your prayers.¡±

    It was a mistake for the weak to expect gratitude from the powerful. So Lady Sigrun did not try to petition her masters further. Instead, she turned to me, a fellow weakling, for salvation I could not grant.

    ¡°Say something!¡± Lady Sigrun all but ordered me. The panic in her eyes immediately warned me of her intentions and forced me out of my stupor. ¡°Or I will tell¨C¡±

    I interrupted her before she could sell me out. ¡°Think of your <em>daughters</em>.¡±

    Lady Sigrun¡¯s words died in her mouth and her head swiftly turned in Ingrid¡¯s direction. My consort was alone among Nightkin and no more safe than her mother. Little Astrid was in no better a situation, waiting for her family back in the imperial apartments.

    If Sigrun perished, who would take care of them? Who else but me? Necahual understood that well enough, so someone of Lady Sigrun¡¯s intellect should too. I prayed that for all of her ruthlessness and selfishness, she at least felt a modicum of parental affection for the lives she brought into the world.

    My heart stopped when Lady Sigrun met my eyes again. I saw countless emotions pass through them. Fear, disbelief, resignation¡­ and when she finally understood that I couldn¡¯t save her, she turned to fury.

    ¡°I curse you all.¡± Lady Sigrun dared to meet the Jaguar Woman¡¯s gaze and sneered at her with regal defiance. ¡°The true gods I worship know the truth! You have buried your secret and now cower in <em>his </em>shadow! May your betrayed father devour you¨C¡±

    Her throat burst open in a shower of blood.

    I couldn¡¯t tell which of the Nightlords had cast the Doll spell, but I recognized the magic nheless. An invisible w had sliced through Sigrun¡¯s throat with enough strength to sever her neck all the way to the spine.

    Ingrid¡¯s screams made me wince, as did the sight of Sigrun¡¯s head bending to the side like a fallen tree. Her blood dripped down her dress in a crimson rain and tainted the floor red.

    ¡°Do not avert your eyes, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± the Jaguar Woman whispered into my ear. ¡°This is the essence of godhood. The power to kill <em>anyone</em>. King or peasant, child or mother, man or woman¡­¡±

    No matter how much I wanted to, my captor¡¯s hands would not allow me to look away.

    ¡°You are all the same meat to us.¡±

    <em>Meat.</em> That was what they had reduced Lady Sigrun to. A batlike Nightkin hurried to grab her convulsing corpse in its talons and carried her upward into the air. Her head remained attached by threads of bones, her white stare making me want to puke.

    I had slept with her,ughed with her, plotted with her. She had been a woman of wisdom, wits, and experience, full of life and ambition.

    Thirty years on this earth snuffed out in an instant.

    The Nightkin threw her into the me like a slice of turkey meat on a pyre. The cursed fire swallowed her whole in an instant. It ate her flesh, her bones, her soul¡­ it would have eaten her screams too, if she still had the throat for it. She vanished in a burst of fire, leaving naught but memories behind her.

    Ingrid had begun to cry; mourning for both her mother and the beautiful lies she had been raised in all her life. That no matter how useful she might prove, no matter how smart or beautiful or hardworking she proved to be, a vampire could kill her on a whim anyway. Safety was an illusion. There was no point in trying to find sense in senseless cruelty.

    Her mother had been wise, beautiful, and driven. She had been perfect in every way. And she died anyway, all to satisfy a monster¡¯s savage hunger for death.

    <em>She was pregnant.</em> That nauseous thought would not leave my mind. <em>Pregnant. With my child.</em>

    ¡°Twice I have humbled you, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± the Jaguar Woman warned me. ¡°There shall not be a third time.¡±

    I stared at the sulfur me and the all-consuming darkness at its core. A gullet of murdered souls from which nothing escaped. No afterlife awaited Sigrun. No more than me.

    ¡°I understand,¡± I whispered, so low I barely heard myself.

    My answer satisfied the Jaguar Woman. ¡°Fulfill your duties so that we do not chastise you. Father children so that we never go hungry. And <em>never </em>forget your ce again.¡±

    I would not. Never again.

    My role was to wipe out these monsters from the face of the earth, no matter the cost. To me, to the world, to innocents. No matter the cost, they <em>all </em>had to die.

    If the Nightlords survived one more year, all of this cruelty would have been <em>nothing</em>.

    <em>The true gods I worship know the truth, </em>Lady Sigrun had said.<em> You have buried your secret and now cower in his shadow.</em>

    The true gods knew the truth. The buried truth.

    The altar.

    Lady Sigrun hid something in her room¡¯s private altar. Something rted to the First Emperor¡¯s codices. A hint of the truth that could bring down the Nightlords. A final plot to avenge herself through me.

    Lady Sigrun took my secrets with her to the tomb. I could not save her life, but I would give her death meaning.

    I no longer doubted. I no longer felt remorse about what I had to do; about the people my Mother would kill to destroy Smoke Mountain, or the war I¡¯d started, or the lives I would ruin to see this through. The Jaguar Woman¡¯s cruelty had purged all hesitation from my mind. From now on, I knew I was capable of <em>anything</em>.

    The Nightlords refused topromise on their cruelty.

    So neither would I.

 Chapter Thirty-One: Consequences

    Chapter Thirty-One: Consequences

    The night ended like it began: in blood and tears.

    The Jaguar Woman remained true to her word. To punish my hesitation, a hundred concubines were picked at random, brought to the temple, and fed to the sulfur me. Old and young, foreign captives or locals, weak and strong, it mattered not. Some screamed, some begged, some prayed, and some fought, it mattered not. They all died. Every single one of them. They all perished, murdered for nothing, their throat slit by fangs, their tears drowned in blood.

    I understood what the Jaguar Woman meant when she said we were all the same meat to her. By the twentieth execution all these lives started to blur together. A hundred victims became a procession of forgettable faces. Turkeys fed to the charnel pit.

    The Jaguar Woman forced me to watch each time. Everyst execution.

    ¡°This is your fault,¡± she would whisper into my ear when the Nightkin tossed a corpse into the sulfur me. ¡°You killed them.¡±

    Perhaps she thought I would believe her lie if she repeated it often enough.

    <em>It¡¯s not a full lie.</em> No matter how much I told myself otherwise. <em>My hesitation and foolishness did cost them their lives.</em>

    I would not make that mistake again.

    Ingrid, Necahual, and Eztli also bore witness to the massacre. Ingrid cried and puked halfway through. I wanted to hold her in my arms, but the Nightlords would not grant me that small mercy. Necahual stood as still as stone all night long with hollow eyes, retreating into herself to spare her mind another nightmare. Only Eztli observed the massacre with unflinching coldness. Her mother survived the ordeal. That was all that mattered to her.¡°This seems excessive, Sister,¡± Yoloxochitlined. She alone among the Nightlords appeared disturbed by the gruesome spectacle. ¡°Iztac¡¯s suffered enough. He does not deserve this.¡±

    Her concern might have been heartwarming, if she had shown any sorrow for the victims. She only cared about how their deaths affected me, her favorite.

    ¡°You cannot put a price on a lesson,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied dismissively. ¡°He will never forget it.¡±

    No, I would not. I would <em>never </em>forget.

    ¡°Such a waste,¡± Iztacoatl grunted in frustration, but not out of any moral qualms. ¡°Sigrun added spice and intrigue to a routine that had be far too predictable. I hope your sister will prove as entertaining when shees of age, Ingrid.¡±

    Ingrid was too upied holding back vomit with her hands to answer. This drew a sneer from Iztacoatl.

    ¡°Worry not, Ingrid,¡± the Nightlord said with all the sweetness of rancid honey. ¡°Your mother¡¯s soul is in a¡­ <em>warmer </em>ce.¡±

    One day, I would feed Iztacoatl to the mes. I swore it.

    ¡°The nighteth to an end,¡± the Jaguar Woman said as we climbed down from the hill of ashes, her voice cutting through the chitchat like a sword through flesh. ¡°Necahual Ce Quiahuitl.¡±

    My mother-inw¡¯s back tensed up as a bowstring, as did mine. Eztli did her best not to show concern for her birth mother, but the worry in her eyes betrayed her true feelings.

    ¡°Our emperor has cursed you with life.¡± Somehow, the Jaguar Woman made gruesomely burning at the pyre sound like an honor. ¡°You shall dedicate it to him, body and soul.¡±

    Necahual lowered her head to avoid the Nightlord¡¯s unfeeling gaze. ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Escort him back to his chambers and fulfill his wishes. A long day awaits him.¡± The Jaguar Woman summoned a shroud of darkness and offered me a final, ominous warning. ¡°We shall wait for you until the next twilight, our Godspeaker.¡±

    She vanished into the shadows without any otherment. Sugey and Iztacoatl did not linger long either, leaving only Yoloxochitl behind.

    ¡°I am deeply sorry for tonight, Iztac,¡± she said. She even sounded sincere. ¡°I shall ensure your consort and her sister are taken care of.¡±

    I turned to Ingrid. My orphaned consort, once so regal and dignified, knelt in a puddle of her own vomit and tears. Her fair skin was paler than chalk. Her graceful hands covered her mouth in a desperate attempt to silence her own sobs.

    I raised my hand towards her. ¡°Ingrid, I¨C¡±

    Ingrid recoiled from my touch andfort. The frightful look she sent me, so full of abject dread and horror, left me sweating and spooked.

    <em>She¡¯s terrified of me</em>. The Jaguar Woman alone heard my first choice of sacrifice, so Ingrid believed I ordered her mother¡¯s death after all she did for me. She believed me to be a bastard willing to kill a woman only a few hours after sleeping with her. <em>This is the worst oue.</em>

    ¡°Take her to her apartments to rest,¡± Yoloxochitl ordered a set of Nightkin. ¡°The priests will wash her.¡±

    The thought of priests or vampires doing that to Ingrid¡¯s sister Astrid made me nauseous. These two would needfort, for whatever it was worth in this prison. Thankfully, a voice interjected.

    ¡°If I may, Mother,¡± Eztli said with a dutiful tone. ¡°As her fellow consort, I would like to take care of her.¡±

    Yoloxochitl frowned at her. ¡°Are you certain, my daughter?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Eztli confirmed. ¡°She is family too.¡±

    Eztli understood how it felt to lose a parent. Even in undeath, she could still empathize with Ingrid over it. She moved to gently take her fellow consort into her arms and lift her up to her feet. Ingrid froze at her touch, but didn¡¯t push her back like she did with me. I could not tell whether I should rejoice or despair.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I whispered to Eztli.

    My oldest friend did not answer me. She looked up to hold my gaze, and all I could see was disappointment.

    She knew.

    Eztli knew I tried to sacrifice her mother instead of Sigrun. She had read it on my lips and my face, and resented me for it. I could see it written all over her sorrowful gaze. She wasn¡¯t angry or furious, or at least not anymore. She was simply saddened by my choice.

    It hurt more than fury.

    I watched Eztli carry Ingrid out of the temple without a word. I didn¡¯t know what to say, and whatever I coulde up with would not soothe the pain. Had I lost two consorts tonight? I hoped I could salvage this disaster somehow, but I was too emotionally drained to think straight. We <em>all </em>needed to clear our heads.

    ¡°I swear to you, Iztac, I will do everything in my power to find better recements for those you have lost tonight,¡± Yoloxochitl promised me. ¡°You will soon forget about that witch.¡±

    <em>There will always be more women, more men, more thralls, </em>the Jaguar Woman told me atop the hill of ashes. <em>Each of them can be reced.</em>

    ¡°I will ensure your favorites and descendants are shielded from my sister¡¯s wrath,¡± Yoloxochitl promised me. ¡°Ocelocihuatl is not unreasonable. If you show her you understood her lesson, she will let it stand.¡±

    I had already seen how much her support was worth in the face of her sisters¡¯ cruelty: <em>nothing</em>. Instead of showing righteous anger, I pretended to ept her words as the truth with a short nod.

    ¡°Thank you, Mother Yoloxochitl,¡± I replied. ¡°You alone spoke up in my defense. I will not forget it.¡±

    Yoloxochitl gave me what could pass for a motherly smile; one that onlysted until she remembered Necahual¡¯s existence. My mother-inw did her best not to make a noise.

    ¡°Perhaps you should kill this one too,¡± Yoloxochitl said with a glint of madness burning in her eyes. ¡°I can tell that she will grow more insolent with time.¡±

    Yoloxochitl loathed Necahual. She wanted my mother-inw out of her way so she could im Eztli for herself, and only allowed her to live because I promised to torment her myself. Twice now I had saved her from execution.

    Necahual would never be safe so long as the Nightlords lived. The Jaguar Woman made that clear. The best I could do was to take Yoloxochitl off her back, and I could only see one way to guarantee it. One I loathed from the very bottom of my heart.

    ¡°No, she won¡¯t,¡± I replied with a cold dead voice. ¡°I will teach her a lesson of my own. She will remember her ce.¡±

    Necahual bit her lip at my tone, while Yoloxochitl rejoiced. Deep down, she was as cruel as the Jaguar Woman. She simply reserved her viciousness for the few rather than the many.

    ¡°Good,¡± the Nightlord said. ¡°We shall meet again at sundown then.¡±

    At longst I could finally leave this temple and leave this madwoman behind. Necahual meekly followed after me, our footsteps filling the silence. My mother-inw dared not to say anything. She still feared for her life.

    She was right too. No one was safe in this prison of a pce. Defiance was punished and service went unrewarded. Even death was no escape from a vampire¡¯s appetite. Our pain followed neither rhyme nor reason.

    <em>It¡¯s so hard to keep your pride in this ce.</em> My body grew heavier with each footstep. The anger that fueled me lessened, reced with gloom. <em>How much more pain can I endure before I lose mine too?</em>

    This year of nightmares would feel like a lifetime, and the war with the Sapa hadn¡¯t even started yet.

    My royal chambers felt cold and unweing when I returned. I stared at the bed and its newly clean sheets. Lady Sigrun shared them with me a scant few hours ago. No traces of her passage remained. The undisputed queen of the imperial harem for fifteen years running would be reced in a fortnight.

    Ingrid and Eztli too. They¡¯d both shared this ce with me, and now they were gone. Maybe forever.

    It killed me.

    I¡­ I couldn¡¯t exin it. The anger that sustained me, the silent hatred that gave me the strength to lie to the Nightlords¡¯ faces and walk all the way to this pampered prison, the divine energy that flowed through my body¡­ they all vanished in an instant. Candles snuffed out. Light swallowed by the night.

    I had pushed back all the pain, all the fear, all the sorrow, and all the despair back into the dark corners of my mind. I watched Sigrun die, the first of a hundred. I buried the anguish deep inside my heart. When I tried to remember what I was fighting for, all I could recall were Ingrid¡¯s fear and Eztli¡¯s disappointment.

    I had strained a muscle too hard, except it was inside my soul rather than beneath my skin.

    I sat on the bed¡¯s edge, unable to muster the strength to do anything else. I stared into the distance with hollow eyes and shivering hands. I didn¡¯t have the will to do anything, even sleep.

    A bucket of water had suddenly doused the fire in me and left a hole in its ce. I didn¡¯t think I could summon my Tonalli. The owl in me had gone deathly quiet. The Jaguar Woman had brutally cowed it back into its birdcage.

    I sat alone in silence, surrounded by unfeeling mute guards and the woman I¡¯d tried to sacrifice moments ago.

    Of all people, it was Necahual who tried tofort me. After a short moment¡¯s worth of hesitation, she sat at my side and clumsily hugged me.

    I felt nothing.

    No warmth. Nofort. No relief.

    Just arms trying to give all these things and failing miserably.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t your fault,¡± Necahual whispered to me. ¡°It is their own. No one should have had to make that choice. It wasn¡¯t your fault.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have enough strength left to look at her. ¡°I chose <em>you</em>.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± Necahual took a long, deep breath. ¡°I do not hate you for it. I would have epted death.¡±

    ¡°You might wish they had killed you too.¡± Maybe I should have killed Sigrun. Spared her soul a terrible fate. ¡°Maybe they will kill you, or beat you, or rape you, or all at once.¡±

    ¡°Let them.¡± Necahual leaned in closer to whisper in my ear, too low for anyone else to hear. ¡°So long as you kill them all and free my daughter.¡±

    Free Eztli? Eztli was gone. I had clung to her shadow and even lost <em>that</em>.

    ¡°Why bother?¡± I asked.

    For the first time since I¡¯d been branded by the Nightlords, I started asking myself:<em> why bother?</em>

    The Nightlords hated strength, in me and everyone else. Resistance excited them like blood from a shark. If I held on to it, to hope, they would keep crushing it. They would find new tortures to put me through. Kill and maim. A month hadn¡¯t gone by yet and I¡¯d already seen a lifetime¡¯s worth of horrors. Sleep meant returning to another hell, under the guidance of a woman who would dly let me die to protect herself.

    Spending an eternity buried in the Parliament of Skulls couldn¡¯t be worse than a year of this treatment. Even gathering the dead suns¡¯ embers only offered a meager hope of victory.

    Perhaps I should simply remember my ce and enjoy my remaining time in peace. That was what everyone else did, inside these walls and out.

    Necahual let go of me. I felt her judging gaze. I would have red back at her once, matched hate with hate¡­ but not tonight. Maybe never again.

    <em>No, I can¡¯t think like this. </em>I held my head in my hands. My fingers were cold and numb. They offered me nofort, but at least I did not fall down. <em>This is just temporary, Iztac. Get a hold of yourself. You can¡¯t think like this. You can¡¯t let despair crawl its way in. If you don¡¯t save yourself, no one else will.</em>

    That wasn¡¯t me.<em></em>I wasn¡¯t a meek turkey like everyone else. I wasn¡¯t <em>weak</em>.

    A pair of hands took my own.

    ¡°You are not weak, Iztac.¡±

    When I regained awareness, I found myself facing Necahual. She moved from the bed to the floor, kneeling in front of me and holding my hands. Did she think switching ces would help?

    ¡°I <em>feel </em>weak,¡± I replied.

    And it was awful.

    Necahual red at me. Here it was, that same look of disgust and contempt that had followed me for so many years. Somehow it still managed to raise my blood pressure a tiny bit.

    After a short moment of silence, Necahual moved my hands to her throat. She ced my fingers around her soft neck and waited. Waiting for what?

    ¡°Do whatever you want with me,¡± she whispered.

    My eyes widened slightly. Was she serious?

    ¡°Whatever it takes for you to feel strong again,¡± she insisted in her madness. ¡°I will bear it.¡±

    By the gods, she was serious. ¡°You are insane.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re a coward,¡± Necahual said. When I didn¡¯t answer, she spat at my imperial robes. ¡°Cursed child.¡±

    I squeezed.

    Necahual coughed as my hands closed around her throat. My fingers warmed up as they tightened their grip. My cold dead heart pounded in my chest once again. The more her lungs struggled to grasp for air, the more fearful she looked, the more I returned to life.

    Her contemptuous re had turned into a look of fear and submission. Her face slowly turned pale streaked with blue. Her hands trembled, but they did not w at my arms. She did not resist. Would not resist.

    The guards did nothing to stop me. They would do nothing if I killed her. They would drag the corpse away, maybe bring me another victim.

    Necahual¡¯s life was in my hands. Figuratively and literally.

    And however wrong it was, it felt good. It felt good to be on the other side. To torment rather than be tormented. There was no nobility in being a victim.

    <em>That¡¯s how she felt when she threw stones at me.</em> That was how Necahual dealt with her fear of me. Of Mother. <em>I¡¯m seeing the appeal now.</em>

    I wasn¡¯t strong, because beating the weak couldn¡¯t possibly be true strength¡­ but for a brief moment, I felt that way. The owl inside me woke up, attracted by the smell of death and carrion.

    Necahual danced on the edge between life and death. Her face was turning blue. However, she did not defend herself. True to her word, she would ept death if it meant keeping me in the fight.

    I let go of her throat before it came to that.

    Necahual immediately gasped for hair, her hands massaging her skin. My fingers had left red streaks where they touched her. I watched her slowly recover, scoffing to myself. I couldn¡¯t believe her audacity.

    Necahual knew me well; perhaps better than anyone save her own daughter. She understood I didn¡¯t needfort. I needed <em>revenge</em>.

    ¡°Anything, huh?¡± I said.

    Necahual nodded slowly, her hands still massaging her throat.

    If a woman so petty could find the resolve to carry on on behalf of another, then I had no excuses to give up.

    It didn¡¯t matter whether Ingrid and Eztli grew to dislike me, so long as they lived through this year of nightmares. So long as no one I cared about died a gruesome death like their mother and father respectively. I had no more time to waste on guilt or pity. Not as long as the Nightlords haunted the earth.

    ¡°I need a bath,¡± I dered. No amount of water could wash away the stench of blood, but I could at least try.

    I moved to my private baths, with Necahual following closely behind. I sank naked into warm waters until only my head remained atop the surface. My mother-inw quickly rubbed my shoulders.

    It didn¡¯t help. I felt unclean. I felt sick, and stained, and drenched in filth. No amount of soap would wash away that stain, that crippling sensation of weakness and humiliation. Only vampire blood could do that.

    The bath helped me focus, however, and the running waters would cover our discussions. I thought of a new strategy going forward.

    Lady Sigrun hid the First Emperor¡¯s codex, or at least hints to its location, under her room¡¯s altar. I would use the pretext of visiting Ingrid and Astrid to check up on itter after the morning¡¯s audience.

    I would need to salvage what I could from her spywork too. Ingrid wouldn¡¯t fill the void even if she wanted to. No spy would swear long-term allegiance to a young woman promised to death within a year¡¯s time.

    ¡°I ept your offer,¡± I whispered to Necahual.

    She leaned in closer to listen over the noise of running water. No one would hear us.

    ¡°I will make a witch out of you, but in return I will take everything. <em>Everything</em>.¡± I would hesitate no longer. ¡°Your service begins now.¡±

    Necahual tried to hide her excitement behind a nk expression, but her eyes were alight with interest. ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±

    ¡°Sigrun¡¯s death means the loss of her spywork, and I can¡¯t trust anyone else. You will have to pick up where she left off.¡±

    My mother-inw immediately deted. ¡°I do not know how to.¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± I replied. ¡°I intended to settle the xc and zohtzin¡¯s feud in Lady Sigrun¡¯s presence. You will be there instead. Whenever I make important decisions, you will be there, in a corner, waiting.¡±

    Necahual sneered. ¡°Like a pet.¡±

    ¡°Yes, like a pet. <em>My </em>pet.¡± I nced at her wounded throat. I would bet the Nightkin hidden in the walls already reported the incident to Yoloxochitl with delight. ¡°This ought to take Yoloxochitl off your back for now.¡±

    Necahual squinted slightly. She wasn¡¯t stupid. She could connect the dots. ¡°Even a tormented pet has the master¡¯s ears.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± I briefly raised my hand above the water¡¯s surface, my movement sending a small ripple through the bath. ¡°You will go meet the other concubines. Those who survived this night¡¯s purging are sure to be on edge. All of them will fear for their lives once the truthes out. They will want to get in my good graces, because like Sigrun before them they think that my favor will spare them an early grave.¡±

    ¡°I will say I can mention their names,¡± Necahual guessed. ¡°You want to make me your gatekeeper.¡±

    ¡°Lady Sigrun can¡¯t have been the only one with a spywork among the imperial harem. The institution must be rife with upstarts.¡± <em>Desperate </em>upstarts. ¡°Select those who can be helpful to us. Make it apetition.¡±

    Necahual nodded obediently. ¡°I will do my best.¡±

    ¡°Next¡­¡± I breathed in the steam of the bath. ¡°You will go to Ingrid and Astrid.¡±

    Necahual scowled at me, puzzled.

    ¡°They need someone to support them in their grief,¡± I exined. <em>And they won¡¯t ept me.</em> ¡°Astrid especially. She has no one to take care of her besides her sister, who is not long for this world if we fail.¡±

    ¡°They will resent me,¡± Necahual warned me. ¡°Their mother died in my ce.¡±

    ¡°Good thing you¡¯re used to being disliked.¡± I snorted at her re. ¡°It is a bad job, but someone has to do it.¡±

    Necahual gave me a quizzical look, but did not deny my request. ¡°I will do my best.¡±

    I closed my eyes, letting the warm waves of the bath batter against my cheeks. I was tired.

    So very tired.

    I awoke among the dead and facing a wall of corpses.

    The Underworld tunnel which my mother and I had retreated into changed greatly in my absence. A dozen Burned Men were nailed to the stone in front of me in a gruesome tapestry of flesh, their hands and feet joined together in a sinister procession. Baleful eldritch symbols had been carved into their seared bones and now burned with a sinister red glow. Their hate-filled eyes red at me with bottomless malice.

    ¡°Wee back, my son.¡± Mother greeted me while cing an obsidian nail in a Burned Man¡¯s feet. The undead had holes where the lungs and mouth should be; only silence escaped from them. My carrying frame and its precious contenty right next to them. ¡°I hope your day was fulfilling.¡±

    <em>I must have fallen asleep in the bath</em>. I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off the wall. I counted twelve Burned Men, each of them surgically silenced. The brutality of this disy paled before what the Nightlords coulde up with, but it still unsettled me. <em>What a gruesome sight.</em>

    ¡°What happened?¡± I asked Mother. ¡°What is this?¡±

    ¡°They tried to rob your belongings in your sleep, so I punished them ordingly.¡± Mother contemted her work with what could pass for professional satisfaction. ¡°Have you considered my proposition?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I have.¡± This nightmarish night cured me of my hesitation. ¡°I will Curse Smoke Mountain. You may bring how many sacrifices you need.¡±

    Mother studied my face with her icy blue eyes. They reminded me of the Jaguar Woman¡¯s, cold and merciless. However, unlike the Nightlord¡¯s heartless cruelty, I detected a hint of concerning from the woman who brought me into the world.

    ¡°Something happened,¡± she guessed. ¡°A hammer¡¯s blow that sharpened your edge.¡±

    ¡°The Nightlords forced me to kill over a hundred innocents.¡± My talons did not end Lady Sigrun¡¯s life, nor the women who followed her into the me, but I bore part of the me nheless. ¡°At this point, what is one more body on the pile?¡±

    All these deaths couldn¡¯t have been for nothing.

    Mother nodded in appreciation. ¡°You understand what it means to be a catecolotl then,¡± she said. ¡°We are the owl-fiends. Demons born of death and misfortune. If the folks above had lived dutiful lives, they would not have created us.¡±

    ¡°I do not care for reasons or excuses.¡± I would shoulder whatever sins I had tomit in the service of my cause. ¡°I just want the Nightlords gone. My predecessors are right. No matter what crimes Imit to destroy them today, it pales before the evil they will spread tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Wise words. I can proceed with the ritual then.¡± Mother waved a hand at her mural. ¡°I am certain that you have heard tales of possession. Fools who say that spirits rode their bodies and drove them to madness. There is a kernel of truth to these stories.¡±

    I quickly read between the lines. ¡°You can send souls up above?¡±

    ¡°No, not until the Day of the Dead. However, an Underworld spirit may temporarily control a living human from the Land of the Dead Suns under the right circumstances.¡± Mother ced her hand on a Burning Man¡¯s chest. The malevolent corpse helplessly attempted to reach for her with his head, as if to bite her throat off without his toothless mouth. ¡°This is the Ride spell: by inscribing a mortal¡¯s true name onto the etched bones of the dead, it can allow thetter to possess the former for a brief period of time.¡±

    ¡°You gathered the names of people living on Smoke Mountain with the Augury,¡± I guessed.

    ¡°Sharp boy,¡± Motherplimented me. ¡°The Burning Men despise everyone and everything. Whereas most spirits do their best to enjoy their brief time among the living, all they do is kill. Most throw their hosts off bridges out of spite when they feel their control waver.¡±

    A chill traveled down my spine. She intended to send these madmen above and let them leave a trail of corpses in their wake. I would have no small amount of fresh bodies in which to ce my feathers and sustain my Haunt spell.

    However brutal, this method interested me. As far as most humans were concerned, this would be an untraceable method of assassinating targets.

    ¡°Can we use the spell on ourselves?¡± I asked, my eyes lingering on my exposed ribcage. ¡°To possess those above?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course. I have ridden a few men and women myself.¡± Mother let out a chuckle. ¡°Now that I think of it, that may be poor phrasing.¡±

    ¡°Is the victim aware of the possession?¡± The more we discussed this spell, the more it appealed to me. ¡°What are its limits?¡±

    ¡°The victim does not remember anything that happens during the possession, although they might recall parts of it through nightmares,¡± Mother exined. ¡°We sadly cannot use our other spells through a host, however.¡±

    ¡°Because our soul remains in the Underworld?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Mother confirmed. ¡°Otherwise, the Ride spell cannot affect supernatural creatures like vampires or the Mallquis. Red-eyed priests are much harder to take over than most mortals due to their foul blood, but this limit can be ovee with sufficient preparations. Finally, most Riders rarelyst more than a few hours before the native soul ejects them. My current best is twelve, though I have high hopes of refining the spell until the possession bes permanent.¡±

    ¡°Permanent?¡± I squinted at her. ¡°You intend to steal another¡¯s life for yourself?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Mother looked at me as if I had asked the stupidest of questions. ¡°Our mortal bodies have finite time, Iztac. A hundred years is too short a time to master the abyss of sorcery. If we are to ascend ever higher, we must find ways to extend our lifespan in a way that will preserve our magic. Bing a Mallquis or vampire would bar us from the Underworld, so we must find other alternatives. Permanently transnting our minds into new vessels is a potential solution.¡±

    The idea left me uneasy, but I hardly saw any downside in permanently taking over the likes of Tezozomoc. Whatever new soul rode his body would be an improvement over its previous upant.

    However, the thought of living forever was a far away prospect. I would be greatly lucky to survive the year at all.

    ¡°The Ride spell will not save your soul,¡± Mother warned me, as if sensing my thoughts. ¡°So long as your spirit remains bound to the vampires¡¯ curse, it will find no rest.¡±

    ¡°I suspected as much.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I would like to learn this spell too. It wille in handy.¡±

    ¡°You will master it in due time.¡± A terrible screech echoed from outside our hideout. Mother nced at the tunnel¡¯s exit. ¡°Azcapalli is growing restless and should fly away soon. Once he does, we should reach Xibalba before you wake up.¡±

    Xibalba. The House of Fright. And of terrors where my father¡¯s soul rested among ten thousand nightmares.

    ¡°Can Nightlords feel fear?¡± I asked Mother.

    Mother chuckled. ¡°Of course they do. All vampires fear true death.¡±

    I recalled Eztli¡¯s face when she looked into the sulfur me. Mother was wrong. Some vampires craved death.

    ¡°Why did you Curse Necahual?¡± I questioned Mother. Eztli needed her family more than ever, so I should remove that insidious threat as soon as possible.

    ¡°Who?¡± Mother asked. ¡°The name sounds familiar.¡±

    The fact my mother struggled to recall someone she had cursed in the past spoke volumes about how much she abused her power. ¡°My mother-inw,¡± I said. ¡°Your rival for father¡¯s heart.¡±

    ¡°I have no rivals, son,¡± she replied with a hint of arrogance. ¡°I do not suffer from their existence.¡±

    ¡°She saw you transform one night,¡± I argued. ¡°You said you would kill her and her entire family if she revealed your secret.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, that mundane wench.¡± Somehow, that part finally juggled Mother¡¯s memory. ¡°I considered killing her on the spot, but instead I decided to curse her on a whim. I bound her to die if she revealed my secret¡­ and to be forever unlucky in love.¡±

    I knew it. At least the Curse¡¯s use spared her when I revealed Mother¡¯s true nature first. ¡°That was petty.¡±

    ¡°Those are a fool¡¯s words. When you want something, son, you must do everything in your power to get it. I wanted your father. I did what I had to do to im him for myself. No more, no less.¡± Mother¡¯s head tilted to the side. ¡°Why these questions?¡±

    ¡°I require Necahual¡¯s services,¡± I exined. ¡°I need to remove your Curse undetected. I cannot let it identally interfere with my affairs.¡±

    ¡°Simply grab my lost feather in your Tonalli form. I was young and inexperienced when I ced it, so it should be easy to remove.¡± Mother suddenly tensed up. ¡°She is in the pce with you.¡±

    ¡°Yes, she is.¡± I quickly guessed what bothered her. ¡°I do not think the Nightlords have noticed the feather. Necahual is beneath the notice of most of them.¡±

    ¡°Most.¡± Mother squinted. ¡°Not all.¡±

    I assented with a nod. I doubted Yoloxochitl had paid Necahual enough attention to detect the Curse ced upon her, but she might in time.

    ¡°Remove the feather as soon as you can,¡± Mother all but ordered. ¡°An ill-ced Curse can be used to track down its caster. I do not want the Nightlords to hunt me down.¡±

    I briefly considered using the threat of using Mother¡¯s own Curse against her to exact concessions, before deciding otherwise. However fair-weather a friend she was, she remained my only ally in this stretch of the Underworld and could cause me many headaches. And neither did she deserve whatever the Nightlords nned to put her through if they caught her.

    ¡°I will,¡± I promised. ¡°However, you must teach me how to disguise my Curses. We have only three nights left before the New Fire Ceremony.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. Thankfully these silent gentlemen will kindly offer their bodies for you to practice on.¡± Mother observed me with what could pass for motherly pride. ¡°Fear not for your future, Iztac. Now that your mind is set, there is no way you cannot win.¡±

    Yes, I would win.

    No matter what maye.

 Chapter Thirty-Two: The House of Fright

    Chapter Thirty-Two: The House of Fright

    Hiding Curses came easy to me.

    I should have expected that. I¡¯d grown used to disguising my malice from the Nightlords with a cid face and pretty words. A Curse was no little than hateful intentions made manifest, so all I had to do was wrap it up in a Veil of insincere words and empty reassurances. Both spells used my Tonalli and thus could work in tandem.

    ¡°I am impressed, my son,¡± Motherplimented me as I presented her with mytest work: a translucent feather. Were I not holding it in my hand, I would not even see it. ¡°It took me <em>years </em>to achieve a simr result.¡±

    It felt strange to receive apliment from Mother. I knew that I should shrug off her opinion¡ªthe woman had abandoned me after all¡ªbut her words filled my heart with pride anyway. I supposed a small part of me still yearned for her praise and attention. Or perhaps I simply appreciated having my hard-earned skills recognized by an experienced sorcerer.

    ¡°Practice makes perfect,¡± I replied before applying the feather to one of our captive Burned Men. The invisible feather meshed with the undead¡¯s shadow without leaving a trace. It took me using the Gaze to confirm my Curse stuck to its target; a spell that none of my enemies could ess. ¡°Is this good enough to fool the Nightlords?¡±

    ¡°More than enough.¡± Mother examined the wall of pinned Burned Men. Half of them were trapped in a deep trance, their minds possessing helpless bodies in the living world. ¡°All that remains is for you to nt the feathers on the corpses above. This will trigger your Haunt and befoul the entire mountain.¡±

    A prospect I relished, but one that would still require some nning.

    ¡°Making the trip to Smoke Mountain in my Tonalli form back and forth will take me hours,¡± I warned Mother. ¡°I will have to skip my next trip to the Underworld.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem. You have all the tools required to cast your Haunt spell now.¡± A polite way to say I would have plenty of corpses to corrupt and bury. ¡°Remember to repeat the same Curse with all the feathers you ce. Choose something simple. The more likely the oue you seek and the more you fervently wish for it, the easier your task.¡±My Curse would be simple enough: I would wish for the Nightlords¡¯ ritual to turn back against them, for the power they sought to do them harm, for the threads of their magic to unravel. That was my sincerest wish.

    Moreover, I suspected that another voice would pray for the same result during the New Fire Ceremony. The same one that the Nightlords dared to leech power from. If that entity would lend my Curse its strength, the vampires would soon learn the meaning of regret.

    A pity I couldn¡¯t cast spells through a Ridden host. That would have made my life so much easier. I observed the wall of Burned Men and began to wonder how else I could use that spell. Riding my foes would let me see through their eyes and kill with their hands, but there were ces no man could easily ess. No man was allowed into the Blood Pyramid¡¯s bowels, nor permitted to delve into its terrible secrets.

    A mouse, however¡­

    ¡°I have a question,¡± I asked Mother. ¡°If the Ride spell lets us possess humans, can it allow us to take over animals too? Could I possess a bat or a snake?¡±

    ¡°Of course, but you will quickly find yourself facing a key limitation: you need a target¡¯s name to Ride them.¡±

    I could see how that would prevent me from Riding the first mouse to cross my path. Fortunately, however, I had the world¡¯srgest menagerie at my disposal. ¡°If so, wouldn¡¯t naming an animal myself do the trick?¡±

    ¡°It can, if the animal answers to it.¡± Mother brushed her hand against a Burned Man¡¯s bones and the words carved into them. ¡°The Ride spell requires a name because it <em>calls </em>the host. Like any Ihiyotl spell, you need to build a connection through words or breath.¡±

    I pondered her words. I was only familiar with the Augury when it came to Ihiyotl-based spells. That one involved catching the Yaotzin¡¯s attention from among all the winds and then concluding a deal with it. Unless I shed blood and provided the correct offering, the wind of chaos would not pay attention to me.

    ¡°I think I understand,¡± I said. ¡°It is akin to singling out a target from among a crowd. If I do not call the beast by a name that it recognizes, they will not understand that I am speaking to them.¡±

    Mother nodded in confirmation. ¡°We humans receive a name at birth, so we learn since infancy to answer to its call. An animal requires training to understand the same.¡±

    Thatplicated matters. The only animal that came to mind as a valid target for the Ride spell was Itzili, my young feathered tyrant. He was strong and quick, but not especially subtle. A flying bird or a small rodent would serve me better.

    I always could have my animal trainers raise specific beasts for me. Or perhaps they¡¯d already taught the prisoners of my menagerie to answer their calls. Either way, it would take time and carry a risk. If a bird from my collection was somehow found dead in a vampire temple after escaping its cage, the Nightlords might suspect something was amiss.

    ¡°There is a simpler way to Ride the beasts of the living world,¡± Mother said after noticing my sullen face. ¡°What do you think is the foundation of magic, my son? The principle that guides all forms of sorcery, nay, the cosmos itself?¡±

    I first thought of the threeponents of magic: the Tonalli, the Teyolia, and the Ihiyotl. The Parliament of Skulls taught me early that I was required to master all three to be a true sorcerer.

    However, Mother mentioned <em>a </em>principle, <em>singr</em>. I could only think of one thing. The words that guided me on the first steps of my journey in M.

    ¡°Sacrifice,¡± I replied. ¡°You must give before you can obtain anything.¡±

    My answer drew a dry chuckle from Mother. ¡°Why do most sacrifices go unrewarded then?¡±

    Her words were cold, but perhaps not unfounded. Gratitude was a rare thing. Appreciated, yet rarely expected. The Nightlords had shown that clearly enough when they killed Sigrun in spite of her years of unwilling service.

    ¡°The powerful rarely need to give anything,¡± Mother said. ¡°The strong take what they can, not what they must.¡±

    ¡°The dead souls I¡¯ve dealt with all abided by their word, whether mortals or gods,¡± I argued. ¡°I traded my services for their spells and knowledge. They did notpel me to do their bidding by force, though they could easily have done so.¡±

    Mother remained unconvinced. ¡°Unlike the living, the dead have learned the value of patience. What value is there in making an enemy that may haunt you thirty years from now? We catecolotl are too few and our services too precious. They cannot alienate us.¡±

    That was quite the cynical take on life. ¡°Not all rtionships are built on mutual self-interest, Mother.¡±

    ¡°You are correct, my son: only those with a solid foundation are.¡± Mother shrugged. ¡°In any case, I shall tell you the answer: the guiding principle of all magic is <em>transfer</em>. Power is like water. It flows and shifts, but never settles on a single shape for long.¡±

    To illustrate her point, Mother moved a hand from her exposed Teyolia to mine. Both of us had feasted on the divine ashes of a long-dead sun. I could feel the same glow within her heart as mine.

    ¡°The sun produces light and warmth, which feeds flowers and beasts alike,¡± Mother exined. ¡°The sun gives them life; and in return, when they die, the living send their Teyolia back to the sun. Nothing is created. Nothing is destroyed. Power shifts and moves.¡±

    ¡°What do you make of vampires then?¡± I still shuddered when I recalled the sulfur me¡¯s boundless appetite. Nothing remained of what it devoured. ¡°All they do is eat.¡±

    ¡°The vampires do not truly destroy those they consume. Their souls keep existing in that gaping pit that the Nightlords call a stomach. I concede their hunger does threaten the continued bnce of the universe, but they do not destroy power; they simply hoard it.¡±

    <em>¡°Do not worry, Iztac,¡±</em> Eztli once told me when referring to her father, whom she devoured. <em>¡°He¡¯s still inside me.¡±</em>

    I dared not imagine how many soulsnguished in a Nightlord¡¯s stomach, considering how long those monsters had haunted the earth. Still, if Mother was right, then extinguishing the sulfur me might release Lady Sigrun¡¯s soul and that of all the poor women fed to its wicked hunger; if such a thing was even possible.

    ¡°To master sorcery, Iztac, you must understand, exploit, and control this flow,¡± Mother continued. ¡°It is true that in many cases, you must give before you can take; but it is only because you cannot transfer anything without building a connection first. The Ride spell uses a name because it is the easiest way to create such a bridge, but there are other, more intimate ways to achieve the same result. You have already encountered many cases.¡±

    It didn¡¯t take me long to think of one: the thralls of the Nightlords, whose loyalty was engraved onto their very eyes.

    ¡°The priests,¡± I guessed. ¡°The Nightkin enve their minds and flesh by feeding them their blood.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Mother confirmed. ¡°The body¡¯s fluids carry the power of one¡¯s Teyolia, especially the blood; for a sorcerer, this means they be powerful magical vectors. Feeding your blood to another creature will create a one-way bond akin to a debt. You give life, you gain ownership. Enough control will let you see through your target¡¯s eyes, listen through their ears, and even givemands that they cannot disobey.¡±

    So if I feed an animal my blood, then I wouldn¡¯t need their name to Ride them? This might prove difficult in my case considering how mine burned with sunlight, but my mind immediately noticed a worrying detail about this process.

    ¡°The Nightlords can see through their priests¡¯ eyes?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The Nightlords cannot Ride a blood-bonded individual, as theyck ess to the Land of the Dead Suns, but yes, they canmand their thralls and observe the world through their senses from afar.¡± Mother locked eyes with me; her own were as blue as the priests¡¯ were red. ¡°Whenever you speak to a blood-bonded servant of a Nightlord, remember that their mistress might be listening.¡±

    I¡¯d never been foolish enough to speak my mind in a priest¡¯s vicinity, but there were subtler spies in the pce. Yoloxochitl had fed her blood to many flowers lurking beneath the imperial gardens. If she could listen through them¡­

    <em>Fear not, Iztac. These nts recoil from the sun. You are safe in the daylight</em>. Still, I would avoid speaking in the gardens. They were not as safe of a space as I imagined them to be. <em>Must I worry about wallflowers too now?</em>

    ¡°I would be careful if you try to form a blood-bond, Iztac,¡± Mother warned me. ¡°Such a rtionship requires maintenance. You need to feed your target regrly, lest their body purges your blood away like a poison. Most sorcerers can only sustain a handful of pets, human or otherwise.¡±

    ¡°I favor quality over quantity,¡± I replied. A single mouse would serve me better than a pack of wild dogs. ¡°Are there other risks to forming a blood-bond? A connection works both ways, no?¡±

    ¡°It will if you consume the beast¡¯s blood in return.¡± Mother stroked her hair, a flicker of amusement shing in her eyes. ¡°I heard cases of ancient Nahualli couples who fed on each other¡¯s blood to create an unbreakable bond. It rarely ended well. Most became madly obsessed with one another, when the stronger party did not dominate the other.¡±

    I understood how the process worked now. By using mercantile terms, feeding one''s blood to another created a bond simr to a debtor and a debtee; exchanging blood, meanwhile, meant sharing a mutual burden. If the flow went only one way, it instead created an ever-stronger form of dependency.

    ¡°The vampires feed on blood,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t they be ves to Nahualli if they fed on their blood?¡±

    Mother shook her head. ¡°The vampire curse perverts everything. A Nightkin possesses a gaping, all-consuming curse in ce of their shriveled heart. There is no <em>give </em>and <em>take </em>with a vampire, only thetter. The Nightlords have fed on a thousand sorcerers without bing a ve to any of them. Consuming their blood, however, means inviting their evil into your veins.¡±

    I found that disappointing, but not unexpected. At least feeding them my sun-powered blood should damage them. ¡°Yet that same evil allows the red-eyed priests to conquer aging.¡±

    ¡°At the cost of their fertility.¡± Mother scoffed in disdain. ¡°The truth, Iztac, is that the vampire curse consumes their potential to bring new life into the world to sustain itself. All priests are indebted fools who sold out their kind¡¯s future for false prosperity.¡±

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    All of the Nightlords¡¯ gifts were poisoned.

    ¡°Humans possess the most lifeforce out of all creatures in the world, short of great creatures like the feathered tyrants,¡± Mother added. ¡°On lesser beasts and nts, the curse¡¯s effects are far more pronounced. They grow fearful of sunlight and gain a thirst for blood. They be the shadows of shadows.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen that,¡± I said upon recalling Yoloxochitl¡¯s garden of monstrous flowers. At least this confirmed no possessed mouse would spy on me in the sunlight.

    Beyond its use for the Ride spell, Mother¡¯s lesson on the nature of magic helped me recontextualize Lady Sigrun¡¯s magic. If all of a human¡¯s body fluids carried their Teyolia, then it would exin why Seidr required lovemaking to function. It temporarily bound the participants¡¯ heart-fires together. The process happened naturally, but only Nahualli or trained individuals would notice.

    ¡°Have you heard of Seidr?¡± I questioned Mother.

    She squinted at me in confusion. She did not recognize the term. ¡°I have not.¡±

    ¡°I met a¡­¡± My words died in my throat when I tried to qualify Sigrun. A victim of circumstances? A witch? Her death was too fresh yet, too raw, for me to properly describe her. ¡°A wise woman with ess to a strange form of sorcery. A power created from the union of a man and a woman, whether or not they were Nahualli. She used it to preserve her youth by draining the vitality of her partners.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, you must speak of the Embrace.¡± I detected a hint of disdain in Mother¡¯s voice. ¡°It is a primitive ritual emting ¨­mete¨­tl, the first being. The same way male and female were once one, reuniting these two halves lets a couple tap into a greater source of power.¡±

    Of course Mother would be familiar with all forms of magic. I recalled that Lady Sigrunpared ¨­mete¨­tl to a figure of her own mythology, Ymir. Much like my people and the Sapa each used different words to name the same things, I guessed other Nahualli practiced Seidr under another name.

    ¡°You do not sound impressed,¡± I noted.

    ¡°I am not,¡± Mother replied. ¡°I will concede that the Embrace has plenty of applications. From what I have heard, the participants can use their shared lifeforce to transfer memories, heal their wounds, or gain cosmic insight.¡±

    Sharing memories? Could Sigrun read the minds of those she slept with? No wonder she became such a powerful spymistress.

    ¡°All those things sound beneficial enough,¡± I said.

    ¡°They are, but the Embrace requires the willing cooperation of two participants to unleash its full potential. If you receive a vision, you <em>share </em>this knowledge.¡± Mother let out a scornful snort. ¡°Why bother deepening a form of magic with such a steep cost when you can achieve the same result on your own?¡±

    I squinted at her. ¡°You could have tried with Father, when he was alive.¡±

    A tense silence hung between us.

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t trust him,¡± I guessed.

    ¡°I love your father, but he is not a Nahualli.¡± Mother looked away at the exit. ¡°He would not have understood. Not until he died.¡±

    The impersonal way she spoke of my father¡ªthe very person she Cursed Necahual for life to be with¡ªunnerved me to my core. Mother might say that she loved him, but she still considered him a mere mortal at the end of the day. Someone she could never share her true secrets with.

    What did I expect from her? Unconditional love? Mother made it clear that she wouldn¡¯t have helped me had I not proven to be a catecolotl. Had I been born without powers, she would have left me to the Nightlords. I could tell.

    A terrifying, high-pitched screech echoed outside our hideout, loud enough to wake the dead; and it did. The Burned Men grew agitated and began to helplessly struggle against the nails keeping them attached to the stone wall. The ground shook beneath my feet and the stone ceiling cracked above my head.

    ¡°A tremor?¡± I muttered, my body tensing. There were few more dangerous ces to hide in than a tunnel in the middle of an earthquake.

    ¡°Of a sort.¡± Seemingly unbothered by the danger ahead, Mother stepped close to our hideout¡¯s exit and discreetly peeked outside. ¡°Azcapalli is growing restless.¡±

    I quickly followed her example and waved a Veil to hide ourselves. Indeed, Azcapalli was screaming his anger to the heavens. The great bird¡¯s mighty wings wiped up a dust storm in the canyon he oversaw. His talons trampled the ground with enough strength to spread tremors through the ground. His hateful eyes looked left and right, searching for prey. Searching for <em>us</em>.

    Was he trying to force us out of hiding with a tantrum? When dust fell from the ceiling and onto my shoulder, I realized he might very well seed. I quickly activated the Doll spell for safety¡¯s sake. Dark talons of shadows held onto the walls and kept them in ce.

    ¡°Worry not, my son,¡± Mother reassured me, though she did nothing to help me in my task. ¡°It will be all over soon.¡±

    True to her words, I did not have to wait for long. Azcapalli let out a final growl, a deep cry of anger and disappointment, and then took flight. The whole canyon shook as he soared away from his perch. His immense wingspan cast a dark shadow upon us for several seconds, but the blue light of loc¡¯s sun soon returned. I gazed upon Azcapalli as he flew away towards far off smoldering mountains.

    Mad spirits were clearly short on patience.

    ¡°This is our chance to slip away,¡± Mother said as she shifted back into her owl form. ¡°We must not linger. His kind always returns.¡±

    ¡°What of them?¡± I asked, pointing a shadowy talon at the Burned Men.

    ¡°Leave them. The spell will run its course in time.¡± Mother traded her skin for ck feathers and her arms for dark wings. ¡°They have served their purpose.¡±

    A minuteter, we both flew away out of the canyon as twin owls of shadow. My carrying frame and its contents weighed heavily on my back. Searing rains of cinders flowed over my plumage like water on a fish¡¯s scales. Thankfully, Azcapalli had flown in another direction than ours. He was sorge I could still see his shadow in the distance, soaring above the deadnds.

    ¡°What if he ambushes us again?¡± I asked, my beak coughing ashes.

    ¡°That won¡¯t be an issue if we can reach the House of Fright tonight,¡± Mother replied. ¡°The Burned Men and their dead gods alike do not encroach on its borders.¡±

    It said something about locan when Mother considered an ancient realm of nightmares safer than its surface; and considering what I¡¯d read from the Emperor¡¯s Codex, it begged some worrying questions.

    ¡°I heard the Lords of Terror fetch a high price for their power and knowledge,¡± I mused out loud. ¡°How am I expected to repay their hospitality? What payment will they expect?¡±

    I expected a thousand answers from my mother. Souls, sorrow, blood, pain, the list went on. The kind of payment I thought would please nightmares older than the current mankind.

    Instead, she answered with a single word. One that somehow sounded more ominous than all other possibilities.

    ¡°<em>Tests</em>.¡±

    I squinted at her. ¡°Tests?¡±

    ¡°You are a catecolotl, an owl-fiend of the Underworld. The Lords of Terror know that you will spread fear and nightmares. This makes them well-disposed towards our kind¡­ if you can live up to their standards.¡± Mother marked a short pause as we soared above a river ofva. ¡°Only three kinds of people leave Xibalba in one piece, my son. The bold¡­ the lucky¡­¡±

    She looked over her shoulder, her eyes cold and ominous.

    ¡°And the demons.¡±

    And to survive, I would have to be all three.

    I couldn¡¯t tell how long we flew. Hours? Days? Time passed strangely when soaring above and of death.

    If I had to describe this region of locan, I would say we were flying above an old oven. Great ins stretched before us; an endless desert of cinders, molten ss, and fossilized ashes. Everything that could burn in this ce already had. Nothing remained.

    Nothing but grayness and the silence.

    Thetter became overwhelming as we progressed. A world was a living thing; and even dead, locan remained a noisy ce. The thunder in the sky; the crackling of ashes on the ground; the distant growls of angry volcanos¡­ all these sounds once formed a symphony in the background. Discordant, yet always present.

    No more. I heard no other sound except for the pping of our wings. Not even the whisper of a burning wind.

    At some point, the rain of ash suddenly stopped falling.

    It happened so quickly that I hardly noticed at first. The clouds cleared, leaving naught but loc¡¯s distant blue sun shining alone amidst a dreary sky. The evesting tempest of mes and cinders had stopped in front of an invisible line.

    The sight sent a chill course through my spine. The fiery rains were the will of loc himself. The ceaseless anger of a god far older than the living world. How could he not exercise his power over a ce inside his own realm?

    I would expect the Burned Men to flock to such a haven. They did not. I saw no ruined settlement, no city of the wicked dead, or even a hut in which to hide. None of locan¡¯s denizens had dared to colonize the gray desert.

    This region was no sanctuary.

    The air grew thicker too. Heavier. The temperature dropped in spite of the harsh sunlight, an otherworldly chill oveing the searing heat of loc¡¯s volcanic realm. The dunes of ashes ttened beneath us, as if they were afraid to stand out. Everything had be gray. The sky, the air, thend¡­ all except for onendmark.

    A ck blot stood in the middle of the horizon. An indistinct mountain, or a tower perhaps? I could not tell what it was.

    ¡°Is that¡­¡± My own words sounded muffled, my voice choked by the oppressive atmosphere into mere whispers. ¡°Is that it?¡±

    Mother answered with a short nod. Thendscape around us slowly changed into strange and unsettling sights.

    First, we flew over a canyon filled with the fossilized remains of dead scorpions. Then a great red ring of long dried blood. Finally, we soared past a disgusting river of yellow pus.

    Xibalba, the House of Fright, weed us soon after.

    I heard its call long before its great pyramid came into view. Its overwhelming malevolence hung in the air like a cloud of pestilence over a grave. That sense of dread, of bottomless malice¡­ I had only ever encountered anything simr once before. The moment when I first glimpsed at the ancient terror inside the sulfur me.

    Xibalba did not look too impressive at first nce. It was far smaller than Yohuachanca¡¯s capital and utterlycking in splendor. Long streets and crossroads of ck obsidian stretched between empty houses of ancient stone. The city¡¯s only noticeablendmark was a polished obsidian pyramid in its center. Even that one appeared smaller than the Nightlords¡¯ Blood Pyramid.

    But the longer I looked at Xibalba, the more unsettling it became. The houses were abandoned, yet perfectly maintained and polished. When I looked at a building and blinked, it was gone as if it had never existed; an empty road now appeared in its ce. Xibalba¡¯s fountains produced no water. There were no fortified walls to protect the city, nor moats nor watchtowers. Its great stone gatesy wide open, daring visitors to step inside.

    Its streets were crowded too, but not by men nor beasts. Hundreds, if not thousands of white statues sat on its roofs or stood in the shadow of its empty houses. All of them were faceless and featureless. Some struck poses. Others appeared frozen in the middle of a dance. A few stretched in ways no man should. Most simply waited in ce like chalk pirs.

    All of them were staring at us. Their eyeless heads were turned in our direction, as if they¡¯d been expecting ouring.

    I was home.

    I couldn¡¯t exin it. This ce frightened me. The human part of me dreaded it on an instinctual, primal level. This was a city of evil so foul that not even the Burned Men would approach it. A monument to terror forbidden to mortals.

    But the owl¡­ the owl within me felt drawn to the structure, the way a bird might recall the nest from which it took its first flight. An alien sense of nostalgia overwhelmed me. I had never stepped foot in Xibalba, whether in flesh or in dreams, but it weed me all the same.

    Mother did not enter the city, however. Shended in the gray desert before its silent gates. A dozen benches lined up along the road, alongside four strange totems rising from the ashenndscape: an owl-shaped scarecrow with tattered wings stretched wide in silent exaltation; a trihorn-sized spider wrapped in a cocoon of fossilized webbing; a faceless, crowned woman made of red marble; and the shattered statue of a beheaded bat.

    I sensed powering from all of these strange statues, except for thest. The sight of a broken bat filled my heart with joy, but somehow, it seemed strangely out of ce. Like a defaced tombstone.

    ¡°These are totems that can travel into the Underworld,¡± I said uponnding. ¡°The spider, the owl, the bat¡­ and the faceless dead.¡±

    Queen Mictecacihuatl informed me that no bat totem had graced the Land of the Dead Suns in centuries, and only its statue was broken beyond repair. This seemed relevant somehow.

    ¡°Quite the mystery, is it not?¡± Mother noted upon regaining her human form. ¡°You will find the answer inside Xibalba.¡±

    ¡°Which means you have found it,¡± I replied. I let go of my carrying frame and shed my owl guise for arms and legs. ¡°Why not tell me now?¡±

    ¡°True knowledge is earned, not shared.¡± Mother waved a hand at the owl totem. ¡°Bury your belongings at the owl totem¡¯s feet. Do not carry anything that can be used against you inside Xibalba. Do not sit on the benches either. You would soon regret it.¡±

    I would have guessed as much. Approaching the spider altar caused my flesh to itch as if insects crawled beneath my skin, whereas the human one caused an invisible weight to fall upon my chest. Only the owl totem alone did not radiate an aura of hostility.

    It took me a while to bury my carrying frame and its contents, even with the Doll spell. I felt a hundred gazes watching me as I worked. Either the faceless statues were alive, or some other creatures hid among their numbers. Once I¡¯d finished, I looked up at my Mother, waiting for her to guide me.

    ¡°Listen well, my son.¡±

    My back tensed like a bowstring. Mother¡¯s voice had deepened and turned somber. Her next words would carry great weight.

    ¡°Once your soul enters Xibalba, you will not be able to escape it until you havepleted all of its trials,¡± she warned me. ¡°Whenever you fall asleep, you will be dragged back to the House of Fright; and if you fail its tests, you will <em>never </em>leave it.¡±

    Most would have gulped upon hearing this. I simply offered a sharp nod. After all I¡¯d gone through since the Night of the Scarlet Moon, such dangers no longer frightened me.

    ¡°The city contains six houses, each of them ruled by two Lords of Terror,¡± Mother carried on. ¡°You will be brought to one of them the moment you step through the gates. Xibalba¡¯s masters will put you through cruel tests. Conquer all six of them, and you will be allowed inside the pyramid and its ballcourt. If you want to leave Xibalba, you will have to win a game there.¡±

    I crossed my arms and held her gaze. ¡°Is Father suffering in one of these houses?¡±

    ¡°No, of course not,¡± Mother reassured me. She sounded almost insulted by the idea. ¡°Once you leave a house of trials, many paths will appear before you. One will lead to my domain inside the city, where we can meet in rtive safety. Itzili and I will be waiting for you there.¡±

    So far so good. I did wonder what could pass for ¡®safe¡¯ in a ce so malevolent. ¡°What of the other paths?¡±

    ¡°They will lead you to another house of trials. You will have to find your own path to my sanctuary.¡±

    ¡°Would it be too much to ask for a map?¡± I quipped. Mother did not bothermenting on it. ¡°What kind of tests can I expect?¡±

    ¡°Even if I was allowed to tell you, it would do you no good. The Lords of Terror have had an eternity to refine their traps. The tests change with each visitor.¡± Mother shrugged her shoulders. ¡°However, know that sess will not go unrewarded. The Lords of Terror know powerful spells and terrible secrets. Forbidden sorceries that can harm the Nightlords and bring ruin to their servants. Pass their tests and you shall obtain their blessings.¡±

    Spells that could harm the Nightlords.

    The events ofst night red in the back of my mind. I recalled the Jaguar Woman¡¯s grip on my shoulders. The words she shrieked into my ears.

    <em>We own you. We own you. </em><em><strong>We own you</strong></em><em>.</em>

    I tried to imagine a different night. I pictured myself tearing the Jaguar Woman apart with powerful magic. I imagined her burning and burning in front of her cursed me. What a sweet thought. If only history had been so kind.

    If I¡¯d been stronger, if I¡¯d wielded more powerful magic, Lady Sigrun would not have died. Guatemoc would not have perished. Eztli would not have be a vampire hungering for death¡¯s sweet release. So many things would have changed.

    Power would not let me change the past, but it would let me prevent further tragedies. It would allow me to destroy all of my enemies. The Nightlords, the vampires, all their priests and aplices. <em>All of them</em>. My spells would knock their pyramids down and teach them the meaning of terror. I would tear apart the Jaguar Woman with my bare hands, put Yoloxochitl through the same torments she inflicted on so many innocents, and drag the others into the sun to burn.

    <em>One day,</em> I told myself. One day, I would piss on their ashes.

    After mulling over these vengeful fantasies, I faced the gates of Xibalba. The House of Fright and its secrets awaited me. They woulde at a cost. I knew I would bear new scars by the time I left it behind me. Only one question still haunted me.

    ¡°Will it be worth it?¡± I whispered.

    Mother¡¯s eyes softened a brief instant, so quick I almost failed to notice. ¡°I promise you this, my son: you will leave Xibalba as a powerful sorcerer or not at all. Once you conquer this city, you will be ready to confront loc himself.¡±

    That was all I needed to hear.

    I stepped into the House of Fright, and its walls swallowed me whole.

 Chapter Thirty-Three: The House of Gloom

    Chapter Thirty-Three: The House of Gloom

    All was dark.

    All was ck.

    All was silence.

    I awoke enshrouded in lightless shadows, a pitch-ck expanse thicker than a starless night. I couldn¡¯t see anything; not even my own hand. The darkness consumed all.

    My body shivered in the cold. I was lying on a stone floor, or at least it felt that way to my numb fingers and rattling bones. My hands fumbled in the all-devouring shadows to no avail. I¡¯d never seen a ce so ck. Even M¡¯s bowels provided a measure of ghostlight in the dark.

    I remembered the walls of Xibalba closing in on me after I stepped through its gates. The street had pulled me in like the meal of a great beast down a gullet of stone. The city had swallowed me whole.

    Was I in its stomach now? A silent tomb hidden underground? A ce buried so deep that loc¡¯s searing light could not reach it?

    I struggled to my knees and elbows. I looked at my chest. The baleful me between my ribs shone no brighter than a small candle in a sea of darkness, to the point I could hardly see it. The shadows dimmed my fire¡¯s radiance until it turned into a mere flicker.

    ¡°Mother, are you there?¡± I called out without expecting an answer. I received none. Worse, my words became muffled the moment they escaped my mouth. My voice became a mere whisper. No echo returned to me either.I activated my Gaze spell. I channeled the sunlight in my heart through my eyes to pierce through the shadows.

    I failed.

    The light pouring from my Gaze spell, once radiant enough to dispel any illusion, failed to clear the darkness around me. When I raised my hand to my face, my fingers fumbling to my chin and then to my cheek, I could hardly distinguish its edges when I waved it in front of my eyes. I could not distinguish anything unless it stood within inches of my face.

    The wind once whispered to me that there were shadows so thick even the light recoiled from them. Had I stepped inside such a ce?

    I gathered my strength and rose to my feet, only for my skull to hit a low ceiling. I couldn¡¯t stand with my head high; I had to bend slightly until my shoulders rubbed against the stone. I must have been in a tunnel of some kind. I scrambled forward looking for an exit.

    When my eyes started to hurt, I canceled my Gaze spell to preserve my power forter. It hardly cleared anything anyway. My own Teyolia couldn¡¯t even light the way forward.

    I was alone in the shadows with no other way than forward.

    ¡°I am not afraid of the dark,¡± I said, both for my sake and that of the Lords of Terror. I had gazed into the Sulfur me¡¯s ck heart itself. Nothing could shake me more than that. ¡°You don¡¯t scare me.¡±

    Mother said she would await me in a safe sanctuary after I conquered my first house of fear. Was this darkness my first trial? Was I expected to find a way out inplete darkness? This might take a while.

    However long this trial would take, I would beat it.

    I faced the all-consuming ckness, gathered my breath and courage like a soldier readying to march to war, and then pressed onward. My footsteps echoed on the cold hard floor before being swallowed by the overwhelming silence.

    My ordeal had begun.

    My war teachers at school taught us that the best way to find one¡¯s way in the dark was to find the nearest wall, keep one¡¯s left hand pressed against it, and then turn left constantly. This lesson was meant to help separated warriors regroup when fighting at night. I could easily apply it to my current situation. Eventually, I was bound to hit a wall. Once I found one, I would keep moving left until I stumbled on the exit.

    I had no idea how long I crawled onward, my back bending downward like that of a ve afraid to look at his master. Hours, days, weeks? I knew rationally I should have woken up if my explorationsted that long, but it still felt that way to me. I fumbled with each step. No matter where my fingers turned to grasp, they only found either a ceiling or a floor with nothing to separate them. No pirs, no walls, no nothing.

    I was no architect, but this seemed¡­ <em>improbable</em>.

    Eventually, my left hand stumbled upon a vertical structure. I briefly called upon the Gaze spell and confirmed it was indeed a wall of pitch-ck stone. So far so good. Follow the left wall. Find the exit. A simple n. I followed it religiously.

    Then my right hand fumbled onto a second wall.

    I activated my Gaze spell again to confirm it. A wall on each side, a ceiling, and a floor. Had I stepped into a hallway? Since when? I couldn¡¯t tell whether I should consider it a bad sign or not.

    After a moment¡¯s consideration, I decided to continue through that passage. Motherpared the trials to houses; a hallway should henceforth naturally lead to another room. Even if it turned out to be a dead end, I would simply keep turning left.

    I quickly regretted my decision.

    I sensed the walls closing in on me with each new step. The ceiling pressed down. I had no other way forward than to move on my knees. Stone scraped against my shoulders, then my thighs. I told myself I would eventually reach a dead end, but the passage just got smaller and smaller. At one point, I realized I would have no other choice than to squeeze forward if I wished to proceed.

    And if I did, I would have few ways of defending myself.

    I smelled a trap.

    Xibalba¡¯s masters didn¡¯t earn the title of Lords of Terror for nothing. ording to the First Emperor¡¯s codex, they were ancient nightmares older than mankind. Mother herself warned me that they had refined their cruelty over the eons.

    After seeing what the Nightlords coulde up with, I doubted a cramped hallway would be my only obstacle. It would be only the prelude to something worse. My instincts warned me of danger ahead.

    I tried to turn around, but failed due to theck of space. With no other option, I took a step back.

    I hit another wall.

    My <em>back </em>hit a wall. My feet touched a barrier of stone.

    That was impossible. I hadn¡¯t turned at any point. I looked over my shoulder and activated the Gaze spell, dispelling the darkness just long enough to find a ck barrier standing behind me.

    Only then did I curse my foolishness. I¡¯d entered the trap of my own volition long ago.

    However, if the Lords of Terror expected me to bury myself, they were wrong. I immediately called upon the Doll spell and manifested talons of shadow strong enough to shatter stone. I had them hit the wall behind me in an attempt to shatter it.

    My Doll spell tore apart a spider totemrger than a trihorn and shredded men apart in a single swing. I knew it could break through a wall if I tried hard enough. Yet whatever substance blocked my path proved too strong. My talons bounced off it like bones thrown at granite.

    No way out but forward. No other way out than this cramped hallway closing in on me. I stared at the shadows ahead of me, considering what to do next.

    <em>Plop.</em>

    My spine tensed on its own and caused my head to hit the ceiling. My teeth tightened as I focused on the noise¡¯s source.

    <em>Plop</em>.

    I heard it in the distance. A faint sound, barely inaudible, but magnified by the heavy silence. The noise of a droplet hitting a solid surface. Water? Was there water ahead? Somehow I suspected the truth would be far more disturbing.

    But what other choice did I have? Not even the Doll spell could shatter these walls, and unlike the living world I could not separate my soul from my body to phase through physical matter; I <em>was </em>my soul.

    So I crawled on. I followed after the sound, unable to see where I went.

    <em>Plop. Plop.</em>

    I was getting closer, slowly but surely. The noise sounded more frequent too. Drops after drops.

    I felt a slight pressure on my left shoulder.

    At this point, I was crawling on my knees to avoid hitting the ceiling. I thought I¡¯d hit a rock, but the pressure did not abate when I squeezed forward. It <em>followed </em>me. I activated the Gaze spell, the sunlight of my soul letting me catch a glimpse of my shoulder.

    A hand had grabbed it from behind.

    ¡°Look at me,¡± Mother whispered into my ear.

    I almost did it, impulsively. That was Mother¡¯s voice and her hand. There could be no doubt about it.

    But it wasn¡¯t her.

    The tone was too sweet, too kind, too reassuring. Too <em>motherly</em>. It reminded me of Yoloxochitl¡¯s false gentleness. Mother was cold and distant.

    ¡°Look at me,¡± her voice repeated calmly.

    I gulped before asking, ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Do you see the candles, Iztac?¡± the voice replied, ignoring my question. ¡°Look at me.¡±

    A brave or foolish man would have indulged the¡­ creature. I, meanwhile, had faced enough threats to recognize danger. My instincts screamed at me not to turn around, even to just catch a glimpse of whatever was talking to me. Deep down I knew that this thing meant harm to me. To obey it meant to face my own death.

    I did not have to look to kill it.

    Talons of shadow surged from my body as I activated the Doll spell. I sent them to hit whatever thing lurked behind me and to cut the hand holding me down. The ws failed at the former task, hitting only a wall of stone pressing on my back, but they seeded at thetter.

    No blood dripped onto the floor when Mother¡¯s severed hand hit the ground. I caught a brief glimpse of it crawling away deeper into the tunnel thanks to the Gaze spell. When she vanished into the darkness, another hand grabbed my left shoulder; paler than Mother¡¯s and colder than a corpse.

    ¡°Look at me,¡± the thing behind whispered with Sigrun¡¯s melodious voice.

    It was only then I realized a simple truth. <em>It is not the dark that men fear. It¡¯s what it hides.</em>

    ¡°Look at me,¡± the thing repeated, cycling through Mother¡¯s voice and Sigrun the next. ¡°Why won¡¯t you look at me?¡±

    ¡°I refuse,¡± I said, my throat dry. ¡°Leave me alone.¡±

    The thing ignored me. ¡°Look at me, Iztac,¡± it repeated, calmly, sweetly, gently. ¡°Look at me.¡±

    Since I could neither harm it nor turn around, I simply pushed on. Sigrun¡¯s hand held onto my shoulder, but it hardly slowed me down. I barely crawled a few steps when I sensed another weight on my other shoulder.

    ¡°I am right behind you, Iztac,¡± Eztli¡¯s voice echoed in my ear. ¡°So why won¡¯t you look at me?

    I felt no weight behind the new hand, nor an arm to support it; it felt as if it had appeared out of thin air. I sensed no heavier creature leaning against me from behind, but a presence loomed nheless. An entity that tried to mimic humanity the way a parrot might repeat words without understanding the meaning behind them.

    I gritted my teeth and pushed on. I squeezed through the cramped tunnel. New hands held on to my thighs, to my legs, to my back. I counted dozens, some gentle as a lover¡¯s caress, others with fingers of bone.

    ¡°Look at me,¡± the thing spoke with Guatemoc¡¯s voice, its tone noticeably colder than before.

    I ignored it, but the hands¡¯ grip soon began to tighten. While I could safely ignore them, now I had to struggle to push forward.

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    ¡°Look at me, insolent ve,¡± the Jaguar Woman¡¯s voice ordered me. ¡°Look at me.¡±

    It only made me more resolute to continue.

    The entity lost patience at this point. Instead of simply impairing my progress, the hands outright started to pull me backward. I snarled in rage as I called upon the Doll spell. My talons sliced through a dozen hands and hundreds of fingers, but more came to rece them.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± I snarled. ¡°Let me go¨C¡±

    A sh of pain coursed through my torso.

    I grunted in surprise and agony, then copsed onto my elbows. A searing hot liquid dripped on my skin and immediately caught fire. A surge of light briefly illuminated the tunnel. I heard screeches behind me and a few of the hands let me go. I smelled burning blood.

    <em>My </em>blood.

    A nce at my belly. A pale bone knife stuck out of it, the de halfway through my stomach. A pale finger¡ªone of those that held the weapon seconds ago¡ªwrigged as it turned into smoke on the floor. My burning blood consumed it like chocte in boiled water. A meager constion.

    <em>¡°Look at me.¡±</em> The entity no longer bothered to mimic anyone¡¯s voice. It had be deep, angry, and inhuman. It did not request anything anymore. It simplymanded.<em> ¡°Look at me.¡±</em>

    Another surge of pain followed, this time in my right leg. I swallowed a scream as I felt a de twisting in my flesh.

    <em>¡°Nothing exists in the dark.¡±</em> the voice repeated with a coarse and alien tone deeper than a bellowing beast. <em>¡°Look at me. Look at </em>me<em>.¡±</em>

    The hands grabbing my legs pulled me back with inhuman strength. I answered with kicks and snarls and the Doll spell. The phantasmal limbs dragging me into the dark vanished whenever my talons threatened to touch them. It offered me just a long enough reprieve to drag myself forward before they returned.

    I attempted to cast a Veil, to wrap myself in the same shadows that obscured the monster from view. An immense weight of disbelief instantly dispelled my illusion. My flesh grew cold with dread as I sensed a thousand observers looking at me from all directions. Left, right, up, down¡­ Everywhere all at once.

    The darkness had eyes.

    I used all my strength to crawl through an ever-tighter tunnel, struggling against the pain of bone knives lodged in my flesh. I sensed their des shrink inside my flesh as my burning blood dissolved them.

    More hurried to take their ce.

    The pain raced through my back and my spine, sharp and terrible. des sliced through my back and my legs by the dozens. They appeared out of thin air, slipping through my talons and peeling my skin.

    Whatever intangible horror stalked me had given up on forcing me to turn my head around.

    It had settled on trying to stab me to death instead.

    I shrieked as I attempted to repel the onught, to no avail. A hundred hands descended from the ceiling, pressed on my wounded back, and then forced me head-first to the floor. My shadow talons struggled to stop more des from slicing into me.

    <em>I can¡¯t move!</em> The hands¡¯ grip was too strong. They pressed me against the floor, slowly squeezing my bones.<em> Think! There has to be a way out!</em>

    But what else could I do? I would have crushed it with the Doll if I could, but how could I fight something I could not touch? The Veil could not hide me, the Gaze could not see it, the Augury would not help me! All I had left was the Curse and¨C

    Wait.

    When I activated my Veil, the weight of disbelief came from <em>everywhere </em>at once. Not just from behind me. The entity didn¡¯t <em>hide </em>in the darkness. It was <em>one </em>with it.

    And for a Curse to work¡­ I had to ce one of my feathers inside a target¡¯s shadow.

    My grunts turned to cruelughter.

    The pressure lessened on my back for a brief second. The entity appeared surprised by my reaction. I immediately seized that opportunity by summoning a feather in the palm of my hand; one so ck it appeared indistinguishable from the shadows around me.

    ¡°I Curse you¡­¡± I poured all my hatred, all my malice, and my bloodthirst into my feather. ¡°My blood shall set you aze!¡±

    My cursed feather merged with the darkness the moment it came alive. My power coursed through the air. It reverberated like an echo, shaking the entire tunnel. My sorcery spread through the shadows like poison in a pond of water.

    A shining purple light surged behind me; the same hateful glow as the one fueling my heart. A hundred voices screamed in the dark. Eztli¡¯s, Sigrun¡¯s, Guatemoc¡¯s, all the people I¡¯d met, along with countless strangers, all at once. The smell of burning flesh reached my nostrils and smoke filled the air. My burning blood, which my unseen attacker had shed so carelessly, now threatened to set it on fire.

    A tremor shook the ground. The walls that pressed on me trembled and moved away from me. Whatever belly of stone that threatened to crush me had retreated back into the shadows. The darkness swallowed my fires and the screams of my foe. A heavy, overwhelming silence muffled all noise.

    The hands were gone, alongside my unseen assant.

    Iy on my back, gasping for air even though I did not need to breathe in the Underworld.

    The good thing about burning blood was that it quickly cauterized my wounds. Still, I had lost a great deal of it. A dozen knives remained embedded in my back, and I couldn¡¯t feel my legs anymore. My arms felt weak and deprived of strength. I could hardly muster the strength to cast the Doll spell anymore.

    If I were ambushed again, I doubted I could fend off my attacker.

    <em>Plop.</em>

    That noise again. It was close this time. Very close. I focused on it and crawled towards its source. My arms pulled my wounded body across the floor with no walls to stop me. Had I traded a tunnel for a hall? I had just enough strength left to power the Gaze spell once more, maybe twice.

    I had to get out of there.

    <em>Plop. Plop.</em>

    I heard muffled voices the closer I approached the source of the noise. I recognized the sound of men struggling against gags. It suddenly urred to me that since Xibalba weed all sleeping minds undergoing nightmares, I might not be the only one trapped in this dark hell.

    I heardughter behind me, far in the distance.

    What remained of my spine tensed up. I was used to that particr kind ofughter. Not augh of joy and happiness, no, but the cruel giggles of children happily throwing stones at the outcast among them. I heard at least seven different tones singing a strange luby.

    ¡°You¡¯re fleeing,¡± they said cheerfully, so far away I could hardly understand the words. ¡°They¡¯re crying, we¡¯re starving¡­¡±

    Such reassuring words. Nothing ominous. Nothing at all.

    <em>Plop. Plop.</em>

    I crawled away from theughter and closer to the droplet noise. Eventually my hand sshed against a puddle made of a warm liquid. I immediately recognized it.

    Blood.

    Of course it was blood. Couldn¡¯t it be water for once?

    Knowing the source would be close, I activated the Gaze spell to catch a glimpse.

    I immediately regretted it.

    Blood could onlye from one ce so I had mentally prepared myself beforehand and I <em>still </em>held back a wave of nausea.

    Twelve human torsos were tightly lined up in a corridor leading to nowhere, six on each side. Each of them was nailed to a wood post, their eyes plucked out, their mouths stitched together to muffle their screams. Blood dripped from their severed thighs drop by drop onto the stone floor. Their arms were missing. Their heads banged against the wood in fear and agony. They <em>sensed </em>my presence somehow. They called me for help the only way they had left.

    Few sights could disturb me anymore after weeks of dealing with the Nightlords, but this¡­ It took all of my willpower to nce at the familiar owl masks on their faces.

    They were catecolotl. Owl-fiends.

    These were the sorcerers who had <em>failed </em>the trial.

    This was the fate awaiting me if I couldn¡¯t escape this ce. To lose pieces of myself until all that remained were a wriggling head and its torso. An eternal trophy, unable to die, unable to move, unable to scream. A nightmare I would return to each time I closed my eyes to sleep.

    The childrenughed in the distance, their song echoing in the darkness.

    ¡°We¡¯ll hang him, we¡¯ll stab him, we¡¯ll burn him¡­¡±

    The luby was growing louder.

    No.

    <em>Closer</em>.

    Damn it. Should I use the Curse again? Would it work if I couldn¡¯t perceive my target¡¯s presence? Should I transform into an owl and try to fly away? I doubted I had the strength left to reach the ceiling.

    <em>Think, Iztac, think</em>. There had to be a way out. This was a trial, not an execution. These demons had given me time to prepare. To figure it out. There had to be an exit. <em>What did that creature say again? Nothing exists in the dark?</em>

    If that included the exit, then it meant that I would find no doorway until I managed to banish the darkness. A ckness so thick not even my Gaze spell could pierce its embrace. I had to produce light.

    My burning blood could banish the shadows for a few seconds, but I doubted it would unveil an exit. But it could start a bonfire if I had the right fuel.

    <em>¡°Do you see the candles?¡±</em>

    The creature¡¯s words resonated in my mind as my eyes looked up at the trapped torsos.

    ¡°We¡¯ll beat him,¡± the children sang, each word louder than thest, ¡°we¡¯ll eat him, we¡¯ll slice him¡­¡±

    ¡°Do your worst¡­¡± I replied. I raised my arm close to my mouth, then bit into my veins. My wrist shone with purple mes. ¡°Let there be¡­ light!¡±

    I sprayed my burning blood at the nearest tortured totem post. The fire spread swiftly and soon reached its nailed victim¡¯s skin. The poor sorcerer let out muffled screams as mes consumed his skin and flesh.

    I crawled toward the other pirs and repeated the process. Time and time again I set their prisoners alight, ignoring their panic and their silent screams. I did not hesitate. In their current state, these people would wee death. It would be a mercy.

    My candles soon burned with bright purple mes. A corridor of fire stretched before me and unveiled a passage hidden at its end: a pale doorframe of wood etched in the darkness itself, leading to nowhere.

    I crawled towards it with all my strength. I heard the echo of footsteps behind me, alongside the sinister shriek of des rattling against the floor.

    ¡°You¡¯re bleeding,¡± the children sang, so loud I assumed they were a spear¡¯s throw away from me, ¡°they¡¯re burning, we¡¯reughing¡­¡±

    <em>If I look back, I¡¯m dead,</em> I told myself as I frantically crawled on a puddle of human blood, observed by the burning dead and hunted by demons. <em>If I look back I¡¯m dead.</em>

    I reached for the doorway.

    It pulled away from me.

    My eyes widened with rage and terror. I crawled one inch forward, then two. Both times the doorway moved back just out of reach. Whether the distance between us lengthened or the door could move on its own, it made no difference.

    ¡°Here we are!¡± I heard voices giggling a few steps behind me. ¡°Here you are!¡±

    My heart would have sunk in my chest, if I still had one. The baleful me in its ce burst with anger instead.

    Using my hands to pull my body forward, I bit my tongue and spat blood at the doorway. The burning liquid hit the wood frame. A deep, terrifying noise erupted from the door as my mes set it aze.

    It did not run away this time.

    I pulled myself through its threshold while sensing a de¡¯s edge graze my back.

    I fell into a hole whose bottom I couldn¡¯t see. I ran out of power to fuel my Gaze spell and thus descended into the dark. I fell, and fell, and fell, waiting for a fatal impact that wouldn¡¯te. I tried to transform myself into an owl and fly, to no avail. I was spent. Exhausted.

    However, when I saw the light at the bottom, I knew that I was victorious.

    The glow from below was no stronger than that of torches on a moonless night, but I had grown so limated to the darkness that I squinted. An invisible power slowed my fall until I softlynded on something moist and wet; a bed of squirmy ropes of flesh bound together in a vast floor. The putrid smell of bile and rot made me want to puke.

    Intestines. I¡¯dnded on a pile of intestines.

    Iy on my back, too tired to move, too weak to struggle. A ring of floating torches surrounded the floor of flesh on which I rested. I could only see darkness beyond that barrier, and the blurred features of dreadful figures watching over me.

    I counted eight of them: a great andnky humanoid twice taller than any man alive, and seven smaller horrors. The former wore ancient ck robes and a hood that failed to obscure two sunken pits of malevolence burning where the eyes should have been. Thetter had the shape of children when observed from afar, but that was all they were: vague shapes, outlines separate from the shadows and yet strangely blurry.

    ¡°Remarkable,¡± the tall one said, its ancient voiceced with amusement. His words wormed their way inside my skull without touching my ears. ¡°No one has tried to Curse the darkness before. Bold. Very bold.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s crafty,¡± the seven children sang joyfully, all seven of them, all at once. ¡°He¡¯s funny, he¡¯s worthy¡­¡±

    I observed these ancient nightmares in silence. Their oppressive presence, so simr to the Nightlords, loomed over me like clouds. I knew I sat in the presence of the Lords of Terror, the masters of Xibalba.

    The taller figure moved closer to the ring of fire, rattling with each stride. I caught a glimpse of a staff of petrified snakes in his hands, of a belt of skulls around his waist, and of a terrifying face of putrefied flesh under his hood.

    ¡°Are you cold, Iztac?¡± the figure asked me, his breath carrying flies and locusts.

    The bed of intestines provided a meager warmth, but yes, I was cold. I had lost much blood, and the fire in my heart cried out.

    ¡°I am,¡± I rasped, my voice a dry rattle. My tongue still hurt in my mouth.

    ¡°Good.¡± The tall figure stomped the ground with his staff, a ripple traveling through theke of intestines. ¡°I am Hun-Came, ¡®One Death,¡¯ and they are Vucub-Came, ¡®Seven Death;¡¯ oldest among the fears. When the first man looked into the night and feared the unknown, we were there waiting in the shadow of King Mtecuhtli, ancient and unknowing.¡±

    The old man leaned closer to me, his sunken eyes shining with malice.

    ¡°Did you enjoy our House of Gloom?¡±

    I nced at my wounds. I hadn¡¯t faced such dangers since the first nights of my journey in the Underworld.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen¡­¡± I coughed. I was too tired for lies. ¡°Warmer wees.¡±

    ¡°Pain keeps the wits sharp,¡± Hun-Came replied, unsympathetic. ¡°Fear too. Men fear the leash more than they love their pleasure. The twelve fears keep the world turning. Which of them do you think we are?¡±

    ¡°You are¡­ the fear of death,¡± I guessed, since it was the oldest of them. I squinted at the children and briefly wondered if they embodied the fear of darkness, before remembering what truly frightened men. ¡°And you¡­ the unknown.¡±

    The childrenughed and pped. I glimpse at hints of ck, bloodied mouths full of teeth when they giggled, but only for an instant.

    ¡°We are the first nightmares and we shall be thest,¡± Hun-Came said with an air of finality. ¡°When you first plunged a knife inside your heart and were seized with dread, I came to you. Now youe to me. Why is that, clever bird?¡±

    I thought over my answer before answering truthfully. ¡°I want to teach the Nightlords the meaning of fear¡­ before I destroy them.¡±

    Hun-Cameughter was like a door rattling in the wind. ¡°They already learned to fear a long time ago,¡± he said. ¡°All vampires used to dream. They try to forget the time when they feared their inevitable death, but we? We <em>remember</em>. You will find their fears hidden in the House of Bats. If you are bold.¡±

    The opportunity of learning how to hurt the Nightlords appealed to me, but knowledge was useless without the power to exploit it.

    ¡°I need¡­ magic,¡± I rasped, struggling against the pain. ¡°I seek¡­ power.¡±

    ¡°Power?¡± I glimpsed a grin beneath Hun-Came¡¯s hood. ¡°Do you not gain power when you triumph from your fears? I say you are stronger than you were a night ago.¡±

    I silently red at the Lord of Terror, the me in my chest burning brighter than the torches.

    ¡°What fearless hatred you possess,¡± Hun-Camemented with delight. ¡°It burned our sacrifices so cleanly¡­ Such a baleful glow. Its embers shall set alight so many nightmares, Iztac. A mighty demon you will be.¡±

    ¡°Let him build a house of fear,¡± Vucub-Came sang with seven bloody mouths. ¡°With walls of bones and rattling doors¡­¡±

    ¡°I suppose a sessful trial warrants a reward.¡± Hun-Came rubbed his staff with a cadaverous hand. ¡°Very well, Iztac. We shall teach you the most powerful spell in the world.¡±

    My eyes widened with excitement. ¡°The¡­ most powerful?¡±

    ¡°We bestow upon you the <em>Tomb </em>spell, to raise your own house of trials.¡± Hun-Came chuckled darkly. ¡°Did you know that you haven¡¯t moved an inch since you arrived? You¡¯ve spent <em>days </em>crawling in the dark.¡±

    ¡°Days?¡± My eyes narrowed in disbelief. ¡°Impossible¡­ I would have woken up.¡±

    ¡°Space and time are at our mercy in our fair city. An hour in the waking world bes a day here, or a second.¡± Hun-Came waved a hand and a field of door frames appeared all around us. Hundreds of passages stretching as far as my eyes allowed me to see. ¡°The Tomb spell lets a sorcerer create a closed domain born of their own soul. A trap that closes its jaws on the caster and their prey. A house with walls but no door, with a ceiling but no windows; a nightmare that only ends with the caster¡¯s death or surrender.¡±

    ¡°A domain?¡± I nced at the strange realm in which I was now a prisoner. ¡°I could¡­ trap a Nightlord¡­ inside such a ce as this one?¡±

    Hun-Came confirmed my question with a slow nod. ¡°A Tomb reflects its caster¡¯s fears. It is the house of the heart. And of teeth, a realm of fire¡­ to each their own frightful sight.¡±

    So long as it would consume the Nightlords.

    ¡°To know is not to master, Iztac,¡± Hun-Came warned me. ¡°You will need practice before you can cast this spell, let alone sustain it. Once you do¡­¡±

    A vile, snakelike tongue slithered between his rotten teeth.

    ¡°You will remind the vampires,¡± he said, ¡°how to fear the night.¡±

 Chapter Thirty-Four: The Favorite

    Chapter Thirty-Four: The Favorite

    The Lords of Terror did not believe in wasting time.

    They started by hanging me, since I could not walk and would need my hands to cast the Tomb spell. A dozen intestines coiled around my chest and arms before they lifted me above the stomach-filledke like ropes. White maggots wormed their way into my wounds and bound them. Even my burning, sun-powered blood could not deter them. I sensed their wriggling movements in my flesh, their bottomless hunger, their desire to cleanse me until nothing but bones remained.

    The pain would have been excruciating if I could still feel it. I had escaped myself. My mind was so focused on the task at hand that I hardly focused on my flesh.

    To summon a Tomb did not differ much from casting a Veil spell, at least at first. In both cases, I had to expand my Tonalli beyond the confines of my physical body. I spread my amorphous, ethereal essence through theke of intestines.

    ¡°Form a sphere,¡± Hun-Came advised me. ¡°The most perfect of all forms.¡±

    I had be a presence enveloping the world into my countenance. My Tonalli expanded to cover the chilly air and wriggling floor. My lungs let out a breath heavy with curses. The currents of my Ihiyotl shaped the flow of my Tonalli into a sphere of darkness as fragile as an egg.

    ¡°Now,¡± Hun-Came said. ¡°Speak it.¡±

    ¡°Nightlords,¡± I replied, my burning heart shining bright.

    The dreaded word resonated through every inch of my sphere, and caused it to shatter.The bacsh was quick and brutal. My Tonalli retreated back into me in an instant. My mind returned to my captive body and its abominable pain. I let out a growl of agony and frustration.

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± Hun-Came said with a neutral,posed tone. I couldn¡¯t tell whether my performance impressed or disappointed him. ¡°I did not expect you to manifest it here, inside our House of Gloom. When two sorcerers cast the Tomb spell at once, the two houses fight over the same ce. Ours is old, built with strong foundations.¡±

    ¡°He is confused,¡± hisrade sang. ¡°He is fearful, he is dreadful.¡±

    Hun-Came caressed the tip of his staff, his sunken eyes burning like coals. ¡°Inside each heart is a fear,¡± he reminded me. ¡°A hungry worm that eats the fruit of life from within, until it tastes of rot and death. The shadow that obscures all others. It is like the mist, obscure, everpresent, a shroud. To summon your Tomb, you must give it shape. Call it by <em>name</em>.¡±

    ¡°I am <em>trying</em>,¡± I rasped in frustration. I had named them all. Vampires, discovery, death, very, the Nightlords themselves¡­ so many nightmares haunted me. ¡°What is it that¡­ that I fear most?¡±

    ¡°How would you expect us to answer?¡± Hun-Came taunted me. ¡°For many it is death, while for a few it is the truth or a beast of thend. Find it within yourself. Those who do not know themselves cannot build strong houses.¡±

    He was right. The spell came naturally to me, since I was so full of dread. I had managed to shape the sphere on my first try, but I could not make it <em>solid</em>. The power to enforce my will upon the world¡ªto teach the Nightlords to fear me¡ªwas within reach, yet it kept slipping through my fingers!

    Moreover, I felt the call of wakefulness. My long night wasing to an end.

    ¡°When you sleep, our House of Gloom shall close its doors to you,¡± Hun-Came warned me. ¡°New paths will open. We shall meet again, should youplete all your trials.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll be back,¡± Vucub-Came sang with a frightful giggle. ¡°She¡¯ll be there, we¡¯ll be here¡­¡±

    ¡°Onest piece of wisdom before we send you on your way.¡± Hue-Came¡¯s sinister smile had all the reassurance of an executioner¡¯s ax. ¡°The spell is called the Tomb for a reason. The more lives it takes, the stronger it bes.¡±

    My head perked up slightly. A part of me would have been frightened by the implications once, but now I could hardly muster the energy for unease. I could not manifest the Tomb at all, anyway. I would cross that bridge when I reached it.

    ¡°Now go,¡± Hun-Came said as I felt the pull of wakefulness drag my sleeping mind away from Xibalba. ¡°Be an abomination and devour life.¡±

    A faint light banished the darkness of the House of Gloom.

    I awoke in my bed under a warm nket.

    After spending so much time inplete darkness, it took my eyes a few seconds to adapt to the faint sunlight filtering through the window. The breath of life filled my lungs again. I had traded the numb half-life of the Underworld for simpler, more pleasurable sensations. I felt like a corpse returning to life.

    <em>It¡¯s not too far from the truth.</em> I stretched a bit and heard my bones crack slightly. My head hurt to the point that I struggled to focus.<em> I almost died in that cursed house.</em>

    I vaguely remembered falling asleep in my bath. Necahual and some servants must have carried me back.

    ¡°Good morning, Your Divine Majesty,¡± Tezozomoc greeted me while standing at my bedside. I hadn¡¯t registered his presence. ¡°Are you well?¡±

    ¡°Why ask?¡± I rasped while holding my head. I suddenly noticed two nubile women fanning me; the same ones who greeted me on my first day at the pce. They avoided my gaze, their hands trembling with fear.

    Word of the Jaguar Woman¡¯s brutal purge had already spread.

    ¡°Your Majesty did not sleep soundly,¡± Tezozomoc replied with a hint of concern. ¡°I understand why you might have had a nightmare.¡±

    ¡°Something like that,¡± I replied before observing my own hand. It was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

    I once considered the Land of the Dead Suns a refuge, a ce where I could briefly escape the horrors of my captivity. Those times were over. The trials of Xibalba would deny me any reprieve. I felt more stressed after a full night¡¯s sleep than before I went to bed.

    Tezozomoc noticed my weakness and leaned in with a look of concern. ¡°If I may speak my mind, Your Divine Majesty?¡±

    ¡°Whatever,¡± I replied dismissively. I was too tense for politeness.

    ¡°Of all the emperors I have served, you have been one of the most active. Your energy and dedication deserve praise.¡± Tezozomoc sounded sincere, but I cared nothing for his opinion. ¡°But men are like strings. If stretched constantly, they will break. The pce offers many distractions.¡±

    I should haveughed at his audacity. What distractions could take my mind off the horrors of the living and the dead? What pleasure could let me forget the Nightlords¡¯ murders and the trials of Xibalba?

    Still¡­ he might have a point. If I umted pressure day and night, I would crack the way I did in Necahual¡¯s presence. I could only take so many blows before I crumbled. However, I had no time for simple hobbies either. I needed activities that would both prove rxing and advance my goals.

    My first instinct was to call Nl to y games. Mother said I could Ride animals if I fed them my blood and trained them properly, so I might as well take up falconry. Or perhaps order priests to kill each other. That would bring a smile to my face.

    ¡°I will consider it,¡± I said sharply. ¡°Remind me of my ns for the day.¡±

    ¡°As you wished, I summoned the brothers xc and zohtzin to settle the question of their inheritance,¡± Tezozomoc replied. ¡°Lady Chikal will oversee your daily training, afterward your afternoon is free until sunset.¡±

    I briefly closed my eyes. The mere mention of sunset stiffened my spine. My time before the New Fire Ceremony was running short. However, there were two people who I needed to set some time aside for.

    ¡°How is Ingrid?¡± I asked Tezozomoc. ¡°Eztli?¡±

    ¡°Lady Eztli has consoled Lady Ingrid in her grief,¡± Tezozomoc replied. ¡°They have stayed together in thete Lady Sigrun¡¯s chambers until Your Majesty¡¯s awakening. I may summon them both to Your Majesty¡¯s side, if you wish for it.¡±

    ¡°No need. I will go to them.¡± Whatever maye. ¡°Put some time aside in my schedule for a visit.¡±

    Tezozomoc bowed in dutiful obedience. ¡°As Your Majesty wishes.¡±

    ¡°I will begin my morning meditation before breakfast to clear my mind,¡± I said. I had much to report to my predecessors, and they could counsel me. ¡°Summon Necahual for breakfast. Bring xc too. Leave his brother hanging.¡±

    Tezozomoc frowned at my phrasing. ¡°With a rope?¡±

    The worst part was, zohtzin would be dead within minutes if I said yes. A man¡¯s life held little value in Yohuachanca. The Nightlords vividly reminded me of that.

    ¡°Figuratively,¡± I said with a hint of annoyance. ¡°Tell him he has been dismissed.¡±

    zohtzin would immediately realize what his brother being summoned to the emperor¡¯s side alone meant: that his father¡¯s inheritance would slip through his grasp and that he had only a few days left before an imperial decree made it official. A short span of time where he could potentially change his fate through a miracle.

    But miracles demanded proper devotion.

    The servants dressed me in my imperial robes, after which I moved to the roof. The wind blew upon my face and carried ominous whispers. <em>¡°The heart is whole, the breath is strong. They tried to bury you, but they did not know that you were a seed.¡±</em>

    For once, it sounded almost encouraging.

    The Reliquary was dark when I stepped inside, but nowhere near as much as the House of Gloom was. This room¡¯s shadows were soothing rather than oppressive; they weed me and offered me sanctuary. This shrine of death was myst refuge now.

    ¡°Wee home, our sessor,¡± the skulls greeted me with gentle whispers. ¡°We weep for your loss.¡±

    They sounded more morose than I¡¯d ever heard them be. ¡°You loved her.¡±

    ¡°Sigrun was dear to many of us, as were many of the gentle souls sacrificedst night.¡± The Parliament¡¯s thousand eyes shone with faint ghostfire. The sight reminded me of a wake for the fallen. ¡°We hope to see their cruel fate returned a hundredfold upon the Nightlords.¡±

    ¡°It shall be so,¡± I replied with grim determination. ¡°My mind is set now. I shall win, no matter the cost.¡±

    ¡°We feel your resolve, Iztac Ce Ehecatl. All hesitation was burned from your heart alongside Sigrun¡¯s corpse.¡± The thousand fires flickered. ¡°Good. The next few nights will be decisive, and the doubtful never conquer anything.¡±

    I recountedst night¡¯s events to the previous emperors, from Sigrun¡¯s cruel murder to my scheming with my mother and my journey to Xibalba.

    ¡°I will use my sleeping time to Curse the bodies my mother sowed on Smoke Mountain,¡± I concluded. ¡°zohtzin will ensure that the Nightlords me the Sapa in case our n seeds.¡±

    ¡°We doubt we can do more to disrupt the ritual,¡± my predecessors replied. ¡°Ritual suicide might help, but more defiance on your part risks alerting the Nightlords to our true intentions. It is best for you toy low and let them think their victory is now assured. Their overconfidence shall cost them dearly.¡±

    ¡°Then we must prepare for whates after the New Fire Ceremony,¡± I said, my eyes narrowing. ¡°If any <em>after </em>awaits us.¡±

    ¡°We hope that the counter-ritual will prove sufficient.¡± The Parliament of Skulls marked a short pause, the ancient souls trapped within the structure were about as clueless as I was. ¡°Practicing sorcery of this magnitude is like opening a door into the unknown. We cannot know what awaits us on the threshold.¡±

    The die was cast then.

    ¡°You have done well to encourage this Necahual to fill the void left by Sigrun¡¯s demise, though we doubt she will prove as effective a spymaster as her predecessor,¡± my own predecessorsmented. ¡°It is imperative that you both recover her volume of the First Emperor¡¯s codices and reconcile with Ingrid. A wounded heart bes fertile ground for resentment if not treated.¡±

    I knew that all too well. Unfortunately, Ingrid believed I had chosen to send her mother to her death. I doubted she would forgive me unless I managed to convince her of the truth.

    ¡°I¡­ I am not certain how to approach Ingrid.¡± <em>Or Eztli for that matter. The Jaguar Woman saw fit to poison our bond too.</em> ¡°If I may¡­ Do you have any advice?¡±

    The Parliament of Skulls meditated on their answer. Their gaze radiated the weight of centuries of human experience.

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    ¡°Grieve with her, so she does not feel alone,¡± they counseled me with an air of finality. ¡°Make herugh, so she does not feel hopeless. Inspire her to be brave, so she does not feel weak. And tell her the truth, so she does not feel betrayed.¡±

    ¡°A tall order,¡± Imented with a sigh. Still, I saw the wisdom in their words. ¡°I will be there for her.¡±

    ¡°We know you will do well, Iztac, because you have been in her ce before,¡± the skulls reassured me. ¡°Act with her how you wish others had treated you.¡±

    The remark brought a small, sad smile to my lips. There was no secret solution to pain and sorrow other than kindness.

    Ever the pragmatist, my sessors quickly moved on to another subject. ¡°You have promised to teach this Necahual magic in exchange for her service,¡± they noted, having listened to myst conversation with her. ¡°We assume that you have decided to turn her into Mometzcopinque?¡±

    ¡°I have,¡± I confirmed with a sharp nod. ¡°I intend to subvert Nl¡¯s bindings as well.¡±

    I had long hesitated on both cases for the same reason: because it meant enving others to my will. Since I could not break Nl¡¯s bonds without alerting the Jaguar Woman, the best I could do was to subvert her control spell for my own use. As for Necahual, transforming her into a Mometzcopinque¡ªthe closest thing to a witch she could ever be¡ªmeant binding her soul to my Teyolia. I would shackle these two women the same way I¡¯d been myself.

    But afterst night, I would bear that sin without remorse. The Nightlords had to perish, no matter the cost. I might also figure out a way to break these bonds once they were gone too.

    ¡°Good,¡± the Parliamentmented in appreciation. They sounded pleased to see me fullymit to our cause. ¡°You may proceed immediately with Nl. The tattoo on her back is more than ink beneath the skin: it is a symbol of control. Slight alterations to its design will grant you control over her leash.¡±

    ¡°How do I do that?¡± I asked. I had no knowledge of how to practice tattoo drawing.

    ¡°You must mix ink with your blood, then paint a few specific symbols over the tattoo with the substance.¡±

    Obtaining ink would be easy. Mixing it with my burning blood and then applying it to Nl¡¯s back would be much harder, but still manageable. The Parliament of Skulls quickly detailed which shapes I had to paint and assured me no one would notice.

    ¡°The substance will merge with the tattoo within seconds,¡± my predecessors whispered. ¡°The alterations will be subtle, unnoticeable. Your consort might feel itchy at first, but that sensation will soon fade.¡±

    I should probably disguise the procedure as a massage then. Since Nl was my consort, that kind of attention wouldn¡¯t raise suspicions.

    ¡°I shall proceed with the operation as soon as I can,¡± I promised. ¡°What of Necahual?¡±

    ¡°The ritual to create a Mometzcopinque is simple enough.¡± The lights inside the skulls¡¯ eyes flickered slightly. I could already tell I wouldn¡¯t like the details. ¡°However, whether it will work remains to be seen.¡±

    I scowled in displeasure. I didn¡¯t like their caution. ¡°You said my divine Teyolia would let me act as her magical patron.¡±

    ¡°No, our sessor; we said that it <em>might</em>. It would be wiser for you to collect more sun embers before attempting the ritual.¡± The skulls let out a small rattle. ¡°Though we have considered an alternative method to both cate her ambition and ensure your sess¡­ if you can ept it.¡±

    My hands curled into fists. I immediately guessed what they had in mind.

    ¡°Seidr,¡± I muttered.

    ¡°Yes, Seidr,¡± my predecessors confirmed. ¡°This magic connects two Teyolia through the union of flesh. We suspect it will improve your odds of sess with the ritual. Moreover, if your mother is correct, then Seidr¡¯s most powerful applications require the other party¡¯s cooperation. With Sigrun¡¯s demise and her daughter¡¯s current state of mind, this Necahual remains your only partner to practice this sorcery with; at least for now.¡±

    I understood the logic. Pragmatically, it made perfect sense. I could at least replicate the Teyolia connection Sigrun used to drain my vitality and then experiment further. Theck of her guidance would force me to advance slowly and carefully so as not to harm my partner, but I could at least practice and learn.

    However, the very thought of sleeping with Necahual disgusted me. I would have an easier time strangling her.

    Still¡­ still, I couldn¡¯t exactly convince the world that she was my favorite concubine if I never touched her. Besides, it would cause Yoloxochitl to stop obsessing over Necahual. It would spare her life.

    <em>I have taken lives in the name of my cause. </em>After condemning a dozen men to die at the hands of Mother¡¯s puppets and starting a war as a diversion, I could hardlyin about this sacrifice.<em> Victory excuses everything.</em>

    ¡°I will do what I must,¡± I dered before rising to my feet. ¡°I must go now.¡±

    The previous emperors blessed me onest time. ¡°Stand resolute, our sessor. Our hopes and wishes are with you.¡±

    A meager reassurance, but I appreciated it nheless.

    Afterward, I returned to my apartment for breakfast. I found Necahual waiting for me with the table set. She wore the same robes asst night, and from the dark blots around her eyes I could tell that she hadn¡¯t slept since.

    ¡°Your Majesty.¡± Necahual greeted me with a stiff bow thatcked any of thete Sigrun¡¯s grace. ¡°I hope you¡¯ve slept well.¡±

    ¡°More than you,¡± I replied curtly as I sat next to her. ¡°Where were you?¡±

    ¡°Where you asked me to go.¡± Necahual joined her hands, her gaze heavy with sorrow. ¡°With Ingrid.¡±

    I studied her face, my eyes briefly lingering on her throat. She still bore the marks of my fingers closing down on her soft neck.

    ¡°How did it go?¡± I asked warily.

    ¡°She would not allow me into her presence, but my daughter¡­ my daughter convinced her to.¡± Necahual clenched her jaw. ¡°Eztli spent the night with her.¡±

    In these dark times, it reassured me that Eztli retained a sliver of her good heart. ¡°Eztli is a kind woman,¡± I said sincerely. ¡°You should be proud of her.¡±

    Necahual sent me a re. Her lips briefly curved in anger, and I could tell a few venomous words died on the tip of her tongue.

    I squinted at her. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°She was kinder once,¡± Necahual finally said before looking away.

    My blood boiled in my veins. I understood how she might resent being reminded of what she had lost, however identally, but I couldn¡¯t believe part of her <em>still </em>med me for Eztli¡¯s transformation.

    <em>She¡¯s as tired as I am. </em>I held back the urge to p her. Neither of us was in the right state of mind after what we had been through. We were on edge.<em> Fighting each other won¡¯t help us save Eztli.</em>

    ¡°What did you tell Ingrid?¡± I asked after taking a breath to calm down.

    ¡°The truth. That I should have died in her mother¡¯s ce, and the¡­ <em>goddess¡­</em>¡± The word sounded so bitter in Necahual¡¯s mouth. I am certain she would have chosen another, were it not for the guards overhearing us. ¡°Chose otherwise.¡±

    ¡°And she believed you?¡±

    ¡°I cannot say. My daughter confirmed it at least.¡± Necahual gathered her breath. ¡°Ingrid thanked me for my honesty with ice in her voice, then sent me on my way.¡±

    That counted for something at least. I prayed her words reached Ingrid.

    Tezozomoc returned to my bedchambers in haste. ¡°xc is waiting for you at the door, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Send him in,¡± I ordered him before whispering anothermand in Necahual¡¯s ear. ¡°Behave yourself. We are in for a morning.¡±

    Necahual frowned in resignation, then nodded slightly. She hadn¡¯t forgotten ourst discussion. For her to fill the void left by Sigrun, I would have to treat her as if she were first among my concubines: charming, polite, and submissive.

    I still had onest task to aplish to ensure that operation¡¯s sess.

    While we waited for Tezozomoc to introduce xc into myir, my hand subtly moved to Necahual¡¯s shadow under the cover of a Veil. I snatched away Mother¡¯s feather without anyone noticing. To my surprise, Necahual tensed up slightly.

    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± she replied with a frown. ¡°I just feel lighter all of a sudden.¡±

    Interesting. Part of her was aware of a Curse¡¯s presence, at least subconsciously. I would have to be careful when applying them myself. Most would probably disregard a brief sense of unease, but some might grow wary.

    The old Curse crumbled to dust soon after I separated it from its host. I heard whispers of Mother¡¯s voice echo in my head, so low I could scarcely hear them.

    <em>¡°I curse you to suffer a gruesome fate should you reveal the truth of my existence,¡± </em>Mother said.<em> ¡°I curse you to be unlucky in love, to never be satisfied in bed, to never win my husband¡¯s heart.¡±</em>

    I almost smiled at the sheer pettiness of it all, until I unraveled the core of the Curse.

    <em>¡°I curse you to a life full of bitter regrets,¡± </em>Mother said with a coldness that would rival the Jaguar Woman¡¯s.<em> ¡°I curse you to outlive your daughter and husband. I curse you to watch everyone you¡¯ve ever loved die, die, </em><em><strong>die</strong></em><em>.¡±</em>

    The final word was uttered with such malice, such seething hatred, that it sent a chill traveling down my spine. This act hadn¡¯t been motivated by practicality, but mere pointless cruelty.

    I could understand casting a Curse in the service of a greater objective. I could understand pushing Necahual away from my father, or ensuring she wouldn¡¯t reveal incriminating secrets. But <em>this</em>¡­

    Mother liked to present herself as a pragmatic, reasonable woman. A sorceress who excused the pain her abandonment put me through as a means to make me grow. What was this Curse supposed to teach Necahual? How would it have made her stronger?

    Nothing could excuse casting that spell. Nothing except pettiness.

    The more I considered the Curse¡¯s implications, the more it disgusted me. Necahual wanted my father, and Mother¡¯s Curse condemned her to see everyone she ever loved die. How much of our two families¡¯ tragedies were influenced by its power to bend fate? Would my father have survived the drought without it? Would Yoloxochitl have overlooked Eztli and selected someone else? Would she have treated me better without that doom hanging over her shoulders?

    Perhaps these events would have unfolded anyway, even without Mother¡¯s Curse pressing its thumb on the scale of fate¡­ or maybe not. How much of her mistreatment could be traced back to the spell?

    I should consider myself fortunate that Necahual hated me. Her love might have killed me.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Necahual asked upon noticing my unease.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± I lied through my teeth. ¡°Nothing at all.¡±

    <em>You have much to answer for, Mother. </em>I would have a serious conversation with her about the Curse once I met her again.<em> I can¡¯t ignore this.</em>

    Two guards introduced xc soon after. The man walked into the imperial room wearing expensive robes of eagle feathers and shining jewels; all of which paled before the wealth of my own wardrobe, the way stars bowed to the sun. He held his head down to avoid my gaze, as was proper when in an emperor¡¯s presence. His trembling hands betrayed his uncertainty and excitement.

    Moreover, he didn¡¯te empty-handed. His servants carried precious gifts: a splendid emerald ne, rich robes of high-quality linen, skillful artwork of the sun, and most exotic of all, a baby jaguar in a golden cage.

    Or at least, I took the feline for one at first nce due to its spotted fur. A closer look made me doubt. The tail was too long and the ears too big on such a small head. It stared at me with two big ck, wary eyes. Was that an ocelot? No, an ocelot would be longer. The feline was hardly over twenty inches long.

    xc knelt so deeply that his forehead hit the ground. ¡°Your Majesty, if it pleases you, I would humbly offer you these lowly gifts.¡±

    I saw nothing humble about these gifts. They were little more than bribes. I weed them nheless.

    ¡°They are appreciated,¡± I said before waving a hand at the breakfast. ¡°You may sit at my table.¡±

    ¡°Humble xc is honored to share a meal with the Most August of all Rulers and his beautiful concubine.¡± xc bowed to Necahual next before sitting on a cushion. My mother-inw hardly managed to hide the disdain in her eyes. She disliked buttkissers as much as I did. ¡°I pray my gifts will find favor in your heart.¡±

    ¡°They might,¡± I said. My eyes remained set on the creature xc had brought with him. ¡°What is that feline? It looks like an ocelot, but smaller.¡±

    ¡°This cat is a margay, a noble beast from the south,¡± xc exined. ¡°His name is Tetzon, the well-born. A loyalpanion for Your Majesty, well-trained and obedient.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± I squinted at the feline. ¡°Tetzon?¡±

    The feline¡¯s head perked up in my direction and my eyes lit up with interest. Mother warned me that the Ride spell would require an animal to identify with a name to possess it. It was small too; so small it could almost crawl into a mouse¡¯s hole. I presented my hand to Tetzon and let him lick my fingers.

    xc¡¯s gift would serve me well indeed.

    I examined the rest of his offering, in case I would find another wee surprise. Unfortunately, while the robes and jewels probably cost more than my entire old vige, they weren¡¯t particrly noteworthy.

    ¡°There are women¡¯s clothes,¡± I noted.

    ¡°These gifts were meant to honor your consorts, and the dear Lady Sigrun,¡± xc replied. Of course, he had bribed thetter to vouch for him. ¡°I would have expected to see her at your table today.¡±

    Necahual tensed up slightly. ¡°She¡­¡± She cleared her throat, clearly struggling with easy conversation. ¡°She is no longer with us.¡±

    ¡°My dear Sigrun died yesterday,¡± I said bluntly.

    xc¡¯s eyes widened in surprise, but he was wise enough not to push the subject upon sensing my icy tone. He had good political instincts at least.

    ¡°A shame,¡± he said without any sincerity. ¡°My condolences, Your Majesty. She was a wise and great woman. She will be missed.¡±

    <em>More than you think,</em> I thought. ¡°I already do,¡± I said. ¡°We are observing a period of mourning for her loss.¡±

    ¡°I shall be sure to send these gifts to her esteemed daughter, alongside my condolences,¡± xc said politely.

    In spite of his words, I didn¡¯t miss his shifting eyes moving to observe Necahual. His calcting gaze betrayed his true thoughts: now that his previous patron had died, he was already considering how to rece her. His opportunism disgusted me, however useful it would prove.

    I sensed Necahual tense up upon sensing that rotten man¡¯s attention, but she quickly presented him with a smile that did not reach her eyes. It seemed Eztli had learned how to hide her true intentions from her mother.

    ¡°I have given thought to the matter of your inheritance and received prudent advice,¡± I dered while sipping my chocte cup. ¡°I have reached a decision.¡±

    xc straightened up, his breath short and hanging on to my every word. He reminded me of a bear trying not to look at a beehive. He could hear bees in the distance, but the promise of honey was too sweet to ignore.

    I freed him from his doubts.

    ¡°I believe that your higher pedigree will ensure your father¡¯s legacy prospers,¡± I dered casually. Settling the fate of a nationwidemercial legacy was a trivial matter to a true emperor. ¡°Your brother will receive a sliver of wealth, as any son should, but your departed sire¡¯s empire shall go to you alone.¡±

    xc smiled in triumph, his hands trembling in anticipation. He clearly struggled against the urge not to jump in ce and barely managed to hold a measure ofposure.

    ¡°Your Majesty is the wisest soul under the heavens,¡± he said with a deep, courteous bow. ¡°My gratitude knows no bounds.¡±

    ¡°I shall make the decision official after the New Fire Ceremony. Higher duties request my full attention until then, but I wished to inform you personally.¡± I mimicked the cold, calcting gaze of the Jaguar Woman. ¡°I will look forward to your sess over theing year.¡±

    xc¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly. He understood the subtle message: that I could take as much as I gave, and that his future prosperity would rely on my goodwill.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡¯s blessing would mean much to me,¡± xc said with avuncr submission. ¡°You will find no more loyal subjects than my family.¡±

    I scoffed, unimpressed. ¡°That goes without saying.¡±

    xc nodded sharply upon realizing oaths of fealty wouldn¡¯t suffice. ¡°I shall be sure to properly manifest my gratitude to Your Majesty in all words and deeds.¡±

    I smiled and then drank my chocte. I had recruited my first asset outside the pce.

    Now I had to cultivate and see it prosper. I didn¡¯t see a use for him yet, but I knew it woulde in handy in due time. The mere fact I knew xc¡¯s name would make him an excellent target for the Ride spell.

    ¡°Now leave us,¡± I dismissed xc as we finished breakfast. ¡°I have other tasks to attend to.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Your Majesty.¡± xc quickly rose to his feet, before bowing before Necahual and I. ¡°Humble xc hopes to meet you again.¡±

    <em>You shall. </em>I watched xc and briefly wondered how long it would take him to try bribing Necahual. He had seen her at my side twice. An ape would realize that she mattered enough to sit at my table. <em>With luck, the fool will spread the word outside the pce¡¯s walls.</em>

    ¡°What of his brother?¡± I asked Tezozomoc once xc was gone.

    ¡°He has already left the pce¡¯s premises,¡± the priest replied. ¡°He seemed¡­ shaken.¡±

    Excellent. If zohtzin didn¡¯t believe the strange bird spirit who had visited him yesterday, he should now. Despair would ovee his heart enough to do as Imanded. I would use my afternoon nap to check on his progress.

    The pieces were in ce now.

    ¡°Necahual,¡± I said, my voice sharper than a de. ¡°Onest thing.¡±

    Necahual met my gaze, tense yet resigned. She already knew what to expect. She had been preparing herself for it since the moment Yoloxochitl robbed her of everything.

    Her pitiful expression almost caused me to relent. A look at the dress meant for Sigrun squashed my doubts. One way or another, that tragedy wouldn¡¯t repeat itself. I would <em>not </em>waver again.

    I would use any tool at my disposal to win.

    ¡°Sleep well for now,¡± I said. ¡°Take a bath and rx. You have earned your rest.¡±

    I leaned in to whisper into her ear.

    ¡°Because tonight, I will take everything,¡± I promised, too low for anyone else to hear, ¡°And in return, I shall give you what you want.¡±

    Her haunted eyes lit up briefly. I had promised to teach her magic, and I would. Perhaps not in the way she would expect, but I would fulfill my end of the bargain.

    ¡°Understood,¡± Necahual whispered with resignation. She would bear that ordeal too for her daughter¡¯s sake.

    <em>In the dark, I can pretend she is Eztli</em>. I¡¯d told myself that once. <em>I¡¯ll just have to close my eyes.</em>

    I lied to everyone. Why not to myself too?

 Chapter Thirty-Five: Winland Funeral

    Chapter Thirty-Five: Wind Funeral

    The door to Ingrid¡¯s apartment seemed taller than before. It loomed over me like the ck gates of the House of Gloom, dark and silent.

    I knew it was only a trick of my mind, an echo of my guilt. It still caused me to hesitate for a brief instant. A thousand conversations crossed my mind in the span of a second. I remembered the advice of my predecessors, Necahual¡¯s words, and every other piece of information that could help me survive the battle ahead.

    I gathered my breath and knocked.

    I heard footsteps behind the door and a hand moving to open it. I half-expected to find myself staring at Ingrid¡¯s re, or Eztli¡¯s cold, reproachful stare. A much more pleasant sight weed me.

    ¡°Oh, Iztac?¡± Nl stood on the other side of the threshold, herforting smile immediately easing my soul. ¡°I knew you woulde.¡±

    ¡°Nl?¡± I replied with a surprised frown. ¡°Why are you in Ingrid¡¯s apartment?¡±

    ¡°I, uh¡­¡± Nl cleared her throat. ¡°Ingrid¡¯s mother is¡­¡± She winced before she could finish her sentence. ¡°Of course you know that¡­ I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re forgiven, Nl,¡± I interrupted her before she could bury herself in excuses again. I would take her clumsy kindness over false ttery anytime. ¡°You came tofort Ingrid?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I tried.¡± Nl joined her hands, her fingers fidgeting with tension. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn¡¯t keep an emperor on the threshold like this¡­¡±¡°You are one of my consorts. You¡¯ve earned that privilege.¡± I stepped inside with onest order to the guards. ¡°Stay outside. Ensure no one will interrupt us without my authorization.¡±

    My masked jailers answered with utter silence.

    ¡°They scare me,¡± Nl whispered under her breath after closing the door. Did she fear that they would overhear her? ¡°They smell wrong too¡­¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Smell?¡±

    ¡°Everyone has a smell, but your guards have so many¡­¡± Nl shook her head. ¡°I always think of a crowd when they approach.¡±

    Interesting. Had awakening her wolf-totem improved Nl¡¯s senses? I folded that information away in the back of my mind in case I could make use of itter. ¡°And how do<em> I </em>smell?¡±

    ¡°Sweet,¡± she replied with a sheepish, adorable smile. ¡°Like caramel.¡±

    I wondered if Nl had started to learn spells. Her earnest gentleness always managed to soothe my soul better than any sorcery.

    It became even more appreciated as we walked into grand chambers of polished marble and Lady Sigrun¡¯s family chambers. The gemstone, seashell-shaped ceiling and knotwork decorations remained a marvel to behold. However, I immediately noticed a handful of worrying changes. Most shelves, once abundant with scrolls, jewelry, and potions, had been emptied. A handful of tapestries were missing from the walls as well.

    I guessed what happened to them from the smell of smoke in the air. The sad, mncholic sound of a harp invited us to step onward.

    A particr decoration had caught my eye the first time I visited Ingrid¡¯s apartment: a miniature replica of the ship that brought her mother to Yohuachanca, sitting on a hand-carved table showcasing a map of the known world.

    The table was still there, untouched and covered in a tter of chocte sweets. The ship that once sailed on its sea of wood, meanwhile, ended its journey in the nearby hearth. Lady Sigrun¡¯s daughters had stuffed its hold with the missing decorations and then set it on fire. I noticed Ingrid feeding scrolls to the mes with a nk face, her slim frame wrapped in ck robes smoother than spider¡¯s silk. Her younger sister Astrid yed the harp beautifully, her eyes red from too many tears.

    Other figures watched the pyre too. Eztli stood behind Ingrid like the shadow of death, the heart¡¯s fires reflecting on her pale skin. Chikal sat at the painted table and studied its map. Her head perked up when she sensed me and Nl approaching.

    All my consorts were here.

    It surprised me. I knew Eztli spent the night trying tofort Ingrid, and I could guess that Nl¡¯s kind heart would encourage her to do the same, but Chikal? The amazon queen never struck me as the sentimental type. Why would she care for Ingrid¡¯s well-being now of all times?

    Our eyes briefly met, and she swiftly decided to enlighten me.

    ¡°Now you know,¡± Chikal said, her fingers tracing a line along the map, ¡°how it feels to choose.¡±

    I nodded in silent understanding. Chikal too had faced a cruel decision on who to save from the Nightlords¡¯ grasp. The only difference was that she had to sacrifice a city rather than a single person¡¯s life. I guessed I should consider myself lucky that the Jaguar Woman stopped at a handful of concubines.

    ¡°I hesitated,¡± I confessed.

    ¡°And you paid a great cost for it.¡± Chikal studied me for a few seconds, her gaze ever unreadable. ¡°You will never forget it.¡±

    No, I wouldn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t a question, but a statement. I will never forget the cost of letting the Nightlords live.

    Eztli greeted me with a nk look, and little Astrid with a re sharper than obsidian daggers. Myck of surprise dulled its edge. I had expected that reaction. In spite of Necahual¡¯s attempts to soften the blow, I did y a role in her mother¡¯s death. As a child too young to properly understand the cruel world we lived in, I couldn¡¯t fault her for ming me.

    Ingrid worried me more.

    My orphaned consort briefly turned away from the fire to look at me. She looked slightly better thanst night, the way a cleaned skeleton might prove less unsettling than a freshly killed corpse. Her pallid skin and sunken eyes belonged to the dead. She held onto life by a thread.

    ¡°My lord,¡± Ingrid said. I waited for more and received nothing.

    A thousand words and a hundred flowery sentences crossed my mind. All sounded equally empty to me, so I did not speak.

    My arms moved to embrace her.

    I pulled Ingrid closer into a hug which she did not resist. She burst into tears the moment her head rested on my shoulders. Floodgates opened, and neither the presence of her fellow consorts nor her sister could hold back the flood.

    I couldn¡¯t tell how long I let her cry on my shoulder. Minutes? Hours? It felt like forever to me. I gently stroked her hair as her tears soaked my cotton robes. I thought she had shed them allst night. I was mistaken.

    <em>She is so thin</em>, I suddenly realized. Eztli possessed the strength of a curse, and thete Sigrun an iron confidence little could break. Her daughtercked it. She had managed to hide her weakness behind her training and carefully woven lies, only for the Nightlords¡¯ malignant cruelty to dispel it all. <em>She¡¯s my age. So young and human.</em>

    Ingrid was no amazon queen, no Nahualli with hidden power, and no Nightkin cursed with immortality. She was no more than a witty young woman trapped in a gilded cage. She could only rely on her intelligence, beauty, and parentage; and none of them could give her the courage she desperately needed.

    The harp song ended. I noticed Eztli leading little Astrid back to her room at the edge of my vision. Ingrid¡¯s sister appeared ready to fight back until Eztli put a cold, firm hand on her shoulder, nipping all thoughts of rebellion in the bud. I admit it unsettled me; my oldest friend had retained some of her kindness, but the vampiric instincts were never too far behind. Meanwhile, Nl did her best to fade into the background, her back bent and her head pointing at the floor; as for Chikal, she focused on the burning ship, the mes¡¯ light reflecting in her eyes.

    All of them gave us a little space.

    ¡°Lady Eztli and her mother¡­ they said you did not choose for mine to die,¡± Ingrid whispered softly, begging, no, <em>pleading </em>for the truth. ¡°Is it true?¡±

    My lips twisted into a scowl as I nodded sharply. ¡°The Jaguar Woman overruled me.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­¡± Ingrid let go of the hug and studied my face for any hint of a lie. My sorrow and cold anger must seem genuine enough to her. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t say this in Lady Eztli¡¯s presence, but¡­ I¡¯m d to hear that.¡±

    Ingrid had called Eztli by a deferential title twice now. I admit it surprised me. My oldest friend¡¯s kindness must have dulled the edge of their rivalry. That, or Ingrid had realized that there was no point in continuing it now that her mother had died. The roles would have been reversed without the Nightlords¡¯ cruelty.

    ¡°Mother must have disappointed them,¡± Ingrid whispered, more for her sake than mine. ¡°Mother was a schemer¡­ One of her plots must have displeased the goddesses.¡±

    My grip on her back tightened on its own. I heard Ingrid gasp in surprise as my pulse quickened.

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong,¡± I corrected her, my voice dripping with bitterness. ¡°The Jaguar Woman wanted to teach us a lesson. Nothing more.¡±

    ¡°A¡­ a lesson?¡± Ingrid¡¯s hands tightened into fists. ¡°But¡­ why?¡±

    ¡°I asked questions.¡± In this ce, that was a crime worthy of death. ¡°You and your mother deemed that good service ought to be rewarded.¡±

    Ingrid looked up at me with utter confusion, no, <em>denial</em>. She was the brightest of us and heard the Jaguar Woman¡¯s words at her mother¡¯s execution. She understood that Lady Sigrun died for nothing. That the Nightlords needed no reason to kill on a whim. She simply struggled to ept it.

    It was human nature to seek meaning for pain and misery; we could predict and avoid what we could understand. To find causes for old tragedies helped us prepare for new ones. Hence we struggled to understand true evil: because it was <em>purposeless</em>.

    ¡°You seek a reasonable exnation forst night¡¯s tragedy, Ingrid, and there is your mistake,¡± I told her as gently as I could. ¡°Did you forget the Jaguar Woman¡¯s warning? There was nothing <em>reasonable </em>about this ordeal. Our lives are at their mercy and there is no reward for service. They punish disloyalty, but good work buys no favor either.¡±

    My words were harsh, but Ingrid listened to them nheless. Her lips strained in a mix of despair and anguish.

    ¡°She¡­ she died for nothing.¡± I could see thest embers of Ingrid¡¯s hope die. It was written on her face. ¡°Is that what you are trying to tell me, my lord emperor? That she died for <em>nothing</em>?¡±

    ¡°I am sorry, Ingrid,¡± I apologized. ¡°I wish I could lie and tell you your Mother brought this cruel fate upon herself. She did not. Senseless cruelty requires no exnation. It simply <em>is</em>.¡±

    Ingrid let go of me, her hands moving to her shoulders as if to protect them from the cold. She looked down for a moment, mulling over my words, before ncing at Eztli. My oldest friend shook her head. She wouldn¡¯t lie either.

    ¡°What do I do, my lord?¡± Ingrid asked me, her voice breaking in her throat. ¡°What must I do? I¡­ I am lost.¡±

    I gathered my breath as I thought over my answer. I wished I possessed the wisdom she sought. The best I could give her was my earnest opinion.

    Someone answered before I could.

    ¡°You live, Ingrid.¡± Chikal turned away from the fire to meet Ingrid¡¯s gaze with eyes full of resolve. ¡°If not for yourself, then for your sister. For your kin that will outlive you.¡±

    <em>Or for revenge</em>, I almost added. I held back, however. Ingrid didn¡¯t need to hear that. Not right now. Not until she had finished grieving her mother and recovered herposure.

    ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± I said. <em>Because she has been there too.</em> ¡°Astrid needs you.¡±

    Ingrid pondered my and Chikal¡¯s words before ncing at the harp her sister had been ying. She fell into thoughtful silence.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Nl awkwardly cleared her throat, before presenting a cake to Ingrid. ¡°You should eat, Ingrid.¡±

    Ingrid frowned at the offering. Mayhaps she briefly wondered if the gift was poisoned, before realizing that Nl was incapable of such cunning.

    ¡°I am not hungry,¡± she replied, somewhat courteously.

    ¡°Take it for warmth,¡± Nl exined shyly. ¡°I eat chocte when I¡¯m sad. It helps¡­ at least a bit.¡±

    Ingrid stared at the cake with clear doubts, but epted it anyway. She took a bite out of it much to Nl¡¯s pleasure.

    ¡°Why burn this ship?¡± Chikal pointed at the fire. ¡°It must have taken years for your mother to carve it.¡±

    ¡°Mother¡­¡± Ingrid gulped and suppressed a sob. ¡°In Wind, nobles are burnt with their ships and belongings.¡±

    My eyes wandered to the painted table. Since Lady Sigrun knew she would never see the sea again, she had crafted her own. A pity that the pyre that consumed her remains would not let her soul rest.

    ¡°I see,¡± Chikalmented without saying more.

    ¡°I followed Mother¡¯s will to the letter,¡± Ingrid said, her hands joined in a silent prayer. ¡°She prized her knowledge more than gold, and wanted it to perish with her.¡±

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    I wondered how many of those documents contained incriminating information or if they were little more than decoys. My eyes wandered to Lady Sigrun¡¯s private altar. I recalled herst words and the hint they offered me. I made a note to check on the structureter.

    ¡°I¡­ I will return to the council tomorrow, my lord,¡± Ingrid promised. ¡°I will serve.¡±

    ¡°Are you certain, Ingrid?¡± Nl asked with clear concern.

    ¡°You should rest more,¡± Eztli said.

    Ingrid denied them both. ¡°I was born to serve,¡± she replied while staring at the fire. ¡°This¡­ this is harder.¡±

    Work could be a burden and a distraction.

    ¡°You should go train, my lord,¡± Ingrid advised. ¡°I am certain Chikal is eager to test your mettle.¡±

    What a polite way to dismiss us. Chikal was the first to pick up on it and quickly moved to her feet.

    ¡°I shall await you in the courtyard,¡± she informed me before offering a slight bow to the burning ship and Ingrid both. Nl blushed slightly, before promising toe visitter. For once, Ingrid didn¡¯t shoot down the idea immediately and merely thanked her fellow consort for her concern.

    ¡°I can stay if you wish me to,¡± I told Ingrid.

    ¡°My lord is very kind, but I must decline your proposal.¡± Ingrid smiled at me, and however thin and awkward it might be, it seemed sincere for once. ¡°I have¡­ affairs to settle. Mother¡¯s affairs.¡±

    <em>She has more papers to burn</em>, I realized. <em>Documents she doesn¡¯t want any of us to see.</em>

    Since Lady Sigrun¡¯s spywork extended as far as the Sapa Empire, I suspected a few of the scrolls among her collection might give the red-eyed priests a fit if discovered. Lady Sigrun¡¯s ns might have died with her, but Ingrid couldn¡¯t take the risk they might be discovered. Knowledge of the First Emperor¡¯s codex alone might spell a visit to the torture chambers.

    ¡°As you wish,¡± I replied with a slight nod. ¡°My door remains open to you, should you require mypany.¡±

    ¡°As is mine,¡± Eztli added with what could pass for noble grace.

    ¡°Thank you both.¡± Ingrid offered us a short reverence. ¡°I shall be certain to return your kindness in due time.¡±

    She didn¡¯t owe us anything, but I wouldn¡¯t spit on her support. The Jaguar Woman divided us to better control us. We would only survive the Scarlet Night by working together.

    <em>At least I can count on Eztli</em>, I thought as she and I moved to the exit. I could tell she was giving me the cold shoulder for almost sacrificing Necahual, but she was mature enough to understand who was our true enemy.<em> It warms my heart.</em>

    ¡°Thank you for being there for her, Eztli,¡± I said from the bottom of my heart. ¡°And for rifying the situation. We don¡¯t need more infighting.¡±

    Eztli swiftly moved her arms around my neck, then approached closer to better whisper in my ear.

    ¡°I forgive you this time, Iztac, because you indulged Mother¡¯s foolish wish.¡± Eztli red at me, the crimson in her gaze redder than a puddle of fresh blood. ¡°It won¡¯t happen again. Do you understand me? It <em>won¡¯t </em>happen again.¡±

    I met her gaze without flinching. I couldn¡¯t promise anything¡ªthe Nightlords followed their own whims¡ªbesides my best.

    ¡°I will take care of Necahual,¡± I promised softly, too low for the others to hear. ¡°Yoloxochitl will lose interest in her soon.¡±

    Eztli¡¯s head tilted to the side as she studied me. It didn¡¯t take her long to guess what I had in mind. She had suggested it the very night Yoloxochitl enved her mother. I couldn¡¯t tell whether my resolve pleased or unnerved her.

    ¡°I should be there,¡± she finally suggested.

    ¡°Absolutely not,¡± I replied. ¡°I understand you mean tofort her, but believe me. It will only make it harder.¡±

    Eztli looked away. ¡°Because of what I have be?¡±

    ¡°Because it will humiliate her. We should at least spare her dignity by avoiding witnesses.¡± Let alone her own daughter. ¡°The best way to keep her safe is to maintain distance and y along with Yoloxochitl¡¯s madness.¡±

    Her expression darkened with a touch of despair. ¡°I won¡¯tst long, Iztac,¡± Eztli warned me. ¡°Her blood¡­ the more she feeds it to me, the less I feel like myself. I sense her in my veins. In my soul.¡±

    ¡°Just a few more days,¡± I promised her. ¡°You can hold on that long?¡±

    Eztli bit her lip, then nodded slowly. She was strong and willful. I had to hope she wouldn¡¯t fold until the fateful day.

    The New Fire Ceremony would change everything, one way or another.

    I spent the rest of the day going through the motions.

    I trained with Chikal and other warriors, unloading the stress I¡¯d umted one strike at a time. Hitting shields of wood with clubs suddenly felt appealing after a night of torture and a day of grief. I supposed that exined why soldiers liked to fight. Mindless violence was freeing in a way. It helped us feel strong in a world where we were born weak.

    As I looked at my adversary, an amazon trainer I had pummeled to the ground with a flurry of blows, I recalled the sensation of my hands closing on Necahual¡¯s throat. My foe¡¯s nose was a fountain of blood, her shield a broken bundle of splintered wood. She looked up at me with the same brief sh of fear that crossed my mother-inw¡¯s eyes when she thought I wouldn¡¯t stop until she choked to death. Part of me wanted to bash my trainer¡¯s skull in whenever I recalled that night.

    I sensed Chikal step behind me like a panther stalking its prey. I didn¡¯t hear her approach¡ªI never managed to detect her when she moved quietly¡ªbut I sensed her concern for her amazon sister.

    ¡°You have grown bolder, Lord Emperor,¡± Chikal said. I immediately took it as a backhanded reproach; she only ever called me Lord Emperor as a farce. ¡°But a true warriormands his anger, not the other way around.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve never seen me angry yet, Chikal,¡± I replied coldly. My shadow talons stirred deep within my soul. It took much of my willpower to prevent them fromcerating the closest human within my reach. ¡°Pray that you never do.¡±

    Chikal didn¡¯t fold. She knew very well that I hid my true skills from her. I wondered how much she suspected.

    ¡°If you wish to kill someone so ardently, pick a priest and make them pray,¡± she said. ¡°That would please us both.¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°I will give it some thought.¡±

    After training I decided to spend some time in the menagerie to rx a bit; thepany of animals felt more preferable to that of mentely. I asked the zookeeper for advice on how to take care of my pets.

    ¡°Itzili is growing fast,¡± I told a zookeeper. My feathered tyrant had gained a few pounds sincest we met. He was nowrger than any dog. ¡°Is that normal?¡±

    ¡°He is entering his growth phase early, Your Majesty,¡± my servant answered. ¡°At some point in their life, feathered tyrants start growing at an astonishing rate of five pounds a day and then reach their adult size in four years'' time.¡±

    Five pounds a day? At this rate, Itzili would overshadow the tallest bears before the Night of the Scarlet Moon. He might berge enough for me to ride him.

    <em>Notrge enough to break these walls though. </em>I nced at the pce¡¯s fortifications. An adult feathered tyrant might be able to climb or break through them, if allowed to reach maturity. <em>Not without help.</em>

    ¡°His early growth is a good omen, Your Majesty,¡± the zookeeper said. ¡°Itzili was offered to you on the first day of your reign. I take it as a sign your rule shall see our empire prosper.¡±

    If only Itzili could bite off a priest¡¯s hand for me. <em>That </em>would be a good omen.

    After thanking the zookeeper for his insight, I received two turkeys to feed my pet with. Itzili greeted me with a small cry and squinting eyes. He smelled my clothes and turkeys, but instead of biting into one of them he red at my silent guards with narrowed eyes. As an animal with senses far more developed than my own, they probably felt unnatural to him.

    <em>You resent this cage of ours too, don¡¯t you?</em> I petted Itzili on the back of his head. A mane of white feathers slowly grew on it, and from his bellowing cries he appreciated the gesture. <em>I might have a way to help break its walls.</em>

    I nced at the turkeys in my hands. I¡¯d heard that feathered tyrants never turned down a meal, though they preferred to hunt live prey. A special spice might make this meal more appealing.

    I quietly bit my hand until my teeth drew blood while cloaking myself in a Veil. Burning droplets fell onto the carcass, my fluids merging with those of the dead turkey. The smell aroused Itzili, who nced at my closing wound with barely disguised hunger. It understood biting the hand that fed him would not end well, but the urge to kill coursed through his veins.

    ¡°Dream of devouring them all,¡± I whispered as I offered my pet his seasoned meal. This time he bit into the dead turkey with abandon. ¡°One day, you might see ite true.¡±

    How much of my blood would Itzili require before we could form a bond? I would keep providing it to him with each meal until then. Once I fully understood how the link worked, I would repeat the process with Tetzon, the margay cat. His size and agility would serve me well as a Ridden host.

    Moreover, I wondered what effect my blood would have on an animal. Vampire blood transferred a sliver of the curse to the priests and allowed Yoloxochitl to cultivate predatory nts. Would those feeding on my flesh inherit some of my borrowed divine power too? How would it change them? And most importantly, would their blood be poisonous for vampires too?

    I was dying to find out.

    After my menagerie visit, I spent my short nap alone in my bed, visiting zohtzin under the guise of Inkarri. As I expected, he took his dismissal as confirmation that his brother would inherit everything. My trick had dispelled whatever doubts he still had over our enterprise.

    ¡°I have gathered all the Tumi and Sapa artifacts I could find, oh divine messenger,¡± he told me, kneeling in prostration. ¡°Dozens of them.¡±

    ¡°Have your agents bury them across Smoke Mountain,¡± I ordered. ¡°If the gods find your offerings pleasing, your fate might still be averted.¡±

    I was almost sincere in my promise. If by some miracle the counter-ritual managed to kill all of the Nightlords and if I survived it, I would dly rescind my decision. I very much doubted either of us would be so lucky.

    Moreover, I intended to fix the scale of fate in my favor¡­ and his misfortune.

    ¡°Now, I shall bless you on your task, brave soul.¡± I grabbed a feather from my plumage. ¡°A blessing, yes¡­¡±

    The Veil I surrounded myself with made me appear like a bird of radiant gold to zohtzin, but my Gaze prevented me from lying to myself. The feather in my talon was cker than a starless night. It promised no miracle, no secret wealth delivered from the heavens. I was an owl of darkness rising from the Underworld.

    I was an omen of death.

    Unfortunately, that was the only gift I could offer. I would bless the Nightlords with it in time, but for me to fulfill that goal I would need to make sacrifices.

    I regretted what I was about to do. zohtzin was no red-eyed priest or nightkin apologist. He was an innocent man who had the misfortune of being in the right ce at the right time. I had indirectly killed many like him when I dered war on the Sapa Empire and when I first denied the Jaguar Woman; but this time I wielded the knife that would cause his doom. I regretted my choice, but I had promised myself never to hesitate again.

    I would bear that burden.

    My Veil delivered sweet words to zohtzin even as my mouth whispered crueler truths to my feather.

    ¡°I bless your soul with heavenly luck, so that you may fulfill your duty with pride.¡±

    <em>I curse you to a short life of deceit, the truth of your actions forever unknown to you.</em>

    ¡°I bless your breath with the power of truth, so that you may expose your brother¡¯s treachery for all to see.¡±

    <em>I curse you to whisper lies into the eyes of red-eyed fools, so that they mistake you for a foreign enemy.</em>

    ¡°I bless your body with a long life, so that you may prove yourself worthy of your father¡¯s inheritance and a greater one to your children.¡±

    <em>I curse you to die a swift death in the service of a greater cause, your blood spared from the vampire kiss, for it is the one gift I may offer you.</em>

    I hoped I had another choice avable to me. s, I couldn¡¯t risk the Nightlords discovering my treachery. I ced my well-disguised feather inside zohtzin¡¯s shadow and poisoned his destiny.

    ¡°We shall not meet again until the New Fire Ceremony concludes,¡± I warned him. ¡°Should the gods smile on you, I shall return swiftly. May the Gods-in-Spirit take mercy on you.¡±

    I left zohtzin¡¯s altar room without waiting for an answer. I did not want to see his pleased face after he swallowed my lie. It would only worsen my guilt.

    All the better to bury my remorse with work. The die was already cast.

    All I had to do was to travel to Smoke Mountain itself and cast my Haunt spell over it. The trip being too long for a brief nap, I flew back to the pce.

    I did not return to my room immediately. Instead, I shifted through the walls until I reached Ingrid¡¯s bedroom. My invisible spirit slipped inside the main hall andnded on its altar.

    <em>Let us see what you hid from the bats, Sigrun. </em>I put my head through the wood and stone, my eyes emerging on the other side. As I suspected, the altar covered a secretpartment at its base; one roughly three feet in diameter and just as deep.

    Women often asked to be buried with their jewels, but Lady Sigrun was too wise for such vanity. She buried a treasure not of gold and silver, but of paper and ink. Piles of scrolls were neatly folded in small y containers to protect them from humidity and insects. My eyes darted on a wealth of maps, letters, and other documents.

    The Emperor¡¯s codex was nowhere to be seen among them.

    Disappointing, but not unexpected. It would have been madness for Sigrun to keep such an important manuscript in her room. In all likelihood, she merely recorded the ce she hid it among her legacy.

    I swiftly materialized a talon and examined the document at the top of the pile in the hopes it would provide a hint. Instead, I looked at a map of Yohuachanca, the Sapa Empire, and andmass to the east beyond the Boiling Sea. This drawing included indications of the wind and water currents running from onend to another. A good sailor could easily use this information to travel from Yohuachanca to Wind and beyond.

    Either a part of Sigrun never lost hope to return home one day or she entrusted this dream to her descendants. I wondered if the Nightlords possessed a copy of their own. Considering how Yohuachanca¡¯s hunger for blood demanded constant conquest, they probably intended to invade Wind in future centuries.

    Part of me hoped to visit these distantnds one day, after I¡¯d killed the Nightlords of course.

    I folded the map aside and quickly checked the next document, then the one after, and the one after that one. My blood would have turned to ice if I still wore my body. All of these papers showed a simr issue that trulypromised my ns.

    Sigrun¡¯s trove of scrolls was exclusively written in Wind¡¯s runic alphabet.

    I couldn¡¯t read <em>any</em> of them.

    I beat myself for not considering it sooner. <em>Of course </em>Sigrun would record all sensitive information in a tongue only her family could understand. She informed me of the cache¡¯s location knowing full well I wouldn¡¯t be able to decode it without her daughters¡¯ cooperation. Worse, I couldn¡¯t smuggle these objects outside to decipher them at my own pace elsewhere. Unlike my unsubstantial Tonalli, these scrolls couldn¡¯t phase through walls.

    No matter how I approached the problem, I couldn¡¯t think of a way to exploit these documents without bringing Ingrid into the loop. I would need to either convince her to teach me her native tongue¡ªand somehow master it in a few months on top of all my other obligations¡ªor inform her of the cache.

    <em>Sigrun binds my hand even in death</em>. I would have bet my hand that she anticipated my reaction when she hinted at the cache¡¯s existence. <em>Wherever you are, I hope you have thestugh.</em>

    With little else to do, my spirit flew away from the cache and quickly checked on Ingrid and her sister. I found thetter sleeping in her bed and cradling her cushions. As for Ingrid, she was drafting letters in her mother¡¯s office with the sharp focus of a young woman desperately burying her sorrow in work. A look over her shoulder confirmed to me that she was drafting a challenge to the Sapa Emperor imants, just as I asked her to before her mother¡¯s death.

    We weren¡¯t so different, she and I. We would rather both swim headfirst into our toil rather than dwell on the past.

    The sight saddened me to my core. I could not bring back Lady Sigrun from the dead, but I could ensure her daughters would survive the Scarlet Moon. I would do my best to watch over them.

    With darkness falling upon the realm, I returned to my body for another night of horrors. This time I spent it in silence. I said nothing when the guards and Eztli came to escort me to the temple. Our footsteps filled the silence as we walked among the living dead. Vampires great and small greeted us with what could pass for religious deference¡­ with one exception.

    The Jaguar Woman weed me with a thin smile on her lips.

    Her smug, satisfied look sickened me to my core. She thought she had cowed me, the wicked witch. She thought she had tamed me. <em>Broken </em>me. I hated myself for ying along with this farce.

    <em>Victory excuses everything</em>, I kept telling myself as I climbed the mountain of ash. <em>One day. One day.</em>

    I buried my anger and fury under a mask of resignation, then proceeded to feed the sulfur me. I had sated it with fleshst night. I spent this one feeding it scrolls of paper marked with thousands of names. Whether those belonged to the year¡¯s dead or their living rtives, I couldn¡¯t know. The burning abyss ate away at them all the same.

    The depthless hunger within this malevolent fire had consumed so many lives. It would eat me and Eztli too if we dared to touch it. The whole world wouldn¡¯t be enough to satisfy its ravenous appetite. The thought of this sulfur me shining in the sky frightened me to my core.

    Yet, that fear couldn¡¯t open my Tomb. The end of the world and the onset of an age of vampires wouldn¡¯t let me fuel that spell.

    <em>What is it that I fear?</em> I wondered. <em>What did I run from? If not death, what? To be a skull buried in a pile of them for all eternity? Is that my Tomb? Imprisonment? Eternal suffering? Deathlessness?</em>

    I had spoken all of these words when trying to cast the Tomb. None worked. My true fear transcended them all.

    What frightened me? What was I running away from? What was I fighting with all my strength to avoid? I thought back to the moments that brought me the most dread in my life.

    The Night of the Scarlet Moon, when my name came up.

    Guatemoc¡¯s death and Eztli¡¯s transformation.

    The sight of Yoloxochitl eating people in her true form.

    And finally, Lady Sigrun¡¯s cruel death.

    I had pressed a weapon against my own heart, faced King Mtecuhtli¡ªa god mightier than all four Nightlordsbined¡ªand survived the House of Gloom. Yet none of these events crushed my spirit the way the others had. Why?

    The solution came to me in a sh of insight.

    I had chosen to face these trials, and prevailed.

    In all other cases, I had been <em>powerless </em>to affect the oue.

    I sought strength so fervently because I was afraid of being powerless. Of being trapped, my will crushed, my mind manipted, my body broken, unable to stand, unable to fight. I pursued the power I¡¯dcked all of my life: the power to challenge a fate forced upon me at birth.

    I craved what I feared most: control.

    ¡°Powerlessness,¡± I whispered.

    I heard an echo in the very depths of my soul, the slight screech of a greased door opening.

    I had uncovered the key to my Tomb.

 Chapter Thirty-Six: Before the Final Night

    Chapter Thirty-Six: Before the Final Night

    I left the temple with a heart filled with frustration.

    My greatest fear was powerlessness, and I had lived through it all night. I danced to the tune of the Nightlords as I fed their sulfur me. I kept my mouth shut when Yoloxochitl put her hands on Eztli¡¯s shoulders and whispered in her ear. I supported the Jaguar Woman¡¯s arrogant stare in silence. I yed the dutiful doll, neverining, never speaking out of turn.

    I took some sce in the discovery of my Tomb¡¯s keyword, but even the dawn provided me with littlefort.

    At least this humiliation would soone to an end. Tomorrow would be thest day of the year and mark the beginning of my ascent to Smoke Mountain. The New Fire Ceremony would start then.

    But first, I needed to cast my Haunt. A task that would require many hours.

    ¡°I shall sleep all day this time,¡± I warned Tezozomoc as we walked back to my imperial chambers. ¡°Between the next day¡¯s rituals and the New Fire Ceremony, I won¡¯t have a moment to rest. Do not wake me up until twilight.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Your Majesty.¡± He offered me a polite bow. ¡°Your concubine will see that you rest well.¡±

    He meant tofort me and did theplete opposite. I wasn¡¯t looking forward to femalepany for once.

    ¡°She will,¡± I replied coldly. ¡°Her life depends on it.¡±Tezozomoc raised an eyebrow. He probably thought I meant to execute Necahual if she proved disappointing; while in truth, I sought to buy her time from more dangerous masters.

    As expected, I found my mother-inw waiting for me in my chambers. The servants had taken care to prepare her. They had dressed her in a white cotton dress edged with golden trim that gracefully draped around her form, a crimson sash wrapped around her waist like a ribbon around a gift. Golden earrings framed her face, while a golden headdress topped with a striking feather held her cascading hair. ck paint heightened her eyshes and oil smoothed her skin. The poor farmer¡¯s wife was unrecognizable. I could have mistaken her for a noblewoman who had stepped out of the capital¡¯s richest districts.

    Eztli inherited her looks from her mother, and Necahual remained an attractive woman. Many would have found her lovely in my ce, had she done so little as to smile. She instead greeted me with silence and a sullen expression. She sat at the bed¡¯s edge with her hands joined together, her eyes staring at the nearest wall rather than me.

    She was about as enthusiastic about this chore as I was.

    <em>It doesn¡¯t have to take long, </em>I told myself. I only intended to do¡­ <em>this¡­ </em>for the sake of my ns and to practice Seidr with a trustworthy confidant. <em>If I close my eyes, I can pretend she is Eztli.</em>

    I dismissed Tezozomoc with a nce. He closed the imperial bedroom¡¯s doors behind me, leaving me alone with Necahual and a set of masked guards. They faded from sight when they lurked in corners¡¯ shadows. It almost made their presence tolerable.

    I walked up to Necahual¡¯s side. She looked at me, her eyes meeting mine. Neither of us said a word. I waited for her to gather her breath and wits until she finally stood up. Her hands clumsily moved to my imperial robes. When she proved too slow in taking them off due to her hesitation, I untied her sash and our robes soon dropped to the floor.

    It wasn¡¯t the first time Necahual and I were both so close and naked. I had shared baths with her after all. However, the context somehow made our current situation deeply unpleasant. The way Necahual avoided looking at my manhood, the shame in her eyes, my own reluctance to touch her skin¡­

    <em>This won¡¯t go well. </em>I could already tell. <em>Perhaps I should stick to kisses for now. Start slow.</em>

    I nced at the bed, and Necahual reluctantly moved beneath the sheet. Sheid on her back, legs tightly shut, her arms limp, her spine tenser than a bowstring. I would have to do all the work.

    ¡°You can imagine Father in my ce,¡± I suggested as I crawled over to her. ¡°Or your husband. Whatever works.¡±

    Necahual red at me in silence, then closed her eyes. Her jaw clenched tightly to stop foul curses from escaping her mouth. I assumed she did her best to imagine herself anywhere but here.<ul><li><strong>NSFW Scene starts -----------------</strong></li></ul>

    I wish I could say I did any better. I started by kissing her neck, my lips making her shudder in revulsion. My hands moved to caress her hips, the sweat sticking between my fingers. I touched her hands and remembered all the times she had thrown stones at me. She didn¡¯t say a word, didn¡¯t help me. She simply waited for me to be over with it.

    I couldn¡¯t grant her wish.

    No matter how much I tried, I could not imagine Eztli in her ce.

    Her skin was <em>warm </em>for a start. Sweaty too. Her breasts were fuller, her hips wider, her hands more calloused. Even the mother¡¯s smell differed from the daughter¡¯s. Whenever I attempted to lie to myself, a simple kiss jolted me back to reality. The dissonance made me nauseous.

    She felt <em>wrong</em>.

    <em>This is bad.</em> I clenched my teeth in frustration. My n relied on convincing the world that Necahual had be my favorite. It would fail if I couldn¡¯t even touch her. Servants and spies would share the word otherwise. <em>Should I weave a Veil? Make it look like we made love?</em>

    Necahual scoffed at me.

    My blood boiled in my veins. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t do <em>anything </em>right,¡± she replied scornfully. ¡°You¡¯re still a child.¡±

    The condescension in her voice filled with fury. ¡°You¡¯re pathetic.¡±

    Her dark eyes snapped open, both of them seething with scorn.

    ¡°You called me a monster, and here you are,¡± I taunted her. ¡°Offering yourself to me for a taste of power.¡±

    A sh of hatred passed over her face, as baleful as a thunderstorm. It pleased me. I moved my head closer to her and nted a kiss on her. There was no tenderness in it, no gentleness. Only possessiveness. My tongue tasted her disgust and shame.

    It felt <em>good</em>.

    A revtion struck me like lightning. My lips moved to her nipple next, but whereas I would have suckled it with another lover, I bit her breast with my bare teeth. Necahual let out a whimper of pain and surprise. A drop of blood dripped on her skin. I licked it, savoring the metallic aroma and the salty taste of her sweat.

    My hands did not stay idle either. One grabbed her breast and squeezed it tightly; the other moved between her legs and forced them open like an oyster. I jammed my fingers into herdy parts. The sudden intrusion drew a grunt from Necahual. She closed her eyes and looked away from me, her skull resting on a pillow.

    That wouldn¡¯t do it. I changed my strategy, my fingers caressing her intimate parts, my lips kissing their way upward their neckline. Where I had inflicted pain before, I now sought only to bring pleasure. I listened to Necahual¡¯s heavy breathing, delighting at how she struggled to keep her jaw tightly shut to deny me any satisfaction.

    It was so much easier when I stopped trying to picture Eztli in her ce.

    Eztli loved me in her own special way, and I loved her back. I couldn¡¯t say the same for Necahual. I wanted to beat her, to strangle her, to humiliate her. I only pleased her because I knew it <em>shamed </em>her. To admit that I, the son of the man who had forsaken her and the witch who cursed her, could pleasure her would be the height of humiliation.

    Eventually, my efforts bore fruit. Necahual¡¯s lips loosened and let out the most wonderful of sounds: a short moan of pleasure.

    Encouraged, I crawled back and began to kiss my way down her thighs. My tongue yed with her. I licked my way past her moist hair and herdy parts. Necahual whimpered and moaned softly. I felt her resistance waver. Truth be told, her reaction surprised me. Had she and Guatemoc never experimented together?

    It suddenly urred to me that Mother had cursed Necahual to never to find pleasure in coupling with a man; a restriction that applied for the entire length of her marriage.

    When I was done, I rose up to my knees on instinct. Necahual was sweating heavily, her teeth biting her lips to stifle another moan, her cheeks flushed. Blood dripped from the breast I had bitten earlier and stained the bed sheet red.

    It was then that I suddenly recalled who this woman was: the hag who had adopted me after my father died and made me resent that fact for years. I could have called her my mother had she shown me kindness. I had been married to her daughter and now carried her to bed. Our rtionship crossed so many lines that it thrilled and sickened me all at once.

    I loathed her. I desired her.

    I desired her <em>because </em>I loathed her.

    As my hands moved to grab her waist, I recalled all the times I had dreamed of taking revenge for her mistreatment. I had fantasized about beating her, stoning her, pping her, and more. This didn¡¯t quite fit my old expectations, but¡­ it would do.

    I hated being powerless. Now, however, I was the one in control. Necahual had offered me everything for the witchcraft she had long resented. She had sold me her body and soul, and it thrilled me.

    ¡°I own you,¡± I whispered softly.

    I thrust with all my might.

    Necahual¡¯s eyes shot wide in surprise and stared at my intruding manhood with a mix of fear, shame, and apprehension. Her hands moved to my chest as if to push me out of her, but it was toote. I pulled back slightly and returned with greater force, pinning her against the mattress and burying her under my weight.

    ¡°Ngh,¡± Necahual grunted in pain and pleasure as I pulled her to me roughly and swiftly. ¡°Uh¡­¡±

    ¡°I own you,¡± I repeated.

    There was nothing smooth about our union. Being with Sigrun had felt like slipping a key inside a lock. This time it had all the gentleness of an assassin¡¯s knife cutting its way into a target¡¯s back. It was strange, visceral, and <em>amazing</em>.

    And from the way Necahual moaned, she liked it too. Her shuddering cries only heightened my desire. I relished the sight of her face as she chewed her lip, struggling to hide her pleasure. Her hands pushed against my chest with all the resolve of a doubting soul. She wanted me out of her as much as she wanted me to stay where I was.

    ¡°I <em>own </em>you,¡± I repeated again, biting her neck like a vampire.

    I closed my eyes and focused on this new sensation of power over another. I knew it was sick and no different than what the Nightlords put me through, but after all I had been through I relished it nheless.

    My Teyolia burned within my chest. As our bodies became one, I began to sense Necahual¡¯s heart-fire as well. It was a paltry me, a shriveled candle that had grown fat on bitterness and disappointment. Still, I sensed a strength in her. A strong resolve buried deep inside her.

    ¡°Focus on the me,¡± I whispered in her ear.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Her breath grew short. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t understand¡­¡±

    ¡°Your heart,¡± I exined. ¡°Don¡¯t you feel it?¡±

    Her silence confirmed my first impression. I sensed her Teyolia. It was there, within my reach but beyond my grasp. An invisible barrier stood between our heart-fires and prevented their union.

    I suddenly realized that the Seidr demanded more than the exchange of body fluid or magical awareness to function. It connected the Teyolias of two partners; the very core of their souls.

    Our mes needed to <em>resonate </em>with each other. Sigrun had focused on desire and arousal to build that bridge, but Necahual shared little to no passion. We needed something else; an emotion we could easily bond over.

    I could only think of one.

    ¡°Guatemoc never took you like this,¡± I taunted her.

    I regretted the words the moment they left my lips, but they had the expected effect. Necahual¡¯s Teyolia red with the same purple light as mine. When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at the darkest of res.

    ¡°He could never satisfy you,¡± I pushed on with a condescending chuckle. ¡°Now I know why you threw stones at me when I approached Eztli. You wanted to be in her ce.¡±

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Necahual pped me with all her strength, as she used to back when I was younger.

    The masked guards mistook the gesture for an attack and were roused from their slumber. ¡°Stay back,¡± I ordered. Thankfully, they obeyed. ¡°She likes it.¡±

    Necahual answered by spitting on my cheek. I ignored it, a hand holding on to her thigh and the other squeezing her breast.

    ¡°Perhaps I will put another Eztli in here,¡± I taunted her as I caressed her belly. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you like that?¡±

    Her body and soul shuddered with rage. The me inside her burst, the barrier between our hearts shattering. Our heart-fires connected through our hate.

    Necahual¡¯s eyes widened in shock and confusion. She had sensed it too, but couldn¡¯t understand yet.

    ¡°Do you feel it now?¡± I asked her. When I sensed her hesitation, I gave her a little push. ¡°Focus on it, <em>ve</em>.¡±

    That did the trick. She bit my neck with such strength I thought she would tear out my throat. I interlocked her hands into mine to pin them against the bed, then bit her back. We settled on a furious, wild rhythm, groaning and grunting hand-fighting. Rage, scorn, lust, pain, and pleasure¡­ all blurred until I couldn¡¯t tell one from the other.

    My Teyolia was the seed of a sun and dwarfed her own. The mes of my soul swallowed her whole. I could have devoured her in an instant, drained her of life the way Sigrun emptied her lovers of vitality. Instead of taking, I gave. Not too much or she would have burned, but enough to give her a taste of true magic.

    Enough to cast a spell.

    The scene changed around me in an instant. I was no longer on top, but under. A balding man was crawling atop me, the imperial crown of feathers sitting atop his head. I grunted and cried, but his hands held onto me with a vicious grip. In the background, I saw a younger Guatemoc watching with despair and disgust. I was scared and ashamed. I closed my eyes trying to escape, to bear it.

    <em>It won¡¯t be long,</em> I told myself. I tried to picture another man, but failed. <em>Itzili would have been gentler.</em>

    The visionsted a mere few seconds, but it was more vivid than any Veil. A small cry returned me to my senses. I sensed a wave of heat and moisture washing over my manhood, my seed spilling with a pulsating gush.

    Necahual was under me, tears of pleasure and shame forming in her eyes. She gasped for air as I did, our connection closing as our muscles rxed.<ul><li><em><strong>NSFW Scene ends -----------</strong></em></li></ul>

    ¡°Get out,¡± she ordered me suddenly. Her hands freed themselves from mine and pushed against my chest. ¡°Get <em>out</em>.¡±

    I clenched my jaw and slowly pulled out. Our eyes lingered on the spot where our bodies had joined, at the light sheen of sweat and seed dripping from her thighs. Necahual stared at thetter as if it were a terrible poison.

    My throat felt sore from the ce where she had bitten me, and her nails had scratched at my chest. Necahual bore a few scars of her own too. A wave of shame immediately followed my grim satisfaction.

    ¡°I am¡­¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°I am sorry I hurt you.¡±

    ¡°No, you are not.¡± Necahual avoided my gaze. ¡°Neither am I.¡±

    Now feeling slightly guilty, I moved to the side of the bed and pulled the bed sheet closer. Necahual turned her back on me and stared at the wall.

    After a moment¡¯s hesitation, I leaned against her. I half-expected her to push me back, but she did not. I supposed it felt inconsequential after we had crossed such a big line.

    ¡°How do you feel?¡± I asked her. The concern in my voice surprised me.

    ¡°My heart burns. My thighs and stomach too.¡± Necahual¡¯s voice grew no louder than a whisper. ¡°I saw¡­ I saw things.¡±

    After ensuring the guards wouldn¡¯t hear anything, I leaned closer towards her ear. ¡°What did you see?¡±

    ¡°Skulls.¡± Necahual scowled grimly. ¡°A deadnd of ashes and burned men.¡±

    My heart skipped a beat for an instant. She had seen <em>locan</em>?

    ¡°What of you?¡± she asked while briefly looking over her shoulder.

    ¡°I saw a man,¡± I confessed. ¡°An emperor, I think. Guatemoc was there.¡±

    Necahual pulled the bed sheet over her shoulder as if to protect herself. ¡°You saw my wedding night.¡±

    A chill ran down my spine. I didn¡¯t need more to understand the details: an emperor was entitled to a new bride¡¯s first night, after all.

    Necahual must have caught the eye of one of them during a visit near Acampa. The fact no one among the Parliament of Skulls remembered Necahual meant such things weremonce.

    Had Mother¡¯s Curse caused this?

    ¡°I¡­ I am sorry,¡± I apologized.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask for your pity,¡± she all but spat. ¡°Keep it to yourself.¡±

    I didn¡¯t fault her reaction, though I resented it slightly. My stomach lurked as a possibility crossed my mind.

    ¡°Eztli¡­¡± I dared not utter that thought. ¡°Is she¡­¡±

    ¡°My husband and I had been intimate before.¡± Necahual took a deep breath and stared at the wall. ¡°We¡­ we couldn¡¯t tell.¡±

    They couldn¡¯t tell whose daughter Eztli was, so Guatemoc eventually decided that she was his and never raised the subject again. I admit it surprised me. I had never been too close to the man¡ªcivil would have been the best term¡ªbut I would have expected doubt to torment Guatemoc. Other men would have distrusted Eztli¡¯s potential paternity.

    I supposed Guatemoc had been a good man under his rough exterior. It only further motivated me to protect his family.

    ¡°Was that witchcraft?¡± Necahual whispered. ¡°What we saw?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I confirmed. Our souls had melded through Seidr. We had both glimpsed at the other¡¯s memories. ¡°That was your first step on a long journey.¡±

    Necahual finally looked at me. Her thoughts were written all over her conflicted expression. I would need more than one night to mold her Teyolia in preparation for her transformation. This night, however rough and unpleasant, would only be the first of many.

    After a moment, Necahual returned to staring at the wall. A tense silence settled between us, and we fell asleep each on one side of the bed. I wished her a good rest.

    My Tonalli still had much work ahead of it.

    I exited the pce and made my way to Smoke Mountain.

    I had never flown outside the capital before, so I half-expected my Tonalli to weaken over time. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that distance mattered little for Spiritual Manifestation. The cost of maintaining the technique remained the same.

    I wondered if I could ride the winds all the way to Wind with time. Cross the sea and finallyy eyes on the easternnds far beyond Yohuachanca¡¯s grasp. s, I knew it was little more than a feeble dream for now. The Nightlords would wake up my body long before my soul could reach the ocean.

    <em>¡°Everywhere there is beauty,¡±</em> the wind whispered in my ear. <em>¡°But no sea may stop the tide of human greed. It shall crash on your shores one day.¡±</em>

    <em>One day,</em> I told myself as I fled the capital for the farnds and forests. <em>One day.</em>

    Smoke Mountain arose before me, a squat, mighty throne of stone that reached all the way to the clouds. Forested hills gathered around its base like how the weak flocked to the strong, but no vegetation would dare to approach the peak. A crown of jagged obsidian stone surrounded its smoldering crater. The smoke that gave the mountain its name drifted from the summit in a beautiful trail of white and ashen gray.

    I could feel the lifeblood of the world stirring beneath its skin of stone. Boiling fury slumbered in the depths of the earth, waiting to be unleashed. Waiting to burst out and burn all life to cinders. Smoke Mountain hadn¡¯t erupted in centuries, but only fools would think it dead. The magma never slumbered forever.

    It couldn¡¯t wake up any sooner.

    A single sacred road led to Smoke Mountain¡¯s summit, its gentle slope housing a set of small altars honoring the Gods-in-Spirit and the Gods-in-the-Flesh. Pilgrims already gathered around them in preparation for the New Fire Ceremony. They offered food, gold, and tributes to the heavens in the hope of being forgiven for this year¡¯s sins and blessed for the next. zohtzin¡¯s men should be hard at work cing tumi and other Sapa items among them. I expected priests to notice these unusual oddities, but ignore them until after the New Fire Ceremony so as not to disrupt it.

    I doubted Mother would have struck at people on this well-treaded road, so I scouted the mountain for smaller settlements. It didn¡¯t take me long to find a wide brow of rock overhanging a cliff-top vige halfway to the summit. The settlement housed less than a dozen huts huddling away from the sacred road. I made my way to it with haste.

    <em>¡°Do you hear them?¡±</em> The wind asked me softly. <em>¡°The whimpers of the dead?¡±</em>

    It didn¡¯t take me long to see the flies.

    My beakcked a sense of smell in owl form, so I didn¡¯t detect the blood until Iid eyes upon it. A puddle of dried blood littered the dusty ground, its previous owner slumped against the vige¡¯s heart with his skull caved in. A vulture already feasted on the entrails, while a couple of coati roons cleansed the fingers of flesh.

    I phased through the huts¡¯ walls and confirmed Mother¡¯s warnings: that the Burned Men loathed the living with the fury of a burning inferno. I saw a child split in two inside his bed; a woman eviscerated; a man stabbed to death with such brutality that his bloody face had be indescribable.

    Death had visited each of the vige¡¯s houses. Flies gathered around empty skulls. Blood tainted the stone walls red. Dismembered limbs hung from ceilings. Mother had fulfilled her promise: the Ridden hosts she provided to the Burned Men slew all souls within reach of their cursed hands before killing themselves.

    To cast the Haunt and counter-ritual, we required sacrifices that represented either the Nightlords or Smoke Mountain itself. Mother settled on targeting thetter category. Who would better represent this sacrednd than the families who had lived on its surface for generations?

    Sad as it sounded, I had grown desensitized to such gory spectacles. It would have made me vomit once. Now? I felt a pang of sorrow for the victims, but my hateful heart remained unclouded.

    ¡°I am truly sorry,¡± I apologized to the cadavers. ¡°I wish I had found another way.¡±

    This earned me a taunt from the wind.<em> ¡°Are these words for the dead, or for yourself?¡±</em>

    ¡°Both,¡± I replied before plucking feathers from my plumage and nting them inside the fleshly-killed corpses. Within them, I ced all of my malice and resentment. ¡°I curse thisnd to bring forth a disaster upon the masters of Yohuachanca.¡±

    I used the Doll spell to dig open up a mass grave to fill them with fresh blood.

    ¡°I curse the Nightlords to suffer their ritual blowing up in their faces.¡±

    I buried the cursed corpses of the dead inside the bowels of the earth.

    ¡°I curse my captors to suffer cmity the kind of which they haven¡¯t suffered from in centuries. I curse them with pain, loss, and despair.¡±

    Finally, I closed the tomb to hide my family¡¯s crimes, leaving the spirits of the dead unavenged and full of resentment.

    ¡°I curse them to witness an abomination of destion as all their hopes and prayers are rewarded with death and failure.¡±

    Once I departed from the vige not a single trace of the massacre remained above ground. The deady under its foundations, their rotten wombs bearing a vile Curse of my own creation.

    I visited three more mountain settlements after this one. Three more times I found them silent and filled with corpses; three more times I Cursed these unholy grounds with the stain of my ck feathers.

    As I carried on with my gruesome work I sensed a subtle shift in the air. The sun was high in the sky, yet a dark cloud seemed to obscure it; one invisible to the naked eye but that nheless dimmed the light. My Teyolia ached with foul power even as an aura of dread weighed on my wings.

    I noticed other signs by the time I cursed the fourth vige. Dozens of worms infested the flesh of the corpses I buried, although they hadn¡¯t been there before. Birds flew out of the forested base of the mountain and fled north. Snakes and centipedes crawled out of their holes to slither down the harsh cliffs.

    The final sign struck me when I closed thest tomb. The earth shook beneath my talons, quickly and almost imperceptibly. The empty huts¡¯ walls trembled to the point that some of their stones cracked. The ground stirred for less than a minute, but it sent a few rocks falling down the slopes.

    <em>¡°The earth boils with anger,¡± </em>the wind warned me. <em>¡°The lock rattles and its prisoner stirs in the pit. Beware the silent dark. His gullet swallows all.¡±</em>

    I could hardly make sense out of the Yaotzin¡¯s prophecy, but I understood its spirit: a veil of cmity had fallen upon thisnd.

    I had brought doom to all of Smoke Mountain.

    How long until the Nightlords noticed? They had spent six hundred years preparing a ritual in this exact location. I suspected the priests would quickly notice the disappearances. Mother hedged her bets by targeting istedmunities, but it only dyed the massacres¡¯ discovery. If animals detected the danger ahead, experienced sorcerers would certainly do the same.

    And yet¡­ and yet I doubted the vampires would abort their n. The ritual could only take ce on a specific date at the end of a cosmic cycle. The Nightlords were mad enough to rece the <em>sun</em>. They would gamble it all despite the risks of sabotage.

    My eyes turned to the birds fleeing away in panic. They sensed theing of a great disaster. A storm of death that would cleanse thisnd bare.

    Would it im me too? Mother said I couldn¡¯t suffer from my own Curses, but if I set a forest on fire and survived the mes, a copsing tree could still end my life. If the beasts of thend showed such fear, then my counter-ritual would bear devastating consequences for everyone near Smoke Mountain.

    I nested atop a cliff overseeing the region. My location gave me an impable view of Yohuachanca¡¯s hearnd, its capital, and its farnds. My old vige of Acampa looked no bigger than a speck of dust from my rookery. I couldn¡¯t tell how, but I <em>knew </em>all of them would suffer greatly from my actions today. Countless innocents would bear the brunt of my malediction.

    ¡°Well,¡± I told myself. ¡°It has to be done.¡±

    King Mtecuhtli asked for an ocean of blood once. I would shed another if victory required it.

    I had spent the better part of the day cursing thend and the sun would soon set. Before I returned to the pce, however, I focused on my Teyolia and called upon the so-called strongest spell of all.

    ¡°Powerlessness,¡± I whispered. ¡°Open, my Tomb.¡±

    My spirit erupted all around me as my heart unleashed the fear at the root of my heart. The world fluctuated around me; its air, its soil, its very essence bending to my will. Ephemeral images formed around me. The bars of a birdcage built with whispering skulls. Strings of shadows held by invisible hands. Walls of gnashing beaks.

    For a brief instant, these illusions born of my soul threatened toe true. For a second, my will alone determined my reality. s, the images swiftly faded away with a terrible pain striking my heart-fire. The world returned to normal. It had rejected me once again.

    <em>¡°The gate is unlocked, but the ownercks the strength to open it,¡±</em> the wind taunted me.

    As the Lords of Terror warned me, I needed to reinforce my Teyolia with more sun embers before it could sustain my Tomb. A pity. I would have loved to trap the Nightlords in a prison of my own.

    I put these thoughts aside and flew back to my jail. I had done all I could at this point. Now I could only pray that my Haunt and preparations would disrupt the New Fire Ceremony.

    I hoped the true gods would smile on my enterprise.

    I woke up alone.

    I only saw Necahual again when she joined the servants in clothing me. We didn¡¯t exchange a single nce, let alone a word. It would take us both a short time to process our new rtionship and its consequences.

    As expected, word of our union had already spread. Yoloxochitl didn¡¯t hide her joy when she and her sisters weed me back at the temple for the nightly rituals. Her uncanny smile never failed to unsettle me.

    ¡°I am very pleased, my child,¡± she greeted me after lightly kissing me on the cheek. Her lips had all the warmth of lifeless metal. ¡°You have finally taken the steps needed to pass on your blessed lineage.¡±

    ¡°If it pleases you, Mother Yoloxochitl,¡± I replied, ying the part of the obedient son. I nced at the temple, searching for Eztli to check for her reaction. My heart sank when I noticed her sitting on a bench in a daze. Yoloxochitl¡¯s ck blood stained her lips.

    Eztli suffered as much as her mother.

    ¡°However I may dislike that wrench, her womb has borne a purebred daughter once,¡± Yoloxochitl said. I somehow managed to hide my nausea. ¡°It will see that it does so again. Necahual failed to be a mother to you, but she will not fail with your child, I guarantee it.¡±

    A <em>purebred </em>daughter? I squinted at the wording. Did she mean that Eztli was indeed an emperor¡¯s bastard daughter? I assumed the Nightlords would know. Considering their breeding program, they probably kept tabs on all the women who underwent the first night. The doubts about Eztli¡¯s paternity might have been the only reason why she hadn¡¯t been abducted to a temple earlier.

    <em>Purebred¡­</em> I had heard that expression before, but I didn¡¯t recall the context. <em>Purebred</em>.

    A shiver traveled down my spine. I couldn¡¯t exin why yet, but I had the feeling that I had put my finger on a very important detail. That information mattered somehow. Did it rte to the mystery of what happened to the emperors¡¯ sons?

    I had too much on my mind for the moment. I should explore the matter further once I¡¯d foiled the New Fire Ceremony.

    ¡°Enough indolence, sister,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. Her cold eyes settled on me. ¡°The time hase.¡±

    Banishing my suspicions from my mind, I knelt as the Nightlords gathered around me. I avoided their gaze to better fake submission, but I could almost <em>taste </em>their satisfaction. Their cursed me had grown fat on death and sacrifices.

    ¡°At longst, the New Fire Ceremony is upon us, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± the Jaguar Woman dered. ¡°Your efforts shall soon be rewarded.¡±

    ¡°You will observe many rituals tomorrow, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl said. ¡°You shall begin your journey to the top of Smoke Mountain once the night swallows the sun. We shall join you in your ascent.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman forced my chin up with her finger until I met her gaze. ¡°There, once all mes across the empire have been snuffed out, you shall lift the holy me to the sky, light thest and first bonfire, and beckon our dark father to grace us with a new dawn. Do you understand your duty?¡±

    ¡°I do, goddess,¡± I replied, my heart burning with anticipation. ¡°I do.¡±

    Tomorrow, <em>everything </em>would change.

 Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Fire Dawn

    Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Fire Dawn

    The sacred fires died on thest day of the year. All but one.

    For the first time since the Night of the Scarlet Moon, I was allowed to exit the pce under heavy escort. I spent it walking from one city temple to another and extinguishing the mes burning in their hearths with silver bowls of blood and blessed water. By the time the sun began to set beyond the horizon, I had single-handedly deprived the capital of its lights.

    All of the empire¡¯s citizens contributed to the task. Torches, hearths, candles, and all sources of light were put out under the pain of death. However, the purge did not stop at fires. On this fateful day, Yohuachanca¡¯s inhabitants destroyed their most treasured possessions. They tore their favored clothes, broke their furniture, and buried their jewels. Even idols of the Gods-in-Spirit were hurled into the capital¡¯ske to be swallowed by the waves; only the statues dedicated to the Nightlords and the First Emperor would endure. Everything else had to go.

    When a new year would rise upon Yohuachanca, the previous year¡¯s sins would not taint it.

    Or so I had been taught since I learned to speak and listen. Before I learned the <em>lie</em>. Now I hoped that the sins would endure. The Nightlords deserved to pay for their own. The dawn should not absolve anyone.

    As the emperor of the world and chosen representative of the gods,mon dirt could not sully my sacred feet. Henceforth, red-eyed priests carried me around in a luxurious litter of ck wood, cotton cushions, and colorful feathers. I was only allowed to walk in temples and other sanctified ces, and even then servants ced tapestries of cotton onto the floor to prevent my skin from touching the soil.

    Once upon a time, people sent me dark looks when I walked the streets of the capital. Now none dared to nce at my face. Hundreds, if not thousands of citizens flooded the streets to honor my presence. They knelt, bowed, and prayed. Not for me, no, but for what I represented: a prop that would ensure the sun rose tomorrow.

    The empire¡¯s citizens would dly celebrate my death next year. They cared nothing for my suffering or that of the countless people sacrificed at the altars. They would dly close their eyes for illusory prosperity. I recalled all too well how these people acimed my predecessor¡¯s brutal sacrifice.

    Still, I couldn¡¯t muster the strength to hate them. These people had been trained from birth to believe in lies.The sight of a few maguey fiber masks in the crowd caught my eye. Pregnant women and children wore those to protect themselves from evil spirits that might run rampant on the final night. I had yet to see one, but I knew from experience that superstitions never required proof.

    When at longst the sun set for thest time this year, darkness ruled Yohuachanca. Obscurity nketed the empire except for the stars and the moon in the heavens above. All would hold their breath on this final night. All would pray for the new dawn.

    All but me.

    Eztli joined me in my litter and a silent procession took me to Smoke Mountain at nightfall. A group of masked guards and a cohort of red-eyed priests bearing the insignia of all the gods recognized by Yohuachanca escorted me. Tezozomoc walked among them with regal dignity. The rest of the procession included a hundred shirtless professional runners and messengers, each of them carrying carved pine branches. Once I lit the final bonfire, these men would bring back torches blessed by its mes to the sacred temples. A vast ry of messengers would then spread the fire across the entire empire. The citizens of the world would then dance and rejoice at theing of a new sun.

    As was customary, I traveled behind my predecessor¡¯s beheaded corpse, like how the new year followed the old. By now, naught but shriveled bones remained of Nochtli¡¯s mummified husk. The sulfur me burned inside its open chest with a bright eldritch glow. I sensed its insatiable hunger from here. Four masked guards lifted the wood litter bearing the corpse.

    How grim. The walking dead carried the sitting dead.

    Only Eztli, as my consort in charge of religious affairs, was allowed to follow me to Smoke Mountain. She sat at my side with hollow eyes staring into the distance. She did not blink nor move a muscle, and herck of breathing made her look stiff and dead.

    The ritual forbade the entire cohort¡ªemperor included¡ªfrom speaking until we reached Smoke Mountain, and though I dearly desired to break this taboo I had no choice but to behave. I had noticed a few Nightkin flying above us, their jet-ck wings barely visible under the starry sky. The Nightlords no doubt deployed them to ensure nothing and no one would disturb us.

    So I did the best I could do for Eztli: I took her cold hand into mine and squeezed it tightly. Her fingers were stiff and more tense than bowstrings. I waited for her to squeeze back.

    She never did.

    Not even my warmth could offer her anyfort.

    A gloomy silence hung over us from the moment we left the capital. I saw people gathering on the walls and nearby hills, their eyes pointing east to witness the new sun. We passed by my home vige of Acampa. Though I had left it only a few weeks ago, its small houses and farnds had be almost a distant memory to me. My captivity under the Nightlords had felt like a lifetime. I did not relish the thought of spending a full year under their yoke.

    Only when our litter shook slightly did I ponder if my tenure wouldst that long.

    We were halfway to Smoke Mountain when a small tremor hit the road. Itsted a mere few seconds and was hardly strong enough to cause a few men to stumble, but everyone noticed it nheless. My carriers stopped the litter for a brief moment, exchanged worried nces, and then carried on. Their twisted lips showed me how much they struggled not to break the religious silence and share their worries.

    The air grew heavier the closer we approached Smoke Mountain¡¯s base. Even the wind had stopped blowing and would not taunt me. The ominous smell of sulfur and rotten eggs hung over the countryside. Another tremor struck us as we reached our destination; one strong enough to cause one priest to fall to his knees.

    Smoke Mountain being sacred ground meant I could walk on it. Now that we had reached our destination, I immediately broke my pointless vow of silence.

    ¡°What is going on?¡± I asked Tezozomoc, feigning ignorance and confusion. ¡°Why is the ground trembling?¡±

    ¡°The earth holds its breath, Your Majesty,¡± the priest replied, rehearsing empty reassurances as he had been trained to. ¡°The gods are watching you.¡±

    I hoped that they did. I helped Eztli climb down from our litter¡ªthough she did little better than go through the movements¡ªthen checked on my Haunt. The cloud of doom covering thend had only grown thicker since I left. The air choked with gloom and maledictions. So far so good.

    I could only pray my curses would prove stronger than the Nightlords¡¯.

    ¡°Iztac?¡± Eztli whispered at my side, so low I barely heard her. ¡°Who is my mother?¡±

    My spine stiffened. I studied Eztli¡¯s expression. Her skin looked so pale in the dark night, and her gaze so devoid of emotions. A sickness ate at my best friend¡¯s soul.

    ¡°Necahual,¡± I whispered back.

    ¡°Neca¡­ Necahual.¡± Eztli held her forehead as if struggling to recall. ¡°Yes, I¡­ I remember. That¡¯s her name.¡±

    My blood froze and my heart ached. If Yoloxochitl¡¯s ck blood clouded Eztli¡¯s mind to the point that she forgot her own <em>mother¡¯s name</em>, then further exposure might twist her beyond help. I squeezed her hand tighter than ever.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be all over soon,¡± I promised, though I couldn¡¯t guarantee that I could fulfill that oath. ¡°Hang on just a little longer.¡±

    Neither my words nor my warmth reached out to Eztli. She stared east with hollow eyes and soon confessed what I had long suspected.

    ¡°I am waiting for the sun,¡± Eztli admitted.

    <em>Not a sulfur one,</em> I realized. <em>The true sun whose radiance would burn her to ashes.</em>

    ¡°If I forget, Iztac¡­¡± Eztli scowled in utter despair. ¡°If I forget¡­¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t let you,¡± I replied firmly.<em> ¡°</em>I won¡¯t let you die.¡±

    <em>Not again. </em>I refused to entertain the mere idea.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want¡­ I don¡¯t want to forget.¡± Eztli let go of my hand and covered her face with her palms. Was she hiding tears from me? ¡°I don¡¯t want to live¡­ I don¡¯t want to live like <em>this</em>.¡±

    ¡°Eztli, everything will be fine.¡± I held her in my arms and hugged her tightly. I didn¡¯t care for the looks the priests sent us, or the shadows of the Nightkin gliding above our heads. I simply held on to Eztli and let her head rest on my shoulder. ¡°I am here for you. We will get through this. I swear to you, we <em>will </em>get through this.¡±

    For a brief instant, I thought I had finally reached out to Eztli. Her skin remained terribly cold and her dead pulse was like a silent drum, but she allowed herself to hug me back. She decided to trust me.

    Four shadows squashed my hopes.

    My heart hurt at the Nightlords¡¯ approach. The leashes holding my Teyolia hostage tightly reminding me of my own very. Eztli hurriedly repelled me and swiftly wiped away tears of blood, far toote.

    ¡°What torments you, my children?¡± Yoloxochitl asked with the innocence of the mad. ¡°The promised time is at hand.¡±

    ¡°Nothing, Mother,¡± Eztli replied without emotion. The spark of hope I had glimpsed in her a few seconds ago died here and now, much to my sorrow. ¡°Nothing at all.¡±

    My fists curled in powerless anger. The Nightlords surrounded us in an instant, their flesh hidden under the hooded robes they wore on the Night of the Scarlet Moon and the upper part of their faces hidden beneath feathered masks of bloodsoaked wood. The priests knelt ignominiously before their false goddesses, their heads so low as to touch the ground.

    Yoloxochitl responded with a sweet smile then weed Eztli into her dark embrace. The Nightlords¡¯ arms enveloped my consort like a mantle and buried her inside a prison of possessive love and flesh. I suppressed a shiver of disgust as Yoloxochitl kissed Eztli on the neck, half like a daughter and half like a pet.

    Eztli¡¯s face once again began to turn east.

    <em>Soon. </em>I managed to hide my malice behind a facade ofposure. <em>Very soon.</em>

    ¡°Report,¡± the Jaguar Woman ordered, her tall frame looming behind me.

    ¡°The poption of at least three viges around the mountain is missing,¡± Sugey replied. Was that a hint of worry I detected in her voice? ¡°Investigations strongly point to violent massacres.¡±

    It surprised me that they would speak of these matters in the presence of their mortal priests. Arrogance must have ovee their caution with victory so close at hand.

    ¡°Our priests recorded small quakes over thest two days too,¡± Iztacoatl added, her tone more subdued than usual. ¡°I do not know what to make of that aura surrounding the site. It smells of death and cmity.¡±

    ¡°Father¡¯s power overshadows this mountain,¡± the Jaguar Woman noted. ¡°As it should.¡±

    I suppressed a frown of confusion. They mistook my Haunt for the First Emperor¡¯s work? Then again, the Parliament of Skulls shrouded my divine Teyolia from the Nightlords¡¯ sight. Did they somehow manage to obscure my Haunt in a simr way? I wished I had time to confer with them before our departure.

    ¡°My gut tells me something has gone wrong,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t see signs so early.¡±

    ¡°Should we abort then?¡± Sugey asked with a frown.

    The Jaguar Woman would not hear of it. ¡°The power will go to waste if we do. We shall not ruin six centuries of effort on a hunch. We must go through with the ritual.¡±

    Iztacoatl squinted in skepticism. ¡°And what if it <em>fails</em>, oh sister of mine?¡±

    ¡°Then we sweep it up,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied, her tone as cold as ice. ¡°And we try again.¡±

    Her words chilled me to my core. Time meant nothing to the living dead. These monsters would rather wait for another cosmic cycle and threaten the cosmos again than ept failure. My counter-ritual would only bring the world an extra six-hundred years at best, or fifty-two at worst.

    I would not live that long, but a year should be enough to turn my and Eztli¡¯s fate around. I hoped.

    ¡°The ascent must begin, Godspeaker,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. ¡°You will carry your predecessor¡¯s remains to the summit and light the final bonfire.¡±

    I looked at the road upward to Smoke Mountain¡¯s peak. Obscurity nketed the path ahead to the point the starlight hardly touched it. I had not seen darkness so thick since the House of Gloom.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see anything,¡± I replied.

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s smile showcased her shining teeth. ¡°We shall guide thy steps.¡±

    The only path was forward.

    With no other choice, I cradled Nochtli the Fourteen¡¯s remains in my arms. His mummified corpse felt hot to the touch, but its warmth offered me nofort. The sulfur me inside his chest reflected on my skin and bathed me in its malicious light. My heart hurt so much that I thought I would suffer a stroke and fall over. An invisible hand squeezed at it, crushing my lifeforce, smothering my hopes. I couldn¡¯t sustain a spell anymore.

    The corpse felt heavy in spite of its slim frame. Death, fire, and mummification had stripped Nochtli of all flesh save for the bones, but they might as well have been made of stone. The sulfur me¡¯s radiance hardly helped me see the path either. Its foul blue light did not illuminate the darkness, far from it. If anything, it thickened the obscurity.

    The Nightlords, true to their words, guided me forward the way a wave pushed a stone onto the shore. They walked after me as I ascended the sloppy steps towards the summit. Eztli followed shortly after, ahead of the priest''s procession. No one spoke a word.

    Halfway to the summit, as the obscurity worsened, I dared to look away from the path and at the heavens above. An endless sea of ckness stared back at me, unblemished by light.

    The stars had fled the night sky. The crescent moon alone remained, its radiance dimmed by thick shadows.

    It was then, when I faced the death of light itself, that I began to doubt. Had the Haunt failed to halt the Nightlords¡¯ ritual? Had Mother deceived me? Should I throw Nochtli¡¯s corpse down the slope in ast-ditch effort to save the world from a sulfur sun?

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    I sensed a warmth against my chest the moment the thought crossed my mind.

    I mustered the courage to look down at the source of my difort.

    Nochtli¡¯s left hand moved on its own. The corpse¡¯s bony fingers reached for my heart and pressed against my ribcage.

    <em>I am dreaming</em>. I tried to lie to myself and failed.<em> This is a Veil. An illusion.</em>

    I briefly wondered if the Parliament of Skulls somehow influenced the corpse from afar when the hand reached up my neckline. I immediately sensed the grip of its fingers closing on my throat. My skin burned where the bone touched it. Whatever force inhabited Nochtli¡¯s remains was too weak and feeble to choke me, but what itcked in strength it more than made up for in hostility.

    Another man would have probably dropped the corpse in fear and horror. But after all I had gone through I simply looked down at the corpse and red at the baleful me in its chest.

    After confirming the Nightlords couldn¡¯t see anything, I spat into the cursed fire.

    My saliva evaporated long before it reached the hungry me. It didn¡¯t even reach its edge. Still, I immediately sensed a reaction from the fire; a vague sensation of amusement, followed by the hand releasing its grip. Nochtli¡¯s body went limp once more. No trace of its brief awakening remained save for the red marks on my throat.

    Still, I took this brief interaction as a dire warning. More followed soon after. The screeches of the Nightkin first echoed above my head. Swarms of smaller bats erupted from the countryside and swiftly converged on Smoke Mountain, their numbers darkening the half-moon. Millions of these cursed animals gathered in a circle floating above the crater like a halo.

    The closer I approached the crater, the more thendscape twisted. The barren cliffs and jagged ridges surrounding the caldera seemed to twist into obsidian teeth. A tremor sent boulders rolling down the slopes; they crushed a few priests into a bloody paste while miraculously avoiding the vampires and me. Fissures spewed sulfuric fumes and acrid vapors filling my nostrils.

    The road ended as a rift splitting the crater in two. At longst, our final destination appeared before me: a bridge of gravel leading to a great circr tform of carved stone overseeing the crater¡¯s depths. I couldn¡¯t see the magma below the thick nket of smoke covering it, but I sensed its heat rising from below us.

    An immense pyramid of wood stood in the tform¡¯s center, so tall that it loomed over me like a strong old tree towered over an ant. This was the final bonfire of the year. A stone altar shaped like a bed awaited in front of it. I felt Nochtli¡¯s corpse growing heavier the closer I approached it.

    I gathered my breath and invited smoke into my nostrils. The moment of truth hade.

    I finallyy my predecessors¡¯ remains to rest on the stone b. The arms crossed on their own, each of the hands settling on one side of the exposed ribcage. The sulfur me within his chest glowed brighter than any star.

    The Nightlords soon gathered around me. ¡°Cradle the me in your hands, our Godspeaker,¡± the Jaguar Woman ordered, ¡°And light the final bonfire.¡±

    My chained heart skipped a beat. To touch the me would be madness. It had consumed everything that touched it. Wood, stone, bones, flesh¡­ even Sigrun. The cursed fire devoured indiscriminately.

    ¡°How craven,¡± Sugey mocked my hesitation. ¡°What warrior falters so close to victory?¡±

    <em>Why don¡¯t you touch the me yourself then?</em> I thought to myself. The Nightlords feared their creation about as much as they wanted its power.

    Yoloxochitl attempted to reassure me. ¡°The fire shall not harm you, Iztac,¡± she promised me with a soft, almost maternal tone. ¡°You were chosen. You are <em>blessed</em>.¡±

    Blessed by <em>whom</em>?

    I gazed into the sulfur me one final time. A dark orb of ckness pulsated in a sea of baleful blue light: a hungry gullet of darkness inside a maw of fire; the pupil of an eye gazing into my heart as much as I stared into its own. I saw a hatred that transcended my own inside the ring of mes. My own Haunt reverberated its malice, amplifying it, cajoling it.

    I received a vision.

    I couldn¡¯t exin it. An invisible lightning bolt struck my head and filled it with certainty. I knew that the Nightlords would bitterly regret this day forward. A sharp intuition guided the owl-fiend inside me. A voice in the very depths of my soul screamed that a terrible disaster would strike my captors should I proceed any further. Innocents and guilty alike would suffer greatly for it.

    I was about tomit a heinous crime with far-reaching repercussions¡­ and somehow, it felt <em>right</em>. I had the certainty that everything I had done since that fateful night when I refused to y the role of puppet emperor, all the mistakes I had made, all the sacrifices I had paid, had all led up to this moment. A great triumph rested within my grasp, beyond chaos; a true coronation in blood where I would shatter fate¡¯s shackles and shape my own future.

    ¡°Go, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. ¡°Fulfill your destiny.¡±

    Once in a while, a liar might utter a kernel of truth.

    I would indeed fulfill my fate as a catecolotl: to bring forth cmity to the world.

    I fearlessly plunged my hands into Nochtli¡¯s chest. The sulfur me licked my fingers and its fiery fangs tasted my skin, but the evil within did not bite me in a supreme effort of will. Whether it recognized a kindred spirit or sensed the iing disaster did not matter to me. The mes hurt to touch, yet they did not burn me. I excavated the sulfur me from my predecessor¡¯s corpse and held it high above my head. The Nightlords themselves remained speechless before this miracle. The sulfur me which had consumed all that touched it now epted me.

    I held the seed of a cursed sun in the palm of my hands.

    A small part of me wanted to eat it whole, to devour its embers and feast on the power within it until I could make it my own. My sense of caution warned me that such action would cause the sulfur sun to eat me from the inside instead of the other way around, so I held back the tide of my ambition for the sake of my revenge. I stepped toward the bonfire with the calm and steady determination of a victor, before cing the sulfur me on the pyramid.

    The mes spread the moment they touched their throne of wood.

    I stepped back to observe my work. No normal fire would spread half as fast as this one. The sulfur me set the pyramid aze in an instant. The shadow orb at its center gluttonously expanded to consume the entire offering.

    ¡°The me!¡± The priests cried in joy and jubtion behind me, none louder than Tezozomoc himself. ¡°The me! The me!¡±

    I so dearly wanted to throw these snakes into the bonfire. If they worshiped the sulfur me so ardently, then let it consume them. However, I forgave them. They did not know what awaited us.

    The Nightlords gathered around me like vultures around a fresh corpse. Most of them didn¡¯t bother to hide their glee, though Iztacoatl¡¯s scowl showed at least one of them remained wary.

    ¡°At longst,¡± the Jaguar Woman whispered under her breath. ¡°The final pyre shines before us.¡±

    ¡°Whatever happens now, I am proud of you, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl said, her cold dead hands settling on my shoulders and squeezing them in excitement. ¡°You have opened the door to a new dawn.¡±

    ¡°Mother is kind,¡± I replied without meaning any of it.

    I took a moment to nce at the only person in the assembly that I cared for. Eztli stood as far away from the Nightlords as protocol allowed. She alone didn¡¯t stare at the sulfur me with greed or religious zeal. Her lifeless eyes were firmly turned on the horizon and the deliverance beyond it. Her despair sank my good mood.

    ¡°I know what torments my daughter,¡± Yoloxochitl said. ¡°She wishes to see the sun.¡±

    My body tensed up. ¡°The sun, Mother Yoloxochitl?¡±

    ¡°All of us long to conquer it,¡± Yoloxochitl said, utterly missing the point. For a so-called mother, she paid little attention to Eztli¡¯s true feelings. ¡°I have missed it so often on these lonely nights. Since Father¡­¡± Her expression twisted into a grim scowl. ¡°Since Father took it from me.¡±

    I looked over my shoulder at the madwoman. The mask covering most of her face prevented me from seeing much besides her crimson eyes and cruel mouth, but I immediately noticed a peculiar detail: a lonely tear of blood running down the pale wood. Her sorrow, raw and genuine, reminded me of Eztli¡¯s own despair.

    In spite of all she had put us through, for a brief moment I almost found Yoloxochitl pitiful.

    ¡°But thanks to you, we will now dance in the light once more.¡± Yoloxochitl wiped away the tear, her moment of vulnerability squashed by the tide of her ambition. ¡°You truly were the most wonderful of sons.¡±

    <em>I wasn¡¯t made to y the son</em>. I offered Yoloxochitl a small nod then stared back at the pyre. The sulfur me had consumed the pyramid of wood and now grown into an orb of fire the size of a small house. <em>You will learn that soon enough.</em>

    The malevolent light of the unborn Sulfur Sun bathed the entire crater. I sensed its enved power, its bound magic, the might of a being as great as King Mtecuhtli bound by centuries'' worth of sacrifices and devotion. The Nightlords¡¯ wish for a subjugated world made manifest.

    My Haunt resonated with it. Its cmitous power was a paltry shadow of the Sulfur Sun¡¯s overwhelming radiance, but a small defect could quickly ripen into a greater disaster. A small crack opening in a wall. A tiny fissure spreading under a seemingly stable house. So did my trap manifest as it closed its jaws.

    Whether it was the time or location, but in that moment where the cosmos stumbled, I found myself in tune with forces greater than myself. I breathed the fumes of destruction and danced on fragile ground bound to ruin.

    The gods shaped the world from primordial chaos. They weaved the threads of existence, raised the earth from the sea, sowed the seeds of life, and put the sun in the sky. All things in this universe served a purpose in the tapestry of their creation.

    But I was the catecolotl, the owl-fiend, bringer of sickness and misfortune. I existed outside the graces of the gods, true and false. My purpose was to tear down the work of the powerful, to break their chains and ruin their glory.

    This was <em>my </em>time.

    The Sulfur Sun ascended upward to the heavens. The priests and runners bowed and knelt in awe of this miracle. Its light did not burn the vampires where they stood. Instead, they acimed its rise. The Nightkin flying in the skies screeched in triumph, and their mistresses allowed themselves to smile in jubtion.

    ¡°Yes, foolish father.¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s eyes burned with greed and malice. ¡°Raise your me to the heavens so we may never go hungry again! All shall worship us under the light of a Sulfur Sun!¡±

    Were I not connected to my Haunt, I would have panicked. Instead, I patiently waited for the vampires¡¯ celebrations to reach their apex, the moment when their hopes would turn to ashes.

    Then I snatched the Nightlords¡¯ defeat from the jaws of their victory.

    I heard it, in my heart and in my soul. The snap of a string stretched too far. The crack of a bridge copsing under its weight. The unlocking of a sealed door that should <em>never </em>have been opened. The ominous warning that preceded the copse.

    Over six centuries of metaphysical weight copsed in an instant. The fragile equilibrium inside the Sulfur Sun wavered, the ck orb at its center expanding to swallow the ring of fire imprisoning it. Darkness conquered the light. Once the ckened core had devoured thest speck of me, it suddenly shrank into nothingness.

    The Sulfur Sun died with a whimper. No trace of its existence remained, save the shocked silence of its worshipers.

    I allowed myself a quick nce at the Nightlords and savored their expression. Yoloxochitl¡¯s hope had turned into bitter despair. Sugey stared at the spot where the Sulfur Sun ended its ascent with a nk look. Iztacoatl remained ominously silent.

    Most delicious of all was the Jaguar Woman¡¯s expression: a delightful mix of impotent rage and shocked disbelief. She was too surprised for true anger.

    I almost threatened to smile when my joy swiftly turned to dread.

    It began with a sharp pain in my chest. The chains holding my heart had briefly loosened their grip, only for a chilling cold to fill my chest in their ce.

    Yoloxochitl sensed its approach before me. Her shaking nails sank into my shoulders so deep that they reached past the skin. My divine blood should have burned bright, but it turned to ice the moment it escaped my veins. The feeble light inside me could not shine in the presence of <em>true </em>darkness.

    Foulness crawled its way inside my heart right after the rush of victory passed. A Tonalli of <em>immense </em>power and malevolence overshadowed the entire mountain. The very essence of ravenous hunger and insatiable evil filled the air. My Haunt, my greatest achievement as a sorcerer, was swept aside. An invisible presence drank my curses and stole the world¡¯s warmth.

    The priests and runners copsed on the tform. From Tezozomoc to the youngest and fittest messenger, all fell at once with a quiet sound. Their skin turned into a pallid shade of blue and their flesh shriveled.

    My eyes lingered on Tezozomoc, whose final expression was forever frozen in a morbid expression of shock and surprise. He hadn¡¯t seen his deathing. It simply <em>happened</em>. The living were alive one instant and dead the next, their existence snuffed out like candles.

    I alone was spared. For now.

    Everyone knew. The silent Nightkins, the shaking Nightlords, my faltering self, we all knew. The worst that could have happened, <em>happened</em>.

    ¡°He is out¡­¡± Yoloxochitl¡¯s hands trembled in fear, her voice wavering in abject terror. I sensed her transform back into her true abominable form, not as a show of strength, but as a desperate attempt to frighten the predator quickly emerging from itsir. ¡°He is out, he is out, he is <em>out¡­</em>¡±

    The chains binding the emperors to their fate had briefly loosened.

    <em>All of them.</em>

    ¡°The seal is breached!¡± I heard the Jaguar Woman snarl behind me. I heard a sound simr to the one Nl made when her skin grew fur upon transforming, so I assumed the Nightlord had adopted her true nightmarish shape; I was too shaken to look back and confirm it. ¡°Focus, my sisters! Bind the chains before¨C¡±

    The crater¡¯s smoke lifted to make way for evil itself.

    The true sun did not rise. Dawn should have peeked beyond the horizon by now. It did not. A mantle of imprable darkness nketed the earth and sky in its ck embrace.

    The crescent moon had turned sideways¡­ or at least, I <em>thought </em>it was the moon, until I saw the ck spikes closing on its edges into a twisted parody of a smirk.

    <em>Teeth</em>.

    The night had <em>teeth</em>, and it was <em>smiling</em> at us.

    My mind burned inside my head when I looked at it. My skull threatened to split open as I struggled to fathom what I was looking at. Blood poured from my eyes and tainted my vision red.

    Though I had consumed a dead sun¡¯s embers, I remained a mere human in the end, unfit to stare at a god¡¯s countenance. King Mtecuhtli and his queen had made the effort not to hurt me, for death was cold but never cruel.

    The First Emperor Yohuachanca showed me no such kindness.

    His chained spirit manifested in a form my mind could not fully grasp. A bat-shaped wound in the cosmos¡¯ skin bled rotting miasma and darkness into the crater, centered around an eyeless maw full of teeth and rage. A colossal hand of ck smoke surged from the nothingness and passed over me. I was an ant crawling among a buffet of meat, too small for consumption.

    Yoloxochitl¡¯s true form towered over me like an old hill over a house, butpared to the hand that seized her, she might have well been a child¡¯s doll. A monstrous force lifted her above me and dragged her into the hungry night. A mountain of primal darkness opened its hungry maw of obsidian teeth.

    M?????????????????y???????????????????????????? ????????????g???????????????u?????l?????????l????????????e???????????????????t????????? ???????s?????????????????w????????a???????????????l?????????????l?????????????????????????o?????????????????w??????????????????????????s??????????????????????? ??????????????????a??????????????l???????????????????????l????????.

    ¡°Father, please¡­¡± Yoloxochitl begged and cried tears of blood. Her abominable vegetal form, which had frightened me to my core, shrank in the face of a far greater evil. ¡°Please, I beg of you¡­ Father¡­ Father, please¡­¡±

    E????????????????????v?????????????????????????????e????????????????????n???????????????????????? ???????????????????????s??????????????????????c????????????????r???????????????e??????????????????????????a????????????????????????m???????????????s?????????????????????.??????????????????????

    The father devoured his daughter before my eyes.

    It had taken two bites for Yoloxochitl to eat my guards the night she revealed her true form to me, but the First Emperor proved far more voracious. His maw only needed one bite to consume a Nightlord whole.

    His fangs gnashed her flesh and pounded Yoloxochitl¡¯s bones into a fine paste. She cried and screamed all the way into his gullet, and her thick ck blood sttered all over me. It stuck to my skin like hot tar yet it felt colder than winter¡¯s waters. I heard Iztacoatl shrieking in fear behind, Sugey roaring in anger, and the Jaguar Woman barking panicked orders, but I was too terrified to care.

    I was too frightened to <em>move</em>.

    Yoloxochitl cried. She cried and screamed like a frightened child in the face of death, until she didn¡¯t. A gulping noise mightier than any quake silenced her forever. The maw spat her cold ck blood at me, the same way I had spat into the sulfur me earlier. My skin and robes were anointed in death.

    Then came the sweet kiss of freedom.

    A pressure tightened on my chest before vanishing in an instant. One of the four leashes binding my soul shattered with the demise of its owner. An invisible burden was suddenly lightened.

    She was dead.

    Yoloxochitl was dead, <em>dead</em>, <em><strong>dead</strong></em>.

    Tears ran down my cheeks, far too warm to be from fear. Tears of joy and happiness.

    I cried even as the hands of darkness rampaged around me, snatching fleeing Nightkin out of the sky for the maw to consume in its indiscriminate hunger. I saw the glimpses of great and terrifying beasts rush from behind me to wage war on their wicked sire: the shadow of a great bird, the blur of a jaguar on the hunt, and a serpentine shape with great wings. The three came together to avenge the fourth and protect their own unlives.

    I hardly paid attention nor cared for the battle¡¯s oue. I was too frightened to move, yet too happy to care. I basked in the blissful chaos, in the dark joy of the cruelest victory.

    The banquet of death ended before it could truly begin. The remaining Nightlords pulled at the leash of my soul and dragged their Dark Father¡¯s spirit back into his prison, wherever it might be. The maw devoured itself, but the harm was done. One of the four locks was gone forever, the door to destruction never closing as tightly as it once did.

    The seal mmed shut with an earthquake.

    The ground trembled beneath my feet. The warmth of the crater returned stronger than ever. Red light surged from the earth¡¯s depths, the boiling blood of thend roaring to its surface. Smoke Mountain, the birthce of the world, stirred in anger at those who sought to enve it.

    Strong ws closed on my shoulders and lifted me above the ground. My feet dangled above the ground and swirling fumes. The sudden change in scenery snapped me out of my daze and caused me to look up at my savior.

    Eztli.

    She had grown bat wings out of her arms and talons out of her feet, but she looked happier than I had ever seen her. She was crying tears of blood too. Tears of joy and relief at her newfound freedom.

    The vampires and bats fled the crater in a hurry. Though I couldn¡¯t see them, I knew the three surviving Nightlords were among them; their chains still bound me. Eztli carried me above the countryside right in time for the explosive finale.

    Smoke Mountain erupted in fire and fury.

    Its roar boomed like a war horn. A wave of hot air and dust spread across all of Yohuachanca, uprooting trees, splitting the earth, and sweeping some of Yoloxochitl¡¯s blood off my robes. Smoke Mountain vomited up a column of smoke that wouldn¡¯t disgrace locan¡¯s raging volcanoes. It rained ashes and stones upon thend, while magma poured out of its caldera like blood spilling out of a wound. It would descend upon the countryside, setting forests on fire, destroying viges, and boiling rivers.

    The dawn, atst, threatened to rise beyond the horizon; a red dawn of fire and devastation. I stared at the cataclysm I had unleashed, at the empire I had cursed, at thend I had condemned to the mes.

    I gazed upon my work and Iughed. I <emughed </em>until my throat started to hurt.

    Smoke Mountain¡¯s roar echoed my own dark joy. Fire rained down from the sky in great arrows of ming stones that set forests aze. A sea of pyrostic smoke flowed down the slope, burying viges and my cursed sins with them. Thend itself cried from the ze of my revenge!

    I had shattered the empire and buried its corpse under a tide of smoke!

    ¡°Wonderful¡­ absolutely <em>wonderful¡­</em>¡± I whispered under my breath, before screaming my triumphs to the heavens. ¡°I am the fire dawn! I am one with destion!¡±

    The Nightlords had prophesied that my reign would herald an age of blood and darkness for the empire.

    They were right.

 Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Rattling House

    Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Rattling House

    I had cursed thend and unleashed its fury.

    Smoke Mountain¡¯s anger rippled across the empire in a roar of fire. Its breath of smoke obscured the sky for leagues upon leagues, obscuring the dawn itself. Gray ashes rained down upon the world¡¯s forests and set the grasnds aze. The zing blood of the earth spilled from the mountain, burning the ughtered viges and burying my sins under a tide of molten rock. The ground trembled until hills copsed into piles of dust swept by the chaotic winds.

    <em>¡°Death,¡±</em> they whispered into my ear.<em> ¡°Death to the young and the old. Death to the faithful and the faithless. Death to the rich and the poor. Death to all.¡±</em>

    Many would die in theing cataclysm, but though it might sound callous I was too happy with my work to care. The entire empire shall bear witness to Smoke Mountain¡¯s wrath, but its mes would not reach the capital. Already its magma was cooling inside Yohuachanca¡¯s many rivers. The few people I cared about¡ªIngrid, Chikal, Nl, even Necahual¡ªwould survive the disaster.

    I knew I had sentenced thousands to death and destruction, but earned a prize worthy of its ghastly cost: a Nightlord¡¯s head.

    Yoloxochitl was dead. I had killed her.

    It wasn¡¯t my hand that did the deed, but it was my will that brought it forth. I hadid the stage for the madwoman¡¯s demise. She had loved me and I had killed her. I had shattered her hold over my soul, freed Eztli from her control, and taken the first step towards securing my own freedom. I had buried a ghost that lingered among the living for too many centuries and ruined her sisters¡¯ chance at godhood.

    I couldn¡¯t put into words the sheer sense of <em>jubtion </em>that coursed through my veins.

    The Nightlords had ruled Yohuachanca with a steady grip for centuries, conquering nations, ughtering millions, and lording over all from their obsidian thrones. Hundreds of generations of emperors had failed to dent their power. I alone, guided by the vengeful grudges of the dead, had seeded in this glorious task. I had wrestled a piece of our freedom from these undying abominations!¡°You are avenged, my predecessors,¡± I whispered under my breath. ¡°I shall free you all.¡±

    Although I expected great difficulties, I was full of hope for the future. The Nightlords¡¯ destruction no longer seemed like an impossibility, but an inevitability. I would destroy them all. I <em>knew </em>it.

    Eztli carried me south of the capital into the countryside,nding near a cave that had withstood the quakes and tremors. We made love the moment we touched the ground. Eztli threw herself at me, wet and willing, her wings and talons turning into slim arms and thin legs. The ash on her skin warmed it to the touch. For a moment, Eztli felt alive in my embrace. I took her on a warm rock while Smoke Mountain raged before our eyes. We celebrated amidst the chaos and the pain, high on the fumes of freedom and victory.

    ¡°I love you,¡± Eztli whispered into my ear, sweetly and sincerely. Her Teyolia was gone, with naught but darkness in its ce, and yet I felt warmth nheless. She meant every word. Not even the vampire curse could take her feelings away.

    With Yoloxochitl¡¯s shadow lifted from her mind, Eztli gave all of herself to me. She had no inner me for mine to connect with, but still our union brought me more pleasure than any spell or Seidr ritual. I felt strong, and loved, and <em>powerful</em>.

    I felt <em>whole</em>.

    ¡°I love you,¡± I replied, holding back the fire within my loins. My body fluids carried the power of a dead sun; poison to vampires. I doubted it would destroy Eztli, but it would be unpleasant to her. ¡°This will hurt.¡±

    ¡°Pain is good, Iztac,¡± she replied fearlessly, her head resting on my shoulder. ¡°Pain is life.¡±

    I ceased to hold back and saw stars. Eztli grunted in pain and pleasure beneath me, faint smoke rising from between her thighs. I half-expected her to burn between my arms. Instead, she smiled and kissed me with lips warmer than Smoke Mountain.

    ¡°Are you well?¡± I asked her once my mind cleared.

    ¡°My insides are on fire,¡± Eztli confessed with a chuckle. ¡°And I wouldn¡¯t trade it for the world.¡±

    I carried her into the darkness of the cave, away from the smoke clouds. The sunlight would pierce through them sooner orter. Wey among the stones and foundfort in each other¡¯s arms, satisfied, and content.

    ¡°Thank you, Iztac,¡± Eztli said, her breasts softly resting on my chest. ¡°You¡¯ve freed me.¡±

    She was freed, yes. I wasn¡¯t. The other three Nightlords still lingered in this ruinednd, their curse binding my heart to their will. They would pull my leash soon. Their anger would know no bounds, and though I had taken steps to divert suspicions away from myself, I understood all too well things would only grow more difficult from now on. I had shattered the sisters¡¯ illusion of invincibility. Now that I reminded the Nightlords of their mortality, they would keep their guard up.

    ¡°You should flee while you still can,¡± I suggested. ¡°With Yoloxochitl gone, her sisters should have no way of tracking you. They will be too distracted by the chaos to seed even if they try.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t run without you, nor Mother.¡± Eztli smiled in delight upon whispering thatst word. She could finally speak her mind without Yoloxochitl¡¯s vile grasp obscuring her thoughts. ¡°I would like to free the other consorts too, if possible.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡± I stroked her soot-tainted hair. So soft and silky¡­ ¡°They will find us within days, maybe even hours. They might even suspect us of foul y.¡±

    ¡°We will lie,¡± Eztli replied with a smile. ¡°I will say that we hid from the eruption and I calmed you down while you were panicking.¡±

    ¡°You did.¡± I squeezed her closer to me. ¡°I could stay here with you forever.¡±

    ¡°As could I,¡± Eztli replied before caressing my cheek. ¡°But you should rest. You will need all your strength.¡±

    Yes, I would. I hadn¡¯t slept in over two nights, and my body grew weary from exhaustion. I rested my head on Eztli¡¯s breasts as if they were a pillow, her hand gently moving up my skull to soothe me to sleep. It didn¡¯t take long. I was too happy and satisfied to stay awake.

    I closed my eyes to the tune of Smoke Mountain¡¯s bellowing growls.

    The dark walls of Xibalba encircled me from all sides.

    I recalled that Ist woke up from my sleep in the House of Gloom, the darkir of the oldest Lords of Terror. Instead of ake of intestines, I now found myself on a crossroad of chalky stones and misty doors. No ceiling stood above my head. A pale empty sky stretched far and wide above me instead. Xibalba¡¯s pyramid stood alone and silent to the north, a ckndmark in a sea of gray.

    I was alone with my thoughts. The streets were as empty as the Nightlords¡¯ future. Yet I still felt watched from all directions.

    I nced at my surroundings. Four stony archways encircled me, one for each cardinal direction; a dense purple miasma obscured anything beyond their thresholds. The sight of it reminded me of the cursed fog I¡¯d encountered in M a while ago, but thicker and more sinister. These mists had all the sweetness of rotten corpses.

    I immediately activated the Gaze spell to peer through them. My sun-powered sight detected the vile magic in the air, but failed to clear up the fog. My sorcery pierced through illusions, not matter. This meant that the miasma was a physical phenomenon.

    When I entered this cursed city, Mother warned that most pathways would take me to another House of the Lords of Terror. One door alone would lead me to her sanctuary somewhere in the city. I examined the archways for any distinctive signs and found nothing. All of them showed the same smooth, featureless exterior, though one did point north and at Xibalba¡¯s ck pyramid.

    Did I need to pick a door at all? When I looked up at the sky, I wondered what would prevent me from simply flying to the ck pyramid or over to the next street. I expected some kind of barrier or attack if I tried, but I figured that it might also be a test of some kind; to see if I would pick a risky potential exit over the obvious options presented to me.

    With my mind set on the task, I shapeshifted into my owl form and flew upward. The city¡¯s walls immediately started to rise to match my ascent. Roofs always remained a few feet above my beak. It was especially infuriating: I was close enough to peek over them with another p of my wings, but never managed to reach that point.

    When I looked down at the ground, I realized that hardly a few feet separated me from it. I had flown high enough to reach Smoke Mountain¡¯s summit and failed to advance at all. The fact my Gaze spell couldn¡¯t see anything wrong meant that this was no illusion.

    The city itself bent reality to keep me trapped within its confines.

    ¡°Very well,¡± I said uponnding back on the crossroad and transforming back into a man. ¡°I shall y by your rules.¡±

    After a moment¡¯s consideration, I decided to walk through the northern doorway. None of the doors had any other feature that might indicate whether they would bring me to a sanctuary or a trap. At least this one pointed to andmark.

    I felt no fear when I walked into the mists. Yoloxochitl¡¯s death had filled me with strength and hope. Now that I had tasted victory, now that I knew I could seed in my quest to destroy the Nightlords, I would dly meet all obstacles.

    My victory now seemed inevitable.

    The miasma enveloped me in its embrace as I waded through its thick haze. Soon even my Gaze failed to see a foot away from my face. The fog gently weed me like an old friend returning home. The same feeling of familiarity that struck me when I firstid eyes upon Xibalba returned. The totem within me guided my steps as if I were a chick returning to the roost.

    The floor grew colder beneath my feet, and softer too. The stone changed into something freezing to the touch, yet more fragile than dust. I sensed the very fabric of the world shift around me beyond the reach of my eyes. I immediately realized I had taken a wrong turn. Something deep within me screamed at me to turn back, that I had stepped into the halls of a dangerous force and that I should flee with my tail between my legs.

    It was far toote.

    A strong gust of wind blew the mist away, and the bitter cold followed in its wake.

    The change in temperature was so brutal that I thought I had caught fire. A wave of frost cold enough to freeze the heart struck my skin in an instant, flensing it with greater cruelty than any me. Sharp ice¡ªthe kind I had only seen once in the cruelest winter of my youth¡ªscarred my chest worse than any obsidian splinters ever could.

    I grunted in pain, but my breath turned to mist within my mouth. My lips were sealed shut by the cold and my fingers turned so brittle I feared they would break if I tried to clench my fists. I instinctively turned into an owl and wrapped myself in a cloak of ck feathers, but even my plumage offered me little protection against a cold that could shatter gold. The fire of my soul alone provided a meager measure of heat. I stared at the whiteness ahead of me and finally realized whaty beneath my talons.

    Snow. Snow everywhere.

    An immactendscape stretched before me under a pitch-ck sky, devoid of life and stars; a dead desertrger than anything the city of Xibalba could contain in its nightmarish streets. Mountains of razor-sharp ice rose across the horizon like a great beast¡¯s teeth. A dreadful and cruel wind swept these icy ins, its power so great I couldn¡¯t even p my wings before being pushed backward. And as I stumbled, I took a glimpse at the ground and saw what the snow buried under me.

    People screamed beneath my feet.

    Dozens, if not hundreds, of naked humans stared back at me from below the ice that held them trapped, their expressions forever frozen in a final wail of utter terror. The blizzard had entombed them, and I would soon join this grave if I couldn¡¯t find shelter.

    <em>Damn it</em>, I tried to mutter my breath, but my frozen beak wouldn¡¯t open right.<em> I need to find a cave! Warmth!</em>

    My first action was to <em>move</em>, to walk, to p my wings before the ice could bury me alive. I shedyers of snow building up on my feathers. My talons hurt when they touched the snow, the appendages so frozen I couldn¡¯t bend them.

    Much had been written about fire¡¯s ravenous hunger, but now I realized that the cold was ten times more cruel. I felt like a condemned man walking through a hallway of des, the chilling frost delicately ying my skin. Nothing could stop its deadly kiss. The cold reached all the way to my flesh and bones, turning them so brittle I heard cracks inside my own legs and shoulders.

    The cold was <em>merciless</em>.

    But where should I go? Everywhere around me I could only see ice and snow. My Gaze spell unveiled the cloak of darkness that covered these windswept ins, but I couldn¡¯t see any cave nor house that would protect me. Already I felt the ice crawling up my talons.

    <em>I can¡¯t stop, </em>I told myself, pushing through the numbness and frostbite, shedding pieces of ice forming on my plumage. It didn¡¯t matter where I went, so long as I <em>moved</em>.<em> I haven¡¯t outlived Yoloxochitl to die here!</em>

    The sky thundered. Lightning coursed through the darkness above and danced among thick ck clouds. As if the blizzard wasn¡¯t enough.

    Still, the shes of light let me see my surroundings more clearly. I crawled in a sea of snow and through forests of icy spikes. Frozen corpses were impaled on their tips, their blood ckened by the profane chill. The remains of decrepit huts and hovels littered thendscape. Were they mere props created by this domain¡¯s Lords of Terror or the remnants of forgotten households dragged into the Underworld? The ice had preserved their ruins either way.

    Shelter. Shelter atst.

    I frantically rushed towards the closest hut. Snowfall had almost buried it under its weight, sealing the windows and freezing the wooden door with ayer of ice. I hit it with my shoulder in an attempt to break it open. I heard the cracks, the delightful sound of hope, of the promise of a fragile sanctuary.

    The ground snatched it all away.

    A strong tremor threw me off my feet and into the snow. It rocked thendscape with a roar, shattering the frame of wood that held the shack in ce. The building copsed in front of my eyes with a quiet whimper, its roof falling into a pile of ice and broken wood. The other huts followed suit. Their walls crumbled to splinters until nothing remained but ttened ruins.

    <em>No, no, no. </em>I frantically attempt to salvage the wood with my talons, vainly hoping I could somehow put the shack back together.<em> No, no, no!</em>

    Should I set the wood on fire for warmth? With what? I searched for a stone or some flint to warm up the wood. I found only ice.

    The lightning mocked my efforts with a thundering boom.

    I jumped in ce when the heavens¡¯ wrath struck the earth below; or rather, one of the corpses impaled on the icy spikes nearby. The flesh caught fire in a burst of light, the flensed skin burning like a candle.

    I immediately rushed towards the warmth like a moth into the fire, only to copse under my weight. A sharp yet strangely numbed pain coursed through my left foot. One of my talons no longer responded to my will.

    When I dared to look at it, I found it lying in the snow a few feet behind me.

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    It didn¡¯t bleed, nor leave a trace back to the talon from which it came. The cold had turned my flesh so brittle, my blood so solid, that the wrong step had cost me a toe.

    With no time to waste, I stumbled my way to the corpse candle. To my horror, the spike¡¯s tip had begun to melt under the heat and drip freezing waters onto the me. I barely had time to feel the fire¡¯s warmth before it went out.

    Leaving me alone in the cold once more.

    I copsed to my knees, unable to sense blood flowing in my legs. The thunder raged above my head and the winds battered against my feathers. By then, I struggled to move my own head. I still forced myself, my neck hurt so much I worried it might break off like my finger, until I gazed defiantly at the sky above.

    The dark thunderclouds had gathered in the shape of a skull looking down on me. Its eyes vomited lightning and its mouth breathed icy winds.

    <em>¡°Man does not fight the world,¡± </em>the storm bellowed with the strength of a thousand cataclysms. <em>¡°Man survives it. Dams break. Houses copse. The waves swallow cities. It takes mortals centuries to build armors of lies¡­ and a second for nature to take it all away.¡±</em>

    I red defiantly at the storm of vengeance above my head. I was frozen and half-buried in snow, a terrible chill threatening to extinguish the me of my heart. I had survived the Nightlords¡¯ ritual, their sire¡¯s brief escape, and Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption, and here I threatened to perish from the cold¡¯s kiss?

    Was that my lesson? That for all my pride and cunning in plotting a Nightlord¡¯s death, I was powerless to fight nature¡¯s wrath? I supposed I should find a measure of humility in it. I had let the thrill of victory go to my head. The cold winds reminded me starkly that while I had set the stage for Yoloxochitl¡¯s demise, it was her divine father who did the deed. I still had a long way to go to kill a Nightlord by myself.

    But in the face of nature¡¯s wrath, I could only say one thing.

    ¡°Do¡­¡± I struggled against the ice holding my beak shut, until I finally broke it through with spite¡¯s strength alone. ¡°Do¡­ your¡­ worst¡­¡±

    I hadn¡¯t bent the knee before a god, so why should I surrender to a storm?

    The cloudsughed sinisterly at me. A strong gust of wind cleared the sky and unveiled a light on the horizon. With no other choice and my bravery intact, I crawled towards it. I used the Doll spell to force my own icy flesh to move, puppeteering my weakened legs and frozen wings.

    A single house appeared before me.

    From the outside, it appeared as a cozy little cottage with a strong, old wood fa?ade. A ceiling of beastly furs¡ªthose of jaguars, mas, and wolves¡ªinsted it from the terrible cold. Its obsidian windows alone showed lighting from inside its confines.

    My Gaze saw the ce for what it was though.

    Beneath the mor and the cloak of powerful illusions, the cottage was a gruesome house with walls of twisted bones and pirs of skulls supporting their weight; a sight not so different from my predecessors¡¯ remains. The decrepit roof was still made of tanned skin, but furless, pinkish¡­ <em>human</em>.

    Nothing about this ce screamed shelter to me. But the warmth¡­ I felt the smooth, inviting warmth of a cookfire from inside its confines, so strong the cold wind recoiled from it.

    ¡°Come in, dear,e in,¡± a female voice called out from behind a door of calcified flesh with a frame of weathered bones. It sounded old, almost kind. ¡°You¡¯re just in time for dinner.¡±

    I stood before a trap¡¯s jaw. Whatever dwelt within this house used the promise of warmth as a lure to tempt the unwary. Out of the frying pan, into the fire; or in this case, the bitter cold.

    s, I had no other recourse to protect myself from the elements. No doubt another test awaited me past the threshold. I shifted back into the form of a man and raised a frozen hand at the bone doorknob. It unlocked on its own and invited me to enter. I stepped inside, the door closing behind me.

    The house appeared quite rustic from the inside, if gruesome. It reminded me of my old home in Acampa, if everything inside had been built from carved bones and cartge rather than stone and wood. The ce¡¯s warmth at least was no illusion. A sturdy hearth sat in the middle of the room, its frame overshadowed by fossilized bone pirs. A bronze cauldron stewed among the mes.

    An old woman awaited me behind a cartge table set up for dinner. She looked ancient and wizened, with frail hands, wrinkles, and tangled gray hair bound into a bun by a bone needle. A kind smile stretched under her milky white eyes. She dressed inly, her leather robes showcasing her lithe and gaunt frame.

    All in all, she looked human.

    That itself was cause for rm, for I was staring at her with the Gaze spell. My magic sessfully pierced through a true goddess¡¯ illusions, yet failed to pick up anything odd about this crone. She radiated a sorceress¡¯ magic, but hid no horns nor ws beneath her robes. Her in, ordinary form was no trickery.

    ¡°Wee, dear,¡± she greeted me with a gentle grandmother¡¯s expression. She briefly gestured at a chair to her left. ¡°Please make yourself at home.¡±

    I checked the table with my Gaze. A series of dishes were set under the pale light of a candle set. I noticed strange balls of flesh, a sausage, stuffed livers, and roasted ribs. No fruit nor vegetable sat among them. The chair didn¡¯t appear trapped either. I couldn¡¯t see any trap door beneath it, or needle hidden in the wood frame. A stitched leather nket rested on the seat.

    ¡°Dear, what is wrong? Does the nket bother you?¡± the woman asked with a curious look.

    ¡°My poor little bird, I brought it to warm you up. You¡¯re shivering, nay, shaking like an old tree.¡±

    ¡°Is it cursed?¡± I rasped, the house¡¯s warmth freeing frozen lips. ¡°Poisoned?¡±

    ¡°Why would it be? It is a nket, nothing more.¡± She shook her head in amusement. ¡°My poor child, do I frighten you so much?¡±

    ¡°You are a Lord of Terror.¡± I was convinced of it now. ¡°I¡¯vee straight from the House of Gloom, so forgive me if I expect a painful test of some sort.¡±

    The old woman¡¯s smile widened, unveiling her pristine white teeth.

    ¡°Oh sweetie,¡± she said with a sly cackle. ¡°You passed my test a <em>looooong </em>time ago.¡±

    Somehow, that sentence sounded more ominous than all of Smoke Mountain¡¯s roars and tremors.

    ¡°As for my brother, Chamiabac, you braved his ordeal by entering my house,¡± she continued. ¡°He usually puts supplicants through a harsher gauntlet of blizzards and hailstorms, but you have earned his favor the way no other human did before you. Even your mother struggled quite a bit with that one.¡±

    ¡°Is that¡­ is that so?¡± I rasped. Favor? I did not believe her. A nce at my foot and the missing toe in its midst more than attested to the Lord of Terror¡¯s cruelty. ¡°It didn¡¯t feel that way¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh believe me, he could have taken far more than just a toe.¡± The old crone winked at me. ¡°Chamiabac was born from the fear of nature, of crumbling earth, storms and falling hail. He is the fear of the world itself¡­ of forces outside of man¡¯s control. You have fed him well today with that eruption of yours, dear. I suppose he has decided to cut you some ck.¡±

    Somehow, the fact that an ancient demon would look well enough on my work to show me leniency felt almost shameful. Almost. I wouldn¡¯t spit on anything that would make my task easier.

    Still, I did not lower my guard. I¡¯d be a fool to take the old hag at her word. For all I knew, she was lulling me into a false sense of security before striking. I sat on the chair and put the nket over me. The crone had been correct about one thing: I was shivering. My own fingers had grown so numb I could hardly feel their presence anymore.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± I inquired. If I could learn what terror the crone represented, I would have an easier time dealing with her. From her appearance and the old bones, I assumed she embodied the fear of time or something close.

    ¡°Oh dear, you know me. I have been with you since the moment your mother firstid her blue eyes upon you. I¡¯m the third oldest in the family, <em>Chamiaholom</em>.¡± The crone let out a small chuckle. ¡°If you insist on a test, how about you find out what fear I represent? You are a clever child. You will figure it out.¡±

    My host presented me with a drink and a te. I immediately recognized the thick, viscous red liquid in the cup. As for the food, a set of roasted ribs, it appeared both appetizing and strangely disgusting. A dark part of my mind had a nagging suspicion about its origin.

    ¡°What kind of meat is this?¡± I dared to ask.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know?¡± The old crone took a mouthful of flesh balls and sipped her own drink. ¡°You brought it yourself.¡±

    A chill traveled down my spine. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Of course you do, sweetie, you just don¡¯t want to ept it yet.¡± Chamiaholom grinned kindly at me, a piece of flesh stuck between her teeth. ¡°It¡¯s fine, dear. Don¡¯t force yourself to eat if you aren¡¯t hungry. There¡¯s always more where he came from.¡±

    <em>He</em>. Not <em>it</em>. I nced at the sausage and suppressed a wave of nausea. I now understood where the fleshy balls came from. My host noticed my disgust and attempted to <em>¡®reassure¡¯</em> me.

    ¡°He would thank you if he could,¡± Chamiaholom said as she moved on to the <em>sausage</em>. She did not blink when she bit into its soft, silky flesh. ¡°Most won¡¯t admit it, but there¡¯s a submissive pleasure about being eaten by another. Death is always a solitary experience, but one struggles to devour oneself alone. The act of cannibalism is the truest expression of <emmunity</em>. A man and a woman can make love a thousand times, but they can only devour the other once.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± I cleared my throat, my hands gripping the nket. ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Of course you do. Death is too often purposeless and devoid of sense. Death by consumption gives meaning to pointless lives.¡± After finishing her current meal, Chamiaholom moved on to what I assume used to be fileted lungs. ¡°I let nothing go to waste.¡±

    My eyes lingered on the walls of bones, on the roof of skin, and on the burning candles. Now that I examined them closely, they reminded me more of soap than beeswax. Of <em>fat</em>.

    ¡°Who¡­¡± My skin itched beneath my nket. Itsforting warmth suddenly felt unbearable. ¡°Who did this nkete from?¡±

    ¡°I sewed it with the skins of yed virgins,¡± the old crone replied with a mischievous wink. ¡°They never offered their warmth to a man in life, but betterte than never I always say.¡±

    I shrank into my seat. My first thought was to throw the ghastly nket away into the cookfire, but I felt so cold and it gave me such warmth¡­

    <em>They are already dead,</em> I told myself, hiding my unease behind a mask of stone. <em>Don¡¯t show weakness. Don¡¯t let her unsettle you.</em>

    ¡°Make yourself at home, dear,¡± Chamiaholom said. ¡°Your mother is the daughter I never had but always wanted. I consider you a cherished grandson.¡±

    I snorted. ¡°I killed thest person who tried to adopt me.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± the crone replied with a chuckle. ¡°I long for the day when you murder Ichtaca too. Any child should endeavor to kill their parents once they outlive their usefulness. How else are they supposed to escape their shadows?¡±

    The most frightening part of that woman¡¯s words was the utter conviction with which she uttered them; as if the prospect of matricide wasn¡¯t possible, but inevitable. While I wouldn¡¯t deny that I felt little to no love for Mother, the thought of killing her had never crossed my mind.

    However, I could read between the lines. I knew which horrible shadow she referenced: the terrible force I had unleashed on Smoke Mountain.

    ¡°You speak of the Nightlords,¡± I guessed. ¡°They exist in the shadow of their sire.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, sweetie. They betrayed their father, drove him mad, and then spent centuries alternating between leeching off his power or fearing his wrath. When they imprisoned him, they also tightened the chains around their own necks.¡± Chamiaholom sipped her bloody drink. ¡°Take Yoloxochitl for example. She wasted her existence obsessing over what her father¡¯s kiss had denied her instead of creating her own future. She let her past define her until it stunted her growth.¡±

    ¡°Could they kill him at all?¡± I pondered. I had only seen a brief glimpse of the First Emperor¡¯s malicest night. His presence had felt about as unfathomably powerful as King Mtecuhtli¡¯s, who had witnessed the world¡¯s first dawn and would observe itsst. ¡°Is it possible to y a god at all?¡±

    ¡°Of course, sweetie. <em>Everything </em>can die. If the sisters had used their time researching a way to kill their father instead of raising their Sulfur Sun, he would have faded away by now.¡± Chamiaholom wiped a drop of blood off her wrinkled lips. ¡°All of this to say, you should kill your mother when the timees. It will make her proud.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care for my mother¡¯s approval.¡± I appreciated her support, but she had burned that bridge long ago. ¡°Nor do I intend to kill her.¡±

    ¡°But how else will you know that you have surpassed her?¡± Chamiaholom let out a sigh of amusement. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, sweetie, I know you can do it. I believe in you.¡±

    Somehow, her approval filled me with shame. ¡°You said I¡¯d passed your test a long time ago,¡± I recalled. ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°When you set the stage for that foreign war of yours, of course. It was then that I knew you would go far.¡±

    I shifted in my seat. ¡°I passed your test by proving that I could make harsh decisions?¡±

    ¡°Oh no, sweetie, no, no, no.¡± She yfully waved a finger at me. ¡°You passed when you showcased your capacity for <em>evil</em>.¡±

    My blood boiled in my veins. My fingers had warmed up enough that I could clench my fists in cold anger.

    ¡°It was a necessary evil,¡± I conceded. I wouldn¡¯t deny that crime, but I stood by my decision. ¡°Committed in the service of the greater good.¡±

    ¡°Whose greater good? The world? Or <em>yours</em>?¡± Chamiaholom¡¯s pale eyes studied me carefully. ¡°Dear, do you believe in right and wrong?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied without hesitation. I doubt anyone with a shred of sense would consider the Nightlords¡¯ actions as righteous.

    ¡°You are correct, my clever bird. In fact, it is <em>because </em>humans can tell the difference between the two that they canmit evil.¡± Chamiaholom stroked her chin. ¡°Animals do not understand the consequences of their actions. Whether they kill to feed or to y, they simply follow their instincts. The jaguar does not stop to consider whether that delicious child had parents to mourn him. Man does.¡±

    I red at her. ¡°What is your point?¡±

    ¡°That evil doesn¡¯te from doing wrong, sweetie,¡± she said wisely. ¡°Evil is <em>knowing </em>that you¡¯re doing wrong, and doing it <em>anyway</em>.¡±

    Her words were spoken kindly, yet felt like a p to the face. ¡°I had my reasons.¡±

    ¡°Everyone does, sweetheart. But whether you kill an innocent to save the world or to save yourself, you still killed an innocent, did you not?¡± When I failed to answer, she gestured at the cauldron on the cookfire. ¡°Would you be so kind as to bring me my dessert?¡±

    After a short moment¡¯s hesitation, I rose up from my seat and moved toward the hearth. Now that I looked at it more closely, the cauldron¡¯s shape reminded me of a calcified heart. Had it belonged to a giant once? Or was it woven from the remains of countless victims?

    I removed the lid with grim resignation. I could already imagine which dessert would top this gruesome dinner: the one body part I had yet to see among the dishes. I was not disappointed.

    A man¡¯s severed head floated in a stew of blood and bile. His empty eyes stared at me with a final look of utter terror.

    But it wasn¡¯t <em>any </em>man, no. I recognized him immediately. After all, he could have been my brother-inw in another life.

    ¡°Chimalli,¡± I whispered.

    I had gone to school with him, long before the Nightlords selected me as their sacrificial emperor. He had been a strong and promising young warrior who had asked Necahual to grant him her daughter¡¯s hand; and she had leaned on epting until Yoloxochitl arrived to seize them both. From what Eztli told me, he had meekly stood by while the Nightkin dragged her away screaming into the night.

    Was that a crime that warranted death? I wondered how he¡¯d even perished, before recalling Chamiaholom¡¯s earlier words: that I had <em>brought </em>her dinner.

    The me in my heart wavered as my eyes saw everything in a new light. The roasted food, like it was cooked with fire. The fact I had fed the Lords of Terror well tonight. My hometown¡¯s location, so close to Smoke Mountain. Only then did the magnitude of my crime be evident to me.

    ¡°I¡¯ve destroyed Acampa,¡± I realized, the blood in my veins turning to ice. ¡°I¡¯ve destroyed my home.¡±

    Chamiaholomughed behind me and put salt on my wounds. ¡°Oh, sweetie,¡± she said, ¡°You¡¯ve destroyed <em>dozens </em>of Acampas. The mes and toxic smoke will ravage countless more for many, many days.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± My words died in my throat. I didn¡¯t know? I never wanted this? Those would be lies.

    I did <em>know </em>and I <em>did </em>want that oue. I had simply be so drunk on victory that I had forgotten the consequences of my actions.

    I knew countless innocents would pay the cost for my victory. Everyone warned me that my Haunt would have devastating consequences for the world, and Acampa¡¯s rtive proximity to the mountain made it likely that it would suffer should the Nightlords¡¯ ritual go wrong. I simply hadn¡¯t considered the possibility because I didn¡¯t like anyone still living there.

    It was so much easier to sacrifice strangers than people I knew by face and name.

    My hand wadded through the gruesome stew and grabbed the head by the hair. It felt heavy between my fingers, though not as much as my guilt. Chamiaholom pped as I reluctantly presented her with the head. She swiftly put it on her te, then plucked out the left eye.

    ¡°Ah, an innocent¡¯s life. My second favorite dish after children''s hearts.¡± Chamiaholom winked at me while she chewed the eye. ¡°Those never get old.¡±

    The gruesome joke did not earn a raise out of me. Whether this head was a prop conjured to taunt me or the actual corpse brought to the Underworld, I could only pray that Chimalli¡¯s soul¡ªand the thousands I had in¡ªwould now find a peaceful rest in M.

    My silence only encouraged Chamiaholom to taunt me further.

    ¡°You know, dear,¡± she said, ¡°if you hadn¡¯t tried to take your own life on your first day of being emperor and earned her undivided attention, Yoloxochitl wouldn¡¯t have taken so much interest in your past and thus found Eztli. That poor girl would have lived a peaceful life, married that boy, and bore him children. You ruined both of their lives when you chose to spite the sisters.¡±

    My jaw tightened in anger. ¡°You don''t know that. Nobody can.¡±

    ¡°<em>I </em>do, sweetie. I eat more than flesh: I eat <em>hope</em>.¡± Chamiaholom took Chimalli¡¯s skull into her hands and gluttonously licked the empty eye socket. ¡°When you slew this boy, you extinguished countless lives. The children he would have had, and their children¡¯s children. When you kill a born man, you kill a thousand unborn ones.¡±

    ¡°Is that your test?¡± I sneered. ¡°Do you seek to kill me with guilt?¡±

    Chamiaholom raised an eyebrow at me. ¡°Do you feel any, dear?¡±

    I nced at Chimalli¡¯s head. In less than a month¡¯s time, I had taken his future wife, his home, and finally, his life. If the Lords of Terror used the remains of my victims to raise more houses of bones and sinews, it would probably fill a city¡¯s worth of them. I pondered this truth, then epted it.

    ¡°I do,¡± I conceded, ¡°But not enough to stop.¡±

    Thousands upon thousands of innocents had perished by my actions. In return, I had killed a Nightlord, weakened her sisterhood¡¯s grip on the world, foiled their ritual, destabilized their empire of oppression, and paved the way for its potential copse. If killing a man meant ying a thousand of his potential descendants, then surely sparing a life from sacrifice meant saving a thousand more.

    No matter how much I reconsidered, the price I¡¯d paid seemed <em>cheap </em>to me. I would spare future generations the horrors of vampiric oppression. In time, no other emperor would have to choose which woman would live and which one would die a gruesome death.

    As horrible as it sounded¡­ if I had to, I would awaken Smoke Mountain all over again.

    ¡°I have indeedmitted an evil act, and I shallmit many more,¡± I said. ¡°I will bear that burden.¡±

    ¡°And this is why you will be a fearsome demon, sweetheart,¡± Chamiaholom replied with enthusiasm. ¡°Let your whims guide you. Love, rape, kill, bless, eat, spit, take, give¡­ do as you wish. Pursue your freedom and happiness regardless of the cost. To live as a demon means to do as you will.¡±

    I locked eyes with that horrible creature, this incarnation of remorseless evil hiding beneath a human face¡­ before realizing that I was wrong. She wasn¡¯t hiding anything. Her true nature had been obvious since the moment I used the Gaze on her.

    She had called cannibalism an act ofmunity, but a demon feeding on humans couldn¡¯tmit that crime. Only kin could.

    She was the third oldest of the Lords of Terror, younger than death and the unknown, but older than the fear of nature itself. She was a fear that all humans shared at birth when they saw their own reflection in their mother¡¯s eyes.

    The fear of <em>each other</em>.

    ¡°You are the fear of humans,¡± I guessed.

    Chamiaholom smiled warmly at me with all the kindness of the abuser and the cruelty of the depraved.

    ¡°I am the father who rapes his daughters,¡± she said with a thousand voices and one. Male, female, old, young¡­ All the myriad visages of human evil spoke through her in a single chorus. ¡°I am the mother who drowns her child, the starved warrior who eats hisrades, the priest who tortures innocents in the name of gods true and false. I am the cheater, the swindler, the kinyer. I am the friend, the stranger, the other.¡±

    She put Chimalli¡¯s cleaned off skull on the table and caressed it like a prized trophy.

    ¡°I am <em>you</em>, sweetheart,¡± she whispered with <em>my </em>voice.

    I held her gaze and stared at my reflection in her eyes; at my own capacity for cruelty made flesh. An evil that would exist so long as a single man drew breath.

    ¡°Anyway, dear, I am full. Thank you for the pleasant conversation.¡± Chamiaholom pulled at the bone needle binding her hair. ¡°Are you ready to learn sorcery?¡±

    I straightened up and set aside my cloak of human skin. ¡°What do you offer?¡±

    ¡°The same spell I used to build my house, sweetheart.¡± The needle twisted into a ring between her sharp nails. ¡°<em>Bonecrafting</em>.¡±

 Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Land of Darkness

    Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Land of Darkness

    A fresh human corpsey naked on the dinner table, its pallid breasts cold as ice, its manhood turned blue by the snowstorm outside. Its shaved head stared at me with empty eyes and a ghastly smile.

    I had no idea why this cadaver showcased parts belonging to both males and females. I suspected it was the result of the same kind of witchcraft that created my pce guards, or maybe the remnant of some older form of humanity preserved through the ages. Whatever its origin, I would be its end.

    ¡°Do not be shy, sweetheart,¡± Chamiaholom said as she guided my hand on the corpse¡¯s chest, a wry smile on her wrinkled lips. ¡°The dead cannot consent to anything.¡±

    Chamiaholom decided to teach me Bonecraft through the practice of surgery. As I suspected from my adventures in M, where the deadcked my ming heart and breathed dust, bones fell upon the realm of the <em>Tonalli. </em>The Bonecraft spell didn¡¯t differ much from the Doll: I used my Tonalli to connect with a target¡¯s bones to control them.

    However, their applications and limitations differed. Unlike the Doll, Bonecrafting required direct physical contact to influence the bones of another; and whereas the Doll spell involved either crushing or manipting an object through the application of force, Bonecraft let me do more subtle things.

    ¡°Bones are like y, dear,¡± Chamiaholom whispered into my ear with a grandmother¡¯s kindness. ¡°You can neither create more nor erase them, but otherwise you may shape them freely. Split, twist, break¡­ amuse yourself.¡±

    So I did. I applied my power to the chest and called upon the ribs to crush the heart they were meant to protect. The bones shuddered at mymand, the muscles shrinking as the rib cageribcage closed in on itself. The corpse''s pallid skin turned blue after I turned its insides into an icy mess of blood.

    ¡°This is too easy,¡± I said. ¡°What stops me from killing anyone I touch by crushing their skull in on itself?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, if the mind is weak,¡± Chamiaholom cackled. ¡°The stronger one''s Tonalli, the more they resist alteration. Dead bones obey withoutint. The living cry and scream. The Nahualli and vampires, those who know themselves, will fight back.¡±¡°I understand,¡± I said. ¡°I may only alter a Tonalli weaker than my own.¡±

    Being a catecolotl imbued with a dead sun''s ashes meant I could probably twist any animal or normal human''s bones with ease. Red-eyed priests and Nightkin would prove more of a challenge, not to mention the Nightlords themselves. I would probably need to consume more dead sun ashes before I could wipe the Jaguar Woman''s smile off her face.

    ¡°You can do more than kill, dear.¡± My mentor put a kind hand on the corpse''s face. ¡°You can torture, mutte, change¡­ and disguise.¡±

    I witnessed her expert craft firsthand. The corpse''s face twisted. Its jaw retreated, its nose lengthened, and its eyes grew slightly apart. Within seconds, I found myself looking at a different person altogether: a bald man with strikingly masculine features.

    Chamiaholom continued to tend to the corpse, reshaping the chest until the breasts vanished. The androgynous creature had be a man, or at least gained the appearance of one.

    ¡°I thought Bonecraft only affected the bones,¡± I said.

    ¡°Flesh follows the skeleton''s shape, sweetheart,¡± Chamiaholom exined to me. ¡°If you thoughtlessly reshape the skeleton into something untenable, the bones will pierce through their meat envelope and y the subject¡­ but if you act slowly and carefully, then you can transform them. Add arms, adjust the jaw, or change a face.¡±

    ¡°Including my own?¡± My hand moved to my chin. I activated Bonecraft and immediately sensed a resonance beneath my skin. ¡°I can use the spell on myself.¡±

    ¡°Don''t be so eager to break your own bones, dear,¡± my new mentor chided me lightly. ¡°Pain is good when inflicted on others, but not on yourself.¡±

    I held back the urge to test the spell on myself. I was no surgeon. I recalled what little I knew of the human body from Necahual¡¯s work as a healer. I should learn more about the human skeleton before I attempted to grow ws.

    Moreover, studying the corpse showed me one of the technique¡¯s limitations. The space between the eyes had changed, but not their coloration. Flesh and organs followed the shape of bones, but my spell didn¡¯t affect them directly.

    ¡°Is there no way to reshape the flesh itself?¡± I asked. ¡°Change the eyes or the color of the skin?¡±

    ¡°Yes sweetie, there is a spell that can do that and more.¡± The old crone gave me a crooked smile. ¡°A vampire spell.¡±

    My thoughts turned to my pce¡¯s guards and Yoloxochitl¡¯s garden of man-eating flowers. I couldn¡¯t see how Bonecraft could create either. ¡°Vampires possess magic unique to them?¡±

    ¡°Of course, dear. Theirck of a Teyolia bars them from casting many spells, but their curse endows them with many other talents. Those who harness its darkness and hunger can wield great power.¡±

    I feared as much. I had seen the Jaguar Woman use both the Doll and Veil in tandem, so I knew for a fact we already shared a few techniques. Spells unique to me, such as the Gaze, could take them by surprise, but I should always expect the unexpected.

    ¡°It will take you more than one session to master this spell, my sweet,¡± Chamiaholom said with delight. Were it not for the corpse in her horrendous living room, I could have found her charming. ¡°We will spend such quality time together. First I shall teach you how to affect others, and then we will begin to practice on yourself. Strengthening your bones can make you faster, stronger, let you grow wings without Spiritual Transformation, or build armor that no arrow can pierce.¡±

    ¡°Is there any way to elerate my training?¡± I asked. ¡°No offense to you, but a year is a short amount of time. I have more trials to go through, not to mention sun ashes to consume.¡±

    ¡°I suggest you practice Bonecrafting on your ves and concubines, dear,¡± she suggested with a dry cackle. ¡°I once had a sorcerer student on the surface who felt the most lurid lust towards his daughters. He couldn¡¯t bear to force himself on them, so he used Bonecraft to reshape his ves into copies of his children and then raped <em>them</em>.¡±

    I suppressed a shiver of disgust, but her suggestion did warrant consideration. Necahual was a healer by trade, so I could consult her for knowledge to shorten my training¡¯s time. Practicing on other concubines sounded more risky than anything. Even if I stuck to subtle alterations like hastening the healing of bones or their shattering, they might notice something amiss. Perhaps animals? My menagerie held quite the number of expendable beasts for¡ª

    A terrible pain suddenly erupted inside my Teyolia, deep and sharp.

    I copsed to the floor in surprise and agony, my dreaming mind brutally copsing on itself. The leashes around my heart-fire tightened. I could sense my so-called mistresses¡¯ anger and fury through them.

    ¡°Oh my,¡± Chamiaholom said with a hint of disappointment. ¡°You are being called upstairs, sweetheart.¡±

    The Nightlords had found me.

    I woke up with invisible hands closing on my throat.

    I barely had time to open my eyes before an invisible force threw me against the cave¡¯s stone wall. A surge of pain raced through my back. My legs dangled a few feet above the ground and my lungs gasped for smoke-filled air.

    ¡°I knew you were special.¡± The Jaguar Woman stood at the cave¡¯s exit, with her sister Iztacoatl looming behind her. Her hood and mask did nothing to hide her cold fury. ¡°I had such high hopes for you, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡±

    My eyes immediately searched for Eztli¡¯s presence. I found her near the exit, her arms bound behind her back by two Nightkin and staring back at me with frightened eyes. Whatever lies she hoped to feed the Nightlords fell on deaf ears.

    ¡°The stars told me that if we selected you as emperor, then your reign would inaugurate an age of glory and darkness. A time of bloodshed where Yohuachanca would reign supreme.¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s teeth seethed in rage. ¡°You turned the holy me into our Sulfur Sun; the first emperor to do so in over six hundred years of work and disappointments. You held the glory of our triumph within your grasp.¡±

    She pulled me closer, my body floating all the way to the cavern¡¯s entrance. Hardly an arm¡¯s length separated us.

    ¡°So why did <em>this </em>happen?¡± the Jaguar Woman hissed at me, the malice in her gaze almost as deep as her Dark Father¡¯s bottomless hunger. ¡°Why did he spare <em>you</em>?¡±

    The sense of jubtion and triumph that possessed me before my sleep left my heart. For a second I was brought back to the hill of ashes, when all my pleas and tricks failed to convince the Jaguar Woman to spare Sigrun. Though Yoloxochitl¡¯s death had rekindled the me of hope in my heart, I was starkly reminded of the power gulf that separated me from the Nightlords. I didn¡¯t even consider standing my ground with spells.

    A single wrong move separated me from a fate worse than death.

    ¡°If our Dark Father had consumed you on that mountain, the line of emperors would havee to an abrupt end. So why did he spare <em>you</em>? Why did he consume our beloved sister instead?¡± Her grip tightened on my throat. A bit more pressure and she could easily snap my neck. ¡°Answer me, <em>ve</em>.¡±

    My mind furiously searched for a lie, but I kept enough sense to realize how futile it would be. The Nightlords would sense deceptioning from a league away.

    Instead, I had the presence of spirit to settle on a half-truth.

    ¡°I¡­¡± I rasped through sheer force of will. The Jaguar Woman did not bother to loosen her hold on my throat, so I had to force each and every word. ¡°I heard him¡­ speak¡­ in¡­ the me¡­¡±

    The Jaguar Woman looked into my eyes. I saw in them something I would have thought impossible from the cold-hearted monster: a hint of unease.

    She feared the First Emperor as much as she craved his power.

    ¡°In his anger¡­ he called you¡­¡± I gasped for air and then whispered the cursed word. ¡°<em>Traitors¡­</em>¡±

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s unease turned into a brief sh of fear. Her Doll spell¡¯s hold over my body loosened instantly. I dropped on the cold, wet floor of the cavern and immediately gasped for air, my fingers instinctively scratching my throat. I expected a second round of violence and torment to follow.

    I waited in vain.

    The Jaguar Woman appeared to have forgotten my existence. The ancient Nightlord clenched her jaw and avoided Iztacoatl¡¯s unnerved gaze. Both knew all too well what my words meant: that Yoloxochitl was only the appetizer of a feast of which they were the main course. Their hungry father didn¡¯t want my soul, or that of the cattle they despised; he wanted <em>them</em>. He wanted <em>revenge</em>.

    The Jaguar Woman was too spooked for the thought of punishing me to cross her mind anymore. Her fear had quelled the mes of her fury. For perhaps the first time in her centuries of ruthless oppression, her self-control had slipped. The ritual¡¯s failure had shaken her godlike confidence with the hammer of doubt.

    The sight filled me with joy.

    A new Nightkin entered the cavern, its jet-ck wed wings holding a golden trinket; which I immediately identified as a Sapa tumi. The vampire presented the treasure to its mistresses. The Jaguar Woman¡¯s eyes widened in shock as she all but swept the idol out of her thrall¡¯s ws.

    ¡°Where did you find this?¡± the Jaguar Woman asked. The Nightkin whispered an answer into her and Iztacoatl¡¯s ears, and though I didn¡¯t hear their words I easily guessed them from the Nightlords¡¯ frowns of fury. ¡°The Sapa¡­¡±

    ¡°They <em>knew</em>,¡± Iztacoatl said, her suspicious eyes settling on me. ¡°That was why they tried to kill him. When they failed to destroy the key¨C¡±

    ¡°They broke the hinge.¡± The Jaguar Woman crushed the tumi within the palm of her hand, the gold folding like paper under her vicious grip. ¡°Why was I not informed?¡±

    ¡°I <em>told </em>you we should have waited, Sister,¡± Iztacoatlined to the Jaguar Woman. ¡°Something was wrong with the mountain. We could <em>all </em>see it.¡±

    I caught a glimpse of the Jaguar Woman¡¯s lips twisting into a snarl of rage in the darkness. However, she did not say otherwise. Mayhaps she was cunning enough to understand how overconfidence doomed her plot, or she couldn¡¯t afford to alienate her remaining sisters.

    I suppressed a sigh of relief. My n to frame the Sapa for the ritual¡¯s failure appeared to be seeding without a hitch.

    ¡°The Sapa couldn¡¯t nt their cursed idols without spies in our midst,¡± the Jaguar Woman said with cold calction. ¡°We must find them. This shall not happen again.¡±

    ¡°Can it happen again?¡± Iztacoatl clenched her jaw in skepticism. ¡°Can the three bind the one without our sister¡¯s help?¡±

    I kept my mouth shut, as did Eztli. The mere fact that the Nightlords discussed such matters in the open, right in front of us, spoke volumes about their panic. This might be the asion to gather valuable information.

    The Jaguar Woman did not answer her sister¡¯s question. Her eyes turned from me to Eztli, and then suddenly stopped on thetter. The Nightlord squinted at my consort with what could pass for confusion.

    ¡°Sister?¡± Iztacoatl asked.

    ¡°Why is she still among us?¡± the Jaguar Woman replied.

    I clenched my fists while Eztli bit her lower lip. She had suddenly earned the Nightlords¡¯ undivided attention, which could only spell doom.

    ¡°Yoloxochitl sired her, and her other children have returned to Father,¡± the Jaguar Woman said with a quizzical expression. ¡°Not her.¡±

    A chill traveled down my spine. Returned to their father? Did killing the progenitor of a vampire¡¯s line affect their descendants?

    I nced at Eztli with a mix of worry and relief. My consort appeared healthy and unlikely to return to dust anytime soon. While the Nightlords still frightened her, Yoloxochitl¡¯s death had freed her from her control.

    ¡°Moreover, she was our sister¡¯s chosen consort and incarnation,¡± the Jaguar Woman noted with fascination as she studied Eztli. ¡°Why does the idol still stand when the goddess has died?¡±

    ¡°Yoloxochitl breastfed that one much of her blood,¡± Iztacoatl pointed out. ¡°So much that I voiced my concern.¡±

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Eztli lowered her head while avoiding the Nightlords¡¯ gazes. ¡°Mistress¡­¡±

    ¡°Quiet, child,¡± the Jaguar Woman interrupted her with a hand on her chin. ¡°I am thinking.¡±

    The owl inside me had woken up and it took me some effort to suppress it. I was ready to fight if the Nightlords intended to harm Eztli, however futile it might be. Thankfully, I did not detect a hint of hostility from the Jaguar Woman. She seemed more cautious than anything. She <em>wanted </em>to see Eztli¡¯s survival as a good sign that her foul ritual hadn¡¯tpletely failed, but she was too fearful of her father¡¯s influence to lower her guard.

    ¡°She could be a trap or our salvation,¡± the Jaguar Woman muttered to herself before turning to her sister. ¡°Iztacoatl?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sister?¡±

    ¡°You shall protect and guide our emperor for now.¡± The Jaguar Woman finally remembered my existence, and I did my best to fake submission. I could tell she had regained her cold-bloodedposure and cruelty. ¡°The Sapa might still try to end the imperial line. Sugey has her hands full keeping order across our dominion, and I must consult the stars on how to proceed. We might salvage the ritual somehow.¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡± Iztacoatl smiled at me, her pointed teeth pristine white in the dark. ¡°I will be gentle with him.¡±

    I knew better than to rejoice.

    So ended Eztli and I¡¯s half a day of freedom: carried out of the damp cave by Nightkin to be returned back to our golden cage. It had been nice while itsted, I supposed. I followed my captors in obedient silence, feigning submission while plotting their demise.

    Then I saw the rain outside.

    I knew something was wrong long before the first drop fell on my shoulders, warm and viscous. Smoke Mountain thundered and vomited pitch-ck smoke on the horizon, but the rain clouds covering the countryside were a different color altogether. A sea of dark crimson raged across the sky. A red fog swallowed the hills and forests of thend, the shadows of a thousand swarms of bats cast on its thick mists.

    <em>¡°Thend bleeds and the heavens weep,¡± </em>the wind whispered in my ear.

    The viscous rain fell from the sky. Drops of a warm slime seeped into Yohuachanca¡¯s rivers and contaminated them with foulness. Soon, all of the empire¡¯snds would drink red.

    For the heavens were crying tears of blood.

    The blood rainsted for three hours. One for each of the remaining Nightlords. I didn¡¯t miss the implications.

    Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption had unleashed more than mes on the world.

    The Nightlords forced me to sign a decree of sweeping emergency measures the moment they returned me to the pce. The capital was put under a tight lockdown, the army was deployed to the ravaged regions, and viges near Smoke Mountain were evacuated. The priesthood would enforce martialw across thend through force and religious rituals. Temporary shelters would be established in the empire¡¯s schools for refugees, while runners would distribute a new fire born from Smoke Mountain¡¯s mes to the temples; it wasn¡¯t the fire the Nightlords had hoped for, but the one they received.

    Food and water supplies would be tightly controlled, especially to filter out the blood that risked contaminating them, and the year¡¯s tributes would be adjusted to help deal with the eruption¡¯s consequences. Healers would be deployed to reduce the odds of disease outbreaks that so often prevailed in these situations.

    I had to give it to Yohuachanca. Its fearsome bureaucracy and centuries of experience meant that it could adjust to a cataclysm in record time. To my disappointment, it quickly became clear that Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption would be nowhere near enough to cause the empire¡¯s copse. I hoped its psychological impact would at least cause Yohuachanca to stagger.

    However, this event was unprecedented. While Yohuachanca faced eruptions and drought in the past, the blood rain suggested a supernatural disaster. The Sulfur Sun ritual¡¯s failure had cursed the world in strange and horrifying ways.

    The Nightlords had mobilized their undead children and priests across the empire to wrestle order back from chaos. The Nightkin departed across the roads to carry messages too important for human runners and gather information about the cataclysm¡¯s extent. At least the bloody rain seemed to have only affected the capitals¡¯ hintends.

    However, the weather did not even scratch our problems¡¯ surface.

    ¡°Bats, you said?¡± I asked, slightly disturbed.

    The red-eyed messenger nodded slowly. A delegation of priests knelt in my once busy throne room, which now had be quieter than a tomb. Undying guards had reced my couriers, and Iztacoatl stood in the shadows behind my throne in the ce of my consorts. I took her silence as a dreadful sign.

    <em>The delegation is smaller than usual,</em> I noted. I had never seen so few priests attend an audience. Even with their numbers mobilized to deal with the eruption, I would have expected more.

    ¡°Swarms of thirsty bats arose from the woods and fell upon your capital, oh glorious emperor,¡± the priest said with a small, fearful voice. ¡°As forewarned in our traditions, they broke into homes in search of children and pregnant women to devour. The faithful, those who wore masks, were spared from their thirst. The others¡­ were swarmed and bitten and¡­ and¡­¡±

    The messenger gulped, his head hitting the floor. I had seen these fanatics inflict the worst tortures on the Sapa ambassadors after my false assassination attempt. The scene must have been particrly gruesome to disturb them.

    I myself found this news unsettling. I had indirectly unleashed this cmity upon the empire¡¯s weakest and most vulnerable citizens; worse, those bats consumed those who had been brave or foolish enough to brave the Nightlords¡¯ inane traditions instead of the zealots and the devouts.

    <em>Children and pregnant women. </em>My hands clenched on my throne¡¯s armrests. <em>Those bats culled new life¡­ is there a method to this madness?</em>

    ¡°Where did these bats go?¡± Iztacoatl whispered in my ear, her melodious voice breaking through the unsettling silence. I briefly looked in her direction and suddenly realized that the Nightlords always wore masks during their important ceremonies. I never truly considered why, but now I wondered if these events were somehow linked. ¡°Ask them.¡±

    <em>Ask them yourself</em>, I almost replied. It annoyed me that this false goddess insisted on talking with her own priests through my intermediary. <em>She</em><em>considers</em><em>even her own worshipers beneath her direct attention.</em>

    ¡°What of the bats?¡± I asked the priests. ¡°Where have they gone?¡±

    ¡°Everywhere, oh Godspeaker,¡± the priest replied. ¡°To the north and south, to the west and east. Scouts saw swarms fly beyond the seas and mountains towards the heathennds.¡±

    That took me aback; from the small frown at the edge of Iztacoatl¡¯s lips, the Nightlord didn¡¯t expect it either.

    <em>They went beyond Yohuachanca¡¯s borders?</em> I had expected this devastating curse to strike the empire alone. I should have expected otherwise. <em>The First Emperor¡¯s hunger knows no bounds.</em>

    This could y in my favor somehow. If border nations interpreted those swarms as an attack, they might very well retaliate by striking the empire¡¯s borders.

    ¡°Store the dead in the temples,¡± Iztacoatl ordered immediately. ¡°Their deaths were punishment for their sins, but their evil might still infect their remains.¡±

    Did she suspect they would carry diseases? I supposed it didn¡¯t hurt to keep the corpses in observation for a time. The First Emperor¡¯s curse corrupted everything he touched.

    ¡°You shall store the corpses of these sinners in the temples for future purification,¡± I ordered the priests. ¡°Their demise was ordered by the heavens, but their curse might not have died with them.¡±

    With Yoloxochitl gone, none of the Nightlords held me in high esteem. I wasn¡¯t certain I could convince the remaining three that they had broken my pride back into obedience, so I decided to y it safe for now by distracting my tormentors by focusing on the Sapa who had <em>¡®tried¡¯ </em>to eliminate us all.

    ¡°What of the Sapa investigation?¡± I asked the priests. ¡°Have you found any leads yet?¡±

    The Nightlords believed in the false Sapa lead I set for them and expected more assassination attempts on my consorts and myself. Keeping us in separate locations reduced risks, so I had been forbidden to meet with Eztli, Nl, Chikal, and Ingrid. I didn¡¯t even know if they were still in the pce.

    Of all of them, I worried for Eztli the most. I knew from experience that nothing good came from earning the Jaguar Woman¡¯s attention.

    ¡°We have made progress in tracking down the heathens, oh Godspeaker,¡± the messenger said. ¡°The cursed tools nted on the holy mountain were nted by one of Your Majesty¡¯s own petitioners, zohtzin.¡±

    ¡°zohtzin?¡± I feigned surprise. ¡°I denied that man¡¯s request for his father¡¯s inheritance.¡±

    ¡°You were wise in your choice, oh farsighted Godspeaker, for zohtzin has proved deceitful. ording to early questioning, the man had nted forbidden foreign artifacts across Smoke Mountain on behalf of a false deity.¡±

    Iztacoatl let out a barely audible chuckle behind me. I supposed the irony of a false goddess being outyed by another did not escape her.

    ¡°A false deity?¡± I asked with a frown. ¡°For what purpose would he betray us for the Sapa?¡±

    ¡°The man pretends to have been deceived,¡± the messenger replied with a hint of zealous scorn. ¡°A spirit pretending to be a god offered him to undo your own divine will, oh Godspeaker, if he befouled Smoke Mountain with foreign offerings.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± Iztacoatl whispered to herself. ¡°Their tablet allowed the Sapa to spy on you, Emperor Iztac. They must have eavesdropped on those brothers¡¯ feud and seized the opportunity to recruit an asset.¡±

    ¡°They would have approached either brother; the one I could not satisfy,¡± I lied through my teeth before addressing the priests again. ¡°I expect you to thoroughly check every lead that you may find. We cannot allow foreign spies to infiltrate our capital again.¡±

    The priests joined their hands in abject devotion. ¡°Our guilt knows no bounds, Your Divine Majesty,¡± their leader said. ¡°We shall bring you your foes¡¯ heads in penance. We have already arrested the traitor zohtzin¡¯s kin.¡±

    ¡°His brother?¡± I scowled at the news. xc remained a valuable asset.

    ¡°His brother and his wife,¡± the priest replied. I did my best to hide my surprise. ¡°We have no cause to suspect the former ofplicity yet, considering their known animosity, but thetter might have coborated with her husband.¡±

    <em>I didn¡¯t know zohtzin had a wife.</em> Curses, of course he had a wife, he was one of the adult heirs of a wealthymercial enterprise spanning the entire empire. I should have guessed that the priests would target anyone rted to him.

    I should attempt to spare zohtzin¡¯s family if I could. I owed him that much, after using him as a sacrificial offering in my plot.

    ¡°What¡¯s the woman¡¯s name?¡± I asked. ¡°Who is she?¡±

    ¡°She is known as Zyanya Quiabgayo,¡± the priest replied. ¡°She is a noblewoman from Zacha. Far better born than hermoner husband.¡±

    Zacha¡­ yes, I recalled it as the capital of a country Yohuachanca absorbed a few hundred years ago. That region remained one of the empire¡¯s wealthiest regions to this day. I suppose zohtzin¡¯s father arranged the match in hopes of expanding his operations there.

    I might as well kill one bird with two stones: save an innocent and build mywork of allies.

    ¡°zohtzin¡¯s brother xc is an honest man,¡± I said. An honest scoundrel at least. ¡°I would be surprised to learn he has anything to do with his brother¡¯s deceit, and I wish him not to be harmed. I shall also interrogate this Zyanya myself. As a well-born woman from a southern tributary state, I might have some use for her.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, Your Divine Majesty.¡± The messenger marked a short pause, his fingers trembling. He wished to tell me something, but he dreaded my answer.

    I narrowed my eyes at the delegation. ¡°What is it? Speak your mind.¡±

    ¡°As Your Majesty wishes.¡± The messenger clenched his fists and gathered his courage. ¡°I know it is not our ce to question the goddesses¡¯ wills, oh Godspeaker, but many among us are wondering¡­¡±

    <em>Why Smoke Mountain blew up and why the clouds are raining blood?</em> I thought, Iztacoatl scowling behind me. <em>Go on, show your false goddess your fears and doubts. Show her the cracks in the wall, so that she might fear the copse.</em>

    ¡°Has Lady Yoloxochitl forsaken us?¡±

    The priest¡¯s question almost threatened to make meugh, but the oppressive auraing from Iztacoatl dissuaded me. Instead, I feigned confusion. ¡°What makes you think so, faithful one?¡±

    ¡°Lady Yoloxochitl¡¯s priesthood suffered a set of cmities after the eruption,¡± the messenger replied with a trembling voice. He knew he should not address the subject in one of his goddesses¡¯ presence, but his doubts proved too great to ovee. I wondered if the other priests had volunteered him for the role. ¡°Faithfuls who had served her for centuries aged to dust in the blink of an eye. The young suffered from a weak heart or went mad. We had to chain them in the temples¡¯ basement so they would not harm their brethren.¡±

    I listened to this news with rapturous intention. This suddenly recontextualized the Jaguar Woman¡¯s words.

    Red-eyed priests received their immortality from ingesting a Nightlord¡¯s blood. This tied their life to their mistresses, stopped their aging, withered their loins, and protected them from disease. They had sold their very souls to the vampires. With Yoloxochitl¡¯s death, the people depending on her existence to survive now found themselves bereft of purpose and immortality. King Mtecuhtli had reaped their damned souls with interest.

    I guessed I should consider Eztli¡¯s survival a small miracle.

    I suppressed a smile of triumph. Priests oversaw mandatory public rituals during the New Fire Ceremony. The news would spread quickly. Soon, thousands among the empire would wonder why Yoloxochitl¡¯s favored servants suddenly all perished at once.

    ¡°Has the goddess¡­¡± the messenger gulped. ¡°Has she forsaken us?¡±

    Iztacoatl¡¯s cold hand clenched my shoulder with a gentle grip before I could open my mouth.

    ¡°Yes, she has,¡± she whispered in my ear. ¡°This disaster is a divine punishment for you mortals¡¯ck of faith. The priesthood failed my sister¡¯s trust and suffered ordingly. Tell them. Tell them the consequences of failing a Nightlord.¡±

    The lie was spoken with such authority and confidence that I would have been tempted to believe it, had I not witnessed Yoloxochitl¡¯s demise myself. I had to admire Iztacoatl¡¯s bold improvisation. She had managed toy me for a disaster at the <em>victims¡¯ </em>feet.

    ¡°Our citizens¡¯ck of faith brought about the wrath of Smoke Mountain,¡± I lied to the congregation. ¡°The goddess Yoloxochitl was so incensed by your failure to properly foster devotion among the faithful that she has decided to punish her followers. Failure to serve is failure to live.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I understand, oh great Godspeaker.¡± The messenger didn¡¯t ask for more details, and neither did his terrified colleagues. I had already confirmed their worst fears. ¡°Thank you for indulging this small man¡¯s curiosity.¡±

    ¡°They may leave now,¡± Iztacoatl dered. ¡°We must discuss an important matter in private.¡±

    I quickly dismissed the priests with a wave of my hand. They quickly crawled back into the dark, leaving me alone with my captor and a set of silent guards. One could cut the tension with a knife.

    Iztacoatl removed her hood and let her mask fall onto the ground. Her long hair cascaded upon her shoulders, while her inhumanly beautiful face smiled at me. The sight would have caused many men to fall to their knees in adoration. Not me. I remained firmly seated on my throne, quiet and wary.

    ¡°Repeat after me,¡± Iztacoatl said with a sweet, melodious voice. ¡°This disaster is divine punishment for its people¡¯s faithlessness. The First Emperor found their devotion and sacrificescking. Had you not convinced him to spare the world as our Godspeaker, the world would have ended. The people of the world owe their sunrise to <em>you</em>. To <em>us</em>.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t believe the gall of this woman. She and her sisters tried to rob the world of its <em><strong>sun</strong></em>, and now had the nerve to pretend they <em>saved</em> it? As they said, the shameless dared it all.

    Iztacoatl kept piling more lies on my te. ¡°Meanwhile, my sister Yoloxochitl was so disappointed by her priesthood¡¯s failure to inspire true devotion among the cattle that she denied them her favor. If they prove their faith again, she might return it.¡±

    An unlikely prospect. ¡°I see¡­¡±

    She wagged her finger at me. ¡°I want to hear you say it, <em>pet</em>.¡±

    It took all my strength not to show distaste at the nickname. The world quaked, and yet it changed so little.

    ¡°This disaster is divine punishment from the First Emperor for his chosen people¡¯s faithlessness,¡± I lied. ¡°On behalf of the goddesses-in-flesh, I convinced him to give us mortals another sunrise. However, Lady Yoloxochitl punished her priesthood for failing to inspire faith among the good people of the empire. She might return her favor once the people prove worthy of it.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Iztacoatl kissed me on the forehead. Her lips were colder than the Rattling House¡¯s snowstorm. ¡°If you are wise, my beloved emperor, you will repeat this lie to everyone until you start believing in it too. Your survival, and my happiness, depend on it.¡±

    I forced myself to smile back. ¡°I live to serve.¡±

    ¡°No, you do not.¡± Iztacoatl put a hand on my chin and lightly forced me to look up at her. ¡°Show me your true face,¡±

    My heart skipped a beat in my chest. ¡°I do not understand.¡±

    ¡°You do.¡± Her smile turned predatory. ¡°Are you deaf? I ordered you to show me your true face.¡±

    My fingers clenched on my throne¡¯s armrests. ¡°Goddess, I am not certain I¨C¡±

    She pped me on the cheek with a hand as hard as stone.

    I had taken hits from warriors, Underworld demons, and Nahualli, but rarely one so powerful. Iztacoatl¡¯s slime frame belied the inhuman strength and the weight behind her blow. My entire head hurt. I saw stars, and for a second I thought that the blow would tear my skull off my shoulders.

    ¡°Do you truly believe me as na?ve as my sisters?¡± Iztacoatl snorted in contempt as I massaged my cheek. ¡°Yoloxochitl lied to herself because she wanted your love, Sugey does not care, and Ocelocihuatl thinks that she has crushed your spirit. I know better. I can recognize a snake biding its time when I see one, one serpent to another.¡±

    ¡°You are mistaken,¡± I lied, seething through my teeth. ¡°I¡¯ve learned my lesson. Painfully.¡±

    She pped me on the other cheek. This time, the blow nearly threw me off my throne. My teeth clenched in rage, my heart and blood boiling with the fury of my soul. Behead her, tear out her throat, impale her heart¡ªif she had any¡ªor twist her bones until she choked on her own blood! I had so many ways to kill, each of them so <em>tempting</em>.

    ¡°Finally, you bare your fangs at me.¡± Iztacoatl grabbed me by my hair with one hand and forced me to look up at her. ¡°It <em>excited </em>you to see my sister die, am I wrong? You felt vindicated for your foolhardy beliefs.¡±

    She stuck out her tongue and licked my cheek. I would rather have been shat on by a slug.

    ¡°Do you know what excites <em>me</em>, human? Collecting <em>pets</em>.¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s inhuman shadow loomed over me, with great wings and coils that were nowhere to be seen in her human disguise. ¡°For the crime of rejoicing over my sister¡¯s demise, Iztac, I will make you my personal project. You have earned my full and undivided attention.¡±

    The Nightlord pinched my cheeks with her cold, icy hands, as if I were a delightful child who had embarrassed himself in an entertaining way.

    ¡°Unlike my sister, I don¡¯t want your fear, Iztac. I want your <em>adoration</em>.¡± A forking tongue briefly slithered between her sharp fangs. ¡°If you displease me, you wille to look fondly on that night where we executed dear Sigrun. If you entertain me, I will reward you with pleasures greater than anything you can imagine. I will reshape you, piece by piece, until you can no longer recognize yourself. By the time I am through with you, you shall do more than love me.¡±

    Sheughed to her heart¡¯s content.

    ¡°You will <em>worship </em>me. You will <em>venerate </em>me. You will beg for my favor and attention¡­ and I shall return <em>none of it</em>.¡±

    She was close enough for my hand to punch her. I so desired to do it, to cave her skull in on itself with my Bonecraft spell and spill her brain out all over the floor.

    But I held back. Unfortunately, such attacks would result in little more than pain and humiliation for now.

    For <em><strong>now</strong></em>.

    ¡°Remember those words,¡± I dared to tell her, knowing she would not believe my lies. ¡°When you fail miserably.¡±

    ¡°See?¡± Iztacoatl chuckled in delight. ¡°You need a good whipping. I am currently in a very, <em>very </em>dark mood, so I need entertainment. I will dly make you my toy.¡±

    I did not bother answering with words. Instead, I red at her with all of my endless hatred. It only served to amuse her further.

    ¡°So y on, puppet emperor,¡± Iztacoatl said with yful arrogance. ¡°You will amuse me for what little time you have left.¡±

    <em>It will still be longer than yours,</em> I thought. <em>I promise you that.</em>

 Chapter Forty: The Spiders Web

    Chapter Forty: The Spider''s Web

    My cheeks still hurt by the time I was forcefully returned to my private quarters.

    ¡°For now, my dear songbird, I must ensure that your cage is secure,¡± Iztacoatl said when she had me escorted out of the throne room. ¡°Go breed in your pen. We need more blood to rece our lost livestock.¡± A smile had stretched on her wicked lips and unveiled the fangs underneath. ¡°A woman a day keeps my whip away. Remember that.¡±

    That hateful creature¡­

    I had underestimated her. With Yoloxochitl constantly threatening Eztli and her mother in her jealous madness and the Jaguar Woman¡¯s overwhelming cruelty, Iztacoatl had hardly factored into my schemes and ns. To my sorrow, I now fully understood the danger she posed.

    Namely, she was <em>cautious</em>.

    Whereas the Jaguar Woman thought that she had crushed my spirit and Sugey hardly seemed to be the subtle type, Iztacoatl had seen right through me. She didn¡¯t know I could wield sorcery, but she understood that I wished the Nightlords harm and that I could cause them a great deal of trouble under the right circumstances. I should expect more surveince from now on, more traps and dangers.

    I needed to consult the previous emperors. This situation might be unprecedented for all of us, but they should surely provide me with much-needed wisdom.

    A red-eyed priest entered my quarters as I pondered what to do next. I could immediately tell he would be different from the others. He was young for a start, hardly half of Tezozomoc¡¯s age. His hair was a tousled mane of midnight blue framing a rugged face and a wry smile. Unlike his more modest colleagues, he dressed almost as well as me, with dark robes rich with embroidered gold and a ruby neckline.

    <em>This one is dangerous. </em>I could tell from the sinister glint in his crimson eyes, full of calcted ambition. Then it struck me. <em>He looked up.</em>It was customary for priests to avoid meeting the emperor¡¯s gaze unless ordered to do so. Though this man knelt and bowed with all the respect expected of our respective positions, the mere fact he had dared to ignore protocol spoke volumes about his mindset.

    ¡°Your Majesty, the goddesses have granted me the honor and pleasure of serving you in these difficult times,¡± the man said with a charming, pleasant voice. It reminded me of those male singers ying in the capital¡¯s streets for a handful of cocoa beans. ¡°I am Tayatzin. Your will is mymand.¡±

    His name sounded vaguely familiar. I recalled Ingrid once mentioning him as one of caelel¡¯s potential recements before Tezozomoc earned the ce. What did she say about him then?

    <em>Ah yes, </em>I recalled. <em>¡®He¡¯s the youngest eunuch, and the most energetic.¡¯</em>

    Those same qualities caused the Nightlords to pass him over for the more passive Tezozomoc. I supposed that with the loss of one-fourth of the priesthood and the disaster striking the empire, they would rather favor initiative over doubt and caution.

    ¡°I wish to meditate in the Reliquary,¡± I said sternly, my eyes ncing through my obsidian window. I could see Smoke Mountain¡¯s continuing eruption from here. ¡°These have been trying times indeed and I require some peace of mind.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, I have been given explicit orders to keep you safe and sound inside your personal quarters,¡± Tayatzin replied with what seemed to be a genuine sigh. ¡°The goddesses suspect that your life is in danger and would like to reduce your movements to a strict minimum. I may, however, bring you any form of entertainment that you request.¡±

    I didn¡¯t wish for entertainment. I wanted <em>advice</em>.

    ¡°I suppose you cannot transport the Reliquary to my room?¡± I replied with heavy sarcasm.

    ¡°That would be difficult,¡± Tayatzin replied with a chuckle. How casual for a priest. ¡°I understand that Your Majesty made the Reliquary their favorite meditation spot, but I¡¯m sure we can build a simr refuge of the mind within your quarters. We don¡¯tck skulls around these parts.¡±

    The dark joke almost brought a smile to my lips. <em>Almost</em>.

    While I simply faked mere annoyance on the outside, I was simmering beneath the surface. I couldn¡¯t consult my predecessors, I couldn¡¯t see my consorts, I couldn¡¯t leave my quarters¡­ my narrow prison had shrunk all the way down to my own bedchambers.

    Should I visit the Reliquary in Tonalli form? I quickly decided against it. With the Nightlords wary of magical interference, they might set a trap to detect my movements in spirit form. I ought to y it safe and consult my predecessors in person first.

    <em>I need to calm down, to think this through. </em>I gathered my breath and focused on the obsidian window. <em>I cannot act too rashly.</em>

    Iztacoatl wanted me to slip up, to stumble and expose myself. She would no doubt scrutinize my actions in theing days and investigate any unusual behavior. Showing too much interest in the Reliquary might cause her to suspect something was amiss with the ce.

    I needed to be patient. The eruption and its chaos had sparkled a surge of paranoia from the Nightlords, but neither wouldst forever. Once Smoke Mountain ran out of fire and my captors believed themselves safe from Sapa interference, they would loosen my chains. I would at least be allowed to leave my chambers, even if I suspected that Iztacoatl would keep looking over my shoulder

    For now, I could do little inside these walls besides waiting.

    My eyes wandered to the gardens outside. The ashes reached all the way to my menagerie. If any of Yoloxochitl¡¯s nts had survived her demise, I hoped the burning embers would finish them off.

    Did that madwoman leave any legacy behind? The thought started to bother me. Yoloxochitl was supposed to tell me what weapon the Nightlords intended to use against the Sapa Empire.

    I had no doubt that a devastating war would unfold. The Nightlords would be out for blood for their sister¡¯s demise, and all evidence would point to their rivals to the south. Yohuachanca¡¯s armies would descend upon the Sapa people with a fury never before seen.

    It was my duty to ensure it would cost the empire dearly. If Yoloxochitl¡¯s mysterious weapon had survived its creator¡¯s demise, I needed to uncover and destroy it.

    ¡°We evacuated your pets to a secure ce underground until the eruption ends, Your Majesty, including your new feline,¡± Tayatzin said. He must have mistaken my focus on the gardens for concern. ¡°Your feathered tyrant had to be caged, but is otherwise safe and sound.¡±

    ¡°Itzili?¡± To my own surprise, I found myself slightly concerned. I knew Itzili was nothing more than an animal, but I had grown fond of him. ¡°Caged, you say?¡±

    ¡°For its own sake,¡± the priest quickly insisted. ¡°The eruption agitated all the creatures in your menagerie, but your feathered tyrant grew unusually aggressive. It killed one handler and maimed another before we managed to safely evacuate it.¡±

    <em>Good boy</em>. I would be sure to give Itzili a treat. I wondered how much of this sudden behavior came from fear of the eruption or the fact I had fed him some of my blood. <em>Perhaps I should test the Riding spell on him¡­</em>

    ¡°I wish him to remain unharmed,¡± I ordered Tayatzin. ¡°Itzili is dear to me. I am certain he will calm down once the eruption ends. You will keep me informed of his condition until that timees.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Your Majesty,¡± the priest replied with a wry smile. ¡°Do you wish for anything else?¡±

    ¡°Bring me my ve Necahual.¡± Since Iztacoatl had ordered me to breed like a turkey, I had the perfect cover to meet with her. ¡°If I cannot meditate in solitude, I will settle for goodpany.¡±

    ¡°Your will is mymand, Your Majesty.¡± Tayatzin cleared his throat. ¡°However, might I ask if you have decided to elevate Lady Necahual''s rank?¡±

    I frowned at him in confusion. ¡°Her rank?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Tayatzin¡¯s eyebrow arched with curiosity. ¡°My apologies, Your Majesty. I thought my predecessors would have told you. Your harem follows a strict hierarchy of seven ranks with different duties and privileges.¡±

    Interesting. I did not know that.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t had much time for femalepanytely, so I didn¡¯t pay it much attention,¡± I replied truthfully. ¡°How are these ranks organized?¡±

    ¡°As a pyramid, like your own empire,¡± Tayatzin replied with a light chuckle. Unlike caelel¡¯s insufferableughter, his own carried a certain roguish charm. ¡°Your four consorts shine at the top like the stars above the earth. They possess their own luxurious quarters, servants, guards¡­ in short, all the amodations expected from the goddesses¡¯ chosen.¡±

    All the amodations except freedom. That already told me much. If my consorts enjoyed so little at the top of the hierarchy, the lowest ranks probably suffered in misery.

    ¡°At the bottom are the maids and attendants, who have not slept with the emperor and thus have been denied his divine grace,¡± Tayatzin confirmed. ¡°The former is fit only for menial tasks like cleaning, while thetter possesses valuable skills such as singing, dancing, and intelligent conversation. Both are expected to serve higher-ranked concubines and must sharemon quarters. We usually put ten of them in the same room to minimize the space they take up.¡±

    In short, they were little more than pce ves. I supposed the naked women who fanned me each morning belonged to those two categories.

    ¡°Above them are the actual concubines, women whom the current emperor has blessed with his divine seed.¡± Tayatzin smiled mischievously. ¡°A category of one for now.¡±

    ¡°A number that might increase soon,¡± I replied calmly, though I hardly relished the thought of bedding more desperate ves. ¡°But proceed.¡±

    ¡°While they must still serve their betters asdies-in-waiting, concubines are afforded their own rooms and a few maids. Lady Necahual was raised to this rank after satisfying you.¡±

    I felt a slight hint ofpassion for Necahual. Being awarded her own room and ves after sleeping with me must have felt like salt poured on a bloody wound. An insult on top of the injury.

    ¡°Above concubines are the noble mothers who have given birth to an emperor''s child, whether the current one or their predecessors,¡± Tayatzin continued. ¡°Having proved their fertility, they are affordedrger quarters fit to rear children, granted a retinue, and spared menial work so that they may raise their blessed children.¡±

    <em>Daughters for the harem, and sons for a fate so atrocious that even the dead won¡¯t speak of it. </em>The thought sickened my stomach. ¡°How many noble mothers currently dwell within these walls, Tayatzin?¡±

    ¡°Three hundred and thirty-six,¡± the man replied with confidence. I wondered if he had counted them himself. ¡°One woman out of ten.¡±

    A sizable number, but not an overwhelming one either. I supposed not all of my predecessors had been as prolific as Nochtli the Fourteenth. The various purges, including the Jaguar Woman¡¯s, had taken their toll too.

    ¡°Above them are the favorites. This rank is only awarded to a concubine by the emperor''s decision. They may enjoy their ownfortable quarters, several attendants, and a life free of work so that they may dedicate their lives to the emperor''s pleasure.¡± Tayatzin marked a short pause, as if considering his next words, before finally deciding to proceed with them. ¡°Thete Lady Sigrun had never been demoted below this rank since her arrival.¡±

    It hardly surprised me considering that she had ruled the harem in all but name for years. I did remark that Tayatzin mentioned seven ranks and that favorites were only the third from the top.

    ¡°What¡¯s above the favorites?¡± I inquired. ¡°Since this echelon seems to be the highest that I can confer, I assume that the ones above follow criteria outside of my control.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty possesses a sharp mind,¡± Tayatzinplimented me. ¡°Second only to your consorts are the godkin: the female rtives of emperors and consorts, past and present. Thete Lady Sigrun upied this echelon after her daughter¡¯s ascension, and now her daughter Astrid currently does. They possess their ownrge quarters, arge retinue, and more privileges. They are spared from work to better guide Your Majesty and his four beloveds on the path to good rulership.¡±

    The fact the priests already considered Astrid, a <em>child</em>, as a potential future concubine sickened me to my core. I hoped none of my predecessors had yet descended into such depravity.

    ¡°Have any of my predecessors attempted to change this system?¡± I pressed on.

    Tayatzin shook his head. ¡°These rankings were established by the goddesses themselves at the dawn of Yohuachanca. It reflects the divine hierarchy of the world and is thus invible.¡±

    Another lie, but one that told me much about the Nightlords¡¯ priorities. The harem didn¡¯t follow a hierarchy based on birth or merit, no. It rewarded those who gave the emperor pleasure and children.

    Under normal circumstances, the harem''s denizens could only aspire to the rank of favorites, where they could live in luxury and enjoy privileged ess to the emperor. A concubine¡¯s path to social ascension seemed clear to me: earning the emperor''s attention to sleep with them and bear their children while hoping that their daughters would eventually be consorts in the future, and then earn the emperor¡¯s official favor. Lady Sigrun had yed that game close to perfection until she wed her way all the way up to the rank of godkin.

    Still, something bothered me about these exnations.

    ¡°How many godkin live in my pce?¡± I asked Tayatzin.

    ¡°Fifty-six for now,¡± he replied. ¡°Thirty-six are the daughters of previous emperors. The others are sisters or close rtives from previous administrations. Your generation¡¯s consorts brought in few to no godkin among their extended family.¡±

    A dreadful chill traveled down my spine as I did a quick calculus. The harem housed over three hundred mothers. Assuming half of them gave birth to a single daughter, this meant only a <em>fifth </em>of that number lived to be a godkin. Where did the other fourth go?

    <em>To the altar,</em> a voice in my head told me. <em>One way or another, they all end up on the altar.</em>

    ¡°A detail bothers me,¡± I said. ¡°You said Necahual would be <em>elevated </em>to concubine after sleeping with me, but shouldn¡¯t she be a godkin already? She gave birth to one of my consorts.¡±

    Tayatzin shrugged. ¡°The Goddess Yoloxochitl explicitly asked us to degrade Lady Necahual to the rank of maid. She considered her rtionship to Lady Eztli severed upon her immortal elevation.¡±

    Somehow, such levels of pettiness did not surprise me in the least whening from Yoloxochitl. I wouldn¡¯t miss her.

    Unfortunately, it meant I couldn''t raise Necahual to the rank of godkin, as it would mean going against thete Yoloxochitl''s direct decision; an act her paranoid sisters were unlikely to take well.

    ¡°From what I understand, only the godkin and noble mothers cannot be demoted,¡± I said. ¡°My predecessor Nochtli must have had favorites of his own though. What happened to them?¡±

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°We usually maintain the previous emperor¡¯s ranking until the New Fire Ceremony for simplicity¡¯s sake,¡± Tayatzin replied. ¡°Hence my question about Lady Necahual. Now that the previous year hase to an explosive close, we have entered the Crocodile¡¯s month. A time of culling and consumption.¡±

    I suppressed a sneer of disgust. ¡°My harem has been culled enough already.¡±

    ¡°Forgive me, Your Majesty, I did not mean to suggest another purge.¡± The priest cleared his throat. ¡°Instead, I propose that we degrade your predecessors¡¯ favorites to the rank of concubine for fairness¡¯ sake. Those who do not catch your fancy before the end of the Crocodile¡¯s month will then be further demoted to the rank of attendant.¡±

    ¡°Why not simply demote them all?¡±

    ¡°Your predecessor raised nearly a hundred favorites and slept with eight hundred concubines by the time of his death,¡± Tayatzin exined. ¡°Since each of them possesses their own room and servants, demoting them all at once would leave entire wings of the pce unattended and cause arge disruption in the pce¡¯s organization.¡±

    I thoughtfully considered the proposal. The possibility of causing chaos across the imperial bureaucracy, no matter how trivial, appealed to me. I, however, failed to see how that particr disruption would help me achieve my goals.

    Tayatzin¡¯s n offered more opportunities. If they had a speck of sense, my predecessor¡¯s favorites and concubines surely used their time to amass power and favors as Sigrun once did. The threat of losing their positions would force them to show their hands. They would no doubt sacrifice much in order to avoid a humiliating demotion.

    With the void left by Sigrun¡¯s demise, Necahual could be my gatekeeper: by guaranteeing a woman''s ess to my bed and thus the rank of concubine, she could leverage that power for favors and information. Naming those indebted women my favorites, a title that I could revoke at any time, would provide another incentive for loyalty.

    ¡°Very well, I ept your suggestion,¡± I decided. ¡°I wish to raise my pet ve Necahual to the rank of favorite. The others will be demoted to concubines, and if they do not please me by the first day of Wind, they shall fall further down.¡±

    Tayatzin promptly bowed before me. He seemed happy that I had followed his proposal. ¡°I shall promptly proceed with the reform then. If I may, what are Your Majesty¡¯s tastes in women? We can select those who fit them the best and avoid wasting your precious time.¡±

    I wanted women with spyworks or skills to spare, but I was wise enough not to say it out loud.

    ¡°I shall consider your question while resting on my favorite¡¯s bosom,¡± I replied instead. ¡°Once I am finished taking my pleasure, you shall summon the wife of that traitor zohtzin to my quarters. I shall interrogate her myself.¡±

    ¡°As Your Majesty demands.¡± Tayatzin smirked as he saluted me. ¡°She is quite the beauty. I am certain Your Majesty will find her agreeable.¡±

    I remained quiet as he slithered out of the bedroom and left me alone with my guards. Once he was gone, I briefly wove a subtle Veil around myself to gather how many people watched me. I sensed over a dozen gazes pointed at me from all directions. My quarters¡¯ secret passages <em>overflowed </em>with spies and secret jailers.

    I considered my other options. I couldn¡¯t risk using Spiritual Manifestation now. The Riding spell would let me possess beasts from my menagerie, but their current imprisonment underground would prove an obstacle in exploring the pce. This left me with Seidr. Mother said the spell¡¯s users could gain visions of the past and future.

    I could use it to gather information¡­ with the right partner.

    The noise of my bedroom doors opening drew me out of my thoughts. Necahual walked in, her slim frame dressed in the same rich clothes as when shest shared my bed. A golden ne adorned her neck, the ruby at its center shining with a dark red glow.

    ¡°You called me?¡± she asked me with a cool, imprable expression; as if I hade back from a promenade in the gardens rather than surviving a cataclysmic eruption. I wondered if she had hoped I would perish in it alongside the Nightlords.

    ¡°That ne looks good on you,¡± I noted. She gave me a dark look. Clearly, she would rather do without mypliments. ¡°Who gave it to you?¡±

    ¡°A woman,¡± she replied with a dismissive snort. ¡°It was a gift.¡±

    Necahual hardly spent a night in my bed and ambitious souls already flocked to her. Good. I moved closer to her and briefly checked on the ne with a Veiled Gaze. I did not detect any trace of magic on it. This gift was a simple, precious bribe.

    My hands closed around Necahual¡¯s waist. She trembled at my touch and clearly did not relish it, but did not recoil either. She hade to ept her situation. I felt a pang ofpassion, enough to try to console her.

    ¡°Eztli is alive,¡± I whispered in her ear. Though I doubted the word meant much for a vampire. ¡°She survived.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Necahual replied calmly.

    That drew a frown from me. ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Her maid told me she was confined to the pce¡¯s temple.¡± Necahual¡¯s fingers intertwined with mine, the tension in them showing how much she worried for her daughter¡¯s sake. ¡°She¡­ she thought I should know.¡±

    Of course. The harem¡¯s concubines served those of higher ranks, my consorts included. I folded that information into a corner of my mind. It would surelye in handy soon.

    ¡°Is she alright?¡± I asked, dreading the answer.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Necahual bit her lower lip. A sh of worry passed in her eyes. ¡°The priests are examining her. I do not know for what.¡±

    A wave of relief traveled through my body. I had feared that the Jaguar Woman would put Eztli through torture in order to discover the reason for her survival. My captors had chosen caution over cruelty.

    I felt much lighter. I knew Eztli remained in danger, but we could avoid the worst oue.

    ¡°Your cheeks¡­¡± Necahual studied my face with a trained healer¡¯s eyes. ¡°You were wounded.¡±

    Being reminded of Iztacoatl¡¯s cruelty soured my heart with anger. I thought back to her promises of breaking me, of opening my heart and filling it with servile adoration. She was wee to try. She would find nothing but spite there.

    I briefly considered what to do. I nned to practice Seidr in order to learn more about Eztli¡¯s location, but now that I have learned it I should explore another lead tonight. Learning more about thete Yoloxochitl¡¯s weapon appeared like a priority.

    I would need Necahual¡¯s mind to focus on the task¡­ and I knew exactly how.

    ¡°Keep that truth for yourself,¡± I whispered in Necahual¡¯s ear, too low for anyone to hear. ¡°Yoloxochitl is <em>dead</em>.¡±

    I was so close that I could hear her heart skipping a beat. My mother-inw stared at me in shock and disbelief, searching for any hint of a lie. She might have caressed that hope deep inside her shriveled heart, but to hear of her tormentor¡¯s death¡­ her mind struggled to ept what her ears told her.

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± she whispered, her eyes wide with astonishment.

    I nodded with confidence and a lightened heart. ¡°I saw it myself.¡±

    Necahual pondered my words for a moment. She had lived in the Nightlords¡¯ shadows for her entire life. She had learned to worship them at school, grown to fear their wrath during the nights of the Scarlet Moon, and suffered from their cruelty. She had been told of their invincibility for years, that they would haunt the world until its final twilight, until she believed in the lies. Barely avoiding her death at their hands had only reinforced that fear.

    Necahual thought we might somehow escape them, but now she realized that I had done the impossible.

    That I had killed a goddess. She <em>knew </em>that I had somehow caused Yoloxochitl¡¯s demise and the disaster outside these walls. That all of Yohuachanca was built on lies, and that I had made the first crack in its foundations.

    I had upturned Necahual¡¯s entire vision of the world.

    And she <em>liked </em>it.

    I had seen Necahual smile a few times, whether at Eztli or her husband. Never at me though. Never before today. Not this way, with such glee and blissful satisfaction. Her bitter scowl turned into the purest expression of cruel delight. The news of Yoloxochitl¡¯s demise, that she had outlived her daughter¡¯s tormentor, filled her with the darkest delight.

    For a brief instant, I saw what Guatemoc found charming about the vile woman. Her smile was the most beautiful in the world. I must have looked <em>exactly </em>like this after I blew up Smoke Mountain.

    The sight reinvigorated me. I forgot all about Iztacoatl¡¯s threats and warnings. For all of her barking, I had defied her, shattered her sisterhood, and defiled her glory with defeat. I would not wallow in fear and despair. I would <em>celebrate</em> and seize the day.

    <strong> ---- NSFW Scene starts-----</strong>

    Overwhelmed with desire, I grabbed Necahual and started kissing her neck. She did not resist me nor did she stay idle as I touched her. To my surprise, she <em>assisted </em>me. One of her hands plunged under my imperial robes to massage my manhood and the other brushed against my hair. She pressed her face into the crook of my neck, her lips tasting me, sampling me.

    She was as excited as her daughter had been yesterday.

    This time, I was <em>weed</em>.

    My blood boiled with excitement. What greater joy was there thanmitting a crime against the Nightlords and being <em>rewarded </em>for it?

    My hands swiftly unfurled her sash and opened a path to her breasts. She did the same with the clothes over my chest. She stared at me, and for that night at least I knew that she would be all mine. Her lips crashed against mine while my hands fondled her breasts.

    Her skin felt different thanst time: healthier, smoother, younger. I med this on our practice of Seidr. The same process that allowed Sigrun to keep her beauty had granted Necahual a few years of youth.

    I felt my magic awaken in my blood as one of my hands roamed down her back and to her soft ass. The call of Bonecrafting, the urge to reshape her legs and body like a y doll in a way that would please me most. I basked in that feeling of power. That she was here to service me, to reward me, to please me. I resisted the urge to use a spell on her, but I quickly disrobed her all the same. My own clothes slipped onto the ground soon after.

    Necahual gasped in shock as I all but threw her on the bed, stomach first. One of my hands pressed on her back, the other grabbing herdy parts and lifting her up slightly. I leaned on against her back.

    ¡°Kneel,¡± I whispered into her ear before lightly nibbling it. Necahual looked over her shoulder at me, but she arched her back nheless. My hands grabbed her hips, seizing her, owning her. I delighted in her groan as I slid my manhood inside her. She was warm, wet, and willing.

    I took her violently. I pounded and mmed and thrust. While at first taken aback, Necahual soon started pushing back. She moaned and convulsed beneath me, her ne bouncing off her breast. We were no better than animals.

    I pinned her down to the bed and then resumed, one of my hands holding her hip and the other fondling her breast. I sensed her flesh constrict and unfold around mine. What pleasure it was, to see the woman who had abused me for years now kneeling before me. At longst I felt our Teyolias connecting through our mutual triumph.

    I focused on our mutual desire. I sensed the call of sorcery flooding my mind. A blurry image of Yoloxochitl crying in her dark father¡¯s hand formed in my mind, vivid and raw.

    No¡­ No, that wasn¡¯t it. That wasn¡¯t the vision I sought. I let go of the memory, but it wouldn¡¯t leave me. Worse, it grew sharper with each pulse of our Teyolias.

    ¡°Think of her,¡± I whispered in Necahual¡¯s ear. ¡°Think of the weapon.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± she replied in between moans. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t understand¡­¡±

    The vision grew blurrier. Yoloxochitl¡¯s face became almost unrecognizable and the Teyolia connection weakened.

    ¡°Yoloxochitl,¡± I answered with a grunt of displeasure. ¡°Think of her weapon. Her <em>weapon</em>.¡±

    New images shed in my mind, of Yoloxochitl holding an obsidian knife over a prisoner¡¯s heart.

    I quickly grasped Seidr¡¯s limits: namely, <em>both </em>partners needed to work in unison. If Necahual and I failed to focus on the same thing, the vision would wander like an arrow without its target. Our shing ideas of a secret weapon did not align.

    I pulled out before the vision could solidify, much to Necahual¡¯s chagrin. Our Teyolias lost their connection. Iy my mother-inw down her back, widened her legs, and then loomed over her.

    ¡°Yoloxochitl, secret weapon, Sapa,¡± I grunted into her ear, almost imperiously. ¡°All¡­ think of them <em>all</em>.¡±

    Necahual sent me a brief re, but she did obey. She closed her eyes and focused on my words. Our Teyolias connected again as she weed my manhood with waiting lips and muffled moans. I kissed the sweat of her brow as I entered her again. Her breasts bounced with our thrusts, her ne¡¯s cold metal pressing on my chest.

    We found a steady rhythm and touched the soul of sorcery. Her arms closed around my neck with the final pulse. My vision went white.

    <strong>---- NSFW Scene Ends-----</strong>

    Then I saw Yoloxochitl.

    The vision struck me like a bucket of cold water drawing me out of the throws of passion. My body was no longer my own, my flesh and bones were both gone. I was the putrid air flowing through a dark garden of shining fungi and fetid corpses. I was the ancient walls paved with spores and tasting the blood of the dead. I was the darkness of the cave and the moan of the damned.

    Unlike ourst Seidr ritual, I immediately knew that this vision was no shared memory. I did not see a scene through Necahual¡¯s eyes, no. I had be the world itself, a disembodied spirit of stone and evanescent air, beyond the prison of the self.

    I watched Yoloxochitl¡¯s mad smile from above and below, sensed her seat on a throne of rock amidst the fungi, and smelled the stench of death following her. A naked man convulsed at her feet, struggling not to inhale the red spores floating in the air. I felt the poison enter his lungs and blood.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fight it,¡± she said, so softly, so kindly. ¡°Let the love flow through you.¡±

    The man was dead long before he entered her secret garden, but he likely wished for a quicker demise. I sensed the heat creeping up his spine, the sweat of the fever seizing his mind. Something <em>vile </em>had taken hold of him. It spread through his flesh in hours, or maybe days, driving him to pain and madness. Time meant nothing to a stone, and little to a Nightlord.

    Yoloxochitl nursed the man through his agony. She held him in her cold arms as his skin took on an ashen pallor and his veins turned green. She helped him back up when he stumbled.

    ¡°Be brave, my child,¡± she said; not to her victim, but to the horror crawling inside his flesh. ¡°You are home.¡±

    The poison wove its tendrils inside its host, nesting between muscle and bone. The man tried to scream. He failed. His mouth would open no longer. Green growths had stitched his lips close. His blood coalesced into sacks of thickened blood growing out of his stomach.

    Strings moved his weakened body against his will. A single urge possessed the puppeteer: to climb. To rise. To find a ce high above, so the wind would carry its love to the disparate fleshes of thend.

    The walking corpse searched the cave with a feverish obsession for an elevated post. Atst, Yoloxochitl climbed down from her throne and gently raised her child to it.

    The corpse ascended to the top and coiled around the stone. His calcified skin thickened into a sick white bark stronger than bones, whereas his stomach yielded a bounty of spoiled blood fruits. His skull blossomed. Crimson petals burst out of his teeth. The man¡¯s head had be a flower of terrible beauty, a crown of red petals on a dead tree of hardened flesh. Its breath of red spores erupted like Smoke Mountain in search of a new home.

    Yoloxochitl shed a tear of joy and I woke up.

    I returned to reality with a sweet, euphoric feeling of emptiness. Necahual breathed softly under me, her body coiled around mine, my seed dripping down her thighs.

    That brief moment of contentmentsted until we both remembered the vision. I could see the color drain from Necahual¡¯s cheeks, the horror crawling into her soul, her rising disgust. Her mind struggled to ept that such unnatural abominations could exist in this world.

    I envied her. I was used to the Nightlords¡¯ horrors by now. I missed those times when such atrocities seemed like a rare exception rather than a daily norm.

    Necahual lightly pushed my chest back and I pulled out of her. We moved to the baths next, both to clear our minds and discuss things more privately. The sickening vision of that man-tree haunted me even as I sank into the warm running waters.

    <em>¡°That will spoil the food.¡± </em>So Iztacoatl said when her sister first suggested using her weapon. Now I understood. Even a vampire might recoil from tasting those sick stomach-fruits. <em>Yoloxochitl said it would cull the weak and spare the strong.</em>

    I supposed she hadn¡¯tpletely lied. The healthy and the well-fed survived gues better than the weak and the malnourished.

    Necahual let the water run to cover our words, then joined me in the bath. I beckoned her toe closer. After a short moment of hesitation, she sat on myp, her back against my chest, a deep scowl on her face.

    ¡°You have seen it too,¡± I told Necahual, which she confirmed with a short nod. ¡°That¡¯s Yoloxochitl¡¯s legacy. A gue of death.¡±

    ¡°Not a gue,¡± she replied much to my surprise. ¡°A fungus.¡±

    ¡°Fungus?¡± I guessed it made sense considering where Yoloxochitl cultivated them, but I remained dubious. ¡°It looked more like a flower to me.¡±

    ¡°A <em>fungus</em>,¡± Necahual insisted, her toneced with scorn. She disliked me doubting her experience. ¡°I have seen their kind in the forests where I gathered my herbs. They take over bugs, sicken their minds, and consume them from within. The hosts climb to elevated ces, then they spread the infection to its colony.¡±

    The Sapa¡¯s mountains would make for a fertile spreading ground. ¡°Is there any cure?¡±

    Necahual hesitated a moment, before answering with, ¡°Fire. Heat.¡±

    Somehow, I doubted the Sapa would settle on burning their sickpatriots. That disease alone would ravage their settlements. Those who survived the disease would then end their lives on Yohuachanca¡¯s altars.

    ¡°I need to destroy that garden,¡± I said with cold resolve. I would wipe out thest stain of Yoloxochitl¡¯s legacy from this world, and I had to do it before the war against the Sapa started. ¡°If it¡¯s the only one.¡±

    ¡°It will be in a single ce underground,¡± Necahual said sharply. ¡°That corruption would kill thousands if it escaped. More gardens mean a greater risk of idental contagion.¡±

    True. The Nightlords were mad, but not stupid. They wouldn¡¯t risk unleashing such a devastating gue on their own poption.

    But where could Yoloxochitl have cultivated that garden? Under the pce? The Blood Pyramid? Another location entirely? The Seidr vision didn¡¯t give a hint and Yohuachanca was a vast empire. I might as well search for a grain of sand on a beachhead.

    My predecessors could provide leads if I found a way to contact them, but even then they didn¡¯t know about Yoloxochitl¡¯s weapon until I informed them of it. I would require a wider to catch that fish.

    ¡°I will need your assistance,¡± I whispered in Necahual¡¯s ear, my arms closing around her waist.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch me like this,¡± she hissed, her jaw tightening. ¡°I <em>hate </em>it.¡±

    ¡°You liked it a few minutes ago,¡± I replied before kissing her on the neck. From her whimper, she still liked it <em>now</em>. In fact, I suspected that she hated my touch <em>because </em>she liked it. ¡°It earned you a pretty ne too.¡±

    Necahual spat in the bath. ¡°As if I could be bought with gold.¡±

    ¡°Whether with gold or information, you need to show them you <em>can</em> be bought, or else no one will approach you,¡± I said with a snort. I always knew that she would make for a poor merchant. ¡°And if you want us to leave this ce alive with Eztli one day, you better be used to my touch. You are my <em>favorite </em>now. You will need to act the part.¡±

    She looked over her shoulder and red at me. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Information,¡± I replied. ¡°Lessons on the human body and its bones.¡±

    ¡°Its bones?¡±

    ¡°You will understand soon enough.¡± Once I can bonecraft with fewer eyes on us. ¡°I also need information on Eztli, my other consorts, and on Yoloxochitl. Someone must have an inkling to where she cultivated her gue, or know someone who could provide its location. You must find them for me.¡±

    Necahual squinted at me. ¡°Nothinges cheap, and I have little to offer.¡±

    ¡°You are wrong. You can offer them ess to <em>me</em>.¡± My hand traveled up her soft neckline. ¡°You shall tell me which of Eztli¡¯s maids informed you and who offered you the ne. I shall invite them both to¡­¡± I struggled to find the right word. ¡°<em>Entertain </em>me.¡±

    Concubines were still expected to work for the emperor and consorts, so sleeping with Eztli¡¯s maids wouldn¡¯t lose us that connection. I might not even need to go that far. The mere <em>possibility </em>of sharing my bed in the future could probably suffice.

    ¡°This ought to convince everyone in the harem that you can raise their meager station,¡± I exined to Necahual. ¡°After which, you will start asking questions about Yoloxochitl.¡±

    ¡°No one will wonder why,¡± Necahual said. She had caught on quickly. ¡°They will believe that I seek to protect myself from her wrath.¡±

    ¡°The desperate and the ambitious will flock to you next. You shall offer them a path to salvation, for a price.¡±

    We would use the Nightlords¡¯ own tools to destroy their work. Iztacoatl had been right on one front. I was a serpent biding its time.

    And soon, I would <em>bite</em>.

 Chapter Forty-One: All for a Purpose

    Chapter Forty-One: All for a Purpose

    I concluded my day by having zohtzin¡¯s wife over for dinner.

    Zyanya Quiabgayo was indeed quite the beauty, with smooth skin and a warm earthlikeplexion, dark and prating ck eyes, and braided raven hair cascading down her shoulder. Glittering gold earrings and an elegant gemstone ne framed her fair face, while her gilded ck and vermilion garments probably cost their weight in rare metals. Her unflinching, queenly gaze reeked of pride and poise. This woman knew her worth.

    In short, I could have mistaken her for a noble ambassador rather than a prisoner a few words away from death.

    ¡°I thank Your Imperial Majesty from the bottom of my heart for granting me an audience,¡± Lady Zyanya said with an elegant bow after I invited her to sit at my table. ¡°Your trust won¡¯t be misced.¡±

    ¡°That remains to be seen,¡± I replied from atop my cushion throne. ¡°You and your husband have much to answer for.¡±

    I had explicitly ordered Tayatzin to wow our prisoner with an emperor¡¯s luxuries, and he followed through diligently. The smell of fresh marigolds mingled with the fragrance of pine wood burning in braziers near our table. The feast itself was a bounty of seasoned turkey, tamales anointed with steamed masa, corn sds, and sulent chocte drinks spiced with achiote for drinks. A cadre of female attendants yed a harmonious melody for us, beating drums of jaguar fur and blowing flutes of crafted trihorn bones.

    Necahual sat in silence at my side, maids serving her food as she once served mine. While she appeared more interested in the dinner than the conversation, she in truth paid close attention to it. Her new status of favorite afforded her the privilege of wearing turquoise jewelry, while I was garbed in a fine attire of rich cotton dyed with a deep shade of crimson. A kingly guest would have felt like a pauper in our presence.

    All this spectacle had the desired effect. While Zyanya attempted to remain calm and serene, I could see her shoulders crumpling and her eyes fidgeting from my clothes to the singers. She understood the message: her family¡¯s opulence was little more than pocket changepared to my divine splendor. It was in her interest to please me.

    <em>How can I make the best use of her? </em>I wondered as I studied the noblewoman. I had asked my new advisor Tayatzin to provide me with more information on her. As it turned out, she came from quite an esteemed lineage. <em>What resources does she possess, and what kind of wood is she made of? Brittle, or strong?</em>I decided to probe her first.

    ¡°As you know, Lady Zyanya, your presence at my table this evening is not without significant cause,¡± I said, choosing my words carefully. ¡°Before we cut to the heart of the matter, you will indulge my curiosity.¡±

    Zyanya straightened up at my authoritative tone. ¡°What does Your Majesty wish to know?¡±

    ¡°ording to my advisors, the Quiabgayo n used to rule the city of Zacha until they willingly submitted to Yohuachanca.¡± With <em>¡®willingly¡¯ </em>being highly rtive. Yohuachanca had brought their empire to the brink of ruin until they only controlled their capital. Their unconditional surrender barely spared them the altar. ¡°Royal blood flows in your veins.¡±

    ¡°It does,¡± Lady Zyanya confirmed. Her voice brimmed with pride. ¡°My father wields considerable influence in our city¡¯s council as Your Majesty¡¯s tributary.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you marry zohtzin?¡± I asked. ¡°No one can deny his family¡¯s vast wealth, but he stands as far below your station as an ant does below a hawk.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty is kind,¡± she replied with the utmost politeness. While she did her best to portray an amiable smile, I sensed a hint of unease. ¡°My father and my husband¡¯ste sire decided on our match out of mutual interest. My inws sought trade contracts with Zacha, whereas my n desired to gain allies beyond our city¡¯s nobility.¡±

    ¡°It must have been a strong alliance,¡± I said, going straight for the throat. ¡°I have rarely heard of a family paying another¡¯s debts.¡±

    Lady Zyanya had enough pride to look offended, and enough wisdom not to lie. ¡°Your Majesty is aware that a groom¡¯s family must provide a service to the bride¡¯s. My husband fulfilled his duty to earn my hand.¡±

    A polite way to say that they had fallen on hard times and only agreed to the match for money. This confirmed my intel.

    Tayatzin had informed me that while still rich innds and prestige, punishing tributes had slowly crippled the Quiabgayo n over thest century. The situation only worsened when a rival n¡¯s daughter skillfully entered the imperial harem and gained an emperor¡¯s favor ten generations before mine. She¡¯d convinced my predecessor to further weaken the Quiabgayo by offering choice appointments to her own family.

    Such turns of fortune would be nothing the Quiabgayo line couldn¡¯t recover from had they been willing to adapt. However, being an ancient n in high standing demanded that they keep avish lifestyle. Lady Zyanya¡¯s father had indebted the family with feasts and contracted debts to avoid selling his properties; debts which zohtzin¡¯s father covered. Everyone benefited from the match: Lady Zyanya¡¯s children would inherit her mother¡¯s noble titles without being beggared out of their inheritance and her inws would gain recognition among the empire¡¯s nobility.

    I smelled an opportunity. A weakness to exploit.

    ¡°You should have married xc then,¡± I said while sampling oblong cakes of maize stuffed with beans. ¡°Of the two brothers, he was the better-born one. Enough that I awarded him his father¡¯s inheritance.¡±

    ¡°Far from me to question Your Majesty¡¯s wisdom, but xc is a fool and his mother¡¯s puppet,¡± Zyanya replied. ¡°I fear he will drive his inheritance to the ground in a decade¡¯s time.¡±

    Something we both agreed on, amusingly enough. Marrying zohtzin would have been the correct choice in a fairer world.

    ¡°xc wasn¡¯t half the fool that his brother was,¡± I replied sternly. ¡°If you want proof of your husband¡¯s <em>¡®wisdom</em>,<em>¡¯</em> look out the window. The man smuggled foreign, sphemous artifacts inside holy ground. His foolishness brought the heavens¡¯ wrath upon us all.¡±

    The elegant arch of Zyanya¡¯s brows bent slightly. I had to admire how well she kept a straight face in the face of danger. ¡°I assure Your Majesty that my husband would never scheme against the empire. The usations against him are nothing but lies.¡±

    ¡°My servants have secured overwhelming evidence of his treachery,¡± I replied. ¡°What I am concerned about now is whether or not he acted <em>alone</em>.¡±

    Lady Zyanya¡¯s lips tensed up ever so slightly. She could read between the lines. Her life was on the line.

    ¡°Now, the Quiabgayo have always been loyal servants of the empire and I would be loath to learn otherwise,¡± I said, my voiceced with a veiled threat. ¡°If you could provide proof that your husband acted on his own, or at least tell us how he might have secured those foreign artifacts, it would greatly reassure me.¡±

    Lady Zyanya grabbed her chocte drink and sipped it, though mostly to give herself an excuse to consider my words instead of answering immediately.

    ¡°If the usations against my husband are confirmed, I must assure Your Majesty that neither I nor my family assisted him in his scheme,¡± she said after emptying her cup. ¡°We were also victims of deceit.¡±

    ¡°I would like to believe that,¡± I replied mirthfully. <em>She doesn¡¯t love her husband enough to share his fate. Good. If she can give me an excuse totch on to, I could justify sparing her. </em>¡°But then, how do you exin your husband¡¯s collection of Sapa relics?¡±

    ¡°Misced trust in the wrong people,¡± Zyanya replied diplomatically. ¡°My husband has been in contact with a Sapa importer called Qollqa in Zacha. I warned zohtzin against approaching this man, but he ignored me.¡±

    ¡°Qollqa?¡± I repeated. It was the first time I¡¯d heard that name. ¡°Why would your husband establish contact with a foreigner?¡±

    ¡°For money,¡± Zyanya replied. ¡°Zacha rules over a set of southern ports on Your Majesty¡¯s behalf. Most of our trade takes ce with the Sapa Empire, with whom we exchange food and spices for gold and salt. Qollqa represents his masters in the empire, so my husband intended to expand his father¡¯s activities beyond the empire by befriending him.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I said. ¡°You suspect that this Qollqa provided the relics?¡±

    ¡°As a gift,¡± Zyanya immediately added. ¡°I¡¯m sure that my husband was tricked into epting a poisoned offering.¡±

    I stroked my chin while pretending to think this through. In truth, my mind was set the moment I had learned the man¡¯s name. This Qollqa would do.

    Necahual, who had remained silent so far, turned her head in my direction. ¡°I believe that this woman means well,¡± she said. ¡°Her only sin was to marry a man unworthy of her. Unlike you, she couldn¡¯t detect zohtzin¡¯s duplicity.¡±

    Had Necahual guessed my intentions and sought to support me? If so, she was sharper than she looked. I could tell she tried to imitate thete Sigrun and did a fine job of it.

    ¡°Mayhaps you are right,¡± I replied before focusing back on Zyanya. ¡°I shall send a message to Zacha and have this Qollqa arrested. If he indeed schemed with your husband behind your family¡¯s back, we shall see that the goddesses know it.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡¯s generosity is as boundless as the heavens,¡± Zyanya replied, a hint of relief in her voice. ¡°If I may ask¡­ what will happen to my husband?¡±

    <em>Believe me, you don¡¯t want to know. </em>The Nightlords would give zohtzin a quick death at best, but I knew better than most to never expect mercy from them. ¡°He will be severely punished.¡±

    Lady Zyanya wisely didn¡¯t ask for details. However, she had one more question. ¡°If Your Majesty will forgive my curiosity, should my husband be punished, what will be of his inheritance? His father has yet to fulfill his obligations towards my n.¡±

    ¡°A good son honors his father¡¯s debts,¡± I replied. ¡°xc will cover your dowry.¡±

    From the scowl spreading on her face, this didn¡¯t please Lady Zyanya. ¡°Forgive my impertinence, Your Majesty, but if my husband indeed plotted against the very heavens, then he has shamed my n as much as our country. If he is indeed a good son, xc ought to providepensation on his family¡¯s behalf.¡±

    Her cold-hearted boldness took me by surprise. Her husband wasn¡¯t yet in the grave and she already sought to exploit the situation for all it was worth.

    It didn¡¯t take me long to figure out her issue. Zyanya¡¯s father agreed to the match with the expectation that zohtzin would inherit and continue supporting his wife¡¯s n marily. His downfall clearly threw their ns into disarray, so she would scrap for any advantage possible.

    Necahual suppressed a scowl at my side, and truthfully I shared some of her disgust. Zyanya¡¯s behavior made sense considering the threat her n faced should she be found an aplice to the greatest disaster in Yohuachanca¡¯s history, but her quickness at throwing her husband to the wolves for mary gain disappointed me.

    <em>zohtzin is about to suffer a gruesome death, and all she thinks of is how she might rebound from it. </em>She and xc would have made quite the pair. <em>Perhaps I should wed them.</em>

    Still, I tried to keep hope. Zyanya reacted this way because she was within my grasp, but the empire¡¯s people might prove more resilient. The loss of Yoloxochitl¡¯s priests and Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption ought to shake their faith in the Nightlords¡¯ order.

    Hopefully.

    My first impulse was to deny this woman¡¯s request since it would weaken my own connection with xc, whom I hoped to use to build a spywork. I resisted it. The Quiabgayo n¡¯s hold over Zacha could prove useful too, so the matter warranted further consideration.

    I had first intended to send Lady Zyanya away from court after ¡®proving¡¯ her innocence as a favor to zohtzin for unwittingly taking the me for my crime, but since she clearly saw their marriage as an alliance of convenience, it would be a crime not to exploit the situation. I couldn¡¯t afford to be picky; not with the threat of Iztacoatl looming over me.

    A n slowly formed in my mind. One that would let me further strengthen my hold over xc and his assets, earn Zacha¡¯s favor, and cultivate a new asset in my secret war against the Nightlords.

    ¡°It would be unjust to have xc pay for his brother¡¯s crimes,¡± I said. ¡°However, your n¡¯s loyalty ought to be rewarded if proven true. You shall remain my guest until I figure out how.¡±

    ¡°I serve at Your Majesty¡¯s pleasure,¡± Lady Zyanya replied with a slow, subtle bat of her eyshes. ¡°I shall endeavor to prove my loyalty in all things.¡±

    <em>I expect as much, </em>I thought before dismissing her. Topless maids ushered her out of the room while bringing in a set of fruit tters for dessert. Tayatzin followed in their wake.

    ¡°Has Your Majesty enjoyed his feast?¡± he asked me.

    ¡°We have,¡± I replied, with Necahual offering a sharp nod to confirm it. ¡°Is xc married?¡±

    ¡°He isn¡¯t,¡± Tayatzin confirmed with a wry smile. ¡°Your Majesty wishes to have him wed his brother¡¯s soon-to-be widow, so as to both please Zacha and keep the two ns¡¯ alliance intact. A wise strategy.¡±

    <em>He¡¯s shrewder than his predecessors.</em> The man had figured out my n in an instant.<em> Far too much. </em>¡°xc is grateful to me, so he will keep an eye on his inws should they prove treacherous,¡± I said, though it was mostly a justification that I had invented on the spot. ¡°You will order our servants in Zacha to arrest the merchant Qollqa. He appears to be involved in zohtzin¡¯s wicked plot.¡±

    ¡°I shall do it with haste,¡± Tayatzin promised. ¡°Your Majesty¡¯s performers wait to please you. Should I usher them in now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, do so,¡± I said whileying on my cushion throne and inviting Necahual to share it. She sat at my side with all the grace and poise she could muster. ¡°Bring pulque too.¡±

    Tayatzin offered me a short bow as he left the room. ¡°As Your Majesty wishes.¡±

    Less than a minuteter, my musicians began to y a festive tune. I never had the money to pay for private dances back in Acampa, and because of my nature as a cursed child I was summarily chased away from public ones.

    The spectacle that unfolded in my quarters would blow both out of the water.

    Five female dancers picked from my harem entered the room, each of them a model of grace and beauty. None of them could be older than twenty years of age. They walked into my prison barefoot and d in vibrant skirts of fibers light enough to billow with each step. Their slim arms and legsy exposed alongside their bellies, golden rings jingling at their wrists. Each of them had their hair dyed a different color, from vibrant pink to midnight blue and crimson red. The shades of their skin differed from pale to dark brown, alongside different arrays of body paints; a detail which made me realize that they came from different ethnicities.

    The five performers started by bowing before me and then dancing in near-perfect synchronicity. They moved their waist from left to right, and raised their hands to the ceiling, fluidly twirling and leaping across my private hall. Their headdresses of gold and feathers cast changing shadows under the torches. Some of them betrayed a small degree of hesitation in their steps, but they¡¯d clearly repeated this dance long before the Nightlords stole my life away from me.

    I watched with mesmerized eyes, one hand around Necahual¡¯s shoulder and the other grabbing a pulque cup. I sipped the alcoholic drink as my quarters pulsed with life to the sound of beating drums. Servants put incense in the fires, filling the air with sweet perfume and colorful smoke.

    I¡¯d never understood the appeal of dancing before, but the longer I observed these five the closer I came to enlightenment. The way their braids moved with each turn of their head, the steady rhythm of their steps matching that of the drums, the sensual yet frantic precision of their movements¡­ The very air of my quarters seemed to flow at theirmand, the smoke of the perfumed incense swirling around their legs and arms. It coiled around their fingers like snakes of dust.

    Something about this performance effortlessly captured my full and undivided attention. Even Necahual appeared to be admiring it in my arms. She had never seen anything like this.

    For a brief moment, I found myself forgetting my troubles. The pulque, the perfumes, and the dance pushed my schemes far deep inside the recesses of my mind. For perhaps the first time since the Night of the Scarlet Moon, I allowed myself to <em>rx</em>.

    <em>Is this the spell that enchanted so many of my predecessors? </em>I wondered, my eyes lingering on a dancer¡¯s lithe, sensual curves. <em>The call of luxury?</em>

    I had ignored the pce¡¯s pleasures in the pursuit of intrigue since I could always find a measure of peace in M. Now that I spent my nights struggling against Xibalba¡¯s trials, I weed the distraction.

    Still, I did not order Necahual and Tayatzin to organize this spectacle for pleasure alone.

    ¡°Which ones do you prefer?¡± I whispered in Necahual¡¯s ear.

    My concubine pointed at the dancers, slowly and deliberately. She singled out two dancers from among the group. The former had blue hair with the hue of the night sky that was woven into long braids under a crown of quetzal feathers. They moved like serpents as she danced. Her eyes, clear as water, shyly avoided my gaze. Her movements were slower than the others, more hesitant.

    Herpanion was of a more gaudy sort, her body decorated with beads and baubles clinking with each sway of her hips. Unlike the other dancers, she answered my stare with a mischievous smile and sensual winks. She appeared one or two years older than most, with a heavier bust and her pink hair bound in a bun by flowers.

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the vition.

    The dance slowly relinquished its hold over me as the music slowed down. The final note left me with a lingering feeling of peaceful emptiness when the dancers atst stopped with a final bow. I let the silence rule the room for a few seconds, my eyes sharp, the air tense. The dancers obediently waited for mymand.

    ¡°You two,¡± I said, pointing at those whom Necahual singled out. ¡°You¡¯ll stay.¡±

    The pink-haired one smiled ear to ear and the blue-haired girl held her breath. The others hardly managed to hide their frustration and disappointment behind forced smiles or nk frowns. They swiftly left my quarters alongside the musicians.

    ¡°What are your names?¡± I asked the two <em>¡®winners.¡¯</em>

    The blue-haired one let out a breath full of fear and tension. ¡°At¨C¡± She cleared her throat, her hands shaking so much I wondered if she was suffering from a stroke. She reminded me of Nl. ¡°Atziri¡­¡±

    The other dancer came to her rescue. ¡°Forgive Atziri, Master, she finds you too handsome to look upon,¡± she said with a charming smile. ¡°My name is Tenoch.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow in amusement. Clearly, these two appeared friendly to one another, or at least well-acquainted. ¡°Master?¡±

    ¡°Master Nochtli liked it when I called him that,¡± Tenoch replied with a giggle. She was clearly the more confident of the two. ¡°I call you by other names, if you prefer.¡±

    ¡°Master has a nice ring to it,¡± I said. I noted the fact she seemed acquainted with my predecessor, which meant she was almost certainly a fifth-ranked concubine. ¡°My Necahual told me you gave her a beautiful ne.¡±

    ¡°Did you like it too?¡± Tenoch asked, her eyes lingering on the jewel around Necahual¡¯s neck. ¡°I crafted it myself. My brother was a jeweler and he taught me well.¡±

    ¡°He did,¡± Necahual said sharply.

    ¡°Did you make those as well?¡± I asked, my eyes lingering on the baubles on her skirt.

    ¡°I did.¡± Tenoch put her hands behind her back and adopted a rather suggestive pose. ¡°I keep plenty more of them in my room. I could wear nothing but them if the master wants me to.¡±

    Her sheer confidence caused her fellow dancer to blush. A smirk spread over my face. ¡°I would like that, yes,¡± I said before turning to Atziri. ¡°As for you, I heard you took good care of my consort.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Atziri gathered her breath and exhaled deeply. Her fellow dancer took her hand into her own to reassure her. ¡°I have done my best to serve Lady Eztli¡­¡±

    ¡°And I appreciate it. You will continue to serve her as well as you serve me.¡± I stroked Necahual¡¯s hair. ¡°Will you stay with us?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Necahual replied a little too sharply. She quickly corrected her mistake. ¡°I am tired, Your Majesty. I would appreciate it if you would let me rest tonight.¡±

    ¡°I shall allow it,¡± I replied. Necahual was a quick learner, but she still struggled to y the role of the obedient favorite in public. ¡°You may go.¡±

    Necahual excused herself with a quick nod and a tense bow alongside the servants, leaving me alone with the two dancers. I emptied my pulque drink, its liquor warming my stomach.

    ¡°Undress,¡± I said. ¡°Both of you.¡±

    They both obeyed, Tenoch a little more promptly than Atziri. I found myself staring at them and drinking in the sight. Tenoch was more shapely than herrade, with fuller breasts and better curves around the hips, but Atziri¡¯s lithe silhouette quickened my blood nheless. The way she blushed shyly reminded me of Nl once more.

    The alcohol in my veins only heightened my desire. I beckoned them both to join me on the imperial bed.

    ¡°If the Master would be gentle with Atziri,¡± Tenoch said as she started to undress me. ¡°It¡¯s her first time with a man.¡±

    ¡°Tenoch, please¡­¡± Atziri blushed brighter than a tomato. ¡°I will do my best for Your Majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°Are you two friends?¡± I asked curiously.

    ¡°We arrived at the same time,¡± Tenoch confirmed with a warm smile. ¡°We shared a room for years. I hoped to convince Master Nochtli to notice Atziri too, but he never did.¡±

    I supposed friendships could form even in the darkest ces. That connection was a surprise to me, but a wee one. I might find a way to use it.

    I wouldn¡¯t give either of them the rank of favorite though. Concubines were still expected to serve my consorts, so giving Atziri a higher rank meant that she would stop tending to Eztli. As for Tenoch, the promise of awarding her the title should incentivize her to provide services beyond pretty jewelry.

    <em>Is that all I can think of? </em>I scolded myself as Atziriy on the bed, her body tenser than a bowstring. <em>How can I make use of them?</em>

    It saddened Atziri that she would spend her first night with me. Under better circumstances, she might have been able to give herself to a man she loved rather than a stranger who owned her like a ve. Worse, while I did find the girl attractive, I mostly cared about how she would help me keep tabs on Eztli.

    It felt shameful to use her this way. To take something she could only give once and not appreciate it.

    <em>Victory excuses everything, </em>I told myself.<em> Once I kill the Nightlords, I will let her go. Give her a better life.</em>

    It helped soothe my guilty conscience.

    The night proved pleasant enough. I was gentle with Atziri and did my best to pleasure her¡ªthough she still bled when I first entered her. Tenoch was a lot more experienced and eagerly rode me to contentment. I might call her again.

    I gently drifted to sleep in their arms afterward. I hardly gave it an hour before the news and rumors spread through the imperial harem. This should secure Necahual¡¯s importance among them and fill the hole left by thete Lady Sigrun. Those who pleased her received my favor; and those who didn¡¯t left empty-handed.

    My spirit slipped into the Underworld and I found myself awakening in a bone-chair under Chamiaholom¡¯s roof. The ancient hag sliced red meat on her table with an obsidian cleaver. I dared not ask what kind.

    ¡°Wee back, dear,¡± Chamiaholom greeted me. ¡°Are you ready to continue with your lesson?¡±

    ¡°If you will forgive me, I must dy it,¡± I said diplomatically. I knew better than to offend a Lord of Terror. ¡°I must cast a Ride spell.¡±

    ¡°My child, I am every dark thought you ever had.¡± She smiled at me with her pristine teeth. ¡°That cruel scheme of yours brings a tear to my old eye. Of course I forgive you.¡±

    Her praise sent a chill of shame crawling down my spine. To earn the admiration of an embodiment of human cruelty should rm me. I suppose I deserved it. I had crossed many linestely.

    Chamiaholom took a moment off her butchering task to stare at me with what could pass for concern. ¡°What bothers you, my sweet?¡±

    Couldn¡¯t she tell if she knew my dark thoughts?

    ¡°I have sent an innocent man to his gruesome death, and now I plot to exploit his future widow for my own benefit,¡± I confessed. ¡°I¡¯ve used women for my pleasure, information, and intrigue.¡±

    I kept trying to tell myself that I did it all for a righteous cause, that the end would excuse the means. However, King Mtecuhtli¡¯s warning echoed in my mind whenever I tried. <em>Do not be what you fight against.</em>

    If I used the tactics of my oppressors for my own benefit, was I truly better than them?

    ¡°Sweetheart, don¡¯t you see?¡± Chamiaholom chuckled to herself, the sounding out of her throat as ominous as a dead woman¡¯s rattle. ¡°You don¡¯t feel guilty about what you did to these people. You feel guilty about <em>not </em>feeling guilty.¡±

    My jaw clenched in frustration. ¡°With all due respect, I do not believe an embodiment of human cruelty can understand how I feel.¡±

    ¡°Oh dear, you wound me. I understand your issue <em>perfectly</em>.¡± Chamiaholom waved a hand at two slices of meat. ¡°Look at them. One of these two is monkey flesh. The other is human.¡±

    She smiled at me with all the kindness of a murderer about to finish off their victim.

    ¡°Can you tell which one is which?¡± she asked.

    Suppressing my disgust, I looked at the table and swiftly realized that I couldn¡¯t answer her question. I might be able to tell these two apart if I tasted them, but even then I doubted it. I had never consumed either of these meats.

    ¡°Because I sure can¡¯t tell,¡± Chamiaholom said with a gentleugh, before taking a slice of meat into her mouth and chewing it whole. ¡°Do you understand your problem, dear? You have been taught all your life that human life is valuable. That it is worth more than those of beasts and ought to be treated with more respect. A beautiful <em>lie</em>.¡±

    ¡°Human life <em>is </em>special,¡± I replied sternly. ¡°The gods made us in their image,¡±

    ¡°Oh dear, how wrong you are. Did you think the people of the first world were <em>humans</em>?¡± Chamiaholom shook her head with a hint of pity. ¡°You have seen Queen Mictecacihuatl. She is the first woman to ever die and yet she towers over you. Shouldn¡¯t a dead human be more <em>petite</em>?¡±

    My first thought was to reply that a true goddess wouldn¡¯t look as weak as a normal human, but I quickly realized it would defeat my own point. Worse, while his queen used to be alive, there was nothing <em>human </em>about King Mtecuhtli. The god of death was more of a ce and a concept than a creature.

    ¡°The first humanity wasn¡¯t human?¡± I asked cautiously.

    ¡°They were giants as big as you are small, my child, and who lived in housesrger than your pce,¡± she exined. ¡°The people of the second world were closer to apes and monkeys. It is only in the days of the <em>third </em>sun that the gods created what you could call humanity¡­ but do you think the Burned Men looked like you before loc torched them?¡±

    Chamiaholom wagged a finger at me. ¡°They were far more handsome.¡±

    ¡°Even so, a society cannot stand if everyone treats everyone else as beasts to kill,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Values are necessary for civilization¡¯s survival. You represent the very fear of men viting those customs.¡±

    Incest, cannibalism, kinying, treachery¡­ Chamiaholom embodied all of these monstrous taboos. She knew nothing of respect, love, or friendship.

    ¡°The Nightlords do not treat their servants as humans, even though they used to be, and they have ruled for <em>centuries</em>,¡± she countered. ¡°<em>Strength</em> builds a society, sweetie, not <em>values</em>. Laws are only as strong as those who enforce them. The Nightlords wield great power, so they makews for the weak andws for themselves.¡±

    ¡°I do not <em>want </em>to be like the Nightlords,¡± I replied angrily. The prospect frightened me about as much as spending eternity trapped inside the Parliament of Skulls. ¡°I want to be <em>better </em>than them.¡±

    ¡°Of course you shouldn¡¯t imitate them,¡± Chamiaholom said with a shrug. ¡°They are so obsessed with control that they forget the meaning of joy. But remorse is the enemy of happiness, my sweet. You don¡¯t feel guilty when you kill a turkey to eat its flesh, or when you turn a trihorn¡¯s bones into a spear. So why should you concern yourself about using your fellow humans for your own pleasure and benefit?¡±

    My hands clenched into fists. ¡°Because I <em>am </em>human.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, you <em>are </em>human,¡± she replied with a kind smile. ¡°But did your fellows treat you like one?¡±

    Her words hit me like a p to the face. ¡°Some did,¡± I replied, thinking of Eztli. ¡°Some did¡­¡±

    ¡°But when your own people threw stones at you, starved you, humiliated you, did they treat you like a human? Did the gods cast lightning to punish their crimes?¡± Chamiaholom did not wait for an answer. We both knew it. ¡°Remember M, my child. The tormentor and the tormented both end up in the same ce. Which one would you rather be?¡±

    ¡°Neither.¡± I red back at her. ¡°Do I have to make a choice at all?¡±

    ¡°Of course not¡­ but if you do not take a stand, then someone else will force <em>their </em>choice upon you.¡± Chamiaholom stroked my cheek kindly, her bloodstained fingers as warm as a grandmother¡¯s touch. ¡°All I want for you is to live a happy life, dear. If something brings you pleasure, then pursue it without remorse. Only <em>then </em>will you learn the true meaning of freedom.¡±

    <em>The freedom to abuse others?</em> I wondered as I put a hand on my ribs and used bonecraft to carve a name into them. <em>Of letting my greed, lust, and hatred run wild without regret? Can anyone truly call that happiness?</em>

    I knew better than to listen to advice from the physical incarnation of human evil¡­ but I couldn¡¯t stop Chamiaholom¡¯s words from worming their way into my ears. They carried a kernel of truth, no matter how much I wanted to deny them.

    To feel guilty was my choice. A punishment I inflicted on myself for what I considered to be crimes. This world was devoid of values, and it was my judgment alone that determined what was right or wrong.

    I banished these thoughts from my mind for now. I sensed the Ride spell activating the moment I carved Qollqa¡¯s name onto my bones. My spirit ascended to the world above; not as a soul returning to its body, but as a demon rising from the Underworld to possess the living. My mind followed an invisible trail, a door opened by my knowledge of my target¡¯s name, until I found myself at arge crossroads. More than one passage had opened to me.

    It was then that I realized a weakness of the Ride spell: namely, that multiple individuals could bear the same name and thus be potential hosts. I had little way of telling them apart.

    I focused on what I knew of my would-be host: Sapa, merchant, Zacha, associated with zohtzin. The paths swiftly closed except for one. It seemed that the more information I gathered on a target, the easier it became for my spell to target it.

    I found a Teyolia on the other side of the spiritual pathway, as weak as mine was strong; a spark of spirit in a shell of flesh. I slipped inside like a foot inside a sandal. I felt almost no resistance as my spirit overwhelmed that of my host. Qollqa was just a man, neither blessed by the Nightlords nor a Nahualli. His mind was no match for a catecolotl¡¯s might.

    My Teyolia and Tonalli overwhelmed those of my host, suppressing them, burying them, and crushing them into silence. My will filled a body that wasn¡¯t my own, like water meant for a chalice struggling to settle into a smaller cup. Older eyes than mine opened and let me see through them.

    I awoke in a in, iffortable bedroom, sharing a mattress of cotton with a woman I did not recognize. Qollqa¡¯s wife I assumed. She slept soundly under a linen nket, unaware of the spell under which her husband had fallen. I rose from atop a cushion and slowly into a body that wasn¡¯t my own.

    The distances felt wrong. I nced at calloused hands, then at the loincloth between a set of brown legs. Qollqa was slightly taller than me, older, and more muscled. It took me a few seconds to stand without stumbling and a good minute to walk towards the nearest window.

    The sight of a city bordering a vast expanse of water awaited me outside the bedroom, the stars¡¯ glittering light reflecting on the surface. A hundred ships gently floated near docks of wood as the waves caused them to gently sway from left to right. The only ocean I¡¯d seen was theke of tears surrounding M, a ce as ominous as it was beautiful. That one filled my heart with wonder. I had dreamed so many times of taking one such ship and traveling to distantnds.

    It felt like a lifetime ago since I allowed myself to think of a brighter future.

    I looked at the horizon, where a distant torch appeared to shine in the darkness beyond. It said volumes about Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption that I could see it from countless leagues away. It should take days for any messenger to reach the port and arrest Qollqa. I had time.

    I walked outside the bedroom in naught but a loincloth and found myself facing a man in a stone corridor. He appeared in his fifties or so, with in clothes and a wooden cor tightly bound around his neck.

    ¡°Master?¡± he asked in Yohuachancan. ¡°Are you having trouble sleeping?¡±

    My eyes lingered on the cor around his neck. I had already seen their kind before in the capital¡¯s marketce.

    This man was a ve.

    In a way, it reassured me. I would feel less guilty about what I was about to do to Qollqa now that I understood his true nature.

    I tried to think of a name for the man, but nothing came up. I immediately understood another w of the Ride spell: I gained none of my host¡¯s knowledge. Qollqa¡¯s suppressed mind wouldn¡¯t remember what I did in his body, but it wouldn¡¯t provide me with information either.

    I would need tobine the spell with the Augury in the future. Glean information from the winds of chaos, then possess the right vessel to act upon it.

    ¡°I am sleepy,¡± I told the ve. ¡°Remind me where my study is.¡±

    The ve looked at me with a puzzled expression, but did not question his master¡¯s demand. I followed him to a room a few doors away from Qollqa¡¯s bedroom. As I suspected, my host was a man of plenty and wealthy enough to afford his own house. How befitting of a merchant.

    Qollqa¡¯s study was evenrger than his bedroom, with a wooden desk and shelves filled to the brim with scrolls, ink, quills, and other documents. <em>Perfect</em>.

    ¡°Is one of the ships ready to sail back to the Sapa Empire?¡± I asked the ve as I sat behind the desk. I quickly searched until I found a seal of wax.

    ¡°Yes, Master, of course,¡± the ve replied. ¡°Captain Apocatequil is set to leave on the morrow with your shipment.¡±

    ¡°Tell him to leave now,¡± I said, grabbing an empty scroll and a quill. ¡°Wake him up if you have to.¡±

    ¡°Now?¡± The ve looked positively aghast. ¡°Master, with the eruption, it might be wiser¨C¡±

    ¡°<em>Now</em>,¡± I insisted. I started writing as I spoke. ¡°You will give the captain a letter from me. He is to deliver it to the proper authorities the moment he reaches shore.¡±

    ¡°The proper authorities?¡± The ve now looked at me in utter iprehension. ¡°Master, I do not understand.¡±

    ¡°Anyone who can deliver it to the local Apu, or whoever will listen. The letter is not to be opened nor read until then. Pay the captain whatever price he requires for his swiftness and silence.¡± I looked into the ve¡¯s eyes with all of my will and authority. ¡°This is a <em>tremendously </em>important matter. Do not fail me.¡±

    The ve clenched his jaw, then slowly nodded. I spent the next few minutes writing down Yohuachanca¡¯s invasion ns while he waited in silence.

    In the document, I pretended to have intercepted important documents through my contacts and to act out of patriotism. I exined that I learned of the Nightlords developing a vile weapon¡ªa gue that could twist and corrupt the living¡ªand how the current emperor would propose a Flower War as a distraction for a naval invasion from the west. I urged the authorities to act upon this information to the best of their abilities and prepare for war.

    ¡°Go on,¡± I said upon sealing the scroll with wax and giving it to Qollqa¡¯s ve. ¡°Do it promptly.¡±

    ¡°I shall, Master,¡± he replied before leaving with the document.

    Once the ve was gone, I started working on another letter. I then wove a tale of lies and deceit.

    In this letter addressed to the Apu Inkarri, I, Qollqa, reported my sess in smuggling my lord¡¯s artifacts through the border and how I had gifted them to the ¡®asset¡¯¨CI briefly considered naming zohtzin, but that would have made the string too obvious. I asked Inkarri why he had ordered me to do so and why he had urged for secrecy, since the nature of the assignment escaped me.

    In short, I all but admitted to being a foreign spy reporting to his hidden Sapa master.

    I sealed the letter with wax right as the ve returned. ¡°The captain is ready to sail, Master,¡± he said while gasping for air. He must have run back and forth. ¡°Though he asked for twice the usual payment.¡±

    ¡°No matter,¡± I replied calmly. So far so good. ¡°I will work tirelessly tonight. Do not disturb me until you have seen the captain¡¯s ship vanish beyond the horizon.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, Master.¡± The ve bowed in deep reverence. ¡°You may call me whenever you need me.¡±

    I watched him close the door behind him and then pondered my options. With luck, the invasion ns would reach the Sapa¡¯s leadership. I had no guarantee that they would act on it, or even believe the report, but I prayed that they would. Anything that made the future invasion more difficult would support my cause.

    Now, I had to decide what to do about Qollqa. I first proceeded to hide the fake message in the desk¡¯s drawer under a hoard of documents. It would fool most cursory searches, but dedicated investigators¡ªsuch as red-eyed priests looking for evidence¡ªwould find it.

    Mother informed me that victims of the Ride spell couldn¡¯t remember what their possessor did in their bodies, so Qollqa himself shouldn¡¯t recall penning the message. Any protest of his would fall on deaf ears once the priests thoroughly raided his home and found the fake evidence. The scroll would somewhat corroborate Lady Zyanya¡¯s ims, secure her safety, spare her family from the Nightlords¡¯ wrath, and let me cultivate her as an asset in the future.

    It shamed me to sacrifice my host this way though. very aside, Qollqa had done nothing to deserve the cruel fate the Nightlords would subject him to. I supposed I could dy the message¡¯s discovery, indirectly inform Qollqa, and then give him a head-start. With luck, he would manage to flee Yohuachanca before the red-eyed priests learned of his treachery.

    However¡­

    However, I could not afford to leave a loose end.

    If Qollqa somehow managed to find the message or convince the Nightlords that he hadn¡¯t penned it, then they might suspect foul y. I needed him to take the fall for his ¡®crime¡¯ in a way that wouldn¡¯t be contested.

    I could only think of one way.

    ¡°I apologize for what I am about to do,¡± I told Qollqa through his own mouth. I raised the sharp tip of the quill up to the man¡¯s neck. ¡°But if you get caught, the vampires will drink your soul. At least you will earn an afterlife this way.¡±

    I stabbed Qollqa¡¯s carotid with all of his strength.

    The quill¡¯s pointed end was no obsidian knife, but it was sharp enough to pierce the skin and reach the artery underneath. A sharp phantom pain raced through my throat, though I ignored it. After all I had endured¡ªstabbing myself in the heart, fighting monsters, and Xibalba¡¯s trials¡ªI could handle it easily enough.

    I sensed Qollqa¡¯s buried spirit jolting awake in the depths of his borrowed body. I easily suppressed him. I sat in the chair in silence as blood flowed down my borrowed neck. I felt neither remorse nor fear as my vessel grew cold and stiff; only grim calction born of eptance.

    I knew that the Nightlords would <em>never </em>believe it to be a suicide. In fact, I counted on it. Once the ve reported his master¡¯s strange behavior and found the hidden message, they would instead suspect that Qollqa had been silenced by his hidden master. All evidence would point to Inkarri.

    <em>There is nothing special about human life</em>. I stared at the study¡¯s door with cold dead eyes, my vision blurring as Qollqa¡¯s body swiftly emptied itself of its lifeblood. No one opened it. Nobody heard the gargled agony of my paralyzed host; no god intervened to save his life with a miracle. <em>There is nothing special about death either.</em>

    It was over in a minute¡¯s time.

    I waited until Qollqa¡¯s Teyolia extinguished itself to leave his body. I sensed my host¡¯s Tonalli descend into the Underworld to its restful home in M while mine fell further down into the depths of Xibalba.

    I awoke again in my body, unharmed and whole. Chamiaholom had finished consuming her feast of meat by the time I returned. She didn¡¯t say a word, nor ask about how the trip upstairs went. She didn¡¯t need to.

    She simply smiled.

    In response, I carved new names on my ribs right next to Qollqa¡¯s: zohtzin¡¯s, Chimalli¡¯s, Sigrun¡¯s, Guatemoc¡¯s¡­ all the innocent people who had paid the ultimate price for my ambition or suffered under the Nightlords. Those whose name I could remember at least.

    ¡°They have died for me,¡± I exined to Chamiaholom. ¡°I will not forget them.¡±

    ¡°I am so sorry, my sweet child¡­¡± The hag shook her head in what could pass forpassion. ¡°But you will quickly run out of space.¡±

    The Bonecrafting training went well. Necahual had given me a few pointers about human anatomy while we spent time in the bath, so altering another¡¯s skeleton came easier to me. Chamiaholom said I was ready to alter my own bones by the time the night came to a close.

    ¡°How sad,¡± she said as I slowly drifted back to the living world. ¡°Our next session might be ourst.¡±

    I hoped so. The hag was a terrible influence on me.

    I awoke in my bed with Tenoch and Atziri on each side of me. Both remained asleep, the former snorting slightly louder than thetter. I found myself thinking of Qollqa¡¯s wife. I wondered what she would do once she awoke to find her husband drenched in his own blood.

    <em>Stop thinking like that, Iztac,</em> I tried to tell myself. <em>What is done is done. If you keep looking back, you cannot advance. The only path is the one ahead.</em>

    No matter how many corpses I piled up behind me, I had to keep walking towards a brighter tomorrow.

    Yesterday only had death and regrets to offer.

    My quarters¡¯ doors opened and Tayatzin entered. ¡°I see Your Majesty is awake,¡± he noted with a short bow. ¡°Good. The goddess Iztacoatl sent me to fetch you.¡±

    My blood turned to ice in my veins. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The goddess¡¯ thoughts are a mystery to me, but it appears Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption is calming down,¡± my advisor replied. ¡°I expect that Your Majesty will address their loyal subjects tonight and tell them of the heavens¡¯ wills.¡±

    My vacation had been short-lived.

 Chapter Forty-Two: The Big Lie

    Chapter Forty-Two: The Big Lie

    Iztacoatl¡¯s crypt reeked of blood and songs.

    The former was expected from all ces associated with the Nightlords, but thetter took me by surprise. A haunting melody of windpipes and exotic instruments resonated from my pce''s depths. I quickly identified a few tunes from my visits to Ingrid''s quarters.

    Someone was ying a Wind harp.

    When Tayatzin came to fetch me this morning on Iztacoatl¡¯s behalf, I expected to travel to the temple or the Nightlords¡¯ abode. My new vampiric overseer had instead decided to invite me to her private quarters under my pce. I suspected all of the Nightlords maintained special areas in my prison¡¯s basement. If I was allowed to leave my room, then it meant they believed the ce safe from Sapa spies and assassins.

    I tried to memorize the path towards it, but my guards guided me through too many stairs and turns. I walked between sinister sculptures of stone feathered serpents under the soft glow of brasiers. The stench of death permeating the corridors would have made me vomit once upon a time.

    When did I grow so used to it?

    ¡°I must leave you here, Your Majesty,¡± Tayatzin said as he abandoned me in a corridor alongside my guards. ¡°I bid you good luck.¡±

    He wasted his breath. Luck held no sway in this ce.

    I already knew what to expect as I walked into the darkness. With the eruption calming down, I would be expected to make a speech tonight and reassure the poption. My jailers no doubt wanted me to rehearse a performance to ensure I would not disgrace them.My journey ended in a lofty chamber deep below the earth, dimly lit up by statues of coiling snakes holding green and blue mes in their mouths. I detected incense in the air, sweet and enticing. Mosaics of skeletons with ruby eyes adorned the walls, staring at the most sinister part of the room¡¯s architecture: a rectangr marble bath in its center, around nine feet wide and filled with steaming blood.

    ¡°Wee, my songbird.¡± Iztacoatlnguished inside her gruesome bath, her shoulders against the stone, her breasts half-sunk inside the blood, her naked legs peeking above the rippling surface. ¡°You are right on time to enjoy the show.¡±

    To my surprise, the Nightlord shared her chamber with a set of attendants. A group of young men yed instruments for her, all of them unnaturally pale, forever young, and unnaturally beautiful. Their crimson eyes stared at me with a predatory look and the few who acknowledged my presence sported smiles full of sharp teeth.

    Nightkin faking humanity.

    Their presence came as a surprise to me. I knew for a fact that the Nightlords could turn women into vampires¡ªI would never forget that night I saw Eztli¡¯s transformation¡ªbut it was my first time seeing their males in human shape rather than under the guise of batlike beasts. Moreover, a few of them shared my white hair and pale skin.

    Somehow my gut told me that this detail mattered.

    I cautiously examined them and made a point of memorizing their faces. These vile creatures all dressed in light clothing and gold jewelry styled after Sigrun''s culture, though none shared her physical features. They yed horns and handheld harps with surprising skills.

    ¡°I see you recognize the instruments,¡± Iztacoatl noted, her words yful and her eyes sharp. I felt like prey being observed by a predator searching for any sign of weakness.

    ¡°I do, goddess.¡± It hurt my throat to say thest word. ¡°I thought Sigrun alone survived the raid on her ship.¡±

    ¡°Not quite true. The sailors¡¯ wives and daughters were given to one of your predecessors, while I kept the singers for myself. I could not let them die until they had passed on their valuable skills to my progeny.¡±

    I supposed even Nightlords enjoyed leisurely moments now and then. They couldn''t torture poor mortals <em>all </em>the time.

    <em>Something is wrong, </em>I suddenly realized. <em>Iztacoatl is in too good of a mood.</em>

    Her sister perished in the most devastating cataclysm the empire had ever known, yet she found time to entertain herself? It couldn¡¯t just be the eruption calming down. <em>Something </em>had happened during my confinement.

    ¡°Why has the goddess called me?¡± I asked cautiously, fishing for information.

    ¡°Why the rush, <em>pet</em>?¡± Iztacoatl knew the nickname annoyed me, so she delighted in using it again and again. She beckoned at me with her hand. ¡°Join me.¡±

    I stared at the pool with apprehension. I didn¡¯t need the Gaze spell to tell that this churning blood was unnatural: brief glimpses of screaming faces constantly formed and dissolved on its turbulent surface.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be shy. Do you know how many prisoners it takes to fill this bath? I can only afford to take a few each year, lest I run out of food.¡± Iztacoatl lightly spilled some of the blood outside the bath, once again showing her disdain for the lives of others. ¡°You will feel better after a soak.¡±

    Swimming in a bath of cursed blood did not appeal to me in the slightest, but the Nightlord¡¯s vampiric servants had already begun to undress me with their cold dead hands. To my utter disgust, Iztacoatl appraised my nakedness with a lurid smirk, like a brothel owner appraising their merchandise. Did I look like that when I selected my concubines for the night?

    ¡°Young enough for my taste, thin enough too,¡± Iztacoatlmented. ¡°I like young boys who sing. Can you sing?¡±

    I hide my disdain behind a nk expression. ¡°No, goddess.¡±

    ¡°You will learn to sing for me,¡± she said as if I were a ve. ¡°Nowe clean yourself.¡±

    There was nothing clean about this bath, but I walked into it anyway. The tub was hardly deep enough for me to stand up in by the waist, its warm liquid sticking to my skin like hot mud and its steaming fumes filling my nostrils with strange smells. I immediately recognize the presence of herbs and reagents in the blood. Their aromas seemed familiar to me, but I couldn¡¯t put a finger on why. Perhaps Necahual used them in her potions.

    To my unease, immersion felt oddly pleasant. I had already rested into a pile of human intestines. I supposed a bath of blood felt hardly nauseous inparison.

    ¡°How strange,¡± Iztacoatl noted immediately. ¡°You aren¡¯t frightened. It is like you have already done this before.¡±

    Damn it, she was uncannily perceptive. ¡°Nothing you do can surprise me anymore, oh goddess.¡±

    ¡°No, I do not think this is a question of <em>surprise</em>.¡± She rested her head on her hand, studying me. ¡°You have killed another human being in the past.¡±

    I answered her with unnerved silence. Something brushed between my legs. I looked down to see serpentine shapes swimming under the bath¡¯s surface and peeking just long enough to stare at me.

    Snakes. As white as snow, with ruby eyes of dark crimson.

    ¡°You are not afraid at all,¡± Iztacoatl mused. ¡°I have seen warriors twice your age quiver in your ce, but you? You remain eerily calm.¡±

    Curses, I had grown so used to hiding my emotions that I struggled to properly express fear. Everything about this scenario was a test. Iztacoatl was trying to throw me off my game and draw conclusions from my reactions.

    My best bet was to provide as little information as possible. Give evasive answers.

    ¡°I do not wish to disappoint the goddess with cowardice,¡± I lied.

    ¡°You truly take me for a fool,¡± she replied. ¡°Do you take me for a fool, songbird?¡±

    <em>No, I take you for a monster</em>. ¡°No, goddess, I do not.¡±

    ¡°Then do you think we do not see all the whispers spoken under the cover of songs and music? The way you try to position mortals in a way that will earn their favor?¡± One of Iztacoatl¡¯s white snakes peeked its head out of the blood bath and crawled along its edge. ¡°Do you think we would let you get away with your schemes if they <em>mattered</em>?¡±

    ¡°No, goddess, of course not.¡± Not without magic at least. ¡°You allow them because they amuse you.¡±

    Iztacoatl smiled at me and then caressed the head of her snake. The serpent let out a hiss as it crawled away toward the Nightkin singers.

    ¡°Have you ever seen a snake pit?¡± Iztacoatl raised a hand above the surface of the bath and watched as blood droplets rained upon it. ¡°Put a hundred snakes in a hole, and they¡¯ll spend too much time biting and fucking each other to escape. Sometimes we throw in a piece of meat or a venomous neer to keep the frenzy going, but the pit? The pit never changes.¡±

    I listened to her words with a nk expression. As a matter of fact, I had heard of a noble who once kept one such contraption in his home. The rumors said that the owner slipped one day and fell inside it. He had died from over fifty bites by the time his servants could pull him out.

    One day, I would drag Iztacoatl into a hole and crawl over her corpse to freedom.

    My true feelings must have shown on my face, for Iztacoatl tilted her head to the side in amusement. ¡°How do you imagine you will kill me, pet?¡± she asked me. ¡°By strangling me? Beheading me?¡±

    Personally, I would settle for whatever worked. I wisely kept that thought to myself as I sat in the bath in utter silence, letting the warm blood cover me all the way up to the shoulders. I eyed her without giving an answer. As I suspected, she quickly lost patience with my silence.

    ¡°Come to me,¡± Iztacoatl ordered me. ¡°Don¡¯t be so shy. Have I not promised you pleasure if you behave?¡±

    <em>She just wants to humiliate you, Iztac</em>. I retreated inside myself as I swam to the Nightlord¡¯s side. She had me sit between her legs, my back against her breasts. Her arms were colder than the Rattling House¡¯s snow in spite of the bath¡¯s warmth. I felt them coil around my waist and hold me tightly. <em>Do not give her the satisfaction. Be like the mountain thatughs at the wind.</em>

    I wouldn¡¯t let her unnerve me.

    ¡°I do not sense any appreciation from you,¡± Iztacoatl whispered in disappointment. ¡°Many would kill to share a goddess¡¯ bath.¡±

    I would rather kill her in the bath and then share it with her corpse, but the option was unfortunately beyond me. <em>For now</em>. ¡°I am unworthy of the honor, goddess.¡±

    ¡°Modest too.¡± I sensed her icy lips brush against my ear. ¡°Perhaps I will have you share my bed too, once you learn to sing properly.¡±

    This time I failed to hide a sneer of revulsion, which delighted Iztacoatl. As I suspected, she sought only to torment me. I ought to turn the tables back on her. Test her.

    ¡°Bold of you to think,¡± I replied with a snort, ¡°that you would satisfy me.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman would have strangled me in Iztacoatl¡¯s ce. Her sister simplyughed.

    This told me two things: one, that Iztacoatl had a sense of humor, and two, that she would rather y with her food than beat it into submission.

    ¡°I hear that you have followed my orders to breed, pet,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°However, your new favorite has been asking questions about my sister Yoloxochitl¡¯s whereabouts. I do not like it.¡±

    Could she read my mind, or was she merely probing my defenses one after another? Necahual hadn¡¯t wasted time in following through with my orders, but she stillcked subtlety.

    I had to redirect Iztacoatl¡¯s attention away from her.

    ¡°Perhaps I should tell her that Lady Yoloxochitl has died then,¡± I whispered back to her. ¡°That should put an end to such spection for good.¡±

    Iztacoatl¡¯s chuckle sounded even more sinister than Chamiaholom¡¯s. ¡°That is so cute,¡± she said, her tongue licking her lips. ¡°You are trying to draw my wrath so I will forget about that woman. You actually <em>care</em>.¡±

    I gritted my teeth in frustration, though deep down I felt slightly relieved. My true misdirection worked: namely, that Necahual wouldn¡¯t be inquiring about Yoloxochitl¡¯s whereabouts if she knew of her demise. That secret was safe for now.

    ¡°Moreover, you are wrong.¡± Iztacoatl traced a line along my arm with her finger. ¡°My sister is back from the dead.¡±

    This time, I couldn¡¯t hide my surprise. My head snapped in the Nightlord¡¯s direction in disbelief. I immediately realized that it was a mistake. Iztacoatl stared back at me with a sick, vicious grin; my reaction had proved my disloyalty.

    That was a lie. I sensed only three chains binding my Teyolia. If Yoloxochitl had returned from the dead, I would know.

    ¡°True power does note from <em>killing</em>, my pet,¡± Iztacoatl said, her fingers pinching my left cheek. ¡°Poweres from <em>lying</em>. Once you get people to believe that what their eyes and ears tell them is false, then you own their <em>soul</em>.¡±

    As I suspected, the Nightlords expected me to lie to the entire empire tonight. I quickly feigned ignorance. ¡°I do not understand, oh goddess.¡±

    ¡°You will soon.¡± Iztacoatl kissed me on the neck, the brief icy contact sending shivers down my spine. ¡°My sister Ocelocihuatl would have torn off your tongue for your insolence, but I prefer much more artistic solutions. Simple violence grows dull after a while.¡±

    Whatever she could do to me paled before what I had endured in the Underworld. At least, that was what I tried telling myself. My naivetysted for less than a minute.

    ¡°Look up,¡± Iztacoatl whispered into my ear.

    New mes lit up the ceiling the moment I raised my head. A warm droplet fell upon my cheek, and I quickly learned who gave their lives so that I might bathe in their blood.

    zohtzin and a dozen other men dangled above our heads.

    They were mercifully dead, but I could tell that they had suffered gruesomely. The corpses were yed from the throat to the toes. Their faces alone remained covered in masks of skin, their mouths forever trapped in a haunting expression of fear and terror. I recognized the Sapa ambassadors among their number. Their eyes looked down on me in silent judgment.

    Did they know that I¡¯d killed them?

    ¡°I could fashion a cloak out of that Necahual.¡± Iztacoatl scratched my hair as if I were her dog. ¡°Peel her smooth skin inch by inch, starting from the toes and all the way to her lips. The victim lives all the while through the ying if the procedure is done by an expert, and I¡¯ve had centuries to practice.¡±

    To my horror, I was quickly reminded that the Nightlords¡¯ cruelty more than matched those of the Lords of Terror.

    ¡°Or perhaps you would prefer statues over clothes?¡± Iztacoatl stroked her chin. ¡°What is that little sister of Ingrid called again? Remind me, pet?¡±

    My fists clenched in disgust and anger under the steaming blood. ¡°Astrid,¡± I rasped between my teeth. ¡°Her name is Astrid.¡±

    ¡°Astrid. What a lovely name for an art piece.¡± Iztacoatl nced at the skeletal mosaics on the walls with a fiendish grin. ¡°I could seal her in a shell of gold. What a delightful gift it would make for her grieving sister, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    That <em>coward¡­ </em>Iztacoatl knew that nothing she could do to me personally would break my spirit, so she sought to hurt me through others. She turned my ownpassion against me.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    <em>She wants me to beg.</em> Though I wished no more than to strangle her with my bare hands, I couldn¡¯t afford to risk Astrid¡¯s life, nor Necahual¡¯s. <em>One day, Iztac. One day.</em>

    ¡°Please¡­¡± I gulped, the word straining my throat. ¡°Forgive me for my insolence, goddess.¡±

    ¡°Finally, genuine fear.¡± Iztacoatlughed slyly. ¡°I could break your legs and you would still find a way to stand up with your pride intact. If I cut another¡¯s legs though, you will weep in regret. How delightful.¡±

    ¡°I apologize for my insolence,¡± I rasped again through my teeth while ring at the churning blood. ¡°I shall not do it again.¡±

    ¡°I do not believe you, but I am a forgiving soul.¡± Thankfully, I didn¡¯t have to look at Iztacoatl¡¯s face. The smugness in her voice alone made me want to puke. ¡°I know you only say these harsh words because you haven¡¯t learned to love me yet, so I will let it slide this time.¡±

    How <em>merciful</em>. I let her scratch my hair while letting her stew on her petty victory. The Nightkin singers began to dance before us to the tune of a hypnotic melody, as slow and mesmerizing as the one my concubines yed earlier had been quick and rhythmic. I focused on them to better forget the Nightlord holding me in her arms, only for a surge of disgust to course through my spine when I looked at white-haired ones among them.

    A few of them resembled me a bit too much.

    She was mocking me, the wench. Mocking my life, mocking my work, mocking my ploys. She rehearsed my imprisonment like a bad y, except that she had put me in the ce of the helpless toy and herself in the ce of the almighty empress. Iztacoatl denied me whatever scrap of pride I could take in my servitude.

    My thoughts wandered back to Necahual. I was going through the same humiliation I had forced upon her in our baths. I ought to apologize for it.

    The white serpents crawled over the dancers¡¯ legs and chests before coiling around their necks like a hangman¡¯s ropes. The blood covering their scales dripped down their immacte throats the same way that Qollqa¡¯s did. I couldn¡¯t avert my eyes from the macabre spectacle no matter how much I tried.

    ¡°I am sure of it now,¡± Iztacoatl whispered in my ear. ¡°You crave the thrill of death.¡±

    ¡°If the goddess says so,¡± I replied coldly. Her words washed over me like water on a rock. I wouldn¡¯t let her get under my skin more than she did.

    ¡°You think yourself better than us, but your soul is stained ck.¡± She yed with the churning surface with her hand. ¡°You can feel it, can you? That sweet power that flows in human veins?¡±

    To my shame, I did. The herbs in the blood filled my nostrils and mind with fumes, while slow tides of blood eased my fatigue away. The fluid carried a dread power seeping into my body and sharpening my senses. My body was smooth within and without.

    ¡°Wicked sorcerers once used blood baths as part of a ritual to keep themselves eternally young,¡± Iztacoatl enlightened me. ¡°I do not need it, of course, but it smoothes the skin.¡±

    ¡°Why has the goddess called me?¡± I asked in once more impatience. I wanted nothing more than to escape her grip, the quicker the better.

    ¡°Patience, songbird. Patience.¡± It delighted her to deny my request. ¡°Enjoy the bath first. You better get used to them.¡±

    ¡°Get used to them?¡± My brows furrowed in annoyance. ¡°Will this happen again?¡±

    ¡°You will take blood baths on each new moon for the rest of the year,¡± Iztacoatl confirmed. ¡°Due to special circumstances, you will need to be prepared with extra care. These baths will keep you¡­¡±

    The Nightlord offered me the most ominous of smiles.

    ¡°Edible.¡±

    The smell of herbs mixed in the bath immediately enlightened me. I finally remembered it. These weren¡¯t the scents of medicinal nts, but of cooking ingredients.

    The Nightlords were <em>seasoning me</em>.

    Yoloxochitl¡¯s death hadn¡¯t changed their ultimate goal. They still very much nned to sacrifice me on the Night of the Scarlet Moon. The loss of one of their numbers and the weakened seal of the First Emperor simply meant that they would need to prepare me with more care than my predecessors.

    Iztacoatl let me stew for a moment, in both senses of the word. I sank into the warm blood and attuned my mind to the sorcery suffusing it. I half-believed what the Nightlord told me about its rejuvenating properties; the sparks of dead Teyolias still coursed through the liquid. They flowed inside my heart and the ck, hungry pit of Iztacoatl¡¯s vampiric curse.

    What effect would prolonged exposure have on me? Would it reinforce my sorcery or smother it?

    ¡°We have a sweet song for you, my pet,¡± Iztacoatl dered. ¡°You will rehearse its words until you believe in them.¡±

    I snorted. ¡°The same song that the goddess asked me to sing in the throne room?¡±

    ¡°Of course, though we shall expand your repertoire a bit.¡± Iztacoatl gently scratched my cheek. ¡°We will need to parade you around for a while to reassure the livestock. You will look pretty and sing our praise to all who will listen.¡±

    <em>Parade me? </em>I did my best to hide my excitement. <em>Outside the pce?</em>

    With the eruption shaking the entire empire, the disasters that followed in its wake, and theing war with the Sapa, the Nightlords sought to reassure their followers and intimidate their tributaries. I doubted they would let me out of the capital¡¯s hintends, but being outside these walls alone would widen my opportunities.

    ¡°I can see that you are already plotting to escape our sight,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°Please try. You will fail, and we willugh.¡±

    ¡°I have no such intent,¡± I replied truthfully. Only the Nightlords¡¯ destruction alone would free me, and nothing else.

    Iztacoatl let out a sly chuckle. She didn¡¯t believe me. ¡°Of course,¡± she said as the dancing spectacle came to an end. ¡°Oh, and one final thing.¡±

    Iztacoatl marked a short pause and studied my expression with rapturous attention. I denied her any pleasure by remaining stone-faced.

    ¡°That girl, Eztli,¡± she said, ¡°shall no longer be your consort.¡±

    My heart froze in my chest. All my fears for Eztli¡¯s safety returned stronger than ever. Had the Jaguar Woman¡¯s paranoia gotten the better of her? Had she found something about the ritual that demanded Eztli¡¯s death?

    <em>I should have convinced her to run,</em> I told myself before forcing myself to calm down. <em>Iztacoatl said she won¡¯t be my consort anymore. That could mean anything.</em>

    Which was what frightened me. Death wasn¡¯t the worst fate the Nightlords could provide to those who defied them.

    ¡°Why are you so tense, pet? Do you think we¡¯d kill our own?¡± Iztacoatlughed at me, as if they hadn¡¯t been nning on sacrificing Eztli on the Night of the Scarlet Moon. ¡°You should feel happy for her. She has been <em>promoted</em>.¡±

    Promoted? Could it be¡­

    My eyes widened in shock as I put two and two together. I stared at Iztacoatl in utter disbelief. She answered my expression with a slight nod.

    ¡°You catch on quickly, songbird. I would rather have chosen another path, but s, fate has a morbid sense of humor.¡± From the brief sh of amusement in her crimson gaze, the irony of the situation wasn¡¯t lost on Iztacoatl. ¡°She will officially act as your fourth consort until we find a proper recement, but the decision cannot be changed.¡±

    The lie had be the truth.

    I had witnessed Nochtli the Fourteenth and his consorts being led to the ughter atop a longneck on the Night of the Scarlet Moon. I would have enjoyed my first ride atop one, had we not been in the exact same ce and traveling to the same destination.

    The golden pnquin gently swayed with each step of our ride, the cold nightly wind blowing on my face. I always imagined longnecks to be slow and the one carrying me to the Blood Pyramid was no exception. The green-scaled beast gently trotted among the streets of the capital, its immense weight shaking the ground. Walls weakened by the quakes crumbled at its approach.

    The rest of the imperial procession was just as fearsome. Soldiers with brooms went first to remove theyers of ashes covering the earth. Wagons driven by trihorns and holding the quartered corpses of zohtzin and his aplices followed after them, so that the crowds of Yohuachanca could throw stones at the traitors to the state. The ones after carried broken statues of Sapa gods and painted fresco pictures representing the uing conquest of the mountain people by the ¡®true¡¯ deities of the night. I supposed it was a good way to whip the citizens into a frenzy. I suspected that most of them hadn¡¯t even heard of the Sapa before today.

    My own longneck walked in the middle of the procession alongside an entourage of armed priests and masked guards. The military orders closed the march to the tune of war flutes and thundering drums. Nightkin flew above us and howled under the moonless dark as if to celebrate a victory.

    I was the dark jewel of their parade. A puppet clothed in the remains of his enemies and stinking of blood. I felt soiled simply sitting atop the pnquin.

    <em>What a farce</em>. I looked at Smoke Mountain in the distance with a heart filled with disgust. The volcano was slowly calming down and the clouds of dust raised by its fury had begun to clear, but rivers of magma continued to drip down its slope. It would be months before it ran out of ming drool. <em>Do they truly expect to save face like this?</em>

    <em>¡°The stars do not lie,¡± </em>the wind whispered in my ear. I had almost missed it. <em>¡°The night hungers for light.¡±</em>

    I looked up at the moonless night sky. The Scarlet Moon ceremony had taken ce on the winter solstice and heralded the return of the day. Yet the night set one hour earlier than normal. The very heavens called out the Nightlords¡¯ lie.

    Something had gone wrong with the cosmos.

    I forced myself to smile as I waved at the crowds who had gathered to greet the cortege. Thousands upon thousands of imperial citizens acimed me with a mix of religious frenzy and fright. The sight of my hideous clothes terrified the children among them, but most simply bowed at my approach.

    The lucky few among them caught the pieces of food that the priests threw in my name. The blood rain on the first day had polluted many wells and befouled a few gardens, so we had to open the imperial storehouses. I watched on as families fought over a piece of meat like dogs with a surge of disgust.

    I understood their suffering, having gone through a famine myself, but somehow their reaction still disappointed me.

    <em>At least I am not suffering through thisedy alone</em>. I turned my head briefly to look at my fellow prisoners. The Nightlords had allowed my consorts to apany me. They looked wonderful in fine-colored clothes matching the Nightlords¡¯ favored ones; their headdresses of flowers, feathers, jaguar fur, and snakeskin made them look almost divine. While all of them took care to wave their hands at the capital¡¯s citizens, only Nl appeared to enjoy the longneck ride. <em>None of them dare to look at me, however.</em>

    I could hardly me them. I feared to look at my own reflection.

    All four of my consorts sat on cushions behind me, each as silent as a tomb. Our captors forbade us to speak to one another; officially, to honor the dead; and in truth, to better hide the impostor among us.

    I nced at ¡®Eztli.¡¯ Chikal had noticed as well, and Ingrid sent her strange looks now and then when the sight of my costume didn¡¯t make her nauseous. Her instincts told her that something was wrong, but she couldn¡¯t put her finger on why. Only Nl seemed utterly oblivious to the truth.

    We were sitting next to a fake.

    The body double looked very much like Eztli, to the point it became disturbing the more I looked at her, but I had lived with the real one for years. I noticed the subtle shifts in posture, the small changes in expression¡­

    Unable to suppress my curiosity, I abruptly took the copy¡¯s hand into my own before she could pull away.

    Warm. Her skin was warm and I sensed a pulse. She had to be a red-eyed priest.

    The double smiled back at me as she removed her hand. She didn¡¯t say a word. I suspected her voice would have given her away.

    <em>¡°A prop for the people,¡±</em> the wind whispered as we finally reached the Blood Pyramid.<em> ¡°A prop for the heavens.¡±</em>

    Our longneck ride sat at the pyramid¡¯s base. Tayatzin and a set of priests helped our group climb down on woodendders and then ascend upward to the summit. It was difficult for me not to trip with each step.

    A mantle of yed human skin was no practical clothing.

    To honor the First Emperor¡¯s mercy¡ªwhatever lie the Nightlords came up with¡ªI had been dressed in the skin of the sacrificed Sapa ambassadors. I assumed parts of zohtzin were in there somewhere too. I had to suppress a morbid chuckle at the sinister irony. My guilt was physicallytching onto me.

    It was the mask on my face that felt the heaviest, however: a sinister artifact of jade in the shape of a bat¡¯s face. It covered my entire head save for the holes in the eyes, with etched ruby symbols glowing on its surface. I could hardly breathe through the obsidian teeth.

    The priests said that I now bore the face of the First Emperor, but they were wrong. I had seen him. He was no bat, but darkness itself.

    ¡°Are you well, Your Majesty?¡± Tayatzin asked me after I nearly tripped on a slippery staircase.

    <em>These steps are soaked in blood</em>. Centuries of sacrifices had tainted every inch of this structure. Moreover, I sensed a sinister force beneath my feet.<em> Something vile lurks in the pyramid¡¯s depths.</em>

    ¡°Have there been revolts since the eruption?¡± I asked Tayatzin. The consorts and I were forbidden to speak during the ride to the pyramid, but we had reached our destination. ¡°Riots?¡±

    ¡°Not a single one,¡± Tayatzin replied proudly. ¡°Your people are a quiet and devout lot, Your Majesty.¡±

    He probably meant to reassure me this way. Instead, his words left me crestfallen. Not even a cataclysmic eruption or a set of disasters could shake the Nightlords¡¯ divine image.

    The priests stopped climbing before me. My consorts followed all the way to the penultimate step, to represent their lesser role in the divine order. I alone ascended all the way to the summit.

    The First Emperor¡¯s altar waited for me. Its spikes reminded me of gnashing fangs hungry for blood.

    ¡°Not today,¡± I muttered under my breath.<em> Not any day.</em>

    A shrieking swarm of Nightkin heralded the Nightlords¡¯ing. The four appeared around me in hooded cloaks. Their masks hide their cruel faces from the world with one exception. While three carried themselves with the arrogance of false goddesses, the fourth meekly remained silent, her back tenser than a bowstring.

    Eztli struggled to fit Yoloxochitl¡¯s robes, but no one would tell from afar.

    <em>¡°The show must go on,¡±</em> the wind whispered in my ear,<em> ¡°Until the stage burns to ash.¡±</em>

    I finally understood why Eztli survived Yoloxochitl¡¯s death.

    The four consorts stood in for the Nightlords and I for the First Emperor. Eztli was meant to represent Yoloxochitl and bore her curse. Yohuachanca believed Yoloxochitl was alive, and so she was. The false goddess had died, but her image survived through her followers¡¯ faith.

    The Nightlords had practiced the ritual for so long that like a tradition carried on by inertia, the death of an actor on-stage would not end the performance so long as someone could rece them on the fly. People continued to believe that the four sisters ruled absolute and that Yoloxochitl still haunted the world; if none of them could tell the real from the illusion, then the mirage would be the truth.

    The Nightlords intended for Eztli to adopt her tormentor¡¯s name and identity, tricking both their subjects and the cruel fate that guided their ritual.

    The fact that no fourth chain reced Yoloxochitl¡¯s meant that the ritual remained fallible, but if I failed¡­ if I failed to destroy the remaining Nightlords before the Scarlet Moon, then they would force Eztli to chain my sessor. They would torture her into repeating their sick cycle of torment.

    I needed to free her from this awful fate.

    <em>¡°If the stage sustains her,¡± </em>the wind said, <em>¡°What shall happen once you destroy it?¡±</em>

    I ignored the taunt and briefly nced around the stone tform. Most of my consorts were too frightened by the Nightlords to look at them and thus notice the switch.

    Most except Chikal.

    The amazon queen was the most observant of my consorts and showed it again. Her eyes wandered from the fake Eztli to the real one, before settling on me. Our gazes met for the briefest of instants.

    Then she knew for certain.

    Chikal had seen memand the wind. She learned that I nned the war with the Sapa in secret and that I worked to destroy the Nightlords from the shadows. The truth wasn¡¯t hard to glimpse for her. Unlike the Nightlords, she wasn¡¯t too arrogant to believe that nothing existed beyond her knowledge; she didn¡¯t need to understand <em>how </em>I¡¯d killed Yoloxochitl to realize that I¡¯d <em>done it</em>.

    I had promised her that I would destroy a Nightlord one day, and I fulfilled it.

    Chikal quickly looked away before anyone could notice our discreet exchange. However, I didn¡¯t fail to catch the shadow of a smile at the edge of her lips. I found that promising.

    My joysted until I sensed the Jaguar Woman¡¯s shadow looming behind me.

    ¡°It is time, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± she said imperiously. ¡°Tell your people the truth.¡±

    The truth. The very word sickened me.

    I stood at the top of the Blood Pyramid, surrounded by the undying and looking down on their living ves. I had a perfect view of the city from so high. A thin mantle of ash and dust covered the roofs as far as my eyes could see. Hundreds of thousands of eyes stared at me in silent awe, begging for me to lie to them, to assure them that all was right, that their false gods were true and that victory was assured.

    I had never fathomed the sheer size of my empire until now. As I gazed upon the multitude waiting for my false wisdom, I wondered how many people suffered under Yohuachanca¡¯s yoke. Millions? If it wanted, this mass of flesh could swallow the priests and Nightkin like the rising tide.

    So why didn¡¯t it? I had shattered the Nightlords¡¯ illusion of invincibility for the first time in centuries. Why couldn¡¯t these people see through the veil? Why did they not revolt?

    <em>¡°Because they would rather believe,¡± </em>the wind whispered in my ear.

    ¡°Do you understand now, pet?¡± Iztacoatl whispered into my ear. ¡°How misced your hopes are?¡±

    In the depths of my heart, I had held on to the hope that the citizens of Yohuachanca would rebel. That the eruption and the destruction of Yoloxochitl¡¯s priesthood would awaken the fighting spirit of my people. I had dreamed of them rebelling and shaking off their chains now that they had loosened.

    Instead, nothing had changed.

    The Nightlords would keep lying, their servants would keep believing, and their thralls would keep taking thesh one indignity at a time. They were livestock sleepwalking to the ughter.

    My people would never drag the Nightlords off their thrones. I could only count on myself.

    ¡°Now sing,¡± Iztacoatl ordered calmly. ¡°Sing for us.¡±

    I pondered her words. I thought back to the hours I spent rehearsing her neat little speech. I recalled all the lies I was supposed to sing to a million fools; how the Nightlords and I had saved the dawn from the foreign traitors who sought to usurp it. I remembered the truth I was supposed to hide; that the disasters striking Yohuachanca were their rulers¡¯ own fault and the result of their mad ambitions. I gathered my breath.

    Then I refused toply.

    ¡°My gullet swallows all,¡± I said with a deep, guttural voice. ¡°Even screams.¡±

    <em>The joke is on you.</em>

    I denied Iztacoatl. I denied the Nightlords¡¯ lies and their ill-gotten power. I sensed them tense up behind me and my consorts freezing below me. To their lies, I answered with a prank bolder than any other.

    Huehuecoyotl would be proud.

    ¡°Your dawn will nevere,¡± I said, the jade mask hiding my smirk. ¡°<em>Traitors</em>.¡±

    I lied all the time and stood in the presence of true gods, so faking possession came easily to me. I remembered the First Emperor¡¯s words by heart. I hoped the truth in them would spare me thesh.

    I couldn¡¯t be med if their Dark Father spoke through me in front of his own altar, could I?

    The Jaguar Woman reacted first, as I expected her to. I sensed her fury reverberating through the chain holding my Teyolia. She tightened her grip on me with such rage and anger that I thought my heart would burst out of my chest.

    A stronger force pushed her back.

    I sensed it swelling upward from the ck depths of the pyramid. I felt its touch in the encroaching darkness, in the blood tainting my skin. The yed cloak of skin covering my shoulders fluttered in a baleful wind and stretched into the shape of great bat wings.

    The mask on my face pressed against my skull. The pain was sharp and raw. The jade became my skin, the obsidian teeth my fangs. My breath carried the burning stench of sulfur.

    <em>¡°The traitors will perish,¡± </em>I said, my voice reverberating with the echo of a million fresh graves. <em>¡°Death to those who have defied me. Eternal suffering to those who have betrayed me.¡±</em>

    Those were from my lips, but not my words.

    <em>¡°The door is unlocked,¡± </em>the wind whispered. <em>¡°The hinges rattle in the cold.¡±</em>

    A swarm of small red-eyed bats descended from the clouds above. They flew in a circle above my head, forming a halo of fur and pping wings. The Nightlords stepped back in fear and shock. I did not look at them. My bloodshot eyes fixated on the dark horizon and the countless ears listening to my prophecy.

    The voice speaking through me did not talk <em>to </em>its food, but <em>at </em>it.

    Gods or ants, they would all satiate his hunger.

    <em>¡°I am the dead ck sun and the starless night,¡±</em> I said with a voice that was no longer my own. It hurt my throat and filled my ears with blood. <em>¡°I am the teeth that herald the scream. I am thest word and the silence that remains.¡±</em>

    The lie had turned into the truth.

    I had be a Godspeaker and a deity spoke through me.

    <em>¡°The heavens will weep tears of blood,¡±</em> he said through my lips and obsidian teeth. A promise made to the earth and the sky. <em>¡°My true children will feast under the light of the scarlet moon. The restless dead shall rise in silence as my teeth crush their wailing souls. You will wake up to a dawn bereft of light.¡±</em>

    We raised our hands to the night, seizing the stars.

    <em>¡°This is my year. This is my age. This is my time.¡±</em>

    The First Emperor departed me on this final word. The mask on my face loosened its grip and the mantle fell. The bats fled to all corners of the earth, and my body became my own again. I sensed countless gazes on me, from below and behind. I expected the Nightlords to tighten their chains on my heart andsh me half to death.

    They did no such thing.

    I was surrounded only by fear and silence.

    I could get used to it.

 Chapter Forty-Three: The Warrior Queen

    Chapter Forty-Three: The Warrior Queen

    ¡°It could mean anything,¡± the Jaguar Woman said.

    ¡°It could mean <em>anything</em>?¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s mockingugh echoed in the Abode of Darkness. ¡°Do you hear yourself, sister? He said death to those who defied him and worse to those who betrayed him. As far as prophecies go, this one sounds pretty clear-cut to me.¡±

    ¡°It could mean <em>anything</em>,¡± the Jaguar Woman hissed between her teeth. ¡°We will spin this prophecy however we need.¡±

    ¡°Not all propheciese to pass either,¡± Sugey replied. ¡°We have dealt with this once before, we can do so again.¡±

    Iztacoatl remained skeptical. ¡°What if he never goes back to his cage?¡±

    I listened to their argument, my smile hidden under my bat mask. The First Emperor¡¯s words had shaken the Nightlords to their core. I wondered if Eztli shared in my relish. I could hardly see her expression under her hood and mask, and she wisely kept herself from interrupting the sisters¡¯ argument.

    Another rain of blood had struck the za after my prophecy; an ominous sign if there was ever one, though it gave the Nightlords an excuse to end the ceremony early. They had all but dragged me down into their underground Abode the moment we returned to the pce to check on me with their magic. They had discovered nothing unusual, which frightened them all the more.

    I knew the truth they so desperately wanted to avoid epting. The Nightlords had spent centuries pretending that Yohuachanca¡¯s emperors were their Dark Father¡¯s spokesperson and representative on Earth. They had repeated that lie again and again until it became <em>true</em>. The same faith that allowed Eztli to fill in for their dead sister had allowed their imprisoned maker to speak through me.

    I was under no delusion that it made us allies. The First Emperor was hunger incarnate and the source of the vampire curse. As far as I was concerned, he was an enemy of my enemy. Nothing more.But I would be lying if I said I didn¡¯t enjoy helping him strike fear in his arrogant daughters¡¯ hearts.

    ¡°He said that the heavens will weep tears of blood,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°He no doubt meant the rain that spoiled our ceremony. The dawn bereft of light fits with the increased length of nights.¡±

    ¡°Which leaves the true children¡¯s feast and the restless dead rising,¡± Sugey noted. ¡°I suspect the first refers to the bats guing the livestock.¡±

    <em>So you do not consider yourself his ¡®true¡¯ children? </em>I wisely kept that question to myself. Everything pointed to the Nightlords being their father¡¯s blood daughters, but I might be missing a piece of the puzzle.

    ¡°Are the corpses of their victims well-guarded?¡± Sugey asked.

    ¡°They are, though none have risen,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied. ¡°Post guards around graves too. We shall take no chances.¡±

    ¡°What of him?¡± Iztacoatl turned her attention towards me. ¡°Should we keep him close?¡±

    I tensed up as the Nightlords suddenly remembered my existence. Eztli found the courage to open her mouth. ¡°If I may¨C¡±

    ¡°Quiet, child,¡± the Jaguar Woman sharply interrupted her. ¡°You are allowed to stand with us by the will of fate, not our own. Learn, and then one night you may lead.¡±

    I sensed Eztli¡¯s frustration from here. As an actor filling in for a dead ruler, she earned from the Nightlords the same respect I held for her body double: none at all. She was a figurehead as powerless as I was.

    ¡°Should we cancel the religious festivals?¡± Sugey asked. ¡°I can subjugate the mountain people on my lonesome too, if we must keep him away from the battlefield.¡±

    ¡°We cannot afford to look <em>weak</em>.¡± The Jaguar Woman spat thest word like an insult. ¡°Not <em>now</em>, not <em>ever</em>. An emperor who cowers and hides in times of crisis will invite attacks from our enemies.¡±

    <em>Trapped between a rock and a hard ce?</em> With the Sapa war on the horizon and the disasters guing Yohuachanca, the Nightlords had no choice but to parade me around to show everyone that everything was going ording to n.

    However, the calcting looks that Iztacoatl sent me did not inspire confidence in me.

    ¡°Have faith, sisters,¡± she said with a dark chuckle. ¡°I suspect that our foes wille to fear our emperor of darkness.¡±

    I clenched my teeth. I suddenly realized that foreign spies would no doubt send word of tonight¡¯s grim miracle to their masters. How would the Sapa Empire and the Three-Rivers Federation react once they learned that a dark god spoke through me?

    The Jaguar Woman pondered her sister¡¯s words, then nodded at me. ¡°Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± she said sharply. Her mere voice caused my spine to stiffen. ¡°With the foreign intruders having been purged from our ranks, the pce should be safe for you once again. You shall be allowed to partake in the luxuries previously denied to you.¡±

    I bowed to better hide the disgust in my eyes. ¡°The goddesses are merciful.¡±

    ¡°However, you are to report any divine message the moment you receive them,¡± the Jaguar Woman insisted. I sensed the subtle, invisible touch of her Doll spell closing on my throat, ready to strangle me at the first sign of defiance. ¡°Any vision, any dream, any prophecy. Do not, and you shall be severely punished. Do you understand me?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± I replied, lying through my teeth. ¡°I have not forgotten yourst lesson, goddess.¡±

    Thankfully, I knew how the Jaguar Woman thought by now. Being reminded of thest time she cruelly disciplined me mollified her overbearing pride. I sensed the hold on my throat loosen up, and I was allowed to exit the chambers unmolested.

    Eztli and I managed to exchange onest look as the Nightlords dismissed me. I so dearly wished I could speak to her in private and promise her that we would find a solution together, but now was not the time.

    Moreover, I could tell that Iztacoatl wasn¡¯t fooled by my submissive behavior in the slightest. She would keep watching me.

    Tayatzin and my guards brought me back to my room in dreadful silence. My new advisor showed none of his previous confidence in my presence. The red-eyed priests had only paid lip service to the idea of my godhood beforehand. They pretended that I was a sacred figure while knowing very well who truly ruled the empire.

    Now? Now that they had heard a <em>true </em>god speak through me, they hade to truly <em>believe</em>; and faith was <em>power</em>. Being a godly messenger meant that my words and actions would receive greater scrutiny than before, but it could also prove an opportunity. The right prophecy at the right moment might sow discord among my foes.

    I would need to discuss this with my predecessors as soon as I could. I would visit them tomorrow morning now that I could move about freely in the pce once more.

    My maids removed the awful cloak of skin off my person upon returning to my chambers. I felt the masktch onto my skin for a brief instant as my servants touched it, but it let go of my skull nheless. The First Emperor seemed reluctant to relinquish his mouthpiece. I better avoid tempting him again in the future.

    ¡°Will¡­¡± Tayatzin cleared his throat as the maids changed my clothings. ¡°Will Your Majesty requestpany tonight?¡±

    I pondered his question. I wasn¡¯t particrly looking forward to femalepanionship after sharing a blood bath with Iztacoatl, but she did warn me that a woman a day would spare me thesh. Keeping up the charade would both pacify her and give me an excuse to meet with an ally without arousing suspicion.

    And I knew exactly who to call on.

    ¡°Summon my consort Chikal,¡± I said. ¡°Now that the pce has been purged of Sapa spies, we can resume our campaign nning.¡±

    My answer broke through Tayatzin¡¯s caution and earned a chuckle out of him. ¡°Does Your Majesty never rest?¡±

    ¡°Not when our foes nearly killed me and tried to destroy my empire,¡± I replied tersely. ¡°The First Emperor promised his enemies death, and his will shall be done.¡±

    Tayatzin paled at my words, his easygoing smile swiftly turning into a scowl. Amusing. I should speak in a god¡¯s name more often.

    ¡°Can any of my consort¡¯s amazon attendants sing and dance?¡± I asked. ¡°If so, then bring them too. I wish to hear Chm¡¯s songs at least once before I die.¡±

    ¡°As Your Majesty wishes,¡± Tayatzin replied before hurriedly leaving to fetch Chikal for me. Hopefully her amazon servants should prove a better spectacle than Nightkin dancing under a ceiling of yed corpses.

    Chikal arrived a few minutester alongside half a dozen amazonian bodyguards. None of them were allowed to carry weapons inside my quarters, though they looked no less fearsome with their bone flutes, skin drums, and y ocarinas. I could have easily mistaken them for a military parade.

    Chikal very much looked like a queen too. She still wore the exotic feather dress themed after the Nightlord Sugey, alongside a golden choker, a diadem, and moon-shaped earrings. Emerald rings bound her red hair into a high ponytail cascading down her back. Her calcting eyes set on me with a hint of unease. Chikal was adept at hiding her true thoughts¡ªfar better than me¡ªbut even she seemed shaken by tonight¡¯s events.

    ¡°Our Lord Emperor stinks of blood,¡± Chikal said with stark bluntness.

    ¡°Those of my enemies.¡± I wished I could say it was a figure of speech instead of the gruesome truth. ¡°I hope that this period of confinement did not dull your skills, Chikal.¡±

    ¡°With all due respect, I should ask you the same.¡± She studied me carefully. ¡°Would you care for a brief spar to check?¡±

    Her blunt and unexpected proposal took me aback. ¡°A spar?¡± I repeated. ¡°Here and now?¡±

    ¡°Hand-to-hand,¡± she said with a wary and imprable stare. ¡°Nothing serious. I simply wish to ascertain your progress.¡±

    <em>Ah, so that¡¯s how it is</em>. I could read between the lines. Chikal had guessed that I had indeed in Yoloxochitl somehow, but she only respected strength. She needed me to showcase my power. I had an idea of how to do that without raising suspicion.

    ¡°Very well,¡± I decided before ncing at the amazons. ¡°Make space.¡±

    I half-expected the amazons toin about taking orders from a male, even one with the power to execute them with a word, but they wordlessly moved my dining table to a corner after receiving a short nod from Chikal. They then took off my belongings until only my loincloth remained.

    Chikal hastily removed her feather dress herself and kept little more on than a cotton shirt. I guessed she wished to rid herself of that awful costume as much as I did my skin cloak. Her mighty muscles strained as she adopted a fighting stance. Though I had quickly gained in mass thanks to her training, better nutrition, and consuming godly embers, I was still months away from matching her.

    Chikal immediately attacked me without warning. Her left fist moved faster than a jaguar¡¯s w and aimed straight for my head. She wasn¡¯t giving me any mercy; and neither did I. I quickly dodged the blow and retaliated with one of my own. If Chikal¡¯s smile was any indication, she appreciated my improvements.

    We traded a few punches back and forth, neither of us truly giving our all; Chikal because she probably worried about hurting me in a way that would cause her to be punished, and I because I didn¡¯t want to reveal too much of my abilities.

    I eventually grew weary of this dance. I saw my chance to end it when Chikal asked to review my defensive stance. I raised my arms to protect myself from her punch the same way I had been taught to.

    My Bonecraft spell activated the moment Chikal¡¯s fist hit me.

    To the outside world, it seemed as if I had simply parried Chikal as she ordered me to. The true battle took ce hidden from spying eyes under our skin. I didn¡¯t even need to summon a Veil. Chikal¡¯s eyes widened in shock as she sensed my sorcery spread to her body the moment we made contact. My will invaded her flesh through my hands like weeds taking root in fertile ground.

    I had so many ways to kill her: crush her ribcage in on itself; turn her skull into a spiky cage impaling her own brain; shatter her spine into a thousand pieces. I could have ended her life in an instant.

    I did nothing of the sort.

    Instead, I showed restraint and immediately canceled my magic. So subtle was its activation that no one noticed it; no one but Chikal herself. She knew I could have snuffed out her life like candlelight.

    Chikal quickly broke past my guard, grabbed my left arm, and then forced me to my knees with a hand on my shoulder. I caught a glimpse of a mix of rage and interest in her eyes. She resented the fact that I¡¯d held back against her and thus sullied her victory as much as my subtle disy of supernatural power impressed her.

    ¡°You win,¡± I said.

    ¡°Your Majesty still has much to learn,¡± Chikal replied with calcting eyes. I could tell she was considering a hundred ways to respond before settling on the in and diplomatic. ¡°But you are quickly making progress. I am impressed.¡±

    She knew that I had grown in power since west met. ¡°I have the goddesses to thank for it,¡± I replied insincerely. ¡°I did not ck off either.¡±

    ¡°No doubt.¡± She released her hold on me, her hands covered in my sweat. ¡°Your enemies will learn to fear your might, Iztac.¡±

    ¡°They will, in time.¡± I held her gaze, knowing very well that she wasn¡¯t speaking of my <em>physical </em>strength. ¡°Now that the Sapa¡¯s spies among us have been rooted out, we must proceed with the campaign¡¯s preparations.¡±

    Chikal narrowed her eyes at me. ¡°Would Your Majesty mind if we discussed it in the baths? Tonight¡¯s ceremony and our spar have left me sweaty. I would like to clean myself and rx.¡±

    ¡°I see no objection.¡± She catches on quickly. ¡°I do look forward to a dip myself.¡±

    So long as it didn¡¯t involve blood.

    A few minutester, I slipped inside a warm hot bath. The perfumed steam and salt-rich waters immediately dulled the exhaustion in my muscles. I immediately felt purer. The clean waves washed away the sticky sensation of dried blood on my skin. I let the liquid ssh on my face and hair to better forget the way Iztacoatl touched both of them.

    Chikal¡¯s handmaids began to y a song that resonated across my bathroom. One of them brought a bone flute polished to a sheen to her lips and whistled an aggressive melody. Another joining in with a conch shell trumpet and a third with an ocarina while the rest beat river turtle shells like drums.

    All in all, I found the Chm tribe¡¯s music more aggressive than that of Yohuachanca¡¯s. The amazons favored deeper percussion and faster rhythms than their conquerors. None of them danced either. These people weren¡¯t concubines desperate to please me and catch my eyes. Their pride remained unbroken in spite of their captivity.

    It was fine by me. The noise they produced drowned out my and Chikal¡¯s voices. Sigrun managed to cover our discussions by having her daughters y the harp, so this should provide us with a degree of privacy.

    Chikal herself joined me in the bath a minuteter and sat at my side. Her amber eyes appraised me carefully, then darted around the room. Only when she became certain that no one would hear our discussion over the music and sound of running water did her curiosity finally overwhelm her.

    ¡°You killed her,¡± she muttered in my ear. ¡°The Flower of the Heart. You killed her.¡±

    I did not deny it. ¡°I told you that I would.¡±

    Chikal studied my expression, searching for any hint of deceit. I guessed she still wondered whether I had done the deed or simply taken credit for it. When she found no crack in my stony confidence, she finally epted the truth.

    ¡°How did you aplish this?¡± she asked me cautiously.

    ¡°<em>That,</em> I cannot tell you,¡± I replied. The less people knew about my abilities, the better. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to use my method anyway.¡±

    ¡°Because I cannot do magic?¡± Chikal took my silence as confirmation. ¡°When we fought in the courtyard, you whispered words under your breath and the wind started blowing to cover our conversation. I sensed you quelling your bloodlust tonight too. You could kill me in an instant if you wished, though I am stronger and quicker.¡±

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    ¡°A fact that leaves you distressed,¡± I noted.

    Chikal snorted in disdain. ¡°There is no greater shame among my kind than to be spared by a male.¡±

    ¡°If it can reassure you, neither of us were allowed to truly fight,¡± I replied, wording my sentence carefully so it wouldn¡¯t sound like pity. Chikal might take it for condescension otherwise. ¡°I have yet to see youe at me with the intent to kill.¡±

    ¡°Would your magic y me before I cut off your head?¡± Chikal crossed her legs under the water. ¡°If the Nightlords haven¡¯t quartered you yet, then you must have murdered their sister in a way that would hide your involvement.¡±

    She was sharp, as always. ¡°What does that make me, in your mind?¡±

    ¡°A sorcerer of great power,¡± she replied cautiously. ¡°A dangerous foe to have.¡±

    ¡°I would have preferred that you call me an ally.¡± I could hardly me her for maintaining a professional distance considering the risks involved, but I had no time for fence-sitters. ¡°I did not call you here to boast.¡±

    Chikal nodded sharply at me. ¡°I told you that I would not help you in your plot against the Nightlords¡­ but that I would likely change my mind if you somehow managed to kill one.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Have you?¡±

    ¡°Truthfully, I did not believe that you would seed,¡± she admitted. ¡°I made you that promise because anything that weakened Yohuachanca would help my sisters in Chm. Now that a sister is dead and the pyramid wavers¡­¡± She crossed her arms. ¡°What do you want from me, Iztac?¡±

    I looked into her eyes. ¡°<em>Everything</em>.¡±

    ¡°<em>That,</em> you will not have,¡± she replied without blinking. ¡°I serve Chm first and its people second. You shall not have either.¡±

    This woman was no Necahual, that¡¯s for sure. She knew what she was worth and wasn¡¯t afraid to try and leverage her help for a better deal. The more I showed weakness, the less she would concede.

    ¡°Your bargaining position is highly dubious,¡± I replied sternly. ¡°I am your only hope of saving either.¡±

    ¡°I won''t trade one master for another,¡± Chikal countered with queenly pride.

    ¡°I do not want a ve.¡± I already had plenty of those. ¡°I want an ally. I want your assistance, I want your resources, I want your mind, your strength, and your soldiers. I want you to kill who I want you to kill, be where I want you to be, and lead your army in my name if need be.¡±

    ¡°You are quite greedy for a caged bird.¡± Strangely, I didn¡¯t pick up any disrespect in her voice. Quite the contrary, she appeared cautiously impressed by my confidence. ¡°Your edge has sharpened. Was it that woman¡¯s execution?¡±

    ¡°Her death and so many others.¡± The war, the eruption, and Qollqa¡¯s murder had all hardened my resolve. ¡°I¡¯m done with half-measures, Chikal. Either you board this ship now or I will sail forward without you. You may pray that I seed and weep if I do not.¡±

    I desperately needed allies, but if she was going to nitpick over everything then I might as well look for more secure partners.

    I was confident she would try to negotiate. Chikal was smart enough to realize that she would die by the year¡¯s end if I couldn¡¯t defeat the Nightlords, so it was in her personal interest to help me. The opportunity to free her city from Yohuachanca¡¯s yoke might never present itself again.

    ¡°Before I answer you, I want you to answer a question,¡± Chikal said, her tone wary. ¡°What happened atop that pyramid? The voice that spoke through you¡­ it sounded like you had be a demon.¡±

    If only she knew I was well on my way to bing one. ¡°Would you believe me if I said it started out as a prank?¡±

    Chikal stared at me in disbelief, thenughed heartily.

    I hardly recalled hearing my consortugh at anything. Witticisms hardly ever earned more than a bemused smile. Even the musicians stopped ying, so surprised were they by her sincere and unexpected reaction.

    ¡°My apologies,¡± she told the singers before covering her mouth and stifling herughter. ¡°Keep going.¡±

    The amazons exchanged stunned nces, but returned to their song quickly enough. Chikal gathered her breath after regaining herposure. I took her reaction as a good sign.

    ¡°A prank?¡± Chikal repeated with a bemused smirk. ¡°The rain of blood that followed would attest otherwise.¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°Do you believe that the Nightlords are gods?¡±

    Chikal shrugged. ¡°No true god can die.¡±

    A wise take on the matter, albeit a wrong one. ¡°The First Emperor exists, but he does not support this empire,¡± I exined. ¡°The Nightlords usurped his name and leech off his power. Now that they have lost prestige with Yoloxochitl¡¯s demise, he made his anger known.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Chikal replied. She seemed slightly disturbed by my tale, but not truly afraid either. Either she underestimated the First Emperor or she was still assessing the threat he presented. ¡°Is he your ally then?¡±

    ¡°He is an enemy of an enemy. I would not count on him to destroy the Nightlords for us.¡± The sisters would not be so foolish as to loosen their hold over his prison again. ¡°He lent me his voice and little more.¡±

    Chikal snorted in disbelief. ¡°You say that as if it was no miracle in itself, Iztac. I do not recall a shaman among our people who has caught a god¡¯s eye, even one as sinister as Yohuachanca¡¯s patron deity.¡±

    I shrugged my shoulders. I would rather have one less vampire to worry about, and the First Emperor was a long-term problem anyway.

    ¡°I have answered your question, now you will answer mine,¡± I dered boldly. ¡°Will you be my ally, or stay a fence-sitter?¡±

    Chikal stroked her chin and observed me with a nk stare. I needed no spell to read her mind. She carefully weighed my odds of sess, assessed the risks involved, and considered whether or not she could trust me. I had gambled much by giving hints of my true power to her, but our interests were aligned for now. She had seen firsthand that the Nightlords did not reward loyalty. She had little to gain from not sponsoring me, and too much to lose.

    After a moment, Chikal finally gave her verdict.

    ¡°You will do,¡± she said.

    I suppressed a victorious smirk. Our negotiation wasn¡¯t over yet and I expected a counteroffer.

    ¡°I want three concessions,¡± Chikal said with three fingers raised. ¡°Give them to me, and I shall work for you in any way that does not conflict with those conditions.¡±

    I could already guess a few of them. ¡°State your terms, and I shall consider them.¡±

    ¡°First, I want Chm to be free and independent from Yohuachanca. I want you to safeguard my people¡¯s interests when you trulye to rule the empire.¡±

    Her wording confused me. ¡°When I will truly rule the empire?¡± I repeated. ¡°I do not understand.¡±

    Chikal looked at me. ¡°You have not considered what you will do after destroying the Nightlords?¡±

    I shook my head. Defeating the Nightlords was my only goal for now. Whatever would follow their downfall would be better than their rule.

    ¡°You should give it some thought,¡± Chikal scolded me. ¡°A good warrior thinks of the peace that will follow the war, for what is he fighting for otherwise?¡±

    ¡°Survival,¡± I replied frankly. ¡°And freedom.¡±

    ¡°You can aspire to more than either, Iztac,¡± Chikal replied, her expression unreadable. Did she believe I was lying, or was she trying to assess if I shared my vers¡¯ ambitions? ¡°The Nightlords rule through strength. If you destroy them, then you will be the strongest in turn. You may find yourself bing the emperor others pretend you to be.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about thrones, or Yohuachanca.¡± I cared about my freedom and the handful of people I loved. ¡°But fine. If I am ever in a position to secure your city¡¯s emancipation, then I shall return its freedom.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Chikal allowed herself to smile. She trusted my word. ¡°Next, if you are ever caught, you will not mention my name. You will take the fall for any help that I have provided you.¡±

    I thought as much. ¡°I expect the same from you.¡±

    ¡°Only if you promise to return my city¡¯s freedom and prosperity to my sessor, whoever she will be.¡± Chikal clenched her fists. ¡°Do you?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± I replied without hesitation. If I failed, I could at least ensure that she would continue to sabotage Yohuachanca for what little time she had left to live.

    ¡°Then I shall carry your secrets to my grave.¡± Chikal¡¯s smile turned almost feral. ¡°As for my third concession¡­¡±

    Her hand lunged for my chest faster than a jaguar on the hunt.

    Her fingers pushed me back against the marble edge before I realized what was happening. Chikal leaned over in a way that could pass for erotic, but she applied enough pressure with her palm to keep me down.

    ¡°In Chm, males like you are ves fit only for work or to father daughters,¡± Chikal told me with no small hint of disdain. ¡°As Queen, it was my duty to perpetuate my line with the most fit of specimens. I had my pick of captive warriors to choose from. Men of strength and character.¡±

    Her expression twisted into a dark scowl that would have terrified many warriors.

    ¡°So imagine my <em>humiliation</em>,¡± Chikal rasped with seething hatred, ¡°When these so-called gods decided to make me a ve to a diseased puppet emperor, frail, weak, and unfit for war.¡±

    This was the real Chikal hiding under her careful facade of regalposure; a ferocious amazon warlord with the pride and ferocity to match. The Nightlords had thought her tamed, yet she remained unbroken. She had only been biding her time to let the beast out.

    ¡°I have despised you the moment Iy eyes upon you, Lord Emperor,¡± Chikal confessed. ¡°Can you fathom the shame I felt at the thought of you touching me, raping me, and befouling my lineage with your diseased brood? I would have rather taken a lover among your guards if they hadn¡¯t lost their manhood.¡±

    ¡°Is that what you want?¡± I asked with a snort. As much as her taunts annoyed me, I remained focused on the potential alliance. ¡°That I do not touch you for the rest of the year?¡±

    I could live with that. My pce housed more concubines than the year had days. I didn¡¯t need Chikal for her skills in bed, but for her resources and influence.

    Chikal¡¯s widening smirk made me doubt my assessment.

    ¡°Oh, you misunderstand my point, Iztac. I said that a puppet¡¯s touch was unfathomable to me.¡± Her hand traveled down my chest and closer to my navel. ¡°Now, a <em>nightyer¡¯s </em>seed is something else¡­¡±

    Chikal leaned in so close to my face that I could smell her warm breath on my lips.

    ¡°I want a daughter, Iztac,¡± she softly whispered in my ear, ¡°and I want her before the Scarlet Moon.¡±

    I froze in ce, my mind struggling to listen to what my ears told me. I stared at Chikal, half-expecting her to burst outughing and confess it was a mere joke. She didn¡¯t.

    ¡°You are serious,¡± I said in utter disbelief.

    ¡°Do you doubt my resolve? My word is my bond. I do not give it lightly.¡± Chikal let go of my chest. ¡°That is my final demand, Iztac: a daughter of your blood who shall rule Chm after me.¡±

    <em>A daughter. </em>The word echoed in my head like a malediction.<em> I had an unborn child once. The Nightlords burned it with its mother in their Sulfur Sun.</em>

    Chikal¡¯s demand made some degree of sense. As a foreign queen with only one year left to live, she had few options left to perpetuate her lineage. I had sufficiently impressed her with my strength and magic to count as a worthy candidate to sire a princess; Chikal probably hoped that my daughter would also inherit my Nahualli power. I was almost ttered.

    However, she had forgotten one important detail: an emperor¡¯s daughter had no future.

    ¡°She will be born a <em>ve</em>,¡± I rasped back. A well-born one, but still a ve. ¡°A concubine meant to service my sessors. Is that truly a fate you want for your daughter?¡±

    Chikal scoffed dismissively. The prospect did not frighten her. ¡°If we win, she will be a queen. If we fail, she will avenge us. My subordinates will see that our hatred outlives us. My daughter will be raised to take arms against the Nightlords andplete what we could not.¡±

    ¡°Is that how you do things in Chm? Pray that the daughter settles the mother¡¯s grudges?¡±

    ¡°Ours shall do it with her father¡¯s powers, if you are man enough to pass them on,¡± Chikal replied, her brows furrowing. ¡°This ought to secure my loyalty to you, would it not? I will be fighting for two lives instead of mine alone.¡±

    When she put it that way¡­ ¡°You will be expected to follow me to war,¡± I pointed out. ¡°A pregnancy would weaken you.¡±

    Chikal let out a heartyugh. ¡°My mother gave birth to me hours after winning a battle,¡± she said with amusement. ¡°Moreover, the war campaign will take ce during spring and summer. We will have returned to your prison for the harvest season by the time my belly swells.¡±

    I had to admit that I found Chikal¡¯s cold-blooded pragmatism almost refreshing. She reminded me of Sigrun in that way. I had promised her a child too in exchange for her support once, if she ever needed to secure her ce as a concubine.

    I pondered her proposal thoughtfully. Sleeping with women for power and favor meant that a few would inevitably bear my children. The Nightlords counted on it for their sick breeding program. I would no doubt end the year with a few sons and daughters, both of whom could only look forward to death and very.

    This would happen whether or not I allied with Chikal, so what did it matter if we consummated our rtionship? She was right. Either we seeded and our children would be free, or we failed and some might pick up the fight. More pragmatically, it meant I could practice Seidr with another trustworthy partner.

    I sat on the bath¡¯s edge, my legs in the water down to the knees. My head hurt a bit from thest blow, but the pain vanished when I examined Chikal more closely. My stare moved up from her chiseled abs to her strong breasts and thick shoulders. All the women I had been with were slim and delicate. Chikal was the exact opposite, fleshy and voluptuous.

    It did not displease me.

    ¡°I take it that we have a deal, Nightyer?¡± Chikal probed as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

    ¡°What if it is a son?¡± I asked, my hands fondling her breasts. Each wasrge enough to fit inside my open palms.

    Chikal smiled in amusement as she mbered onto myp. She did not push me back. ¡°A queen of Chm has never given birth to a male,¡± she whispered in my hair. ¡°No magic in the world will change that.¡±

    <em><strong>¡ª NSFW Scene Starts ¡ª</strong></em>

    I bit her on the neckline as she impaled herself on me.

    The musicians continued to y even as Chikal grabbed my manhood and steadied it with one hand. I grunted when she sank down on my length, her insides closing on me like an iron prison. I tasted the sweat on her skin and the salty bathwater alike. Chikal enveloped me in her flesh one moan at a time. Her knees sat on the marble around myp and squeezed.

    My consort reminded me of Sigrun as a mature woman with eagerness and experience on her side, but unlike Ingrid¡¯s mother, she cared little for my pleasure. Chikal crushed me under herself and quickly began to bounce off me with immense strength. My hands moved down her ass and squeezed to keep up the pace. The recoil sent shivers of ecstasy traveling through my spine, alongside sharp bouts of pain as she pulled off her entire weight on me. She gained the initiative and forced me to keep up.

    ¡°Quicker,¡± she ordered me as she hammered her hips up and down. Her earrings and breasts jiggled while she hastened her pace. ¡°Is that all you have, male?¡±

    I responded with a grunt. When I struggled to adapt to her hastened rhythm, Chikal grabbed me by the throat with one hand and squeezed until red marks appeared on my skin. She enjoyed my pain much like I did Necahual¡¯s. Only when I bit her breast until I tasted her blood did I hear a moan of pleasureing from her. Her body convulsed and tightened its grip on mine.

    She liked it <em>rough</em>.

    Our thrusts sent waves rippling through the bath. I sensed our Teyolias connect to the tune of the turtle shell drums and flutes. Her heart-fire zed thrice brighter than Necahual, a bonfire to her candle. I tried to align her me with mine¡­ and swiftly failed.

    Seidr¡¯s true power required two souls to align, to break down their mental defenses in order to focus on amon cause. Chikal did not lower her guard. Quite the contrary, her Teyolia instinctually pushed back mine in spite of the power difference.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Chikal asked, having sensed the touch of my magic. She grabbed my hair with one hand with such strength that it started to hurt and forced me off her breast with a twist of her wrist. ¡°What was <em>that</em>?¡±

    ¡°Power,¡± I grunted back, my nails sinking into her flesh until she bled.

    ¡°Give it to me then,¡± she said imperiously. When I failed to respond quickly she pushed me down with my back against the marble and hastened her pace. My groin ached under her weight. ¡°I am waiting.¡±

    The more she tried to connect with me, the less I could focus.

    Chikal wanted to <em>dominate </em>me. For all of my power and magic, I remained a male to her. Deep down she considered me a tool rather than an equal. She would rather take than share, the way Sigrun did. It would have worked if she had been a Nahualli or had Sigrun¡¯s expertise, but in the current situation it only weakened our bond.

    I rose up out of frustration, pushing Chikal back and thrusting forward with all my strength. My consort nearly fell into the water behind us, but hung to my shoulders with a groan. I grabbed her hips and retook the initiative. My manhood twitched when she bit my neck deep enough to leave a bruise. My loins ached.

    My vision went white as I let go.

    Chikal moaned in pleasure as I came inside her. I struggled to hold on to her in spite of her convulsions. No vision came to reward my efforts. Her Teyolia broke from mine when my pulses slowed down to a crawl.

    <em><strong>¡ª NSFW Scene Ends ¡ª</strong></em>

    The Seidr ritual had failed.

    ¡°That was¡­¡± Chikal let out a sigh upon finally rxing. ¡°eptable.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t,¡± I grunted back. What pleasure our coupling gave me failed topensate for my frustration at failing to use the Seidr spell. ¡°We will need training.¡±

    Chikal snorted. She had taken my remark as a challenge. ¡°Let me gather my breath and we will try again.¡±

    We had sex two more times before we finally drifted into unconsciousness. I gained a few bruises for my effort and came closer to achieving a Seidr vision with Chikal, but failed nheless.

    I awakened in Chamiaholom¡¯s home with one hell of a foul mood; much to my host¡¯s delight.

    ¡°Sweetheart¡­¡± Chamiaholom smiled at my angry scowl. ¡°Are you finding a queen a more difficult partner than a ve? You find me feeling sorry.¡±

    I ground my teeth and didn¡¯t dignify her taunt with an answer. Tonight had showcased to me yet another limit of Seidr magic. Stealing power from a partner demanded little more than physical contact, but the best applications required trust. Necahual and I had hated each other for years. In a sinister way, we understood one another on an intimate level.

    Chikal and I had been strangers until a month ago. It would take time before she could lower her guard enough to fuel the spell.

    <em>At least I have secured her allegiance. </em>With Chikal agreeing to support my cause, I could ensure that the Sapa war would go disastrously wrong for Yohuachanca. <em>She will make a worthy ally.</em>

    ¡°I wonder if the Nightlords would let her daughter live,¡± Chamiaholom said with a cackle. ¡°Knowing them, they might smother the child in the crib out of boredom.¡±

    A cruel fate hardly any kinder than a life of very. I ignored the jab and triggered my Bonecraft spell.

    ¡°You said that tonight might be ourst lesson,¡± I told the hag. ¡°Let us make good on that promise.¡±

    ¡°You hurt me, dear. Are you in such a hurry to leave my side?¡± The Lord of Terror grinned. ¡°Have it your way. You will find my siblings less kind than dear old Chamiaholom.¡±

    We spent the next hour or so practicing the Bonecraft spell when applied to oneself. Chamiaholom demonstrated the magic by causing a sharp skeletal spike to burst out of her wrist.

    ¡°Creating a bone de means you will have to take matter from elsewhere, dear,¡± she told me. ¡°I suggest the ribs. One or two won¡¯t weaken you too much.¡±

    ¡°Is there any way to increase the quantity of my bones?¡± I asked my teacher. Consuming bones in one area to create more in another created dangerous vulnerabilities.

    Chamiaholom let out a cackle. ¡°Why do you think I harvest human bones, my dear?¡±

    ¡°Must I steal the bones of the dead and add them to my own?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°The joke is on you. I have a reliquary full of skulls eager to help me y the Nightlords.¡±

    ¡°My sweet child, you should look for newer and fresher bones than those old fools.¡± The hag wagged a finger at me. ¡°I would love to lie and tell you that you need human bones, but in truth, you may harvest them from any source. You should grind the skulls and parts of beasts into dust, then use Bonecrafting to thicken your bones with them. The more you consume, the stronger you will be.¡±

    A verbose way to say that I should consume bone dust and add them to my mass. I would have to be careful that the process didn¡¯t affect my appearance, but I should be able to disguise weight gain as I strengthened my muscles through food and training.

    I followed Chamiaholom¡¯s instructions and cannibalized two ribs to shape an arm-de. The pain was <em>atrocious</em>, especially when the spike burst out of my left wrist, but I withstood it all the way through. Bonecrafting did nothing to heal my wounded flesh.

    ¡°You are a natural user of Bonecraft, dear,¡± Chamiaholomplimented me. ¡°It took your mother many tries to summon a bone de and you did it on your first.¡±

    ¡°Interesting.¡± I examined the spike more closely. I could probably pierce a trihorn¡¯s scales with it. ¡°Am I a better sorcerer than my mother?¡±

    ¡°No, but you have an advantage over her.¡± Chamiaholom chuckled darkly. ¡°You fear neither pain nor death.¡±

    Mother delighted in harming those who crossed her¡ªthe vile Curse she had put on Necahual proved it¡ªbut she would rather see her son die than risk herself fighting the Nightlords. I doubted she had ever attempted to drive a knife into her own heart the way I had.

    Applying the Bonecraft spell to oneself meant withstanding terrible suffering. I felt every inch of my ribs hollowing from within and then erupting from my wrist in a new shape. It was nothingpared to the anguish the Nightlords and Xibalba¡¯s trials had put me through, but I could imagine how other sorcerers might avoid using the spell in my ce.

    ¡°Now, sweetheart, you may turn your bones into projectiles by applying a great amount of pressure to them.¡± Chamiaholom demonstrated by pointing her own bone spike at the nearest wall. The de erupted from her wrist faster than any arrow and punctured its target with enough force to shatter stone. ¡°I rmend using this technique with parsimony and very small projectiles since you lose the bone spent, but it will let you kill from afar.¡±

    I immediately imitated her. I had bones push against my spike so quickly and suddenly that it flew across the room before I knew it. I had to force my mouth shut to swallow a grunt of pain, and no small amount of my burning blood dripped from my wrist afterward. I would definitely need to use this technique carefully.

    However, I immediately considered a different application.

    ¡°If I use Bonecraft to apply pressure to my bones at the right moment, it should let me increase my strength and speed,¡± I noted.

    ¡°Clever dear, yes you may,¡± the hag replied, almost kindly. ¡°We shall train this way for the night, and if you are studious, I will reward you with a treat.¡±

    Horns arose from under her hair, and her smile turned into a demonic maw full of fangs.

    ¡°The <em>ossuary armor</em>.¡±

 Chapter Forty-Four: Penance and Pretense

    Chapter Forty-Four: Penance and Pretense

    Chamiaholom underwent a truly gruesome transformation.

    Bones surged from under her frail flesh and covered around every inch of her skin. Ribs coiled around her chest as imprable armor. A pale white helmet closed over her head in a single bite, its sinister grin full of sharp teeth. A dozen spikes erupted from her shoulders, each a totem of piled-up children¡¯s skulls. Strong tes protected her arms, legs, and belly. She towered over me now, her sunken ck eyes shining with malice.

    The transformationsted less than an instant. In fact, it happened so swiftly that hardly a drop of blood managed to touch the ground before the bone armor encased Chamiaholom¡¯s flesh in its deadly embrace.

    ¡°How do you find me, sweetheart?¡± the hag asked me. She deserved the nickname more than ever now. ¡°Am I not <em>beautiful</em>?¡±

    The creature that stared at me was no longer a frail old woman, but a terror straight out of a children¡¯s bedtime tale: a fanged, skeletal crone with nails longer than swords and a crown of vicious horns. The evil inside her hade out in its full, hideous grandeur.

    ¡°I would say fearsome,¡± I replied with genuine admiration. I studied the armor while looking for any ws or openings. I only found four: two holes for the eyes and two for the nose to breathe through. ¡°Is this the true form of the Bonecraft spell?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, dear. All bone paths lead to the ossuary armor. The perfect defensebined with the strongest attack.¡±

    She waved her hand at the table with frightening speed. Her sharp nails cut through her furniture like an obsidian de through flesh. One slice tore it apart into many pieces.

    ¡°If you craft it well, dear, then you will lose none of your speed,¡± Chamiaholom boasted. ¡°Bones can be both stronger than iron and lighter than feathers.¡±No human could harm me in a shell of bone like this. It might even frighten the Nightkin, since their immense strength would struggle to break past it. However, I noted a few impractical aspects of this transformation.

    ¡°Are the spikes truly needed?¡± I asked while pointing at the totem poles on her shoulders. Parading children''s skulls might intimidate human opponents, but it wouldn¡¯t help me cut through the Nightlords¡¯ withered hearts.

    ¡°Everyone¡¯s armor is different, dear. It brings out your inner demon, you see?¡± She raised one of her sharp nails at my owl mask. ¡°Methinks yours will have a beak for a nose.¡±

    An idea immediately crossed my mind. ¡°Is it possible tobine this spell alongside Spiritual Manifestation?¡±

    ¡°Yes you may, if you are an aplished sorcerer with divine power to spare,¡± she replied with a chuckle. ¡°Do not skip the steps, my bold child. Steady preparation makes for the sweetest kill.¡±

    I feared as much. I doubted I could use the armor at all in my current state above ground. I simplycked the bone mass required to fuel the transformation, and I would need at least loc¡¯s embers toplete it with Spiritual Manifestation.

    ¡°Since you are still alive, dear, the form your soul takes partly depends on your youthful body¡¯s health and shape,¡± Chamiaholom said. ¡°I would wait until you have doubled your bone mass before you try to manifest it in either world. You must eat to grow tall and strong.¡±

    I supposed I would have to ask the pce¡¯s kitchen to change my diet. I recalled that Necahual suggested drinking ma milk to patients who had suffered from broken bones. A few drinks a day should help me thicken my skeleton without being detected.

    ¡°Please teach me at least partial transformation,¡± I said. ¡°If I can individually manifest the armor¡¯s parts, then I should have an easy time summoning the full set once I am ready for it.¡±

    ¡°Clever bird.¡± Chamiaholom unbid her ossuary armor as swiftly as she summoned it. The bones contracted and retreated back into her body just as fast as they appeared. The hag¡¯s tattered robes showed crimson holes near the spine and her forehead was drenched in blood, but she didn¡¯t seem to mind at all. ¡°Your mother asked me the same thing once.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t suppress my curiosity. ¡°Did she ask for other things too?¡±

    ¡°Oh, sweetheart, she asked me for many, <em>many </em>terrible things.¡± The hag nced at the bones where I marked my victims¡¯ names. ¡°Did you like the Ride spell?¡±

    ¡°You taught it to Mother?¡± It made some sense. It too involved manipting bones as part of its process.

    ¡°She had more time to spend learning with me than you, and good old Chamioholom knows a few ways to make old ribs sing.¡± The hag smiled kindly at me, though there were teeth behind her wrinkled lips. ¡°Most will bore you, I¡¯m afraid, and not all will help you on your quest. I hope you return to me once you triumph. I will show you darkness so thick light itself vomits in disgust at the sight of it¡­ for a tiny little price.¡±

    I dared not ask what an embodiment of human cruelty would barter for in exchange for her knowledge. The First Emperor¡¯s codex had warned me that the Lords of Terror exacted a terrible toll. The tests I had gone through so far were but an initiation course for would-be demons. Those with time to spend could probably learn much over the years.

    But I had neither the desire to stay in Xibalba longer than necessary nor the time.

    ¡°You must start the transformation from where the frontier between your bones and skin is the thinnest, namely your spine and skull,¡± Chamiaholom advised me. ¡°Beginning elsewhere means your bones will damage your flesh on their way out. Let your Tonalli guide you. The shape of your soul will determine that of your body;¡±

    I followed her words and spent the next few hours or so practicing her exercises. I consumed the ribs offered to me and slimmed my skeleton under Chamiaholom¡¯s guidance, then I had them erupt from below my skin in various ces. I enclosed my chest, head, arms, and legs in a thick te of bone one after the other, but never all at once. My lips vanished under a maw of sharp fangs and my nails became ws. Then I reworked those bones into a doubleyer of imprable ribs protecting my chest. My burning blood dripped from many holes along my spine and arms within an hour¡¯s time.

    ¡°Remember to keep your internal structure intact, sweetheart,¡± Chamiaholom advised. ¡°If a powerful blow sends shockwaves through your thick skin and damages your poor heart, then your armor will be a tomb rather than your protection.¡±

    I closed my eyes and forced the ossuary armor¡¯stest part to return inside my body. To my annoyance, partially manifesting it was proving to be utterly impractical. I would bleed out if I could not summon the entire armor at once and immediately plug the gaps in it.

    <em>I cannot do this halfway. </em>How long would it take to gather the necessary bone mass to sustain the entire armor undetected? Days? Weeks? <em>I better start improving my bone structure the moment I wake up.</em>

    ¡°The rest, you must learn by yourself, sweetheart,¡± the hag said with a small sigh. ¡°It saddens me to see you go so swiftly, but every bird must leave the nest one day. Your next trial awaits.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t say the same for myself. Chamiaholom¡¯s casual cruelty unnerved me almost as much as the Nightlords. Still, I was grateful for the gift she had provided me. I had the feeling that Bonecraft would swiftly be a key part of my arsenal.

    ¡°I thank you for your tutge,¡± I said from the bottom of my heart. ¡°I shall make good use of your spell.¡±

    ¡°I know that sweetheart. Kill and torture as you see fit.¡± She gently stroked my cheek with what could pass for motherly pride. ¡°I am not worried about you. You will be a fearsome monster. In time, all will know your terrible name.¡±

    ¡°So long as it sends fear in the Nightlords¡¯ hearts,¡± I replied.

    ¡°It will.¡± Her smirk sent shivers down my spine. ¡°Oh, and onest thing¡­¡±

    I froze in ce and braced myself for whatever new horror she had thought up. ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to rape Necahual whenever you have the opportunity,¡± the hag said with a vicious wink. ¡°She fears bearing your child as much as she fears losing her daughter.¡±

    A wave of <em>visceral </em>disgust coursed through my body. Worst of all, the taunt got under my skin because it was almost certainly true. I thought back to how Iztacoatl treated me in her blood bath. Necahual probably felt the same way whenever she spent time in mypany, except Iztacoatl hadn¡¯tpelled me to carnal rtionships yet. Just the thought made my skin crawl.

    I knew that an apothecary like Necahual knew how to avoidplications, but I still felt <em>sick</em>.

    I angrily took to the door without a word while Chamiaholom cackled behind me. Her cruelughter followed me even after I stepped beyond the threshold and into a wall of mist.

    I found myself right back inside Xibalba¡¯s twisted streets before I knew it. An exact replica of the crossroads of misty doors I had taken to enter the Rattling House opened before me. Xibalba¡¯s pyramid loomed under the gray sky north of my position, only slightly closer to me than after my previous trial.

    <em>At least I¡¯m making progress.</em> I checked the area for any sign of andmark or sign. I found none, though I sensed invisible eyes watching me from the empty shadows. The imprable purple miasma covering my four potential exits let nothing through. <em>I see no hint as to where Mother¡¯s sanctuary might be, and I¡¯m not sure that I will have time enough to reach it before I wake up.</em>

    Should I walk towards the pyramid? I decided against it. Thest time I tried that sent me straight to the Rattling House. If Xibalba followed any form of logic, then traveling north would start another trial. However, nothing differentiated the other exits.

    What if I went back? I peeked over my shoulder and at the misty archway I used to leave the Rattling House. Will it send me back to Chamiaholom? Would I have to pass her trial again? Or was it a trick? It would be quite ironic if I had to travel backward into known danger to find a safe haven.

    With little to lose, I decided to test my theory.

    I stepped through the archway I had just exited. A cloud of fog enveloped me in an instant, shrouding my sight and numbing my senses. The owl inside me awoke in rm.

    The stone softened under my feet, but unlike the Rattling House it didn¡¯t turn to ice. Instead, I recognized a very familiar sensation, onepletely unexpected in the Underworld: the feeling of grass brushing against my skin. Reality shifted to wee me into one of Xibalba¡¯s hidden domains.

    A warm burst of wind blew the miasma away. I had to raise my hand to protect my eyes from a sudden influx of light; and when my gaze adjusted to the luminosity I could hardly believe what I saw. I used the Gaze spell to lift any illusion that might have clouded my sight. It failed to clear anything.

    And of flowers bloomed under a clear blue sky.

    I had no words for the spectacle unfolding before my eyes. Lush grasnds bordered by rich rainforest and glittering streams sprawled in all directions. A warm wind rolled clouds above thick vines. The noise of chittering birds and animal cries filled my ears. I observed groups of deer run across green fields and hares flee at my approach into beds of orchids. A great longneck stopped drinking at a nearby water just long enough to study me with cid, innocent eyes.

    A world teeming with life weed me. Here, in the darkest corner of the Underworld. I had entered a paradise nested in hell¡¯s heart.

    So why did the owl inside me cower in fear?

    I gently awoke with a head full of questions.

    I was neither yanked back to the living world by a vampire nor did I awaken after a gruesome trial. It was a peaceful awakening, slow, natural, almost kind. This hadn¡¯t happened since my time in M.

    What was that ce? An illusion? Or maybe I had finally reached my mother¡¯s sanctuary? Somehow I doubted it. Mother didn¡¯t look like the kind of person to maintain such a beautiful ce, and Xibalba was a city of a thousand terrors. Any sweetness within its walls carried a bitter poison.

    I hade to distrust sights too good to be true. They usually hid ugly truths when one looked under the surface.

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the vition.

    But that would be a problem for the next night. I looked around myself to find Chikal already dressed and doing push-ups outside the bed.

    ¡°Finally awake,¡± she said in between movements. ¡°You slept soundly.¡±

    ¡°I had a sweet dream,¡± I replied. Or what could pass for it after training under the physical manifestation of human evil.

    ¡°That sounds unusual,¡± Chikal said while clenching her teeth. Her muscles strained under the strain of her training. From the drops of sweat dripping down her forehead, she must have been exercising for a while. ¡°Ingrid told me that you suffered from nightmares in your sleep.¡±

    I was sleepwalking through one every second I spent in that pce. If only I could wake up from this one¡­

    Would that be my next trial? Facing my fear of peace and happiness?

    ¡°Ingrid told you?¡± I noted, slightly surprised. ¡°You talk about me?¡±

    ¡°We speak of many things,¡± Chikal replied. She rose to her feet after finishing her training and wiped the sweat off her brow. ¡°I have visited Ingrid each day since her mother¡¯s memorial. With her mother¡¯s demise, I thought she needed an adult woman¡¯s guidance.¡±

    ¡°That is surprisingly thoughtful of you.¡±

    ¡°That is what we do in Chm when a mother leaves her daughters orphaned.¡± Chikal shrugged. ¡°A girl without proper guidance will never be a woman.¡±

    I wondered how much of Chikal¡¯s kindness towards Ingrid was the result ofmon decency or a calcted attempt to influence another power yer. Considering her behavior so far, I assumed it was a bit of both.

    I took it as good news nheless. In the end, we were all prisoners sharing the same fate. We would only prevail by working together.

    ¡°You should exercise now, Iztac,¡± Chikal suggested. ¡°It will give you more strength for the day.¡±

    ¡°I prefer to meditate in the morning.¡± And plot with the ghosts against the unliving. ¡°I train my mind, you train my body.¡±

    My words brought a small smile to Chikal¡¯s lips, though it quickly faded when Tayatzin entered my quarters right afterward alongside the maids. A red-eyed scribe with a scroll walked in after them much to my confusion. That was new.

    ¡°Your Majesty, Lady Chikal,¡± Tayatzin said before bowing to both of us. ¡°I pray that you slept well.¡±

    Chikal snorted. ¡°Our Lord Emperor performed well.¡±

    ¡°Good to hear,¡± I replied with a chuckle as the maids clothed me in my imperial regalia. ¡°Tayatzin, I wish to hold breakfast with my other consorts too after my morning meditation, if the goddesses will it. I¡¯ve missed my routine.¡±

    ¡°As Your Majesty wishes.¡± The red-eyed priest joined his hands while his scribe unfolded his scroll. ¡°If I may ask, did you have any particr dream tonight?¡±

    I immediately guessed that this question was far from innocent. The Nightlords believed that the First Emperor might send me omens through dreams. They would take note of anything unusual and seek to interpret these signs.

    I was tempted to lie ande up with a false prophecy, but nothing useful came to mind for now and such a trick should be used sparingly. I decided it was best to give a half-truth.

    ¡°I dreamed of a peacefulnd,¡± I said. ¡°A verdantnd of forests and rivers with no man to despoil it.¡±

    ¡°No man, you said?¡± Tayatzin asked as his scribes hastily took notes. ¡°Did you see bats, perchance?¡±

    ¡°No. The sun shone on longnecks, hares, and other beasts.¡± I shrugged my shoulders. ¡°It was a sweet dream and no more. It didn¡¯t feel like anything special to me.¡±

    ¡°If Your Majesty will forgive my insolence, but there is <em>nothing </em>ordinary about you,¡± Tayatzin replied with a sincere smile. ¡°I hope our interpreters will find this pleasant dream to be a good omen.¡±

    Knowing the Nightlords, they would find a way to word it in a way that favored them. I bet they would say it meant that the First Emperor promised his subjects paradise if they redeemed themselves in his eyes, or something of the sort.

    ¡°I must also inform Your Majesty that we have received multiple pieces of news on the Sapa investigation front,¡± Tayatzin added, which earned my full and undivided attention. ¡°First of all, we have received an answer to our Flower War deration from Ayar Manco, the eldest son of the previous Sapa Emperor and heir presumptive to the throne. The man had the audacity to challenge you on your birthday on the first day of the Wind Month.¡±

    ¡°How bold,¡± I replied with a smirk. I loved it when a n came together. ¡°Has he called himself the Sapa Emperor in his letter?¡±

    Tayatzin confirmed it with a nod. ¡°Indeed he has.¡±

    ¡°Then it means that Ingrid¡¯s scheme has paid off,¡± Chikal noted. ¡°By not naming the actual emperor to which this Flower War was dered, we have forced the eldest son to answer the challenge to prove his legitimacy. His younger brothers will no doubt pray for his defeat on the field of battle.¡±

    That was a situation that I would have to manage with care. I needed to triumph in the Flower War to gain my soldiers¡¯ respect and allegiance, but I had to ensure that the real military operations would end in disaster on the Sapa shores. I also hoped that the outside threat to their territory would force the Sapa siblings to cooperate against amon enemy.

    ¡°This leaves us around two weeks of training before we begin the Flower War campaign,¡± Chikal said as she turned back to me. ¡°We will intensify Your Majesty¡¯s training.¡±

    ¡°I trust in your guidance, Chikal.¡± I cleared my throat and then gave out orders. ¡°I shall focus on dealing with the eruption¡¯s consequences and preparing for the Flower War for the Crocodile Month. Arrange my schedule ordingly, Tayatzin. Cut down on my free time if you must.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡¯s discipline is admirable,¡± Tayatzin said. ¡°Before I make the necessary arrangements, however, I must also inform you that we have also received news from our investigation in Zacha.¡±

    I could hardly hide my own surprise. ¡°So soon? I am impressed.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡¯swork of runners and messenger birds remains fully operational in spite of the damage that the earthquakes caused to our roads,¡± Tayatzin exined. ¡°A message can travel over two hundred miles in a single day¡¯s time.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t an idle boast at all. Since I had killed Qollqa two nights ago, a message reporting his death would need to travel at an extraordinary pace to reach my pce so swiftly.

    In spite of the empire¡¯s enormous size, its efficient bureaucracy and messengers meant that information traveled far and quickly. I would need to keep that in mind. It would do me little good to sow chaos if the Nightlords could react quickly enough to nip it in the bud.

    ¡°Then speak,¡± I told Tayatzin. ¡°Has this Qollqa been arrested?¡±

    I feigned surprise when Tayatzin shook his head in denial. ¡°I am afraid not, Your Majesty. The man took his own life soon after the eruption.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± I chose my words carefully. ¡°That sounds¡­<em> convenient</em>.¡±

    ¡°My thoughts exactly,¡± Tayatzin replied. ¡°Moreover, it appears thete Qollqa had sent a message to the Sapa Empire just before his demise. Our forces are currently investigating the matter and will report back shortly.¡±

    Which meant that the priests hadn¡¯t yet found the notes I left for them nor intercepted the message I¡¯d sent to the Sapa Empire; or if they had, they chose to keep it from me for now. I wasn¡¯t too concerned about it. I had expected them to report the matter to their vampire masters first.

    From the subtle gaze that Chikal sent me, I could tell that she had guessed I had something to do with the man¡¯s death. Good. I didn¡¯t have to speak my mind for her to anticipate my moves. It would help with our alliance.

    ¡°Investigate all of Qollqa¡¯s associates for any sign of treachery and keep me informed,¡± I ordered. ¡°If Lady Zyanya¡¯s information proves urate, then I will see that she is rewarded properly.¡±

    I had nted the seeds. I could wait to see how they would bloom over the next few days.

    Speaking of seeds, I also asked Tayatzin to send flowers as a gift to Necahual; both to showcase how much she mattered to me as my favorite and because myst blood bath with Iztacoatl had sharply put me in her shoes. Chamiaholom¡¯s vicious taunt was still on my mind.

    As much as I disliked my mother-inw, I thought it best to alleviate her burden in any way I could. A gift ought to help a little.

    Once the maids finished dressing me, I prepared to go visit the Parliament of Skulls when Chikal stopped me on my way out of my quarters.

    ¡°You should ponder what I told you yesterday,¡± she said. ¡°On the burden of the powerful.¡±

    I could read between the lines. Chikal had asked me yesterday what I intended to do if I ever defeated the Nightlords.

    Truthfully, I hardly cared about anything beyond that point. I was climbing a mountain so tall I couldn¡¯t see whaty beyond its peak. I needed to reach the summit before I could think of what awaited me there.

    Whatever the case, I would not return to my old life. I had no desire to rule, and if I indeed became powerful enough to deal with the vampires and their divine progenitor somehow, then I would have no need to be a merchant or serve the empire to survive. The privilege of the mighty was to do as they wanted.

    ¡°I will think about it,¡± I replied before leaving my quarters. I wondered what my predecessors would have to say about Yohuachanca¡¯s fate once the Nightlords perished. Perhaps they had a vision of what would follow its copse.

    After so many days confined to my room, it felt good to return to the Reliquary. This ce had be my refuge and my predecessors my mentors; the one ce where I could freely speak my mind. Even the morning breeze felt refreshinglyforting when I walked across the rooftop.

    <em>¡°The sisters have lost a battle,¡±</em> the wind ominously whispered in my ear, <em>¡°But now they know there is a war.¡±</em>

    As far as warnings went, that one sounded as clear as water.

    Still, it failed to sour my mood as I walked inside the Reliquary. It hadn¡¯t changed at all since myst visit. Neither the eruption nor thest days¡¯ events had bothered my predecessors¡¯ skulls. I had half expected a quarter of them to drop to dust upon news of Yoloxochitl¡¯s death, but I supposed it would take more to break the chains binding them to this world.

    I sat in the darkness as I had done many times before.

    The skulls¡¯ eyes did not shine.

    That detail immediately put me on edge. My predecessors always weed me with ghostfire gazes when I visited them. The bones in front of me neither burned nor moved. They seemed¡­ inert.

    Had Yoloxochitl¡¯s demise freed their ghosts from their prison? No, that couldn¡¯t be. The past emperors kept my Teyolia¡¯s divine nature shrouded from the Nightlords¡¯ sight. If they had gone on to their peaceful rest in M, then I would have been exposed. So why?

    I finally heard a whispering from the darkness.

    ¡°Do not move, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± my predecessors said. ¡°A spy hides in our midst.¡±

    My heart skipped a beat, but a month of practice had taught me to hide my emotions well. I did not move an inch. The past emperors'' skulls continued to pretend to be inert as their words echoed in my head.

    ¡°Look to your right in the bottom corner,¡± my predecessors ordered. ¡°One of us is missing his teeth. See what hides there.¡±

    I slowly and subtly pretended to remove a speck of dust from my clothes. As I did, I took a sideway nce in the direction that my predecessors pointed at. I noticed the skull they spoke of and the reptilian eye staring at me from the shadows within.

    A serpent hid there. A <em>white </em>serpent.

    <em>Iztacoatl</em>.

    My blood boiled in my veins. I took a deep breath and pretended to stare into the darkness in quiet concentration. For perhaps the first time since the beginning of my imprisonment, I actually meditated inside the Reliquary. It helped quell my frustration.

    In spite of all my attempts to pretend otherwise, one of my captors had grown suspicious of the Reliquary. My only haven in this gods-forsaken prison was now <empromised</em>. If I had been overconfident or failed to pick up on the clues, then I would have exposed myself here and there.

    ¡°Listen carefully, our sessor,¡± the skulls whispered so low I could barely hear them. ¡°The snake cannot hear <em>us</em>, but it can hear <em>you</em>. ¡±

    Of course. The previous emperors couldmunicate with me because I was a catecolotl, a messenger of death. Neither normal men nor Nahualli heard their whispers. I couldn¡¯t say the same for my words.

    I sat in silence and listened to my predecessors. Their six-hundred voices brimmed with an emotion I was unused to: <em>gratitude.</em>

    ¡°We are very proud of what you have achieved,¡± they said. ¡°You have done the impossible and loosened our chains. You have much left to aplish, but know that we are forever thankful. No matter what maye, we will continue to guide you on the battles toe¡­ and we know how to win this one.¡±

    I closed my eyes and listened attentively.

    ¡°The White Snake cannot stand boredom, our sessor. She craves surprise to lessen the monotony of her long years. Come each day to the Reliquary, sit, and say nothing. Make it an unwavering routine, dull and forgettable. She will eventually lose interest and this ce will once again be a refuge for you.¡±

    Boring. My predecessors asked me to be <em>boring</em>.

    How long would it take to foster an immortal vampire¡¯s disinterest? Days? Weeks? Months? Whatever the answer was, it would be too much. Being unable to speak my mind would greatly limit how much I could ask my predecessors. I needed to find another way tomunicate with them.

    ¡°Iztacoatl will grow suspicious if you stay here too long, so listen to what we have to say,¡± my predecessors whispered in the dark. ¡°The White Snake is not like her sisters. She may underestimate you, but she will <em>never </em>mistake you for harmless; pretending to be will only make her distrust you more. Whereas the Jaguar Woman answers vulnerability with anger and brutality, Iztacoatl responds with caution and paranoia.¡±

    She was definitely more careful and insightful than her sisters for certain. None of them had even considered putting spies in the Reliquary before, let alone something as small and insidious as a snake. How could I outwit someone with limitless resources and no arrogance to blind her?

    The skulls sensed my unease andforted me. ¡°Many of us have matched wits with her, Iztac, and a few bested her too,¡± they said. ¡°Her weakness and strength are one and the same: her <em>curiosity</em>.¡±

    I recalled my previous interactions with Iztacoatl. She had always sought to unnerve and surprise me like a feline probing for a reaction. She liked to y with her food to stave off her boredom and used her keen insight to draw her conclusions.

    Moreover, I remembered the time she and the other Nightlords bet on which concubine I would sleep with first. I hadn¡¯t thought much of her casual cruelty back then, but now I realized that Iztacoatl took pleasure in mind games. She also mentioned regretting Sigrun¡¯s demise because she found her schemes interesting and wished that Ingrid would prove just as entertaining.

    ¡°To defeat Iztacoatl, you must be like a street performer who distracts a crowd with one hand to better hide a theft with the other,¡± the Parliament suggested. ¡°Make moves that will baffle and confuse her. She will seek meaning where there is none and see plots behind every coincidence. Make it a game where she wins meaningless battles every so often and believes herself in control, while she slowly concedes the true war.¡±

    I would have nodded in assent if I could, but the best I could do was to open my eyes. I understood what I had to do.

    ¡°Leave now, before the serpent grows suspicious,¡± the skulls said. ¡°We shall discuss the matter of Yoloxochitl¡¯s garden and the First Emperor tomorrow. Our knowledge on both is limited, but we can offer clues.¡±

    I rose to my feet in silence and wiped the dust off my robes. The snake continued to watch me from the shadows without making a sound. No normal animal would show that kind of focus, nor record information on behalf of another. I couldn¡¯t hear its breath either, if it had any.

    I recalled Yoloxochitl¡¯s cruel flowers and the red-eyed priests. If the Nightlords could enve nts and men with their blood, why not animals too?

    ¡°Our wishes are with you, our sessor,¡± the Parliament of Skulls told me before I crossed the threshold. ¡°Be patient. Our time wille.¡±

    Yes, it would.

    I walked outside the Reliquary and stepped near the rooftop¡¯s edge. The breeze blowing on my face carried the smell of fire. Smoke Mountain had calmed down in the distance, though its clouds of dust continued to obscure the sky.

    I would have paid dearly to cast the Augury spell and interrogate the Yaotzin on the battle toe, but I couldn¡¯t risk being overheard. I would need to proceed with extreme caution so long as Iztacoatl showed any interest in the Reliquary.

    This visit had proved helpful nheless. The more I pondered my foe¡¯s behavior so far, the more my predecessors¡¯ wisdom rang true.

    Iztacoatl couldn¡¯t resist the lure of novelty. She yearned for surprise, for the thrill of uncovering a secret and outying the poor mortals she tormented in a duel of wits. Her greater experience meant that I had little hope of beating her in a straightforward confrontation.

    The keyword being <em>straightforward</em>.

    Iztacoatl would never lower her guard around me, but I could distract her. All I had to do was throw her the right bone to keep her upied while I secretly amassed more resources from the shadows. The previous emperors suggested making moves that would leave her baffled, to overwhelm her with nonsense and confusion. A few ideas came to mind.

    Iztacoatl wanted a break from her monotony, so I would give it to her.

    I would show her <em>chaos</em>.

 Chapter Forty-Five: A Daughters Grudge

    Chapter Forty-Five: A Daughter''s Grudge

    How could I best abuse my power?

    The question was on my mind all morning after I left the Reliquary. Immense resources and control of the imperial state meant that my only limits were the Nightlords¡¯ veto and my own imagination. I could easily make my pet Iztili into a governor if I so wished, and perhaps I should. He would no doubt do a better job than most of his predecessors.

    I had many ideas on how to confuse Iztacoatl, from false prophecies to other baffling moves, but I better wait a day or two before breaking my routine. My captors would no doubt grow suspicious if I underwent a radical shift in personality right after I visited the Reliquary. As odd as it sounded, true chaos demanded rigorous nning.

    Once that period passed though, I would go <em>wild</em>.

    I put those matters aside upon entering the council room. My four consorts had gathered there for breakfast. Truthfully, I had missed all of them. I hadn¡¯t shared a moment with them since the First Emperor¡¯s prophecy, let alone spoken to them all at once since before the New Fire Ceremony.

    I noticed a few interesting details. First of all, Ingrid had traded her ck robes for brighter colors; which signified that her mourning period over her mother¡¯s death hade to an end. Chikal was ying a game of Patolli against Eztli and winning handily. Finally, Nl greeted me with the saddest expression imaginable.

    I didn¡¯t take that as a good sign.

    Ingrid was the first to wee me with a deep and respectful bow. ¡°Greetings, my lord,¡± she said courteously. ¡°How good to see you again.¡±

    ¡°You arrive just in time to see me lose,¡± Eztliined. ¡°Our dear Chikal shows me no mercy.¡±Her words bemused the amazon queen. ¡°I do not believe in <em>coddling</em>.¡±

    ¡°I suppose I will duel the winner then,¡± I replied with a chuckle. ¡°I have missed you all greatly.¡±

    I kissed them one after another. Ingrid met my lips eagerly and Chikal epted the gesture no longer than what courtesy demanded. Nl blushed slightly when I did it, while the coldness of Eztli¡¯s skin confirmed that she was the real one instead of an impostor. Good, I wouldn¡¯t have to suffer a body double in intimate meetings.

    Servants entered the room to serve us the moment I took my seat between Ingrid and Eztli.

    I recognize Tenoch and Atziri among them. Thetter¡¯s presence didn¡¯t surprise me much since she was Eztli¡¯s handmaiden, but I didn¡¯t expect the former.

    ¡°I have taken Tenoch as my handmaiden,¡± Ingrid exined upon seeing my confusion. ¡°Since my lord saw it fit to favor her, I believed it wise to take her under my wing.¡±

    ¡°You did well,¡± I replied. <em>She is as sharp as ever.</em> ¡°Tenoch is a talented girl.¡±

    ¡°Master is too kind,¡± Tenoch replied with an audacious wink. ¡°It is an honor for me to serve a woman as poised and refined as Lady Ingrid.¡±

    ¡°You make me blush,¡± Ingrid said with courtesy. ¡°I believe the two of us will soon be good friends.¡±

    I immediately understood Ingrid¡¯s intentions. She had taken Tenoch as her personal handmaiden for the same reason I had been interested in Atziri in the first ce: to use her as an intermediary and courtier.

    Come to think of it, I should probably select handmaidens for Nl and Chikal. It would give me a new way to keep tabs on my consorts and send secret messages in a pinch.

    ¡°And I lost again,¡± Eztliined after Chikal soundly defeated her. ¡°Will you take the board, Iztac? Unless Nl wishes to y first?¡±

    Nl flinched. ¡°Oh, I¡­ I wouldn¡¯t mind¡­¡±

    ¡°Is something wrong, Nl?¡± I asked her. Her behavior filled my heart with concern. She had the look of someone about to announce a death in the family.

    ¡°I am d to see you again, Lor¨CIztac.¡± Nl cleared her throat after correcting herself. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ I am not certain how I should tell you and Eztli¡­¡±

    Eztli raised an eyebrow. ¡°Tell us what?¡±

    Nl gathered her breath and mustered all of her courage. ¡°Your¡­ Your hometown of Acampa¡­ It was destroyed in the eruption. I am told¡­¡± She looked down at the table to avoid facing our gazes. ¡°I am told that there were¡­ no survivors.¡±

    A short silence followed. I exchanged a nce with Eztli and saw the light of amusement in her crimson eyes. Much like I, she had expected far worse news.

    ¡°Your concern is weed, Nl, but we had already guessed as much from the reports on the eruption,¡± I replied calmly. ¡°The earth¡¯s wrath killed many that day.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that Chimalli has died too,¡± Eztli replied with a cruel smile. ¡°A shame. I would have loved to kill him myself.¡±

    Her words caused Nl to flinch and the other consorts to give her nk stares. I supposed Eztli still bore a grudge against her former fianc¨¦ for not defending her when the priests came to seize her. I personally didn¡¯t care much for the vige¡ªespecially since my father was buried elsewhere¡ªthough I regretted the deaths that resulted from the cataclysm as a whole.

    ¡°Acampa¡¯s destruction was unfortunate,¡± I replied while sipping from my warm chocte cup. An idea then crossed my mind. ¡°Does anything remain of it?¡±

    ¡°Nothing but ruins,¡± Nl replied shyly. ¡°The smoke¡­ the smoke killed everyone.¡±

    ¡°Then once the dead are given the proper funerary rites, we shall rebuild a new town in its ce,¡± I decided.

    My suggestion caused my consorts to send me strange nces, none more surprised than Nl. ¡°A¡­ a new town?¡±

    ¡°Do we not bury our dead under our houses so their spirits can grant their descendants luck?¡± I asked rhetorically. <em>What an insipid and useful superstition.</em> ¡°By rebuilding a new town over the old, we will ensure its prosperity.¡±

    The suggestion amused Eztli. ¡°Was Acampa not destroyed by a divine punishment, Iztac?¡± She teased me with a wide smile. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t we insult the gods if we rebuilt a town over the ruins?¡±

    ¡°Not if we make this town a model of beauty and piety,¡± I replied with the utmost insincerity. ¡°We shall call it New Iztacoatl, after the fairest of all goddesses.¡±

    Eztli stifled herughter. ¡°Careful, Iztac,¡± she said with that ever-charming sly grin of hers. ¡°One of those four goddesses might disagree with your assessment.¡±

    I had to hold back a chuckle at her subtle joke. Chikal¡¯s expression told me that she had caught on to it, and Ingrid¡¯s suspicious look seemed to indicate that she was putting two and two together when it came to Yoloxochitl¡¯s secret demise.

    Only Nl remained both oblivious and anxious. ¡°You think the goddesses will take offense to it?¡±

    ¡°I will ask Lady Iztacoatl¡¯s permission first,¡± I reassured her. ¡°Still, I believe she will agree to offer her patronage. Much like a snake sheds his old skin for new scales, the destruction of Acampa will lead the way to a better future.¡±

    On the surface, founding a new settlement named after a Nightlord should be tremendously ttering. That it would be raised over a memorial to their greatest defeat yet could be interpreted in many ways, and how Iztacoatl chose to do so would tell me a great deal about her personality.

    This ploy would test out my predecessors¡¯ advice in a very subtle way. If Iztacoatl answered my bait with curiosity and whimsical humor, then I would start slowly applying pressure and then make a sudden, bolder move. If she reacted with violence and cruelty, I would adapt ordingly.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard from foreign merchants thatnd scorched by a volcano¡¯s ashes be extremely fertile once the mes cool down and the wind carries away the fumes,¡± Chikal noted. ¡°It might take weeks for thends to be safe for exploitation, however.¡±

    ¡°If the goddess agrees to my lord¡¯s suggestion, founding a new town would be a good idea,¡± Ingrid said. ¡°We can at least prepare a n to resettle the region. The recent disasters must have disced many.¡±

    ¡°We have housed thousands of refugees over thest few days,¡± Nl confirmed with a sorrowful sigh. ¡°We have given them food and shelter, but¡­ I worry for their health. Many have drunk befouled water on their way to the capital.¡±

    ¡°Send them to military training,¡± Chikal suggested. ¡°The more bodies we can throw at the Sapa Empire, the better.¡±

    Nl bit her lip. ¡°These people have lost their homes. Sending them to war so soon¡­ it is harsh.¡±

    ¡°If these people are not put to work, then they are a burden to the state,¡± Chikal replied. ¡°The Sapa will not fall in a day. Let the refugees earn their clean water and food with their sweat and blood.¡±

    I guessed Chikal¡¯s n was to throw as many people at the Sapa in order to bleed out Yohuachanca¡¯s strength. It made sense from her point of view, but I would rather have fewer soldiers on the front. The more the empire struggled in its conquest, the more its armies would rely on the Nightkin and expose them to danger.

    ¡°We need people at home to rebuild too,¡± Ingrid pointed out. ¡°My lord has earned their fear a few nights ago. If he shows thempassion in their time of need, he will earn their love as well.¡±

    I didn¡¯t put any faith in the masses¡¯ love, but relocating the refugees would give me the perfect excuse to leave the pce. After all, the Nightlords could hardly me me if I decided to check on how my subjects were doing¡­

    ¡°I, ugh¡­¡± Nl coughed. ¡°If Your Majesty will, uh, allow me to make a suggestion¡­¡±

    ¡°You need not ask for permission, Nl,¡± I replied warmly. By now I thought she would understand that.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Nl smiled sweetly at me. She was growing more confident with each passing day. ¡°Between the rains of blood, the smoke, and the early onset of night, I fear that this year¡¯s harvest will be poor. We need more farmers than soldiers.¡±

    Eztli¡¯s smile showcased her sharp teeth. ¡°Nl isn¡¯t wrong, we might face a famine soon. Refugees would make for a convenient food source.¡±

    Nl covered her mouth in horror, and Ingrid hid her unease behind a nk expression. I hardly reacted any better. As much as I loved Eztli, I found her dark joke quite tasteless; doubly so after spending so many nights in Chamiaholom¡¯spany.

    Only Chikal appeared vaguely entertained. ¡°I doubt starving refugees will provide much meat, Lady Eztli.¡±

    ¡°I was joking,¡± Eztli replied mischievously. ¡°However, I am sure that the idea has crossed certain minds.¡±

    If I didn¡¯t settle the refugees¡¯ fate soon, then the Nightlords would no doubt purge them. More bodies at the altar meant fewer mouths to deal with in a famine.

    ¡°We will put the refugees to work, but not on the battlefield,¡± I decided. ¡°Instead, we will have them rebuild what they have lost. We will raise new towns for them to inhabit and have them assist in toiling for the next harvest.¡±

    Nl nodded in agreement. ¡°It would be kinder for these poor people to rebuild their lives than lose it in foreign mountains.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of the Sapa¡¯s mountains, we were told that the new would-be Emperor epted our challenge,¡± Chikal said.

    ¡°Ayar Manco suggested a Flower War of three hundred warriors,¡± Ingrid confirmed.

    ¡°Three hundred?¡± Chikal snorted in disdain. ¡°Does the Sapa Empireck champions? That number is pitiful.¡±

    ¡°I suspect that this choice reflects both practical and symbolic considerations,¡± Ingrid replied.

    ¡°The number three is of great importance to the Sapa, since it represents the sky above, the world of the living, and thend of the dead in their culture. Moreover, their emperor must preserve most of his forces at home to dissuade his brothers from rebelling. Even if his recent marriage to his sister has strengthened his position, he cannot afford to¨C¡±

    ¡°<em>Sister</em>?¡± I interrupted her in surprise. ¡°Have I misheard?¡±

    ¡°My lord has sharp ears,¡± Ingrid reassured me with a light chuckle. ¡°ording to our spies, Ayar Manco has adopted a foreign princess from a tributary confederacy, Ki, and then married her.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t the only one left puzzled by her words. Eztli showed sudden and morbid interest. ¡°He adopted a woman as a sister before he married her? Did he want to bed a sibling so much that he invented a loophole to avoid the taboo?¡±

    ¡°I admit I am curious too, Ingrid,¡± I said with a frown. ¡°What purpose does it serve?¡±

    ¡°My lord already knows that the Sapa¡¯s imperial session differs from ours,¡± Ingrid reminded us. ¡°Whereas the heavens choose a new emperor each year in Yohuachanca, a Sapa Emperor¡¯s ascension is either determined by their predecessor¡¯s decision or that of a council. Both cases are open to contestation, as seen with Ayar Manco¡¯s brothers.¡±

    ¡°So I have heard,¡± I replied. I¡¯d hoped the threat to their homnd would cause them to set aside their differences by now. ¡°What does it have to do with the adoption?¡±

    ¡°The closer a new emperor is to their predecessor, the greater their legitimacy,¡± Ingrid exined to me. ¡°Henceforth, a Sapa Emperor usually adopts his would-be wife as his sister in order to give them greater respectability. It is a symbolic gesture and tradition, nothing more.¡±

    ¡°I would love to see their family tree,¡± Eztli mused. ¡°I would expect to see a few tangled roots.¡±

    ¡°It is a strange custom,¡± I conceded. I wondered if it had anything to do with the Sapa¡¯s Mallquis. From what Queen Mictecacihuatl told me, they required the breath of their living descendants to survive. Adoption could serve as a loophole of some kind.

    Nl joined her hands. ¡°I wonder if the Sapa find us strange from their point of view. We do change emperors each year, while I think their own rulersst until old age.¡±

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    I shrugged and changed the subject. The Sapa Emperor¡¯s choice of partner mattered to me less than his proposed number of fighters.

    A Flower War was a series of duels between warriors meant to showcase their valor. Both parties agreed on how many soldiers would take the field. The victors would usually keep the defeated fighters as hostages, to be either ransomed back or sacrificed.

    Three hundred was too few a number. On one hand, I wanted a grand spectacle that could both cow Yohuachanca¡¯s generals into obedience and impress on the Sapa the danger that my empire represented. On the other hand, the Flower War was a distraction for a muchrger naval invasion. Challenging too many Sapa warriors to partake in the former meant leaving them too open for thetter.

    I needed to find a middle ground.

    ¡°Ingrid,¡± I said. My consort straightened up in her seat. ¡°You will inform Ayar Manco that while I agree to challenge him on the first day of the Wind Month, a Flower War with fewer than four thousand fighters is beneath my divine notice.¡±

    ¡°Four thousand, my lord?¡±

    ¡°One thousand for each of the Nightlords.¡± Whereas the Sapa favored the number three, Yohuachanca believed in the number four. ¡°This ought to show our enemies the strength of our resolve.¡±

    ¡°Will Ayar Manco ept this challenge?¡± Chikal asked.

    ¡°He cannot refuse,¡± Ingrid replied. ¡°To do so would be tantamount to admitting his weakness. A true Sapa Emperor should be able to field ten times the amount that my lord requests.¡±

    I hoped that Manco rising up to my challenge would help him secure his authority inside his borders. The meek followed the bold.

    As always, Ingrid sharply read the situation. ¡°This is pure conjecture for now, my lord, but I strongly suspect that Ayar Manco¡¯s brothers will soon contact us once we send back our answer. They are certain to plot against him.¡±

    ¡°I expect as much,¡± I replied. I <em>hoped </em>kinship would prevail over ambition, but I hade to anticipate the worst. ¡°We will wait to see their offers before adjusting our strategy.¡±

    Nl shook her head. ¡°This talk of siblings fighting each other makes me ill at ease. Families should not tear themselves apart for power.¡±

    ¡°Such is the fate of any organization whose leadership is not based on merit or divine providence, Nl,¡± Chikal replied. ¡°The hearts of men are filled with greed, and few forces can quell it.¡±

    Eztli chuckled. ¡°Are you not the queen of Chm by virtue of your birth?¡±

    ¡°I became queen by blood and stayed that way through merit.¡± Chikal smiled back at her. ¡°Any amazon can challenge the queen in a duel for leadership if they believe them to be unworthy. Many have tried to seize my throne before I joined this court. None seeded.¡±

    A hierarchy that relied on strength didn¡¯t seem any better than one based on birth to me, but I kept that part to myself. That tidbit of information exined why Chikal put so much emphasis on power though. Her environment encouraged its pursuit.

    We finished reviewing the uing Flower War preparation over breakfast. I was confident in our preparations so far. This ought to prove to be quite the spectacle.

    ¡°Now is time for my training,¡± I said after emptying my chocte cup. ¡°Chikal, I would like to focus on swords and des over the following days.¡±

    Chikal frowned at me. ¡°Why is that?¡±

    <em>So I may practice for the day when I can use Bonecrafted des against the Nightlords. </em>¡°With the Flower War less than a month away, I would rather master one weapon than be average in all of them.¡±

    ¡°Our Lord Emperor is wise,¡± Chikal replied. I still couldn¡¯t tell whether she spoke her mind or not. ¡°Very well, I shall adapt your training ordingly.¡±

    Ingrid shifted in her seat. ¡°Would my lord indulge me today?¡±

    ¡°You wish to witness my training?¡± I asked her, recalling her previous interest in it. ¡°You are wee to observe us anytime.¡±

    ¡°I would like to do more than observe,¡± Ingrid replied much to my surprise. ¡°If my lord will allow it, I would like to participate.¡±

    ¡°Participate?¡± Chikal repeated, her eyes suddenly alight with interest. ¡°You wish to learn the arts of war?¡±

    ¡°I would like that, yes.¡± Ingrid nodded sharply and turned to me. ¡°If my lord believes it will not interfere with my other duties.¡±

    ¡°I see no reason to refuse,¡± I replied. What was she thinking? I thought she was only interested in my training to keep an eye on me. ¡°You are wee to train with us.¡±

    ¡°You will do well, Ingrid,¡± Nlplimented her.

    ¡°I will pass training under the sunlight,¡± Eztliined. Her gaze swiftly settled on Nl. ¡°Would you kindly entertain me for a while? I don¡¯t like ending a Patolli game on a losing streak.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Nl still appeared a little uneasy at spending time alone with Eztli, but she was too kind to refuse. ¡°If I¡¯m not a bother¡­¡±

    ¡°Bold of you to believe that you can defeat Nl,¡± I teased Eztli. ¡°She is better than all of usbined.¡±

    ¡°You make me blush,¡± Nl replied, her pale skin turning pinkish. ¡°I do not deserve such praise.¡±

    She did, but her genuine modesty honored her nheless.

    Chikal and Ingrid left for the courtyard first. I prepared to follow them when Eztli beckoned me to approach her.

    ¡°Do you intend toplete the set, Iztac?¡± she asked me.

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I heard that you and Chikal yed king and queen yesterday.¡± Eztli stroked my cheek and then smiled at Nl. ¡°Only one flower remains unplucked.¡±

    Poor Nl turned so red I thought she would die of heat stroke on the spot. She covered her mouth and dared not to look at me. I admit I found her reaction adorable.

    Eztli had a point, Nl was the only consort I hadn¡¯t spent a night with yet.

    I wasn¡¯t in a hurry to change that. Nl¡¯s innocence and kindness came as a breath of fresh air in this den of vipers and I had grown very fond of her. I wished to treat her with the same gentleness she had shown me. If anything were to happen between us, it would be because she wanted it rather than because we were forced to.

    Come to think of it, I had yet to modify the spells binding Nl to the Jaguar Woman. I would need ess to the tattoos on her back to do so, and in a way that wouldn¡¯t arouse suspicion.

    Eztli might have given me the perfect excuse.

    ¡°True, I haven¡¯t spent as much time with Nl as I did with you and the others.¡± I turned towards my fourth consort. ¡°I apologize for this. I will take a moment this evening to discuss the refugee crisis and infrastructure repair projects with you, if you do not mind.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Nl struggled to gather her breath. ¡°O-of course not. You, ugh¡­¡± She put her hands on her knees and forced herself to calm down. ¡°You are wee to visit me anytime¡­¡±

    Her response drew smiles from both Eztli and I. Nl reminded me of a clumsy young pup. One couldn¡¯t help but find her adorable.

    ¡°Onest thing, Iztac.¡± Eztli¡¯s fangs peeked through her lips. ¡°I do not think you will need to worry about Mother¡¯s life anymore. She enjoys a goddess¡¯ protection now.¡±

    A goddess? It didn¡¯t take me long to realize that Eztli meant <em>herself</em>.

    The Nightlords needed Eztli to impersonate Yoloxochitl in order to secure their power. What better way to pressure her than to keep her mother alive? I knew the Jaguar Woman wouldn¡¯t hesitate to torture Necahual if Eztli ever stepped out of line, but she would never kill her now. My mother-inw¡¯s demise meant losing any leverage over their new sister of the dark at a critical time.

    Moreover, she had dared to call Necahual <em>Mother </em>in the open. Something unthinkable back when Yoloxochitl was still alive.

    I just hoped her confidence wasn¡¯t misced.

    ¡°I see,¡± I replied, choosing my words carefully. ¡°I pray that you are right. The gods can be fickle.¡±

    ¡°Not this one,¡± Eztli reassured me. ¡°Train well, Iztac. You will look better with more meat on your bones.¡±

    If only she knew.

    Chikal lived up to her promise of intensifying my training. By the time we finishedte in the afternoon, my whole body felt sore everywhere. My skin bore the mark of many bruises and my heart struggled to keep my exhaustion at bay. Chikal was clearly determined to ensure that I wouldn¡¯t shame her in front of her fellow amazons.

    At least I was making steady progress. I still struggled to push back Chikal when she fought me seriously, but she couldn¡¯t disarm me as quickly as she used to in our first bouts. I slowly stopped downying my strength and endurance too. Between our sessions and my improved nutrition, I doubted my captors would find my increasing physical prowesses too suspicious.

    My advancement paled before Ingrid¡¯s however.

    A heavy silence had fallen upon the courtyard as we watched her raise a longbow. Ingrid had traded her robes for the same cotton armor that Chikal favored, which neatly fit her graceful frame. She pointed her weapon at a wooden dummy, tightened her jaw in deep focus, and then struck the target in its ¡®head¡¯ with incredible uracy. Two more arrows stuck out of its ¡®chest.¡¯

    <em>That girl has a gift</em>. Ingrid had clearly never carried a weapon in her life, but she proved a quick learner nheless. She was passable with the spear, slightly better with the sword, but <em>excellent </em>with the bow. Even the amazons appeared quietly impressed by her uracy. <em>She learns quicker than any man I¡¯ve studied with at school.</em>

    <em>¡°Two warriors¡¯ blood flows in her veins,¡± </em>the wind told me.<em> ¡°Her heart beats with the urge to prove herself.¡±</em>

    I had my suspicions about Ingrid¡¯s sudden interest in warfare. Much like how humiliationpelled Necahual to embrace magic in order to regain a sense of control, Sigrun¡¯s demise had taught Ingrid how much she relied on the goodwill of others to live. Learning the art of battle gave her a sense of self-sufficiency that she desperately needed.

    ¡°That is an impressive disy,¡± Chikalplimented Ingrid. ¡°Are you certain that you have never wielded a bow before?¡±

    ¡°The only strings I have pulled belonged to my harp and other instruments,¡± Ingrid replied with a pleased expression. ¡°I assume that it helped develop my dexterity.¡±

    ¡°Certainly, but it does not diminish your feats in the slightest.¡± For once, the smile stretching on Chikal appearedpletely genuine. ¡°I was right, you possess great potential.¡±

    Ingrid blushed slightly at the queen¡¯s praise. She quickly looked for my approval next. ¡°I hope that my lord enjoyed my performance.¡±

    ¡°I did,¡± I confirmed. ¡°At this rate, you will surpass me.¡±

    ¡°I would never overshadow my lord in anything, but your confidence in me fills me with joy.¡± Ingrid lowered her bow upon noticing my bruises. ¡°I see that Chikal did not go easy on you.¡±

    ¡°Neither will the Sapa,¡± I replied. <em>Nor the Nightlords.</em>

    Chikal scoffed at me. ¡°I <em>did </em>go easy on you,¡± she said. ¡°I need our Lord Emperor to keep enough strength to fulfill his promise.¡±

    She never lost sight of her interests.

    ¡°I have not forgotten,¡± I replied. I had the feeling that we would end up in bed after each training session until she could confirm her pregnancy. ¡°We can settle this matter now, if you wish.¡±

    ¡°If my lord would allow me a moment beforehand?¡± Ingrid asked cautiously. ¡°It has been a long time since we visited the gardens together. After spending so many days confined, I would wee a walk in the sunlight.¡±

    I saw no reason to deny her, so I promised Chikal that I would join her in the imperial baths in half an hour¡¯s time. The amazon queen did notin at all. Her fondness for Ingrid appeared almost maternal.

    My servants had stripped the gardens of the mantle of ash that used to cover it. Though many flowers had died during the eruption¡¯s dark days, most had survived to see the sun shining through the receding clouds in the sky and workers had already started nting recements.

    The Nightlords were making a determined effort to sweep all hints of their previous failure under the rug. In a week¡¯s time, it would seem as if Smoke Mountain had never shaken thend with its wrath.

    No matter. They could put as much paint over the cracks as they want, but it would not close them. Night continued to fall one hour earlier than usual and many water sources remained befouled by the blood rains. The First Emperor¡¯s wrath continued to leave its dreadful mark on the world.

    <em>¡°The dead will not let the living forget them,¡± </em>the wind whispered.<em> ¡°Do you hear them rattling in their tombs? Their nails scratch at the unlocked door.¡±</em>

    The dead could not wake up any sooner.

    ¡°I believe your presence today inspired me to do better,¡± Ingrid said as we walked along the gardens, her arm clutching mine. ¡°When you looked at me when I pinched my bow¡¯s string, I felt my spine stiffen.¡±

    ¡°No one likes to fail in front of an audience.¡±

    ¡°I suppose so. Mother always said that appearances mattered as much as the truth.¡± Ingrid nced at wilted flowers. ¡°However, I didn¡¯t think of Chikal nor anyone else when I raised my bow. I could only think of you.¡±

    Having grown used to lies and intrigue, I searched her eyes for any hint of deceit. I found none. Unlike the time when we first met, Ingrid wasn¡¯t trying to curtail favor with me. She spoke from the bottom of her heart.

    Ingrid noticed my unease. ¡°You fear that I am lying to you, my lord.¡±

    ¡°My apologies,¡± I replied without really meaning it. ¡°My heart has been closed off.¡±

    ¡°I cannot me you. You are right, I did lie to you many times.¡± Ingrid let out a heavy sigh. ¡°When I first met you, I yed a role my mother prepared me for years. I saw you as a prize to be won. A tool to master in order to secure my family¡¯s legacy. All the pleasant words I told you back then were naught but empty ttery.¡±

    ¡°You did what you had to do to survive,¡± I replied. The gods knew I hadmitted heinous deeds for the same reason. ¡°I do not fault you for it.¡±

    ¡°My lord is kind, but I still feel ashamed.¡± Her grip on my arm tightened. ¡°My mother once said that friendship is a ship that can support two people in good weather and only one during a storm. I offered you so little, but you stood by me in my time of need. I will be forever grateful for your kindness.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate your gratitude, Ingrid, but it is unwarranted.¡± The mere memory of Sigrun¡¯s murder filled me with anger. ¡°What happened to your mother was cruel beyond words. Any man worth their salt would have supported you back then.¡±

    ¡°I am not so sure, my lord. Many of my mother¡¯s allies deserted me during that time, and those that remained whispered empty words and condolences.¡± Ingrid smiled like the sun. ¡°You have a kind heart, Iztac.¡±

    Her grateful words filled me with both warmth and anguish.

    Truthfully, my life would be so much easier if I didn¡¯t care for anybody. The Nightlords would not have so many spears to hurt me with otherwise. No des could harm a heart of stone.

    <em>Yet another reason why I must destroy the sisters. So they can never harm me or those I care for. </em>I would rather live in a world where the likes of Ingrid would not fear losing a parent for nothing.<em> One day, I will have enough power to protect those who treated me well.</em>

    ¡°Thank you, Ingrid,¡± I replied with the utmost sincerity. ¡°I appreciate it more than you think.¡±

    Ingrid nodded slightly, and then approached her face closer. Her lips softly brushed against mine. I did not turn them away. She tasted of sweat, her perfume covered by the stench of the training ground, but that kiss felt all the more pleasurable from its sincerity.

    ¡°If my lord agrees, I would like to leave what happened in the past and start anew,¡± Ingrid said after letting me go. ¡°I know that only a year separates us from death, Iztac, but I wish to make the best of our remaining time.¡±

    Our remaining time¡­

    I stopped midway through our walk and looked around us. My guards followed us, but remained far enough to give us some privacy. However, I swiftly noticed another spy slithering after us.

    A pale snake hid among the flowers nearby.

    Ingrid followed my gaze, noticed the reptile, and squinted at it with a cold gaze.

    Then she pointed a finger at the snake and <em>shrieked</em>.

    ¡°Guards, guards!¡± Ingrid shouted with a fearful expression. Had I not seen her calcting look a few seconds prior, I would have fallen for it too. ¡°A viper has escaped its pen! Protect your emperor!¡±

    My masked soldiers drew their weapons without hesitation.

    The snake bolted away with a panicked hiss and attempted to flee among the flowers, but my mindless protectors did not hesitate to trample the gardens in their pursuit. Iughed in amusement at the scene. These guards were little more than automatons dedicated to my protection. They couldn¡¯t tell a normal snake apart from one of Iztacoatl¡¯s familiars.

    ¡°We should be able to speak now,¡± Ingrid said with a look of amusement once all would-be spies were out of earshot. ¡°What did you wish to tell me?¡±

    I narrowed my eyes on her. ¡°You <em>knew </em>about these creatures?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I have lived my entire life here, and Mother was the White Snake¡¯s favorite.¡± Ingrid scowled at me. ¡°The guards will return before long. If you wish to speak your mind, you must do it now.¡±

    I did not hesitate.

    ¡°Would you like to live more than a year?¡± I asked her under the light of the setting sun. ¡°Even if it means defying the Nightlords?¡±

    Ingrid pondered my bold offer for a few seconds before nodding firmly. Her eyes burned with resolve.

    ¡°I would like to live, if it is possible,¡± she confessed. ¡°And I would like for my sister to escape this ce too. Does my lord have a n in mind?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I confirmed. ¡°But I won¡¯t lie to you. The risks involved¨C¡±

    ¡°Pale before the certainty of a cruel death.¡± Ingrid scowled in cold anger. ¡°I recall what the Jaguar Woman said. Our obedience is required, but it will <em>never </em>be rewarded. Astrid <em>will </em>suffer the same fate as my mother sooner orter. I won¡¯t allow it.¡±

    Her careful mask ofposure had dropped, revealing the virulent hatred behind.

    <em>What did Chikal say again? Ah yes. A good daughter carries her mother¡¯s grudges.</em>

    The Nightlords¡¯ cruelty had made them yet another enemy. Instead of terrifying Ingrid into obedience, murdering Sigrun andughing at her attempts at earning their favor only earned them her daughter¡¯s disdain.

    The guards returned before I could open my mouth and answer her. One of them had impaled Iztacoatl¡¯s snake on the tip of his spear.

    ¡°Good work,¡± I congratted the guards. ¡°You have done well.¡±

    ¡°I am relieved,¡± Ingrid said with a fake sigh. ¡°It was so close that I feared for my lord¡¯s safety.¡±

    Once again, she proved her sharp wits by providing me with the perfect excuse. Iztacoatl couldn¡¯t me me if my consort had acted out of surprise and concern. We returned to our walk afterward and pretended that this incident was nothing worth remembering.

    ¡°Whatever this year holds for us, my lord, I can promise you one thing,¡± Ingrid said evasively, carefully wording her sentences to leave them open to interpretation. ¡°I will support you in all things.¡±

    And like that, I had recruited another conspirator. One more driven and experienced than any other.

    I briefly wondered if I should ask Ingrid about her mother¡¯s hidden documents, but quickly decided against it. The risk of Iztacoatl intercepting the First Emperor¡¯s codex was too great for the moment. I would question Ingrid after I sessfully managed to distract my captor.

    ¡°My concubine Necahual has be my new favorite,¡± I said. ¡°However, she is new to the duties that her position requires. I would appreciate it if you could guide and assist her.¡±

    Ingrid studied my expression for a moment. I had no doubt that she could read my intentions: that I wanted her to cooperate with Necahual in building up a spywork that could rece that of herte mother.

    ¡°My lord is wise and caring,¡± Ingrid replied calmly. ¡°Lady Necahual has shown me kindness in my sorrow. I shall endeavor to guide her on the proper path.¡±

    Perfect, my spywork was nicely taking shape. The more my web of allies spread and the more interconnected it became, the greater my reach. It should only be a matter of time before it managed to gather information on Yoloxochitl¡¯s garden.

    My thoughts turned to what Chikal told me about the burden of power. I paid little mind to what would happen to me after defeating the Nightlords, but if I had to choose I would like to at least keep her, Eztli, Ingrid, and Nl in my life, whether as friends or consorts.

    Ingrid had be an ally, or something even closer. It wasn¡¯t an unkind feeling. I could get used to it.

    <em>¡°Beware of fondness,¡±</em> the wind warned me. <em>¡°Your foes sharpen their knives. Death wille for you in the guise of a friend. Beneath the skin, the faceless malice.¡±</em>

    It always found a way to spoil my mood.

 Chapter Forty-Six: The Land of Beasts

    Chapter Forty-Six: The Land of Beasts

    I entered Nl¡¯s quarters well and truly exhausted.

    Between my intense training, the promenade with Ingrid, and fulfilling my promise to Chikal, I wanted nothing more than to sit down somewhere and fade away into a deep sleep. Even the Underworld would prove a relief from my body¡¯s tiredness. I just came straight out of a bath and I wanted nothing more than to go back into it.

    At least the smell of incense and homely chocteing from Nl¡¯s chambers warmed my heart. It had been weeks since the tablet incident, but her apartment hadn¡¯t changed much since. It was still the same chaotic mess of a hall filled with board games, food shelves, and a wealth of bizarre trinkets gathered from all corners of the known world. I suppressed a brief wave of shame when I looked at the spot where the Sapa tablet used to stand. The pce staff had done a fine job repairing the damage I had caused back then and removed any trace of the artifact. It was as if it had never been there at all.

    I noticed a few changes from myst visit, however. A new shelf creaked under the weight of scrolls and other official documents bearing the imperial seal. Half a dozen turquoise amulets and obsidian statuettes representing various animals were spread across the room; I counted jaguars, feathered-serpents, and winged wolves among them. The hall¡¯s brasero burned herbs and incense so powerful that their scent almost covered the smell of chocteing from the kitchen.

    Something about them bothered me. The acrid odor made me slightly nauseous.

    ¡°Greeting, Iztac,¡± Nl weed me while wearing an elegant blue quechquemitl garment and a white shawl. She walked out of the kitchen with a tter of chocte delights and a warm smile on her face. ¡°I hope your training went well.¡±

    ¡°I am,¡± I replied while sitting at her table. A pile of paper covered it, alongside a Patolli board. ¡°Thank you for asking.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m d to hear it. I, uh¡­¡± Nl looked at me with worry in her eyes. ¡°I heard you were attacked by a snake this afternoon.¡±

    ¡°It was nothing,¡± I reassured her. News traveled so quickly in the pce. ¡°My good guards defended me before it could try to bite Ingrid.¡±I had half-considered having Iztacoatl¡¯s snake spy turned into a sash or a bag as an additional insult, but I doubted the Nightlord would take it well. Moreover, she was likely to visit her wrath on Ingrid rather than myself.

    No matter. I was slowly making progress in widening my conspiracy; my life would be much easier with Ingrid¡¯s support. Only Nl remained oblivious to it among my consorts.

    <em>Should I tell her? </em>I studied Nl for a moment before quickly deciding otherwise. <em>She seems incapable of keeping a secret, and the more people I wee into my inner circle, the harder it will be to stay beneath the Nightlords¡¯ notice.</em>

    Chikal and Ingrid were both talented politicians and Eztli was naturally cunning, while Nl was both innocent and terribly na?ve. She had no appetite for plotting nor the skills required for long-term deceit.

    And maybe that exined why I appreciated herpany so much. A candid friend¡¯spany felt deeply refreshing when surrounded by spies and enemies. She let me enjoy moments of <em>normalcy</em>.

    ¡°That is great,¡± Nl replied with a gentle smile. She sat next to me and offered me a chocte cake, alongside a warm honeyed cup of ma milk. ¡°I¡¯ve tried a new seasoning. I hope you¡¯ll like it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure I will,¡± I replied kindly. ¡°I do wonder why you serve me yourself. I understand that you might enjoy cooking your own meals, but I haven¡¯t seen you with any maids.¡±

    ¡°I have a few handmaidens, but¡­¡± Nl bit her lower lip. ¡°I don¡¯t like having them around.¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to rece them?¡± That would prove a good opportunity to select a handmaiden intermediary.

    ¡°No, no, it¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s not like that, they¡¯re all nice, but¡­¡± Nl cleared her throat. ¡°I feel like they all want something from me, and it puts me ill at ease.¡±

    ¡°You are my consort, of course they want to earn your favor.¡± I sipped from my cup and then found myself unable to stop. What a delightful blend of spice and milk. ¡°But I can understand how it would bother you. All their smiles and ttery must feel awfully fake.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Yes, they do.¡± Nl joined her hands together and looked at the food te. ¡°How do you deal with it, Iztac?¡±

    <em>By exploiting my would-be sycophants.</em> ¡°I try to look for the best in people,¡± I replied with a shrug. ¡°Even if someone starts being nice to me because they want a favor, they might be a genuine friend over time.¡±

    ¡°Like Ingrid?¡± Nl asked with surprising insight.

    I noded back. How sharp of her to notice. ¡°Like Ingrid. No matter how our rtionship started, I feel like we have grown closer since.¡±

    ¡°You are,¡± Nl confirmed, her cheeks turning pinkish. ¡°I think she is in love with you.¡±

    Love?

    Such a heavy word. I loved Eztli, or I believed so at least. I would dly die if it meant saving her. Did Ingrid feel that way for me? Somehow I doubted it. She might consider me a friend, but if she had to choose between her sister and me, I knew which one she would choose. And I wouldn¡¯t me her for putting her family first either.

    I suddenly realized that I hadn¡¯t answered Nl yet. I must have pondered her words for too long.

    ¡°Anyway,¡± I said, suddenly ufortable with the line of questioning. ¡°What is the purpose of all these amulets?¡±

    ¡°They, uh, they ward away evil spirits,¡± Nl exined shyly. ¡°The incense too. It¡¯s made from sacred copal resin.¡±

    Oh? Did the owl inside me dislike them? Neither the amulets nor incense bothered me enough to leave, so I might simply dislike the smell. In any case, I was less bothered by either of these measures than the reason why Nl chose to use them at all.

    ¡°You wish to avoid another Sapa attack, don¡¯t you?¡± I guessed.

    Her small, anxious nod filled my heart with shame and guilt. I knew her worries were unwarranted¡ªhaving nned the attack myself¡ªbut the incident had clearly left scars; both in her mind and her flesh.

    Worse, I came to worsen thetter. This conversation had given me the perfect opportunity to pursue my true objective without arousing suspicion.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Nl apologized. ¡°I know you came to discuss the eruption and the repair efforts, and here I distract you with¨C¡±

    I interrupted her. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, Nl, then I would like to see your back.¡±

    She froze in ce. ¡°My back?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± I powered through my distaste and tried to ask gently. ¡°I wish to examine your tattoo, if you will allow me.¡±

    Nl¡¯s skin turned even paler somehow, all colors drained from her cheeks. I was about to change my mind when her hands weakly moved to remove her shawl and the skirt underneath.

    I began to regret my demand halfway through. ¡°You don¡¯t have to show me if it makes you ufortable.¡±

    ¡°It is fine,¡± Nl lied, poorly. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t mind. You already saw it, after all.¡±

    She turned her back on me, and the painted wolf on her skin red back at me.

    No matter how many times I looked at it, I would never get used to Nl¡¯s horrible tattoo. The Jaguar Woman had outdone herself in her cruelty. Her creation was so vivid, so lifelike, that the sight of it filled me with nausea. The painted beast representing Nl¡¯s soul struggled against ck chains ripping its spirit apart.

    I briefly imagined a ck owl in the silver wolf¡¯s ce, bound and broken. I would likely bear the same markings should the Nightlords ever discover my true nature. They had already put chains around my soul, scaring my flesh wouldn¡¯t bother them.

    ¡°Can I¡­¡± I cleared my throat. My reluctance wasn¡¯t feigned in the slightest. ¡°Can I touch it?¡±

    Nl¡¯s cheeks turned scarlet. ¡°If¡­ if you want¡­¡±

    After a moment¡¯s hesitation, I put a hand on her back. Nl¡¯s skin was as warm as Eztli¡¯s was cold, and smoother than Chikal¡¯s or even Ingrid¡¯s. My consort gasped softly at my touch, but didn¡¯t pull away from it. I traced a line along the painted wolf¡¯s chains.<em> If only I could snap them with a twitch of my fingers</em>.

    Instead, I intended to strengthen them.

    Subtly activating my Bonecraft spell, I proceeded to have my fingerbone imperceptibly pierce my thumb¡¯s skin from below; just enough to draw a tiny drop of my burning blood. I then used the Veil to hide it from sight.

    Nl let out a startled sound when my blood touched her tattoo. I sensed a few gazes sent our way from inside the walls thanks to my Veil, but thankfully none with a direct view of Nl¡¯s back.

    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± I asked while feigning surprise. I hated myself for lying to her.

    ¡°No, no, don¡¯t worry,¡± Nl apologized as if it was her fault. ¡°Your fingers are so warm, that¡¯s all. I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m not used to it.¡±

    ¡°I am sorry,¡± I replied. <em>For so many things</em>. ¡°It won¡¯t be long.¡±

    I loathed what I was doing. My work tonight was no different than what the Jaguar Woman had put Nl through after the tablet incident. I was marking another human being¡ªand worst of all, a fellow Nahualli¡ªas my property.

    <em>Don¡¯t think about it, Iztac.</em> I suppressed my shame and focused on the task.<em> It will be over before you know it.</em>

    I followed the Parliament of Skulls¡¯ instructions by gently applying my blood at specific points in the tattoo; namely, its chains. The droplets merged with Nl¡¯s skin without leaving a trace, and the blood mixed with the ink in an instant. I immediately sensed the invisible connection forming between my heart and the tattoo. The chains binding us resonated like instruments attuned to the same song.

    To an outsider, it would seem as if I simply caressed my consort¡¯s tattoo. In truth, I had subtly corrupted it with my Teyolia. The spell woven in its fabric allowed the Jaguar Woman to control Nl¡¯s totem at will. Unknown to all, she now shared that power with me.

    I could trigger Nl¡¯s bestial transformation any time I wished with a simple thought. She was a bow whose arrow I could fire when most appropriate.

    An overwhelming feeling of shame washed over me when that thought crossed my mind. I tried to tell myself that having already be a murderer, adding the crime of very wouldn¡¯t change much. I failed to lie to myself.

    I had done worse than exploit Nl¡¯s pain. I betrayed her trust and turned her into an unknowing tool. I told myself that I would never have to activate this contingency if we proved lucky enough, and that I would remove it once I destroyed the Nightlords¡­ but I supposed many vers convinced themselves that they would eventually free their ves. It helped soothe their guilty conscience.

    Even if I fully intended to wipe away the tattoo in due time, it didn¡¯t change the fact that I had be ruthless enough to contribute to its design. What did that say about me?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I whispered under my breath.

    Nl heard me and looked over her shoulder in confusion. ¡°W-Why?¡±

    ¡°You carry this mark because of me.¡± In more ways than one. ¡°If I hadn¡¯t insisted on bringing in that tablet to our gaming night, you would never have been attacked. The goddesses wouldn¡¯t have put this mark on you.¡±

    ¡°No, no, you¡­ you don¡¯t have to feel sorry. I don¡¯t see this mark as a symbol of shame. I¡¯m¡­¡± Nl fidgeted in ce. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m proud of it.¡±

    Her words took me aback. A surge of anger followed, quick and raw.

    ¡°Proud?¡± I repeated, gobsmacked. Proud of being branded like an animal? Proud of having her skin defiled against her will and her soul bound by chains forcing her into obedience? Proud of being <em>enved</em>?

    ¡°I¡­¡± Once pale pink, Nl¡¯s cheeks now turned bright red. ¡°I received this mark because I defended you from a monster. I know that sounds silly, but for me¡­¡±

    Her embarrassed smile quelled the mes of my anger.

    ¡°It¡¯s a sign I could protect you, Iztac,¡± she said with a small, anxious giggle. ¡°Like a, um, like a war scar.¡±

    She believed it from the bottom of her heart too. I could tell. Nl didn¡¯t have an insincere bone in her body. For her, the pain and suffering of bearing this mark paled before the pride and joy of <em>¡®rescuing¡¯</em> me.

    That I had never been in danger¡ªand in fact plotted the attack¡ªwas beside the point. Nl had awakened her totem trying to protect me, and the cruelty the Nightlords rewarded her with didn¡¯t make her regret it. From the way Nl spoke, she would have done it again if given the chance.

    <em>She doesn¡¯t deserve to be here.</em> I cursed the Jaguar Woman a thousand times for selecting such an innocent and kind-hearted girl as a consort. <em>I have to get her out of this pce somehow.</em>

    Nl took my silence for distaste. ¡°I sound ridiculous, don¡¯t I?¡±

    ¡°No, not at all,¡± I reassured her. If anything, my respect for her had only grown. ¡°Few warriors would have dared to fight a demon without weapons, yet you did. You are a brave girl, Nl.¡±

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°You make me blush,¡± Nl replied with a slight sigh. ¡°But I¡¯m relieved.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I forced you to show me this mark,¡± I apologized. ¡°Thank you for indulging my curiosity. You can put your shawl back on.¡±

    Nl¡¯s hands moved to grab her clothes, but stopped halfway through the motion. Nl bit her lower lip without saying a word.

    I frowned. ¡°Nl?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Nl clenched her fists and put them on her knees. She lowered her head to avoid my gaze, her breath short. ¡°I¡­¡±

    I had spent enough time around her to tell that she was mustering all of her courage to ask me something. I had a good idea of what was on her mind, but I waited for her to say it out loud out of respect. I didn¡¯t wish to pressure or insult her with a misunderstanding.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind if¡­ if you¡­¡± Nl gulped and then let out a deep exhtion. ¡°If you¡­ if you¡­ continued.¡±

    She said thest word so quietly that I barely heard it, but hear it I did.

    I wished she had asked me anything else. I was sorely tempted to indulge her, but I couldn¡¯t. I struggled to look at her back without feeling shame.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do that, Nl,¡± I said, pulling back my hands to my knees to avoid touching her skin. I might falter otherwise. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Nl¡¯s spine bent forward like a crumbling mountain. ¡°You don¡¯t like me,¡± she whispered, crestfallen. ¡°It¡¯s because of my hair and eyes¡­ I remind you of our curse.¡±

    ¡°No, no, I didn¡¯t say that,¡± I protested, before cursing myself for my foolishness. She had gathered all of her courage to ask me for something so intimate, pushing through a lifetime of insults and rejection to find the strength to, and I was snuffing out her hopes. ¡°Do not put words in my mouth. You are beautiful, Nl.¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ why?¡± Nl held back tears. ¡°Why me and not the others?¡±

    <em>Because I betrayed you. Because I harmed you. Because I tightened your chains instead of loosening them.</em>

    I couldn¡¯t bear to exploit her for my own pleasure after this.

    ¡°You are beautiful,¡± I repeated myself. ¡°It is I who is ugly.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s <em>wrong</em>,¡± Nl protested with surprising vehemence. Of course she would defend another better than her own person. ¡°I find you quite handsome.¡±

    ¡°On the inside,¡± I replied gloomily. ¡°I am ugly on the inside.¡±

    I looked at my fingers. The tiny hole through which my blood dripped had closed, but my hands still felt soiled. I had killed thousands, whether through the eruption and impressed an incarnation of human cruelty enough to skip her trial.

    These blood-soaked hands could hold vampires and plotters easily enough, but not a flower as pure as Nl. I would be soiling the both of us.

    Nl peeked over her shoulder to stare at me. Her pale eyes studied my expression, and I found it so unbearable that I started looking away. After a long, awkward silence, Nl wiped away her tears and put her shawl back on.

    I was about to rise from my seat and leave the room when warm fingers closed on mine. When I dared to look at Nl again, I found her fully clothed and sitting in front of me. She stared straight into my eyes and forbade me to run away.

    ¡°Iztac,¡± she said, clutching my hands. ¡°What torments you so much?¡±

    How could she ask such a heavy question so innocently?

    ¡°When I see you¡­ I see pain. A deep and terrible pain.¡± Nl gathered her soft breath. ¡°I would like to soothe it, but I¡­ I don¡¯t know how, and I hate it.¡±

    She radiated a warmth more soothing than a hearth¡¯s fire. Her genuine concern melted away the barriers I had raised around my heart. I couldn¡¯t exin it. Part of me knew that whatever I said, Nl would ept it without judgment. She would forgive anything I said and grant me absolution.

    But I couldn¡¯t be honest with her. I couldn¡¯t confess my crimes in this hateful ce. There were too many spies observing, and even if I covered up the truth somehow, Nl would be unable to keep it to herself.

    Maybe I could do both? Lighten my burden in a way that would both deflect suspicions and throw Iztacoatl off her game? It sickened me to answer Nl¡¯s honest concern with half-truths and maniptions, but it was the best I could give her.

    ¡°Smoke Mountain erupted because of me,¡± I confessed, phrasing my words carefully. ¡°The goddesses asked me to create a Sulfur Sun. I did as they asked, but when we tried to raise the me on Smoke Mountain, it didn¡¯t ascend. I failed to light the new year.¡±

    ¡°Because of sabotage,¡± Nl said gently. If only she knew how right she was. ¡°Like the tablet¡­ the fault lies on the Sapa, not on your shoulders.¡±

    ¡°I should have noticed,¡± I replied. Or rather, I should have found another way. I wished the gods had been so merciful. ¡°The First Emperor¡¯s wrath fell upon us all because of my negligence and thousands paid the price. I nted the seed from which this disaster grew.¡±

    ¡°No, no, don¡¯t say that.¡± Nl¡¯s kind voice turned firm. ¡°Not to others, and especially not to yourself.¡±

    ¡°You heard the First Emperor speak through me at the Blood Pyramid. He will speak through me again, I can tell.¡± Whether because I let him or because I would pretend to. ¡°An age of disasters awaits us.¡±

    ¡°You cannot order the gods to change their mind, Iztac. All you can do is speak for them.¡± Her hands squeezed me more tightly. ¡°Do not ever say that it is your fault. It is not your fault if the sun rises or the rain falls. It simply happens.¡±

    Nl fidgeted in ce as she sought her words. ¡°We didn¡¯t choose to be born the way we were,¡± she finally said. ¡°The gods decided for us. The best we can do is¡­ it is to bear our misfortune and make the best use of the few gifts they gave us.¡±

    The gifts that the gods gave us?

    I knew she meant our ¡®curse¡¯ about being born as Nahualli. I didn¡¯t choose to be born a catecolotl, no more than Nl decided to transform into a wolf when necessity called for it. Our fate was decided the moment we came into this cruel world. The Nightlords had chosen me as their sacrificial emperor based on the stars, and I had gone against the destiny that they had decided for me with the spells I learned from true deities.

    Could I truly me myself for the death I had sown in my wake? I was simply making use of the gifts and tools that fate handed to me. If the true gods had been kinder, they would have given me the strength to strike down the Nightlords without harming anyone else. Instead, they perished to light the Fifth Sun and left us to fend off for ourselves in the world that they had created.

    Perhaps I was being too hard on myself. I yed the best game I could with the weapons granted to me. If the heavens found it abhorrent, they would have given me better ones.

    ¡°You are beautiful, Nl; inside and out,¡± I told her with utmost sincerity. I felt lighter than before and my mind cleared of clouds. ¡°I¡¯m grateful for your kindness, more than you can imagine.¡±

    Nl didn¡¯t answer me, not with words. She didn¡¯t need to. She simply smiled at me, without judgment or condemnation.

    ¡°I am not ready for¡­ Not yet,¡± I said, unable to finish my sentence. Maybe not ever. ¡°I can¡¯t give you that.¡±

    ¡°It is all right,¡± Nl said with immense kindness. ¡°We could¡­ we could snuggle. Hold each other.¡± Her cheeks turned pink again. ¡°If you want.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I smiled at her. ¡°I would like that.¡±

    We ended up in bed soon after. Nl¡¯s room proved as chaotic a ce as the rest of her quarters, with a wealth of books by both bedsides. Ipletely forgot about the reconstruction projects, and I no longer cared by the time we slipped under the bed sheet.

    ¡°This, uh¡­¡± Nl exhaled as she nestled herself against my chest. ¡°It¡¯s my first time sharing a bed with a boy.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it,¡± I reassured her. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, I pulled my arms around her back and brought her closer to me. Nl put her head against my chest and leaned against me, her warm feet touching mine under the cotton nket. ¡°Do you like it?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Nl giggled a bit. ¡°It feels¡­ nice.¡±

    My heartbeat quickened. I sensed my heart-fire burning brighter in my chest. I briefly closed my eyes to better focus on it, and I found myself sensing another me close to me.

    My blood tainted Nl¡¯s tattoo. Somehow, the link I had established let our Teyolias resonate; not with the depth of Seidr, but enough to give me a glimpse into her soul.

    Nl held nothing back. She raised no defenses and needed no emotional coaxing to align her heart-fire to mine. She simply gave all of herself to me without reservations. Were we to practice Seidr tonight, I could have consumed her soul in the blink of an eye.

    Nl trusted me unconditionally.

    I sensed something warm on my cheeks.

    Nl immediately noticed it. ¡°Iztac, are you¡­ are you crying?¡±

    Yes, I was. I couldn¡¯t hold back. It was stronger than me.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said while trying to wipe the tears away. Why? Why was I crying <em>now</em>, of all times? ¡°I don¡¯t know what has gotten into me.¡±

    ¡°It is all right to cry, Iztac.¡± Nl¡¯s hand brought my head closer to her shoulder. She held me tightly, enveloping me with her warmth. ¡°I¡¯m here. You are safe. No one will hurt you.¡±

    It was a lie, but one that I wanted to believe. I closed my eyes and let the sound of her soft heartbeat lull me into a deep slumber.

    I woke up in a peaceful dream.

    My eyes snapped open to the sight of a group of jackrabbits. The brown-furred hares looked at me with puzzled expressions and tilted heads, before fleeing when I chose to rise up. I found myself back in the same verdantnd I had leftst night: a vast expanse of trees and grass under a clear blue sky.

    ¡°How appropriate,¡± I muttered to myself upon rising to my feet. A deer grazing on the grass turned its head at me, and then returned to its meal soon after. ¡°Such a nice and pleasant dream.¡±

    One too good to be true.

    Nl was killing me with kindness without her knowledge. Her gentleness addled my mind and poisoned my heart with weakness. She had deftly unlocked the chest where I buried all my fears and sorrow until they ran wild.

    In another life, I would have been d for it. But not tonight. I couldn¡¯t lower my guard like this again. No matter how good it felt, or how much I enjoyed herpany, the Nightlords would exploit any weakness on my part.

    Still, I felt gratitude for Nl¡¯s kindness. She was a gentle girl who deserved the best. I would repay her affection a thousand times over once I destroyed the Nightlords, and I wouldn¡¯t let anyone harm her.

    <em>What happened in the daylight does not matter now, </em>I told myself in an attempt to focus on the trial. The owl inside me remained eerily tense. My totem sensed something vile crawling under this paradise¡¯s surface. <em>This ce is no sanctuary. It only looks like one.</em>

    My gut told me that I had entered another house of trials. Worse, Chamiaholom warned me that her fellow Lord of Terrors would show me no mercy. I couldn¡¯t lower my guard.

    I shapeshifted into an owl and took flight. A gentle breeze rolled over my feathers as my wings carried me above lush grasnds, and the noise of chittering birds filled my ears.

    I failed to reach the clouds.

    No matter how high I tried to fly, I could never rise a stone¡¯s throw above the tallest trees. The same effect that prevented me from escaping Xibalba¡¯s narrow streets applied to this strange domain. An invisible, imprable barrier kept me pinned down.

    Flying did provide me with a clear view of the sky. I quickly realized that no sun shone upon this realm. Light came from above through the clouds, but I couldn¡¯t identify its source. Very odd. Moreover, thendscape stretched as far as my eyes could see.

    Inded on a tree¡¯s branch and pondered what to do next. I could spend months looking for an exit without a map, if this ce had borders at all. The Lords of Terror could control time and space within their domain. Thisnd might go on forever for all I knew.

    <em>I haven¡¯t been attacked yet either. </em>That bothered me. Nothing about this ce screamed terror to me. The previous two houses weed me with horrors lurking in the dark and a frost so chilling it cost me a toe. This one offered me peace and critters. <em>Maybe thisnd truly represents my fear of happiness? It would be so appropriate after the time I spent with Nl.</em>

    I nced at thend below me. A group of baby longnecks ate leaves near me without a care in the world. Their parent, a giant whose head towered above the trees the same way a mountain oversaw the hills, rested a hundred feet away. The sight took me aback. Didn¡¯t that longneck fear predators preying on its young?

    Predators.

    The word rang in my head like a bell. I took a good look around me to confirm my suspicions. I saw squirrels in the trees and hares on the ground, alongside deers, trihorns, longnecks, and other critters. The few birds flying among the branches ignored insects and butterflies to gorge themselves on lush fruits.

    All these animals were nt-eaters. I was surrounded by prey big and small, who happily enjoyed their life with no predator to hunt them.

    I had spent most of my life in a vige of farmers and hunters. I understood how the cycle of life worked. The grass-eaters were in by predators so they wouldn¡¯t grow too numerous, and when they perished, flesh-hunters became food for the earth. All creatures formed a chain of life and death.

    So many herbivores would have scourged thisnd dry in days with no one to cull the herd. Yet thisnd overflowed with nts, trees, and flowers.

    What kept their poption in check?

    The thought filled me with unease. There was something wrong with this ce. A hidden danger that lurked beyond my sight and that might strike at any time.

    I heard a thump sound below me, startling me. I nced down at a bed of flowers on which a ck bird had fallen. The poor animal let out a wheezing sound as it wriggled on the ground and spat out blood on nearby grass. None of the other animals appeared to pay it any mind.

    What an ominous sign.

    I took flight again and searched for any otherndmarks. It took me a while, but I eventually noticed an anomaly in thendscape: an obsidian statue of a jaguar standing in the middle of a clearing and looking west. It was the only predator I had seen yet, and it didn¡¯t seem in any hurry to move. I half-expected the jaguar toe to life and found myself disappointed when it didn¡¯t.

    <em>Could it be an indicator of some sort?</em> Following the jaguar¡¯s gaze, I flew westward and quickly saw my intuition confirmed. Another jaguar statue awaited me, its eyes looking north. I wondered where this trail would lead me. <em>What can catch a stone predator¡¯s eyes?</em>

    I was flying towards my next destination when I heard a rattle in the wind.

    ¡°Rah¡­ rah¡­¡±

    I briefly stop to nce at its source: a stag wheezing under the shadow of a tree. The animal coughed blood on the grass while struggling to breathe. Its mate and its two fawns watched the animal¡¯s agony, yelping and crying in fear. They knew their kindred suffered, but they didn¡¯t understand why or how.

    I did. The stag suffered from the same symptoms as the bird earlier. I quickly suspected its likely source and shivered at the thought.

    A disease.

    A <em>gue</em>.

    No wonder the owl inside me grew tense the moment I entered this ce. The enemy was all around me, invisible and undetectable. My Gaze spell revealed nothing special about the stag, even as it began convulsing on the ground in atrocious pain. I was tempted to grant it a quick death and free it from its agony, but I dared not approach any closer lest I catch whatever was killing it.

    Could a disease affect a catecolotl? I felt no pain nor urge to spit blood for now, so I might resist whatever gue had infected these animals. That, or I hadn¡¯t been exposed to its source. Maybe the beasts of thisnd contracted it when they consumed foul water or ate poisoned fruits?

    The more I tried to reassure myself, the less I seeded. I had seen what horrific gue Yoloxochitl could brew on the surface, and the Lords of Terror possessed dreadful magic. If they couldmand space and time, raise mountains of ice, or summon living animals in the depths of the Underworld, then they could easily create a disease that could infect a catecolotl.

    The gue might already be taking hold of my flesh. The very thought filled me with nausea.

    Worse, the Lords of Terror worked in pairs. If one represented the fear of disease and pestilence, what did its partner embody?

    I decided to continue my journey before I learned that answer. Any second wasted might be one keeping the infection away.

    I left the stag and its family behind me to travel north. I followed a narrow dirt path in between boughs of trees. The animal calls slowly softened as I advanced. I didn¡¯t wonder why for long.

    Their corpses littered the ground.

    Birds, squirrels, insects, monkeys¡­ countless small creaturesy inert on the ground, their teeth and beaks reddened by their own blood. A few continued to writhe and convulse, their eyes a dark shade of crimson, their veins bloating under their skin. I heard a strident fawn¡¯s death cry resonate behind me, but it proved nearly as terrible as the sudden silence that followed. The blue sky was slowly taking a deep red shade and the clouds transformed into foul crimson blots.

    The heavens were bleeding.

    I flew until I finally reached a sinister clearing: a barrennd devoid of grass and bordered by gnarled trees. In stark contrast with the rest of this beautifulnd, an almost preternatural silence reigned over this ce.

    An otherworldly totem stood in the barren clearing¡¯s center, a dark sovereign of old wood and fur surrounded by a grim court of skulls. Its silhouette reminded me of a macabre scarecrow, with its extended branches covered in a motley cloak of animal skins and scales. Bone ribs formed its chest, and a crown of horns made its head. An immense congregation of skulls greater than my predecessors gathered at its feet. I recognized the heads of men among them, alongside those of trihorns, hares, smanders, birds, and all the animals of the earth and sky.

    This figure exuded <em>evil</em>. The stench of death surrounded it like a cloud of smoke. I hesitated to approach it until I saw the letters carved into the skulls. Gathering my courage, I flew towards the totem andnded at its feet. A sentence was written in Yohuachanca¡¯snguage on the bones, clear and raw.

    <em>¡°Life is war, death is peace.¡±</em>

    I pondered those grim words when I sensed eyes watching my back. I slowly looked over my shoulder.

    The stag from before had followed me, his mouth and hooves drenched in blood. It shocked me since Ist saw him agonizing on the ground, but true terror struck me when I looked up at his horns.

    The bisected corpse of a ughtered fawn was impaled on them.

    The father had killed the child.

    I knew from hunters that deer could be dangerous, but never <em>murderous</em>. They killed to protect their young, or when mating season made them territorial. Otherwise, they avoided men like the gue. They were prey, not predators.

    The creature in front of me was no longer a stag. A deer wouldn¡¯t have pieces of flesh stuck between its teeth, nor bloodshot eyes full of rabid madness. It wanted to beat me, to shatter my skull under its hooves, to impale me the way it slew its own family, and then tear me to pieces. The beast wanted me dead with all of its heart, not because I was threatening it nor intruding upon its territory. It wanted me dead because I <em>existed</em>.

    The stag let out a roar full of rage and the forest answered.

    A vicious chorus filled the grim silence. A thousand beasts shrieked all at once. Trihorns, birds, hares, and countless creatures I did not recognize. An army of maddened, gued animals shrieked in shared bloodlust.

    The forest wasing for me.

    I finally understood what other fear this ce represented. The primal terror that haunted my ancestors when they lived in the wild and those who ventured into dark forests; the overwhelming horror that we humans tried to stave off through the safety our cities and numbers provided, but that returned whenever we found ourselves alone.

    The fear of being <em>hunted</em>.

    And in this house of killers, guests were the quarry.

    I flew away with all of my strength, and the legions of madness chased after me.

 Chapter Forty-Seven: The House of Jaguars

    Chapter Forty-Seven: The House of Jaguars

    It was like being chased by a storm with a thousand ws.

    A chorus of bloodthirsty shrieks erupted behind me, followed by the thundering noise of a raging stampede. Trees copsed in my wake, crushed under the feet of deers and trihorns. Monkeys threw stones at me. Voles and coati ran faster than they should with frothing mouths while poisonous saliva drooled from their teeth.

    When I dared to look behind me, a sea of bloodshot eyes red back.

    I had been taught all my life that the likes of deer and sparrows were nothing to be feared. They fled at a man¡¯s approach and we consumed them for food. We were the predators and they were the prey.

    Seeing a horde of herbivores hunting me with predatory hunger forced me to reassess this lesson. There was something utterly <em>perverse </em>about watching peaceful beasts being driven to predatory frenzy. It was a mockery of nature, of normalcy.

    The very order of the world had been turned upside down.

    The birds among the horde flew after me with all their strength and no concern for their lives. They were no longer animals, but living projectiles. Some pursued me with such relentless fury that they didn¡¯t bother turning to avoid obstacles. They exploded into showers of blood and feathers upon impacting trees I had sessfully avoided.

    More kepting. The infection driving these beasts to madness had united thousands in a single tide of screeching fury.

    Thankfully, most of my pursuers werendbound beasts, slow and impaired by the forested terrain. Only the birds were quick enough to catch up to me in owl form. I had never been afraid of sparrows until today. I could crush one between my talons easily enough, but a flock of hundreds with their fragile minds set on murder? I might as well be trying to fly through a hail of arrows.When a few threatened to catch up to me, I activated the Doll spell to defend myself. Talons of darkness tore up the birds trying to peck at me and cut down branches impairing my progress.

    My world had turned into a tunnel. There was no left nor right, and nothing but death behind me. I couldn¡¯t escape upward to the sky with the strange unknown effect keeping me close to the ground. I had no idea where I was going, no n beyond frantically saving myself a few more seconds of life. Only the path ahead mattered.

    At least, until I heard the ground tremble.

    I mistook the beast¡¯s approach for an earthquake at first. It came from the left with earthshaking steps. Its bloodthirsty roar put all others to shame.

    I peeked left and saw a great, serpentine head towering above the trees.

    The adult longneck from before charged at me with a re of frothing madness.

    The beast crashed through all obstacles in its way like andslide of flesh and scales. The forest bent under its weight and stone shattered in its wake.

    My heartbeat quickened as its frothing head descended upon me like a hawk on a smaller bird. A surge of strength pulsed through my body. My ck wings moved so fast that they began to hurt.

    The longneck¡¯s teeth barely missed me by an inch. They instead hit a tree¡¯s trunk and split it in half with a loud crunch.

    The monster¡¯s attack proved a blessing in disguise. Its immense size and weight meant that it couldn¡¯t pivot quickly. The longneck found itself between the stampede and me, crushing trihorns and other beasts with the same ease as it did with the rocks and vegetation hampering its way. The horde crashed against the monster¡¯s thick hide. The birds and the most agilendbound creatures quickly moved past it, but it dyed them enough to grant me a brief respite. Time enough to think.

    What was I supposed to do? Where was I supposed to go?

    Fighting the stampede head-on would be suicide. My offensive spells could have dealt with them in small groups, but not <em>thousands at once</em>. I couldn¡¯t stop moving either lest they catch up to me.

    <em>Think, Iztac. </em>This was a hunt. If the disease infecting these animals proved to be lethal, I would simply have to survive until the gue consumed them. <em>But I have no guarantee it will. For all I know, it simply drives its victims mad.</em>

    Would the animals turn on each other once they lost sight of me? The stag that was called to the hunt killed its own family before catching up to me. If I could trick this madhouse¡¯s inhabitants into believing me dead, then their aggression might drive them to infighting.

    With little hope of fighting off my pursuers anyway, I adjusted my strategy. I canceled the Doll spell and cloaked myself in a Veil of invisibility. My feathers vanished from sight. I became a silent shadow that slithered among a forest of madness.

    I heard earthshaking footfalls behind me.

    I turned my head just long enough to see trees copsing. The longneck was hot on my trail, leading the charge of the damned. The ground trembled with each of its steps and its roars boomed like thunder.

    The sheer size difference suddenly dawned upon me. I wasrge enough to carry a ma in my talons while in owl form, but my wingspan barely rivaled the length of one of this titan¡¯s legs. Were we on the surface, I could see the beast crash through my pce¡¯s walls with ease.

    I was being chased by a walking mountain.

    And it was gaining ground on me.

    Something so <em>big </em>shouldn¡¯t move so <em>fast</em>. Longnecks were renowned for their bulk and <em>slowness</em>, yet this one could outpace a deer. Unlike the other creatures, the terrain didn¡¯t slow it down either. The longneck crushed every obstacle in its way with ease.

    The disease that drove these beasts to madness also filled them with unholy strength and resolve.

    I saw light ahead. I finally flew out of the forests and onto an open in of rotting flowers. The idylldscape of earlier had metamorphosed into a grim vision. ck jaguar statues overlooked vast clearings that stank of blood under a crimson sky.

    The false paradise had dropped its mask to reveal its festering true face.

    However, leaving the forest meant no more trees to impair my flight. I deviated to my right while invisible. I moved so close to the flowers below that I seemed to disappear.

    The stampede emerged from the forest a scant few seconds after me, its tide of legs ttening everything on its path. Thankfully, most of my pursuers fell for my trick. Many of them mindlessly continued to run forward and spread throughout the in in the wrong direction.

    Others did not.

    A band of hares and deer chased after me across the flowery in, snarling and drooling. The longneck followed closely after them. Its sunken, bloodshot eyes red at me with bottomless malice.

    It knew where I was.

    The Veil spell showed its limits. I understood human senses enough to hide myself from sight and smother the noise I made, but animals could detect scents unknown to a man¡¯s nose. I needed to cover my tracks somehow.

    I furiously tried to recall anything that could give me an advantage, and happened upon one solution.

    The river.

    If I could reach the nearest river and slip underwater, it would hide my scent for a time. Perhaps long enough for me to figure out how to survive this trial.

    My sharp eyes noticed one a mile or so ahead. The water had turned red under the glow of the crimson sky. Its surface remained eerily peaceful, in stark contrast with the raging madness of my pursuers.

    The thought that it might be teeming with maddened aquatic creatures hardly crossed my mind. I would rather take the possibility of another attack over the certainty of being trampled to death.

    The stampede was growing closer.

    I moved in the river¡¯s direction as fast as I could, only to hear screeching close to me. Long ears peeked out of the field of flowers. With no trees nor obstacles to slow them down, the jackrabbits and hares from earlier could make full use of their immense speed. No matter how fast my wings pped, their legs proved faster.

    They caught up to me.

    One hare swiftly jumped at me from under the flowers, its teeth sharp and frothing with blood. I swept it away in midair with the Doll spell. More followed its example.

    Maintaining multiple spells at once was no longer too difficult for me, but splitting my attention in multiple directions proved difficult. I kept my eyes focused on the river, cloaked my wings in a Veil, and repelled the hares to the best of my ability with the Doll.

    Finally, I came within a few inches of the river. I prepared to shapeshift back into a man and dive to safety when a blur of brown fur leaped at me from the flowers below. My dark talons moved to intercept it, but I was toote.

    The blur bit me.

    Sharp teeth sank into my chest right between the ribs on my right, going so deep that they pierced through my flesh and veins. A sharp pain coursed through my body as I lost control of my flight and hit the river¡¯s surface. My attacker and I tumbled into the red waters.

    A jackrabbit had ambushed me. It chewed at my flesh even as my burning blood scared away its face. Its flesh melted off its bones, yet its teeth continued to gnaw with relentless hunger.

    It was trying to <em>eat its way</em> to my heart.

    I activated Bonecraft and caused my ribs to close in on the hare¡¯s skull. My bones crushed the creature¡¯s head, its remains stuck inside me like a corpse nailed to a hunter¡¯s wall. I had no time to get it out. The longneck rushed into the river right after me. Its immense weight sent mighty waves rippling through the current, pushing me away downstream.

    I shapeshifted back into a man and swam down current, struggling against the pain in my chest, struggling against the fear. I used Bonecraft to close my heart-fire from the outside world and prevent the water from touching it.

    I held my breath and swam while still under the Veil. I continued to do so until the screams and screeches grew distant enough. When I dared to surface again, I found I had swam all the way to a new forest of dying pines and fir trees. I did not linger for an instant. I rushed away from the river into the woods under the cover of invisibility. I heard the longneck¡¯s roars far in the distance. It would probably follow the stream, and with luck, continue down it without finding me.

    <em>I¡¯m thirsty. </em>I couldn¡¯t exin why I felt this way <em>now </em>of all times. I had juste out of a forced bath. <em>My throat has dried up.</em>

    My escape led me to a bosquet surrounding another of those cursed jaguar statues. Its obsidian eyes looked down on me as I finally removed the hare stuck in my chest. My blood had melted off its skull to the point that only a bloody, headless corpse remained.

    I tossed the body aside and sat in the statue¡¯s shadow to gather my thoughts. I didn¡¯t sense any eyes staring at my Veil, so no beast had located me yet. I had bought myself some time. I couldn¡¯t tell how much, but I knew my respite would be terribly brief.

    Escaping wouldn¡¯t solve my problem. I hadn¡¯t seen the creatures turning on each other once they lost sight of me. Maybe the disease only drove them to hunt the uninfected. To spread itself.

    What was I supposed to do then? I red up at the jaguar statue. Was it somehow connected to this trial? Would breaking it and its stone siblings end the curse? With few other options, I used the Doll spell to shatter the statue. The obsidian fell in a rain of sharp shards. I waited for punishment and salvation both.

    I received neither.

    Breaking that statue had no effect. Not on its own at least. The thought of tracking down the other obsidian jaguars across this hellscape in the vain hope that it might end the trial filled me with anger.

    And that thirst¡­ my throat was on fire¡­

    <em>It¡¯s not water I crave. </em>My eyes turned to the dead hare.<em> I crave blood.</em>

    I rose to my feet and prepared to consume the dead hare, when my thought process came to an abrupt stop. I held my head with my hands and struggled against aches. Something¡­ something was wrong.

    <em>I crave blood.</em>

    Stolen from its rightful ce, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Those¡­

    Those weren¡¯t my thoughts.

    My gaze darted to my chest, where the marks of the hare¡¯s teeth in my flesh remained raw and visible. My blood had mixed with its saliva; and the vile gue that it carried.

    The hare had infected me.

    <em>Is that so wrong?</em>

    ¡°Shut up,¡± I cursed at the force infesting me. I ripped the patches of flesh around the hare¡¯s bite from myself, though part of me knew it was already toote. Evil flowed through my veins. ¡°Get out of me.¡±

    <em>I am you, thou art I.</em>

    No, you were not. The headache grew stronger, sharper. Damn it. I had toplete this trial before I joined the mad legions hunting me. Think, Iztac, think.

    <em>No more Iztac, </em>the voice in my head said.<em> No more man, no more owl. Be blood. Shed it, spill it, drink it.</em>

    My tongue craved the sweet taste of blood.

    No, no, I had to keep myself grounded. Focus on what started this mad hunt in the first ce.

    That scarecrow of bones and fur. I remembered. I <em>remembered </em>words written on long dead skulls.

    <em>¡°Life is war, death is peace.¡±</em>

    I looked at the dead hare and the solution became clear.

    I understand that sentence¡¯s meaning now. I had to bring peace to these war-tornnds. Something I couldn¡¯t do by fleeing. No more than I could escape my fate on the surface. This hunt was not a game of survival.

    It was a war. A war I had to win.

    I wouldn¡¯t run or hide. I would <em>fight</em>.

    <em>Let it flow. Let the blood flow.</em>

    The thirst grew overwhelming. I felt my veins drying up and liquid filling my eyes. My world was turning red. Burning anger swelled in my heart like a violent pulsion, demanding that I shed someone¡¯s blood, <em>anybody¡¯s </em>blood.

    ¡°You want blood?¡± I bit my own wrist and let fire pour out of it. ¡°Choke on mine!¡±

    I would be crowned champion of this tournament atop a throne of corpses, but Man did not conquer nature with strength alone. No warrior could hope to y a feathered tyrant with their teeth and ws. Humans used <em>tools</em>.

    One came to mind above all others.

    I tossed my blood at the nearest tree and set its dried leaves aze. The fires of my heart hungered for death.

    ¡°I will happily partake in these festivities,¡± I whispered to the gue inside me. ¡°But I do not <em>hunt</em>.¡±

    I <em>destroyed</em>.

    I summoned a cursed feather of darkness between my fingers. In it, I poured all of my malice, all of my hunger for victory, all of my lust for destruction.

    ¡°Let the mes consume all those who would stand in my way!¡± I shouted with bellowing fury. ¡°May the smoke smother those who would fly away! May this world be a fire in which I alone survive!¡±

    Once I finished speaking, I ced the cursed feather inside the hare¡¯s corpse and swiftly buried it beneath the burning tree. The power of my Haunt spread alongside the mes. It moved from one branch to another the same way the gue had infected host after host, until the entire bosquet became a ring of candles.

    I did not stop there though. I cut myself again and again, spilling my burning blood on the grass and flowers. I gave a little of myself to the world. I offered it the mercy of death and the gift of the pyre.

    I heard animals shriek in the distance. A few birds, noticing the smoke, descended upon me as I worked. I weed them warmly as new sacrifices with my Doll talons. Each of them became a new vessel for my Haunts.

    ¡°Consume indiscriminately!¡± I cursed the mes. ¡°Make a desert of thisnd and call it peace! Burn everything! Everything that is not me! A cruel death to all of my enemies!¡±

    Within minutes, I had set thend on fire. A beautiful purple wildfire born of my own wicked heart.

    I had summoned the ultimate predator, whose hunger for blood knew no limits. Nothing could satiate it.

    Before my fire¡¯s burning appetite, the beasts of this doomednd became prey again. The sight of rising smoke and rings of searing mes awakened in them something stronger than bloodlust: <em>fear</em>. I saw flocks of birds trying to escape, only for the same effect that prevented me from flying too high to keep them at the mercy of searing smoke. A melody of deer screams and cries resonated in the distance. One voice was louder than all of them.

    The gue in my head could only shriek, its call for blood forgotten.

    ¡°Can¡¯t stand the heat, can you?¡± I grabbed embers and applied them to my wounds. The pain of my cauterizing flesh paled before the pleasure of hurting the enemy inside me. ¡°Figures. We do burn the sick.¡±

    The call of bloodlust lessened in my head, but my thoughts were set on annihtion. If the animals had an ounce of intelligence left, they would seek the river¡¯s safety. I would ambush the survivors there and finish them off.

    ¡°No one escapes the ughter,¡± I said. ¡°No one escapes alive.¡±

    I slipped back towards the river under the cover of a Veil. A scene of utter chaos awaited me. My Haunts had set both riverbanks on fire, creating a corridor of fire cooking those trapped in it like meat in an oven. The smell of charred flesh proved almost as strong as that of burning wood.

    Dozens of beasts big and small had rushed into the river to shield themselves from the mes. Some were already half burned to death by the time they reached safety; the stag that started the entire hunt was among their unfortunate numbers. The front part of its body had turned into a molten mess of exposed bones and calcined flesh. It reminded me of the Burned Men.

    The animal¡¯s screams of pain would almost inspire pity in me, if it hadn¡¯t tried to kill me earlier.

    I would finish it off quickly enough. The smoke provided a good cover for my scent. I remained undetected so far. I stalked the riverbanks, looking for the one enemy I feared the most. I sensed its approach with the shaking of the earth.

    The longneck emerged from the sea of mes, roaring and burning. Its head reminded me of a serpent shedding its skin. Its charred scales simply fell off its flesh under the searing heat. The beast rushed at the river to seek its salvation, its charge raising a cloud of dust in its wake.

    It would never reach safety.

    Still under a Veil, I raised my right hand at the creature and pointed at its head. I used Bonecraft to transform two of my ribs into a de ready to burst out of my flesh at a moment¡¯s notice. With no rabid beasts to keep me moving, I could afford to stay still and take aim. I followed Chamiaholom¡¯s instructions, steadied my arm, and held fast.

    My bone arrow surged from my arm at lightning speed.

    Longnecks were big and strong, but they possessed a key weakness. My projectile nailed it perfectly. My bone arrow hit the longneck at the base of its skull, where it joined with its spine. It pierced the creature¡¯s flesh so fast it didn¡¯t even notice the attack.

    The mountain that once hunted me across thend copsed in on itself.

    Its fall was as sudden as it was spectacr. The longneck¡¯s legs stumbled in the middle of its mad dash. The creature¡¯s immense weight, carried by its momentum, tumbled onto the burning earth with the strength of andslide. The longneck¡¯s own limbs cracked under the pressure; all mad beasts unlucky enough to stand in the titan¡¯s path were crushed to a bloody paste. The cataclysmic copse shook the world, blowing immense clouds of dust and waves of fire in all directions. The noise reminded me of falling lightning and crumbling houses.

    The longneck¡¯s head had fallen a few feet short of the river. Now it could only stare at its waters while the mes began to roast it alive.

    How amusing. Such arge body held by such a small linchpin.

    I couldn¡¯t put into words the pride I felt. I had spent most of my childhood as a weakling, and my tenure as emperor at the Nightlords¡¯ mercy. Here I had in a creature twenty times my size with my magical power alone. These months of trials, sweat, and torment were finally starting to pay off.

    I had grown strong.

    I didn¡¯t need to hide my strength here.

    ¡°You may kill a man in a single step, but my word alone has in thousands,¡± I taunted the dying creature. ¡°Stay in your ce.¡±

    The monster could only snap its teeth in agony. Chamiaholom would be proud.

    Only when the mes consumed the longneck did I reveal myself to the other survivors. Since they already learned of my presence, I canceled my Veil and faced them. Their maws snapped at me with hunger and malevolence. I didn''t care. They were too few and too weak to prove a threat to me now.

    ¡°Come at me if you dare, beasts!¡± I challenged them. ¡°I shall y you all! I alone will survive to see the daylight!¡±

    I activated Spiritual Manifestation in an iplete state. My hands turned into talons and wings grew out of my back, but I did not surrender my legs or arms for an owl¡¯s shape. I became half a man and half a beast, the ferocity of both and the restraint of neither.

    I became hatred.

    I became <em>murder</em>.

    The beasts¡¯ screams of rage turned into shrieks of fear.

    I ripped a trihorn¡¯s skull off its body and beat its rabid children to death with it. I pecked to death the hares that tried to overwhelm me one after another. I stuffed the stag who began this mad hunt with sharpened bones. I showered in the guts of all living things.

    They folded one after the other. Each murder led to the next in an endless chain of ughter. My blood mixed with those of my enemies until the mes of my soul cloaked me in a cloud of fire that no tears could extinguish.

    My world became a whirlwind, a hurricane of blood and guts and bones. All my victims blurred together through the veil of ughter. I couldn¡¯t stop. I didn¡¯t <em>want </em>to stop. I wanted to practice the dance of destion until the end of time.

    I was<em></em>so good at it.

    For the first time in my life, I felt truly free. Free from the gaze of others, free from civilization, free from judgment, free from reason andpassion. Free of my own decaying humanity.

    I had no enemies. Only victims.

    If war was a game, then no one could y better than me. When I let go of my fears and inhibitions, no one could defeat me. No one. <em>No one.</em>

    I was born for this.

    What my mes hadn¡¯t burned, my spells and talons killed. At no point did I lose control. I wielded my anger like the sharpened edge of an assassin¡¯s de. I refined my hatred into a weapon.

    I had be the cold brutality unique to mankind. ughter with a purpose.

    And when at longst my talons crushed the neck of myst challenger, the screams finally ended.

    Then I was alone.

    Alone in a quiet world.

    I let go of mytest prey and looked upon my work. My fires had consumed all the forests and flower fields. ins of gray ashes andndmarks of shared bones stretched far and wide. The river¡¯s waters had mostly boiled. A mass of dismembered limbs and corpses choked its stream, filling it with blood and guts. Most of them were my doing. My trophies.

    The hunt hade to an end. No more hunters nor hunted.

    Just me.

    A single sound bellowed from deep within my throat.

    ¡°Eh¡­ eh¡­ ahah, ahah.¡± My voice grew in strength alongside my joy. ¡°Ahaa! Ahaha! Aaaah!¡±

    Myughter echoed across the bloody river and the graves I had filled. It was a deep and sinister sound, yet one that carried such pure satisfaction and blissful contentment. I was a young child once more, finding amusement in the world without requiring any reason.

    It took me minutes to calm down, and when I did, two words escaped my lips.

    ¡°I win,¡± I whispered quietly.

    ¡°You did,¡± a great and terrible voice answered me.

    The Lords of Terror came to give me my prize.

    I stood along the ember-filled riverbank when the mes consuming thend split in two. A corridor appeared, lined up by the obsidian jaguar statues weing their master. The skeletal totem which I had seen earlier crawled towards me on a bed of a thousand rolling skulls.

    Another shape emerged from the river on the other side of me: a hideous mass of dismembered animals sewn together by their festering skin and flesh. My victims became a pile with a hundred charred faces and a thousand arms filled with squirming maggots. A cloud of flies formed above it like a halo.

    ¡°I am Cuchumaquic,¡± the bone totem said with a deep voice booming like a war drum. Its court of skulls echoed its words with bitter regrets. ¡°I am the hunter and the hunted. I am the revenge that leaves the world blind. I am murder, I am war, I am violence. I am a <em>cycle</em>.¡±

    ¡°We are Xiquiripat,¡± the thousand decayed beasts whispered, its flies buzzing and droning. ¡°We are that which you cannot see, but kills all.¡±

    The fear of being hunted and the fear of diseases. Two terrors as old as life itself, with none of Chamiaholom¡¯s twisted veneer of humanity.

    However, Cuchumaquic¡¯s words made me realize that he embodied more than the hunt alone. He represented the fear of being <em>preyed upon</em>. The fear of being attacked, whether by man or beast.

    ¡°You have triumphed over the House of Jaguars, Peacebringer,¡± Cuchumaquic dered. ¡°How does it feel to win?¡±

    Win. Such a beautiful word.

    I was covered in wounds, from burned scars to half-healed cuts. My skin was soaked with dried blood. What a winner I made, thest man standing after a frenzied free-for-all. I was more of a survivor than a victor.

    But I felt thrilled nheless.

    And it disturbed me.

    ¡°I needed that rush,¡± I replied with a voice brimming with shame. ¡°Were you influencing me? Did your gue drive me into a frenzy?¡±

    ¡°Your mes purged us from your sickened blood,¡± Xiquiripat replied. The thousand victims making up its body revealed their wounds: shed throats, crushed skulls, burned hearts. All of them were my doing. ¡°You wished for this.¡±

    That blissfulughter had been mine alone; the same way I hadughed after causing Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption.

    ¡°Good.¡± The word escaped my mouth on its own, though I couldn¡¯t exin why. It came from the heart. ¡°Good. I am myself.¡±

    I had always been myself.

    Somehow, the thought that these atrocities had been forced upon me sickened me more than the fear of owning up to them. The knowledge that my malicious thoughts were mine alone filled me with a grim sort of pride. The one thing I hated most was to be powerless. To be controlled. To dance to another¡¯s tune.

    In a sinister way, knowing I hadmitted this ughter out of my own free will reassured me. I was the master of my destiny, however bloodsoaked it might be.

    Cuchumaquic narrowed its neck and crown of horns at me. The Lord of Terror had no eyes to observe me with, but I felt its gaze on me. ¡°Do you understand now, at the end of all things, the meaning of life?¡±

    I remained silent. I knew the answer, but I dared not say it out loud.

    I <em>enjoyed </em>ughtering my foes.

    The same potential for destruction that fueled the Nightlords¡¯ cruelty dwelled within my heart. I couldn¡¯t pretend otherwise, not after this massacre. I had justified my crimes by saying that Imitted them in the service of a greater cause.

    But to know that a part of me delighted in destruction frightened me to my core. It reminded me too much of the Nightlords for my taste.

    King Mtecuhtli¡¯s words echoed in my mind. <em>Do not be what you fight against.</em>

    ¡°Toe into this world is to enter a battlefield,¡± Cuchumaquic dered. ¡°Nature is war. War of tribes against tribes, of men against beast, of the sick against disease. Life is a constant fight that ends with death. The grave alone knows peace. When one victor witnesses thest sunset, my cycle will end and I shalle undone.¡±

    Hunting, warring, fighting, revenge¡­ all of them required at least two participants. So long as more than one being remained in this world, a new cycle of strife would inevitably arise. Only the dead knew eternal peace.

    ¡°The meaning of life is violence,¡± Cuchumaquic concluded grimly. ¡°To kill is to prove one¡¯s strength, one¡¯s right to life. Murder is a victory that keeps the war going.¡±

    ¡°You needed that thrill,¡± Xiquiripat whispered. ¡°The pleasure of proving to yourself that you are the strongest. The one fit to survive, even thrive, in this hopeless world. Seek no shame in this pleasure. It is simply thew of nature that life thrives in death.¡±

    ¡°I am not ashamed of victory,¡± I replied. Not against beasts at least. ¡°No more than I will regret destroying the Nightlords, once I gain the strength to do so.¡±

    But I couldn¡¯t listen to that cruel voice inside my heart.

    Even if part of me enjoyed the thrill of battle, I couldn¡¯t let it rule me over. My acts were an unfortunate necessity. If I started enjoying the death and destruction for its own sake¡­ then I would nevere back from it. I would fall into the same abyss of depravity that my captors crawled out of.

    I had to remain focused on my goal. This would keep me on the straight and narrow path.

    Cuchumaquic crawled closer until it towered over me. ¡°We have a gift for you, child,¡± it said as it moved one of its arms closer to my chest. ¡°Use it to y those who would deny your right to life.¡±

    The Lord of Terror pressed a hand of bones against my ribcage and filled my Teyolia with malice. Awful images and a chorus of supplications echoed in my skull, the same way the gue once tempted me to fall into a dreadful frenzy.

    Unlike Chamiaholom, the Lord of the Hunt and its sibling did not bother to teach me its spell the old-fashioned way. They engraved their knowledge into my soul.

    No, scratch that. These two didn¡¯t <em>need </em>to teach me anything.

    I was mostly self-taught already. They simplypleted my formation.

    ¡°The ze spell is yours.¡± Cuchumaquic removed its hand from my chest. ¡°Use it to win your war. Bring the peace of death to the world.¡±

    I clenched my fist and channeled my Teyolia. A shroud of purple mes¡ªthe same color as my ursed heart-fire¡ªcloaked my fingers. They did not consume my skin nor erupt from my wounds, and neither did they require fuel to burn. This smokeless me arose from my will alone.

    I didn¡¯t need to shed my own blood to summon mes anymore.

    I could do even better. Channeling my Teyolia and Ihiyotl both at once, I opened my mouth and exhaled. My empty lungs burned in my chest, and a cloud of malicious mes erupted from my mouth in response.

    With enough divine embers, this paltry breath of fire would burn brighter than the sun. Bright enough to incinerate the Nightlords.

    ¡°Let your ursed pyre burn those that stand in your way,¡± Xiquiripat whispered. ¡°Its mes shall light your way.¡±

    I nced at the Lord of gues¡¯ festering, mutted flesh. My thoughts swiftly turned to the Nightlords.

    They would make good kindling too.

 Chapter Forty-Eight: Cat & Mouse

    Chapter Forty-Eight: Cat & Mouse

    I woke up from the Underworld to find Nl snoring lightly on my chest.

    It was quite aforting sight after my harrowing night in the House of Jaguars. I almost felt like a warrior returning home to his loving wife after a grueling, horrific campaign; which I supposed I was, in a way.

    ¡°Mmm¡­¡± Nl stirred under the bed, her eyelids slowly opening. ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡±

    ¡°Did I disturb you?¡± I asked guiltily. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Oh no, no, don¡¯t apologize,¡± Nl immediately reassured me with a small yawn. ¡°You looked so troubled in your sleep, so I¡­¡± She blushed slightly. ¡°I, um, I tried to warm you up so you didn¡¯t feel alone.¡±

    She did? Her concern moved me, though the only warmth I felt in the Underworld was that of my own mes.

    ¡°It helped,¡± I lied. It seemed to please Nl, which made me feel a little easier about it. ¡°I suffered from a terrible nightmare, where I was being hunted in a forest.¡±

    ¡°Hunted?¡± Nl looked at me with a horrified expression. ¡°By men?¡±

    ¡°Beasts.¡± I found it worrying that Nl immediately thought of fellow humans first rather than something more mundane. ¡°Monsters.¡±¡°That¡¯s awful.¡± Nl took my hands into her own to betterfort me. ¡°Did they¡­ did they hurt you?¡±

    I pondered how to exin that I solved the issue by burning the hunting ground to cinders whileughing, when an idea crossed my mind. One that would throw Iztacoatl off her game.

    ¡°Itzili saved me,¡± I lied. ¡°My feathered tyrant fell upon my pursuers and ughtered them all.¡±

    ¡°I can imagine it,¡± Nl said with a light giggle. She didn¡¯t even question my tale. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that he has grown very big.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, he has.¡± I feigned the utmost concentration, like a prophet receiving a revtion. ¡°It must be a sign...¡±

    Nl frowned in confusion. ¡°A¡­ sign?¡±

    ¡°Of divine favor.¡± It took all of my willpower not tough at my own n. I dearly needed to enjoy myself a bit after my gruesome night. ¡°Did you dream tonight, Nl?¡±

    ¡°M-me?¡± Nl suddenly let go of my hands and put some space between us. ¡°Oh, uh¡­ it¡¯s nothing important¡­¡±

    Her reaction immediately caught my attention. The longer I looked at her, the more she did her best not to face my gaze. The streak of pink on her white face only worsened.

    ¡°Promise me not to mock me,¡± she finally asked. ¡°Please.¡±

    ¡°I promise,¡± I replied, hiding my amusement behind a calm facade. Her shyness never failed to put me in a yful mood.

    ¡°I¡­ I dreamed of you. That we¡­¡± Nl joined her hands and giggled in embarrassment. ¡°That we¡­ you know¡­¡±

    I struggled to suppress myughter, which caused Nl to turn scarlet.

    ¡°You promised not to mock me!¡± Nl protested, though she grinned ear to ear. ¡°Iztac¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not mocking you.¡± It might not stay a dream forever either. ¡°Not at all.¡±

    Part of me desired to cross that line too. To take her into my arms, return her affection, and cherish her. One thing alone stopped me from doing so.

    ¡°Nl,¡± I said.

    She met my eyes, slightly surprised. ¡°Y-yes?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a dark side to me,¡± I confessed. ¡°One you won¡¯t like.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t go further than that without informing her. In time, I would tell her everything. But for now, I could only hint at the truth.

    Nl stared at me with no small amount of hesitation. I could read her like an open scroll. She had sensed it before too; my pain, my anger, my cruelty. She didn¡¯t yet understand its depths, but she knew I was not a gentle person. Not entirely.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a side, Iztac, not all of you,¡± she replied with a smile; almost wisely too. ¡°I would rather keep looking at the bright one.¡±

    After tonight¡¯s ughter, being reminded that she saw a bright side in me at all filled me with relief. Being capable of great cruelty didn¡¯t mean that I had to practice it.

    <em>A limb is not the body, </em>I told myself. <em>A part does represent the whole.</em>

    ¡°I see,¡± I whispered with genuine gratitude. ¡°Thank you, Nl.¡±

    ¡°Do you¡­¡± Nl smiled shyly, her hands joining together. ¡°Do you want to stay a bit longer with me?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± I chuckled to myself and lightly kissed her on the cheek, much to her delight. ¡°Breakfast will wait.¡±

    I heard her quarters¡¯ doors opening, unfortunately ruining the moment.

    Nl immediately yelped in embarrassment as she retreated under the nkets. Much to my utter annoyance, Tayatzin entered the bedroom with a set of guards. I was about to scold him for interrupting us when I noticed the grim scowl on his face.

    ¡°Forgive my interruption, Your Divine Majesty.¡± Most worrying of all, he sounded almost concerned. ¡°Lady Iztacoatl wishes to see you with haste.¡±

    I had grown to hate that sentence with a <em>passion</em>.

    The underground corridors echoed with my footsteps.

    I had an easier time remembering my path this time. Comparing these tunnels with the map of the secret passages that Eztli provided me a few weeks earlier let me gain a better understanding of my location. I was almost certain that Iztacoatl¡¯s chambersy buried under the pce¡¯s western wing.

    It made some deal of sense. The Nightlords divided the cardinal positions between themselves, with Iztacoatl keeping nominal stewardship of the west. They must have split up the pce the same way. I wondered if it meant that thete Yoloxochitl kept her gardens somewhere to the east.

    I put these thoughts aside for now. My guards had vanished a few turns ago, leaving me alone in the dark corridors.

    I expected to receive a punishment of some kind. Ingrid had my guards y one of Iztacoatl¡¯s spies, after all. While my consort offered a way to usibly deny our harmful intentions, the Nightlords were a cruel and fickle lot and Iztacoatl didn¡¯t need an excuse to torment me.

    ¡°Wee back, songbird.¡±

    Her cold hands grabbed my shoulders with a bone-crushing grip. I hadn¡¯t even noticed her approach. She could have easily slit my throat before I realized it.

    For all of my sess in the Underworld, I still had much to learn.

    ¡°Why are you so tense? Do you expect punishment?¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s smirk had a dangerous edge to it. ¡°You would be right.¡±

    How unsurprising of her. ¡°What have I done to displease a goddess?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know?¡± Iztacoalt raised an eyebrow. ¡°White snakes are divine animals created in my image, yet you had one killed yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± I feigned surprise. ¡°It was <em>yours</em>?¡±

    ¡°Yet again you treat me like a fool.¡± Iztacoatl touched my chin with her thumb and forced me to meet her eyes. The mere sensation of her cold finger on my skin filled me with revulsion. ¡°Do you take me for a fool, songbird?¡±

    ¡°No, goddess, I take you for a Nightlord.¡±

    My response drew a coldugh out of her. ¡°Quite the ambiguous wording. You must think yourself clever, songbird.¡±

    <em>So do you</em>. For all of Iztacoatl¡¯s insight and cunning, I kept many secrets from her. <em>You are not as unassable as you believe yourself to be, White Snake.</em>

    I recalled my predecessors¡¯ words. My best bet to deal with the White Snake was to surprise and baffle her. Should I continue pushing her with sarcasm? No. I had the feeling that while it would amuse the Nightlord, it wouldn¡¯t truly <em>confuse </em>her. I suspected many of my predecessors alreadyshed out at her.

    ¡°Goddess, Ingrid only sought to protect me,¡± I said, probing the Nightlord¡¯s reactions. ¡°The fault rests on my shoulders alone.¡±

    ¡°I bear no ill will towards Ingrid. She is my favorite of the current crop.¡± Iztacoatl chuckled. ¡°Besides, how could I punish her after you so callously tried to orphan her?¡±

    Her brazen words left me briefly speechless with rage. The fact that she dared to me me for Sigrun¡¯s murder sickened¨C

    Wait.

    ¡°<em>Tried</em>?¡± I asked, picking up on the weird wording.

    Iztacoatl gave me the most condescending smile imaginable. ¡°I thought you would know after we brought you back on your first day. Death means nothing to us. We can return our victims to life any time we choose.¡±

    Iztacoatl scratched me behind the ear as if I were her dog. ¡°In my great and immense generosity, I have decided to recall my dear Sigrun from thend of the dead.¡±

    ¡°Lies,¡± I replied. Vampires consumed the souls of their victims, and Sigrun had been devoured by the first and most powerful of them. ¡°I do not believe you.¡±

    ¡°Are you using a goddess of deceit? How sphemous for a godspeaker.¡± Iztacoatl let go of me. ¡°Worry not, I shall prove my goodwill and generosity soon enough.¡±

    A shiver traveled down my spine. My gut told me that whatever plot she had hatched, it would prove as horrendous as the Lords of Terrors¡¯ trials.

    ¡°Besides¡­¡± Iztacoatl studied my gaze, looking for a weakness. ¡°I find it strange that you doubt my word after we healed your stabbed heart. What makes you think we cannot revive anyone else, I wonder?¡±

    I had said too much. ¡°Sigrun burned in the sulfur mes,¡± I replied. ¡°She didn¡¯t even leave ashes.¡±

    ¡°True, but miracles are a goddess¡¯ purview, are they not?¡± Iztacoatl took a step into the darkness and gestured at me to follow her. ¡°Come with me, and I shall show you my divine power.¡±

    Swallowing my doubts, I followed the Nightlord deeper inside her underground maze. The sight of her turned back proved a tempting target.

    <em>It would be so easy to hit her with the ze¡­</em> I refrained from trying nheless. I required more practice with the spell, and I spent enough time training with Chikal to notice the slight tension in Iztacoatl¡¯s posture. <em>She does not lower her guard around me.</em>

    What would it take for her to distract her? I had a n for Itzili that could catch her interest, but would it be enough?

    A voice suddenly resonated at the hallway¡¯s end and drew me out of my thoughts.

    <em>Her </em>voice.

    ¡°My lord?¡±

    <em>It couldn¡¯t be¡­</em> I felt like awakening from a cold shower or a blow to the stomach. <em>This is an illusion.</em>

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, songbird?¡± Iztacoatl gently and firmly pushed me further ahead. ¡°Your concubine awaits you.¡±

    With no other choice and a lurching stomach, I walked to the hallway¡¯s end.

    Lady Sigrun awaited me inside a polygonal stone chamber.

    She was sitting on a bed of stone, dressed in the exact same robes as the time of her death, backlit by three braseros held by marble statues of faceless women. She looked as smooth and lithe as the day I watched her burn to death, with none of the wounds that killed her on disy. I shuddered in horror as she smiled at me with that familiar, enigmatic smile she bore so well. Her eyes glittered in the dark like two emeralds reflecting the twilight.

    My fists tightened so much that I felt a drop of blood slipping between my fingers. The pain of my nails sinking in my palms paled before the rage boiling in my veins.

    These <em>bastards</em>. They had gone so far as to recreate her expressions down to thest detail.

    ¡°What is wrong, my lord?¡± The fake Lady Sigrun¡¯s voice matched the original perfectly, but I knew she was a counterfeit. The First Emperor never let go of his meals. ¡°I expected a warmer wee.¡±

    I managed to unclench my teeth long enough to spit at this farce. ¡°You bear her face, but you are not her,¡± I rasped angrily. I was too furious to shout. ¡°Begone from my sight, fake.¡±

    ¡°Fake? You wound me, my lord.¡± The fake Sigrun¡¯s hands moved down to the sash holding her smothering robes. ¡°I bear the mark of ourst coupling.¡±

    She unfolded the sash with a soft rustling and let her clothes fall to the ground. She was naked underneath, and clearly pregnant.

    A wave of nausea washed over me at the sight of her swollen breasts and bloated belly, of her bleeding thighs and the white maggots squirming between her legs. Her stomach was horribly erged, a mass of squirming flesh about to burst. Something was wriggling under her pale skin. I could see its movements.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences elsewhere.

    ¡°Oh my¡­¡± The fake Sigrun stared at me with a twisted smile and glowing eyes. Her sweating hands held onto her belly. ¡°They¡¯reing¡­¡±

    Snakes burst out of her belly in a shower of blood.

    Few things could frighten and sicken me anymore. This was one of them. I instinctively recoiled as the fake Sigrun¡¯s stomach untangled into a fountain of flesh and gore that stained the floor red. A dozen serpents fell on the ground, wriggling in their mother¡¯s blood.

    They all had my face.

    These snakes, they had my <em>face</em>. Twisted human traits morphing into coiling tails of bloodsoaked white scales, squirming and gasping for air with my mouth, looking at me with my eyes. They moaned and hissed with my voice, their stunted bodies unable to carry the weight of their deformed heads.

    As for Sigrun, she swiftly copsed into a pile of boneless, empty skin; a flesh suit out of which a swarm of red-eyed white serpents crawled out of.

    I was too horrified by the sight to react at all. My eyes lingered on the deformed¡­ <em>things </em>crawling out at me. They coiled and wriggled to the best of their ability, their blue eyes fixated on me as they suffocated. I stepped back before they could touch me. I instinctively put a hand on my mouth not to <em>vomit</em>.

    And Iztacoatl¡­

    The wench held her sides from <emughter</em>.

    ¡°Your Majesty,¡± she said, struggling to string two words together. ¡°Is that a way to greet your newborn <em>sons</em>?¡±

    What Iztacoatlcked in callous brutality, she more than made up for in inventiveness.

    I couldn¡¯t move an inch. I could only stare at the¡­ the abominations that the fake Sigrun gave birth to. Their deformed bodies couldn¡¯t sustain life, so I watched them drown and suffocate to death in their mother¡¯s blood. They kept staring back at me until theirst breath. With unblinking eyes.

    With <em>my </em>eyes.

    ¡°Such a shame, they are stillborn,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°I¡¯m sure Your Majesty¡¯s seed will prove more potent with other partners. With luck, your new children will be born with <em>legs</em>.¡±

    Her vicious, cruel taunt awoke me from my fear and horror. The owl inside me sharpened its talons. It took all of my willpower andposure not to cast the ze spell and incinerate her on the spot. Only the thought of failure¡ªand the idea of herugh growing louder¡ªheld my hand.

    ¡°My, what a delightful face you make. Unforgettable.¡± Iztacoatl leaned on me to better savor my expression. ¡°Are you going to cry, songbird?¡±

    If she did, she would feed on my tears. I could see it in her golden eyes.

    I recalled that awful night when Yoloxochitl forced Eztli to consume her own father and threatened to condemn Necahual to a life of sexual very. The hatred that I had felt for that madwoman now matched the one I held in my heart for Iztacoatl. They were cut from the same cloth. Two awful shades of cruelty.

    In spite of the anger dwelling within me, I suddenly achieved a state of utter calmness. I had flown beyond the wrath horizon and straight into the same cold, calcting malevolence I embraced in the House of Jaguars. All of my spirit, all of my mind, could only focus on one thing, on a small thing.

    How to make her <em>pay</em>.

    How to hurt her, beat her, rape her, kill her¡­ anything that would make her <em><strong>suffer</strong></em>.

    ¡°I told you I would tame you,¡± Iztacoatl mocked me. ¡°You will find no happiness except through me, Iztac. Anything else that brings you joy, I shall twist and corrupt.¡±

    She knew Chikal and I were trying to conceive a child. She must have guessed easily. So she took that pleasure and befouled it with her vicious touch.

    I clenched my teeth and focused. I did not waver, nor did I let herugh unsettle me. To baffle her, to confuse her, to throw her off her game, I had to turn her cruel game back on her. Turn her triumph into a bewildering defeat.

    An idea came to mind.

    ¡°What, have you lost your tongue?¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s smug grin boiled my blood. ¡°No biting remarks or clever words?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I replied. ¡°I don¡¯t need words.¡±

    Instead, I pped her.

    I sensed the difference in strength and stature between us when my hand connected with her. Iztacoatl was no frail woman. I had seen a glimpse of her monstrous, reptilian true self on Smoke Mountain. She was a primeval horror masquerading as the human she used to be.

    My p still sent her stumbling back a few feet. She held her left cheek with her hand, her eyes wide with outrage and disbelief. To my delight and unease both, she looked utterly shocked. Nobody must have dared to strike her in centuries.

    A ck drop drifted down her pale cheek.

    I had hit her hard enough to draw blood.

    The atmosphere in the stone chamber suddenly turned tense. The white serpents that had puppeteered the fake Sigrun¡¯s skin gathered around me, hissing and snapping their jaws at me. Their mistress stood firm once more. She had regained herposure, but her eyes had turned into yellow, reptilian orbs ring at me with malice

    ¡°Try that again,¡± she hissed, her voice about as ominous as the Lords of Terror¡¯s. ¡°If you dare.¡±

    I pped her on the other cheek.

    My hand encountered resistance this time; instead of striking the soft flesh of the unwary, I might as well have tried to p a stone pir. Iztacoatl didn¡¯t flinch this time. She didn¡¯t move either. She didn¡¯t need to.

    Her serpents attacked me on her behalf.

    They coiled around my legs and arms in an instant, binding me with greater force than any ropes. They were faster and stronger than any serpent had any right to be. They buried me under their scales in seconds and soon dragged me to the ground. I copsed face-first into the fake Sigrun¡¯s blood, surrounded by my dead ¡®children.¡¯

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Iztacoatl lovingly caressed her bloodied cheek, a wide smirk spreading on her cruel lips. ¡°How amusing. In six centuries, <em>none </em>of you puppet emperors had the guts to p me. This is a <em>first</em>.¡±

    Iztacoatl touched the blood tear dripping down her skin with her finger, then sucked it. A forked tongue slithered out of her mouth. She was such a vain soul that she relished the taste of her own person.

    Her serpents forced me toy on my back. Their mistress sat on my chest with the weight of ancient stones. I struggled to breathe, much to her cruel delight.

    ¡°Perhaps I should teach you docility in my bedchambers,¡± she said, licking my cheek with her reptilian tongue for good measure. Its contact felt colder than the Rattling House¡¯s ice. ¡°I would keep your pretty face intact, but the rest¡­ by the time I finish taking my pleasure with you, poor Nl won¡¯t be able to touch you without caking her white hands with blood.¡±

    I chuckled instead of backing down.

    Iztacoatl¡¯s amusement turned to anger. Her hand grabbed my throat with an iron grip. ¡°Don¡¯t you <em>dare </emugh at me.¡±

    How hypocritical. She could take a joke, but only so long as she wasn¡¯t theughingstock.

    A flick of her wrist would have snapped my neck. However, I had the feeling she wouldn¡¯t resort to it.

    I was starting to better gauge Iztacoatl¡¯s character. I recalled how she hit me after the eruption, when her sense of power felt threatened. She wasn¡¯t so different from the Jaguar Woman in the end. When pushed far enough, she used cruelty to regain control. She simply favored threats and mind games over violence.

    Crushing my windpipe would simply prove that I had rattled her. Her pride wouldn¡¯t allow it.

    ¡°You don¡¯t see anything,¡± I replied softly.

    ¡°See what?¡± Iztacoatl tightened her grip on my throat, giving me just enough air to breathe. ¡°Sing for me, songbird.¡±

    I did. With augh.

    A deep, sinisterughter that shook the stone chamber to its foundation. A pure expression of malicious glee and malevolence. I looked into Iztacoatl¡¯s eyes and watched the unsettling dread taking over her gaze. When her grip on my neck wavered, I knew I had seeded.

    She hadn¡¯t expected that, and it <em>disturbed </em>her.

    ¡°Answer me, pet,¡± she hissed before pping me. Her hand carried the strength of ten men. She could have torn my head off my shoulders in a single blow, but her arm was trembling too much for it. I had shaken her spirit. ¡°Answer me!¡±

    I onlyughed louder.

    It was then that Iztacoatl finally understood. This was nough of madness, no, but the mockingugh of someone who knew something the other didn¡¯t. A demon delighting at the horrible fate they had foreseen for a foolish mortal unable to see their dooming.

    It was all an act, of course, but it worked.

    Iztacoatl let go of my throat, her eyes wide with horror and confusion. She couldn¡¯t tell whether I was bluffing in an attempt to unsettle her, or if I had genuinely foreseen a terrible fate for her. Perhaps I had received a vision from Father Dearest where he devoured her or worse.

    Yoloxochitl¡¯s vice had been <em>love</em>, but Iztacoatl¡¯s was <em>fear</em>. She was the one keeping her guard up at all times, the one who advised against running the New Fire Ceremony at the first sign of trouble, the one whose paranoia let her see through my lies.

    How ironic. The idea of being left in the dark frightened a Nightlord.

    Sickened by my reaction and unsure how to react, Iztacoatl erred on the side of caution. She let go of my throat and rose up. Her serpents uncoiled and released their hold on me. I gathered my breath, having been wheezing since I startedughing.

    ¡°Get up, songbird,¡± Iztacoatl said, dusting off her robes. ¡°I have toyed with you long enough. I will let you go for now.¡±

    I had to give it to her. She almost sounded magnanimous. She was only lying to herself though.

    We both knew I had won this round.

    After the encounter underground, I was allowed back to the surface under Tayatzin¡¯s supervision. I immediately went to visit myte predecessors to seek their advice and noticed a telling change.

    Three snakes now spied on me in the Reliquary instead of one.

    So much for staying beneath her notice, but Iztacoatl had forced my hand. Now that I had thrown down the gauntlet, I had to keep the pressure up. To slowly boil her to death.

    Our game had begun.

    I sensed the Parliament of Skulls awakening in secret. Their eyes remained shut in the darkness, but their whispers reached my ears nheless, unheard by the serpents.

    ¡°You y a dangerous game, our sessor,¡± the previous emperors warned me. ¡°To hold the snake by the tail is to invite its bite. She <em>will </em>strike you.¡±

    I understood that well enough. Iztacoatl would try to reassert her authority over me, whether through pain or mind games. She had retreated to better assess her next move, but I knew she wouldn¡¯t take her defeat lying down.

    ¡°However, we cannot deny that feigning madness often demands brave stunts,¡± my predecessors said. ¡°We suggest a more subdued approach from now on. Keep Iztacoatl wondering if you are ying an act or if you have truly fallen prey to her father¡¯s visions. Uncertainty is like the wind. He who blows it directs where a ship sails. Avoid consistency.¡±

    Whenever Iztacoatl believed I had fallen under a routine, I would swiftly pull the rug out from under her. Otherwise, I would remain silent and pretend to meditate inside the Reliquary until she focused her interest elsewhere. I had a few ideas on how to achieve that objective.

    Although Iztacoatl remained the greatest threat to my safety inside the pce, other matters demanded my attention too. I had only a few weeks left to destroy Yoloxochitl¡¯s gardens before the Flower War began in earnest; after which the Nightlords would no doubt load their ships with theirte sisters¡¯ flowers. The fate of Lady Zyanya and my conspiracy in Zacha remained uncertain. I also needed to secure Ingrid¡¯s help in tranting her mother¡¯s notes, visit ces affected by the eruption, prepare myself for war, and deal with the consequences of the First Emperor¡¯s influence.

    Worst of all, I couldn¡¯t speak questions out loud in the Reliquary, lest the serpents overhear me.

    Thankfully, my predecessors did not need to hear my voice to read my thoughts. We shared the same burden, and they possessed great wisdom.

    ¡°The decimation of Yoloxochitl¡¯s priesthood has left us with fewer leads when ites to her garden,¡± they said. ¡°But we may have figured out an alternative solution. During our lifetimes, we gathered extensive records of properties owned by the Flower of the Heart¡¯s servants. We doubt she would entrust one of her projects to anyone outside her inner circle, and only a few of these facilities could house an underground garden. We will provide their names to you.¡±

    Good. I could cross-reference this information with what intel Necahual had gathered, then inspect the chosen sites with the Riding spell. This should greatly narrow down the range of possible locations.

    The Parliament of Skulls provided three major leads: a monastery in Cuauhtochco, the hospice of Cuexn, and the orphanage of uquitepec. I hoped Yoloxochitl would have had the decency not to hide a terribly dangerous weapon under thest location, but I was ready to expect anything.

    All these locations were on the eastern side of the empire and rtively close to the capital. Once I had confirmed the garden¡¯s location, I would then need to select the appropriate host for the Ride spell and deliver it the tools required to burn these loathsome flowers to ash. By now, I had the resources to acquire both. I had invested a great deal in xc¡¯s inheritance and would now put his allegiance to the test.

    A n quickly formed in my mind. I could use Lady Zyanya as an excuse to visit the western provinces devastated by the earthquakes and drum up support for my Flower War. Not only would leaving the pce let me act with less supervision, but it would also distract the Nightlords from Yoloxochitl¡¯s dominions. Their attention would focus on propping up their godspeaker¡¯s tour.

    This left one major unknown factor to ount for.

    ¡°There is another thing you must know, our sessor,¡± the skulls whispered. ¡°We, who stand on the Gate of Skulls¡¯ threshold, see souls pass on to their peaceful afterlife. We often speak with the deceased. The First Emperor¡¯s bat children have imed many victims, whether in Yohuachanca or in thends beyond.¡±

    I feared as much. Reports had informed me that the bat swarms spread beyond our borders, biting children and pregnant mothers. The evil unleashed on Smoke Mountain would y many innocents over the next few months.

    I hoped this could force Yohuachanca¡¯s enemies to take action. It was one thing to have soldiers threatening one¡¯s borders, and another for monsters to eat their sons and daughters in the darkest nights.

    ¡°Not all the lives they take see their souls pass on to the Underworld,¡± my predecessors warned me. ¡°The Nightlords attempted to secure their ritual by elevating your consort as Yoloxochitl¡¯s recement, but the dam is cracked and the river¡¯s flow is disrupted. We sense the darkness stirring. <em>Something</em> shall happen tonight. We can feel it.¡±

    My fists clenched in frustration. The more I considered it, the more it became clear to me that the Nightlords¡¯ rituals used their lives and mine as linchpins to keep their Dark Father contained. ying them might unleash another cmity upon the world.

    I refused to entertain any future oue that involved sparing the likes of Iztacoatl or the Jaguar Woman. They were monsters who needed to die for the good of everyone else, and it was only a matter of time before they tried to raise another Sulfur Sun in the sky.

    My predecessors sensed my disquiet and quickly reassured me. ¡°Do not lose hope, our sessor. If the First Emperor could be chained once, he can be restrained again. Moreover, we suspect that the current arrangement is meant to derive power from the First Emperor first and keep it contained second. There are other paths left to explore and time to tread them.¡±

    Yes indeed. The fact that the Nightlords devised their infernal ritual with themselves as its pir did not mean that their way was the only one. Why would they have bothered to find an alternative, since this one had worked for centuries? There could be other rituals capable of doing the same job, except without the benefits of leeching off their divine ancestor.

    ¡°Unfortunately, we cannot provide much assistance in this particr quest,¡± the Parliament replied with a low, sorrowful sigh. ¡°You must learn the source of the vampiric curse. The First Emperor¡¯s codices hold the key to uncovering that secret. Pursue them with haste.¡±

    I gathered my breath and exhaled. I could do little more to signify agreement without tipping off the snakes.

    ¡°We must address onest matter, our sessor.¡± The Parliament of Skulls let out a deep rattle. ¡°We know another Ihiyotl spell that can help you. Other issues demanded your full attention beforehand, and we were not certain that you would have the experience or willingness to cast it, so we kept it from you. We believe that it has now be a viable option.¡±

    Their words surprised me. I would never say no to another spell. The Augury alone had proved quite useful so far in spite of its harsh cost. Why would my predecessors sit on another?

    ¡°The Legion is a secret spell of our own devising,¡± they said. ¡°It shall share our curse with another soul, trapping them inside our gestalt spirit.¡±

    It took all of my willpower not to freeze in horror at the implications.

    ¡°We understand your concerns, hence why we did not mention it before,¡± my predecessors confirmed. ¡°Since we stand on the threshold between life and death, we have the ability to intercept souls crossing it with your help. Their skull will be an extension of ourselves; allowing us to speak through them and ess their knowledge.¡±

    The benefits appeared obvious to me, but they failed topensate for its horrible downsides. The sickening thought of sharing my curse with others, even enemies, was the <em>least </em>of its consequences.

    ¡°We doubted you would have the resolve to cast it beforehand, and it would have angered Queen Mictecacihuatl. We dared not mention it while you lingered in her domain.¡±

    I doubted she would look kindly on me on the Day of the Dead should I ever cast this spell either. Even if I sessfully destroyed the Nightlords, I was bound to end up in the afterlife anyway. Making an enemy of its rulers would be deeply <em><strong>unwise</strong></em>.

    The spell was something <em>Mother </em>would cast; an obsidian dagger without a handle.

    Over six hundred mouths rattled as one. The dead emperors didn¡¯t like this weapon anymore than I did. ¡°Considering the trials ahead, we believe you should at least learn of this option.¡±

    My jaw clenched on its own. They had a point. With luck, I would never have to cast this spell at all.

    If not¡­ if not, a dagger without a handle remained a dagger.

    ¡°To cast the Legion, you must inflict the same humiliation that we went through on another,¡± said my predecessors. ¡°Sever a fresh head, then whisper their true name to the skull. The target must have died within an hour¡¯s time of the ritual, lest its soul pass on beyond the Gate of Skulls and thus our reach.¡±

    This spell wasn¡¯t something I could cast discreetly. The timing meant that I would not only have to kill the target, but also defile the corpse. No way this wouldn¡¯t raise suspicion. I would have either to n the perfect assassination or find myself with my back against the wall to use this gruesome ritual.

    ¡°Now go, before the snakes question why you linger in this ce.¡± The Parliament¡¯s hundred voices slowly faded into silence. ¡°We shall meet again.¡±

    I would have bowed were I unobserved. Instead, I settled on rising to my feet and leaving in respectful silence. Dutiful Tayatzin awaited me outside the Reliquary.

    ¡°I hope Your Majesty¡¯s meditation granted him the gift of insight,¡± he said politely.

    ¡°It has.¡± In more ways than one. ¡°Have we received news of the Qollqa investigation yet?¡±

    ¡°We have, Your Majesty. I am afraid to report that thete merchant indeed appears to have been a loathsome traitor in the Sapa¡¯s employ, as we feared. We have found a secret correspondence meant for the Apu Inkarri.¡±

    ¡°The same name that zohtzin brought up,¡± I said, pretending to connect the dots I had created myself. ¡°Very well. Summon Lady Zyanya for breakfast, and bring me Itzili too.¡±

    ¡°Your feathered tyrant?¡± Tayatzin frowned. ¡°Do you wish to keep him close during breakfast in order to intimidate Lady Zyanya, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°Partly,¡± I replied, looking at the horizon ahead. ¡°I will require his advice too.¡±

    Tayatzin looked at me as if I had lost my mind. ¡°His advice?¡±

    I smiled and stared at the horizon. ¡°He defended me in a dream,¡± I lied. ¡°So shall he do so again in the waking world.¡±

 Chapter Forty-Nine: Plots within Plots

    Chapter Forty-Nine: Plots within Plots

    Hi guys, I am now officially on break until the <strong>week of the 20th of May</strong> (hitting 30 and going on a trip with old friends)!

    <em>Blood & Fur</em> will return around that period!

    zohtzin¡¯s widow and brother sat as far apart from each other as my current table would allow them to.

    I originally nned to enjoy my breakfast with Nl, but Iztacoatl¡¯s cruel prank¡ªif I could call watching a corpse give birth to stillborn abominations a <em>prank</em>¡ªand new circumstances forced me to slightly adjust my agenda. Instead, I had summoned Zyanya and xc to discuss their futures. I invited Necahual as my favorite, alongside Ingrid, since she was my diplomacy advisor.

    Predicting the bad blood between thete zohtzin¡¯s rtives, I had ordered my servants to bring a smaller table than the one I usually used, to force them to stay close. Even then, they hardly touched their food.

    ¡°You seem unsettled, Lady Zyanya,¡± Imented before sipping my chocte cup. ¡°Are you ill?¡±

    ¡°Not at all, Your Majesty,¡± she replied with trembling hands. ¡°However¡­¡±

    Ingrid graciously offered her a way out to save face. ¡°You still think of yourte husband.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Lady Zyanya replied with a sigh. ¡°My husband was a traitor, but the sight of Your Majesty wearing his skin¡­ I would lie if I said that it did not frighten me.¡±It was a fine excuse, but one that I struggled to fully believe. Lady Zyanya had traded her ck widow¡¯s robes for a lighter blend of brown and green. The significance of her wardrobe change wasn¡¯t lost on me. Her husband¡¯s fate hadn¡¯t inspired enoughpassion in her to stay faithful to his memory.

    The true cause of Lady Zyanya¡¯s distress stealthily walked behind her, causing her spine to stiffen with tension. Itzili¡¯s presence at my side disturbed my guests, as it should.

    Over a week and a half had passed since I gave Itzili my sun-blessed blood. He had been only slightlyrger than a dog before then.

    Now?

    Now he could probably challenge a jaguar to a fight and <em>win</em>.

    Iztili had grown sorge that his head reached all the way up to my chest, and his length matched that of an adult man. He would only need a small hop to ce someone¡¯s head between his mighty jaws. Were I not used to fighting monsters, I would have found him greatly intimidating too.

    ¡°It usually takes a feathered tyrant four years toplete their growth cycle,¡± my menagerie handler had told me when he brought Itzili to me, sweating all the way. ¡°But I¡¯ve never seen one gain <em>two hundred pounds</em> in ten days¡¯ time. At this rate, Itzili will reach his adult size before Your Majesty¡¯s reign ends.¡±

    The symbolism wasn¡¯t lost on me. I had received Itzili on the first day of my tenure and he might reach maturity on itsst. Was that the result of my blood hastening his growth? Itzili had already shown early signs of increased size beforehand, so maybe he was born slightly abnormal. That or supernatural forces were at work.

    Moreover, Itzili¡¯s brown feathers were starting to gain a ck hue; the same as my owl wings in the Underworld. I took it as a good sign.

    ¡°The gods saw fit that I would ride him to war against our enemies,¡± I had told the handler. ¡°See that he remains well-fed.¡±

    ¡°As Your Majesty wishes,¡± the man had replied with a deep bow. ¡°Should we start training the honored Itzili to ept a rider?¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary.¡±

    I already knew that he would obey me.

    I sensed it in the connection between our Teyolias. The blood I had fed to Itzili formed a bond between us. A kinship of the flesh, almost familial.

    Itzili seemed to know what I wanted without me having to say it out loud. Not only did he not touch the food on disy, showing remarkable restraint for an animal, but he also circled the table for a time like a hunter on the prowl. It quietly intimidated Lady Zyanya and xc into silence.

    Eventually, Itzili sat on a bed of cushions to my left. Necahual sent him a few worried nces now and then, though my pet didn¡¯t spare her a nce. Ingrid alone appeared unbothered by his presence. She even dared to ruffle Itzili¡¯s feathers, which he graciously allowed.

    Having a pet feathered tyrant at my side will do wonders for my public image.

    ¡°While I cannot return your husband¡¯s remains to you, know that he was buried properly,¡± I informed Zyanya. That was aplete and utter lie, but one that the widow graciously chose to believe. ¡°He has atoned for his sins with his death.¡±

    ¡°I wish to reassure Your Majesty of my loyalty,¡± xc quickly said. ¡°My brother was born a traitor. In the name of myte father, I swear that I shall wipe away the stain he has left on our family¡¯s name.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± I replied with a wry smile. ¡°I¡¯ve ced high hopes on you, xc. I pray to the First Emperor that you will not disappoint them.¡±

    The barely veiled threat caused xc to cough in embarrassment. Lady Zyanya, never one to miss an opportunity, immediately seized her chance to put him down.

    ¡°If Your Majesty will forgive the interruption,¡± she said, ¡°But xc has disappointed his own father¡¯s expectations time and time again. He is unworthy of your trust.¡±

    ¡°Quiet, woman,¡± xc rasped at her, his voice brimming with anger. ¡°This inheritance is my birthright. Our wise emperor already agreed to give it to me.¡±

    ¡°Because he has not yet learned of your ipetence,¡± Lady Zyanya insisted. She didn¡¯t even spare her brother-inw a nce. ¡°You have ruined every enterprise that your sire gave you.¡±

    ¡°Lies!¡± xc protested before quickly turning back to me. ¡°Forgive me for my outburst, Your Divine Majesty, but listen not to this viper! All of my associates have benefited from my connections and guidance!¡±

    <em>These two make quite the pair. </em>Necahual scowled at my side. Unlike Ingrid and I, she didn¡¯t quite manage to hide her disdain yet. <em>They are cut from the same cloth.</em>

    Itzili suddenly growled and unveiled his sharp teeth. My guests wisely fell silent.

    ¡°Enough of this pointless bickering,¡± I said sharply. ¡°Such disputes are what disappointed the gods and let our foes poison our citizens with lies. We shall mend my realm¡¯s wounds, not let them fester.¡±

    ¡°My lord speaks wisely,¡± Ingridplimented me. As usual, she yed the role of a courtier perfectly. ¡°If a family is a body, then zohtzin was rot that had to be excised. I suggest knitting the flesh back together into a stronger whole.¡±

    ¡°You speak wisely, Ingrid,¡± Necahual said. ¡°His Majesty indeed awarded xc his blessing, but an innocent widow is entitled to financial support no matter her husband¡¯s crimes.¡±

    ¡°You both have a point,¡± I replied. Of course, we had already rehearsed this discussion before the actual meeting. ¡°I have reached a decision.¡±

    xc and Lady Zyanya straightened up.

    ¡°The two of you belong to noble bloodlines, and the friendship between your families is a precious bond that must be preserved.¡± Or should I say, a precious resource I intended to exploit. ¡°You shall wed one another.¡±

    Lady Zyanya¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief. ¡°You wish us to marry?¡±

    While his sister-inw kept herposure, xc looked fit to gag. ¡°Your Majesty, with all due respect¨C¡±

    I didn¡¯t let him finish.

    ¡°From now on, you shall no longer be foes. Instead, you shall support each other in all things.¡± I red at the future couple. ¡°I have no doubt that together you will not fail and disappoint me as zohtzin did.¡±

    My veiled threat silenced them both. Moreover, Itzili observed them with his cold, unblinking reptilian eyes. His was the gaze of a savage hound waiting for his master¡¯s order to attack. I had the distinct impression that he didn¡¯t like either of my guests. Perhaps he sensed their fickle morals.

    In either case, these two understood my message: they would either get along or <em>die</em>.

    Ingrid wisely showed them the bright side of the arrangement. ¡°Obedience is the virtue that leads to prosperity,¡± she said. ¡°My lord speaks for the gods. Blessed are those who heed his words, for they shall enjoy bountiful lives.¡±

    In short, loyalty would earn them my favor. <em>I</em>, who alone among all emperors in the empire¡¯s history, spoke with the First Emperor¡¯s voice and cast a great curse upon my enemies. I was the first man with <em>real </em>power to ever sit on Yohuachanca¡¯s throne. Only fools would refuse a direct order from me.

    Lady Zyanya and xc exchanged a quick nce, before thetter bowed his head on their behalf. ¡°Your Majesty¡¯s wishes are our own,¡± xc said. ¡°When would this wedding take ce?¡±

    I suppressed a smile at this quick turnaround. As I suspected, their ambition trumped their mutual dislike of each other. This y had gone on without a hitch so far.

    Now it was time for the twist ending.

    I nced at my pet. ¡°What do you think, Itzili?¡±

    Everyone looked at me in confusion, even Ingrid and Necahual. Their surprise was genuine. I specifically avoided informing either of them to better sell this fraud. Itzili looked up at me as I ruffled his feathers.

    Then he answered me.

    In coos and hisses instead of words, true¡­ but to an outsider, it would seem as if he was telling me <em>something</em>. His reaction was better than anything I¡¯d expected. Itzili let out a low rumbling noise, then pointed at xc and Zyanya with his nose. His tongue slithered between his sharp teeth.

    Somehow, I managed to understand his desire through our blood bond. Itzili¡¯s thoughts were simple, clear, and without ambiguity.

    He wanted to eat these two. Raw, if possible.

    I was almost tempted to fulfill his wish, but s, necessity ruled.

    ¡°I see,¡± I muttered to myself. ¡°Interesting.¡±

    I focused back on my guests, acting as if nothing unusual had just happened; and ignoring the confusion in their eyes. I had to act subtly for now. Just give the feeling that <em>something </em>was wrong without going overboard. A sudden personality shift would seem like an act.

    ¡°It seems to me that although Zacha¡¯s loyalty remains unquestioned, its people have grown dissolute enough to mingle with the enemy,¡± I dered with a prophet¡¯s resolve. ¡°The eruption has no doubt weakened their faith further. They need a reminder of what it is to <em>believe</em>.¡±

    A worried frown spread on Lady Zyanya¡¯s face. ¡°Will Your Majesty order a purge?¡±

    At least she seemed worried for her hometown¡¯s safety. I took note of it, in case I could exploit itter.

    ¡°No need,¡± I replied with a bright smile. ¡°I already intend to visit areas devastated by Smoke Mountain¡¯s wrath. I shallplete this journey by visiting Zacha and celebrating your wedding in person. Your union will herald the beginning of a new prosperous age for Yohuachanca.¡±

    xc, ever the perfect butt-kisser, immediately bowed. ¡°Your Majesty¡¯s generosity knows no bounds. To receive your personal blessing on such a sacred day would be nothing short of a miracle.¡±

    ¡°Your presence would certainly honor my people,¡± Lady Zyanya replied with calcting eyes. She was clearly the better politician of the two and already considering how to exploit the situation.

    Necahual shifted in her seat, her eyes narrowing. ¡°Will His Majesty take his rights?¡±

    Was that a hint of distaste I detected in her voice? I couldn¡¯t me her after what she went through. As emperor, I was entitled to the first night of any bride. A tradition Necahual suffered from on her own wedding.

    ¡°The gods have not spoken yet,¡± I replied diplomatically. A polite way to say I couldn¡¯t answer in the open. I suspected that if I said no, Iztacoatl would take a malignant pleasure in forcing me to forswear myself.

    Besides, although I had no intention of following through with it if I could, leaving the matter hanging would force others to take a stand.

    To outwit Iztacoatl, I would need to foster a climate of uncertainty. I doubted that her pride would let her admit that she let a human p her twice, so that would likely remain our little secret. However, there was a high chance that Iztacoatl would take revenge on my consorts and concubines in order to hurt me through them. Eztli and her mother would remain off-limits to ensure the former¡¯s coboration, but everyone else was a potential target.

    I hoped that my sudden n to visit Zacha would prove surprising enough for her. At best, it would distract her; at worst, she would likely spend her efforts trying to sabotage the trip out of spite.

    Sad as it sounded, that was partly why I put so much effort into xc and Zyanya. The more interest I showed in them, the more Iztacoatl would believe that I valued them; and I would rather see these two<em></em>victimized than those I actually cared about, like Ingrid.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    I nced at my consort and, much to my frustration, I immediately recalled that awful parody of her mother¡¯s corpse. The memory of her squirming belly and those horrendous children sickened me. The thought alone soured my mood.

    Tayatzin knocked at my door and entered my quarters soon after. That man had a knack for interrupting me at the worst of times.

    ¡°I asked not to be disturbed,¡± I chided him.

    ¡°Forgive me, oh Godspeaker.¡± His apology sounded sincere at least. ¡°Ie on Lady Eztli¡¯s behalf. She insists on visiting you with haste.¡±

    Necahual¡¯s head immediately perked up at the mention of her daughter¡¯s name. Eztli wouldn¡¯t interrupt us this way unless she had a very good reason. I hoped it wasn¡¯t rted to myst encounter with Iztacoatl.

    ¡°Bring her in,¡± I told Tayatzin before turning to my current guests. ¡°You are dismissed for now. Tayatzin, please escort them outside.¡±

    ¡°As Your Majesty wishes,¡± my attendant replied.

    xc and Lady Zyanya excused themselves with deep bows and formal courtesies. Itzili watched them leave with Tayatzin with clear regret that a potential meal had escaped his jaws.

    The scene caused Ingrid to crack a smile. ¡°My lord has grown confident and speaks with authority.¡±

    ¡°Was that not always the case?¡± I quipped back.

    ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t,¡± Ingrid replied with a sly chuckle. ¡°Although it is a change for the better.¡±

    It only cost me a few months of torture. Still, I preferred it when others obeyed my whims instead of throwing stones at my face.

    Eztli didn¡¯t enter my quarters alone. Much to my surprise, a retinue of three followed in her wake: her handmaiden Atziri and two red-eyed priests carrying a flute and drum respectively. Itzili immediately looked up at them with wariness before cooing at Eztli.

    ¡°My my, look how you have grown,¡± Eztli said upon ruffling Itzili¡¯s feathers. My pet responded by lovingly butting his muzzle against her legs. ¡°Thest time I saw you, you barely reached my ankles.¡±

    ¡°He is quite affectionate,¡± Ingridmented. She began to scratch Itzili¡¯s neck, which he greatly appreciated. ¡°He seems to like us both.¡±

    Because he shared my feelings. I¡¯d heard pets reflected their owner¡¯s behavior. The blood bond we shared had only strengthened that tendency.

    ¡°Itzili can tell true friends apart from fake ones,¡± I said. ¡°He is a wise beast.¡±

    Ingrid¡¯s eyes moved from Itzili to me. ¡°My lord, if I may ask¡­ what happened between Itzili and you?¡±

    I raised an eyebrow and feigned confusion. ¡°Forgive me Ingrid, but I have no idea what you are talking about.¡±

    Ingrid and I exchanged a brief stare, and she pressed no further. I couldn¡¯t tell whether she had guessed my n or simply knew to hold her tongue. Whatever the case, we all acted as if the Itzili incident never happened.

    Eztli, however, couldn¡¯t suppress her curiosity. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked before sitting on myp as if she owned it. ¡°Do tell, I wish to know.¡±

    Necahual snorted in disdain. ¡°Your husband speaks to animals now.¡±

    Eztli let out a sly chuckle. ¡°Don¡¯t we all, Mother?¡±

    Necahual¡¯s head turned so quickly I thought she would snap her neck. For over a month she had been forced to keep her head down to avoid Yoloxochitl¡¯s wrath; she held her tongue each time her own daughter treated her as a stranger for both of their sakes. From the look on Necahual¡¯s face, my mother-inw half-expected Yoloxochitl¡¯s ghost to escape her father¡¯s gullet and punish her daughter¡¯s insolence.

    ¡°Eztli, I¡­¡± Necahual cleared her throat, a sh of fear seizing her. ¡°You do not know¨C¡±

    ¡°I meant what I said, <em>Mother</em>.¡± Eztli glowed with pride and joy when she said thatst word. Each time she said it further dispelled the curse of Yoloxochitl¡¯s memory. ¡°We don¡¯t have to hold our tongues anymore. I¡¯m free now.¡± Eztli scoffed. ¡°Well, <em>freer</em>.¡±

    None of us would be free so long as the other Nightlords remained to continue their sister¡¯s work, but Eztli¡¯s chains had indeed loosened. She fearlessly grabbed her mother¡¯s arm and gently pulled her closer to her. After a short moment¡¯s hesitation, Necahual let go of her worries. Her arms closed around Eztli in a tight, mutual hug. The daughter squeezed with her immense strength and the mother looked like she was holding back tears.

    For all the disdain that I still held for Necahual, part of me couldn¡¯t help but feel happy for her. Her crimes against me didn¡¯t warrant the loss of her husband and daughter. The Eztli she raised remained lost to vampirism, but Necahual at least managed to recover part of her.

    My attention turned to Ingrid, who watched the scene with a forlorn look in her eyes. My joy immediately turned to sorrow. To see the woman who could have died in her mother¡¯s ce hug her daughter tightly probably opened old wounds.

    ¡°Ingrid¨C¡± I said, but she didn¡¯t let me finish.

    ¡°I am well, my lord.¡± Ingrid lied so well. ¡°Thank you for your concern.¡±

    ¡°I apologize, Ingrid,¡± Necahual told Ingrid with slight awkwardness upon letting her daughter go. I¡¯d rarely seen that woman express shame for anything, but today was an exception. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t¡­ not after you¡­¡±

    ¡°I do not me either of you for living,¡± Ingrid replied with a forced smile. ¡°The heavens alone willed that Mother would die.¡±

    Her words were flowery enough to hide the venom underneath. Necahual clearly wasn¡¯t fooled in the slightest. I supposed it took a grudge-keeper to know one. They shared a kinship forged frommon hatred.

    ¡°You are not without family, Ingrid,¡± Eztli said, her hand slyly resting on her fellow consort¡¯s thigh. ¡°I consider you a sister-in-arms.¡±

    ¡°You are too kind, Eztli,¡± Ingrid replied with genuine warmth. ¡°The feeling is mutual.¡±

    <em>These two have be friends, or something close. </em>Eztli hadforted Ingrid in her darkest hour much like myself. Funny how a small act of kindness could earn someone¡¯s lifelong loyalty. <em>Kindness is all the more valuable for its rarity.</em>

    A shy gulp suddenly reminded me of Atziri¡¯s presence in the room. My gaze turned to her and the two musicians. I quickly noticed that the shade of red in their eyes appeared paler than most of their kind. How odd.

    ¡°Whose priests are those?¡± I asked Eztli.

    ¡°Is it not obvious?¡± My consort smiled ear to ear, her fangs shining behind her lips. ¡°They¡¯re <em>mine</em>.¡±

    A chill traveled down my spine. ¡°You fed them your blood?¡±

    ¡°The old bats allowed me to share it with four blessed chosen,¡± Eztli confirmed. ¡°I picked these two eunuchs for their entertainment value, since they can perform with Atziri. I haven¡¯t settled on my other picks yet.¡±

    ¡°It is magnanimous of the goddesses to grant you the right to select your own priests, Eztli,¡± Ingrid noted. ¡°It must be an honor reserved for a¡­ <em>handful </em>of Nightkin.¡±

    The wording and its implications caused Eztli to giggle. Neither of them could confirm Yoloxochitl¡¯s death out loud, but they had clearly confirmed it between each other.

    My eyes lingered on the priests. I could hardly me Eztli for feeding her blood to others to recruit assets when I did the same thing myself. I was nning to remove her curse one way or another anyway; with luck, it would strip these two of their blood addictions without causing them to perish like Yoloxochitl¡¯s priesthood.

    Moreover, their instruments made me suspect <em>why </em>Eztli handpicked them.

    ¡°Can they dance?¡± I mused.

    ¡°Not yet,¡± Eztli replied with a chuckle. ¡°But they can <em>sing</em>.¡±

    <em>Clever girl. </em>¡°Show us then. I have some time left for pleasure before my training with Chikal.¡± I beckoned Ingrid and Necahual toe closer. ¡°Let us enjoy ourselves.¡±

    I pulled an arm around Ingrid and Necahual. Both leaned against me¡ªthe former more eagerly than the first¡ªwhile Eztli rested on myp. We must have looked like the very picture of indolence as wey on our bed of cushions.

    The two priests began to y a powerful, rhythmic melody with both their instruments and high-pitched voices, which Atziriplemented with her dancing steps. Much to my amusement, Itzili moved slightly closer to these three to better focus on the spectacle. His presence clearly unsettled Atziri, but focusing on her work let her forget it. I wondered if she thought my pet would eat her if she provided a bad performance.

    <em>These two priests sing so well,</em> I thought as I briefly nced around the room. The music would cover our words, and none of Iztacoatl¡¯s snakes would dare to sneak up on us in Itzili¡¯s presence. <em>We can talk without being spied upon.</em>

    However, I wasn¡¯t foolish enough to speak too openly. I didn¡¯t know the full extent of Iztacoatl¡¯s powers. If she could create a near-perfect copy of Sigrun and her mannerisms, she might have nted a spy in Eztli¡¯s retinue.

    I was certain my consort and mother-inw were the true ones. I had known Necahual and Eztli for many years, so I would have picked up on subtle mannerisms that an outsider would have overlooked. As for Ingrid, I sensed the same invisible chains that bound us to the Nightlords¡¯ ritual.

    We would need to develop additional measures in the future nheless. Secret passwords perhaps. I had to think about it.

    ¡°Did you learn more about Lady Yoloxochitl?¡± I whispered in my conspirators¡¯ ears, our words drowned by the song. ¡°Although Lady Iztacoatl dissuaded me from looking into her sister¡¯s private life, I would like to honor her properly.¡±

    Ingrid and Eztli immediately caught on to my evasive words and their hidden meaning: Iztacoatl knew we were investigating thete Yoloxochitl, so I wished to learn everything they¡¯d gathered before we stopped; and in a way that would provide us usible deniability.

    ¡°Lady Necahual and I have discovered interesting things about Lady Yoloxochitl,¡± Ingrid replied. ¡°ording to the information that we¡¯ve gathered, she showed great favor to the town of Cuexn and regrly visited it over thest few years.¡±

    My fists clenched on their own. ¡°Including the town¡¯s hospice?¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Ingrid confirmed. ¡°Her priesthood used to oversee it until Lady Yoloxochitl withdrew her favor. Mayhaps my lord would like to fill the void?¡±

    Necahual scowled in disgust, though she quickly caught on to our game. For all of her many ws, stupidity wasn¡¯t one of them. ¡°Hospices are precious ces worthy of an emperor¡¯s attention,¡± she said. ¡°What better ce to test new medicine than on the sick?

    I quickly figured out her words¡¯ hidden meaning: what better way to test a gue than on those who were already ill? No one would suspect anything. When Necahual put it that way, the choice of location suddenly made a lot more sense.

    Even after death, Yoloxochitl never ceased to disgust me.

    ¡°My thought exactly, Lady Necahual,¡± Ingrid said. ¡°Hence why I have taken the liberty of gathering the names of the location¡¯s healers, so my lord can reward them properly.

    Excellent. I could Ride the staff members by using their names. Once again, Ingrid proved herself worthy of her mother¡¯s reputation as a spymistress.

    ¡°I would like to offer them a gift of candles,¡± I said. ¡°Something that will keep the me of their faith alive in the darkest night.¡±

    I needed ming oil. Something that would help me burn the ce to the ground.

    Ingrid immediately formted the n. ¡°xc¡¯s consortium can provide gifts. He has already tried to bribe Lady Necahual and me to influence you, so I can have him deliver the supplies.¡±

    ¡°Be subtle,¡± I warned Ingrid. ¡°Lady Iztacoatl has forbidden me from peeking too much into Lady Yoloxochitl¡¯s retreat. I do not want this gift to bear my name.¡±

    ¡°Worry not, my lord. I know a good many who would love to take the credit for your generosity.¡±

    In short, she could secure catspaws to suffer the me. Her efficiency drew a smile from Eztli. ¡°Remind me never to make an enemy of you, my dear Ingrid. Something tells me I would not survive.¡±

    ¡°I do not plot against my friends,¡± Ingrid reassured her, though she added a caveat to the n. ¡°I will require time to fulfill my lord¡¯s will.¡±

    ¡°How long?¡± I questioned her.

    ¡°A few days at most. We might already have left the pce by then.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be an issue.¡± I intended to Ride the hospice¡¯s staff and then silence them. So long as I could have them ess the resources required to set Yoloxochitl¡¯s garden aze, I didn¡¯t need to be anywhere near the pce. ¡°Simply inform me when the gift has reached its destination. Fate will smile on us then.¡±

    I¡¯d gathered all the pieces required for the operation. The next step would be to wait for them to fall into ce.

    ¡°I wonder what that hospice looks like on the inside,¡± I told Ingrid. ¡°I have never visited it.¡±

    As in, I needed a map of itsyout.

    ¡°I am certain some of my lord¡¯s servants could tell us more,¡± she replied. ¡°Few, however, know such ces inside and out; and they are too modest to boast.¡±

    She could secure a map of the public ces, but not the hidden areas. The people who could tell us wouldn¡¯t share that information nor be vulnerable to bribes.

    ¡°I could make them sing for you, Iztac,¡± Eztli suggested.

    ¡°I would rather that you did not.¡± I shook my head. ¡°As I said, Lady Iztacoatl would scold us if we show too much curiosity.¡±

    Necahual¡¯s jaw clenched on its own. ¡°Mayhaps I could help with that.¡±

    We had another option to learn the hospice¡¯syout. One that Necahual didn¡¯t relish in the slightest.

    The Augury only provided words and whispers, so I would require either the Ride or Seidr to obtain a visual map, and using the former prior to the operation¡¯s day carried the risk of discovery.

    Chamiaholom¡¯s vicious words echoed in my mind the moment I nced at Necahual. <em>She fears bearing your child as much as she fears losing her daughter. </em>Each of our couplings was a chore that she dreaded even at the best of times.

    Ingrid¡¯s eyes moved from me to Necahual and immediately picked up on our mutual awkwardness. Her hand seized mine, her finger smooth and her grip strong.

    ¡°If my lord wills it,¡± Ingrid whispered in my ear, her soft breath on my ear. ¡°I would dly take on that duty.¡±

    My heart skipped a beat.

    ¡°Mother taught me well,¡± Ingrid said with obvious enthusiasm. ¡°Without demeaning your bond with Lady Necahual, I am simply better where it matters.¡±

    Necahual¡¯s expression softened slightly in relief, as did mine. Ingrid had a point. I had no need to sleep with Necahual every night to practice Seidr when I already had a more experienced partner. So long as I showered Necahual with gifts worthy of my favorite, we could limit sex to a minimum.

    ¡°Ingrid¨C¡± I said.

    ¡°No, Iztac,¡± Eztli interrupted me. ¡°You mustn¡¯t.¡±

    Her answer took us all by surprise; though none more than her mother, whose eyes widened in shock and disbelief. Eztli held our gazes with utmost seriousness.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t involve Ingrid in this way, or any consort for that matter,¡± she warned me. ¡°It¡¯s too risky.¡±

    Now I was well and truly confused. ¡°Why would it be?¡±

    ¡°Because of the fate that binds you together,¡± Eztli replied. ¡°Think about it, Iztac. Iztacoatl and her sisters have blessed the five of us. If Ingrid and you acted together in concert, would she not notice?¡±

    My eyes widened slightly. Was she suggesting that practicing Seidr with one of my consorts might alert the Nightlords through our bond to them?

    I had to admit that I never considered the possibility. Now that Eztli pointed it out, doubt overwhelmed me.

    ¡°Is that possible?¡± I asked Ingrid. I prayed that her mother taught her the intricacies of her magic. ¡°Would the goddesses know if we tried?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Ingrid bit her lower lip as she pondered the possibility. ¡°I cannot say, my lord. Mother and Lady Necahual remained beneath the Nightlords¡¯ notice, but neither of them was a consort at the time.¡±

    Eztli stroked her chin. ¡°Did you try to approach Chikal about this, Iztac?¡±

    ¡°I tried and I failed,¡± I confessed. ¡°We couldn¡¯t agree on it.¡±

    ¡°Maybe that¡¯s why,¡± Eztli suggested. ¡°You weren¡¯t meant to.¡±

    I personally believed the issuey in Chikal¡¯s own domineering personality, but if Eztli¡¯s hypothesis was correct, then my inability to practice Seidr with her would prove a blessing in disguise. Worst of all, I didn¡¯t see any way of confirming or infirming it without doing the deed¨Cwith all the risks that it implied.

    <em>Mother could tell me more</em>, I thought. She was familiar with Seidr and an experienced sorceress. <em>But finding her might take too many nights.</em>

    Necahual¡¯s lips twisted into a deep scowl. She exchanged a nce with her daughter for a time. The mother¡¯s gaze wavered slightly, while the daughter remained stone-faced. Eztli¡¯s transformation had snuffed out most of her humanity; and for all the love she still harbored for Necahual, it wasn¡¯t enough to override her cold judgment.

    Necahual folded. ¡°I will do it.¡±

    ¡°Are you certain?¡± I asked her.

    Necahual sneered at my pity. ¡°I owe Lady Yoloxochitl my survival,¡± she replied with bitter resentment. ¡°I would do <em>anything </em>to repay that debt.¡±

    Necahual had promised to give me everything if I returned her daughter to her. I held true to my promise, and she was returning the favor. Ingrid didn¡¯t hide her disappointment at my decision, but she did not argue either.

    ¡°Worry not, Ingrid,¡± Eztli said, her smile returning. ¡°If our husband does not share your bed for work, he will do it for pleasure.¡±

    ¡°You make me blush,¡± Ingrid replied politely.

    How odd. Although she kept herposure, I detected a faint trace of awkwardness in Ingrid¡¯s voice; something I never noticed before. Did she offer to practice Seidr with me as an excuse to spend time with me? Was <em>that </em>what she meant when she offered me to start over? Not as friends, but as lovers?

    I wouldn¡¯t mind sharing Ingrid¡¯s bed again, but I had no time for such frivolities right now. Not when the hourss¡¯ sand continued to tickle down.

    ¡°There is another matter we must discuss, Ingrid,¡± I informed her. ¡°Your mother left an offering to her gods.¡±

    Ingrid blinked in genuine surprise. ¡°How would my lord know about this?¡±

    ¡°I know, that is all.¡± I trusted Ingrid, but the less she knew of my abilities, the safer she would be. ¡°Gifts to false gods offend the true ones in Yohuachanca. It would wound my heart if this nder harmed their reputation.¡±

    Eztli¡¯s head perked up in interest, as did Necahual¡¯s. Ingrid joined her hands and pondered the matter, a scowl spreading on her face.

    I hoped she had figured out my message: that her Mother secured texts that could threaten the Nightlords under her altar, and that we needed to discreetly secure them.

    ¡°The gods have been watching me closely since Mother¡¯s death, and I trust few with this matter,¡± she finally said. ¡°Sparing them such a sphemous sight might prove difficult.¡±

    ¡°I can help with that,¡± Eztli suggested. ¡°I will ensure the heavens close their eyes when you require it.¡±

    Ingrid¡¯s frown eased up into a warm smile. ¡°I would wee your assistance, Eztli.¡±

    The months I spent gathering allies and resources were finally starting to pay off. I was no longer waging this war alone with only the dead for supporters. I had friends to help me n for the future and take down the Nightlords. So many heads moved by a single goal and will. It almost reminded me of the Parliament of Skulls¡ª

    I felt as if I had been struck by lightning.

    The Legion worked by using the curse binding the emperors¡¯ souls together to add a skull to their collective, a chain of which I was thetest link. This connection already allowed my predecessors to see through my eyes.

    What if¡­

    What if I had more than one skull?

    Eztli immediately noticed my happy reaction. ¡°Why are you smiling to yourself, Iztac?¡±

    ¡°A wicked idea crossed my mind,¡± I replied with a chuckle. ¡°It would make you lose your head.¡±

    I might have found a use for the Legion spell after all. One that wouldn¡¯t require enving anyone.

 Chapter Fifty: The Legion of the Dead

    Chapter Fifty: The Legion of the Dead

    Riding on a trihorn¡¯s back proved to be an <em>interesting </em>experience.

    Namely, my mount tried to throw me off its back thrice, attempted to impale me twice, and then nearly ran away from the training grounds. I had to wrestle with it for a good hour before it lost the will to fight and finally epted me as its rider.

    After my trial in the House of Jaguars, I found it almost cathartic.

    I med Itzili¡¯s presence for my mount¡¯s behavior. As it turned out, herbivores tended to panic in the presence of their usual predator.

    ¡°I warned our Lord Emperor against this,¡± Chikal said as she rode by my side across the imperial gardens. Unlike my own mount, her own trihorn behaved with disciplined obedience. ¡°It would have been easier to keep Itzili away from the trihorns. Tamed or not, prey never ceases to fear its predator.¡±

    The House of Jaguars begged to differ. ¡°All beasts are wee to fear Itzili,¡± I replied as my trihorn trampled the grass under its feet. ¡°So long as they serve me.¡±

    Ingrid, who graciously rode her own mount to my left, immediately came to my rescue. ¡°My lord is wise to teach his army¡¯s beasts of battle not to flee in his feathered tyrant¡¯s presence,¡± she said. ¡°It would be quite the shame if they panicked and trampled our own troops.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± Chikal conceded her point. ¡°Though I would suggest against our Lord Emperor letting a wild animal run around without supervision.¡±

    ¡°Itzili does not need any,¡± I replied, though I did take a good look at him. My feathered tyrant was finally starting to realize that being too close to the trihorns spooked them, so he followed us from a distance. If anything, that somehow made him seem more intimidating. My pet possessed the lean, frightful frame of a predator on the prowl. <em>I pity the servant who will cross his path at night. </em>I had granted Itzili special permission to wander outside his pen; a situation that frightened both my other pets and staff alike. I half-expected my feathered tyrant to make a scene, such as by breaking into another animal¡¯s pen to eat them, but he proved surprisingly discreet.<em> He¡¯s about as cautious as I am. </em>

    <em>¡°The pet shares the master¡¯s hatred,¡±</em> the wind whispered ominously in my ear. <em>¡°Many will fall to and fear his jaws. Can you hear it? The gnashing of teeth on human flesh¡­¡±</em>

    I could live with that, so long as that flesh belonged to red-eyed priests.

    <em>¡°The hunter¡¯s mouth does not discriminate,¡±</em> the wind replied.<em> ¡°A giant¡¯s feet will trample the houses of the damned and the innocent alike.¡±</em>

    ¡°Don¡¯t your people tame predators?¡± Ingrid asked Chikal. ¡°I remember that an amazon queen famously fed her lifelong rival to her pet jaguar.¡±

    ¡°We often tame panthers and jaguars for hunts, but we always keep them on a short leash,¡± Chikal replied. ¡°The wise do not invite into their home a guest that they cannot put down. Why would a giant take orders from an ant?¡±

    ¡°Because the giant is wise enough to listen,¡± I said.

    My answer amused Ingrid and caused Chikal to raise an eyebrow at me. I could tell that they both understood I was up to <em>something </em>with Itzili, though they couldn¡¯t tell what yet. Chikal already asked me early duringbat training if my pet¡¯s presence was meant to ¡®bring me luck,¡¯ so she probably expected a supernatural exnation.

    I wished I could tell them my n, but if I hoped to convince Iztacoatl of my act then I couldn¡¯t break character at any point. Feigning an irrational attachment to my feathered tyrant was an exhausting job, but one to which I had to stay true to.

    I temporarily banished Itzili from my thoughts to focus on my posture. While Itzili wasn¡¯t yetrge enough to support my weight on his back, Chikal decided I would need training if I ever hoped to ride him without embarrassing myself. Her training proved her right. Riding on an animal¡¯s back was hard enough, let alone with weapons.

    For today¡¯s lesson, I rode my trihorn with a hardwood shield in one hand and an obsidian-tipped spear in the other. I struggled a bit to manage and bnce their weight. The spear¡¯s tip kept pointing down, so I had to put extra effort into keeping it wieldy. I dared not imagine the effort a full charge would require.

    Ingrid smiled at my struggle. ¡°My lord shouldn¡¯t be too hard on himself. Few manage to ride a trihorn on their first try. I would say you¡¯re doing very well.¡±

    ¡°Less than you, Ingrid,¡± I replied. My consort rode her own trihorn with utmost grace, to the point that Chikal had her fire arrows at targets while sitting on her beast¡¯s back. ¡°Perhaps we should ride together. I wouldmand our allies, and you would strike down our foes with your arrows.¡±

    ¡°I would love to ride at my lord¡¯s back, if he wishes,¡± Ingrid replied.

    Chikal immediately shot down the idea. ¡°A goodmander learns to fight by himself so he can lead by example. Our Lord Emperor must ride perfectly first before he can entertain apanion.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I replied before ncing at my surroundings. I didn¡¯t see any snakes in my gardens¡¯ grass, and I expected Itzili to trample any who dared to sneak up on us underfoot. My guards followed us on foot and remained out of earshot.

    I considered casting an Augury and having the wind cover our discussion as it did once with Chikal, but I decided against it. What if Iztacoatl had spies who could read my lips? A sorceress of her caliber might intercept our whispers too. Better be safe than sorry.

    ¡°I have a question for you, Chikal,¡± I said. ¡°How would you tell a foe wearing a friend¡¯s face from the real one?¡±

    Chikal raised an eyebrow. ¡°How would I identify a skinwalker?¡±

    ¡°A skinwalker?¡± I didn¡¯t recognize the term, though it sounded vaguely familiar. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°A cursed shapeshifter and thief of faces. They are vile shamans who consume human flesh to strengthen their power, and bind themselves to half-lives of fear and evil in the process.¡± Chikal¡¯s expression darkened. ¡°They are moremon in the Three-Rivers Federation to the north, but a few haunt our jungle¡¯s darkest woods.¡±

    Her wary tone surprised me. ¡°Are you frightened, Chikal?¡±

    ¡°Only a fool does not fear the skinwalkers, my Lord Emperor,¡± Chikal replied with a dark look. Something in her tone informed me that she spoke from experience. ¡°They are demons who steal the skin of friends tomit heinous deeds. They possess the strength of savage beasts and a man¡¯s cunning.¡±

    ¡°Why is my lord so concerned?¡± Ingrid asked me.

    ¡°I¡¯ve had a nightmare where a beast came to me under the guise of a friend.¡± It wasn¡¯t a lie. Meeting Sigrun¡¯s shambling corpse had been a horror straight out of a dark dream. ¡°I fear it will happen in the waking world too.¡±

    Chikal quickly caught on to my warning. ¡°Our Lord Emperor has already ridden by an enemy¡¯s side once,¡± she said, subtly referencing the false Eztli. ¡°To identify a Skinwalker is no different. They know their victim¡¯s flesh, but not their soul.¡±

    ¡°Some say that a person¡¯s soul is shaped by their deeds,¡± Ingrid replied evasively. ¡°A fisherman is a fisherman because they hunt fish for a living. No imposter can tie a better than them.¡±

    I could read her message between the lines: we should establish telltale signs for each of us. A subtle routine that no observer could easily pick up on and that we could use as a way to trick a body double.

    ¡°What makes you Ingrid, Ingrid?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°My lord already knows,¡± she replied sharply. Such things weren¡¯t said out loud, but shown. ¡°I will be sure to remind you and Chikal.¡±

    Chikal¡¯s stare traveled from Ingrid to me. I considered her the sharpest among my consorts, so I had no doubt that she already figured out our n. However, she wisely decided to focus the discussion back on its false subject rather than risk being overheard.

    ¡°My younger cousin, Lahun, would tell you more about Skinwalkers, if Your Majesty wishes it,¡± Chikal said. ¡°She is a storyteller and shaman well-versed in the lore of our people. Our Lord Emperor will appreciate herpany.¡±

    ¡°I have heard of this Lahun,¡± Ingrid said. ¡°She is a pretty young woman. I would say my lord would find her <em>most </em>agreeable.¡±

    Chikal snorted. ¡°Our Lord Emperor will find hercking after satisfying my needs. She is wise though, and I regrly consult her for advice.¡±

    Excellent. I would soon make a concubine of this Lahun and use her as an intermediary tomunicate with Chikal when needed. This only left Nl as a consort in need of a handmaiden representative, but we would find someone.

    By the time we reached the gardens¡¯ edge, the sun was slowly starting to vanish behind the horizon. Seeing the iing twilight filled me with a dreadful sensation of unease. The Parliament of Skulls warned me earlier that the First Emperor¡¯s power would sow terror tonight. I could feel his dark touch in the air.

    <em>¡°Do you hear the starved dead rattling in their tombs?¡± </em>the wind whispered to me. <em>¡°Bloodstarved worms wriggle in dead flesh. Soon they will rise to satiate their hunger.¡±</em>

    I had a good idea of what disaster would befall the empire tonight. I considered my options. Yohuachanca had already brought the corpses of the bats¡¯ victims to their temples, so an undead outbreak would harm their priests, bleeding my foes¡¯ resources; on the other hand, warning them ahead of time would reinforce my prophet image. It would lull the likes of the Jaguar Woman into believing that they could control me. Not warning them would have the opposite effect and perhaps reawaken her suspicions.

    Considering myst interaction with Iztacoatl, I decided to y it safe and muddle the waters by sending conflicting messages.

    ¡°Argh¡­¡± I pretended to suddenly grunt in pain, my hand dropping my spear. ¡°Argh¡­¡±

    ¡°My lord?¡± Ingrid¡¯s eyes widened in sudden and genuine concern. Chikal alone observed me with these calcting eyes.

    ¡°Argh!¡± Pretending to suffer came easily to me after all I went through. I dropped my shield and reached for my head with both hands, my nails sinking into my flesh. ¡°Argh!¡±

    Then I fell off my trihorn.

    I would have loved to say that part was an act, but no; my scream of pain simply spooked my mount until it threw me off its back and onto a bed of flowers. Itzili let out a roar that alerted the guards. Ingrid immediately climbed off her mount while calling my name, but Chikal was quicker. She grabbed me in her strong hands and immediately helped me on my feet.

    ¡°Are you having a seizure?¡± she asked, snapping her fingers in front of me. I wondered if this happened often enough among amazons for them to develop a procedure. ¡°Take a deep breath. Can you stand at all?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ fine¡­¡± I replied, my breath heavy from the sudden fall. The pain from being thrown off a trihorn was nothingpared to what I had already gone through, but it did leave me winded enough. ¡°I saw¡­ when I looked at the sun¡­ I saw <em>something</em>¡­¡±

    Chikal¡¯s gaze sharpened. ¡°A vision?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I think so,¡± I replied. Itzili immediately reached my side and nuzzled my hand, as if to check on me. I gently pat him on the head for his trouble. ¡°It was¡­ awful.¡±

    Ingrid scowled in worry. After seeing the First Emperor possess me earlier, she didn¡¯t dare question me. ¡°What did my lord see?¡±

    ¡°I witnessed the dead devour the living and silencing our towns. The bloodstarved corpses of the faithless emerged from their graves at sunset to feast.¡± I pushed Chikal back, a hand holding my forehead. ¡°I fear a great darkness will soon be upon us.¡±

    I had no guarantee that my false vision would unfold. The wind could have lied to me and the Parliament¡¯s hunch could be incorrect, yet I believed otherwise. The aura of malice in the air reminded me of the ambient doom that preceded Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption.

    If the dead did not rise, I would simply lie and take the credit; saying that my emergency measures and the faith we showed appeased the heavens¡¯ wrath.

    A prophet could never be <em>wrong,</em> only <em>misinterpreted</em>.

    It said something about the Nightlords¡¯ fear of their Dark Father that they immediately dispatched Tayatzin to interrogate me.

    The red-eyed priest arrived within five minutes of my fall alongside a scribe to record my vision, <em>without </em>either Ingrid or Chikal informing them of it. This only confirmed that Iztacoatl had a way to overhear us at any time within the pce. Itzili found no snake spy, so she had to use a different method to monitor my actions. Could it be a spell or something more mundane?

    I had no way of telling yet, though at least I¡¯d forced her to tip her hand.

    ¡°This is a most grievous omen, Your Majesty,¡± Tayatzin said after his scribe finished recording my lies. ¡°The corpses of the faithless fools who did follow imperial traditions during the eruption have been safely stored, but we will keep a closer eye on them.¡±

    ¡°I pray for all of our sake that my vision was only metaphorical,¡± I replied without meaning any of it. This would give me usible deniability. ¡°My head still hurts a bit.¡±

    ¡°Would Your Majesty request a physician?¡±

    ¡°My Necahual will do,¡± I replied. ¡°I will go visit her.¡±

    ¡°As befitting of her new rank, Lady Necahual was granted her own quarters,¡± Tayatzin replied. ¡°However, Lady Eztli asked that we transfer her to her own private chambers.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. It made sense that Eztli would invite Necahual to her quarters now that Yoloxochitl no longer stood between them. Sigrun did share her jail with the rest of her family.

    However, I had never visited Eztli¡¯s quarters in the pce. I half-expected a crypt befitting of her vampiric nature, but somehow I doubted Necahual would feel at ease in such a ce.

    ¡°I will visit them both then,¡± I replied. ¡°Keep me informed about the¡­ other matter."

    ¡°We will take care of everything,¡± Tayatzin promised with a short bow. ¡°If I may, Your Majesty, would you kindly offer me a private audience tomorrow morning?¡±

    A private audience? That was new. None of my red-eyed advisors ever asked me for one. ¡°On what matter?¡±

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Your wise decision to have xc and Lady Zyanya marry has inspired an idea for a reform,¡± Tayatzin replied, while being very careful to avoid offending me. ¡°One which I hope you shall find grace in your eyes.¡±

    Interesting. Sigrun warned me that Tayatzin was more ambitious and forward-minded than other priests. I wondered what kind of n had crossed his mind. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to listen.

    ¡°Very well,¡± I decided. ¡°You will share a breakfast with me before the general meeting.¡±

    ¡°Your Divine Majesty¡¯s generosity honors me.¡± Tayatzin knelt before me, a small smile forming at the edge of his lips. ¡°I swear that I shall not waste your time.¡±

    I dismissed him with a wave of my hand and then moved to visit Eztli¡¯s quarters in the pce¡¯s eastern wing; an interesting location, considering that Iztacoatl upied the western one. My consort already started to hold sway over Yoloxochitl¡¯s old cardinal direction.

    As it turned out, Eztli enjoyed divine levels of luxury too.

    I left the guards at the door and entered a breathtakingly beautiful antechamber. Jeweled statues, cotton curtains, and countless precious rugs covered most of the gleaming floorboards. Wood statues of masked soldiers stood with spears along the walls, each of them crowned with a shining brasero providing light.

    ¡°Come in, Iztac,¡± Eztli¡¯s voice called from deeper inside the quarters. ¡°I was just about to finish watering my new nts.¡±

    <em>nts?</em> I took in a deep breath and inhaled the sweet aroma of a dozen different flowers. <em>Eztli loved to tend to her garden. She and her mother had that inmon. </em>

    I walked ahead and found Eztli in a majestic circr hall of gold pirs carved with leaf-shaped inscriptions. Threeyers of terraced flower gardens formed a circle around the room. Beds of orchids and poinsettias joined with bouquets of marigolds into a colorful disy. Other areas housed the kind of medical nts that Necahual used to gather in Acampa¡¯s forests for her potions.

    The southern corner led to another chamber housing an enormous bed draped with cotton coverlets and adorned with emeralds. To the north, another room housed what appeared to be an apothecary¡¯sboratory filled with ss bottles, poultice bowls, and cauldrons. Necahual was busy mixing an herbal potion on a wooden counter. She didn¡¯t pay me any mind.

    ¡°What do you think of the floralposition, Iztac?¡± Eztli asked me as she watered the flowers with a y vase. ¡°Should I put more orchids with the marigold?¡±

    ¡°I would prefer more red,¡± I replied after examining the flowers more closely. A few of them appeared to have been plucked from my gardens, but I didn¡¯t recognize a few others. ¡°When did you start building up such a collection?¡±

    ¡°Since I arrived. This pce has too many dead stones and not enough life in it, if you ask me.¡±

    Her words caused me to look around and notice a certain detail: namely, Eztli¡¯s quarterscked windows. I couldn¡¯t see even a single obsidian panel that would allow even a vampire to gaze at the world outside without fearing the sun. These chambers might as well have been an underground crypt.

    I supposed it made sense for a vampire¡¯s home¡­ but then I thought back to that moment when I caught Ezt looking at theing sun with immense despair.

    Did Yoloxochitl assign her these quarters to avoid an¡­ <em>incident?</em>

    Eztli set her y vase aside and put her arms around my neck. ¡°You didn¡¯t bring Itzili with you?¡±

    ¡°My staff is feeding him as we speak.¡± I wondered if I should start giving him my own table scraps, or even let him join me during breakfast alongside my consorts. I decided against putting on such a show for now. The mummery would be too obvious. ¡°He is almost as ravenous as a hundred men put together.¡±

    ¡°So am I,¡± Eztli replied before briefly kissing me on the neck. ¡°I love the taste of human flesh too.¡±

    Her grim wording both amused and unsettled me all at once. I knew she was merely joking, but still¡­

    ¡°I believe His Majesty came for me, Eztli,¡± Necahual said upon joining us, a cup of herbal potion in her hand. ¡°This should ease the aches of your training.¡±

    ¡°Does it ease the pain of the mind too?¡± I asked upon seizing the cup. The liquid was steamingly hot and bitter to the taste.

    ¡°It should,¡± Necahual replied with a quizzical look. ¡°Does something trouble you?¡±

    ¡°He has sensed it too, Mother,¡± Eztli exined, her fair face twisting into a frown. ¡°Tonight will be dark and full of terrors.¡±

    It didn¡¯t surprise me that Eztli would notice it too. She had witnessed the ritual on Smoke Mountain and was bound to the First Emperor by the vampiric curse.

    ¡°I¡¯ve had a dreadful vision,¡± I said. ¡°Of the dead devouring the living.¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t see any corpses in here,¡± Eztli replied with a dismissive shrug. Either she knew I was lying through my teeth or she simply didn¡¯t care what disaster the Nightlords¡¯ arrogance unleashed on Yohuachanca. ¡°How about we speak of lighter things? Do you have new training scars to show us?¡±

    I scoffed. Chikal didn¡¯t coddle me, but she wasn¡¯t too brutal of a trainer either. ¡°Not yet. I have bruises though.¡±

    ¡°Good thing that youe to visit a healer then,¡± Eztli mused, while Necahual looked away. She knew very well that my headache and training fatigue were a mere excuse toe practice Seidr with her. ¡°If you would kindlyy on the bed and remove those heavy clothes of yours.¡±

    A few minutester, I found myself sitting naked on Eztli¡¯s bed with the daughter and mother on each side. It was quite afortable mattress; if anything, it felt slightly underused. I guessed that Eztli didn¡¯t sleep here often, if at all.

    Did vampires even need to rest? They cowered from the sun during the day, but the gift of dreaming might be beyond their undead reach.

    ¡°My, my¡­¡± Eztli muttered to herself upon applying a poultice to my bruised abs. They were small and only started to develop recently, but it astonished me to have any at all after spending so many years of life being frail and scrawny. Good nutrition and constant exercise did wonders for the human body. ¡°I like what I see¡­ you are nicelying into shape, Iztac.¡±

    ¡°Battle fills me with energy,¡± I replied. The House of Jaguars had taught me that. ¡°I have much left to give.¡±

    ¡°Do you hear that, Mother?¡± Eztli turned in Necahual¡¯s direction. ¡°He needs another private lesson.¡±

    Necahual looked away. ¡°It would be best if you left us, Eztli.¡±

    ¡°Why would I?¡± Eztli gave her mother a puzzled look. ¡°We¡¯ve both shared his bed. I could assist you.¡±

    Necahual winced at her daughter¡¯s answer. ¡°I do not feelfortable serving the emperor in my daughter¡¯s presence,¡± she said, shifting in ce. ¡°It fills me with unease.¡±

    Eztli raised an eyebrow. She appeared genuinely surprised by her mother¡¯s reluctance.

    ¡°Strange,¡± Eztli muttered to herself. ¡°I thought it would make it easier.¡±

    Her answer and unnatural reaction reminded me of how much the curse had diminished her. It had robbed Eztli of part of her humanity. She cared for her mother, but she struggled to understand her.

    ¡°Take your time then,¡± Eztli said upon hopping out of the bed. ¡°I will keep myself busy in the meantime.¡±

    Necahual watched Eztli exit the bedroom with a heavy gaze. I pitied her a bit. Her daughter had finally returned to her, but changed in ways big and small.

    ¡°Are you well?¡± I asked her with some concern.

    Necahual met my gaze, her expression softening. ¡°I am d that she returned to me. That is all that matters to me.¡±

    Was that gratitude I saw in her gaze? She couldn¡¯t thank me openly in case a spy overheard us, but Necahual clearly felt that she owed me for reuniting her with Eztli. Something that probably drove her mad.

    Nheless, she showed no frustration nor regrets when she removed her robes and let them drop to the floor. My gaze lingered on her bosom and naked hips. My mother-inw was fleshier than her daughter for certain, albeit with little of Eztli¡¯s own confidence.

    ¡°Is something wrong?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°This is my daughter¡¯s bed,¡± Necahual replied.

    I scoffed. ¡°Good,¡± I said, pointing at myp. ¡°Get over there.¡±

    <strong>-------- NSFW Scene starts here ----</strong>

    Necahual red at me, but obeyed my order nheless. She reluctantly climbed on myp, her knees on each of my sides.

    Shameful as it sounded, I found it arousing to see her submit to me while knowing that I would likely bed Eztli next. She had spent the years I spent in her household throwing stones at me whenever I grew too close to Eztli for herfort, and now I would take her bed. Sick as it sounded, I never grew tired of these small humiliations.

    Necahual red at my erect manhood, her gratitude reced with annoyance. ¡°You find this funny?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I do.¡± I solidly grabbed her hips with my hands, which drew a startled cry from her. ¡°Get used to it.¡±

    Necahual clenched her jaw, her hands settling on my shoulders as I pulled her down. She moaned when I prated her. I tightened my grip on her hips,ying im to her flesh and body.

    ¡°Did you like the flowers I sent you?¡± I asked her after letting out a breath of pleasure.

    Necahual scoffed in disdain. ¡°You think you can buy me?¡±

    ¡°Why would I?¡± I leaned in to kiss her. ¡°When I already own you?¡±

    I forced my lips on her own and began to thrust at the same time. The bed bounced under us as we settled on a steady rhythm. Necahual began to match me, pushing my lips back to regain a measure of control and adjusting her position to better ride me. She let out cries of pain and pleasure when I bit her breast and kissed her sweating neck.

    She was getting used to this.

    No matter how much she pretended otherwise, her body and kisses told me that she enjoyed our Seidr unions as much as she loathed them; or perhaps she hated them <em>because </em>it gave her pleasure. Only through me could she caress the power she envied Mother for.

    I enjoyed it too. Owning her, embracing her, <em>filling </em>her. I would do it even without Seidr involved.

    <em>Should I let her go one day?</em> Chikal asked me what I would do once I destroyed the Nightlords. I had only a vague idea yet. I would likely marry Eztli properly, but I hadn¡¯t given too much thought to her mother yet. <em>She promised me her body and soul if I returned her daughter to me and taught her magic¡­ I¡¯ve already fulfilled my part¡­</em>

    <strong>----- NSFW scene ends ------</strong>

    Our heart-fires aligned together in a perverse thrill.

    The Seidr vision came to me in a sh; the sight of winding tunnels connecting underground mushroom caves to a hospice¡¯s offices and quarantined halls. The information filling our minds was blurry enough, but I managed to gain a rough sense of the ce¡¯syout.

    I gasped upon returning to reality in Necahual¡¯s arms. My mother-inw was sweating, her breath heavy from our lovemaking. She felt heavy on myp, a stain of seed dripping down her hole.

    ¡°Up for one more, Iztac?¡± Eztli called out to us from outside the bedroom. ¡°I am growing thirsty.¡±

    She was indeed ravenous.

    I faded to sleep in Eztli¡¯s arms. To add insult to Necahual¡¯s injury, I did so in thetter¡¯s bed.

    At least our Seidr session worked well enough. I had obtained a rough mental map of Yoloxochitl¡¯s underground facility. I could begin to carry out my ns to destroy the garden once Ingrid provided me with the public area¡¯syout and the necessary supplies.

    But that would wait for another day. Another task would upy my attention tonight.

    I was used to the sight of Xibalba¡¯s crossroads by now. Four, mist-filled archways stood in each of the four cardinal directions under a gloomy gray sky. Had I not known I had just triumphed over the House of Jaguars, I would have thought I hadn¡¯t progressed an inch.

    The sight of Xibalba¡¯s dark pyramid looming in the distance attested otherwise, since it appeared closer to my position than on myst visit. I was halfway through the city¡¯s trials. Three more houses awaited me.

    Yet I did not move an inch towards any of the gates.

    I stood in their midst for a moment, my eyes closed and my power turned inward. I had spent thest few days upstairs slowly building up my bone reserves. I harvested everything I could from my pce¡¯s precious food and stored it in my ribs. I believed I had enough for my purpose.

    I cast Bonecraft and opened my palm. I drew upon my ribs and cannibalized them to grow new bones from between my fingers: a tiny skull with empty eyes and crooked teeth.

    <em>I hope that this spell does not include a size requirement.</em> Icked the resources to create too many adult skulls, so I settled on creating a baby-sized one as an experiment. It easily fit between my fingers. <em>Only one way to find out. </em>

    ¡°Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± I whispered my name into the skull as the spell demanded. ¡°Lost souls, I offer you this empty vessel crafted from my own bones to join your Legion of skulls. I beckon thee from the depths of the Underworld. Come to me.¡±

    The chains holding my heart-fire reverberated with power. My Legion spell echoed through the curse binding the generations of emperors to the Nightlords¡¯ vile ritual. The mere fact that the spell triggered at all filled me with hope.

    For the briefest of instant, I existed in many ces at once. My limited mind joined a great collective of bones bound by their cursed souls.

    I was myself, a catecolotl wandering the streets and halls of Xibalba, the House of Fright. I was a sleeping shell of flesh in a woman¡¯s arms trapped in a dreamless slumber. I was a being with a thousand eyes trapped in a dark prison set between two worlds, cursed to sit on the threshold, facing darkness on both sides.

    My brain burned inside my own skull. A man wasn¡¯t born to see with more than two eyes, and not even spiders had no more than eight. So many angles and such a limited ability to process it all.

    I received a taste of my future should I fail to defeat the Nightlords: an impotent piece in a prison of souls, struggling to maintain a shred of individuality in the raging sea of an ancient collective. Were my predecessors not bound to their reliquary and their spirits to the Underworld¡¯s doorstep, then I would have lost my mind on the spot.

    I managed to wrestle my spirit back from the Parliament¡¯s prison and return to Xibalba, slightly spooked but fully myself once again. A single skull faced me with shining eyes filled with ghostly mes.

    ¡°Our sessor?¡± it whispered with a single, small voice. There was a tone I¡¯d never hearding from the Parliament of Skulls: that of utter <em>surprise</em>. ¡°What¡­ what have you done?¡±

    ¡°Wee to Xibalba, my predecessors.¡± My heart swelled with pride at my sess. ¡°It is as you said. The curse connects the skulls of past emperors and those I choose to add to the collective.¡±

    A fact that already applied to me.

    ¡°We see now¡­ You used Bonecraft to craft a new medium for us to use through our existing connection,¡± the skull whispered to itself. ¡°To think it would let usmunicate so deep into the Underworld¡­¡±

    ¡°You were a bit too narrow-minded, my predecessors,¡± I said. ¡°The true advantage of the Legion spell is not its ability to draw a soul into your collective, but to expand it outward beyond the Reliquary.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± the skull conceded. ¡°You truly are wise, Iztac Ce Ehecatl, to see the unseen option that escaped our notice.¡±

    I epted their praise with grace. I was extremely pleased with myself. Managing to impress over six-hundred generations of emperors with my sorcery meant that I had greatly progressed as a sorcerer.

    Moreover, I no longer needed to visit the Reliquary to receive my elders¡¯ counsel. I could now speak with them safely when I slumbered. This removed a thorn from my foot.

    ¡°Is this the House of Fright?¡± asked the skull, the mes of its eyes wavering. ¡°What a terrible ce. We can feel its evil seeping into our bones, but we appreciate the change in scenery.¡±

    ¡°If you do not mind, I would request your help going forward.¡±

    ¡°We will advise you to the best of our ability, though we unfortunately know little of this ce.¡±

    ¡°Advice isn¡¯t what I have in mind.¡± I joined my hands together and cast Bonecraft again. ¡°I would like to put an idea to the test.¡±

    I drew upon my reserves and created five skulls in total; each so small that I could hold all of them in the palm of my hand. I whispered my name into each, though this time I was careful not to let myself be drawn into the soul collective once again. The Parliament managed to possess all of these new vessels nheless.

    ¡°What is your n, our sessor?¡± the five skulls whispered all at once, each with a different voice.

    ¡°You will see,¡± I replied with a smile. I kept the first skull I had made by my side on the ground and grabbed the other four. ¡°In more ways than one.¡±

    I whirled on my feet and threw a skull through each of the misty doors. I did so quickly, before the city¡¯s evil spirit could realize what I had in mind. Each of the projectiles vanished behind a foggy veil in an instant.

    I swiftly turned at thest one in my possession. ¡°Did you see anything?¡±

    ¡°Yes, our sessor,¡± the fifth skull replied. ¡°We rolled into a dark, crumbling ruin. We hardly caught a glimpse of it before a shadow crushed us.¡±

    ¡°<em>All</em> of you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The fifth skull¡¯s empty eyes glowed with ghostlight. ¡°These four doors lead to the same trap¡¯s jaws.¡±

    <em>As I suspected. </em>Xibalba was the House of Fright, and the cruelest dishes were served seasoned with false hopes. Why would this city give me a slim chance of a way out of its torments? Either my Mother lied about her sanctuary or the path didn¡¯t involve any of the gates. <em>And since I can¡¯t fly away, this leaves only one option left. </em>

    I looked down at the floor beneath my feet. Ancient stonesy there, built atop the graves of Xibalba¡¯s countless victims. Did this ce have crypts hidden underground? M¡¯s depths did hide an entire maze.

    ¡°We must ask why you needed us to tell you anything,¡± thest skull said. ¡°You should be able to see through our eyes.¡±

    ¡°I fear I will lose myself to the whole if I try.¡± The mere thought of seeing the world through a thousand eyes caused me a headache. ¡°When I activated the spell for the first time, I felt like a man drowning in a turbulent sea.¡±

    ¡°Your soul is strong, but it cannot resist the spiritual weight of over six hundred ghosts.¡± The skull let out a pleased rattle. ¡°Do not despair, Iztac. We have high hopes that you will grow strong enough to resist us. Once you have consumed enough godly embers, your sense of self should survive ourmunion. You maye to share more than just our eyes. No more would we have to teach you anything, for you will simply <em>know</em>.¡±

    I pondered their words. Although I was in no hurry to touch it again, the emperors¡¯ collective represented an immense wellspring of knowledge and spiritual power. I wondered about the potential applications. I had failed to master the Tomb spell yet because Icked the power required for it, but if I could tap into my predecessors¡¯ spiritual power¡­

    ¡°In any case, if our spell can pierce through the walls of this primeval demon den, then it should work anywhere,¡± the skull said. ¡°We could observe others on your behalf.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°I doubt I will find an opportunity to cast it on the surface anytime soon. The Nightlords would wonder where I keep finding all of these baby human skulls.¡±

    ¡°Now it is you who does not see the hidden path.¡± The Parliament let out a deep chuckle. ¡°A skull can be of any size, nor does it have to look human. It only has toe from <em>you</em>.¡±

    My eyes widened. They had a point. So long as these skulls were crafted from my bones, I could decide their shape at will. I had settled on a baby-sized skull for safety¡¯s sake, but it could be norger than a thumb.

    I would need to run more tests with the Legion spell, but that was for another time. I should focus on trying to reach Mother¡¯s sanctuary first.

    I examined the ground with the Gaze and found nothing. A cursory examination of the floor didn¡¯t provide me with any leads either. The stone beneath my feet was smooth and polished with no structural weakness to speak of. I didn¡¯t notice any switch that could unveil a secret passage either.

    <em>When intelligence fails, strength usually seeds. </em>I coated my fist in ayer of bone thicker than any armor and punched the ground with all of my might. The blow reverberated through my arm, though it was the stone alone that cracked. <em>It doesn¡¯t feel as thick as it ought to be.</em>

    The floor crumbled with a few more blows. A good fifth of it copsed into a hole under my feet, opening a dark pit into Xibalba¡¯s depths. I used the Gaze to see into it, but the tunnel went on and on deeper than what my eyes could reach. It was narrow too; barelyrge enough for me to fall into.

    ¡°We doubt that dropping us into this tunnel will do much good,¡± the Parliament of Skulls warned me. ¡°Considering the depth, this skull is likely to shatter on impact.¡±

    ¡°No need,¡± I replied. ¡°I already know where it leads.¡±

    I could sense Mother gazing at me from the bottom. She was such a crafty witch.

    After all, who in their right mind would look for an owl¡¯s nest <em>underground</em>?

 Chapter Fifty-One: Mothers Nest

    Chapter Fifty-One: Mother''s Nest

    I slowly descended into the darkness, thest of the Parliament¡¯s skulls held between my talons as my only guide.

    The Gaze spell illuminated the path below and revealed ancient words of power carved into the pit¡¯s walls. I did not recognize these symbols andnguages, but I could see the magic radiating from them. My winged feathers blew dust at them each time they pped.

    I couldn¡¯t tell how long the descentsted. The tunnel stretched so far down I wondered if it reached all the way to the Underworld¡¯s thirdyer. My quest ended when I reached ayer of miasmic vapors rising from the pit¡¯s bottom. I flew through it and saw lighting from the other side.

    Crossing theyer led me into a vast, sunless antechamber with a floor made of white bones; a design that reminded me of Chamiaholom¡¯s ghastly home. Mother was waiting for me there in front of a shadowy archway.

    ¡°You arete, my son,¡± she said. ¡°Veryte.¡±

    I had aplished much since Ist saw Mother: I triumphed over three of Xibalba¡¯s trials, I became a god¡¯s prophet, and most important of all, I had foiled the Nightlords¡¯ n to reshape the cosmos in their image, destroying one of them in the process.

    I had hoped for a warmer greeting.

    ¡°You should have made the puzzle¡¯s solution more obvious then,¡± I replied harshly.

    ¡°It <em>was</em>,¡± Mother replied with a snort. ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard of burrowing owls?¡±I narrowed my eyes uponnding on the ground and shifting back into my human form. ¡°Owls can dig?¡±

    My response caused Mother to scowl. ¡°Have you <em>never </em>left your vige, my son?¡±

    ¡°Hardly,¡± I replied, my voice brimming with annoyance. ¡°I was forbidden to eat meat, so I couldn¡¯t help Acampa¡¯s hunters without supervision.¡±

    ¡°Small owls in the great northern ins and the Boiling Inds excavate burrows to hide inside,¡± the skull in my talons said. ¡°Some say that they seek entrance into the Underworld. We doubt anyone near the capital¡¯s region has ever heard of them.¡±

    Mother nced at the skull with sudden interest. ¡°What did you aplish, Iztac?¡± she asked, stroking her chin. ¡°This skull can speak on its own, yet it''s made of your bones.¡±

    ¡°This is a vessel for the Parliament of Skulls, born of my own body,¡± I exined. ¡°My predecessors, let me introduce you to the runaway woman who gave birth to me, Ichtaca.¡±

    Mother had at least the decency to clench her jaw at my acerbicment.

    ¡°Your tales precede you in M, Lady Ichtaca,¡± thete emperors replied. ¡°That of your ghastly crimes and dark deeds in particr.¡±

    ¡°What the ghosts above say does not matter to me.¡± Mother continued to study the skull, her eyes shining with blue light. I suspected that she was using a variant of the Gaze spell to study it. ¡°Impressive, Iztac. You created a unique spell by using the very curse binding your soul. You show great talent.¡±

    Unlike my predecessors, her praise meant nothing to me. I did note that she didn¡¯t seem to know anything about the Legion spell. Her knowledge of sorcery was vast, but not perfect.

    ¡°I assume that Chamiaholom taught you Bonecraft?¡± Mother asked.

    ¡°She did,¡± I confirmed. ¡°I¡¯ve also learned how to cast the Tomb and ze spells.¡±

    ¡°Very powerful picks.¡± Mother scowled. ¡°The Lords of Terror favor you more than me.¡±

    I wouldn¡¯t call losing a toe to the chilling cold, fighting rabid beasts for hours, and being attacked in the dark by demons a show of favor. ¡°I earned them with my blood and sweat.¡±

    ¡°All sorcerers pay a price to learn their craft,¡± Mother replied, almost dismissively. I could tell that she didn¡¯t consider the Xibalba trials worth discussing. ¡°However, the Lords gave me far weaker spells on my first visit. It took me <em>years </em>of negotiations to learn the Tomb and ze spells.¡°

    ¡°Your son¡¯s talent for sorcery is greater than yours,¡± the Parliament argued. ¡°We suspect that the Nightlords chose him as this year¡¯s emperor for this very reason. He alone could light their Sulfur Sun.¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps,¡± Mother conceded. I couldn¡¯t tell whether she felt proud of me or threatened by my potential. Perhaps both. ¡°A sun whose night you brought about.¡±

    At least she didn¡¯t try to take the credit. ¡°I¡¯m surprised,¡± Imented. ¡°You did everything in your power to foil the Nightlords¡¯ n without risking yourself. I expected a stronger reaction at me seeding in this task.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Mother¡¯s eyes met mine. ¡°I <em>knew </em>that you would seed.¡±

    I held her gaze without a word. She wasn¡¯t lying. Her belief in my sess had been unwavering, because I was <em>her </em>son; because the sun <em>would </em>have died otherwise; because failure could <em>not </em>be permitted.

    In her mind, I had lived up to her great standards. Why should she praise an expected oue?

    ¡°We must nheless discuss the consequences of your sess,¡± Mother said before focusing her attention back on the Parliament. ¡°I would dly wee one of your skulls within my domain on a permanent basis. We could trade secrets.¡±

    The Parliament wisely denied her. ¡°We advise your son alone. We know that you are a thief of souls, Lady Ichtaca, and we can tell that you will seek to bind us if you find the opportunity. We have no wish to escape one prison only to enter another.¡±

    ¡°Do not be so hasty.¡± Mother turned her back on us and walked towards the archway. ¡°You should see the nest I have created for myself first.¡±

    Mother vanished into the shadows ahead, much to my surprise. My Gaze spell noticed the presence of a powerful Veil beyond the archway, alongside other sorceries I did not recognize.

    ¡°Do not trust her, our sessor,¡± the Parliament warned me. Their first impression of my mother didn¡¯t inspire confidence. ¡°This woman cares only for herself. She will go back on her word whenever it suits her, whether to you or us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed.¡± Mother wouldn¡¯t even risk her life stopping the New Fire Ceremony, although the entire world had been at stake. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m used to dealing with untrustworthy and dangerous people nowadays.¡±

    ¡°She is in a ss of her own. Most scoundrels have lines they will not cross, whether from shame or decency.¡± The skull let out a sinister rattle. ¡°We fear that this woman has <em>none</em>.¡±

    Was <em>I</em> among those lines? I feared that I already knew the answer. ¡°We need all the help we can get.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± the Parliament conceded. ¡°But we ask that you do not leave us in her care. She craves our knowledge as much as the Nightlords sought our blood, since we have witnessed the rise of Yohuachanca from its inception. She will exploit us if given the opportunity.¡±

    I agreed to the request with a nod and walked after Mother with the skull in my hands. I entered the darkness and stepped inside the strangest of ces: a vast expanse of billowing vapors and miasma covering great alleys of paved bones and ivory shelves. They were filled with carved obsidian tablets the size of my hands and marked with words such as ¡®history¡¯ or ¡®nature.¡¯ They probably held information arranged in an organization schema of Mother¡¯s devising.

    I briefly canceled my Gaze spell and allowed the illusion ruling this ce to shroud my sight. The world around me shifted into a very different ce: a cozy, carpeted library filled with scrolls.

    Mother¡¯s dusky feathers and owl mask vanished. She appeared to me as any human of flesh and blood, with pale skin, long white hair, sapphire eyes, and fair features. She reminded me of an older Nl, albeit with none of the gentleness and a harsh gaze filled with bitterness.

    My body transformed too. I appeared as I did on the surface, devoid of a catecolotl¡¯s features or burning heart-fire, and the skull in my hand had transformed into a crystal version of itself.

    I pinched the spot where my exposed rib cage should have been. I felt pain coursing through my illusory flesh.

    The Veil worked by exploiting belief. The more someone distrusted the illusion, the weaker it became. The fact that I already knew of this ce¡¯s trickery meant that the Veil spell covering it should have instantly dispelled. Yet it did not. My Gaze spell alone peered through it.

    ¡°The Lords of Terror reshape reality at will within their houses,¡± Mother exined. ¡°They can manifest almost anything there. Obtaining that power would mean binding myself to Xibalba for all of eternity, so I had to settle for a pale imitation.¡±

    I used the Gaze to pierce through the illusion once again. I immediately identified the likely source of the spell¡¯s permanency: the flow of mist coursing through the phantom library. It reminded me of the same haunted fog of memories that tempted me when I first journeyed to M.

    ¡°You use the fog to give your Veil texture,¡± I guessed.

    ¡°Very astute, Iztac,¡± Mother confirmed. ¡°This fog is fueled by thest breaths of the living. Those breaths carry thest remains of their Ihiyotl and thus immense power.¡±

    The crystal skull in my hands glowed and the Parliament spoke through it. ¡°Whose lungs are those?¡±

    I frowned in confusion until I paid closer attention to the mist. An invisible force caused the fog to flow across the shelves. A wheezing sound echoed further away from our position, so faint I could hardly hear it.

    ¡°Come and see them,¡± Mother beckoned us.

    <em>Them</em>. I immediately understood the nature of her crime the moment I heard the word.

    I followed her up a bone alley until we arrived at arge crossroads joining dozens of them together. I sensed a presence around me, but I didn¡¯t notice anything wrong when I looked around with the Gaze.

    ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± the skull in my hand whispered in astonishment.

    ¡°I do not see anything,¡± I said.

    ¡°You must disable your Gaze spell first,¡± Mother warned me. ¡°Then they shall appear.¡±

    I did so and found myself facing two men of flesh and blood in a library of scrolls.

    They stood right in front of me, to the point I could feel their illusory breath in the air. One was taller than the other, but both were young and strong, their muscles full of vitality. They wore rich robes that would fit neatly in my imperial wardrobe.

    ¡°The young master can see us now,¡± the smallest one of the two mused. He and hispatriot bowed before me. ¡°We bid thee wee to the House of the Owl.¡±

    ¡°Iztac, let me introduce you to my assistants, Bada and Kele,¡± Mother said. ¡°They take care of this library on my behalf.¡±

    ¡°We recognize these names,¡± the Parliament whispered. ¡°Lord Xolotlined to us about them. You abducted their souls many years ago.¡±

    The taller one of the two men, ¡®Bada,¡¯ smiled warmly at the skull. ¡°Mistress Ichtaca did not take us by force. She offered us a fair trade, and we epted.¡±

    ¡°A second life for service,¡± Kele said. ¡°She gave us our flesh back, and we take care of her library in return.¡±

    I remained silent, pondering their words, and then asked, ¡°Do you believe that you are alive?¡±

    ¡°We <em>are </em>alive, young master.¡± Bada presented his palms to me. ¡°Look at these hands. Are they not made of flesh and blood?¡±

    I stared through them with the Gaze spell and found myself facing an empty void. I canceled the spell right after, knowing that they would not believe any of my words.

    ¡°The mistress returned us to life,¡± Bada said. ¡°True, death will im us again if we leave her enchanted home, but it is a small price to pay. I would rather stay within these walls than return to M.¡±

    Hispatriot nodded with enthusiasm. ¡°I had long forgotten the simple pleasure of breathing.¡±

    ¡°These two schrs lived centuries past, back when Yohuachanca was still young,¡± Mother exined. ¡°They forgot more about this world¡¯s history than most will ever learn.¡±

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the vition.

    ¡°I see¡­¡± I replied. The situation made me somewhat ufortable, though it did raise my curiosity. ¡°I am happy to make your acquaintance. I will do my best not to disturb your work during my stay.¡±

    ¡°The young master is too polite,¡± Bada replied with a chuckle. ¡°We are at his disposal, not the other way around.¡±

    ¡°If you wish for anything, please let us know,¡± hisrade added. ¡°This library is a maze to navigate, but we know it like the back of our hands.¡±

    I politely thanked them and followed Mother up a shelved alley. I took a moment to check one of the illusory scrolls. Floating diagrams and words magically appeared before my eyes, though I found myself staring at an obsidian tablet still on its shelf when I activated the Gaze spell. The Veil directly projected information into my mind.

    ¡°Are they ghosts?¡± I questioned Mother once they were out of earshot. ¡°Or illusions?¡±

    ¡°Tonalli projections might be a better term. Their physical remainsy elsewhere, while their minds have be one with the fog.¡± Mother smiled to herself. ¡°They are part of the <em>tapestry</em>, if you will.¡±

    By joining with the Veil covering this library, these people experienced it as reality. They existed in a mirage indistinguishable from real life. They believed themselves alive because they <em>felt </em>that way.

    ¡°As I told you when we first met, I am trying to ovee death,¡± Mother said. ¡°Thews of the Underworld prevent souls from regaining a Teyolia and heart-fire, so this mirage of normalcy is all that I can offer my guests. I have yet to find a way to give them true flesh.¡±

    ¡°Chamiaholom could conjure the corpses of others,¡± I replied. The image of Chimalli¡¯s corpse boiling in her cauldron still haunted me. ¡°Her siblings summoned an army of beasts in the House of Jaguars.¡±

    Mother shook her head. ¡°The Lords of Terror are masters of reality within their domain. They can conjure perfect imitations, but they would copse to dust should they leave their houses.¡±

    This revtion did not reassure me in the slightest. Whether or not Chimalli¡¯s corpse had been real or not, my actions did destroy Acampa. The animals I ughtered in the House of Jaguars breathed, hungered, and suffered like any other.

    Mother led me past a coiling tunnel and into a spacious lobby with wood-paneled walls, neatly organized bookshelves, andfortable sofas. A group of young men and women drafted scrolls in arge study, while a lush garden could be seen through the only window. None of them could be older than thirty. They smiled at our approach, some of them biting into fresh fruits or tasting chocte cups; heedless of the truth of their situation.

    ¡°Wee to the House of the Owl, my son,¡± Ichtaca said as she gave me a tour. ¡°My personal sanctuary, where the dead enjoy a second life of peace and learning.¡±

    ¡°A life of lies,¡± I replied upon activating the Gaze spell to see the room as it truly was: a vault of fused bones and barbed alcoves, whose stone tables were devoid of food and whose window led to an empty courtyard. These specters¡¯ work only existed inside the spider¡¯s web trapping their minds.

    ¡°The life I offer them might be woven with illusions, but it feels real to them.¡± Mother seemed downright confused by my cold reaction. ¡°It is a kinder afterlife than the dreary emptiness of M.¡±

    ¡°M¡¯s citizens are free,¡± I replied, my heart swelling with dread. I had my suspicions about how Mother fueled this spell of hers, and for what purpose.

    ¡°Free to mourn their lost flesh and the pleasures of life. They y at being alive to stave off boredom and the oblivion that follows.¡± Mother dismissed my worries. ¡°If it bothers you so much, my son, you only have to give them a body of flesh once we achieve godhood.¡±

    I looked at her in skepticism. ¡°The Lords of Terror would not allow you to create a paradise for lost souls in their city of fear, even a false one. What¡¯s the catch?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t deny that I had to make sacrifices to create this sanctuary,¡± Mother conceded. ¡°But this ce is safe. It can even be your predecessors¡¯ afterlife, if they so choose. A ce where they can feel alive again and debate with the best schrs mankind ever produced.¡±

    The Parliament of Skulls, who had remained silent so far, let out a ghastly rattle. ¡°Whose lungs are these?¡± they asked once more, their voice heavy with cold fury. ¡°Who breathes this lie into being?¡±

    Mother¡¯s squinting eyes told me everything I needed to know. Her paradise <em>did </em>have a cost.

    ¡°I want the truth,¡± I said sharply.

    Mother considered my request a moment before conceding. ¡°Very well. I suppose you should learn how to use the device.¡±

    <em>The device.</em> I strongly began to suspect the source of her sanctuary¡¯s magic, yet I prayed to be wrong. <em>Mother, have you sunk so low? </em>

    She led us deeper inside her home and through orderly corridors. The lost souls grew rarer the further we progressed into the library. I assumed Mother¡¯s magic kept them away from restricted areas. Our journey ended in a hall separated from the rest of the facility by great archways. It seemed quaint, with a single golden statue of an owl in its center as andmark.

    The Gaze swiftly revealed the sinister truth.

    A frightful contraption appeared in the statue¡¯s ce; a colossal pir of diseased ck flesh bound by powerful metal chains hanging from the ceiling. Hundreds of skulls were embedded in the structure, all of them <em>breathing</em>. They exhaled the fog through their open jaws, their empty eyes alight with pale ghostfire.

    This sight was frighteningly familiar to both the Parliament and myself.

    A copy of the Reliquary.

    I saw iting, but I¡¯d still hoped Mother wouldn¡¯tmit such a heinous deed. M¡¯s gods and Huehuecoyotl warned me that Mother abducted the souls and skulls of the dead to steal their knowledge. She had intentionally crafted the same device that the Nightlords identally created: a prison for souls.

    A single question surged through all of my horror and disgust.

    ¡°Is Father in there?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No, of course not!¡± Mother red at me with genuine anger. ¡°How <em>dare </em>you ask me that, Iztac?¡±

    ¡°How dare you build such an <em>abomination</em>?!¡± I snapped back, my jaw so tight I thought my teeth might crack. The skull in my hand was eerily silent; a reaction stronger than any snarl of rage. ¡°You¡¯ve condemned <em>hundreds of souls</em> to the same fate that the Nightlords nned for me! That they¡¯ve put my predecessors through!¡±

    ¡°A much kinder fate,¡± Mother argued. ¡°These souls live anew.¡±

    I red at her. ¡°Are they aware of their true situation?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Mother replied without any shame. ¡°In their case, ignorance is bliss.¡±

    ¡°Quite the hypocritical statement to say in a secret <em>library</em>,¡± I snapped, my voice brimming with anger. ¡°You trapped innocent souls in a Veil for all eternity, bound their skulls for knowledge, and turned them into fuel for your magic!¡±

    ¡°You would rather that I keep their skulls on a shelf, to take their knowledge as I see fit?¡± Mother retorted. ¡°I required information which only they possessed, and I paid them back for it with a dream of life. Tell me why it is unfair, Iztac?¡±

    Mother didn¡¯t show any anger. In fact, she appeared mostly confused by my reaction. She simply couldn¡¯t fathom why enving the souls of the dead would bother me. I would not deny that Imitted many crimes, but <em>that </em>was one I loathed enough to seek an alternative over the Legion spell¡¯s proper use.

    ¡°Are these people free to leave?¡± I asked sharply.

    ¡°Why would they?¡± Mother replied, avoiding my question. ¡°My House of the Owl offers them a better resting ce than any other in the Underworld, save loc¡¯s personal domain.¡±

    ¡°But would you return these skulls to M if they asked you to?¡±

    Mother¡¯s silence was an answer in itself.

    Worse, I could wager as to what price the Lords of Terror exacted to let her build this ce inside their cursed city. I saw tortured figures in the House of Gloom, their tongue ripped out and their eyes shut so that they would suffer in silence. I thought most of them were catecolotl who had failed the trials, but now I wondered how many of them simply happened to be souls Mother brought to Xibalba as a toll.

    ¡°These people used to be humans once,¡± I protested. ¡°Same as us.¡±

    ¡°The people are not Nahualli,¡± Mother replied, her voice colder than winter¡¯s winds. ¡°They are not our kin.¡±

    Therey the source of the problem. Mother didn¡¯t see non-catecolotl souls as people, but as resources to exploit. A lifetime of rejection caused her to turn her back on humanity itself.

    She wasn¡¯t so different from the Nightlords at the end of the day; the fact she independently came up with a Reliquary proved that they thought along the same line. She simply traded their rampant cruelty and worldshaking arrogance for cold indifference and detached curiosity.

    Mother would have disappointed me, if I hadn¡¯t already been expecting the worsting from her. I had moved beyond wrath and into simple sorrow.

    The person I was truly angry at was myself. For all of the disgust her creation inspired in my heart, I needed Mother¡¯s help too much to shatter it where it stood. For all of my newfound power, I couldn¡¯t afford freeing these souls now. My salvation, nay, the <em>world¡¯s</em>, required Mother¡¯s assistance.

    I bit my tongue to stop more barbedments from pouring out of my mouth. I would have to swallow my resentment until the day I could seed on my own.

    ¡°We must deny your previous offer, Lady Ichtaca,¡± the Parliament of Skulls suddenly said. Although I could sense their fears, my predecessors answered Ichtaca¡¯s proposal with diplomacy. They too understood that we needed her assistance. ¡°A golden cage remains a cage, and we have grown weary of ours. We might carry our regrets to M, but those thoughts shall be ours alone.¡±

    Mother shrugged. ¡°You wille to regret your choice, but have it your way. I shall not insist on it further.¡±

    Her response surprised me, but then I realized that the Veil spell required its victims to buy into the illusion. The Parliament¡¯s souls might resist its pull and disturb the collective dream; a risk Mother might wish to avoid. I suspected she created a pleasant prison because, unlike the Nightlords, she knew vengeful spirits could plot behind her back.

    <em>She knows neither mercy norpassion, </em>I thought grimly. <em>All her decisions are guided by pragmatism and practicality. Nothing else.</em>

    ¡°Would you do <em>anything </em>for knowledge, Mother?¡± I asked her, more out of disappointment than fury.

    She held my gaze. ¡°Would you do anything to survive, my son?¡±

    It was my turn to fall silent. I had chosen death overplicity once, but that was when I thought I had no other option avable. Now that I have hope, however faint, I¡¯vemitted many sins in order to defeat the Nightlords and escape their grasp.

    Was I capable of anything, as Chamiaholom thought?

    I hoped to never find the answer.

    ¡°You are free to peruse my library as you wish,¡± Mother told me. ¡°I keep spell-rted information to myself, but my books contain a wealth of information about the world, its legends, and its lost treasures.¡±

    ¡°Including the First Emperor¡¯s codices?¡± I asked, suppressing my anger to focus on more immediate matters.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Mother confirmed, much to my joy. ¡°I have been trying to locate them myself to little avail, but Ick the resources of an emperor.¡±

    ¡°The information that you gathered shouldplete ours,¡± the Parliament noted.

    ¡°Bada and Kele can counsel you in your search.¡± Mother squinted at me. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that you channeled the First Emperor.¡±

    So she did keep track of events in the world above. ¡°I have. The Nightlords convinced their poption of their lie so thoroughly that it became true.¡±

    ¡°Beware, my son,¡± she warned me. ¡°If you wear a mask for too long, then your face will change to fit it. Borrowed power is never truly yours.¡±

    ¡°Then teach me more spells,¡± I replied. ¡°So that I may rely on my own strength.¡±

    ¡°I shall,¡± Mother promised. ¡°However, you must continue toplete the Lords of Terror¡¯s trials. They will teach you sorcery that I do not know, and you will need to reach the pyramid to escape Xibalba.¡±

    She didn¡¯t ask for a trade in return for her sorcery. Perhaps she did have some decency left in her.

    ¡°What do you know of the First Emperor, Lady Ichtaca?¡± the Parliament inquired. ¡°Understanding the source of the vampiric curse would help us find a cure.¡±

    ¡°He used to be an ancient bat Nahualli who descended into the Underworld¡¯s depths andpleted the pilgrimage towards its bottom,¡± Mother replied, a small smirk at the edge of her lips. She seemed to find the idea of a cure for vampirism quite amusing. ¡°I cannot say what he found beyond the gates of thisyer, for I have yet to descend any deeper. My son¡¯s next trial, the House of Bats, holds a clue.¡±

    ¡°What kind?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I suggest you check it for yourself first, Iztac. You might reach a different conclusion than I did.¡± Mother shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t anticipate his influence to grow since Yoloxochitl¡¯s demise. His power radiates outwards from the Blood Pyramid, polluting thend and sky.¡±

    ¡°Servants informed me that the blood rain devastating our hintends spread from that ce too,¡± I said.

    ¡°Because the First Emperor¡¯s corpse is buried in the Blood Pyramid¡¯s depths, our sessor,¡± the skull said. ¡°The asion to confirm it to you never came up, but the Nightlords raised their temple over their father¡¯s tomb.¡±

    The information only half-surprised me. I learned that the official imperial propaganda¡ªwhich pretended that the First Emperor rose to be the sun¡ªwas rubbish, so I assumed that the First Emperor was hidden away somewhere. It made quite a deal of sense for the monster to be sealed underneath the Blood Pyramid.

    ¡°Is that why emperors are sacrificed there?¡± I wondered out loud. It would exin why I managed to channel the First Emperor while standing in that spot.

    ¡°The yearly ritual kills the soul and shackles his totem,¡± Mother said, her stare settling on the Parliament¡¯s vessel. ¡°ying the body requires a different method, though I had yet to figure it out. Perhaps you know, ancient ghosts of an age past?¡±

    The ghostly mes in the Parliament¡¯s eyes flickered with fear. ¡°We do.¡±

    Mother waited for them to tell her more, but the old emperors refused to borate any further. I couldn¡¯t me them. Whatever atrocities took ce in the Blood Pyramid were so great and terrible that they preferred not to give me details; their sons had been brought there and never seen again.

    ¡°It would do us little good if destroying the Nightlords unleashed another cmity on us,¡± Mother said. ¡°Understanding the ritual¨C¡±

    ¡°Would not help you learn it for yourself,¡± the Parliament interrupted her with a hint of hostility. ¡°The Blood Pyramid contains horrors the likes of which even your Lords of Terror would recoil from. Moreover, understand this: all of the Nightlords¡¯ rituals feed into each other and require their presence. The sisters¡¯ demise will disrupt them beyond hope of recovery.¡±

    Mother scowled. ¡°You advised my son on how to destroy the Nightlords without thinking of what woulde next?¡±

    ¡°Until our current sessor, the mere thought of ying a Nightlord remained nothing more than a dream,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°You have seen for yourself the horrors that they inflict on the world, Lady Ichtaca; enough that you would rather let your son fight them alone rather than risk their wrath. We will always choose the hope of a better future over the certainty of an intolerable present.¡±

    So did I. Besides, the Jaguar Woman hadn¡¯t given up on raising her Sulfur Sun. The sisters would never give up on their mad dream to conquer the sunlight and reshape the world in their image.

    ¡°Another solution might appear to us once we collect the codices,¡± I said. ¡°The Nightlords¡¯ ritual might not be the only one avable to us. We can design another.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± Mother conceded. She clearly wished to question the Parliament more, but she was wise enough to notice the old emperors¡¯ hostility directed towards her. ¡°One Nightlord¡¯s death has only shaken the prison. We have time before my son shatters it.¡±

    Her trust in me would have warmed my heart, if she had any intention of helping me fight the Nightlords directly. Both the Parliament of Skulls and Mother would stick to lessons and advice, but only the first did so because they couldn¡¯t wage war themselves. My own flesh and blood wouldn¡¯t risk her life for me.

    Mother decided toplete her tour of her house afterward. She touched one of her Reliquary¡¯s skulls with her hand. The pir of bone and flesh let out a faint rattle, a stairway opening up at its feet. Mother walked down it first and bid me to follow her. I swiftly noticed that the fog didn¡¯t enter this area; the House¡¯s Veil and its prisoners couldn¡¯t reach it.

    This passage quickly opened into a private study of leather-covered chairs, shelves filled with parchment, and tables covered in quills shaped from owl feathers. In stark contrast with the library upstairs, this ce appeared truly cozy. My Gaze didn¡¯t detect any illusion.

    ¡°These are our private quarters,¡± Mother said. ¡°Make yourself at home.¡±

    <em>Our</em>. My eyes wandered around the study until I noticed a small chimney in a corner. A skeleton in purple cotton robes sat there, watching a ghostly me burning in the hearth. It turned its skull at me, its empty eyes suddenly alight with magical light the moment he caught sight of me.

    He all but leaped out of the sofa and nearly stumbled into the chimney in his haste to greet me.

    Unlike the ghosts above, this specter was whole and untainted by Mother¡¯s lies. Though nothing about his body separated him from all of M¡¯s shambling corpses, I immediately recognized him. The endearing way he rose from his seat, shifting his weight on his right hand¡ªa habit he developed since he broke his left a few years before the famine¡ªhis posture of absolute joy and relief, the warmth radiating from his gaze, andst but not least, the tight hug in which he held me before I could even open my mouth¡­

    How could I forget them?

    ¡°It¡¯s really you¡­¡± the ghost whispered with a familiar voice, his weak arms squeezing me with all their feeble strength. ¡°After so many years¡­ I can hold you again¡­¡±

    My father, Itzili, stood before me.

    And I returned his hug in full.

 Chapter Fifty-Two: Father and Son

    Chapter Fifty-Two: Father and Son

    So many years had passed since Fatherst hugged me that I almost forgot how warm his arms felt. Theck of flesh on his bones hardly changed that. Every part of his body radiated something that I rarely received.

    Love.

    ¡°I am so d to see you again, Iztac,¡± Father said upon squeezing me tightly. ¡°Though I wish it were under better circumstances.¡±

    My spine stiffened. ¡°You <em>know</em>?¡±

    ¡°Your mother told me that the Nightlords chose you as this year¡¯s emperor. This news devastated me.¡± Father¡¯s hands moved to firmly grab my shoulders and he looked at me right in the eyes. ¡°I swear we¡¯ll find a way to spare you the altar. There has to be a solution.¡±

    ¡°There is one,¡± I reassured him. Namely, destroying the Nightlords and their wicked empire of death. ¡°Worry not, Father. The vampires shall have neither my blood nor my soul.¡±

    ¡°You have grown so much, Iztac,¡± Father whispered. My resolve impressed him. ¡°When west met, you barely reached up to my chest and feared your own shadow. The person in front of me has be a man.¡±

    ¡°Nearly five years have passed since your death, Father,¡± I replied with a warm chuckle. Thest few months felt like a decade¡¯s worth of trouble. ¡°You¡¯ve missed my growth spurt.¡±

    ¡°And many other things, no doubt,¡± Itziliined with a sad sigh. ¡°Death is truly cruel to take us without appointments.¡±Mother allowed herself to smile. ¡°Our son has grown into a handsome young man, Itzili. He¡¯s your spitting image.¡±

    <em>Did she justpliment me?</em> That alone startled me.

    ¡°He inherited his best traits from his mother,¡± Father replied as he pulled away from me, much to his wife¡¯s amusement. She swiftly kissed him on his skull, and I saw her sharp and strict expression soften in a way it never did with me.

    Mother showed more emotion for that brief instant than she ever did in all of our time together in the Underworld. I caught a glimpse of something other than ambition and bitterness. A purer feeling that transcended Mother¡¯s greed and selfishness.

    A spark of deep affection.

    Mother looked <em>happy</em>.

    That moment was painfully brief, but it struck me with more force than any arrow. None, not even thete Sigrun, could fake something so pure and genuine. For all of her faults, my mother <em>did </em>love my father.

    Her shriveled heart might look bigger than I thought.

    ¡°And who might <em>you </em>be?¡± Father asked the skull in my hands. ¡°Another of my wife¡¯s schrly guests?¡±

    <em>Guests</em>? The word immediately caused me to scowl at Mother, who ignored me. My brief moment of sympathy for her evaporated in an instant. <em>Of course she would deceive him too. </em>

    ¡°We are the Parliament of Skulls,¡± my predecessors replied. ¡°The past emperors that preceded your son on Yohuachanca¡¯s throne. This skull is the medium through which we advise our sessor.¡±

    ¡°Oh! My apologies, Your Majesties, I meant no disrespect.¡± Father immediately offered the Parliament a formal bow. ¡°I thank you for guiding my son, great emperors of the past. I¡¯m told that he has greatly benefited from your wisdom.¡±

    ¡°The pleasure is ours,¡± my predecessors replied. Unlike the coldness and distrust that they had shown Mother before, the emperors answered my father¡¯s gratefulness with courtesy. ¡°Our sessor is a brave and talented young man, Lord Itzili. You should feel proud of his achievements.¡±

    ¡°I am proud, though I wish I could do more than congratte him.¡± Father lowered his head to better show his deference. ¡°I do not deserve the title of lord either, though my wifemands this domain. I am as baseborn as theye.¡±

    ¡°You fathered an emperor and a catecolotl nheless,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°We shall address you with the respect that you deserve.¡±

    <em>¡®The kind that your wife will not receive,¡¯ </em>was left unsaid.

    Father had always been the humblest and kindest man I ever knew; though I might only feel that way because he was the only one to show me unconditional love until Eztli entered my life. The fact that my predecessors immediately seemed to take a liking to him reassured me greatly.

    ¡°Make yourself at home, Iztac,¡± Father said after inviting us to sit near the hearth. ¡°You must tell me everything I¡¯ve missed over thesest few years.¡±

    ¡°I will let the two of you catch up for now,¡± Mother replied.

    Father didn¡¯t hide his disappointment. ¡°You won¡¯t stay with us, my love?¡±

    ¡°I must continue my research for now. The sooner I canplete it, the better.¡± Mother kissed Father on his forehead again and then did the same for me with my cheek. Her lips felt warm on my skin. ¡°We will continue your training after I¡¯ve finished my work, my son. Enjoy yourself until then.¡±

    A very small part of me wished to skip straight to spellcasting, but the rest of my heart couldn¡¯t care less. I¡¯d wanted to visit my father since the moment I stepped foot in the Underworld. I had <em>so much</em> to tell him.

    Mother vanished deeper into her home and Father pulled two seats near the hearth: one for me and one for the Parliament. He put their skull atop a pile of cushions, which I found strangely amusing.

    ¡°Is thisfortable enough, Your Majesties?¡± Father asked the emperors with all the awkwardness of a peasant receiving a noble¡¯s surprise inspection.

    ¡°Worry not,¡± my predecessors replied, their empty eyes staring at the fire. ¡°We find the sight quite pleasing.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, we do not possess much in terms of amodations here,¡± Father apologized. ¡°I spend my days reading, cleaning, cooking, and watching the fire.¡±

    ¡°Cooking?¡± I raised an eyebrow. The deadcked the need and desire for sustenance. ¡°Can you eat food, Dad?¡±

    ¡°I wish!¡± Father replied with a chuckle. ¡°s, no crops grow in thisyer and none of us here require food anyway. I¡¯ve been trying my hand at alchemy and metallurgy instead. Mixing substances together,bining some alloys¡­ cooking with metal and powders, in short.¡± He scratched his skull in embarrassment. ¡°I¡¯ve set your mother¡¯sboratory on fire more times than I can count.¡±

    His new hobby didn¡¯t surprise me all that much. Father had always been very curious and hoped to travel beyond Acampa to see the world one day. He was the first to put the idea of bing a merchant in my head all these years ago.

    I proceeded to take my own seat and rested on the soft leather. I found it quitefortable after all of the deadly trials I went through.

    ¡°Do you like the seat, my son?¡± Father asked me with delight in his voice. ¡°I built it myself.¡±

    ¡°I could sleep in it,¡± I replied. Father¡¯s work paled before the luxuries I enjoyed in the emperor¡¯s pce, but I enjoyed this seat more than any throne. I hadn¡¯t been able to rx in the Underworld since I left M and weed this brief change of pace.

    ¡°Manual work helps me fight off the monotony.¡± Father rested his head on his hand and stared at the hearth¡¯s fire. ¡°Time seems to stretch on forever when you can no longer fill it with idleness, my son. I used to wish that I could forsake sleep in life, only to miss it in death.¡±

    ¡°We do not appreciate the little things until they slip through our fingers,¡± the Parliament of Skullsmented. ¡°Regrets are the wages of wasted lives.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, but enough with the gloom!¡± Father said upon turning his head in my direction. ¡°How have you been since my death, Iztac? Did you make new friends?¡±

    My jaw clenched on its own. Father looked at me with the candid hope that I¡¯d somehow managed to find happiness after his passing. Instead, I¡¯d been adopted by a woman who threw stones at me for looking at her daughter the wrong way and suffered from greater loneliness than ever before.

    Telling him the truth would crush him, but unlike Mother, I didn¡¯t have the heart to lie to him.

    ¡°No, I did not,¡± I said with some awkwardness. Come to think of it, I could count the number of people I trusted on one hand. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s been hard ever since you left, Father.¡±

    Father listened in crestfallen silence as I told him how Guatemoc and Necahual took me in after his death. I told him of the struggles that followed; the mockeries at school, the stones my mother-inw threw at me, the istion I¡¯d felt¡­ To put it bluntly, Eztli had been the only good thing toe out of this period.

    ¡°I am so sorry, Iztac,¡± Father apologized. His voice brimmed with true grief, as if he had gone through the same hardships I did. ¡°I thought Necahual and her husband would prove to be good guardians. She always appeared well-disposed towards me.¡±

    ¡°She was.¡± From Father¡¯s tone, he never learned of Necahual¡¯s feelings towards him. ¡°Her goodwill simply did not extend to me. No one treated me kindly except for Eztli.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d hoped Acampa¡¯s people would ept you with time. That they would see past their superstitions and judge you on your merits. How naive of me.¡± Father clenched his skeletal fingers. ¡°I should have left that vige when I had the chance. Dyed your hair with coal and started anew somewhere else.¡±

    ¡°The red-eyed priests would never have allowed it,¡± the Parliament retorted. ¡°Whether or not they already considered your son an emperor candidate, they constantly collect Nahualli for their mistresses.¡±

    Father didn¡¯t look convinced. ¡°Even so, maybe I could have left Iztac with his mother. She would have taught him witchcraft and kept him away from trouble.¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°I¡¯m thankful that you did not, Father. She would have thrown me in a pit to lighten her load.¡±

    To my astonishment, Father¡¯s jaw dropped in shock. ¡°That isn¡¯t funny, Iztac.¡±

    ¡°I am not joking.¡± I turned to look at the hearth, whose ghostly mes reminded me of my own ze. ¡°She abandoned us once, remember?¡±

    ¡°She did not, Iztac. The Nightlords forced her to flee.¡±

    ¡°Yet she never checked on me until after I <em>died</em>.¡±

    Father flinched, yet still attempted to defend her. ¡°The Nightlords would have used us as hostages if she had shown any interest. They would have killed one of us and threatened to y the other if she did not surrender to them.¡±

    It said something about the Nightlords that Father underestimated their cruelty. I suspected that they would have done worse than simply kill us. Nheless, fear for her own safety didn¡¯t excuse Mother¡¯s behavior. I would have risked life and limb for her if our roles had been reversed.

    Blood was blood.

    ¡°Every day I struggle to hide my powers from the Nightlords,¡± I said, my fists clenching on the armrests. ¡°Should I fail to destroy them, my soul will join my predecessors in torment. Yet Mother would rather watch from the sidelines rather than intervene directly.¡±

    ¡°She brought you here to teach you witchcraft, did she not?¡± Father touched the ghostfire in the hearth with a poker. It was a pointless gesture since magic fueled the mes. I supposed he simply carried through the motions of life, just as M¡¯s inhabitants did. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of what happened on Smoke Mountain. Your mother was here that night, biting her nails. She could hardly focus on anything on the days that preceded its eruption because she worried for your safety.¡±

    ¡°Mine or her own?¡± I retorted. The thought of Mother showing concern for my safety soundedughable. ¡°The sun nearly died on that mountain, and she just <em>watched</em>.¡±

    ¡°I thought she helped you set up the counter-ritual? Or so she told me.¡±

    <em>By providing corpses to curse</em>, I thought, though I didn¡¯t have the heart to tell Father that detail. <em>I gave the order and Mother carried it out. </em>

    ¡°Your mother was incredibly relieved to see you fly away to safety,¡± Father insisted. ¡°Call me naive, Iztac, but I¡¯m convinced that she wille to rescue you should you truly need her assistance. She cares for you more than you think.¡±

    Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°Not enough to risk her life,¡± I replied with skepticism.

    ¡°Mark my word, my son. If your mother finds herself in a situation where she must decide which life to save at the expense of the other¡­ she will choose yours over her own. Though I¡¯ll admit she¡¯ll probably try every other alternative first.¡± Father watched the fire. ¡°Ichtaca does not always mean what she says, even to herself. She¡¯s a¡­ <emplicated </em>person.¡±

    ¡°You are allowed to say <em>selfish </em>and <em>difficult</em>,¡± I countered.

    I expected Father to scold me. Instead, he joined his hands together and leaned in closer to the fire. ¡°Did your mother tell you how she first gained her powers?¡±

    I scowled at Father. ¡°Someone tried to strangle her when she was six.¡±

    ¡°Not just anyone,¡± he replied with a sorrowful sigh. ¡°Her own mother. Her father tried to drown her one yearter, after ming her for the death of his crops.¡±

    Father¡¯s words hit me like a mace to the face. I always thought that Mother¡¯s loathing for non-Nahualli was born from rejection in her youth. To have her own parents betray her in such a cruel way exined so much.

    If Father had tried to y me¡­ the idea alone was unthinkable to me. Of all the horrors that my mind could conjure, that situation alone appeared impossible.

    Mother never knew love until Father came along. For all of the distrust and contempt I held for her, I couldn¡¯t help but pity her. I doubted anyone would have been able to trust other people after suffering so cruel a betrayal.

    ¡°Such is the fate of most Nahualli,¡± the Parliamentmented with a hint of sympathy in their voice. ¡°It is a terrible thing to be born different among the intolerant.¡±

    ¡°It is,¡± Father replied with sorrow. ¡°Since she had only been shown hatred for most of her life, Ichtaca¡¯s heart turned to ice early. She was almost half-feral the first time I met her, living in a forest hut and shunning other humans the way we avoid wild beasts. It took me years of effort to earn her trust.¡±

    I blinked in surprise. ¡°You never told me this.¡±

    ¡°You were too young to understand whenst we¡­ whenst we met.¡± Father shook his head, as if to banish the thought of his own death from his mind. ¡°The way she looked when I first met her, all suspicious and angry and bitter¡­ I¡¯ll never forget it.¡±

    ¡°Your wife¡¯s suffering does not justify her current behavior,¡± the Parliament argued. ¡°We sympathize with her pain, but she treats the living and the dead with the same coldness as our own captors.¡±

    ¡°Pain is senseless, Your Majesties,¡± Father argued. ¡°When faced with suffering, we humans try to assign it meaning to make it more bearable. My wife drew the wrong conclusion from her difficult life: that it toughened her spirit and gave her the strength to survive. This mindset shapes all of her decisions.¡±

    ¡°Are you looking for exnations, Father?¡± I asked him as I sank in my chair out of unease. ¡°Or excuses?¡±

    ¡°I am looking for empathy and understanding,¡± Father replied calmly. ¡°Your mother projects an image of strength, Iztac, but if you chip away at it long enough you will only find pain and loneliness underneath. She mistakes open disys of affection for weakness, and it terrifies her. I suspect that she restricts ess to her knowledge because, in her mind, she is helping you grow self-sufficient. This is her way of supporting you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a good one,¡± I replied tly.

    ¡°No,¡± Father conceded. ¡°But do not mistake her aloofness for a sign that she does not care for you. She¡¯s simply¡­ unused to it. Acting selflessly towards others scares and confuses her. Even now after years of marriage, she still keeps up her guard with me.¡±

    If only he knew. Father was the only person Mother allowed herself to love, and she still refused to practice Seidr with him for fear of what he would see inside her heart.

    ¡°She keeps things hidden from you, Father,¡± I warned him.

    ¡°I know.¡± Father studied my face, his empty eyes glowing with pale light. ¡°You don¡¯t tell me everything either, Iztac.¡±

    My jaw clenched on its own. I could have told Father about the lives I¡¯d taken, the trust I had betrayed, the innocents I¡¯d sacrificed¡­ Yet when my guilty conscience threatened to confess, shame held back my tongue.

    Father knew me better than anyone, so he could tell what was on my mind. ¡°Nothing you can say will change the love I feel for you, Iztac. You were put in a terrible situation and I will not judge you for doing your best to escape it. I simply ask that you show the same tolerance for your mother. No matter her faults, she is the woman who brought you into this world and she does care for you in her own way. Pushing her away will only lead you to hurt one another.¡±

    ¡°So I should simply close my eyes?¡± I asked, unable to keep the disdain off my voice. ¡°Keep my mouth shut?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Father replied firmly, much to my surprise. ¡°You should take a stand if you truly feel that you must. However, rtionships are built onpromise. If you never give her an inch now and then, why should she?¡±

    <em>Compromise?</em> Somehow the word sounded like a curse in my mind. I hadpromised so much on my morals because Icked the power to create a better path. The only reason I tolerated Mother¡¯s Reliquary was because I needed her help. If I didn¡¯t, I would have destroyed her pir of skulls on the spot.

    ¡°If you give too much, you get eaten,¡± I argued.

    ¡°See? You <em>are </em>your mother¡¯s son,¡± Father replied with a chuckle. ¡°Iztac, no one likes to be judged. Would you like it if I constantly scolded you? Told you that I knew better about everything, although I have never been in your situation?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I conceded.

    ¡°Constantly confronting your mother will only cause her to stand her ground and entrench herself in her opinions,¡± Father exined. ¡°I do not ask you to tolerate everything she does; the gods know <em>I </em>drew a line in the sand more than once. I simply ask that you give her a chance. Focus on her good points first rather than constantly searching for her faults. Only then will she start to listen to you.¡±

    The Parliament of Skulls let out a deep, ominous rattle. ¡°You will not change that woman, Lord Itzili.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps not,¡± Father confirmed. ¡°But I can help her change <em>herself</em>. I know because I already did it.¡±

    ¡°We do wonder about your courtship,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°There must be an interesting story behind why you chose to romance a Nahualli hermit.¡±

    Father shifted in his seat, his confidence turning to awkwardness. He quickly nced at me, weighed whether or not I should learn the truth in his mind, then nodded to himself.

    ¡°I first met my wife when returning from school through the forest alongside a group of boys and girls,¡± Father said. ¡°I caught sight of her spying on us from afar. I¡¯d already heard rumors of a witch living in the woods, so I immediately grew curious.¡±

    I almostughed at his phrasing. ¡°Most would have grown <em>fearful</em>, Father."

    ¡°I figured that if she was truly dangerous, she would have eaten us all,¡± Father replied with a small, nervousugh. ¡°Your mother fled before I could catch up to her, so I returned each day to the forest to ask her to show up. I suppose you could say that I tried to make contact. Eventually, she became so puzzled by my persistence that she answered my calls.¡±

    ¡°That sounds quite romantic,¡± Imented.

    ¡°Our first meeting did not end well,¡± Father confessed. ¡°She threatened to curse me with impotence, hair loss, and a gruesome death if I refused to leave her alone. I resolved toe back the next day nheless.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± the Parliament asked with genuine curiosity.

    ¡°Because I saw it in her eyes. Whaty beneath the bitterness, jealousy, and resentment.¡± Father marked a short pause. ¡°Sorrow, and the desire to belong.¡±

    I avoided his gaze. Having spent my childhood shunned by others, I understood that feeling well.

    ¡°I continued to visit her each day afterward until I earned her trust,¡± Father continued his tale. ¡°We began to y board games, swim by the river, read in the sunset¡­ Over time, I convinced her to visit Acampa to meet with my parents, though it took a year of convincing. She feared I was luring her into a trap until the veryst second.¡±

    ¡°Bringing down the walls around her heart must have required an immense well of patience,¡± the Parliamentmented. ¡°We are truly impressed.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Father replied nervously. ¡°Afterward, I¡­ I invited her to stay with me and¡­¡± He turned to me. ¡°We chose to have you and settle down.¡±

    The hateful balefire of my soul wavered for an instant as a wave of pure warmth coursed through my veins.

    <em>They chose to have me. </em>Part of me always wondered if I had been the result of an <em>ident</em>¡ªchildren at my old school certainly mocked me about it. <em>I was desired. </em>

    ¡°My wife¡¯s wounds run deep,¡± Father said. ¡°I can soothe them, but they will never fully heal. The best I can do is to help dull her edge. I¡¯ve had some sess with it.¡±

    ¡°Did you convince her to trap these schrs in a dream?¡± I asked him. Somehow, I struggled to imagine someone as selfish as Mother granting non-Nahualli this small kindness. Father probably inspired it.

    ¡°I admit I do not fully understand this magic of yours,¡± Father replied. ¡°From what I gathered, your mother¡¯s guests exist in a ne of existence that I cannot ess. A shared dream.¡±

    ¡°Her <em>guests</em>?¡± I snorted. ¡°These people are not guests. They are her <em>prisoners</em>.¡±

    Father scratched his skull. His strange calm greatly bothered me. Didn¡¯t he see the problem? ¡°I was under the impression that these schrs joined willingly.¡±

    ¡°Under false pretenses.¡± Their situation hit me at my core because it was so simr to my own. ¡°They aren¡¯t free.¡±

    Father marked a short pause before asking me, ¡°What makes you think that people <em>want </em>to be free, Iztac?¡±

    I felt like I¡¯d been pped in the face.

    Father¡¯s question cut deeper than he thought. I remembered asking it myself after Smoke Mountain erupted. I thought that its destruction would wake up Yohuachanca¡¯s masses from their idleness, and that the disasters that followed would finally destroy the Nightlords¡¯ illusion of power. I had prayed for revolts, riots, and revolutions.

    Instead, I received silence.

    ¡°You have seen M for yourself on your journey,¡± Father said. ¡°It is a peaceful existence, but a pale reflection of the glory of life. I suspect many among the dead would like to dream of it again, even though they know it to be a lie.¡±

    ¡°Your father has a point, our sessor,¡± the Parliament whispered in their seat, their eyes turned at the hearth¡¯s fire. ¡°Huehuecoyotl warned you that a Veil works because its victims <em>want </em>to believe in it. We assume a few among those schrs could wake up if they truly wished to.¡±

    I recalled very well how I first learned the Veil spell. Huehuecoyotl used it to scam the dead and pretend that he could contact the living. Aughable plot, considering his already terrible reputation¡­ and yet he never failed to find clients. The dead <em>wanted </em>to buy into his lies.

    Just as my empire¡¯s citizens wished to believe in the Nightlords.

    ves chose to close their eyes on their masters¡¯ cruelty because it benefited them. Foreigners bore the brunt of the Nightkin¡¯s cruel tributes and a single emperor suffered each year. Most farmers could expect to live full lives with food and lodging, then return home to their loving wives and raise their children. And when their turn came to die on the altar, they found it easier to see it as the will of the gods rather than the result of their own inaction.

    Most would sell away the freedom to starve in the wild for steady food inside a pen.

    <em>¡°Your people are a quiet and devout lot, Your Majesty,¡±</em> Tayatzin told me once. He should have added<em> ¡°docile.¡±</em>

    If I shattered Mother¡¯s false reliquary, would its victims feel any gratitude? Or would they condemn me for robbing them of their happiness?

    ¡°I am sorry, Iztac,¡± Father apologized upon seeing my crestfallen expression. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to sadden you.¡±

    ¡°You did not,¡± I replied. Yohuachanca¡¯s citizens did that on their own. ¡°She won¡¯t let those souls leave, Father. You know that.¡±

    ¡°I cannot, since this situation has yet to happen.¡± Father took my hand into his own. ¡°You have my word that I will convince your mother to return those souls to M, should they wish for it. Our marriage survived my death, so I can obtain a few concessions.¡±

    He spoke these words with such conviction that I almost believed him on the spot. These words were not lies spoken to a child to assuage his doubts. Father truly wanted to see the best in his wife and hoped that she would make the right decision with his gentle support; and to his credit Mother clearly cared enough for him to abide by his wishes.

    I understood my parents better now. Through immense patience and effort, Father managed to bring down the walls around Mother¡¯s heart. Enough to convince her to give humanity another chance until the Nightlords ruined it. He thought, no, <em>believed </em>that she could change. That <em>we </em>could be a good influence on her.

    <em>They do love each other. </em>I had seen the signs before¡ªFather never remarried after Mother left us and she plotted for the three of us to be gods rather than be separated again¡ªbut it was another to <em>feel </em>it.<em> For better or worse. </em>

    My parents were far from perfect. Mother had desired to marry my father so ardently that she viciously cursed Necahual to ensure her sess; and for all of his kindness and goodwill, Father couldn¡¯t fathom the depths at which his wife was willing to sink for power. Yet their marriage endured beyond death nheless.

    For a brief instant, I held the hope that we could be a family, however dysfunctional. That Father would rub off on his wife enough for her to change her attitude; that I could find in myself the strength to forgive her for her crimes and coldness; and that she would learn to love me the way Necahual loved Eztli.

    Like a Veil I¡¯d cast on myself, part of me wanted to believe in this mirage.

    What did I have to lose in trying to make it true? My opinion of Mother could hardly worsen. I might as well try to give her a chance as my father asked me to. It wasn¡¯t like she could disappoint me any further.

    ¡°I will try to keep an open mind about her,¡± I told Father. ¡°I cannot promise more.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± he replied softly. ¡°Thank you, Iztac. That means the world to me.¡±

    His warmth and kindness overwhelmed me like a flood. They reminded me so much of Nl¡¯s gentle heart. Perhaps that was what Mother found so endearing in her husband; he helped her feel that she could tell him everything.

    Unlike Nl though, I hadn¡¯t betrayed my father without his knowledge.

    ¡°Iztac?¡± Father asked me.

    ¡°Can I¡­¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°Can I tell you something?¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course. What bothers you?¡±

    <em>Everything</em>.

    I began by telling him how this entire trip to the Underworld began: when I turned a de on my heart and tried to take my own life rather than serve the Nightlords. Shameful as it sounded, I found it easy to tell my own father how I killed myself. Part of me was even proud that I chose death overplicity once.

    My crimes proved harder to confess. I told him how I had in the guilty and the innocent to sabotage the New Fire Ceremony, the graves I¡¯d filled, the lies I¡¯d spun, how I started a war and then betrayed Nl¡¯s trust¡­

    Father didn¡¯t say a word. If he had opened his mouth at any point, I would have stopped. His silence carried neither condemnation nor judgment. He gave me a listening ear and let me open the floodgates of my heart without fear of punishment.

    Even then, I didn¡¯t find the strength to tell him <em>everything</em>; I spared him the details of the Nightlords¡¯ tortures, what happened with Necahual and how I treated her nowadays, Sigrun¡¯s fate and so much more. One night wouldn¡¯t be enough to tell him all of the horrors I¡¯d survived through over the past few months. Those I¡¯dmitted myself weighed heavier on my mind.

    I thought admitting my crimes to another would lessen the burden on my heart. It didn¡¯t. The more I spoke, the louder I sobbed. All the barriers I raised around my spirit and all the strength I¡¯d gathered deserted me. I felt like a child again, telling my father how others had picked on me at school.

    Father reacted as he did back in those days. He took my hands into his own and clenched them tightly; sharing my pain and sorrow so I wouldn¡¯t feel alone.

    ¡°I am so sorry, my son¡­ all the awful things you¡¯ve gone through¡­¡± Father lowered his head in shame and powerlessness. ¡°I wish I could have done something to protect you¡­¡±

    ¡°So few care, Father¡­¡± I whispered. That was what wounded me the most. ¡°So few care about my and my consorts¡¯ struggle. Our people would rather takefort in their chains than try to break them. I feel so¡­¡± My voice broke. ¡°I feel so alone¡­¡±

    ¡°You are not,¡± Father consoled me. ¡°We are here. Me, your mother, this Eztli and so many others¡­¡±

    The Parliament of Skulls, who had listened in silence so far, joined in tofort me. ¡°We shall not abandon you, our sessor. We shall weather any storm by your side.¡±

    ¡°No one asked the impossible of you, Iztac,¡± Father said. ¡°No back is strong enough to carry all of the world¡¯s weight. No one should have had to make the decisions you did. The gods were cruel to put you through this ordeal.¡±

    I leaned on from my seat. Father rose from his own and took my head into his arms, letting me rest my face against his chest. I used to listen to his heartbeat in my childhood when he consoled me. His cold ribs proved rough to the touch, but his grip remained as loving as I remembered it to be.

    Father slowly let go of me. ¡°I will go grab a nket.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ would appreciate it,¡± I replied after wiping away my tears. Father patted me on the head just as he used to, then left the room for a moment.

    ¡°Your father is a good man,¡± my predecessorsmented. ¡°Nheless, we have seen it before.¡±

    I squinted at them after regaining myposure. ¡°Seen what, my predecessors?¡±

    ¡°Your father and mother. He tries to see the best in others, even when it is not there.¡± The skull¡¯s eyes ominously glowed with ghostfire. ¡°It will end poorly.¡±

 Chapter Fifty-Three: The Emperors Children

    Chapter Fifty-Three: The Emperor''s Children

    Father returned with a leather nket and put it over my shoulders to help warm me up.

    I tried not to think too much about the Parliament¡¯s words. My predecessors gathered a great treasure trove of experience and wisdom over the centuries, but part of me hoped their skepticism was unwarranted and born of cynicism.

    <em>Can people change for the better?</em> They could certainly change for the worst¡ªI had crossed lines I considered sacred once¡ªbut even Necahual had found a measure of inner strength in her hardship. If she could improve as a person, then anyone should be able to do the same. <em>If they </em>want <em>to change at least. </em>

    Was Mother willing to be a better person? I doubted it. Neither did I believe that Yohuachanca¡¯s people would rise against their oppressors.

    I couldn¡¯t help but ponder Father¡¯s own words. All along I hoped that my people submitted to the Nightlords out of fear of reprisal. I believed that a well of courage was dwelled buried in their hearts, and that it would rise to the surface once the vampires¡¯ grip weakened.

    Now¡­ Now I realized that Father had a point. People only took arms against their leaders when personally threatened, and obedience carried its own meager rewards. I would have been spared many torments had I simply given into despair and embraced the Nightlords¡¯ golden birdcage.

    ¡°How many people would surrender their freedom for a year of luxury?¡± I wondered out loud.

    ¡°Many of us did, our sessor,¡± the Parliament confessed to their sorrow. ¡°It is easy to forget a bargain¡¯s cost until the time to payes. Only in death did we truly understand the price we paid for our indolence.¡±

    ¡°I apologize for what I said earlier, my son,¡± Father said kindly as he sat next to me once more. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to sadden you.¡±¡°You did not,¡± I reassured Father. ¡°Truthfully, I was never fighting for Yohuachanca¡¯s people in the first ce. I only hoped that they would try to break their own chains the way I did.¡±

    I had sacrificed thousands of lives when I woke up Smoke Mountain for a tactical advantage. I would dly do it again if it meant saving Eztli or Nl from certain death.

    ¡°The sad truth is that most do not care much about others beyond their friends and family,¡± Father said as he looked into the fire. ¡°It is easy to fight when one has nothing to lose but their life, and much harder when their loved ones may pay the price of defiance.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± I¡¯d learned that to my sorrow when the Nightlords murdered Lady Sigrun. ¡°There¡¯s only a handful of people I wish to preserve, like my consorts.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Yes, it is true that you have four wives now.¡± Father observed me with a flicker of amusement in his empty eyes. ¡°I pity you, my son. It is extraordinarily difficult to make a single woman happy, let alone four.¡±

    In spite of my previous emotional outburst and sorrow, hisment drew a chuckle from me. ¡°I try to do my best.¡±

    ¡°Tell me more about them,¡± Father insisted with parental curiosity. I found his interest in my romantic life quite endearing. ¡°What are they like?¡±

    ¡°I love Eztli,¡± I said proudly. ¡°The Nightlords made a vampire out of her, but I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll find a way to undo her curse. After we lift it, I¡¯ll marry her properly.¡±

    It didn¡¯t surprise Father. ¡°Call it fatherly instinct, but I always had the intuition that something would happen between the two of you. You were always thick as thieves as children.¡±

    ¡°We were.¡± I missed those times when I could simply hang out with Eztli in the capital without anyone watching over us. ¡°She lost most of herself the night Yoloxochitl imed her.¡±

    ¡°Honestly, I am astonished that the poor girl kept her sanity. To be forced to kill her own sire¡­¡± Father shook his head in sorrow and disgust. ¡°I was never close to Guatemoc, but he didn¡¯t deserve such a gruesome fate either. This must have shattered Necahual too.¡±

    The subject of Necahual made me shift ufortably in my seat, which my Father immediately noticed. ¡°My son?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve¡­ taken Necahual as a concubine,¡± I said. I kept it to myself at first since I had no idea how Father would react, but he had already listened to me confessing almost all of my other sins. I might as well tell him about this one. ¡°She¡¯s my current favorite.¡±

    Father stared at me for a moment in gobsmacked silence. He studied my face as if expecting me to unveil a prank; and when he realized that I was telling the truth, he clearly struggled to make sense of it.

    ¡°Did you¡­¡± Father hesitated. ¡°Do the two of you¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, we did. More than once.¡± I avoided his gaze. ¡°Yoloxochitl would have tortured her otherwise.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ that must have been difficult for the both of you.¡± The subject clearly disturbed Father, as I expected it to. ¡°Did you¡­ force yourself on her? For revenge?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°Our rtionship is consensual.¡±

    ¡°Because you both want to lift her daughter¡¯s curse?¡± Father guessed. The exnation appeared to alleviate some of his worries, though not by much. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ good, I suppose. You are both willing to put the past behind you for her sake.¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°We don¡¯t. I enjoy her body as much as I loathe her personality.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ that is wrong.¡± Father searched for appropriate words and found none. ¡°My son, you understand how unhealthy that sounds? You are bedding your wife¡¯s mother out of spite. Nothing good wille out of this warped situation.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I replied with a sigh. ¡°I know, Father, but I do not wish to stop.¡±

    I wanted Necahual to savor her humiliation whenever she sent her daughter away before giving herself to me. I wanted to see the anxiety in her eyes when I spilled my seed on her thighs. I wanted to <em>own </em>her, body and soul.

    I knew it was a sick obsession that clouded my judgment, but I couldn¡¯t shake it off.

    ¡°What¡¯s more¡­¡± Father joined his hands, his fingers awkwardly fidgeting. ¡°I must warn you that¡­ how to put it¡­¡±

    I sank in my chair and awaited my Father¡¯s judgment. Had he sensed my true feelings and finally found something he couldn¡¯t condone? I expected a gentle reproach from him, one that never came.

    Instead, he tried to give me <em>the talk</em>.

    ¡°When a man and a woman¡­ if certain body parts interact often enough¡­¡± The more Father spoke, the more awkward he became. ¡°If a seed finds fertile enough soil¡­ a flower might take root and¡­¡±

    I stared at him in disbelief. ¡°I know how babies are made, Father.¡±

    I once had an unborn child too. The Nightlords murdered them before they could enter the world when they fed Sigrun to the sulfur me. The fact Iztacoatl dared to mock that tragedy forever earned her my undying hatred.

    ¡°Of course you would,¡± Father said, though he remained slightly disturbed. ¡°Then you understand what will happen if you do not take the proper precautions.¡±

    ¡°Necahual is an experienced apothecary,¡± I replied with a scoff. She would rather wither her womb and be barren than bear my child. ¡°She takes the right herbs.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± Father replied. He studied my expression for a while before shaking his head in relief. ¡°That is for the best, for everyone involved.¡±

    ¡°I do n to sire a child with Chikal, one of my consorts,¡± I informed Father, though mostly to change the subject. ¡°Our dalliance is purely political, but I¡¯m sure you will be a grandfather before the end of the year.¡±

    The news filled Father with joy. ¡°My congrattions, my son,¡± he said with genuine pride. ¡°Having a child will change you in ways you cannot fathom, Iztac. You will see. Your mother and I did things for you that we would never have considered doing for anyone else.¡±

    Somehow, I doubted Mother would assist me in any way that could cost her. But Father had a point. Necahual sacrificed a lot of herself for the chance of seeing Eztli returned to her safe and sound.

    ¡°I hope I will live long enough to see that child grow,¡± I told Father. The possibility appeared so remote for now, but I hoped to be a better parent to my descendants than Mother ever was to me. ¡°Free from the Nightlords.¡±

    ¡°You will, our sessor,¡± my predecessors reassured me. ¡°One way or another, we shall see that this cycle of deathes to an end.¡±

    ¡°I hope to see that day for myself,¡± Father said. ¡°You should tell your mother about it too, Iztac. It will delight her.¡±

    ¡°Why would she care?¡± I replied. ¡°She hardly bothered to check on me before I became a Nahualli, why would she show interest in her grandchildren?¡±

    ¡°Because they are her descendants as much as you are mine,¡± Father replied with a warmugh. ¡°I will never forget the face she made when she first gave you her breast. She looked so blissfully happy in a way I thought she could never be.¡±

    I crossed my arms, trying to imagine Mother smiling at my baby self the same way she smiled at Father. My own mind couldn¡¯t picture the scene itself.

    ¡°My apologies, Father,¡± I said, ¡°But sometimes, I wonder if the person you are describing and the mother I¡¯ve known are truly the same person.¡±

    ¡°Your Mother enjoyed her time in Acampa, make no mistake about it. I had high hopes that she woulde to befriend our neighbors, but when the Nightlords¡¯ men came for her¡­¡± Father shook his head in sorrow. ¡°It reminded her of her own fragility and hardened her heart.¡±

    Mother had dared to give happiness and humanity a chance, only for the Nightlords to squash her hopes when they tried to add her to their breeding program. I sympathized with her plea.

    <em>No one likes to feel powerless</em>. It took years for Father to convince his wife to settle down in Acampa and a single whim for the Nightlords to ruin his hard work. <em>Vampires corrupt everything they touch</em>.

    ¡°What about your other wives?¡± Father pushed me. ¡°Have you been treating them well?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve befriended Ingrid.¡± Though it cost her her mother¡¯s life. ¡°As for Nl¡­¡± A smile stretched on my face. ¡°She¡¯s¡­ a lot like you, Father. Very kind and earnest.¡±

    Father let out a chuckle. ¡°You like her?¡±

    ¡°I do. When I¡¯m with her, I feel¡­ blissfully warm.¡± Those words sounded too weak, but I couldn¡¯t find better ones. Nl had more of an effect on me than anyone not named Eztli. ¡°I haven¡¯t touched her however. Not that way. Not like the others.¡±

    ¡°Because of the tattoo?¡± Father guessed upon recalling my confession. ¡°You feel guilty about it.¡±

    I nodded slowly. ¡°I do not deserve her, so I¡¯ve kept her at arm¡¯s length.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Father asked with sudden concern. ¡°With luck, you will never have to cast that spell.¡±

    Couldn¡¯t he see the issue? ¡°The mere fact I made it possible to use it¨C¡±

    ¡°Does not make you a monster, Iztac.¡± Father scratched his skull. ¡°Did you tell her the truth?¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t,¡± I replied with a heavy heart. ¡°She sensed my turmoil, but the Nightlords have eyes and ears everywhere in the pce. Even if I could tell her¡­ I don¡¯t want her to hate me.¡±

    ¡°From the way you describe her, I do not get the feeling that this girl will hold a grudge,¡± Father argued. ¡°Maybe she would have granted you her permission to trigger the transformation if you had simply asked.¡±

    The Parliament said out loud what I was thinking. ¡°Why would she?¡±

    Father shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Because she trusts my son.¡±

    ¡°She only trusts me because I keep things hidden from her,¡± I pointed out.

    ¡°I am not so certain, my son. Wishing to focus on the light does not mean being blind to shadows.¡± Father joined his hands and began to look at the ceiling, as if to catch a glimpse of his lost life in the world above. ¡°From my experience, women catch hints that fly over our foolish heads. I understand that you cannot speak your mind in that cursed pce, my son, but you should try to give this Nl a few clues if you can. I do not think she¡¯s as naive as you believe her to be. She did sense your inner turmoil after all.¡±

    The Parliament of Skulls immediately objected. ¡°Do not tell her anything, our sessor. There are secrets best kept to oneself.¡±

    I had to agree with them. However kind Nl might be, I had exploited her pain and scars for my own benefit; I marked her very flesh with my betrayal. Few would forgive such a crime. I knew that I wouldn¡¯t.

    ¡°I understand your concerns, Your Majesties,¡± Father replied with a respectful, measured tone. ¡°But let us assume that this Nl will inevitably learn the truth one day. It is better that she hears it from my son¡¯s mouth than his enemies.¡±

    <em>Inevitable?</em> The word rang in my head like a bell. Part of me hoped that Nl would never find out about the tattoo, or better yet, that I would never have to exploit the power within it. Yet if the Nightlords found out about the sabotage, or if Nl learned of it by any other means, then she would no doubt never trust me again. Telling her myself would at least soften the blow and show her my goodwill.

    <em>It is so difficult to trust one another,</em> I thought. <em>Because when you open your heart, you leave it open for betrayal and disappointment. </em>

    ¡°Follow your feelings and live your life to the fullest, my son, since you can never tell when it will end.¡± Father suddenly shifted in his seat. ¡°Well, uh¡­ you do have a deadline, but¡­ you get what I mean¡­¡±

    ¡°I do, Father.¡± I hoped to live far longer than a year, but I understood his point. Not even the gods knew what the future held for us. ¡°But I don¡¯t want to alienate Nl.¡±

    ¡°Is fear truly a reason to deny each other a chance for happiness?¡± Father let out a sigh as he turned to face the fire. ¡°If the worstes to pass, this poor girl will die screaming on the Nightlords¡¯ altar. If you can fill her remaining time with joy rather than fear and shame, then you should. For <em>both </em>of your sakes.¡±

    ¡°We understand that you seek your son¡¯s happiness, Lord Itzili,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°However, survival and victory both call for certain sacrifices. Keeping secrets from loved ones is a heavy burden, but one that he must bear. The risks are too great otherwise.¡±

    ¡°I simply want my son and that girl to enjoy their lives to the fullest,¡± Father replied. ¡°Is that so much to ask? The gods know that our time alwayses sooner than we would like.¡±

    I suddenly noticed how Father and the Parliament of Skulls both sat on my left and right sides. Two voices giving me radically opposed advice. My own flesh and blood, who wanted to give trust a chance and that I try to grow closer to others; and my hardened predecessors, who favored caution, distrust, and secrecy in the name of our secret war.

    Stolen story; please report.

    I didn¡¯t think either was necessarily wrong. Trusting Necahual, Ingrid, Chikal, and Eztli got me far, and my caution let me cover my tracks time and time again. It was up to me to decide how to best apply their advice.

    I sensed a jolt at the edge of my consciousness. A hand shaking my sleeping body in the world of the living. Someone was trying to wake me up before the night was done.

    That could only mean one thing.

    My prophecy had been fulfilled.

    For the first time in many days, I awoke from a good dream.

    Nheless, I had awoken to more pleasant sights than a group of red-eyed priests standing at my bedside. Their scowls and worried frowns did improve my mood though. I noticed that Eztli was already up, her mother and handmaiden helping her put on a hooded cloak.

    ¡°Apologies for waking you up so early, Your Majesty,¡± Tayatzin said. Though my advisor remained as calm as ever, I did notice the slightest glimmer of unease in his eyes. ¡°The goddesses have requested your and Lady Eztli¡¯s presence.¡±

    Most would have asked ¡®what happened,¡¯ but instead of surprise I faked the deep certainty of a prophet whose vision hade to pass.

    ¡°It happened, hasn¡¯t it?¡± I asked with a deep voice full of solemnity. I was starting to nail that voice. ¡°The sinful dead have risen from their graves.¡±

    Tayatzin¡¯s short silence confirmed my hypothesis. ¡°It is best that you do not make the goddesses wait.¡±

    Of course not. I hoped the news filled my captors with as much dread as their thralls.

    The priests helped me put on some clothes and then escorted Eztli and I outside her quarters. I caught a glimpse of Necahual looking at us with concern as we left. Nightlords summons only ever brought her pain, but her daughter reassured her with a single smile.

    ¡°Someone had a pleasant dream,¡± Eztli mused. She must have picked on my rxed demeanor. ¡°Was it mypany that let you sleep so soundly?¡±

    ¡°The gods granted me a respite tonight,¡± I replied with a smile. A true statement, in a way. ¡°Though you contributed.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t made any progress on Xibalba¡¯s trials, but I did not regret talking with Father. Reuniting with my family after so many harrowing days filled me with a renewed sense of purpose. I had kin who would support me in this world and the other.

    The Parliament insisted that I quickly reincorporate their skull into my body before I woke up though, much to Father¡¯s disappointment. He would have liked somepany, but my predecessors didn¡¯t trust my mother enough to stay in her home without my supervision.

    To my surprise, the priests didn¡¯t take us down the secret passages and instead led us to the pce¡¯s pleasure den on the ground floor. I never spent much time there since I had more important matters to deal with than rolling dice. I knew that this area included all kinds of facilities meant to help an emperor indulge in mankind¡¯s worst vices: gambling, drugs, drunken revelry, and even violence.

    It seemed to be thetter that interested the Nightlords tonight, for the priests led me into a private arena in the depths of my prison. It was a great rectangr battleground that was bordered by enough stone stands to house hundreds of spectators that reminded me of a ballgame court. Tunnels dug into the structure allowed fighters to enter from different areas of the pce, and frescos of heroic warriors from across Yohuachanca¡¯s history covered the walls. The arena had no ceiling: the dark sky opened above my head, with the crimson glow of the moon providing clear light.

    <em>Something¡¯s wrong,</em> I immediately realized. <em>The wind does not blow tonight. </em>

    A special lounge with five obsidian thrones oversaw the arena. Here I could have watched people fight and die in my name alongside my consorts. Unlike the training grounds outside, this floor wasn¡¯t meant to spill sweat, but blood. Tellingly, theyout indicated that one of the barred tunnels connecting the battleground to the rest of my pce¡ªthergest of them all¡ªled straight to my menagerie. This path allowed my staff to introduce hungry beasts into the ring at any given time.

    A challenger was already there, silently standing in the middle of the arena with dead ck eyes.

    The very sight of it turned my blood to ice and caused Eztli to recoil in horror. I had mistaken the creature for a human at first nce, only for the truth to be clearer to me once the moonlight unveiled its pallid face.

    Its flesh looked dried and desated, though it possessed a strange and otherworldly gray sheen. The corpse had shed all of its hair to the point that I could hardly tell that it used to be a man. Its veins ran dry with dust rather than blood and a thick rope tightly held its waist attached to a circr stone too heavy for any man to carry.

    It was its face that I found most disturbing, however. Its teeth had fallen out, leaving only taunt lips twisted into an empty, sinister smile. As for the eyes, they were gone too. Darkness wept from empty sockets filled with shadows so thick that no light could pierce it. They stared at the priests behind me with the same bottomless hunger I¡¯d once glimpsed inside the Nightlords¡¯ sulfur me. From the way the rope holding it by the waist strained, it was leaning forward with all of its strength.

    That¡­ that <em>thing </em>was no vampire. The Nightkin and their mistresses still retained a spark of their lost soul and humanity. They could speak,ugh, hate, and love. They had goals and desires, however cruel.

    The creature before mecked even that shadow of humanity. I detected no intelligence in its baleful re, no vestige of the human it used to be. This corpse had a void for a soul; a hungry emptiness that knew neither cruelty nor sorrow. It was a bottomless pit with teeth, a primordial darkness with a face devoid of fear or love. This doll moved entirely on instinct, unable to think or feel.

    A single drive determined all of its action: to devour life.

    ¡°Are they as frightening as in your visions?¡± a familiar voice whispered in my ear. ¡°Puppet emperor?¡±

    When I found the strength to look away from the moving corpse in front of me, I saw another leaning behind my back. Iztacoatl had appeared out of nowhere, with her cold hands grabbing my shoulders with a strong grip. Her sisters watched us on the obsidian thrones, their priests kneeling in abject submission.

    ¡°Sit, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± the Jaguar Woman ordered, her cold eyes lingering on me and then Eztli. ¡°You too, child.¡±

    I obeyed without a word, sitting on the central throne with Eztli and Iztacoatl on one side and the other Nightlords on the other. Sugey pped her strong hands and masked guards soon entered the arena through one of the tunnels. They escorted a gaunt man bearing warpaint, a wolf pelt, and a sword of wood. I recognized the man as a member of the Sapa delegation from the day of my coronation. The Nightlords hadn¡¯t killed them all... <em>yet</em>.

    I immediately recognized the set-up. I was about to witness a diatorial sacrifice.

    Sugey was especially fond of this particr brand of human suffering. I witnessed one dedicated to her during city celebrations once. The victim¡ªa warrior for some pacified tribe¡ªhad been bound to a rounded stone too heavy for five men to carry by a white rope, given enough pulque to forget his fear, and then forced to fight members of the four warrior fraternities in short order. Though he had been given a mere feathered wooden sword and a meager shield to defend himself with, the prisoner managed tost a few minutes against the Eagle Warrior sent to im his life; even though his enemy had fought with an obsidian weapon. It had seemed so unfair to me back then, and it still was today.

    In the rare cases where a prisoner managed to repel their opponent, they would then fight champions of the other warrior fraternities one after the other. If none of them imed the sacrifice¡¯s head, a red-eyed priest was sent to finish the job. Should the victim somehow survive the fifth and final fight, Sugey would <em>¡®honor¡¯</em> their fighting spirit by granting them their freedom.

    Only five people earned that privilege in all of Yohuachanca¡¯s centuries-long history. Did the Nightlords intend to put that record to the test tonight?

    The Sapa diplomat was no trained warrior, however. His pose was clumsy, his drug-addled eyes filled with fear. The masked guards had to threaten him with their obsidian spears to force him to take a step forward, and I caught a glimpse of scars on his legs as he did. The Nightlords must have grabbed him straight out of the torture chamber.

    The undead thing didn¡¯t care though. Even the stealthiest jaguars made a tiny bit of noise even when standing still, from short breaths to the sound of their feet touching the floor. The monster remained eerily silent when it turned to face its new opponent. It moved in a blur of speed, the strained rope alone preventing it from reaching its prey. Its arms extended towards the ambassador in a vain attempt to grab his throat. That monster was no shambling corpse struggling to take a step.

    It could <em>run</em>.

    The drugs proved stronger than the Sapa sacrifice¡¯s fears. The sight of the undead caused the man to madly scream in a mix of fear and addled rage. He charged while swinging his wooden de wildly.

    It shattered upon hitting the undead¡¯s skull. The monster¡¯s cold gray hands grabbed the sacrifice by the throat in return, and his screams died out in an instant. Such was the undead¡¯s hunger that it consumed even sound. I saw the man¡¯s breath escape his lungs and flow into his killer¡¯s ghastly smile. His eyes sunk into his eye sockets, his final expression one of agonizing dread.

    Vampires drank blood, but the First Emperor¡¯s true servants didn¡¯t bother with such a slow and intimate process. The corpse drank its victim¡¯s <em>soul</em>. It drained the life out of the sacrifice within seconds, feasting on his breath and heart-fire both. Soplete was the process that the husk¡¯s flesh and skin turned to dust in an instant. When the monster finished feasting, only a pile of dusty bones remained of their grim meal.

    I briefly nced around, both to avert my eyes from this hideous spectacle and to gauge the others¡¯ reactions. Eztli was as disturbed as I was, her eyes wide open, her fingers trembling on her obsidian throne¡¯s armrests. Iztacoatl observed the scene with a hint of fear in her eyes, while Sugey appeared both spooked and slightly disappointed at theck of a decent fight.

    As for the Jaguar Woman¡­

    ¡°Was this like in your vision, our Godspeaker?¡± The Jaguar Woman asked with calcting coldness. She alone among the sisters appeared unbothered by this gruesome show of sorcery. ¡°Did the dead show the same hunger?¡±

    ¡°I only caught a glimpse, oh goddess,¡± I lied through my teeth.

    ¡°Or you made an educated guess based on what you learned and took the credit,¡± Iztacoatl said sharply. ¡°I suspect that you faked that vision of yours in order to seem more important to us than you are.¡±

    She was entirely right, of course. Her insight continued to prove an obstacle to my goal. Nevertheless, I quickly improvised.

    ¡°I understand your skepticism, goddess, and apologize for the trouble I have caused you,¡± I replied with false servility. ¡°If you believe my visions are unreliable, then I shall keep them to myself from now on.¡±

    ¡°You shall do no such things,¡± the Jaguar Woman said sharply before rebuking her sister. ¡°Your caution is appreciated in these trying times, Iztacoatl, but the threat is too great for us to doubt now.¡±

    Iztacoatl scowled in annoyance, her hand briefly brushing against her cheeks. The gesturested less than a second and yet told me much. The Jaguar Woman would have shared her skepticism should she have learned about ourst encounter, but Iztacoatl couldn¡¯t admit that she let a human p her twice for fear of losing face.

    The Nightlords¡¯ united front wasn¡¯t so unshakable. I could see cracks to exploit.

    ¡°Mark my word, sisters,¡± Iztacoatl warned the other Nightlords, her crimson eyes ring at me with venom born of her wounded pride. ¡°This viper will bite us.¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied without sparing me a nce. ¡°He has learned his lesson and the cost of disobedience.¡±

    My scowl was in no way faked. ¡°I did,¡± I replied, my head low in false submission. ¡°I shall not disappoint the heavens ever again.¡±

    ¡°Very wise.¡± The Jaguar Woman joined her fingers without sparing me a nce. All her attention focused on the battle stage. ¡°Summon the next sacrifice.¡±

    I watched and held my tongue as the guards brought forth another victim to the undead creature: a trihorn this time. The beast, although bred for war and more than capable of impaling the monster on its horns, screeched in fear the moment ity eyes on it. The animal understood instinctually that this thing was an abomination hungering for life.

    The undead monster cared for nothing, whether its victims were men or beasts. It tried to reach for the trihorn with the same fervor that it showed to itsst meal.

    The guards eventually forced the trihorn to advance within reach of the undead by poking its tail with their spears. The beast roared and impaled the monster through the chest in a mad dash, but the corpse bled ck smoke rather than blood. The animal perished within seconds of the undead touching its scales, though it took longer for its killer to drain it of lifeforcepared to the Sapa sacrifice.

    The undead didn¡¯t remove the horn stuck in its chest. Pain did not bother it. It turned to re at the red-eyed priests the moment it finished its meal with mindless focus. The movement caused the horn stuck in its chest to tear out part of its calcified flesh as it fell down, but the undead didn¡¯t appear to notice.

    <em>My true children will feast under the glow of the Scarlet Moon. </em>So did the First Emperor speak through my lips. <em>This creature is his true spawn. The kind that will not rebel against its creator.</em>

    This <em>thing</em> was a disease. The First Emperor¡¯s vengeful curse upon the world that imprisoned him.

    ¡°Father is spiteful,¡± Iztacoatlmented. ¡°These wicked dead will spoil the food.¡±

    ¡°At least their victims do not rise from the grave as well,¡± Sugey said. ¡°We were wise to follow through on our hunch. Only the corpses in by the bats have risen from the grave, and we¡¯ve contained those.¡±

    ¡°Father has sent back this world¡¯s sinners to suffer on earth and punish his flock for theirck of faith,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. A bold lie to tell the masses. ¡°Ensure that we destroy those that we can find.¡±

    ¡°Conventional weapons will not keep these shambling corpses down, but we¡¯ve had sess burning them,¡± Sugey replied before waving a hand at the one in the arena. ¡°We will keep this one in the courtyard until the sun rises to see if it crumbles to dust at dawn.¡±

    I hoped it would. The First Emperor¡¯s bats had spread far and wide. If all of their victims turned into these abominations, then I shuddered to imagine the death toll. When Iztacoatl¡¯s scowl turned into a smile, I knew that the same thought had crossed her mind.

    ¡°We should send messages to the Three-Rivers Federation and the Sapa Empire,¡± she said. ¡°They must be suffering from the same infestation as we are, yet they do not possess a wise Godspeaker to warn them.¡±

    Sugey scoffed. ¡°To tell them what?¡±

    ¡°That we have the cure,¡± Iztacoatl replied. ¡°That if they wish for the dead to stay in their tombs, the living only have to bow.¡±

    I hid my fury under a veil of calmness and indifference. This <em>bitch </em>unleashed a magical disaster on the world because of her and her sisters¡¯ arrogance, then had the gall to promise a false cure to the problem that she started.

    Eztli smiled at Iztacoatl with barely hidden disdain. ¡°And what will happen if they submit and the dead continue to rise?¡±

    ¡°Then their faith wascking and their submission faked.¡± Iztacoatl let out a cruelughter. ¡°Worry not, my young new sister. When their hearts and courage falter, humans will do <em>anything </em>to banish away the fear.¡±

    I feared that she might be right.

    I doubted that the Sapa would fold. They possessed powerful magic of their own and a centralized government that could subjugate the undead gue. But I didn¡¯t feel so confident about the Three-Rivers Federation and the lesser tribes. It was one thing to muster one¡¯s courage when faced with invading armies, but any warrior would grow faint of heart at the sight of their countrymen rising from the dead to feast on the living.

    <em>There has to be a way to sabotage that n. </em>I studied the undead corpse, who stood in silence in spite of the gaping hole in its chest. <em>If only I could turn you against your cousins, life-eater. </em>

    The corpse ignored my re, its attention fully focused on the priests in the stands.

    That bothered me slightly. The corpse¡¯sck of interest in vampires made sense since they had no lifeforce to draw upon, yet my heart continued to beat in my chest. Why didn¡¯t it spare me a single nce?

    The answer soon became obvious to me. I was the First Emperor¡¯s spokesperson, his divine representative on Earth, the voice of hunger itself. His spawn had no interest in devouring me.

    Perhaps I could exploit this somehow.

    I rose from my throne without a word to the surprise of everyone. Eztli immediately looked at me in concern. ¡°Iztac?¡±

    ¡°Where are you flying, songbird?¡± Iztacoatl asked sharply, her eyes squinting at me with suspicion.

    ¡°To fulfill my destiny, oh goddess,¡± I replied evasively. I walked down the stairs towards the battleground, ignoring the gazes the Nightlords sent at me. I had to sweep them off their feet and throw them off their game.

    I stepped onto the arena¡¯s ground and basked in the faint moonlight. The undead continued to ignore me even as I came within arm¡¯s reach. It didn¡¯t even seem to register my presence.

    I heard Eztli call out my name in rm, far toote. ¡°Iztac¨C¡±

    I took the undead¡¯s head into my hands and forced it to look at me. Its skin was cold, colder than the Rattling House¡¯s snow.<em></em>

    <em>No, not quite</em>. This corpse sucked in all the heat around itself. Even the gasps I heard from priests and vampires alike grew muffled in its presence. Such was the strength of the First Emperor¡¯s hunger that voices turned to silence in its presence.

    The corpse did not turn me to dust. It could have tried to feed on my Teyolia as it did with the other sacrifices, yetcked the willingness to try. So far so good.

    ¡°Bow,¡± I ordered after releasing my grip on the corpse. ¡°Bow to your emperor.¡±

    For a brief second, I thought the undead had failed to understand my words, or that whatever foul power animated it couldn¡¯t understand humannguage. The creature finally focused on me, its ck empty eyes staring at me without any emotion. I stared into the darkness of its eyes as I once gazed into the Sulfur Sun¡¯s heart. I did not recoil.

    The abyss no longer frightened me.

    The corpse knelt in quiet obedience.

    The deafening silence that followed sounded like triumph to me. I stared down at the undead, my back turned on the Nightlords. I turned around to savor the disbelief on their faces and the dread on that of their servants. I was delighted by the fear I sensed from Iztacoatl and Sugey¡¯s shock. The Jaguar Woman alone observed the scene with calcting interest.

    As for Eztli, her fear for my safety swiftly turned to joy. She covered her mouth, mostly to hide her smile. I found it a bit premature.

    The show wasn¡¯t over yet.

    ¡°Tayatzin,¡± I said, my voice sharper than an obsidian knife. ¡°Cut the rope.¡±

    Tayatzin froze in surprise and then immediately turned to look at the Nightlords. I couldn¡¯t tell whether he was looking for their authorization or was silently begging them to by my order.

    ¡°This ve shall not harm you,¡± I promised the priest.

    The Jaguar Woman gave Tayatzin a sharp nod after a moment¡¯s consideration. To his credit, the priest obeyed mymand withoutint. He grabbed an obsidian dagger from his belt and then stepped onto the arena¡¯s floor. The undead immediately red at him with undisguised hunger.

    ¡°Stay put,¡± I ordered the corpse. ¡°Your ce is at my feet.¡±

    The undead obeyed mymand without a sound. It continued to mindlessly stare at Tayatzin with hunger, but made no move to choke the life out of the priest as he cleanly cut the rope. The priest waited for the undead to attack him by surprise.

    It never did.

    Tayatzin and the priests all knelt in true reverence to me, as they should. I had showcased my ¡®divine¡¯ power yet again. I was no longer a puppet in their eyes, but the Godspeaker. I was the emperor of the living <em>and </em>the dead, the ruler of Earth who answered to none other than the highest of heavens.

    I faced the Nightlords with both Tayatzin and my undead thrall kneeling at my feet. The sound of Eztli¡¯s ps shattered the solemn silence.

    The Nightlords were nowhere near as enthusiastic. The Jaguar Woman observed me with a nk, unreadable expression. Her calcting eyes appraised me and the undead soldier. I could almost read her thoughts. Was her loathed father¡¯s gift poisoned? Or was I cowed enough that she could turn this unexpected development into an asset?

    Sugey appeared cautiously interested as well. No doubt the thought of gathering an undead army appealed to her military mind as much as her distrust made the prospect of a puppet emperormanding one a dangerous one.

    Iztacoatl alone fully understood the danger that I now represented for their social order. A pity her opinion would likely fall on deaf ears, for I would tell her sisters what they wanted to hear.

    ¡°It is as you said, goddesses,¡± I dered with a hand on my heart. ¡°My reign shall be an age of darkness where Yohuachanca¡¯s ck sun will rule absolute over bloodsoakednds. These sinners shall atone for their life of faithlessness by serving you in death.¡±

    I offered the Nightlords a deep bow to better hide my cruel smile.

    ¡°And so long as the people of thisnd believe in their emperor,¡± I promised, ¡°Yohuachanca¡¯s reign shall never end.¡±

 Chapter Fifty-Four: The Hand of Fate

    Chapter Fifty-Four: The Hand of Fate

    The dawn purged the undead with light and mes.

    The Nightlords had long retreated inside their underground abode by then, where the Nightkin gathered scores of the First Emperor¡¯s abominations. My captors had me check whether my authority extended to all these creatures, and it did. Dozens of undying, soul-devouring abominations brought from the capital¡¯s various temples knelt to me in the silent dark.

    ¡°Our Godspeaker¡¯s intuition proved correct,¡± the Jaguar Woman said, her fingers intertwined in deep contemtion. ¡°The Nightchildren do bow to our emperor¡¯s will.¡±

    <em>Nightchildren, eh? </em>The title sounded appropriate, if a little pedantic for my taste. The Nightlords wished to present this curse as a boon to them rather than an attempt to bring them to ruin.

    ¡°Is this an ident?¡± Iztacoatl wondered out loud, her eyes ring at me. She knew that I would use this dark boon to harm their interests. ¡°Or intentional?¡±

    I was asking myself the exact same question.

    Did the First Emperor n for this to happen? It would make sense for that monster to put his finger on the scale by providing me with tools to destroy his treacherous spawn; tools that he could take back the moment he escaped the seal binding him anyway. The First Emperor struck me as a mad force of hunger and destruction, but even feral beasts possessed a low form of cunning.

    It could also have been a coincidence; an attempt to curse the world that I could harness for myself as the First Emperor¡¯s representative on Earth.

    But the ¡®why¡¯ mattered little in the end. I pondered more how I could use this development to my advantage. Being too bold too soon would raise the Nightlords¡¯ suspicions, so I waited for them to debate with each other.¡°Our emperor¡¯s words may be correct,¡± the Jaguar Woman decided. ¡°We may have misread the signs. I believed that the stars¡¯ prophesied age of darkness heralded the rise of the Sulfur Sun where we would conquer the daylight, when in truth the night¡¯s shadows have only thickened.¡±

    ¡°These shadows are not ours tomand,¡± Sugey pointed out. Though they wisely didn¡¯t try to do so in my presence, I bet that they had tried tomand the Nightchildren themselves and failed. ¡°This smells like a trap.¡±

    ¡°Would you spit on such a gift?¡± Eztli said with a snort. ¡°No warriors will hold the line before this army.¡±

    ¡°Quiet, child,¡± the Jaguar Woman said sharply, with Eztli straightening up in response. ¡°Nheless, you do have a point. The prophecy is formal: theing age will see Yohuachanca¡¯s ultimate triumph.¡±

    I seized my chance. ¡°If the goddesses would allow me to speak?¡±

    Four pairs of eyes turned to me, none sharper than the Jaguar Woman¡¯s. ¡°Do you have something to say, our Godspeaker?¡±

    ¡°Lady Iztacoatl spoke most wisely earlier.¡± I immediately noticed the suspicion in Iztacoatl¡¯s gaze. Perfect. ¡°Let us summon the Three-Rivers¡¯ ambassadors and show them how Imand the living and the dead. Let them know that once I wipe the Sapa off from the face of the Earth, I shall turn my gaze north to im further tributes. Let them learn that a futile demise is all that awaits those who deny Yohuachanca; and that death will be no escape to those who challenge the empire¡¯s might.¡±

    The longer I spoke, the more Iztacoatl¡¯s fair face grewced with the slightest bit of tension. I could almost read her mind. <em>Did he n this from the start? Did he somehow trick me into ying into his schemes? </em>

    While I mostly said these words to destabilize Iztacoatl, I did see a few ways to subvert her n. With luck, the Three-Rivers Federation would realize the existential threat that I represented and strike the empire from the north while my forces fought the Sapa to the south. At worst, they would surrender to me and my prestige among the people would only grow.

    Prophets gained a following by performing miracles. I had spoken for the gods and nowmanded the restless dead that escaped the Nightlords¡¯ own control. With enough effort, my citizens might begin to believe in <em>me </em>instead of <em>them</em>.

    ¡°Allow me to lead these Nightchildren in your name when I confront the Sapa Empire,¡± I dered with a hand on my chest. ¡°These soldiers, though few in number, shall strike fear among our enemies.¡±

    ¡°You presume too much, songbird,¡± Iztacoatl replied immediately. She wisely sensed the trap I¡¯d set and tried to disarm it. ¡°We ought to destroy these abominations, my sisters. The risk of them turning on us is too great.¡±

    ¡°Are you frightened?¡± Sugey let out a snort. ¡°They are no threat to us in battle. Only the food ought to cower in their presence.¡±

    ¡°The dangeres from what they <em>represent</em>,¡± Iztacoatl argued. ¡°Power that does not derive from our providence.¡±

    My dear Eztli cunningly feigned confusion. ¡°Is it not why you chose Iztac, oh goddesses? Your providen¨C¡±

    Her throat ruptured open in a shower of blood.

    The attack happened so swiftly that my mind didn¡¯t register it until a droplet hit my cheek.

    ¡°I believe that I warned you, child.¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s tone hadn¡¯t wavered, yet each of her words cut sharper than any de. ¡°Be <em>quiet</em>.¡±

    My shock probably saved me, for the sight of a panicked Eztli hastily covering her sliced skin filled me with horror and anger. My first instinct would have been to rush to her defense and thus expose myself.

    For now, all I could do was to clench my fists in silent rage.

    I knew the Jaguar Woman wouldn¡¯t kill Eztli, since she had too much to lose if she kicked the bucket. My lover¡¯s skin slowly healed on its own. A lethal wound for a mortal meant little more than temporary pain to a Nightkin, but from the fear in Eztli¡¯s eyes, she would remember the warning for a very long time.

    <em>I didn¡¯t even see iting.</em> The Jaguar Woman hadn¡¯t even bothered to look at Eztli before striking her, and I could tell that she could have beheaded her in a single stroke if she desired it. For all the progress I made as a sorcerer, a fight with the Nightlords would end in my swift demise in a mere moment. <em>One day though¡­</em>

    ¡°Twice you have dared to speak without our authorization,¡± the Jaguar Woman warned Eztli. ¡°Tempt me again, and I shall teach you obedience the same way I chastised our Godspeaker once. Do you <em>understand</em>?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± Eztli rasped, her barely healed throat causing her to wheeze. Her crimson eyes burned with the same hatred that gave me life. ¡°I do¡­¡±

    Iztacoatl smiled at me, her teeth shing in the dark. ¡°If you ask me, sister, our songbird needs a fresh reminder too.¡±

    My blood froze in my veins the moment the Jaguar Woman turned her gaze in my direction.

    ¡°Do you?¡± she asked me while staring at me with those cold, soulless eyes of hers. The crypt¡¯s air grew heavy with the weight of her unlimited malice.

    My hands trembled, and it was in no way faked.

    Because beneath all of my underlying rage and hatred, I did fear this monstermitting yet another pointless massacre in my name. Her cruelty knew no bounds. She would have Nl raped, Ingrid¡¯s sister in, Chikal maimed, or worse. I dared not meet her gaze, because I knew someone else would pay the price if she smelled any hint of rebellion.

    ¡°No, goddess¡­¡± I rasped, my teeth clenching. ¡°Please¡­ not again.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s smug smirk made me want to vomit.

    I had learned to know this monster one humiliation at a time. She craved <em>control</em>. Any sign of dissent was met with overwhelming brutality, and she sought nothing less than unchallenged power over all of creation. The New Fire Ceremony and its consequences had rattled her to her core because it reminded her of how the world refused to conform to her cruel will.

    Taunting me about her previous atrocities offered her the illusion of reasserting control; I let her lie to herself, let her believe that somehow she did not miscalcte in the slightest. That I was the perfect tool to enve mankind, that Yoloxochitl¡¯s demise was a blessing in disguise, that I could let her leech off more of her father¡¯s power, and that <em>everything </em>would get back on track. My pain let her believe that she was a goddess favored by fate itself.

    ¡°Do you see, Iztacoatl?¡± she said with satisfaction. ¡°Whenever you doubt our Godspeaker¡¯s obedience, you need simply to remind him of insolence¡¯s cost. I guarantee you that he shall never forget it.¡±

    Iztacoatl answered with a scornful snort. ¡°Mark my words, he will grow cocky if he is allowed to y with our Father¡¯s toys. We would be wise to deny him this pleasure, sisters.¡±

    ¡°I am against it too,¡± Sugey said. ¡°Victory ought to be honest and purchased with blood. Our soldiers will grow weak if they hide behind their dead.¡±

    ¡°True, but our Godspeaker has a point,¡± the Jaguar Woman said. ¡°We should find a use for these Nightchildren before we destroy them.¡±

    Eztli and I briefly shared a brief gaze, which Iztacoatl noticed. We wisely decided to keep our mouths shut for now.

    ¡°We hear your words, our Godspeaker, and we shall ponder them between us,¡± the Jaguar Woman concluded. ¡°The day is yours until we call you again.¡±

    I politely bowed to the Nightlords and then departed without a word. The thought of leaving Eztli with these monsters sickened me, but I had no choice but to retreat for now. The Jaguar Woman wished them to show a unified front in my presence, and showing obedience now would further my aims.

    I sensed Iztacoatl¡¯s gaze lingering on my back until I vanished from her sight.

    I ascended the stairs leading out of the Nightlords¡¯ abode with my hands clenched. I subtly cast the Bonecraft spell, my attention turning to my fingers. I could easily shape a phnge into a skull smaller than a fly. If my predecessors guessed correctly, then they would be able to spy through its eyes.

    I considered subtly dropping this creation in the Nightlords¡¯ undergroundir before deciding that the risk was too great for now. At least, if I did it directly. I needed a catspaw in case of discovery.

    <em>Catspaw¡­ </em>A lip formed on my lips as an idea crossed my mind. <em>I can think of someone. </em>

    As I promised Tayatzin, I agreed to host him for a private audience in my chambers; though I did invite a few witnesses.

    On one side of the table sat Itzili the Younger. It felt strange to refer to him by his name alone after meeting with my father, even in my own head, but referencing his age helped.

    On the other side was Tetzon, the margay cat that xc gifted me a while ago. He had been quite fearful of my other pet at first, but his feline curiosity proved greater than his fear. He now rested on a pillow and made funny noises whenever I scratched his ears. Though I hadn¡¯t been able to spend much time with him since he joined my menagerie, he was proving to be quite the sociable and docile animal.

    <em>Such a small and amusing creature. </em>Tetzon would easily slip through any crack and hardly raise any suspicion.<em></em>Small felines always wandered into the strangest ces. <em>I will put you to work soon, my little catspaw. </em>

    My n was simple enough: subtly mix my blood with Tetzon¡¯s food so I could cast the Ride spell on him, then have him distribute small skulls in key areas around the pce. Those I would shape in the form of small bird skulls, so the staff would mistake them for the remains of my margay¡¯s meals should they find them.

    ¡°I thank you again for lending me some of your precious time, Your Imperial Majesty,¡± Tayatzin said with a deep bow. He copiously avoided mentioning anything about my pets¡¯ presence at the table, nor did he let the growls Itzili the Younger sent him affect hisposure. ¡°I swear not to waste it.¡±

    ¡°You would be wise not to,¡± I said as I caressed Itzili¡¯s back with one hand and scratched Tetzon¡¯s ears with the other. ¡°I promised you a one-on-one meeting and fulfilled that oath. What did you wish to discuss?¡±

    ¡°As you well know, Your Majesty, your empire is divided between tributaries,¡± Tayatzin reminded me. ¡°We leave the local elites in positions of rtive power andfort so long as they pay their tributes, submit to the goddesses¡¯ will, and ept your government¡¯s oversight.¡±

    ¡®Rtive¡¯ being the keyword here. As Chikal¡¯s situation demonstrated, local elites only wielded as much power as the imperial state allowed them to. For all of the prestige and properties that Zyanya¡¯s family retained, they still had to bow to me for scraps.

    ¡°It won¡¯t surprise Your Majesty to know that some of these elites resent your enlightened guidance, especially the older generations who spent most of their life in ignorance,¡± Tayatzin said. ¡°These foolish sentiments usually fade away as younger generations are given a proper education by the priesthood.¡±

    ¡°You need not remind me of the state of my own dominion, Tayatzin.¡± I was well aware of how firm the Nightlords¡¯ grip became with each subsequent generation. ¡°What is on your mind?¡±

    ¡°Apologies if I wasted your time, Your Divine Majesty.¡± Tayatzin offered me a short bow of penance, which I epted in silence. ¡°My point is that though the local elites were taught the true ways of Yohuachanca, they have remained mostly insr across the centuries. They each stick to their cities and local politics. The likes of Lady Zyanya¡¯s n, who have made an alliance with outsiders, are an exception. One forced upon them by their decline.¡±

    ¡°You think that it should not be the exception, but the rule,¡± I guessed.

    Tayatzin nodded sharply. ¡°By remaining insr, local elites mistake the forest for the trees. They do not sponsor trade routes or infrastructures between their dominions, even though that could benefit the whole empire¡¯s prosperity in the long-term.¡±

    I quickly caught on to his plot. ¡°You would have me sponsor strategic marriages between my empire¡¯s nobility.¡±

    ¡°Your Divine Majesty is as wise as ever, though I would suggest widening the range of possibilities to the merchant ss as well. I strongly believe that Lady Zyanya¡¯s marriage to young xc will prove beneficial to both parties. Nobility ownsnd, but does not have the keen mercantile insight required to see them prosper.¡±

    This was a bold proposal, albeit a risky one. I could see why the priesthood never gave it any thought. Namely, encouraging the empire¡¯s nobles to intermarry would inevitably result in the rise of power blocks. No mortal army could hope to defeat the Nightlords, but a few of these groups were bound to grow bold enough to try after a time. Yohuachanca ruled by keeping its tributaries too divided to challenge the central state.

    Tayatzin¡¯s proposal hardly interested me. I wouldn¡¯t live long enough to see the fruits of his policy, and my discussion with Father removed what few hopes I had of seeing a grassroots rebellion. Nobles¡ªespecially those who only kept their power by bending the knee¡ªhad too much to lose by rebelling against the empire¡¯s might.

    Tayatzin had to see the danger too, so whye forward with this proposal? Was this a trap of some kind? I decided to err on the side of usible deniability for now.

    ¡°This is a bold n, Tayatzin, but one that might destabilize my realm in the future,¡± I decided. ¡°Should tributaries form blood alliances, they might slowly build small kingdoms inside our borders and foment revolts.¡±

    Tayatzin smiled wickedly. ¡°Not if they require Your Divine Majesty¡¯s authorization to marry outside theirnds.¡±

    His words gave me pause, until I figured out his n. ¡°Ah, I see how it is.¡± His scheme drew a chuckle out of me. ¡°You want to turn Lady Zyanya and xc¡¯s marriage into a precedent where the emperor must validate any noble union ahead of time.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, Your Divine Majesty,¡± Tayatzin confirmed. ¡°We currently allow our imperial elites to marry as they wish, though they must inform you early on in case you wish to im the bride¡¯s first night. By making your authorization mandatory, we can obtain significant concessions from these people and ensure their continued obedience to the state.¡±

    I had to admit that it was a clever scheme. In this system, local elites would have no other option than to either submit to my decisions when it came to their unions, or obtain my approval for the matches that they decided between themselves. It would further centralize the state¡¯s power structures around the emperor¨Cand the Nightlords looking over his shoulders¨Cwhile letting us nip any attempt at building an independent power block in the bud.

    Still, I failed to see how this n would benefit me personally. Even if I arranged marriages guaranteed to foster instability in the long-term, it would take decades for them to bear fruit. Time which Icked.

    Perhaps I was thinking along the wrong lines. My early efforts focused on trying to get the people up in arms against the empire; to foster hatred, chaos, and intolerance in a way that would shake the Blood Pyramid¡¯s bases. I tested that method by starting a religious purge in the Boiling Sea¡¯s inds and ravaging the empire by sabotaging the New Fire Ceremony. Yet no great revolt arose in response to either event. The priesthood¡¯s grip was too strong and people would rather submit than risk their lives.

    On the contrary, Chikal pledged her loyalty to me once I demonstrated results and showcased that I was someone worth following. The likes of Zyanya and xc did the same when I provided them with more of what they already had: wealth, glory, and power. And I would provide¡­ for a price.

    I understood my mistake now: I was trying to create <em>rebels </em>when I ought to gather <em>followers</em>.

    <em>As the saying goes, if you want something done well, you must do it yourself. </em>No rebellion would arise without my leadership.

    After a short silence, I turned to Itzili the Younger.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± I asked him.

    I pretended to ignore the puzzled nce that Tayatzin sent me and instead listened to my pet¡¯s cooing. Itzili the Younger pointed at my red-eyed advisor with his w. Although I didn¡¯t speak the tongue of feathered tyrants, I sensed his desire for a quick snack.

    Unlike some of the fickle people around me, Itzili the Younger had never wavered in his opinion. He stayed true to his belief that all priests ought to be devoured.

    ¡°I see,¡± I muttered under my breath. ¡°Most wise, yes. Most wise.¡±

    I turned back to face Tayatzin, who clearly struggled against the urge to question me on my strange behavior. Excellent. I gave him only a few meetings before his curiosity proved too much. Time enough to further sell this little y of mine.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°Tell me, Tayatzin,¡± I said with all the gravitas of a confident emperor. ¡°How many guests can my pce amodate at once?¡±

    ¡°Thousands, Your Divine Majesty.¡± My advisor smiled ear to ear. ¡°Do you wish to gather your empire¡¯s nobles and decide the matches yourself?¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps.¡± I stroked Itzili¡¯s feathers, which caused him to swiftly show his teeth at Tayatzin. I couldn¡¯t wish for a better assistant to illustrate my subtler threats. ¡°The events in Zacha have shown me that our people have forgotten what it is to serve their emperor; enough that some of them would rather scheme with our enemies than fulfill their duties. Should the goddesses grant me their blessing, we will invite our pick of local elites to live in my pce as honored guests and let them bask in my divine presence.¡±

    ¡°Guests, Your Divine Majesty?¡± Tayatzin smiled as he immediately saw through my ploy. ¡°Or hostages topel their rtives¡¯ obedience?¡±

    ¡°What difference does it make?¡± I replied with a chuckle. ¡°Between our uing war, the eruption, and the goddesses¡¯ purge of my harem, this court of mine needs new blood. Our nobles will shed their own for me, either through their service¡­ or <em>sacrifice</em>.¡±

    Inviting many nobles to live in the pce offered multiple benefits. First of all, it would let me cultivate assets and grow my power base. Second, as Tayatzin pointed out, it would provide hostages I could use to threaten their rtives at home should I require it. Thirdly, it would ensure that word of my miracles would quickly spread across the empire. Idle and well-born fools usually upied their time with gossip, or so I heard. Finally, it would keep Iztacoatl on her toes. The more effort she spent trying to ascertain which nobles I intended to recruit, the better my chances of keeping my true assets hidden.

    And if that failed, I could think of one final use for these poor souls. One I wouldn¡¯t relish, but might give me an edge in my final nights.

    ¡°Prepare me a list of potential candidates,¡± I ordered Tayatzin. ¡°I trust you to deliver swiftly.¡±

    ¡°I shall not disappoint you, Your Divine Majesty,¡± Tayatzin promised as he excused himself. ¡°I thank you once again for blessing me with this audience. I am happy to see that my ideas found grace in your eyes.¡±

    <em>That¡¯s what you¡¯ve always prayed for, isn¡¯t it?</em> Sigrun saw Tayatzin as bolder and more ambitious than most of his fellow priests, and his suggestions proved it. <em>Things will certainly change under my leadership, I promise you that. </em>

    I dismissed Tayatzin and then called upon my second visitor. The next person I weed this morning was Lahun, Chikal¡¯s younger cousin and her tribe¡¯s shamaness. Her outfit screamed ¡®witch¡¯ to all onlookers. Adorned with a headband of feathers, a jaguar pelt, and a mix of gold and cotton for a tight bodice, she also carried a ne of fangs, a staff decorated with snakeskin, pouches filled with drugs and trinkets of all kinds, and a bag filled with scrolls.

    She was a striking figure too, slimmer than most amazons yet exuding amanding presence. Her ck hair was dyed blue and tied into a bun at the back of her head, and her eyes were a cold shade of gray. Her stern, focused expression reminded me of Chikal¡¯s, with that same mix of caution and calction.

    <em>These two are tied from the same cloth.</em> I studied her in silence for a moment, which caused her to tense up in a way Chikal never would. <em>She¡¯s more skittish than her queen though. </em>

    The fact that Itzili the Younger did not growl at her on sight reassured me somewhat. My feathered tyrant had a sixth sense when it came to telling friends apart from foes. He felt so rxed in Lahun¡¯s presence that he began to take a nap alongside Tetzon, which greatly soothed my guest¡¯s worries.

    ¡°Wee, Lahun of Chm,¡± I greeted her when she proved too fearful to speak up. I waved a hand at my table. ¡°Sit down.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Your Majesty,¡± she replied with a deep bow and polite courtesy. She sat in front of me, with hardly a nce toward Itzili¡¯s presence. ¡°What owes me the pleasure of this invitation?¡±

    ¡°My consort Chikal spoke well of you,¡± I replied. ¡°Sheuded your wisdom and knowledge.¡±

    ¡°My queen is too kind.¡± Lahun joined her hands in contemtion. ¡°Does Your Majesty seek my counsel? Certainly, you do notck talented advisors.¡±

    ¡°I am mostly curious about a specific matter, but I never close my door on a new talent.¡± In truth, I mostly intended to assess whether she would make a good concubine and handmaiden for Chikal. My consort seemed to trust her as an intermediary, but I wished to put her to the test first. ¡°Tell me more about yourself.¡±

    ¡°There is not much to say,¡± Lahun replied with modesty. ¡°I served my queen and cousin as a storyteller, soothsayer, and shaman to the best of my ability.¡±

    ¡°Soothsayer?¡± The very word filled with disgust, though I did not show it. I had one to thank for my miserable childhood. ¡°Did you predict the future on Chikal¡¯s behalf?¡±

    ¡°I did.¡± Lahun shifted on her seat, a sh of guilt briefly passing over her face. ¡°I convinced my queen to form an alliance with Yohuachanca. The star signs said that either Chm or Bm would be destroyed, or both. Survival woulde at the cost of submission.¡±

    I suppressed a snort. I was certain that half of Chikal¡¯s court had reached the same conclusion when they saw the size of Yohuachanca¡¯s armies. This woman was no Nahualli, yet dared to pretend that she could tell the future.

    ¡°Can you read <em>my </em>fortune?¡± I asked her.

    For the first time since she sat at my table, Lahun cracked a smile. ¡°The godspeaker who prophesied a year of darkness would like me to tell him his future?¡±

    ¡°Consider it a test of your skills.¡± <em>And an opportunity for me to have a goodugh.</em> I sorely needed ely.

    ¡°Your Majesty will find my skills satisfactory,¡± Lahun replied calmly, though I detected a hint of suppressed frustration in her tone. This woman was proud of her craft. ¡°My question was more practical. Foresight is both an opportunity and a trap.¡±

    ¡°A trap?¡± That caught my interest. ¡°Why would knowing the future be a bad thing?¡±

    ¡°Because when a man sees the path ahead, he might bind himself to it and ignore other, better options,¡± Lahun replied. ¡°Knowing the future helps determine that future.¡±

    ¡°Or oppose it,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Many times I have seen a prophecy fulfilled by the efforts its victims took to avert it.¡± Lahun took a sharp breath. ¡°If I foresaw that a certain man will murder Your Majesty, and that Your Majesty decided to kill them to avert this fate, then that same person might survive, develop a grudge, and plot to y Your Majesty. Had Your Majesty ignored that person, as they might have if they did not seek my counsel in the first ce, then this crisis would never happen.¡±

    ¡°No one can kill me, Lahun.¡± None but the Nightlords who held my soul in bondage. ¡°I am not sure I understand your point. If fate is set in stone, wouldn¡¯t even learning of it be already predetermined?¡±

    Lahun¡¯s answer proved somewhat evasive. ¡°The future is not set in stone, but neither is it entirely in mortal hands. Powerful and invisible influences constantly push and pull us in one direction or another. Predicting unavoidable disasters or future opportunities lets us prepare ordingly. The gods alone are free from fate¡¯s decrees, since they write them.¡±

    Which was why Mother was so obsessed with bing one. A sorceress of her caliber knew only ultimate power guaranteed true freedom.

    Still, I believed I understood Lahun¡¯s point. Learning of the future, or at least an idea of a possible future, could push people to act irrationally. The soothsayer who decided that my birth was an ill-omen caused me much grief for nothing.

    <em>It doesn¡¯t matter,</em> I decided. Beyond these existential questions, I mostly sought to gather the extent of Lahun¡¯s power and knowledge.<em> I must ascertain how to best make use of her. </em>

    ¡°What I hear is that our decisions can shape our destiny,¡± I said. ¡°You shall proceed with my test.¡±

    ¡°Very well. Is Your Majesty short on time?¡± I shook my head, much to her pleasure. ¡°I use multiple methods of divination andpare the results for better uracy. May you present your arm to me?¡±

    Puzzled by her request, I offered her my left hand. Lahun pulled back my sleeve, grabbed some kind of substance from her pouch, and then began to apply a brown paste to my palm and forearm. I recognized a mix of tobo and lime from the smell.

    Once she had thoroughly covered my skin, Lahun pressed her thumb against it. My palm¡¯s lines sharply reflected on the paste.

    ¡°Do you intend to read the future in the palm of my hand?¡± I asked with a scornful chuckle.

    ¡°No,¡± Lahun replied calmly as her thumb slowly worked its way from my fingers to my wrist, ¡°but reading Your Majesty¡¯s lifelines will let me see your past and guide future divinations.¡±

    I snorted in skepticism, but let her try her work. At no point did I sense any magicing from Lahun. Having tasted real sorcery, I believed this woman to be a chatan. A well-meaning one mayhaps, but someone with no real power.

    At least, until she began to share her findings.

    ¡°This is strange,¡± Lahun muttered to herself with a scowl. ¡°ording to your lifelines, you have already perishedst year.¡±

    I blinked without a word.

    ¡°Your lifeline ended abruptly over a lunar month ago, around the Night of the Scarlet Moon or close to it, only to begin again stronger than before.¡± Lahun frowned at me. ¡°I often see this mark in individuals who have undergone a deep spiritual awakening; a death and rebirth of the spirit. Was that the case?¡±

    ¡°It was.¡± In a very literal way. Did she make a vague guess on my ascension to emperor or did she truly possess keen insight? ¡°What more do you see?¡±

    ¡°You have been bitten by a dog more than once, then befriended it.¡± Lahun squinted as she looked up at my arm. ¡°Your father is dead, but your mother still lives. You have killed your fellow man in secret and saved a woman from death twice. The owl protects you and the winds have always blown your way in times of crisis. You have no brothers, whether by blood or bonds of friendship.¡±

    It took all of myposure not to show my nervousness. She could have made an educated guess about my parents or the fact that I had spared Necahual¡¯s life twice, but there was no way she could feasibly identify my totem without supernatural insight. Not to mention that the dog part clearly referred to my pact with the god Xolotl; a secret known only to M¡¯s dead denizens.

    Nheless, Lahun didn¡¯t show the surprise I would expect of someone learning that I¡¯d danced with the gods of the Underworld. Whatever information she gleaned was vague enough that it led her to mundane conclusions.

    ¡°You possess an exceptional lifeforce,¡± she muttered to herself, her eyes slowly widening in astonishment. It looked like the more she read my palm lines, the less she believed what they told her. ¡°You are blessed by the gods.¡±

    ¡°I am the Godspeaker,¡± I said hastily. ¡°He who speaks for the Gods-in-the-Flesh and the Gods-in-Spirit.¡±

    ¡°I understand, but¡­ it is another to <em>know </em>and another to <em>feel </em>it.¡± Lahun paused for a moment, her brow furrowing as she read my lines. Then she gave me a look heavy with meaning. ¡°Your Majesty would make a most fearsome sorcerer.¡±

    <em>She knows now. </em>She knew that I practiced witchcraft and she was wise enough to hold her tongue. Good. I would have had her executed on the spot otherwise, even if Chikal trusted her. <em>This Lahun might actually turn out to be a good surprise for once. </em>

    ¡°Before we begin, Your Majesty, I must clear up a few misunderstandings that you may have.¡± Lahun let go of my hand and cleared her throat. ¡°The signs are never wrong, but we mortals may misinterpret their meaning. I can only do my best to foresee which way the winds of fate will blow.¡±

    ¡°If the signs are never wrong, then why could learning of them influence their oue?¡±

    ¡°If I had to give an example¡­¡± Lahun stroked her chin thoughtfully. ¡°Should the signs say that an empire will fall if a king deres war on his neighbor, then it means that either could win. Destiny only predicts that one of them <em>will </em>fall once war is dered. Victory or death once fate¡¯s course is put in motion, no other oue.¡±

    I crossed my arms as I tried to make sense of her reasoning. ¡°The king could decide not tounch war if he thinks a war is not worth the risk, or wager it all on his victory.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty catches on quickly. Embracing or denying one¡¯s fate is a choice in itself, the same as treading on a known path or venturing into the unknown. Some twists of fate are unavoidable, but we can choose how we react to them.¡±

    I would be a fool to deny the existence of destiny. I was born a Nahualli, and the Nightlords specifically selected their emperors because we fulfilled strange esoteric criteria for their ritual. The fact that I could influence fate¡¯s course reassured me more; as did her assertion that the gods could break from its shacklespletely.

    Lahun proceeded with more bizarre rituals. She threw corn on the table seven times, checking whether they formed rows or lines, only to scowl when they keptnding either in scattered circles or tight piles. She then filled a bowl with water, put the grains inside, and counted which of them had hit the bottom and those that floated upward. She then asked me to look at the liquid¡¯s surface.

    ¡°Your face shows clearly,¡± Lahun observed. ¡°Your Tonalli is exceptionally strong.¡±

    ¡°Tonalli?¡± I repeated while feigning surprise. The mere fact she knew of the concept greatly interested me.

    ¡°A Tonalli is your totem-spirit, the reflection of your soul. The owl, in Your Majesty¡¯s case. It forms a triad with your Teyolia, your heart-fire and lifeforce, and your Ihiyotl, your breath and will.¡± Lahun put the bowl aside. ¡°The corn represents the former of the two. Them being scattered usually means the severance of your lifeforce, and the pile a strong line of life. I would say you constantly dance on the thin edge between life and death.¡±

    She was more correct than she knew. Nheless, part of her reasoning left me puzzled.

    ¡°Why corn?¡± I asked her. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t fire better represent my lifeforce?¡±

    ¡°At the dawn of the Fifth Sun, the celestial gods Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl gave the first woman the grains she had to throw to know the fate of her people,¡± Lahun exined. ¡°Since then, corn grains have been used by lorekeepers for divination.¡±

    I was beginning to see how this ritual worked. ¡°And since this ¡®Tonalli¡¯ is my spirit¡¯s reflection, you look into the water to catch a glimpse of it.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty shows keen insight, as befitting of a Nahualli.¡± Lahun gave me a handful of tiny conch shells small enough to fit into her hands. ¡°I will ask you to blow on these next, to measure your Ihiyotl.¡±

    As usual with sorcery, it all came down to symbolism and representation. Just as I gathered power from embodying the First Emperor, corn derived a measure of magical significance because of its association with the celestial gods. Mirrors of all kinds were also said to possess mystical importance in revealing hidden truths, such as ghosts and spirits.

    <em>How could I push this rtionship?</em> I smelled an opportunity. Power to exploit.

    Once I finished blowing on the shells, Lahun consulted me on my birthdate and then wrote down her observations in a codex that she kept in her bag. I saw that she had already recorded the position ofst night¡¯s stars in them.

    ¡°Questioning the stars gives more urate prophecies when they concern the fate of nations, the world¡¯s ages, or iing cmities,¡± Lahun exined. ¡°Gauging a person¡¯s Tonalli, Ihiyotl, and Teyolia yields better results when I try to read the fate of individuals. I then cross-examine my findings with sacred numbers ¡±

    ¡°Can you tell me more about those?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Your Majesty.¡± My curiosity caused Lahun to rx a bit. She probably enjoyed the position of the teacher. ¡°Certain numbers possess great mystical significance. Two is water, three is fire, so two-and-three means conflict. War. Four represents bnce, and five, instability and chaos.¡±

    Four Nightlords in bnce to keep the fifth suppressed. And Smoke Mountain erupted when the number fell to three; fire¡¯s number. Was that a coincidence or the result of an ult bacsh? I was almost certain that my Haunt would have triggered the New Fire Ceremony¡¯s copse on its own, but it might have been a case of a dam breaking from too many small cracks.

    Lahun continued her exnation as she organized the stars by group and noted their number. ¡°Seven is the earthbound number, nine is associated with death and the underworld, thirteen with the thirteen heavens and the sky, twenty with the passage of time, four-hundred with multitude. The more one of them appears in a pattern, the stronger its pull on destiny.¡±

    From what I could read of her notes, the numbers nine and thirteen appeared quite often. Lahun assembled them, added them, multiplied them by the times her corn grainsnded in one position or another, and then associated them with words. Her calctions appeared exceedinglyplex and near-nonsensical to me, but a pattern of sentences began to appear.

    ¡°Death,¡± Lahun read my fortune with professional focus and poise. ¡°Corruption. Destruction. Owl-man with bloodstained talons flies over mountains of corpses. Year of the skulls. Lies meet temptations in a house of nightmares. Curses, ruin, end of an age.¡±

    Quite ominous. The fact she mentioned the house of nightmares¡ªXibalba¡ªat least suggested that her prophecy was vaguely urate. I listened attentively in case I could glean anything.

    ¡°Son of chaos bes father of terror. Demons dance under the earth, godsugh in the sky.¡± Then Lahun added, almost absentmindedly. ¡°Murder in the family.¡±

    My heart skipped a beat at thest one, though my expression remained colder than ancient stone.

    ¡°Betrayal with a friend¡¯s face, snake shedding skin,¡± Lahun continued, a scowl spreading on her face. ¡°Forbidden unions beget abominations. War of the puppeteers burns the stage. Battle of the three wings. Golden city answers the tide of sorrow. To the banquet of blood the dark one triumphs. New skull on the pile weeps in night eternal.¡±

    Most people would probably have decried her report as a nonsensical string of words, but I quickly identified how a few of them applied to my situation. The snake shedding its skin obviously referred to Iztacoatl somehow; the golden city, to the Sapa; and the house of nightmares to Xibalba. The betrayal with a friend¡¯s face echoed the Yaotzin¡¯s earlier warning.

    And thest sentence¡¯s meaning couldn¡¯t be any clearer.

    As it currently stood, my fortune was the one that the Nightlords decided for me: to end as yet another skull in the Reliquary. Killing Yoloxochitl put a hurdle on fate¡¯s wheel, but my efforts failed to fully throw it off course.

    Yet.

    At least it would assuage the Nightlords¡¯ suspicions for now. Learning that another expert soothsayer confirmed that my head would end up in the Reliquary would likely reassure them. Why would they bother to prevent my inquiries into magic, since my efforts woulde to naught in the end?

    <em>Murder in the family¡­</em> Lahun didn¡¯t specify whether it was <em>mine</em>, nor who wouldmit the crime. For all I knew it could refer to Ingrid and her sister, Eztli and Necahual, or the death of a future unborn child of mine at the Nightlords¡¯ hands. <em>Or it could refer to Mother and Father.</em>

    I banished these thoughts from my mind. Lahun had a point, prophecies were a dangerous snare. I intended to spit in destiny¡¯s face either way.

    <em>The gods alone write their own fates</em>. I pondered that lesson for a moment. The path of salvation remained the same as it always was: to obtain the four dead suns¡¯ embers and achieve ultimate power. <em>Only then will I escape my uing death¡¯s grasp. </em>

    I would deal with whatever betrayal, cruelty, or surprise fate kept in store for me, and I would ovee them all.

    ¡°I won¡¯t lie, these are ominous signs,¡± Lahun said, though she remained eerily calm nheless. ¡°Your Majesty shouldn¡¯t let gloom conquer his heart. There are betrayals and <em>betrayals</em>. It can be as small as a harmless lie or secret¨C¡±

    ¡°Or as devastating as a knife to the back,¡± I replied before I decided to test another area of her knowledge. ¡°I¡¯ve had a nightmare where a beast came to me under the guise of a friend. Chikal mentioned that it could describe a skinwalker.¡±

    ¡°It could be,¡± Lahun confirmed. ¡°Sleep is the little death, when the living mind wanders through the Underworld¡¯s mists. I would suggest that you pay close attention to your dreams. As a Nahualli, the gods will send you messages through them.¡±

    If only she knew I had met a few as I slept. Lahun¡¯s insight into supernatural matters astonished me, but her knowledge was clearly limited by herck of Nahualli powers. She didn¡¯t know that catecolotl could fully travel to the Underworld in their sleep for example.

    ¡°Skinwalkers are Nahualli who havemitted the ultimate crime: ying their closest kin,¡± Lahun exined. ¡°A father who killed his daughter, a sister who slew her sibling, the son who murdered his mother¡­ This crime stains their totem forever and invites evil power into their heart. It grants them the awful power to steal another¡¯s skin by consuming their heart, alongside a grim form of immortality.¡±

    <em>Immortality?</em> ¡°What kind?¡±

    ¡°A skinwalker¡¯s evil spirit will endure almost any wound,¡± Lahun replied. Was that a dash of fear I detected in her voice? ¡°They can only be in through decapitation, since the act of beheading severs the head from the heart; the Teyolia from the Tonalli.¡±

    Wait, was that why the Nightlords insisted on beheading the emperors and piling up their skulls? To symbolically split the First Emperor¡¯s maddened mind from his dark lifeforce?

    ¡°You sound as if you have encountered a skinwalker in the past,¡± I noted. ¡°Enough to fear them.¡±

    ¡°I have.¡± Lahun paled slightly and averted my gaze. ¡°This memory I do not relish. Your Majesty will be thankful to the gods should they not encounter those abominations.¡±

    That sounded like an interesting tale, but I did not push Lahun any further. The encounter clearly left its marks. ¡°Can any Nahualli be a skinwalker?¡±

    ¡°Any totem can be corrupted.¡± Lahun¡¯s eyebrows furrowed slightly. ¡°I would not rmend that Your Majesty follow that path. Skinwalkers live a cursed existence of pain and misery. Their state is not a reward, but a punishment.¡±

    The thought never crossed my mind. Whatever grievances I had towards Mother, I didn¡¯t wish her dead.

    ¡°I would never stain my office with such a heinous crime,¡± I replied, quite sincerely. I had no respect for the position of emperor, but I would shun the sin of kinying at all costs. ¡°I simply wish to understand how these creatures work. How can one identify them?¡±

    My only interest was how to subvert and identify Iztacoatl¡¯s shapeshifting magic. Whatever wicked spell allowed her pet snakes to impersonate thete Lady Sigrun sounded very simr to these skinwalkers¡¯ skin-stealing sorcery. If they followed the same principles, then a method used to deal with one might be effective against the other.

    ¡°The only way to identify a skinwalker¡­ is to look into their eyes,¡± Lahun replied with a gulp. Her expression darkened, as if she recalled a particrly cruel memory. ¡°Those are the windows of the soul. They cannot hide the evil within them. But beware, Your Majesty, for the weak-willed fall under a Skinwalker¡¯s sway when they meet their gaze.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯m overqualified to resist them,¡± I replied while failing to hide my disappointment. ¡°I expected a more efficient method.¡±

    ¡°If skinwalkers were so easy to identify, Your Majesty, they would not be so dangerous.¡±

    <em>True.</em> My own Gaze spell could see through any illusion, but not a physical change. Then again, perhaps the right tool had yet to be found or invented. <em>My predecessors developed the Legion spell on their own, which means we have yet to reach the boundaries of magic. There is always more to learn. </em>

    And Lahun had taught me a valuable lesson about sorcery today: that elements as inconsequential as numbers could gain ult power through the symbolism humans assigned to them. I already saw a few ways to exploit that phenomenon to my advantage by incorporating them into my spells.

    <em>If the number three is associated with fire, then it should help strengthen the ze,</em> I thought.<em> Nine would mesh well with the Tomb. Mayhaps I ought to inscribe numbers in the Legion¡¯s skulls too to increase their precision. </em>

    So many possibilities to explore.

    ¡°You have impressed me, Lahun,¡± I said with the utmost sincerity. ¡°Tell me now: what is it that you desire most?¡±

    Lahun straightened up with dignity. ¡°My only wish is to serve Your Majesty and Queen Chikal.¡±

    ¡°A diplomatic answer, albeit a false one,¡± I replied with a smile. I had been fed enough lies these past few moons to smell one. ¡°I forgive you this time, but I must ask the truth of you. Answer me now.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty is sharp.¡± Lahun studied my face. She probably weighed whether she should keep her true thoughts to herself, but the slightest flicker of ambition in her eyes prevailed over her caution. ¡°My true desire is to gaze deeper into the abyss of magic than any seer before or after me. Nothing less.¡±

    <em>She is like Necahual: grasping for a power that will never be her own.</em> This exined Lahun¡¯s interest in my lifelines and my true nature as a sorcerer. I represented the ideal that she sought to reach. A true master of magic. <em>And like Necahual before her, I could lend her some of mine. </em>

    ¡°If you serve me dutifully in all things, Lahun, I will see that your wishes true. For while you implore the gods for life¡¯s answers¡­¡± I chuckled to myself, for I alone saw the cosmic joke at y. ¡°I <em>speak </em>for them.¡±

    This woman was no Nahualli, but she might make an excellent Seidr partner and a good candidate to undergo the witch ritual I nned to put Necahual through. I would introduce these two at the first opportunity.

    ¡°Your Majesty is kind and generous. I swear to serve him with the utmost loyalty.¡± Lahun marked a short pause, a smile forming at the edge of her lips. ¡°In any way that he chooses.¡±

    ¡°We shall see about that,¡± I replied while returning her smile with one of my own. ¡°What other duties did you practice in Chm?¡±

    ¡°I practiced the rain dance, warded away the hail, and petitioned the gods for favor.¡± Lahun let out a small chuckle. ¡°I confess that these rituals did not always work.¡±

    ¡°They will work with me,¡± I promised her. The Nightlords had seen to that.

    I would defeat the vampires by using their own tricks against them: turning the lie into the truth. For the more miracles I performed, the more my divine image would reinforce itself.

    And the gods alone decided their own destiny.

 Chapter Fifty-Five: The Whispers of Ambition

    Chapter Fifty-Five: The Whispers of Ambition

    I practiced a dance with feet that were not my own.

    A dozen noblewomen hade to witness my performance. Chikal was there, her face younger and smoother. A crown of gold shone bright atop her woven hair. I did my best to ignore them all and focus on the task at hand. My steps rocked Chm¡¯s great stone za and my staff pointed up at the cloudy sky. The rainforest around our city shuddered in the wind. The fields waited. They had waited in vain yesterday too, and the day before. Now they starved with a thirst I could not satisfy.

    My fate and that of my city depended on the gods¡¯ goodwill. I prayed for the great loc to deliver his gift.

    I continued to dance until my feet bled. I continued without pause, my mind confident in my craft, my heart fearing that the heavens would ignore me. I remained resolute, and I sensed something warm dripping on my skin in my final step.

    A drop of water.

    loc had finally listened to my pleas and blessed me with his bounty. The rain came, first faintly, then strongly. My people¡¯s hands pped in acim, and my heart swelled with relief. Another failure, and I might have been reced.

    I was so tired of begging the heavens for their scraps.

    The vision changed, as did the memory it showcased. I found myself back amidst the mes and blood rivers of the House of Jaguars. The Lords of Terror watched on in grim silence as I wielded the balefire of my heart and cast the ze spell for the first time. I¡¯d be fire, the devourer of all. I incinerated the corpses that once tried to devour me and reduced them to cinders with a maniacal smile.

    The demons watched as I stood atop a mountain of ashes. For I was now their equal, beholden to no one, power made flesh. I was the catecolotl, the owl-man who brought forth chaos.And nobody would stand in my way.

    The Seidr vision copsed in on itself, and I returned to my present day reality. Lahun moaned under me with a final sigh of pleasure. I gathered my breath, my back rxing after the effort, my hands still gripping her soft hips, and my cock softening inside her.

    My musicians yed the flute in the background, officially to soothe Itzili and Tetzon while I enjoyed my newest concubine; and unofficially, to cover up our words.

    ¡°That¡­.¡± Lahun breathed softly and wiped the sweat off her face. ¡°That was¡­¡±

    ¡°Your first time with a man?¡± I asked before she could say something incriminating. The music should cover our words, but I wouldn¡¯t take any risk.

    Lahun blushed slightly. ¡°Did it show?¡±

    Yes, it did. Lahun¡¯s touch had been clumsy, hesitant, and inexperienced in spite of her older age. Thankfully, I was starting to understand how a woman¡¯s body worked; which part I had to caress to give pleasure, where and how to kiss, and when to seize the moment. I daresay I left a pretty good first impression.

    Lahun continued to surprise me in a good way. This lovemaking session had started out as a formality to officially im her as a concubine and then assign her to Chikal as a handmaiden. Unlike with her queen though, we managed to perform the Seidr ritual on our first try. I didn¡¯t even have to tell her anything. Lahun had immediately guessed my intent the moment I prated her and attempted to bind our Teyolias, then emotionally aligned herself with me. It was easy.

    We both shared a dash of ambition and a keen lust for magic.

    <em>She will make an excellent Seidr partner and soothsaying teacher,</em> I thought as I began to pull out of her. My eyes lingered on her belly. I couldn¡¯t tell why, but I suddenly found myself recalling Father¡¯s attempt at a ¡®talk.¡¯ <em>Did he feel such unease too when he and Mother tried to have me? </em>

    The idea of fathering a child should be a moment of joy, but I couldn¡¯t shake the fear of my descendants growing up under the Nightlords¡¯ thumb whenever I finished coupling with a woman. The image of the Jaguar Woman seizing my infant sons and daughters in her vile hands filled me with disgust.

    Worse, I knew it was inevitable. I couldn¡¯t feed every woman in my harem contraceptives, nor pull out each time. Seidr rituals required an exchange of body fluids and the Nightlords wanted their puppet emperor to procreate for their sick breeding program. They would punish any attempts to skip out on my ¡®duties.¡¯

    The best I could do was to focus on the pleasure and avoid thinking about the consequences.

    ¡°I¡¯m honored to have been your first, though it surprises me,¡± I told Lahun. ¡°As Chikal¡¯s advisor and cousin, you should have had your pick of males.¡±

    ¡°Even if I could have done so, coupling with a male sounded like a waste of time to me,¡± Lahun replied with a small, embarrassed smile. I had the feeling she would change her tune after experiencing the joys of lovemaking. ¡°I always saw it as a distraction.¡±

    ¡°Even if?¡± Her wording puzzled me. ¡°You weren¡¯t allowed to take a male consort? I thought lineage was very important among Chm¡¯s amazons.¡±

    ¡°It is.¡± Lahun looked away. ¡°Which is why a new queen often executes her siblings to avoid contestation once she rises to the throne. Lady Chikal¡¯s mother took a shine to me though, as I was her favorite niece and already showed a talent for prophecies. She agreed to let me live under the condition that I do not bear children that would challenge her own and dedicate myself to shamanism.¡±

    A chill traveled down my spine. It seemed that amazon politics matched Yohuachanca''s in ruthlessness. Part of me wondered if Lahun¡¯s encounter with a skinwalker was somehow rted to this loathsome practice.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear this,¡± I said from the bottom of my heart. Kin should matter more than petty politics.

    ¡°It was years ago,¡± Lahun replied calmly. Herck of bitterness sounded genuine enough. ¡°I never sought to have children anyway, so I did not mind.¡±

    ¡°Not even to pass your knowledge on to?¡±

    ¡°It takes years before children learn to sit down without a word, let alone listen to their elders. I would rather handpick a sessor of sufficient age who has already proved her brightness of mind.¡± Lahun shrugged. ¡°Moreover, my queen already requested that I educate her future daughter with Your Majesty. <em>That </em>will prove a greatmitment in itself.¡±

    Of course Chikal would take such precautions. Lahun would make a good sorcery teacher; or rather, the best that the Nightlords might let us get away with. Teaching her Seidr and a few other tricks might prove beneficial in the long term.

    Yet I struggled to imagine a future where Lahun would teach my daughter magic. I found the very idea of my future child being raised inside these prison¡¯s walls unbearable.

    <em>I¡¯ll live to see the Nightlords fall, </em>I promised myself<em>. I won¡¯t allow any other oue. </em>

    Father told me that parents did things for their children that they would never do for themselves. My nned daughter with Chikal was a mere abstraction for now, a spurt of seed in her womb, but I refused to see her fed to the mes like Sigrun and my other unborn child had been.

    I was bound to father even more descendants with my concubines over the year¡¯s course too. Whenever I doubted my cause, I would have to think of them. Father did all he could to protect me. I had to show the samemitment.

    ¡°How old are you, Lahun?¡± I questioned her.

    ¡°I was born on the first day of the Rain Month twenty-five years ago, Your Majesty,¡± Lahun replied with a raised eyebrow. My question surprised her. ¡°Most soothsayers are born on that date.¡±

    My predecessors said as much. Interesting. Lahun shared the same sign as Necahual, which made her eligible for the Mometzcopinque ritual. My interest continued to grow.

    My n for Necahual was to turn her into a Mometzcopinque, a unique magical creature beholden to a powerful spiritual patron; namely, myself. I had spent thest few weeks slowly molding her Teyolia ording to my needs one Seidr session at a time, and I intended to put her through the ritual as soon as I obtained loc¡¯s embers. The spell might work with my current power, but my predecessors suggested that I gather more first for caution¡¯s sake.

    Nothing about it said that I had to stop at <em>one </em>Mometzcopinque.

    As far as I knew, I could sustain as many of them as my divine Teyolia allowed and a few sacred numbers carried mystical potency. Would recruiting four followers increase their powers? Mine too, perhaps? Forming a coven of spellcasters dedicated to me would prove a boon when I finally confronted the Nightlords in battle.

    I only had two issues: first, the ritual only worked with women born on specific dates, which limited the avable pool of recruits; and second, it required that I bind the target¡¯s soul, stripping them of their freedom for power. The idea used to leave me unsettled, and it still did to a degree.

    Yet¡­

    And yet, it didn¡¯t stop me from altering Nl¡¯s tattoo, starting an eruption that killed thousands, or forcing people into marriages for my personal benefit. I was already deciding the life of others whether they liked it or not. I needed all the help I could get.

    I had crossed so many lines in victory¡¯s name already. What was one more?

    Besides, the Mometzcopinque ritual required <em>consent</em>. Lahun would have to agree to forswear her soul to me. I had no guarantee that she would even develop that kind of loyalty to me, no matter how much she craved the power of sorcery.

    How much was she willing to sacrifice for her dream?

    I had to test the waters. Unsettle her and see how she reacts.

    ¡°Twenty-five years,¡± I whispered in her ear. ¡°So you are still fertile.¡±

    Lahun frowned in confusion. ¡°Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°What if I said your body wasn¡¯t enough for me?¡± I traced a line up her belly. ¡°That I wanted you to bear my child too?¡±

    Lahun shifted under me, suddenly ufortable. I couldn¡¯t me her. Besides her own apprehension and distaste of the idea, to be conquered by a foreign male was the ultimate insult an amazon could receive. Not to mention that it meant viting her vow of celibacy. Her brethren would not look kindly on it, not to mention Chikal. She probably shared my distaste at her bloodline being raised in this prison too.

    In short, it represented arge sacrifice.

    Was that Lahun¡¯s line in the sand? The parcel of freedom that she would not surrender? How far could I push her?

    ¡°I¡­¡± Lahun cleared her throat. ¡°My vow to Queen Chikal¡¯s mother still stands.¡±

    ¡°You made a vow to a queen, and I am your emperor. Chikal speaks for her <em>people</em>, but I speak for the <em>gods</em>. I can fulfill any wish that your mind may conceive.¡± Including the sorcery that she craved. ¡°But I am a greedy master who exacts a harsh price for his favor.¡±

    I had forged a pact with Necahual: the return of her daughter and the power of magic in exchange forplete loyalty. She had sacrificed her pride for her daughter¡¯s sake; amitment that I respected.

    But Lahun had no kin to defend, no grander ideal to defend other than herself. Her memories showed me that her loyalty to her city and queen was more strained than expected. As she told me, her true desire was to gaze deeper into the abyss of magic rather than see her city prosper. She reminded me of Mother in a way, except that for all her faults Ichtaca would never surrender to another.

    Would Lahun?

    ¡°If I said that I could make your dreamse true, and that in return all that you have to do¡­ is to give me <em>everything</em>?¡± I lowered my head to better face Lahun. ¡°Would you ept?¡±

    Lahun gathered her breath. She understood that it was a test of some kind. ¡°I am already Your Majesty¡¯s property.¡±

    ¡°Byw, not by will.¡± I took her hands into mine. She had seen my past in my palms, but here was when we decided her future. ¡°Do not feel threatened. If you refuse me, I shall ept your decision. You will remain my advisor and I will never take more than what you are willing to give.¡±

    I leaned in to whisper in her ear.

    ¡°But neither shall I fulfill your prayers,¡± I warned her, ¡°Nor make the sky rain for you.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t trust someone of fickle loyalty with my greater secrets.

    I looked into Lahun¡¯s eyes as she pondered the pact that I offered her. I saw my reflection in her gaze: a Godspeaker, a sorcerer, the ideal to which she aspired to be. Although shecked the necessary context, she had witnessed me stand shoulder-to-shoulder with demons and wield great magic in my memories. Her previous respect for me had turned into a deeper admiration.

    Lahun had spent years petitioning loc and other deities for rain. Never before did they answer her with words, nor show themselves in the flesh. Her dances might have been utterly useless for all she knew.

    I was different. I had proved my power during our embrace. Our Seidr ritual had let her taste true magic. Unlike the gods-in-spirit, I was a god-in-the-flesh that she could hold in her arms and kiss with her lips. I could answer her questions, fulfill her prayers, quell her doubts, and return her devotion. I was the idol that <em>could deliver</em>¡­ for a price.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Lahun gulped, then mustered her resolve. ¡°I have sworn to serve Your Majesty in any way that you choose and with utmost loyalty. If you desire a child from my flesh, I¡­ I will provide it.¡±

    I searched her eyes for any hint of deceit. ¡°Even if your queen said no?¡±

    A sh of genuine fear and unease passed over Lahun¡¯s gaze, but she gave me a small nod nheless.

    ¡°Would you pay my price, knowing that your sisters in Chm will curse you for your choice?¡± I asked her. ¡°Knowing that I will ask more in the future? Knowing that this will be the smallest and easiest sacrifice that I shall ask you to make?¡±

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Lahun sank a bit further into the bed. ¡°I would bear any indignity if it means making my dream a reality.¡±

    Promises were wind, easily uttered, and difficult to fulfill. But they carried meaning nheless.

    Lahun knew exactly who and what I was. She understood that words had power when uttered in a spellcaster¡¯s presence. I had given her a glimpse of sorcery¡¯s bottomless well, and she wouldn¡¯t turn away from it. Not now at least.

    Her answer both disappointed and reassured me. I¡¯d hoped that she would retain her pride like I did in my darkest moments; but on the other hand this made her a potential candidate for the Mometzcopinque ritual.

    Would she stay true to that oath once things got tough? Necahual gave me her body, her dignity, and her pride. Lahun had yet to pay such a hefty price.

    I wouldn¡¯t include her in my conspiracy yet, since the likes of Iztacoatl would likely attempt to subvert her with lies or a more appealing offer. Instead, I would continue to test Lahun. I would assess how far I could trust her.

    And if the shamaness passed every ordeal, I would fulfill her wish.

    I rewarded hermitment and sealed our secret pact with a kiss. To outsiders, it would have seemed like another roley game in bed. In truth, she had just passed the first ordeal of many.

    <em>I was her emperor before, but now I am her god. </em>

    And she would have to prove her devotion to me.

    ¡°I will meditate on your case,¡± I said upon releasing my grip on Lahun. ¡°For now, I will have you assigned to Chikal as her handmaiden so I may enjoy both of your counsel andpany.¡±

    ¡°I hope that Your Majesty will call on me soon,¡± Lahun replied with a short, careful nod. ¡°I remain your and Queen Chikal¡¯s faithful servant.¡±

    ¡°And that loyalty shall serve you well,¡± I replied upon leaving the bed. I snapped my fingers and the musicians immediately stopped ying. Servants soon entered the bedroom to clothe me in my imperial regalias.

    To my slight surprise, I recognized a familiar face among.

    ¡°Tenoch,¡± I said with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Do youe on my dear Ingrid¡¯s behalf?¡±

    ¡°I do, Your Majesty,¡± she replied with a deep bow. ¡°She told me to inform you that all preparations for Your Majesty¡¯s trip to Zacha will beplete by tomorrow morning.¡±

    ¡°This is earlier than I expected,¡± I said as she folded my imperial robes. ¡°Ingrid¡¯s efficiency is almost frightening.¡±

    ¡°Mydy is as bright as she is beautiful,¡± Tenoch replied before noticing Lahun in my bed. The shamaness pulled up the bedsheet to cover her nakedness, much to the handmaiden¡¯s amusement. ¡°If Your Majesty wished forpany, he could have called us. Mydy misses him greatly.¡±

    ¡°I will make it up with Ingrid soon,¡± I replied evasively as I left my chambers to travel to the Reliquary. I pondered Ingrid¡¯s move. Using Tenoch as an intermediary was a subtle indication that the message carried more weight than it seemed.

    She had also mentioned <em>all </em>the preparations. This implied even those that didn¡¯t rte to Zacha specifically. I could only think of one other plot we had underway that warranted a warning.

    It was time to strike Yoloxochitl¡¯s garden and set it aze.

    I moved to the Reliquary next for my morning meditation. As usual, Iztacoatl¡¯s snakes were slithering among my predecessors¡¯ skulls and watching me in the darkness. I pretended to miss them and sat in quiet silence.

    ¡°We wee thee again, our sessor,¡± the skulls whispered in the shadows. ¡°You bring great and troubling developments.¡±

    That was one way to put it. Between the First Emperor¡¯s undead curse, Lahun, the garden, and the Zacha trip, the stars appeared to align for the month¡¯s end. Although I could not answer the past emperors¡¯ inquiries without alerting Iztacoatl, I still sought their advice before proceeding.

    ¡°We have conferred with Xolotl on the matter of these Nightchildren,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°The souls that those abominations consume do not reach the Gate of Skulls, and the First Emperor¡¯s spirit stirs with each new victim. We suspect that these horrors feed their stolen Teyolia directly to their chained master.¡±

    As I feared, the First Emperor was indeed putting his thumb on the scales of fate. Would these stolen souls eventually give him enough power to break his chains? I couldn¡¯t allow such an oue to pass, no matter how much destabilizing the Nightlords¡¯ empire would benefit me. I was somewhat confident that I could eventually defeat the sisters in battle once I umted enough spells and embers, but their divine father was too tall a mountain for me to climb.

    ¡°Our captors¡¯ ritual holds strong for now, but we shall continue to carefully monitor the situation,¡± my predecessors warned me. ¡°The Nightlords will never be so foolish as to grant youmand of these abominations in battle, but their greed always has a habit of oveing their caution. They cannot ignore the situation, nor allow rumors of their weakness to spread. They will make a show of your pilgrimage to Zacha to awe the herd and to frighten their enemies.¡±

    True. Rebellions failed to spring up in the eruption¡¯s wake, but the First Emperor¡¯s announcement had probably spread to all corners of Yohuachanca by now. The people had seen the signs and required reassurance. Making a show of my control over the Nightchildren would serve the Nightlords¡¯ purpose and strengthen my divine image. I could live with this oue.

    Just one obstacle remained in my way.

    ¡°You have done well in throwing the White Snake off-bnce, but this means that she will now take retaliative measures,¡± the Parliament warned me. ¡°We know how she thinks. First, she will try to frustrate you by sabotaging your initiatives, and then infiltrate your inner circle. She might rece one of your handmaidens with a double through her sorcery, approach one of your consorts with an offer, or more likely, she will send someone to earn your trust.¡±

    Iztacoatl would send me a false cure to a problem that she caused herself. A liar through and through.

    I doubted she would approach my consorts directly. Eztli was loyal, Chikal and Ingrid knew that the Nightlords¡¯ promises weren¡¯t worth the scrolls on which they were written, and Nl was incapable of deceit. Iztacoatl would likely target their handmaidens instead.

    ¡°It might be a concubine that appeals to all of your personal tastes, with sharp wits and a rebellious streak; or a brotherly warrior that appears sympathetic to you. Iztacoatl will try to find the hole in your heart and fill it with deceit.¡± I detected hints of anger in the Parliament¡¯s many voices. She must have pulled that trick on many of the previous emperors. ¡°Then, once she feels that your trust has reached its apex, she will reveal the treachery and drink your tears. She finds it so sweet, the taste of betrayal.¡±

    I understood the risk at hand¡ªespecially after the prophecies warning me of betrayal with a friend¡¯s face¡ªbut this could prove to be an opportunity in disguise. Identifying Iztacoatl¡¯s spies and pretending to fall under their charm would let me feed them false information. I might even lure the snake into a trap.

    ¡°When dealing with the White Snake¡¯s sabotage, fake indifference,¡± the Parliament advised. ¡°Stay the course that you have set, like the ship sailing to its destination. Make her wonder if her opposition was nned for. As for her spies, we will do our best to help you identify them. Trust no one and test everyone.¡±

    I already knew how to proceed. I would use Tetzon to nt skulls around the pce, and most specifically in my inner circle¡¯s bedchambers. This would let my predecessors monitor them. Any spy was bound to slip up at one point or another.

    ¡°As for this Lahun¡­¡± The Parliament marked a short pause, as if undergoing an internal debate. ¡°Her knowledge is both a boon and a curse. Her mere awareness of your sorcerous gifts makes her a liability, especially since Iztacoatl will likely try to subvert her. Killing her would be our safest course of action.¡±

    I suppressed a scowl. I understood my predecessors¡¯ concern. Unlike Necahual, I couldn¡¯t entirely trust Lahun not to go to the Nightlords in theing days and tell them about my sorcery. She already advised her queen to coborate with Yohuachanca to avoid utter destruction.

    However, Lahun remained Chikal¡¯s cousin, and I didn¡¯t think that she would rmend the seer to me if she didn¡¯t trust her. Her talent was genuine, and she struck me as studious, professional, and keenly intelligent. She would make a powerful asset in my secret war.

    All in all, I believed that the potential benefits of including Lahun in my conspiracy outweighed the risks.

    ¡°We understand what is on your mind,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°We previously advised that you wait until you gathered loc¡¯s embers to try the Mometzcopinque ritual, as we are not certain whether it will work or not, but the journey to Zacha will provide a unique opportunity to slip through the Nightlords¡¯ notice and test it out. Young Lahun is no consort¡¯s mother nor irreceable. She will do fine.¡±

    Yes, better to test the spell on her than on Necahual. Binding Lahun¡¯s soul would also solve the trust issue.

    ¡°If the ritual fails for one reason or another, then we strongly suggest that you add her skull to our collective.¡± The Parliament let out a sad rattle. ¡°Disappointed hopes are the wellspring of bitterness, and prophets that cannot deliver on their promises earn their followers¡¯ undying hatred.¡±

    <em>That </em>I could not allow, at least not without Chikal¡¯s permission. Assassinating her cousin might ruin our alliance and result in disastrous consequences that woulde back to haunt me.

    My worries grew when the Parliament spent the rest of my meditation giving me details on the Mometzcopinque ritual. My fists tightened slightly in response. The spell was both simple and gruesome, but I quickly realized why so few would-be sorceresses ever attempted it.

    Namely, failure <em>would </em>cost Lahun her life.

    I had to consider this very carefully.

    The rest of the day passed by rather peacefully, though events brewed under the peaceful waters¡¯ surface.

    Ingrid did not attend training today, to better prepare for our departure to Zacha tomorrow. I thus spent most of the afternoon training with Chikal. I could ride a trihorn with rtive ease by now, though I continued to struggle a bit with wielding weapons on its back. Otherwise, I had grown proficient with both the spear and the obsidian club.

    ¡°Our Lord Emperor should acquit himself well on the battlefield,¡± Chikal said as she walked by my side. I had invited her to visit the gardens after our training to rx and she had actually epted for once. ¡°You are no match for me or your nation¡¯s elites yet, but you are far above most males I¡¯ve fought in battle.¡±

    ¡°It is all thanks to your training,¡± I replied. ¡°Though being above most men is not enough.¡±

    It astonished me how far I could get on intense exercise and a healthy diet. I couldn¡¯t recognize the scrawny boy I used to be when I looked in the mirror nowadays. I was taller, mightier, <em>healthier</em>.

    I rued more than just meat too. I had been subtly reinforcing my bones over thest few days by following Necahual¡¯s dietary advice and storing all the matter I could with Bonecraft. It was a long and painstaking process, but one whose progress I could measure with each passing day.

    ¡°I will not stop training until I stand at the world¡¯s apex, as an emperor should be,¡± I said as I stopped to smell my garden¡¯s flowers. I subtly nced at my surroundings. Itzili the Younger ran around us and chased away any snake that would have dared to sneak up on us. My guards were too far away to notice anything. <em>Perfect. </em>

    I subtly activated my Bonecraft spell. A tiny skull norger than a phnge grew on the tip of my finger, pierced through my skin, and slipped under the flowers. I quickly whispered my name to it to activate the Legion spell, then memorized this location before moving on to the next patch.

    I would return tonight in Tetzon¡¯s skin to disseminate them across the pce. Sadly, I only rued enough extra bone matter to generate around four or five of them so far. Any more and I would have to shorten my ribs for material, which might be noticeable.

    Four would do. Four was a sacred number, and this exercise was merely a test to see if my predecessors could reliably see through small skulls.

    ¡°My Lord Emperor is wise not to rest on his sesses,¡± Chikal observed me with that same nk look she always wore. Did she find my interest in flowers suspicious? In any case, she quickly changed the subject. ¡°Lahun visited me earlier.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± I replied while discreetly cing another skull among the orchids. ¡°I¡¯ve taken a liking to her.¡±

    ¡°So I¡¯ve heard. She informed me of your intention to sire a child with her.¡± Chikal put a hand on her waist. ¡°Did you think that she would keep it from me?¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure.¡± Hence the test. I had to ensure that Lahun was at least somewhat loyal to her cousin instead of amon opportunist. ¡°I¡¯m d she did though. Kin should stick together.¡±

    ¡°What bothers me is that she didn¡¯t ask for <em>permission</em>. She merely informed me that you intended to sire a daughter with her, and that she would deliver it if you insisted.¡± Chikal squinted at me. ¡°What have you done to her to earn her devotion so quickly?¡±

    ¡°I showed her my palm and let her read my future,¡± I replied as I smelled the flowers. Interesting. Lahun informed Chikal of my desire for children but not of my sorcery. It could be either because she assumed her queen already suspected it or because she intended to keep that secret to herself. ¡°No doubt she knows that my rule will be good for Chm.¡±

    ¡°Of course she does,¡± Chikal replied with a skeptical tone. She knew as well as I did that Lahun put her craft above the city¡¯s benefit.

    ¡°Does it bother you?¡± I asked her. ¡°My proposal was merely hypothetical. I won¡¯t go through with it if you object.¡±

    The offer I gave Lahun had merely been a test of her dedication. My alliance with Chikal trumped all other concerns.

    The only people I¡¯d bedded for pleasure¡¯s sake alone were Eztli and Ingrid. I otherwise saw sex as a tool to earn political concessions and as a way to gain power through Seidr. Nothing more.

    <em>How far I¡¯ve fallen. </em>Even in my mind, I could only think of the likes of Lahun or Tenoch in terms of assets rather than people; just as the Nightlords wanted. <em>I should be more considerate. We¡¯re </em><strong><em>all </em></strong><em>ves among these walls, and they deserve better than my coldness. </em>

    Yet I couldn¡¯t muster the energy to care anymore. All these trials and the Nightlords¡¯ atrocities slowly distanced me from others, because I knew that they would turn mypassion against me.

    Chikal snorted. ¡°Why would I?¡±

    I frowned in surprise. ¡°I thought you forbade Lahun from continuing her bloodline.¡±

    ¡°That was my mother¡¯s order back when our city was independent. Chm has bent the knee since, and petty feuds like that no longer concern me.¡± Chikal scowled as she looked at the Blood Pyramid in the distance. ¡°The goddesses alone will decide who inherits my throne. If our daughter cannot continue the royal bloodline, Lahun¡¯s will have to rece her. I would rather see Your Majesty father her daughter than anyone else.¡±

    I studied Chikal for a moment. I could see the hidden message. She knew that my children were likely to be Nahualli and inherit my power. Unlike me, she fully anticipated the possibility of failure and intended to hedge her bets by preparing sessors.

    I admired her patriotism. Chikal was truly devoted to her city and tribe above everything else; enough that she would take the risk of her daughter losing the throne for a chance that Chm¡¯s leadership would endure to topple the Nightlords in the future.

    <em>¡°Corpses will sit in Chm¡¯s pce and feast in its halls,¡±</em> the wind whispered in my ear. <em>¡°No matter how fast the sun flies to escape it, darkness always wins the race.¡±</em>

    Ignoring those taunts had be second nature by now.

    ¡°You are a true queen,¡± Iplimented Chikal from the bottom of my heart. The Nightlords would have had a much harder time spreading their rot if only half of Yohuachanca¡¯s tributaries shared her resolve.

    ¡°I know that.¡± Chikal assessed me for a moment. ¡°This journey outside these walls will make you a true emperor too.¡±

    I turned my back on her to focus on the dahlias and marigolds. Her words carried more weight than it seemed.

    Chikal was the canniest of my consorts when it came to politics, alongside Ingrid, and she had already asked me what I intended to do should we seed in destroying the Nightlords. She knew very well that almost nobody outside the capital had seen Yohuachanca¡¯s emperor. My actions during our trip would let me garner political favor; power that I could retain should we prevail.

    She asked me if I intended to seize the throne or let the empire copse into chaos.

    ¡°Would you like that?¡± I asked her.

    She smiled at me. ¡°If we stay friends.¡±

    <em>¡°She fears the chaos that follows in your wake,¡± </em>the wind whispered. <em>¡°Even an empire¡¯s shadow will cast a dark cloud on hernds.¡±</em>

    I finally grasped her intent, and why she kept asking me what I nned to do after we destroyed the Nightlords. Even should Yohuachanca fall into chaos after the vampires¡¯ defeat, a mortal warlord might try to fill the void left in their wake. Most of the imperial army and bureaucracy could survive a coup. Someone could credibly manage to keep at least arge portion of the state together and dream of recovering its lost glory.

    Chm had made many enemies in the past, and though I had promised to grant her city independence, whoever seized control of the country in the aftermath might try to regain control of the tributaries. She preferred the certainty that I represented to the possibility of another war brewing at her borders.

    Why wouldn¡¯t I continue to be her ally? After all, my own daughter would sit on Chm¡¯s throne one day. I would have every incentive to continue supporting Chikal¡¯s reign, doubly so if I fathered a child with Lahun too. No wonder she didn¡¯t protest my decision. Much like Sigrun, she hoped to seal a long-term alliance with blood.

    <em>¡°Your mother and I did things for you that we would never have considered doing for anyone else,¡±</em> Father had told mest night. Chikal understood that very well. She was subtly trying to push me to see the office of emperor not as a means to rebel, but as an end goal to seize for myself. <em>She¡¯s more insidious than I gave her credit for. </em>

    ¡°I believe that my Lord Emperor has a unique opportunity to change the lives of thousands for the better,¡± Chikal dered, ¡°Should he rule wisely.¡±

    I did not care about the thousands. I was only concerned with the few whom I sought to save from the Nightlords¡¯ grasp.

    Still, what would befall the likes of Eztli, Ingrid, Nl, or Necahual once I destroyed the Nightlords? Someone had to take care of them. Not to mention the issue of the First Emperor. I had to destroy the Nightlords in a way that wouldn¡¯t release him from his bindings. Having the limitless resources and power of Yohuachanca¡¯s state standing beside me might prove decisive.

    Chikal wasn¡¯t wrong. I ought to n for the future beyond victory.

    ¡°I could,¡± I replied evasively.

    Chikal nodded sharply. I expected her to scold me for my indecisiveness, but she was too wise for it. She understood that influencing my position was a victory in itself.

    Wepleted our tour of the garden by the evening. The night continued to rise earlier than it should. I feared to imagine how many Nightchildren would rise from their graves once darkness swallowed the sun.

    Tayatzin came to greet us at the end of our promenade. No doubt he bore news from his mistresses.

    ¡°The goddesses have finished their deliberations, Your Divine Majesty,¡± he said with a deep bow. ¡°I bear great news from Lady Iztacoatl.¡±

    I immediately expected the worst.

    ¡°Do tell,¡± I asked while Chikal crossed her arms at my side with a scowl on her face.

    Tayatzin smiled ear to ear. ¡°Lady Iztacoatl has decided to <em>personally </em>guide you during your pilgrimage across our fair empire.¡±

    I knew it. She was too cautious to let me leave the pce without her direct supervision, especially if I was expected to make a show for the popce.

    ¡°Moreover, she has made some changes to Lady Ingrid¡¯s nned itinerary,¡± Tayatzin said. ¡°You are returning home, Your Majesty. Your tour of the country shall begin with your home vige of Acampa.¡±

    I would visit the town where I¡¯d spent most of my life and which my own eruption destroyed. The message couldn¡¯t be any clearer.

    Iztacoatl¡¯s campaign of sabotage had already begun.

 Chapter Fifty-Six: The Demon Princes

    Chapter Fifty-Six: The Demon Princes

    Riding an animal was a strange experience.

    Having spilled some of my blood in Tetzon¡¯s food and having the docile beast, my spirit easily slipped inside his fur. His own soul was young, his Teyolia weak, so I felt no resistance and would have ovee any. That part had been easy.

    The trouble began immediately afterwards, before I even opened my eyes.

    The entire body felt wrong and mismatched. The legs were twisted in too many parts, the arms too long, the fingers so frighteningly short. I found the sensation of ws sticking out from inside my paws highly ufortable, and what should I say of the tail growing out of my backside? My own head¡ªwith its oversized eyes and ears¡ªfilled me with unease.

    Unlike the owl-shape of my soul, a margay¡¯s form did not suit me naturally.

    Tetzon¡¯s senses were unlike those of any man too. A light snore became louder than thunder. The slight vibration of a moving bed sheet seemed like a warning of a futurendslide. Opening my margay eyes let me see my bedroom in the dark more urately than my human ones, but a few colors became blurs.

    It took me a few minutes to figure out how to stand on these four skinny legs, and even longer to figure out how I was supposed to use the tail to bnce myself. Even the simple act of raising a paw became a chore. Every part of my immortal soul told me that I did not belong in this skin.

    I persevered nheless for the sake of my mission. I looked around myself to conclude that I had awoken at the end of my imperial bed.

    I was shocked by the immense size of everything. Tetzon was hardly the length of my arm, so my bedside table now looked taller than a tree and my bed became bigger than a house. My own human body had be a sleeping giant holding a taller red-headed colossus in his arms. Chikal¡¯s snores rocked the bed like light tremors. As for Itzili the Younger, who rested at the bed¡¯s feet, he looked every inch like the titanic feathered tyrant that he would eventually grow into. I suddenly found him far less cute now that he was big enough to swallow me in a single bite.The small lived in fear of the great. No wonder Tetzon acted so shy around others.

    I peeked over the bed¡¯s edge and at the distant ground, which now seemed like it was many floors below me. I was used to flying so I had no issues leaping off it. Tetzon¡¯s strong legs propelled me forward farther than I expected and his paws soundlessly softened mynding on the carpet. Itzili the Younger opened a single eye to stare at me, then returned to his slumber.

    This body¡¯s agility would serve me well once I grew used to it.

    With little time to waste, I scratched at the bedroom door. Staff members swiftly opened the door to let me wander out of the bedroom¡ªa privilege that extended to Itzili, though he would rather rest. My servants had explicit orders not to bother my pets and wouldn¡¯t interfere.

    Wandering the pce¡¯s halls at night in Tetzon¡¯s shape was an interesting experience. Its dark corridors became asrge and foreboding as Xibalba¡¯s streets, and the ceiling turned into a sky of stone. I had to avoid my guards and suppress the faint, disgusting odor of rot and sick blood that emanated from them.

    On the bright side, I was slowly getting used to Tetzon¡¯s body. An animal¡¯s memory was ingrained in its flesh rather than its mind like humans. The longer I spent time inside an animal¡¯s skin, the more my soul grew used to its shape.

    My whiskers trembled slightly as they detected movements near me. I froze in the shadow of an empty hallway and looked around. Though my eyes saw nothing, my fur bristled at once. My new body instinctively recognized the smell in the air.

    Snakes.

    I carefully searched for its source. I approached the nearby wall and studied it closely. My feline eyes soon noticed small holes in it, no thinner than a needle. I peeked into it and briefly caught a glimpse of white scales slithering on the other side.

    Iztacoatl¡¯s familiars.

    I didn¡¯t remember Eztli notifying me of a secret passage in this area and the hole was too small for a human to look through anyway. This suggested that Iztacoatl had small tunnels built into the walls to let her snakes spy on the pce¡¯s upants.

    No wonder she knew so much. I looked back to those early times when I thought whispering alone would prevent outsiders from listening in on my conversations. Iztacoatl¡¯s servants must have reported a few suspicious discussions to their mistress.

    This made me wonder where these passages led. Did the snakes report back to their mistress in a central chamber? Finding it and wiping out these reptiles would cripple Iztacoatl¡¯s spywork.

    I ignored the discovery for now and raced to the gardens. The Ride spell wouldn''tst forever, and neither would my human self¡¯s sleep. I only had a few hours to recover the skulls and distribute them.

    Reaching the gardens took surprisingly little time. Although small, Tetzon was incredibly agile and his flexible ankles could bend in ways a man could never dream of. His sharp ws and the unusual shape of his paws also let me quickly climb up walls. I took great care to memorize the shape of his bones so that I might copy it with Bonecraftter.

    I ventured into the gardens under the pale glow of the half-moon and the shadows of trees taller than any tower. The pce now loomed over the gardens like a sinister mountain. Funny how its fa?ade of splendor vanished to reveal its ominous true nature when shrouded in darkness.

    Nheless, I was happy to find the tiny skulls where I¡¯d left them. All thoseyers of security paid off.

    How to transport them, though? The skulls were hardly bigger than a phnge bone, but Tetzon couldn¡¯t exactly carry them in his paws. Not to mention that I couldn¡¯t use any other spell when borrowing his skin. I tried to figure out a n when I recalled how I¡¯d seen the margay spit out a furball after too much grooming.

    I stared at my own bones for a moment, then mustered my courage and added self-cannibalism to my list of crimes.

    Swallowing the tiny skulls took longer than I expected. My bones tasted awful and keeping them cramped inside my mouth sickened me. I must have looked ridiculous with my stuffed cheeks.

    <em>The things I do to live. </em>I pitied my predecessors too, whose first sight through these skulls would be a wonderful view of a margay¡¯s gullet.<em> At least I won¡¯t have to expel them through the other hole...</em>

    My first stop was one of the pce¡¯s walls overseeing the main gates. I quickly climbed as high as I could and then searched for a crack in the centuries-old stones. I found a tiny spot where I could safely hide one of the skulls and ced one there.

    This strategic location should offer my predecessors a good view of the entrance gates. This would let us keep track of people who entered and who exited my pce this way.

    I returned back inside afterward. My intention was to visit either the throne or council room, so the Parliament could help glean details that I might miss during official audiences. Unfortunately, I soon encountered the bane of all wandering pets.

    Locked doors.

    My frustration mounted as I tried to find alternative entrances, only to realize that all windows were closed shut. Worse, few staff wandered this wing of the pce sote at night. The masked, silent guards keeping watch over these rooms did not respond when I scratched at the doors or meowed at them. These soulless automatons must have received direct orders not to let anyone through, and that included Tetzon.

    After half an hour of fruitless attempts to find a way in or a maid kind enough to open up the path, I abandoned the n and moved on. Tetzon¡¯s soul was already beginning to stir inside me by now, his weak spirit slowly regaining its strength.

    <em>Where else should I nt the skulls?</em> Besides strategic locations like the pce¡¯s entrance and throne room, I wanted to put one inside each of my consorts¡¯ quarters. Other ces such as Tayatzin¡¯s bedroom or the secret passages would let me gather better intel on the Nightlords¡¯ movements, though it carried greater risks.

    I would have to be selective with only three skulls left.

    After a short moment¡¯s hesitation, I settled on a middle ground. Eztli was currently the consort most at risk and the Nightlords used Necahual as a hostage to ensure her daughter¡¯spliance, so I should take extra measures to ensure their safety. I would try to infiltrate the secret passages afterward.

    I ran back to the consorts¡¯ quarters. Tetzon¡¯s keen sense of smell let me easily find my way to the door of Eztli¡¯s quarters. I immediately began to scratch it. The guards ignored me for a while, but I soon heard faint, near-audible footstepsing my way.

    Eztli opened the door without a noise, and her glittering ruby eyes quickly settled on me.

    ¡°What have we here?¡± Eztli kneeled to take a better look at me. Her lips curved into a mischievous smile, revealing a small red stain at the edges. ¡°You are Iztac¡¯s new pet, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    A potent smell of fresh blood assaulted my keen nostrils and immediately startled my feline instincts. A stronger odor came directly from the room.

    Eztli had just <em>fed</em>.

    ¡°Did youe for cuddles?¡± Eztli¡¯s hand passed over my head like a cloud over the sun and lightly scratched me behind my ear. I meowed in surprise. Her skin was strangely <em>warm</em>, and she touched the sweetest spot. ¡°I will dly indulge you. A shame Atziri is exhausted, she would have loved to y with you.¡±

    Her hands seized me before I knew what to do. Her grip on the back of my neck was gentle but firm, and she soon hugged me against her bosom. I felt like I¡¯d been caught by a giant and let out a small screech of surprise.

    ¡°Please be quiet,¡± Eztli kindly whispered into my ear. ¡°Mother sleeps soundly. I would loathe to wake her up.¡±

    Her words rang true as she carried me into her quarters and closed the door behind her. I heard Necahual¡¯s light snores in the distance, but it was my nose that bothered me the most. The stench of blood came straight from Eztli¡¯s own room. I caught a glimpse of its current upant.

    A naked womany on Eztli¡¯s bed with bloody bite marks on her neck.

    Atziri.

    She was barely breathing, her eyes were lost in a daze of pleasure. She reminded me of a drugged Nochtli the Fourteenth and his consorts when the priests dragged them all to the Blood Pyramid. From the smell of the cotton coverlets, Atziri¡¯s nakedness, and the thin red marks on her pale skin, she and Eztli did more than share a drink too.

    This was a side of my consort that I never wished to see.

    Eztli chuckled at me. She must have taken the look I sent her bed to one of fear.

    ¡°She¡¯s alive, kitten, worry not,¡± she said while caressing the back of my head. ¡°I won¡¯t eat you. My nights are long without Iztac to keep me warm, and my maid was kind enough to fill in.¡±

    My heart sank with guilt. Eztli was under as much pressure as I was from the Nightlords, and though we loved one another my schemes and imperial duties demanded that I cavort with other women. I couldn¡¯t exactly me Eztli for findingfort where she could.

    Nheless, the situation made me ufortable. Atziri didn¡¯t exactly have a choice in this¡­ though she couldn¡¯t exactly deny me either. I prayed in my heart that this encounter had been consensual; that Eztli at least retained enough humanity not to force herself on a servant.

    I hoped.

    Eztli carried me to her mother¡¯s herbalboratory and put me on a wooden desk covered in potions. A bowl on the desk was filled with a healing poultice which I recognized from my days in Acampa. Necahual used it to treat small wounds, like Atziri¡¯s. Eztli grabbed another container from a shelf, and then searched among the reserves for more.

    The sheer number of smells present in the area overwhelmed my margay nose. However, one cut through them all: a putrid stench of tar and miasma which I had grown to despise. My eyes searched the darkness for its source, until I noticed a hole in a stone wall.

    A secret passagey half-open.

    Eztli mustn¡¯t have bothered fully closing it when she returned from her reunion with the other Nightlords. What a perfect opportunity. If I could ess their dark abode underground and ce a skull there, then I would be able to spy on their meetings undetected.

    I quickly feigned disinterest when Eztli returned to me. She settled on serving me a few unhatched eggs inside a bowl.

    Obviously, I didn¡¯t touch them. My mouth was already full.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you hungry?¡± Eztli asked me with a chuckle. ¡°Unless you visited me for the mere pleasure of mypany?¡±

    I tried to wag my tail. Dogs did that when they were happy, so I assume the same was true for a margay.

    This narrative has been uwfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    I wasn¡¯t an animal person.

    ¡°Cute. Very cute.¡± Eztli smiled in genuine happiness and then lightly kissed my forehead. ¡°You are wee to stay as long as you want, so long as you don¡¯t break anything.¡±

    <em>She feels alone</em>, I realized. Eztli had always been a social girl back when we lived in Acampa, with plenty of friends to talk to besides me. The Nightlords robbed her of this pleasure. Her social circle didn¡¯t extend beyond her fellow consorts, mother, and handmaiden. <em>I should offer her a pet of her own when I wake up. </em>

    Eztli continued to pet me for a few minutes and then focused back on theboratory¡¯s herbs and potions. I used the opportunity to climb to the top of the shelves without knocking over any of the contents. I subtly spat out a skull while Eztli wasn¡¯t watching and ced it at a good angle. No one would notice it there.

    So far so good.

    I sat atop the shelf and watched Eztli do her work. I would just have to wait until she left the room to treat Atziri¡¯s wounds and then slip inside the secret passage to nt another miniature skull there. Five minutes in, five minutes out.

    Eztlipleted her poultice quickly enough. I expected her to leave theboratory anytime now.

    She didn¡¯t.

    Much to my confusion, Eztli quickly nced in the direction of her mother¡¯s room. She listened to Necahual¡¯s snores for a while, then began to browse the shelves again until she found a closed pot.

    <em>What is she doing?</em> I¡¯d seen Necahual work on that healing remedy often enough to tell that she could apply it in its current state. I watched Eztli open the pot, which was filled with herbs I didn¡¯t recognize. I briefly wondered if she intended to add them to the mixture.

    Instead, Eztli grabbed another container, poured the first one¡¯s content into it, and then put it back in its ce. She reced the first pot¡¯s herbs with a pinch she grabbed elsewhere then put the cover back on.

    Was she rearranging her mother¡¯s potions?

    It surprised me. Necahual was a talented healer. I¡¯d never seen her misssify the herbs that she collected. And why would she need to confirm that her mother slept soundly before proceeding? Something wasn¡¯t right.

    Eztli sensed my gaze on her back and put a finger on her lips. ¡°Shush,¡± she said with that mischievous smile of hers. ¡°This¡¯ll remain our little secret.¡±

    Was Eztli tampering with her mother¡¯s potions? Why? Why would it take precedence over treating her own handmaiden?

    Whatever her reason, I couldn¡¯t exactly ask her in my current state. Eztli sent me a wink, grabbed the poultice, and then left theboratory to treat Atziri¡¯s wound. I waited for her to leave before stealthily inspecting the herbs and potions she switched around. I attempted to identify their purpose by smell and came up with nothing. All they did was to make my nostrils itchy.

    <em>What are you hiding from us, Eztli? </em>I banished these thoughts from my mind. <em>I will ask her myself tomorrow. </em>

    I soundlesslynded on the floor and approached the secret passage. Darkness so thick that my feline eyes couldn¡¯t pierce them faced me. I took a step down the steps of a narrow staircase.

    I immediately felt as if I had crossed an invisible veil between life and death. The sinister stench of tar grew overwhelming. A terrible chill seized my flesh and caused my ws to emerge from my frozen flesh. Every animal instinct in my body screamed at me to turn back, back to the safety of the world above ground which sunlight could still reach.

    Only the shadow of death awaited below.

    <em>Do your worst. </em>I forced myself to climb down the stairs and immediately encountered resistance. My legs grew wearier, heavier. An invisible pressure swelled inside my bones and tried to push me back. <em>This flesh rejects me. </em>

    Tetzon¡¯s suppressed soul was waking up inside me. His survival instincts took hold. He knew that the danger below threatened his short life.

    I couldn¡¯t let a tiny feline¡¯s spirit beat mine.

    <em>Let me reach the bottom first. </em>I used all of my willpower to keep Tetzon under my soul¡¯s thumb. Each new step forward became more of a chore.<em> I¡¯ll spit the skull out and run back, I swear. </em>

    I pushed. I pushed, and pushed, and pushed, until I finally reached the bottom of the stars. A den of shadows sprawled out ahead of me, colder and darker than the ckest of nights. My whiskers strained as they detected tension in the air.

    Two malicious red eyes snapped open.

    A giant hand closed on me before I could even blink. Thick sharp ws gripped Tetzon¡¯s body the way a man would squeeze a fine fruit. I was so startled by the sudden pressure that I swallowed the skulls I kept in my mouth. They got stuck in my throat and caused me to cough in pain.

    Tetzon¡¯s soul screeched in fear inside my skin as our shared flesh was lifted upward. To my horror, a second pair of crimson eyes opened in the shadows right next to the first. I barely distinguished the outline of vague shapes in the thick darkness: giant folded wings, sharp-wed feet clinching to the stone ceiling, and inhuman faces with batlike snouts.

    Nightkin. At least two of them.

    Damn it. Had they always been there, observing me whenever I walked through those tunnels? Unseen assassins ready to fall on me if I showed the slightest hint of treachery whenever I visited their mistresses? If so, I¡¯d never detected them.

    ¡°Is something wrong, Fjor?¡± one of the Nightkin asked.

    <em>Fjor? </em>

    The name sounded vaguely familiar, though I was too surprised to recall it.

    ¡°I¡¯ve caught an intruder, Kame,¡± my captor said with a sweet male voice worthy of a trained singer. His ruby eye glowed like the Scarlet Moon before the yearly sacrifice, and Tetzon¡¯s soul went silent with fear. ¡°You¡¯ve wandered farther than you should have, fur ball.¡±

    ¡°It came from the upstart¡¯s quarters,¡± the other replied with heavy disdain. News of Yoloxochitl¡¯s recement had spread among the vampiric aristocracy. ¡°Must be her pet.¡±

    ¡°Such a pity.¡± A flicker of venomous hatred glittered in my captor¡¯s gaze. ¡°We were ordered to y anyone venturing down there without authorization, weren¡¯t we?¡±

    The other Nightkin let out a dark, gleeful giggle. ¡°We were indeed.¡±

    My body tensed up as my captor squeezed it. Although I knew my soul wouldn¡¯t perish with this vessel, I prayed to the gods to show Tetzon mercy.

    The heavens remained silent, as they always did.

    ¡°I smell your fear, furball,¡± my captor said, so sweetly, so softly. ¡°Such a delightfullyplex vor of dread and terror.¡±

    Sets of fangs sharper than swords shed in the dark.

    ¡°I must <em>deepen </em>it.¡±

    Myst memory was the painful feeling of teeth closing on my neck.

    I woke up alive in the house of the dead.

    Tetzon¡¯s murder jolted my soul back into my body with such strength that my head ended up hitting a wall. Pain surged in the back of my skull, and a scroll fell from its shelf and onto myp.

    ¡°Is everything all right, my son?¡± Father called out to me on the other side of a door, his words heavy with concern. ¡°I heard a noise.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Father,¡± I lied while massaging my throat. I still retained the phantom pain of Tetzon¡¯s head being severed from his shoulders. His demise had been as swift as it was brutal. ¡°My spell didn¡¯t go as I¡¯d hoped.¡±

    Father and Mother had granted me a small room for my use inside their sanctuary: a tidy chamber thatbined a basic living space with its own workshop, library, workbench, and firece. The phantom mes radiating from thetter hardly lit up my dark mood.

    I nced at my ribs and the names I¡¯d marked on them. I could now add Tetzon¡¯s to the list of souls sacrificed on my secret war¡¯s altar. At least the Nightkin who slew him swallowed my skulls alongside his head.

    I will never forget that sick gulping sound.

    ¡°I¡¯m, uh, sorry to hear that,¡± Father replied. Hisck of understanding when it came to spellcasting embarrassed him. ¡°Is it fine if Ie in?¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡± I quickly put the scroll back on its shelf. ¡°I¡¯m done for now.¡±

    Father entered my ¡®bedroom¡¯ with a thick scroll under his arm. ¡°I think I¡¯ve found what you were looking for, or close to it,¡± he said before reading the document¡¯s title. <em>¡°Forty ways to sorcery and sacred numbers, </em>by matini Cuauhtli Aztin<em>.¡±</em>

    I¡¯d never heard of this schr, but Mother wouldn¡¯t keep this book in her library if it didn¡¯t contain interesting information. I seized the scroll and quickly browsed its table of contents. It appeared to list different forms of witchcraft associated with different cultures, including Mometzcopinques and numerology. Reading it would improve my knowledge of the field and let me incorporate it into my spellcasting.

    ¡°Thank you, Father,¡± I thanked him with a smile. This gift helped soothe my wounded pride. ¡°Is Mother out of her workshop yet?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, no.¡± Father scratched his skull. ¡°She does that sometimes when she hits a breakthrough. I¡¯ll try to drag her out of her den.¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± The night was well underway, so I doubted I would have time to train with her anyway before I woke up. ¡°I need to consult the previous emperors on our next move.¡±

    ¡°Well, if I can do anything my son, I¡¯ll be happy to assist.¡± Father crossed his arms. ¡°Have you told Nl the truth?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡± Between my meeting with Lahun, my training, and the preparations for my imperial tour, I simply couldn¡¯t spare the time. Not to mention that I still wondered how¡ªand <em>if</em>¡ªI should broach the subject with Nl at all. ¡°I swear that I¡¯ll try.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to push you. I just want the two of you to be happy.¡± Father quickly excused himself. ¡°I¡¯ll go check on your mother.¡±

    I thanked Father with a small smile. These small exchanges meant little in the great scheme of things, but they helped clear my mind nheless. They let me experience the illusion of normalcy for a brief instant.

    I set the scroll aside for a moment and reviewed the details of tonight¡¯s excursion. I doubted that Tetzon¡¯s death, while regrettable, would bring much attention; pets allowed to wander around unsupervised often put themselves in harm¡¯s way. I¡¯d also learned that Nightkin actively patrolled the secret passages and slew any intruder they found there, even animals. Their mistresses must have enforced that rule after the false Sapa debacle. The possibility of hiding a skull in the tunnels undetected seemed beyond my reach for now.

    That Nightkin¡¯s name bothered me too. I could swear I¡¯d heard it somewhere¡­

    <em>Fjor, Fjor, Fjor¡­</em> I searched my memory for its source, until the souvenir returned to me like a bolt of lightning. <em>Ingrid¡¯s brother. </em>

    The me of my heart wavered inside my chest. A Nightkin bore the name of Lady Sigrun¡¯s missing son. It could be a coincidence, but who was I kidding? <em>Nothing </em>was a coincidence with the Nightlords.

    The story of Ingrid¡¯s brother had remained a mystery for me, one intimately linked to whatever fate befell the emperors¡¯ sons. Had he been transformed into a Nightkin instead of joining the army, as his mother pretended?

    It was certainly a terrible fate that I didn¡¯t wish on anyone else, but hardly one that warranted such secrecy.

    <em>Unless¡­ unless Fjor was chosen </em><strong><em>because </em></strong><em>he was an emperor¡¯s son.</em> The thought gnawed at me the more I considered it. <em>One of my predecessors likely fathered Eztli with Necahual by taking his first night too¡­ and Yoloxochitl said she came from a purebred stock¡­</em>

    The other Nightlords were surprised that Eztli could be a Nightkin at all when their sister imed her too. Could it mean that they couldn¡¯t turn just <em>anyone </em>into a vampire? Did the sisters require a specific criteria to¨C

    I felt as if I had been struck by lightning.

    The pieces suddenly fell into ce and the sinister truth dawned upon me. It took hold of my mind with its ws and refused to let go. My eyes widened in horror. My blood turned to ice as I struggled to process it all.

    I tried to tell myself as I was imagining things, that there had to be a better exnation, but it made too much sense. The imperial breeding program, the secrecy, the Nightlords¡¯ments, their sick ritual...

    ¡°So that¡¯s how it is¡­¡± A terrible headache seized me, my hands gripping my skull as sweat dripped off it. ¡°They <em>cannot </em>choose¡­¡±

    The Nightlords didn¡¯t choose to transform the emperors¡¯ children into Nightkin servants by happenstance or out of personal preferences.

    They simply <em>couldn¡¯t </em>transform anyone else.

    The truth had been right in front of me from the very start. The Nightlords were the First Emperor¡¯s children. The dark god spread the vampiric curse to them alone, consecrating their ce as mistresses of the night. As far as I knew, he had blessed none other with his malevolent gift.

    Only the emperor¡¯s children could be vampires. That was their divine privilege; their birthright, which no mortal could usurp.

    By embodying the First Emperor in the eyes of gods and men, my predecessors and I carried that duty on our shoulders. Our seed would bloom into poisonous flowers that the Nightlords could pluck and corrupt as they saw fit.

    I recalled the sight of the hundreds of Nightkin that gathered to witness the Sulfur Sun¡¯s aborted birth. They were Yohuachanca¡¯s lost princes; the undying imperial aristocracy which had ruled the empire since its first nights, while their mortal sisters served the harem as breeding stock.

    I was thetest link in a chain of harm; the victim meant to father his sessors¡¯ future tormentors.

    And I likely had one or two on the way already.

    My heart-fire shone bright with the me of anger. A well of fury swelled from within me, its mes burning the horror and the disgust until only hatred and resentment remained; not only for the Nightlords who had created this hideous system, but the people who had kept this truth away from me.

    My mind cleared of all fear, I raised a hand and manifested a skull in the palm of my hand. I called upon the Legion to summon my predecessors¡¯ gestalt spirit and red into their shining eyes.

    ¡°Why?¡± I rasped, both out of anger and disappointment. ¡°<em>Why</em> didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±

    The skull¡¯s eyes glowed with ghostfire, and countless voices answered me in unified sorrow. ¡°You weren¡¯t ready.¡±

    ¡°Not <em>ready</em>?¡± My jaw clenched so hard that my teeth started to hurt. ¡°I am meant to father <em>vampires</em>, and I promised Chikal that I would help her raise a future broodmother!¡±

    ¡°And had you known, that alliance would have never happened,¡± the skull replied calmly. How long had these old souls rehearsed this discussion? ¡°You would have disdained your consorts and concubines, refused to y the Nightlords¡¯ game, and in doing so, forfeited your chance to win it.¡±

    <em>Do not trust the skulls</em>, the wind had warned me once. <em>They keep secrets from you. </em>

    I knew deep within my heart that something like this would happen one day, but it still hurt with the sharp sting of betrayal. My grip on the skull grew so strong that it began to crack under the pressure.

    ¡°We apologize for keeping this secret from you, but we had no choice,¡± the Parliament said. Their excuses sounded halfway sincere, but they did little to quell my wrath. ¡°You are thetest link in a twisted chain of incest, familicide, and murder that stretches on for over six centuries. Yohuachanca <em>must </em>be destroyed, whatever the cost. You needed to understand this first.¡±

    ¡°Is that all that I am to you?¡± I sneered in bitterness. ¡°A tool to be deceived and shaped as you see fit?¡±

    ¡°Do you think you are the first to have learned the truth, Iztac Ce Ehecatl?¡± The light in the skull¡¯s eyes flickered. ¡°Some of us refused to participate too. The Nightlords beat us, drugged us, twisted us¡­ Compliance is never an option without power.¡±

    ¡°On <em>that</em>, we agree, my predecessors,¡± I replied with cold determination. ¡°And you only wield as much power as <em>I </em>allow you to.¡±

    Part of me knew that they had a point. The old me wouldn¡¯t have had the mental fortitude nor maturity to deal with this revtion, and I would have likely blown away useful resources and chances.

    But I <em>refused </em>to be manipted by <em>anyone</em>. Gods, Nightlords, ghosts, fate, I couldn¡¯t care less. Their reasons, well-intentioned or not, did not matter to me in the slightest. I bowed to <em>no one</em>.

    ¡°Let me make myself clear.¡± I gathered my breath and regained myposure. ¡°I am your first hope in over half a millennium to escape this prison of bone you¡¯ve been trapped inside. I am not your puppet. I am the <em>catecolotl</em>, the owl-fiend, and sower of death. I will continue to coborate with you because of the invaluable help you¡¯ve provided me in the past and because our goals align, but you will not keep anything from me <em>ever again</em>.¡±

    I brought the skull closer to my face and red at the ancient emperors.

    ¡°Do you <em>understand</em>?¡± I asked them.

    ¡°We do.¡± The Parliament let out a small sigh. ¡°We apologize, our sessor. We truly do respect you, and we are grateful for all that you have done on our behalf.¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°If so, then you should have told me the truth.¡±

    ¡°Do you think it was easy for us to keep this secret?¡± The skull rattled in sorrow. ¡°These are our children that we are asking you to kill. Our descendants, many of whom we have raised and loved until the Nightlords twisted them.¡±

    A brief surge ofpassion broke through the sea of my cold fury. I could see how it shamed them to tell me the truth. Yohuachanca¡¯s history had been nothing more than a long battle between kinyers since the Nightlords betrayed their own father. Sons and daughters murdering their parents again and again in an endless cycle of ughter.

    I couldn¡¯t have been the only emperor to fear for his children¡¯s safety. And unlike myself, many of my predecessors failed to protect their progeniture.

    ¡°You are right, our sessor,¡± the Parliament admitted. ¡°You have exceeded all of our expectations, and we treated you as a child in need of guidance rather than as an equal. We shall not hide anything again.¡±

    That remained to be seen. ¡°Then answer my questions, ghosts. Are <em>all</em> your male children Nightkin?¡±

    ¡°Only the lucky ones are embraced,¡± the skull whispered in response, confirming my hypothesis. ¡°Or the unlucky ones, depending on your point of view. The Nightlords mostly select promising males and keep the females as imperial breeding stock.¡±

    ¡°How does this rte to the Blood Pyramid?¡± I inquired. ¡°You said that I would learn the secrets of your sons¡¯ fate there. What are the Nightlords doing there besides tending to their father¡¯s corpse?¡±

    For a brief moment, the skull remained silent as a tomb. I sensed that the emperors¡¯ spirits pondered whether they should answer me or not, but to their credit they did stay true to their word.

    ¡°The failures.¡± I could taste the <em>fear </em>in the Parliament¡¯s many voices. ¡°That is where they keep the <em>failures</em>.¡±

 Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Cloak of Luck

    Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Cloak of Luck

    A tense silence briefly fell upon my room as I processed my predecessors¡¯ words.

    ¡°The <em>failures</em>?¡± I repeated in disbelief. ¡°Of what?¡±

    ¡°Of the embrace,¡± my predecessors replied with a small, weak voice. ¡°The Nightlords do not always seed in siring a new vampire. Sometimes, the curse¡­ does not behave as it should. The princes be¡­ <em>things</em>.

    A picture of the First Emperor¡¯s silent, undead spawns shed in my mind.

    A chill traveled down my spine as I began to put the various pieces of information together. Why would the Nightlords require a breeding program if <em>any </em>child of an emperor could be a Nightkin? Why bother selecting the harem¡¯s women among past princesses and interesting candidates when they should all work?

    <em>They¡¯re trying to create a perfect bloodline. A breed of beautiful, healthy livestock whose embrace will always result in a vampire. </em>The idea sickened me. <em>Will my descendants improve the crop further? </em>

    ¡°What kind of¡­¡± My jaw tightened on its own. ¡°<em>Things</em>?¡±

    ¡°Horrors simr to the Nightchildren, those that know only how to feed,¡± the Parliament replied grimly. ¡°The Nightlords imprison them deep within the Blood Pyramid¡¯s stone bowels.¡±

    ¡°Imprison?¡± I frowned in surprise. ¡°They don¡¯t destroy them?¡±¡°We do not know what they use them for, for none of us could ever infiltrate the lower levels.¡± The skull let out a sorrowful rattle. ¡°We can wager a guess, however. The Nightlords sealed their dark sire¡¯s corpse in this tomb, and if they gather his descendants there¨C¡±

    ¡°Then the Nightlords must use them to strengthen the seal somehow,¡± I guessed, a scowl of disgust spreading on my face. ¡°They sacrifice these failed vampires to the First Emperor, or worse.¡±

    How many of these horrors did the Nightlords¡¯ sick breeding program produce? Thousands? Tens of thousands? I shuddered to imagine how many of them I would find in the Blood Pyramid¡¯s depths.

    As horrifying and disgusting as these revtions might have been, they only strengthened my resolve to find a cure for the vampiric curse. Not only for Eztli¡¯s sake, but also for Fjor and the other lost princes of Yohuachanca. Ingrid, Necahual, and the previous emperors didn¡¯t deserve to see their kin turned into monsters.

    No one deserved a vampire in their family.

    ¡°Does Ingrid know?¡± I asked, my voice wavering. ¡°About her brother?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°We suspect that Lady Sigrun learned the truth though.¡±

    ¡°And she still chose to partake in the program to save her own life.¡± The Nightlords took her son, turned her daughter into a bed ve destined to die, and then murdered her on a whim. Those monsters corrupted all that they touched. ¡°Does anything remain of Fjor inside that monster¡¯s skin?¡±

    ¡°He retains as much humanity as your own consort.¡±

    A picture of Atziri bleeding in Eztli¡¯s bed shed vividly in my head. I couldn¡¯t tell whether my predecessors meant these words to reassure or frighten me. Eztli was a mere shadow of what she used to be; a ghost mimicking her time among the living.

    Was Fjor in a simr state? Did he haunt his sisters¡¯ steps, vainly attempting to recall a time when his heart used to beat for them? Did he still harbor a flicker of affection I could use to get through him?

    An idea crossed my mind.

    ¡°The skulls I¡¯ve set,¡± I said. ¡°Can you see through them?¡±

    ¡°We can, our sessor,¡± the Parliament confirmed, the ghostfire in their eyes shining brighter than ever. ¡°One observes the pce¡¯s gates on your behalf. Another stands on your consort¡¯s shelf. The rest are stuck inside the Nightkin¡¯s stomach, or so we would assume¡­¡±

    ¡°So you can roughly tell me where Fjor is for the moment.¡± How long would it take for a Nightkin to digest a pair of bird-sized skulls? ¡°Can you hear anything interesting?¡±

    ¡°We are afraid not.¡± The skull let out a sound that could pass for a sigh. ¡°We will spare you the details of a Nightkin¡¯s bowel movements.¡±

    A shame, but I expected as much. I doubted that Iztacoatl would suspect anything unless she gutted Fjor open from chin to groin, so my secret should remain safe for now.

    My room¡¯s door opened. I immediately knew who was visiting me before I even looked at them. My father always knocked, but Mother never bothered with rudimentary politeness.

    ¡°I see that you didn¡¯t waste time, my son,¡± Mother said upon catching a glimpse of my new book. ¡°Excellent pick. I hold Lord Atzin¡¯s works in high esteem.¡±

    ¡°Father found it for me,¡± I replied. Mother bore a wide smile on her lips, which greatly worried me. Her joy reeked of sinister schemes. ¡°Is he another one of your bound schrs?¡±

    I expected Mother to frown at my remark, but her good mood proved unshakable. ¡°I wish he was. s, his soul has long fallen into eternal sleep and merged with M. I could never find it.¡±

    ¡°A schr lives on through their works, and the lessons that they teach the living,¡± the Parliament noted.

    ¡°A poor substitute for true immortality, but one that few ever achieved.¡± Mother waved her hand and invited me to follow her. ¡°Enough wasting time, Iztac. Your father will entertain our guests while I oversee your training.¡±

    Entertain? I hade to associate the word with dancers, singers, and concubines over my imperial tenure, but I doubted my parents indulged in these pleasures. I soon left my room to discover that Father had set up a strange board game on the main hall¡¯s table. Lines of tiny stone soldiers stood on opposing sides of a checkered field. I counted sixty-four squares, while the pieces were a motley crew of watchtowers, footsmen, and trihorn riders.

    ¡°We do not recognize this game,¡± the Parliamentmented. And neither did I.

    ¡°The Burned Men yed it at the height of their civilization,¡± Mother exined. ¡°I believe they called it the<em> ¡®Game of Kings.¡¯</em>¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty fun,¡± Father said with a chuckle. ¡°Though it didn¡¯t catch on with my wife.¡±

    ¡°It is not that I dislike it, Itzili,¡± Mother replied with bemusement. ¡°I simply don¡¯t have the time to y yet.¡±

    ¡°I await that moment with impatience,¡± Father replied with augh before waving his hand at the other side of the board. ¡°I would assume Your Majesties would wee some distraction. I can move pieces on your behalf.¡±

    ¡°We would appreciate the gesture,¡± the Parliament replied. I moved their skull to the other side of the table, then left with Mother. Ist heard Father exining that the game¡¯s goal involved capturing the enemy¡¯s king, or something simr. Perhaps I would introduce it to Nl after learning how to y it.

    Part of me still resented the Parliament of Skulls for keeping the truth hidden from me for so long, but my anger had cooled down enough for me to assess the matter rationally. My predecessors made a bad call out of misced caution. I¡¯dmitted too many mistakes myself to judge them too harshly.

    Moreover, the Parliament offered me more support than any of my other allies so far. I wouldn¡¯t have gotten half as far as I did without their help. So long as they stayed true to their promise of treating me as an equal with theirplete trust, I would let bygones be bygones.

    I had too much on my te already to hold on to pointless grudges.

    ¡°I often wonder where your father¡¯s obsession with board games came from,¡± Mother mused as she led me deeper into her sanctuary. ¡°He already insisted on teaching me Patolli when he courted me.¡±

    ¡°Strategy games sharpen the mind,¡± I replied. ¡°And games of chance teach us to make the best of what we have.¡±

    ¡°I suppose there is some truth to it,¡± Mother replied with a thin smile as she guided me through dark corridors. ¡°But a true sorcerer creates their own luck, and I shall teach you how today.¡±

    My eyes widened with excitement. Her wording couldn¡¯t be a coincidence. ¡°Will you teach me the Cloak spell atst?¡±

    ¡°After reviewing your fundamentals,¡± Mother confirmed. ¡°A sorcerer who has <em>mastered </em>ten spells will always prevail over the one who has merely <em>learned </em>a hundred.¡±

    Our journey ended in a vaulted hall ovee by a low sheet of violet mist. The gas spewed from four rounded pools of purple liquid at each corner, where whorls of light glowed on their peaceful surface. Aplex, spiraling mosaic of obsidian mirrors covered both the floor and ceiling. This ce radiated power and focused it like a greenhouse.

    ¡°Are those Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s tears?¡± I asked Mother upon checking the pond¡¯s waters.

    She nodded in confirmation. ¡°I brought them back with me from the Underworld¡¯s firstyer to study their properties. I hoped to harness sorcerous power from them.¡±

    ¡°Did you seed?¡±

    ¡°Somewhat. These pools improved my divinations¡¯ efficiency whenbined with obsidian mirrors, but the results fell short of my expectations.¡± Mother approached the water¡¯s surface and gently touched it with her hand. The sight of the spreading ripples seemed to amuse her. ¡°They allow me to observe the world of the living nheless, so they do have their uses.¡±

    ¡°You seem quite chirpy today, Mother,¡± Imented. I¡¯d only caught her smiling in happiness when she reunited with Father, yet she acted eerily delighted so far. ¡°What has happened?¡±

    ¡°<em>You</em> happened, my son. Your work on the Legion spell helped me solve a certain conundrum.¡± Mother looked at the purple water dripping down her fingers. ¡°I believe that I already mentioned trying to refine the Ride spell into a permanent soul transfer.¡±

    My jaw tightened. I knew that this discussion would lead to dark ces. ¡°You did.¡±

    ¡°Your Legion spell might hold the key to itspletion,¡± Mother exined. ¡°Exploiting the curse that binds the emperors¡¯ souls together to let them possess an extension of your own bones was a clever move, and one that I might be able to replicate.¡±

    I didn¡¯t like the implications. <em>At all</em>. ¡°You wish to put a curse on yourself?¡±

    ¡°Nothing so self-defeating. My point, Iztac, is that my spell needs a strong spiritual connection between the host and the vessel that will let sorcery treat them as one and the same.¡± Mother stroked her chin, her gaze lost in the purple waters. ¡°Amon totem, a shared destiny, maybe a bloodline or close kinship.¡±

    I recoiled in revulsion at herst word. That one hit too close to home.

    Mother noticed my expression and swiftly tried to downy the horror of her statement. ¡°Do not put words in my mouth, my son. I would never use this spell on our family. This is purely hypothetical.¡±

    ¡°Is it?¡± I retorted, my voice dripping with disdain. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t mind testing it out on a stranger then, would you?¡±

    Mother held my gaze. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you, if it could extend your life beyond a year?¡±

    Herment hit me like a p, doubtlessly since she was probably right. I wouldn¡¯t use this spell against my kin¡ªI couldn¡¯t justify that to myself¡ªbut I¡¯d already possessed someone andpelled him tomit suicide. I was very much capable of stealing a stranger¡¯s life for victory.

    The more I contemted Mother¡¯s idea, the more difficult it became to deny the potential tactical benefits. Transferring my soul to another body for a longer duration than the Ride spell without sacrificing my spellcasting would let me n in safety and security, use magic without the risk of discovery, plot against the Nightlords¡­

    Still, I couldn¡¯t run away while leaving Eztli, Necahual, Ingrid, Nl, and the others at the vampires¡¯ mercy. Nor could I continue to let their atrocities unfold. At this point, nothing short of the Nightlords¡¯ destruction would satisfy my lust for revenge and justice.

    ¡°Do not speak of bloodlines, Mother,¡± I said after calming down. Therey the true source of my anger. ¡°I am not in the mood right now.¡±

    Mother looked at me with what could pass for genuine sympathy. ¡°Now you understand why I ran away from the Nightlords. I couldn¡¯t stand to participate in Yohuachanca¡¯s dance of kinying.¡±

    Instead, she let me fill in for her. ¡°Were you listening in on our conversation?¡±

    ¡°Nothing in these halls escapes my notice, my son.¡± Mother turned away and avoided my gaze. ¡°Train with all your heart, and then one day you will grow strong enough to protect those you care for.¡±

    <em>Like you did?</em> The question died on the tip of my tongue. Mother¡¯s words carried no hint of disdain and patronizing contempt, only grim factuality. <em>Father insisted that I should treat her more with an open mind. I guess it doesn¡¯t hurt to try. </em>

    ¡°Is that why you fled?¡± I asked her. ¡°Because you didn¡¯t feel you were strong enough to protect us?¡±

    ¡°I do not feel, I <em>know</em>.¡± Mother angrily crossed her arms, her nails sinking into her flesh. ¡°If I could break the curse on your heart-fire and destroy the Nightlords with a snap of my fingers without fearing retaliation, my son, then I would.¡±

    Her fury sounded genuine enough. It still made me bitter that she wouldn¡¯t put her own safety at risk, but I appreciated her concern.

    ¡°Enough prattling,¡± Mother said before changing the subject. She didn¡¯t like anything that reminded her of her weakness. ¡°Even if I manage toplete my soul transfer spell, it would be a temporary measure to gain time until we reach godhood; and we would need to remove the Nightlords¡¯ hold on your soul first anyway. If you truly wish to lift the vampiric curse, then collect the First Emperor¡¯s codices and gather the dead suns¡¯ embers.¡±

    ¡°<em>That,</em> I shall,¡± I promised. ¡°Before we begin our lesson, however, I would like your opinion on a few subjects. I have been trying to recruit allies and bolster their powers.¡±

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Mother didn¡¯t hide her contempt. ¡°Your magical training should take precedence over those petty surface intrigues.¡±

    ¡°I intend to join both.¡± Now was the time to question Mother on her esoteric knowledge. ¡°I will put recruits through the Mometzcopinque ritual.¡±

    ¡°You wish to create a witch coven dedicated to you, my son?¡± Mother shrugged. ¡°I know of that spell, though I have never bothered to cast it. Sharing power dilutes it.¡±

    I expected as much. ¡°So far, I¡¯ve learned that only women born on the first day of the Rain month can partake in it."

    ¡°You assume wrong,¡± Mother replied with a snort. ¡°The Mometzcopinque ritual is associated with the five western trecenas: the first days of the Eagle, Deer, Monkey, House, and Rain months. Any woman born then can be subjected to the transformation.¡±

    Interesting. I folded that bit of information away forter use. ¡°Can I have more than one sworn to me?¡±

    ¡°You can have as many as you can support, in theory at least,¡± Mother conceded. ¡°However, you would be wise not to dilute your power too much. You cannot use magic that you loaned in a pinch. Four servants should be your maximum, if you insist on this foolish path. Four is a magical number strong in the ult. It will help mitigate your loss of power.¡±

    I already had half that number''s worth of candidates in mind, though one issue remained. ¡°I have learned of the ritual¡¯s¡­¡± I struggled to find the right euphemism. ¡°Specific steps. Is there no way to skip them?¡±

    ¡°Not that I know of.¡± Mother squinted at me in judgment. ¡°You of all people should know more than anyone that magic should be earned through blood and sweat, my son. If these would-be witches are unwilling to risk their lives for our power, then they never deserved it in the first ce.¡±

    I supposed there was some truth to her statement. However, that meant that I would need to consider the logistics involved. Testing the ritual on Lahun required that I iste her for a while with no interruption, and a way to dispose of the corpse should it fail.

    ¡°You should be able to bind one Mometzcopinque to yourself, but you would need more embers if you seek to increase your coven¡¯s numbers,¡± Mother advised. ¡°Even then, I suggest you reconsider. Allies aren¡¯t worth weakening yourself.¡±

    ¡°Quantity is a quality of its own, Mother,¡± I replied. My mind was set. I would put Lahun through the ritual at the first opportunity. ¡°But let¡¯s move on. My other question concerned the Nightkin.¡±

    Mother tensed up and raised an eyebrow. ¡°Go on.¡±

    At least she seemed concerned. ¡°What would happen if a Nightkin consumed part of my body?¡±

    ¡°Like your blood?¡±

    ¡°Like my enchanted bones,¡± I corrected her before providing more details. ¡°A Nightkin unknowingly ingested two skulls marked by my Legion spell. The chances that they track the incident back to me are slim, but I wondered if I could somehow exploit it. Do you think this incident would let me cast the Ride spell on him without alerting the Nightlords?¡±

    ¡°An interesting query.¡± Mother stroked her chin and thoughtfully pondered my question. ¡°The Ride spell won¡¯t work on a creature thatcks a Teyolia to subsume, but the Legion allows specters to see through your eyes¡­¡±

    ¡°We think along the same lines.¡± With luck, I hoped to turn Fjor¡¯s intervention into a blessing in disguise. ¡°You mentioned that feeding my blood to an animal familiar would eventually allow me to see through their eyes, and that the Nightlords use a more potent version of this process to bind their priests.¡±

    ¡°And by ingesting bones marked with your Legion spell, your Nightkin has made them part of his body.¡±

    A smile spread on my lips. ¡°So do you think that I could see through his eyes with the Legion?"

    ¡°You would need to modify the spell slightly, and that version will likely require your direct intervention rather than offloading it onto the skulls, but yes, I believe it is possible.¡± Mother pointed at her pools. ¡°You may use this room to practice at your leisure.¡±

    I graciously epted her offer with a sharp nod. Being able to see through a Nightkin¡¯s eyes¡ªeven if I couldn¡¯t control their movements¡ªwould certainly be a boon to my efforts.

    Afterward, Mother had me showcase my spells. I summoned Bonecrafted arm-des, breathed fire with the ze, wove Veils on the purple mist, shaped Curses with my vile words, and lifted stones with the Doll to showcase my strength. Mother studied me attentively and provided advice on minor things, such as focusing on density over length when creating bones or small tips to improve my Veils by targeting underused senses such as smell and taste. Overall though, she had little to say on my technique.

    ¡°You possess a strong magical intuition, my son,¡± sheplimented me. ¡°Your grasp on spellcasting borders on the instinctual.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°Are you proud of me, Mother?¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I be?¡± she replied with a shrug. ¡°You are now ready to learn stronger spells.¡±

    ¡°You could have taught me a few earlier,¡± I pointed out. I would have dly learned Bonecraft without sacrificing a toe to the Rattling House¡¯s biting cold.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t.¡± Mother nced at her reflection in one of the pools¡¯ waters. ¡°The Lords of Terror fetched a high price for their knowledge and sanctuary. I have sworn oaths preventing me from passing on certain spells without their express permission.¡±

    <em>Ah, of course.</em> The Lords of Terror wanted to train demons and dangerous sorcerers who would use their gifts to sow the fear that fueled their existence onto others. Why allow their knowledge to spread to good-natured individuals who would offer less harmful alternatives? Restricting ess to their spells forced ambitious visitors to pay them homage.<em> I¡¯ll likely need to swear a simr oath to escape Xibalba. </em>

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have taught you everything anyway,¡± Mother said. ¡°Sorcery is more than pretty spells; it is a <em>mindset</em>. I will not spoil you with free gifts. You must earn and take everything that you have. Only then will you grow strong and clever.¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°Have I earned the Cloak spell then?¡±

    ¡°You have.¡± Mother joined her hands and gathered her breath. ¡°Whereas the Yaotzin is fueled by curses and associated with the cruel Tezcatlipoca, the Ehecatl is fueled by kind words and beholden to wise Quetzalcoatl. Casting the Cloak requires an exchange of blessings.¡±

    ¡°Can it blow in this den of nightmares?¡± I asked in skepticism. Besides Xibalba being a realm of immortal terrors, Mother¡¯s sanctuary was located deep underground.

    ¡°The winds reach everywhere, but some ces require more effort. If you seed in casting the Cloak in my home, then you will be able to do so anywhere.¡±

    ¡°Very well then. I¡¯ll bite.¡± I imitated Mother¡¯s hand gestures. ¡°Must I spill my blood like with the Augury spell?¡±

    Mother shook her head. ¡°Unlike the Yaotzin, the Ehecatl does not crave violence. Swear an oath to the wind to protect and make another person happier. Deliver on it, and the wind shall reward you with its protection.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± That sounded quite lenientpared to the Yaotzin¡¯s toll in blood and information.

    ¡°Trust is what happens when words meet action,¡± Mother replied. ¡°Stay true to your oaths and the Ehecatl shall give you the benefit of the doubt.¡±

    I narrowed my eyes at her. ¡°What did you promise the wind back when you first showed me the Cloak spell?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you tell, my son?¡± My question amused Mother. ¡°I swore that I would teach you magic.¡±

    Of course she would extract payment for something that she would have done for free. Her sheer moxie drew a smirk out of me. I took a deep breath, considered a few oaths that wouldn¡¯t bind my hand too much, and then quickly came up with a good option. The one I already intended to proceed with.

    Like mother, like son.

    ¡°I swear I shall one day tell Nl my true feelings, oh divine Ehecatl,¡± I swore under my breath. ¡°So that our friendship may rest on secure foundations.¡±

    That was something I wished to do anyway, and ¡®one day¡¯ should give me a lot of leeway. True feelings didn¡¯t mean the full truth either; simply reminding her of my guilt would suffice in satisfying the promise¡¯s wording.

    A tension arose in the air for a brief instant; a subtle current like a faint jolt of lightning coursing through the chamber. An invisible pressure built up underground, and a sharp silence fell upon us.

    Then a storm blew inside the vault.

    A mighty gust blew into the chamber, snapping open its doors and dissipating the purple haze in the blink of an eye. So great was its strength that it pushed Mother back and nearly caused her to stumble into one of the pools.

    I recalled thest time I¡¯d seen her cast the Cloak. The faint breeze Mother summoned back there couldn¡¯tpare to the tornado coiling around me. A heavy storm with the strength to shatter a house formed around me, repelling Xibalba¡¯s curse-ridden air and blowing away the dust over my clothes. An imprable wall of wind shielded me from harm.

    I was the heart of a hurricane.

    I expected to be thrown away like a ragdoll too, but the eye of the storm proved kind to me. The wind gently flowed over me with a parent¡¯s loving embrace. It whispered kind words in my ear with a thousand voices.

    <em>¡°Praise be the Dawnbringer¡­¡±</em> They sang. <em>¡°Bless the Godspeaker, master of the universe¡­¡± ¡°Thank you, Emperor Iztac¡­¡± </em>

    A storm of sincere prayers overwhelmed my ears. A million words of gratitude became a wind that could shake the world. I breathed the very essence of zeal and worship made air.

    The tornado gently carried Mother¡¯s words to my ears.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand¡­¡± For the first time since I¡¯d reconnected with her, her voice shook with utter <em>disbelief</em>. ¡°How is it so <em>powerful</em>?¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you guess, Mother?¡± Iughed as the wind gently coiled around me. ¡°They think that I will save the world.¡±

    The Nightlords had fed their people a steady diet of imperial propaganda after the New Fire Ceremony debacle. What had been a failed attempt to raise a sulfur sun had be a heroic tale of a Godspeaker pleading with the heavens to spare mankind from punishment for their sins; and <em>seeding</em>.

    Millions of voices besieged by darkness now thanked me for sparing them an even worse fate. However fake the debt they owed, their gratitude was pure and true. This wind was their praise given form.

    It was intoxicating, to be so praised after a lifetime of scorn. My joy at this flow of positivity was only matched by my amusement at the deceit from which it sprang. My heart swelled with confidence. Listening to prayers and worship made me feel invincible. They believed that I could do anything, and so I did.

    I could get used to this.

    ¡°Go on, Mother,¡± I said, my quiet words strengthened into a thunderous boom by the storm. ¡°Strike this faithful shield of mine, if you dare.¡±

    Mother hesitated for a brief moment, then answered my challenge. She summoned the Doll¡¯s talons of darkness and attempted to pierce through my hurricane. The wind formed an imprable wall into which her ws tried to sink. She pressed with all of her strength and barely progressed an inch. Her growing frustration amused me. I didn¡¯t doubt that she possessed other spells that could pierce through my Cloak, but brute force alone wouldn¡¯t suffice.

    ¡°You wondered why I spent time on petty intrigues instead of focusing on magical knowledge alone,¡± I reminded her. ¡°But as you can see, both feed into one another.¡±

    ¡°An impressive disy,¡± Mother conceded after recalling her talons in defeat. ¡°Neither arrows nor swords will get past this wall. Stronger projectiles might, but it will weaken them nheless.¡±

    That detail alone could make the difference between life and death.

    ¡°Can this spell be used for offense too?¡± I pondered out loud. I raised a hand at a wall and tried to blow it with a strong gust, yet the Cloak refused to bend my way.

    Mother quickly crushed my hopes. ¡°The Ehecatl is the wind of fortune. It does not harm, unlike the Yaotzin. It only protects.¡±

    ¡°All I hear is that you can use the Yaotzin to attack someone.¡±

    ¡°In theory,¡± Mother confirmed. ¡°Though I have never seeded in earning more than cruel knowledge from the Augury. The winds of chaos would exact far too great a toll for the potential reward.¡±

    ¡°For <em>you</em>, mayhaps,¡± I replied. The Yaotzin was born of hurtful words and curses. Many praised Yohuachanca¡¯s emperor, and quite a few loathed him.

    If Yohuachanca¡¯s prayers of gratitude fueled my Cloak, would the Sapa Empire¡¯s curses give birth to a new spell? The thought gnawed at me. My intuition told me that there was a possibility to exploit, an untapped well of power waiting to be uncovered.

    As for the Ehecatl, I pondered if its inability to harm only applied to direct attacks. Summoning it did push Mother back, so I suspected the existence of a loophole of some kind.

    <em>I wonder how this spell would synergize with the rest of my repertoire</em>. An idea crossed my mind, and my heart-fire burned with delight. <em>How about the ze? </em>

    The wind had a terrible habit of strengthening infernos, after all.

    I breathed fire from my mouth and watched on as the Cloak¡¯s air currents carried the mes away. A bright purple ze coiled around my body and forced Mother¡¯s shadow talons to take a few steps back. A ming tornado soon formed around me, creating a barrier of smokeless balefire.

    When at longst both the mes and wind died out, a scorching circle of ashes and molten obsidian surrounded me. Mother studied the mark with a look of both fascination and concern.

    ¡°Have you ever tried to do the same?¡± I asked her. I couldn¡¯t believe that the thought ofbining these spells never crossed her mind.

    Mother¡¯s lips twisted into a scowl. Was that a glimmer of jealousy that I detected in her gaze?

    ¡°My mes didn¡¯t take,¡± she whispered under her breath.

    She never managed to summon a Cloak strong enough to sustain her ze, and part of her resented the fact that I could seed where she had failed. It didn¡¯t take me long to understand why.

    Mother had made a <em>crippling </em>mistake on her sorcerer¡¯s journey.

    Much like my captors, I now understood the power of symbols and belief. The Nightlords cleverly used their divine image to reinforce their sorcery because the act of worship itself carried its own weight. The <em>image </em>of strength was almost as important as its <em>reality</em>.

    Mother spent her life running and hiding from the world. The dead in M spoke her name in fear and mistrust, but they carried no breath nor fueled the fires of life. Most of them faded into the long sleep and carried their faith to the grave.

    The living world knew nothing of Mother¡¯s deeds and importance. Only the Nightlords had any interest in her, and they neither feared nor appreciated her. No cult paid homage to her. Her name didn¡¯t inspire terror in millions. She downyed her power instead of showcasing it.

    A true catecolotl thrived in infamy and Mother¡¯s caution had condemned her to oblivion.

    She possessed an edge in knowledge and experience, but my power dwarfed her own. I could achieve worldshaking feats simply because thousands believed that I could. It seemed inevitable that I would surpass her given time.

    How far could I take this rtionship between symbolism and sorcery? Could I create new spells from nothing? Or could I harvest the trappings of superstitions to turn false rites into rituals with genuine power?

    The more I delved into the abyss of magic, the more bottomless it seemed.

    Mother recovered herposure while I was trapped in my thoughts. ¡°Exploring the synergies between your current spells will serve you well,¡± she said. I could tell that relying on her authority as a teacher soothed her wounded pride. ¡°You are ready for your next trial. When slumber shall im you again, you will find yourself outside my sanctuary.¡±

    ¡°So soon?¡± I asked, bristling at her suggestion. ¡°I barely spent time with Father.¡±

    ¡°Then it should provide you ample motivation to seed,¡± Mother replied sternly. ¡°You may return to my nest after youplete the fourth house¡¯s ordeals.¡±

    Mother clearly didn¡¯t want me to be a freeloader. I was about to argue when I sensed the pull of the waking world. I didn¡¯t have time to argue.

    ¡°I must go now,¡± I warned Mother. ¡°But I shall return."

    ¡°I know.¡± Mother¡¯s expression softened slightly in concern, which raised all kinds of rms. ¡°Use the Cloak spell well. It may yet save you from a gruesome fate.¡±

    Why did I have the feeling that my next trial would be my most difficult yet?

    I knew something was wrong before I even opened my eyes.

    I barely had time to reincorporate my predecessors¡¯ skull before I woke up. I couldn¡¯t even say a word of goodbye to Father, though I wasn¡¯t too worried. I expected to return to the House of Owls soon enough.

    My hopeful moodsted until I sensed a moist object on my face. Something thin and featherlight, yet strangely warm. A smooth weight that perfectly espoused the form of my face, leaving holes for my mouth, eyes, and nose. I heard Itzili the Younger making muffled noises near my bed, and my hands under the coverlet encountered a void where Chikal should have been.

    ¡°Did you sleep well, songbird?¡± Iztacoatl whispered in my ear.

    My eyes snapped open, sending blood dripping down my visage. My hand instinctively moved to my forehead to wipe it away and quickly brushed against the thinyer covering my face. I immediately recognized that soft texture under my fingers.

    Fur.

    <em>Tetzon¡¯s </em>fur.

    I swept the bloody thing off my face to the tune of Iztacoatl¡¯s cruelughter. A spotted mask of fur fell onto the bed and stained it with blood. They had yed Tetzon¡¯s headless corpse and turned his bloody skin into a night mask, then ced it on my face while I slept soundly.

    Iztacoatl sat along the bed,ughing with cruel glee. Her masked guards held back Iztili with leashes and muzzles. My pet raged fruitlessly against his bindings, but his inhuman strength folded under the weight of our captors¡¯ numbers.

    ¡°What a shameful disy, Your Majesty!¡± Iztacoatl mocked me in between fits of darkughter. ¡°Can you fathom how difficult it was to skin that cat before you woke up? The tense hours your beloved staff spent peeling the fur off his flesh, all while ensuring that the blood would remain warm enough to smooth your beautiful skin?¡±

    I was sorely tempted to burn her own with the ze. How sweet it would feel when I finally turned herughter into screams of distress.

    ¡°You¡¯ve¡­¡± My outrage was genuine, but my surprise wasn¡¯t. ¡°You¡¯ve killed my pet?¡±

    ¡°So quick with the usations.¡± Iztacoatl pinched my cheek, which caused me to recoil in disgust. ¡°Poor Tetzon wandered where he shouldn¡¯t have and I had to teach him the cost of trespassing. As awmaker and judge of men, I¡¯m sure you understand.¡±

    My hands clenched into fists. I didn¡¯t even have to fake anger. The very sight of this snake inspired me nothing but disgust.

    When I failed to answer her cruel joke with words, Iztacoatl took my head in both of her chilling hands. Her forehead pressed against mine in an iron grip.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that you speak to your animals. I thought it was a joke of some kind, but now I am starting to wonder...¡± Iztacoatl studied my expression, searching for any hint of deceit. ¡°Did you send that poor margay out to gather information on your behalf?¡±

    She was so close to the truth, and yet so far. The fact she partly believed in my Itzili deception helped make my following snort sound all the more genuine.

    ¡°Are you so craven that a cat frightens you?¡± I replied, ying the fool.

    Iztacoatl let out a dark chuckle, her fangs shing under her lips. ¡°You know <em>nothing </em>of fear yet, Iztac,¡± she said with all of her kind¡¯s boundless malice. ¡°But you will soon, if you don¡¯t answer me.¡±

    I knew she would smell a lie, so I quickly defaulted to another strategy: blind her mind with rage and anger so she wouldn¡¯t think straight. Twist the knife in an open wound and keep her guessing.

    ¡°Was this punishment for ourst encounter?¡± I smirked ear to ear, savoring the quick look of humiliation that passed over her face. ¡°If you wanted my attention, you only had to ask for it.¡±

    ¡°Punishment? Of course not.¡± Iztacoatl moved her lips close to mine, her eyes shining with burning hatred. ¡°I have a far, <em>far </em>worse fate in mind for you, songbird.¡±

    She began to lick Tetzon¡¯s blood off my skin. I shivered in disgust as her tongue slithered on my cheeks with the coldness of ice. A reaction that only amused Iztacoatl.

    ¡°You will have to wait until Acampa for the surprise,¡± she said. ¡°Thesh loses its sting if you know when it will strike¡­ but I suppose I can give you a taste of what is toe.¡±

    She leaned in until her lips brushed against my ears, where she whispered five words. Five words, so simple and yet so ominous.

    ¡°We have found your mother.¡±

 Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Price

    Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Price

    My mind was exploding behind a face of stone.

    My body froze like a deer sensing a hunter, each of my muscles tensing up tighter than ropes around a hanged man¡¯s neck. My thoughts swirled inside my skull. A thousand worrying possibilities came up, though I had grown experienced enough to hide my concern under a mask of feigned confusion.

    My first thought was: <em>How could she have found Mother? </em>

    My second was:<em> She¡¯s lying.</em>

    But then I wondered if Iztacoatl was telling the truth, and if so, for what purpose; or if it was merely a lie, a tactical move meant to unbnce me, to throw me off my game, to paralyze me with confusion like I was right now, right this instant¡­

    <em>No, Iztac, stay calm.</em> The White Snake was staring at me with her cold, reptilian eyes; scanning my gaze, studying my face, smelling my breath, waiting for a critical misstep. My shocked silence alone told too much. <em>On the off-chance that she¡¯s telling the truth, I have to feign surprise. </em>

    ¡°My mother?¡± I repeated, both to fish for information and buy myself time to anchor myself in the present.

    ¡°Your mortal one,¡± Iztacoatl replied with a condescending look. ¡°I know how close you were to Yoloxochitl, but most men require a mortal woman to give birth to them. You are no exception.¡±

    ¡°My mother abandoned me years ago,¡± I replied while doing my best to feign indifference. I couldn¡¯t let her see any sign of distress.¡°And as I¡¯ve said, we¡¯ve found her.¡± Iztacoatlughed at me. ¡°Your feelings are so painfully transparent, my beautiful songbird. <em>¡®Is she lying to me? Is it all a trick to destabilize me?¡¯ </em>Why do you care so much, my dear?¡±

    Damn it, I¡¯d made a mistake. Merely showing surprise and tension already told her too much.

    I closed my eyes, gathered my breath long enough to organize my thoughts, and then quickly settled on my strategy.

    ¡°Do what you want,¡± I said, my face shifting into an expression of regal disdain. ¡°If you¡¯re trying to use her against me, you¡¯re wasting your time. I don¡¯t care for a woman who would rather run away than raise me.¡±

    Iztacoatl didn¡¯t buy my lie. I could read it in her mocking eyes.

    ¡°Oh, Iztac, what a self-centered boy you make. Not everything is about <em>you</em>.¡± Iztacoatl tickled my cheek with her cold hand. ¡°We intended to add her to the imperial harem <em>years </em>before we selected you as our puppet emperor. Your feelings towards her are irrelevant.¡±

    I pushed her fingers away, much to her amusement. ¡°Then why tell me?¡±

    ¡°Because I wanted to see your face when I did.¡± Her smug smirk made me want to punch her teeth out. ¡°You are cute when you care.¡±

    I snorted in disgust. ¡°And what if I wanted to hang her?¡±

    ¡°Now, now, don¡¯t be greedy.¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s smile grew ever so threatening. ¡°We have other uses in mind for her.¡±

    The Nightlord leaned on the bed, her hands crawling on each side of me. No doubt she expected me to sink into the bed in fear. Instead, I remained resolute and imperturbable.

    ¡°You have shown extraordinary gifts beyond that of any emperor before you. You wield the spark of greatness. My sisters wondered if we should¡­¡± Her hand grazed my navel. <em>¡°Focus </em>it.¡±

    I shivered in genuine nausea.

    ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll have you breed with your mother to concentrate that unique bloodline of yours into a pure vessel, untainted by your father¡¯s mediocrity,¡± Iztacoatl suggested. My blood boiled at the insult aimed at my family. ¡°Or perhaps we¡¯ll keep her for your sessor¡¯s pleasure. That woman offers so many possibilities.¡±

    I wanted to vomit. ¡°That is disgusting.¡±

    ¡°Come on, I¡¯m sure it would excite you¡­ the thrill of crossing a taboo forbidden to lesser men. Weren¡¯t you practicing for it with your mother-inw?¡± Then she went for the throat. ¡°That¡¯s why you are so fond of Nl too, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s like kissing your mirror.¡±

    I knew Iztacoatl was ying me. She was pressing her fingers in an open wound, trying to get a rise out of me. She pushed my boundaries the same way I did when I pped her; she likely hoped that I would do it again, confirming that I harbored rebellion in my heart. Violence or threats would serve her well.

    I had to confuse Iztacoatl. Counterattack in a way that she would never expect and yet still trouble her.

    But <em>how?</em> The more time I wasted asking myself that, the less effective my response would be. I stared nkly at her smug face, thinking of any ideas I had to disturb her back.

    One crossed my mind in a sh of lightning. Something that would take the wind out of her sails.

    I remained silent an instant longer, then nced around at the guards as if to check if others were listening in. My reaction surprised Iztacoatl, who didn¡¯t react when I leaned in to whisper in her ear.

    ¡°I saw it in a dream,¡± I said, my voice soft like the morning breeze. ¡°How your father will kill you.¡±

    It was her turn to freeze in shock and surprise. She stared at me without a word, and I caught the briefest sh of fear in her gaze. Part of her knew that I was lying through my teeth, but she had seen memand her sire¡¯s ves, deliver prophecies, and perform miracles. I might be telling the truth, and it frightened her.

    She knew that reacting with threats and violence would only showcase her weakness. The confident ruler didn¡¯t let threats get to them; they instead let them slide off like waves on the eternal shore. So instead Iztacoatl quickly regained herposure and answered my warning with fake amusement.

    ¡°You forget,¡± she replied, ¡°<em>Whose</em> property you are, songbird.¡±

    Her lips pressed against mine before I could react.

    Her flesh was softer than milk, yet colder than the coldest winter. A terrible chill overtook my body. My own burning Teyolia wavered in my chest, its me suddenly weakened. Iztacoatl¡¯s mouth was a gaping maw, a pit that sucked the air and warmth out of my lungs. I sensed her power, her hunger, her desire to drain me dry of my life and youth.

    I couldn¡¯t move an inch. Iztacoatl could have sucked the soul out of my body as easily as the Nightchildren consumed their victims. I gazed at the darkness inside Eztli whenever we made love, but it couldn¡¯tpare to the pitch-ck void festering inside a true Nightlord. A bottomless abyss hungered where her Teyolia should have been and it paralyzed me.

    And to my horror, I didn¡¯t <em>want </em>to move. A shiver of unearthly pleasure followed the revulsion. Her lips tasted better than any food and gave greater bliss than the act of sex. My soul fought back against my body, trying to force it to move away from Iztacoatl, but she refused to let me escape her icy grip.

    It wasn¡¯t a kiss of pleasure, warped affection, or anything so quaint. It was a serpent¡¯s venomous kiss, which promised only death; the bite of a predator marking its meal. A contemptuous disy of power.

    Iztacoatl had found a weakness, and it delighted her.

    Little warmth remained when her lips broke away. I shivered in the bed, my breath short and my body weaker than before. Iztacoatl licked her lips as if she had just finished a fine meal.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± she said. ¡°Your sweat tastes like the sun.¡±

    Thankfully, I was too disgusted and nauseous to show fear. ¡°Try that again, and you may taste sulfur.¡±

    ¡°You make it sound like I should be afraid of <strong><em>him</em></strong>.¡± Iztacoatl smiled with all of her overbearing arrogance, though I still sensed the worry beneath it. ¡°Neither of you will escape your respective cages. I shall see to it.¡±

    Iztacoatl lost interest at this point and stepped away from the bed. I wiped away the taste of her lips on mine with my hand, much to her amusement.

    ¡°Put on your feather dress, songbird. Your home¡¯s ruins await you.¡± Iztacoatl contemptuously scratched Itzili¡¯s head on her way out of the room. My pet growled at her with hatred, though the guards kept him from biting the Nightlord as he wanted. ¡°I will be sure to visit you tonight. I cannot wait to see your little family reunion.¡±

    My fists clenched under my coverlet as I considered my options. I needed to visit the Reliquary. Ask my predecessors for advice, assess the situation, formte a n¨C

    ¡°Oh, I almost forgot,¡± Iztacoatl said, her words halting my thoughts. ¡°The Reliquary will be closed to you from now on.¡±

    My head snapped at her in surprise, which proved a terrible mistake. Iztacoatl chuckled in sinister glee.

    ¡°You were thinking of going there to lick your wounds, weren¡¯t you?¡± She asked mockingly. ¡°I¡¯ll deny you that pleasure.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I could only rasp. Did she notice something suspicious back there in spite of all of my efforts?

    ¡°Because I¡¯ve noticed something interesting about you humans. Whenever you are threatened by stress or danger, you must retreat to a sanctuary. A hideout where you feel safe from the world. No refuge is perfect, of course, but you need that delusion to feel a measure of peace.¡±

    She sent me onest smile filled with fangs.

    ¡°Deep inside your heart, you never forget that you are our prey.¡±

    The guards closed the door behind her, but I heard herughter long after she left.

    The imperial carriage prepared to depart for Acampa within the hour.

    As befitting of an emperor¡¯s historical tour of his dominion, I would travel with all of Yohuachanca¡¯s might and splendor behind me. Hundreds of trihorn cavaliers, servants, musicians, priests, and warriors would escort me across my realm, carrying dozens of banners emzoned with the Nightlords¡¯ four symbols.

    Since an emperor shouldn¡¯t rest under a tent on the road, a trio of longnecks would form the core of a moving miniature pce. One of them would bring the imperial pnquin which once brought me to the Blood Pyramid, so that I may wave at my people whenever I visited their cities; the other two carriedrge, multi-tiers houses of wood that would house my consorts, harem, and guests.

    Ingrid and Tayatzin, who had organized most of the expedition, proceeded to give me a brief rundown of these moving facilities; though I barely listened to either of them.

    ¡°As you can see, Your Majesty, each of these longneck houses carries two floors, one split on the animal¡¯s sides and one on its back,¡± Ingrid exined. ¡°These longnecks were specifically bred to carry heavy weights.¡±

    These towering and serene beasts made for quite the impressive sight, and their loads had been intricately designed. The wooden buildings that they carried reminded me of a cross between small rustic mansions and treehouses, with balconies, windows, and staircases. Each of them sported amenities worthy of an emperor ording to Ingrid, with bedchambers, drug rooms, and even baths created by clever architecture and plumbery.

    Did Iztacoatl hide within one of these buildings? Would she travel deep inside one of these devices, her torpid corpse sealed in a coffin somewhere? My hopes were slim, but the idea of somehow dragging her into the sunlight gave me life.

    ¡°Each longneck can house around a dozen guests each,¡± Ingrid said. ¡°I have taken the liberty of inviting our handmaidens and Lady Necahual to travel with my lord on the first longneck, and set a room apart on the second for Lady Zyanya and her future husband xc. The other rooms can wee any guest which strikes my lord¡¯s fancy on the road.¡±

    ¡°I must remind Your Divine Majesty that the harem¡¯s women are forbidden from associating with any males except your loyal eunuchs,¡± Tayatzin added. ¡°As such, to avoid any risk of a daring male befitting your properties, your consorts and concubines will travel in a different longneck than the one carrying dignitaries.¡±

    I hardly paid attention to their exnations. Ingrid and Tayatzin did their best to retain my attention, but all of my thoughts focused on my Mother and the danger threatening her.

    <em>¡°Time is the world-killer,¡± </em>the wind whispered in my ear. <em>¡°Night heralds the end of yours.¡± </em>

    And that damn breeze¡¯s taunts didn¡¯t help either.

    Was Iztacoatl lying? Did she simply invent that story out of thin cloth after investigating my past and reaching the conclusion that my mother¡¯s departure left a gaping hole in my heart? Did she assume that the unresolved nature of her disappearance would provide a method to pressure me?

    It could be a trick for all I knew. Maybe Iztacoatl would introduce an impostor to me tonight; a woman with Mother¡¯s face meant to exploit mypassion and then infiltrate my inner circle. I couldn¡¯t put it beyond the White Snake to use such an borate trick.

    I could be overthinking everything. But if Iztacoatl had indeed told me the truth, then how and why did she find a lead on Mother after failing to find her for years? The answer struck me like a bolt of lightning.

    They¡¯d found Mother because of <em>me</em>.

    Father mentioned that Mother witnessed Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption. She saw Eztli and I escaping its mes, which meant that she had to be in the region a few weeks ago. A Nightkin could have seen her, investigated, and then reported her presumed location to Iztacoatl.

    The Nightlord¡¯s tale was credible.

    But even if they truly knew Mother¡¯s current location, could they capture her? I would have immediately known if they already had, and I descended from a mighty sorceress. No red-eyed priest nor warrior could hope to defeat Mother in battle. She would dismember them with the Doll, trick them with the Veil, and deflect attacks with the Cloak. Only the Nightlords and Nightkin could clip her wings.

    Hence Iztacoatl¡¯s mention of tonight. She intended to capture Mother herselfe sunset, and she would likely seed. Mother wouldn¡¯t be so desperate to avoid the Nightlords¡¯ notice if she could take them on.

    But why warn me? To feed on my despair? I immediately concluded against it, for it would have been crueler and more effective to show me Mother in chains. The White Snake was too clever to give me the slightest chance of affecting an already decided oue.

    Unless¡­

    Unless she wanted me to try?

    <em>She wants me to investigate, </em>I realized. <em>Or to contact Mother. </em>

    Mother was ultimately irrelevant to the Nightlords¡¯ n. Adding her to the harem would strengthen their horrific breeding system, but it would neither secure their ritual¡¯s sess nor strengthen their hold on Yohuachanca. They could easily ignore or kill her. It wouldn¡¯t change anything about Iztacoatl¡¯s ns.

    I, meanwhile, represented an existential threat to the sisters¡¯ regime. I, who had begun to build a power base and wielded power that they didn¡¯t truly understand. Iztacoatl was too careful to act against me without gathering more information, so she designed this plot to tip my hand.

    Did the First Emperor truly whisper prophecies in my ear? How deep did my spywork run? Who worked with me, who could be turned against me? Could I truly speak to animals and use them against my foes?

    No matter how I responded to the crisis at hand, Iztacoatl would learn something about me. Even informing Mother in my sleep would tip her off that I had a way ofmunicating with others that didn¡¯t leave any obvious trace. Depending on what information Iztacoatl had already gathered, this might lead her to uncover the existence of the Underworld.

    What should I <em>do</em>?

    ¡°My lord?¡±

    Ingrid¡¯s voice drew me out of my thoughts. My head perked up at her, and I realized that both she and Tayatzin stared at me in embarrassment. They must have noticed me dozing off for a while and been too polite to interrupt me.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t slept all too well,¡± I replied without apologizing, as it would show weakness. The lie came easily to me. ¡°You have done well organizing this, Ingrid.¡±

    Uwfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°My lord tters me, and I am pained to hear of your sleeping troubles,¡± Ingrid replied with a smile that wasn¡¯t entirely genuine. ¡°I was asking if you wished us to bring any other concubines or pets from your menagerie with us?¡±

    Her question sounded innocent enough, but the nce she sent me made me realize that she wasn¡¯t only talking about our nned tour.

    ¡°Are all other preparationspleted?¡± I asked.

    Ingrid gave me a sharp, knowing nod. ¡°We are only waiting for you, my lord.¡±

    I immediately understood her hidden message: the stars had aligned when it came to destroying Yoloxochitl¡¯sb tonight. I only needed to do my part and do it <em>fast</em>.

    How long would this window of opportunity remain open? I couldn¡¯t deal with it both <em>and </em>the threat to Mother¡¯s life at once.

    I crossed my arms and pretended to think over Ingrid¡¯s question. Iztacoatl would no doubt keep me under close observation today. Any action, no matter how subtle or inane, would be scrutinized. Casting a spell while awake was too risky, and calling upon my allies risked exposing them to danger.

    I needed a smokescreen. A catspaw.

    I was deep in thought when a priest approached Tayatzin and whispered in his ear. My attendant¡¯s frown immediately worried me.

    ¡°What is the matter?¡± I asked with a scowl.

    Tayatzin cleared his throat before answering. ¡°Your Majesty, Lady Ingrid, I bear a message from the goddess herself. She insists that Lady Astrid join us on our journey to Zacha.¡±

    Ingrid¡¯s face drained of all colors in an instant. A pallid veil fell upon her, while my heart skipped a beat. My consort stared at me and immediately confirmed ourmon surprise.

    ¡°Why?¡± Ingrid inquired immediately, her poise andposure briefly shaken by the unspoken threat to her family. She immediately corrected her expression, though her voice lost some of her confidence. ¡°Why would the goddess honor us so?¡±

    ¡°The goddess didn¡¯t see fit to inform us of her reasons,¡± Tayatzin apologized. ¡°Though she will no doubt find a use for Lady Astrid.¡±

    A vision of Lady Sigrun¡¯s blood staining the temple floor red in my mind, closely followed by Fjor¡¯s crimson gaze.

    A simr thought must have crossed Ingrid¡¯s mind too. She stared at me with a nk expression, searching my gaze for support and reassurance. I immediately grabbed her trembling hands and gripped them tightly.

    I could hardly offer her more than warmth. My words would have sounded hollow. How could they not, when I was equally afraid myself?

    First Mother and now Astrid. Was that a coincidence? A veiled threat to Ingrid that assisting me would cost her her sister¡¯s life? Another attempt to put pressure on me?

    <em>Focus, Iztac. She¡¯s making you overthink everything, and she isn¡¯t even in your presence. </em>My predecessors forewarned me that Iztacoatl would seek to destabilize me until I tripped up and made a fatal mistake. <em>I can¡¯t let her seed.</em>

    A simple n formed in my mind. Mother spent most of her time in the Underworld nowadays, so she was likely still asleep somewhere. I would pretend to be tired to nap during our trip to Acampa, conquer the fourth house of Xibalba if I had to, and then inform her of the threat.

    All the while, I would cover my tracks with a misleading clue. A false hint that would distract Iztacoatl.

    ¡°Astrid will travel with us under my personal care,¡± I dered. Keeping her close might let me protect her from whatever fate Iztacoatl had in store for her. ¡°Ensure that she will want for nothing.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± Ingrid replied. My words and support, meager as it was, reassured her a bit.

    ¡°Meanwhile, my Necahual and the handmaidens shall satisfy my body¡¯s needs,¡± I informed Tayatzin. ¡°I will need songbirds to soothe my ears and a set of swift prey. It would be a shame to travel across the fairnds of Yohuachanca and not stain them with blood.¡±

    Tayatzin raised an eyebrow. ¡°Prey, Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°My Itzili needs to gain a taste for battle, and I must practice trihorn riding,¡± I exined. ¡°Hunts will both provide practice and entertainment, so you shall bring quarries that we can chase to our heart¡¯s content.¡±

    Iztacoatl already suspected that I could talk to animals and had somehow ordered Tetzon to spy on her on my behalf. Perhaps I could lean on this misinterpretation. That would help sell my Itzili distraction and provide an alternative. I would give Iztacoatl a bone to choke upon.

    Once preparations wereplete, I ascended to the second longneck¡¯s back house. Its insides were as opulent as an emperor¡¯s carriage would suggest, with thickyers of animal hides insting its wood walls. Arge and well-lit living room with jaguar fur rugs for a floor, a central table, and a separate bath for cleaning formed the upper floor¡¯s core. Four bedrooms belonging to my consorts and their handmaidens surrounded it, and a fifth¡ªthergest¡ªbelonged to me and was the one closest to the longneck¡¯s head.

    Ingrid and Tenoch arrived first, followed by Chikal and Lahun. The priests transported Eztli inside a closed coffin to protect her from the sun until nightfall, with Atziri taking care of her. Thetter was frighteningly pale, though her neck wounds had vanished. Seeing her like this made me uneasy, but I kept my mouth shut. Necahual and Astrid followed closely after them. Nl arrivedst with her own maid, whom I did not recognize. I truly needed to find her apanion I could make use of.

    Thankfully, young Astrid proved quite enthusiastic about enjoying a longneck ride.

    ¡°Look, sister!¡± Astrid rejoiced upon finding a door to a balcony near the longneck¡¯s tail. ¡°We can see the walls from there!¡±

    ¡°Beware, young woman,¡± Necahual lightly chided her. As the only mother onboard the longneck, she understood how to handle children the best. ¡°Do not move too close to the edge, lest you fall to your death.¡±

    ¡°Listen to Lady Necahual, Astrid,¡± Ingrid said, though her sister¡¯s enthusiasm lit up her gloomy mood somehow. ¡°You must behave once we leave the pce, so that you do not shame His Majesty.¡±

    Her words were gentle enough, but they immediately turned Astrid¡¯s smile into a gloomy face.

    ¡°I¡­ I won¡¯t.¡± Astrid looked at her feet. ¡°I won¡¯t disappoint him like¡­ like our mother did.¡±

    Ingrid flinched as if she¡¯d been pped, as did Necahual and I. Being reminded of Lady Sigrun remained a sore spot for all of us.

    <em>Of course she was happy to leave the pce,</em> I thought.<em> It stinks of her mother¡¯s blood. </em>

    I did my best to lighten the mood.

    ¡°If you behave, Astrid, then I shall let you feed the longneck,¡± I said before patting Astrid¡¯s head with my hand. ¡°I may even allow you to ride my brave Itzili. A mount worthy of an emperor.¡±

    ¡°The feathered tyrant?¡± My suggestion lit up the me of joy in Astrid¡¯s heart. ¡°He¡¯s so fluffy.¡±

    The suggestion amused Chikal enough for her toment on it. ¡°This child will look fearsome atop a feathered tyrant¡¯s back.¡±

    ¡°She will,¡± Nl replied with a giggle as a maid began to serve breakfast in the living room. ¡°Would you like to y tumi with us, Astrid? I could teach you the rules while we eat.¡±

    ¡°Enjoy yourselves,¡± I dered with a yawn. ¡°I will recover my lost sleep this morning and join you in the afternoon.¡±

    Ingrid joined her hands together. ¡°We should reach Acampa by then, my lord. Will you need a song to help you sleep?¡±

    She wanted to speak with me in private, and I quickly indulged her. ¡°I would appreciate yourpany, Ingrid.¡±

    I took Ingrid¡¯s hand in mine and gently led her inside my sumptuously appointed bedroom. Though very smallpared to my pce¡¯s quarters, it was better polished and adorned than the rest of the longneck house. A bear fur rugy before arge bed with a cotton coverlet, next to a desk for work and a small space for Itzili the Younger to sleep on. A birdcage holding a great-tailed grackle hung from the ceiling next to an open window. The songbird¡¯s sweet, tinkling notes echoed through the room.

    I didn¡¯t see any snake hidden under the rug, but I bet Iztacoatl had means of spying on anything happening within these walls.

    ¡°My lord looks very troubled today,¡± Ingrid said. ¡°What concerns you so much?¡±

    She probably thought that I was worried about tonight¡¯s operation. And I was, in a way. I hoped that I could inform Mother without wasting a precious opportunity to destroy Yoloxochitl¡¯s garden and wipe her twisted legacy off from the face of the earth.

    ¡°It has been so long since I left my home vige,¡± I replied upon examining the birdcage. The crackle briefly stopped singing when I approached, but quickly returned to its chatter. It had grown used to the presence of man. ¡°I do not relish the thought of visiting its ruins.¡±

    ¡°I see, though I will not pretend to understand.¡± Ingrid stared at the pce through the window. ¡°I have never seen the world beyond these walls.¡±

    ¡°Are you afraid of what lies outside?¡±

    ¡°Not at all.¡± Ingrid crossed her arms and gazed at the sun. ¡°I wanted to see Wind once, a long time ago. Mother said it is covered in ice and snow at this time of the year.¡±

    ¡°We could visit the mountains on our way to Zacha, if you¡¯d like,¡± I suggested. ¡°Some of them are nketed in snow during the Crocodile Month.¡±

    Ingrid briefly turned to smile at me without a word. Her lips didn¡¯t reach the eyes.

    I cursed myck of wits. Ingrid desperately needed a distraction and I couldn¡¯t even provide her with good small talk.

    Small tremors put an end to the awkward silence. The call of battle horns resonated outside alongside the beats of war drums and other instruments. Our longneck began to walk at a steady pace as our convoy finally began its journey west.

    I didn¡¯t join Ingrid at the window immediately. I first opened the grackle¡¯s cage and then seized the bird with my hands. The poor animal stopped singing in fear and surprise, though it was too small to escape my grip.

    Its feathers were so smooth and clean. All the animals in my menagerie had been pampered since the day of their birth. They never wanted food or care. Yet I wondered¡­ if granted a chance to leave, would this bird take it or would it meekly return to its servitude?

    Time to find out.

    I whispered nonsense into the bird¡¯s ear, so low none could hear it. If anyone did anyway, they would only listen to strange strings of words without context. The paranoid might mistake it for a code.

    Afterward, I joined Ingrid at the window. Our longneck walked past the open gates of my pce. We left behind my own birdcage and entered the streets of the capital, where foolish crowds gathered to catch a glimpse of my imperial person. Their cheers and ps filled the air, generating the winds fueling my Cloak spell. The city¡¯s buildings looked so small from so high above.

    Ignoring my citizens, I instead stared at the cloudless sky and gently ced the grackle on the window sill. The bird stood there for an instant in confusion, its eyes darting from my person to the world outside. I wondered if, like Ingrid, it never saw anything outside its cage¡¯s bars. Its simple mind quickly assessed its situation and the unique opportunity I¡¯d offered it.

    It turned to face the sun, then flew away without turning back. The grackle¡¯s jet ck wings dropped a few feathers as it escaped to the distant skies, carried away by the cheers of thousands.

    In spite of all the danger ahead, the simple sight of this bird flying towards the sun filled my heart with hope.

    ¡°Why did my lord do that?¡± Ingrid asked with a look of surprise.

    ¡°Because every bird deserves to be free,¡± I replied. <em>As we will be one day. </em>

    <em>¡°True freedom is never granted,¡±</em> the wind whispered in my ear. <em>¡°It must be won by guile or strength for each day of life.¡±</em>

    Ingrid¡¯s gaze trailed the grackle¡¯s flight until it vanished beyond the capital¡¯s walls. I leaned behind my consort and pulled my arms around her waist. She didn¡¯t resist. ¡°Ingrid¨C¡±

    ¡°Will Astrid survive this trip?¡± she whispered under her breath. Such was her concern that she didn¡¯t bother with double meanings and hidden messages.

    My grip tightened. ¡°I will make sure she does,¡± I promised her. ¡°One way or another.¡±

    ¡°Swear it.¡± Ingrid looked over my shoulders, her eyes wet. She was struggling to hold back tears of fear. ¡°Swear it to me.¡±

    My jaw clenched. If I fulfilled her demand, then Iztacoatl would cruelly do everything in her power to see that I broke my oath. She couldn¡¯t resist the temptation. ¡°Ingrid¡­¡±

    ¡°Swear it.¡± Her trembling hands gripped my arms, her nails sinking into my skin. ¡°I <em>need </em>it.¡±

    Ingrid had already seen one family member in by the Nightlords and unknowingly lost another to them in another way. Astrid was thest of her kin, and the mere prospect of losing her sister terrified my consort.

    Ingrid knew that my promise wouldn¡¯t be worth much beyond the strength of mymitment; but it was better than nothing.

    I didn¡¯t have the strength to deny her wish.

    ¡°I swear,¡± I whispered in her ear, though I knew I would regret it.

    I¡¯d already promised I would do my best to defeat the Nightlords and protect her sister. I couldn¡¯t guarantee Astrid¡¯s safety, no matter how much I wanted to; but I would do my best to make that lie true.

    ¡°Thank you, Iztac.¡± Ingrid epted my promise with a suppressed sob, then wiped the tears forming in her eyes with her finger. ¡°Can I stay with you? For a time?¡±

    ¡°You can stay as long as you wish, Ingrid.¡± I lightly kissed her on the cheek. Her skin tasted of salt and stillborn tears. ¡°I¡¯m here for you.¡±

    Ingrid¡¯s hand held onto my arms, while her head turned to face mine. Unlike Iztacoatl, her lips were as wet as the kiss was clumsy. It tasted of anxiety, weakness, and of a desperate hunger for human warmth. The same kind that animated me.

    We both needed an escape from our fears.

    I began to kiss her neckline, her skin shuddering lightly at the contact of my lips. One of her hands seized my hair while the other traveled down my imperial robes in search of my manhood.

    ¡°Everything will be fine,¡± I promised Ingrid as I lured her to the bed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    We both knew it was a lie, but we wished to believe it nheless.

    I woke up at the crossroads.

    Four doors surrounded me, each of them breathing a pale miasma onto Xibalba¡¯s streets. I ignored them and instead called upon the Doll. Talons of darkness tore out the stones under my feet and dug up at lightning speed.

    I only found dirt.

    The hole that I used to ess Mother¡¯s home a few nights ago had disappeared. The path was closed. I expected as much, but it still frustrated me.

    I moved on to my next n: casting the Ride spell on Mother herself. Although my magic would likely fail to affect her, she would likely detect my attempt to possess her and hopefully investigate. If it somehow worked against the odds, then I would write her a message.

    I carved Mother¡¯s name on my bones and expanded my consciousness upward into the waking world, searching for her mind and soul in a sea of darkness. My spirit searched a trail to its destination. A few paths opened to me, each pointing to a different <em>Ichtaca</em>. I focused on the unbreakable bonds that bound us together; our kinship in blood and sorcery.

    All paths vanished in thick shadows.

    The Ride spell had failed.

    I returned to the Underworld dejected. Mother was either still sleeping or she had somehow protected herself against possession. This n wouldn¡¯t work.

    With few other options left, I used my dark talons to carve out a brief message on the stone warning Mother of the plot against her.

    <em>This is a message from your son: Iztacoatl knows where you are and intends to hunt you down. Run and hide before sunset. I will do my best to dy her.</em>

    On the off chance that Mother visited this spot in her sleep, then she should hopefully panic and realize the danger threatening her.

    <em>So far so good.</em> I faced the nearest fog gate next. <em>I hope I canplete the trial in time. </em>

    I mustered my courage and resolve, then stepped through the mist on my way to the fourth house of Xibalba. Purple vapors coiled and enveloped me, shrouding my sight and overwhelming my mouth with the sick taste of rot. Whatever awaited me, I would beat it. I would win.

    I stepped on ancient dirt under a gray sky. The mist slowly cleared, revealing a small za of overturned stones and crumbling archways. A simple message was crudely carved on the floor in modern Yohuachancan.

    <em>Mine. </em>

    No.

    No, no, no, that was a trick. I had stepped into a house of lies and been deceived. The Lords of Terror overseeing this trial had to embody the fear of jokes and trickery.

    I activated the Gaze spell to pierce through any illusion and found none. I then hastily stepped under the archway to my right, wading through thick fog and fighting the gnawing unease rising inside my heart. My footsteps echoed through the mist and into the crossroads beyond.

    My own message now felt like a cruel taunt.

    At my wits¡¯ end, I immediately shaped four skulls with the Legion spell and imbued them with my power. I then threw them through a different door each.

    All of them rolled back into the crossroads, much to my horror.

    ¡°Are my eyes deceiving me, my predecessors?¡± I asked in disbelief.

    ¡°We fear that they do not,¡± they replied with grim consternation. ¡°The doors are barred.¡±

    The Fourth House was closed to me.

    Half expecting the path to have changed, I quickly shapeshifted into an owl and attempted to fly out of this four-faced open prison. I pped my wings with enough strength to whip up a storm and hardly moved an inch. Xibalba¡¯s magic refused to let me escape this trap.

    ¡°Why?¡± I pondered in disbelief uponnding back on the ground amidst my predecessors¡¯ skulls. ¡°Why can¡¯t I progress?¡±

    The city deigned to answer me. A sinister sound reverberated across its dead gray streets and walls of wicked fog.

    A cruel cackle.

    I finally figured it out.

    Xibalba fed on the fear and nightmares of humanity, including <em>mine</em>. The city denied me entrance to the next house so it could dine on my dread and tension. The path to Mother¡¯s sanctuary would remain closed to me.

    ¡°No¡­¡± I struck the nearest archway with enough strength to crack its stones. ¡°Stop mocking me!¡±

    The cackle only grew louder.

    ¡°Calm down, our sessor,¡± the skulls spoke as one. ¡°We still have time and options.¡±

    ¡°Which ones?¡± I snapped back. ¡°Which <em>ones</em>?!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t focus. Doubt and paranoia overwhelmed me as I examined various possibilities and rejected each of them.

    If I asked the priests where Mother was, not only would Iztacoatl force them into silence, but it would be tantamount to confirming that her capture would indeed help the Nightlords pressure me further.

    Should I ask Ingrid and Necahual to investigate on my behalf? I immediately decided against it. Not only did I doubt that they would discover much now that we¡¯d left the pce and most of our spywork behind, but it would also alert Iztacoatl. She would mark anyone caught helping us for death and Astrid¡¯s head would roll first.

    What other options did I have? Seidr would let me assess Mother¡¯s location, but not contact her. She might hole up in a coffin in the middle of nowhere for all I knew. Should I cast the Augury instead? No, no, what if Iztacoatl used magic to observe me? What if she picked the slightest hint of sorcery?

    If only Mother¡¯s disastrous first impression had convinced my predecessors to leave a skull in her house, then they could have warned her. But no, she couldn¡¯t make things easy for us!

    If only I¡¯d had time¡­ time to n and figure things out¡­

    ¡°Will you let the White Snake¡¯s whispers torment you so easily?¡± the Parliament of Skulls asked sternly. ¡°This is unlike you, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.¡±

    Yes, it was. I hadn¡¯t reacted this way since the Jaguar Woman forced me to choose whom between Sigrun and Necahual would perish. I tried to tell myself that I only felt that way because Mother was my main supporter in the Underworld, but the concern overwhelming me ran deeper. It was <em>instinctual</em>.

    Could part of me possibly <em>care </em>for her safety?

    <em>Now I understand how Eztli and Ingrid felt when they brought their mothers to the altar</em>. It was a disquieting thing to see one¡¯s family threatened with death and worse. <em>Father will never forgive me if I let the Nightlords capture her either.</em>

    What would happen to him and Mother¡¯s other captured souls if anything happened to her? Would Xibalba let them go? Somehow I found it more likely that they would suffer at the Lords of Terror¡¯s cruel whims without protection.

    ¡°What about the Cloak?¡± my predecessors suggested. ¡°If the Ehecatl is the wind that protects, then you may call upon it to shield Lady Ichtaca from iing danger.¡±

    I had little to lose, so I decided to try it out. The Ehecatl answered the call of my Cloak spell in an instant. The praises of my citizens swirled around me in a mighty current stronger than Xibalba¡¯s malicious air.

    ¡°Oh great Ehecatl, can you warn my mother of Iztacoatl¡¯s threat?¡± I pleaded with the wind. ¡°Do so, and I shall bless a hundred souls in need.¡±

    A chorus of voices answered my plea.

    <em>¡°Glory to our emperor!¡±</em> They sang.<em> ¡°Please protect us, oh Godspeaker!¡± ¡°May thou be blessed for bringing the dawn!¡±</em>

    My plea fell on deaf ears, and I quickly understood why.

    The Cloak summoned words of gratitude into a mighty shield of air. Mother harnessed general prayers without a specific target in mind, while I gathered the praise of millions. And therey its weakness.

    The spell only worked one way. It brought the wind to the spellcaster, but wouldn¡¯t allow them to send a message outward. Unless Mother cast the Cloak spell on her own, any word I sent her way would never find its way to her.

    But there was another wind I could call upon. One with malicious intelligence and that would easily blow in this den of nightmares. A force born of curses that kept intruding upon my thoughts without my authorization.

    What did it cost to question it?

    I canceled the Cloak and bit my hand until my burning blood dropped onto Xibalba¡¯s floor. I cast the Augury, dedicating my blood to the darkest of winds.

    ¡°Yaotzin,¡± I whispered. ¡°Should you warn my Mother of the danger that threatens her before sundown and help her avoid it, then I shall reveal to you Yohuachanca¡¯s most sinister secret: the fate of the emperors¡¯ sons.¡±

    A grim gust answered my deration: one that did not banish the miasma-ridden air of Xibalba, but instead fed on it. It swirled around me like a ck whirlpool and answered my offer in my own voice.

    <em>¡°Secrets alone cannot purchase a life,¡± </em>the wind replied.<em> ¡°A greater price you must pay for this service.¡±</em>

    I shuddered in anticipation. A cruel merchant always extracted a heavy toll from desperate souls. ¡°State your terms.¡±

    <em>¡°Thest breaths of a hundred human beings, delivered before the Wind Month¡¯s first dawn.¡±</em>

    The Yaotzin had heard my proposal to the Ehecatl wind and twisted it to its needs.

    I pondered the offer before ncing at my predecessors¡¯ skulls. The previous emperors stayed true to their promise of treating me as an equal by remaining silent as ancient stones. The decision would be mine alone.

    Once upon a time, my first instinct was to refuse the proposal outright, for I had shed enough innocent blood as it was.

    Months of trials and cruelty had beaten that naivety out of me.

    I instead assessed the proposal with the cold rationality of my current situation. I put in the bnce the odds of a hundred souls perishing now against the tragedies that would befall millions if I failed to destroy the Nightlords; an objective that Mother¡¯s support would make easier to achieve.

    I recalled the Jaguar Woman¡¯s ¡®lesson¡¯ back in my pce¡¯s temple: human life had value, but it was up to the emperor to determine it.

    ¡°I refuse.¡±

    My words echoed at the crossroads, followed by a deep inspiration as I carefully chose my next words.

    ¡°That¡¯s not enough,¡± I dered. ¡°I want <em>more </em>for this price.¡±

 Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Old Dead Past

    Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Old Dead Past

    I sealed a pact with the winds of chaos to the triumphant tune of demonic apuse.

    Xibalba¡¯s streets rejoiced over my counteroffer with the soft sound of pping hands echoing in the distance. Whether this ce of nightmares meant to congratte or mock me didn¡¯t matter. I let the sound wash over me like waves on the eternal shore, all of my attention focused on the negotiation at hand.

    ¡°A life never exists alone in the void,¡± I argued with the Yaotzin. ¡°If I take a soul, I prevent the potential birth of hundreds that they could have sired. My mother¡¯s life is precious to me, but I demand more for a price which only an emperor may satisfy. I want another benefit.¡±

    The Yaotzin blew among the dead city¡¯s towers, nketing my feathers with its malice. <em>¡°What do you seek?¡±</em>

    ¡°Power,¡± I replied immediately. ¡°I give you the death of hundreds and ask only for the death of the few in return. I want a spell to y my foes with.¡±

    <em>¡°Your bargaining position is highly dubious,¡± </em>the wind replied coldly. It knew I wouldn¡¯t have called upon it had I any other alternative. <em>¡°You sought our assistance beyond the bounds of the Augury spell, and we agreed to provide it for a price.¡±</em>

    ¡°A price which only <em>I</em> may pay,¡± I retorted. I had dreamed of bing a merchant, and I had haggled many times with gods and demons since I ascended to the obsidian throne. Resistance no longer frightened me. ¡°Now that I know that you can provide the service I asked for, we can negotiate.¡±

    <em>¡°A fair price we asked. A price you will pay.¡±</em>

    ¡°My mother¡¯s life is not enough to satisfy my greed.¡± I was <em>done </em>begging for table scraps. ¡°I demand more.¡±I detected a hint of amusement in the wind¡¯s answer. <em>¡°It is in the nature of man to desire what they cannot have and be found wanting.¡±</em>

    ¡°And it is in your nature to spread chaos and suffering, as is mine,¡± I replied. ¡°You have goaded me on the dark path of the catecolotl, and now I walk it with purpose. I have cursed millions with fire, disease, and devastation. I have reminded the Nightlords what it is to fear death. Have I not fed you well?¡±

    <em>¡°We owe you nothing.¡±</em>

    ¡°I call not upon your gratitude, for I know you feel none,¡± I replied. ¡°I speak to you not as a supplicant, but as a business partner. You asked for much and I could yet offer you more in the future. Support me in my quest, and I might call upon you with more than scraps of secrets to offer.¡±

    The Yaotzin coiled around me like a hurricane around its eye. I sensed its power, its hunger, and below both, its calcting and ancient intelligence. The wind of chaos possessed greater foresight than any man; it had tried to goad me down the path of destruction long before I became emperor. Though it was the enemy of all sides, it was in the Yaotzin¡¯s nature to prosper in times of war; and for my conflict with the Nightlords to escte, I had to grow stronger.

    I sensed a shift in the pressure around me as the Yaotzin considered my proposal. When it spoke up again, it did not address me with cryptic words or taunts meant for children, but a tone full of solemnity.

    <em>¡°Then a bargain is struck,¡±</em> the wind said grimly. <em>¡°We grant youmand over thest breaths of those whose lives you have taken, heavy with despair; and with them, you shall craft the sword of the Slice. Use it however you wish.¡± </em>

    The Yaotzin blew between my fingertips. I heard voices and whispers coiling inside my palms; a chorus of final curses and death wails. The souls whose hopes I¡¯d silenced with Smoke Mountain¡¯s mes and the sting of my murders spat at me, their condemnation fueling a wind beholden to their killer. I let this current guide me and waved my hand at the nearest wall. The cold wind formed a de that sliced through the stone with the depth of an obsidian sword.

    It was true what they said. Words could cut deeper than any de.

    <em>¡°We shall forewarn your witch-mother of the enemy that threatens her, child of the wind, but we offer a warning,¡±</em> the Yaotzin said.<em> ¡°Those who mistreat their ves are bound to one day suffer their wrath. Chaos stings both ways.¡± </em>

    ¡°I know,¡± I replied, though I didn¡¯t care at all. I would bear any reproach sent my way. If othersined about the prices I¡¯d paid, then they should have rebelled against the Nightlords in the first ce and not made these bargains of mine unavoidable.

    Though I remained worried for Mother and Astrid, my heart briefly swelled with pride. I¡¯d bargained with otherworldly forces and for once earned more than what it had asked for. I was gaining true power inch by inch.

    The winds of chaos swiftly reminded me of my tenuous position.

    <em>¡°Remember the price we asked, for we shall suffer no dy and answer betrayal with blood.¡± </em>The Yaotzin¡¯s final warning silenced Xibalba¡¯s apuse, the wind¡¯s whispers now cold and threatening. <em>¡°We shall meet again in the depths of faithlessness.¡±</em>

    I answered the threat with silence and waited until the winds of chaos no longer blew. I next turned to my predecessors¡¯ skull medium. The past emperors offered neither reassurance nor condemnation.

    I would have to live with the consequences of my own decision.

    With little else to do in Xibalba and the city keeping its doors closed to me¡ªa state of affairs that would likelyst until my uncertainty over Mother¡¯s fate ended¡ªI forced myself awake and returned to the world above.

    Ingrid rested in my arms, her eyes wide open. She didn¡¯t find sleep.

    I couldn¡¯t me her. Beneath her wits and confident exterior, Ingrid remained a young woman who had seen far too much for her young age. She didn¡¯t wield magic that could offer her a measure offort, nor spirit her sister Astrid away from Iztacoatl¡¯s grasp. She was a ything dancing in the palm of greater forces.

    ¡°Everything will be fine, Ingrid,¡± I whispered in her ear. The wisest part of myself didn¡¯t truly believe it¡ªthe Nightlords¡¯ cruelties had cured me of this naivety¡ªbut part of me wanted to make it true nheless. ¡°Your sister will enjoy a nice trip across the empire and return home safely.¡±

    I¡¯d promised a hundred souls for the mere <em>hope </em>of shielding my mother from iing danger. At this point, I would likely y ten times that number if it meant keeping Astrid safe.

    When Ingrid turned to look at me, I could tell that my words had failed to reach her. ¡°My lord is kind, but our true home lies far beyond the sea.¡±

    Of course she didn¡¯t consider that prison of a pce any more of a home than I did.

    ¡°Do you wish to see Wind one day?¡± I asked while stroking her hair. ¡°See the snow?¡±

    She stared back at her pillow, though I¡¯d caught a flicker of hope in her eyes. ¡°It is a foolish dream.¡±

    ¡°Not for an emperor,¡± I insisted. I couldn¡¯t promise her to send her there¡ªthe Nightlords would never allow it¡ªbut I might be able to bring Wind to her. ¡°I could build a new one for you.¡±

    My bold promation caused Ingrid to stare at me in genuine confusion. ¡°A new Wind, my lord?¡±

    ¡°Say the word, Ingrid, and I will have servants fetch enough snow from the mountaintops to cover the garden,¡± I dered. ¡°I will have workers dig ake in the courtyard, raise an ind in its midst, and cover it in snow. I will create a second Wind for your eyes alone.¡±

    Ingrid scoffed, then covered her mouth to suppress herughter at my entric proposal. I took it as a good sign. ¡°It would be quite the expensive and logistical ordeal,¡± she pointed out. ¡°Snow melts, my lord.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard?¡± I teased her. ¡°There is no problem that enough manpower cannot solve. If my runners can send a message across the empire in a day¡¯s time, then they can bring you snow before it melts.¡±

    It would be a foolish and extravagant waste of resources, the kind of whim worthy of a mad emperor. To create a snow ind that would melt at the first rays of dawn wouldn¡¯t help me defeat the Nightlords.

    But for a moment, such an ind would allow Ingrid to dream of a better future: a tomorrow where she could see snow elsewhere than on pce tapestries, where she could visitnds beyond the reach of our jailers, and where her sister could grow without an executioner¡¯s axe hanging above her head.

    Ingrid shifted ces in the bed and leaned against my chest, her hand caressing me in a way that sent jolts down my navel. ¡°My lord is promising me much.¡±

    ¡°There is nothing beyond my power,¡± I replied. <em>Not even your sister¡¯s safety.</em> ¡°Especially not your happiness, Ingrid.¡±

    ¡°My lord is very kind, as always.¡± Ingrid hesitated an instant, then lightly kissed me on the lips. Her touch was clumsier than usual and rife with tension, but sincere nheless. ¡°I count myself lucky to have been blessed with such a good man for a husband.¡±

    My heart pounded in my chest as I held her. The same gentle warmth that I felt in Nl¡¯s presence and that of Eztli coursed through my body. A deep and profound affection that let me forget my troubles for a brief instant.

    <em>Brief</em> being the keyword here.

    Tenoch soon entered the bedroom and bowed before my bed. ¡°We have reached your hometown, Master,¡± she informed me. ¡°I was told that the goddess Iztacoatl herself left a gift for you at the site.¡±

    As usual, the Nightlords¡¯ schemes never failed to find a way to spoil my mood. Funny how the mere promise of a gift from them made me fear the worst.

    Tenoch dressed me and Ingrid just in time for our convoy to reach Acampa. I stood by the balcony alongside my consorts and concubines¡ªsave for Eztli, who still had to hide from the daylight¡ªto witness a wastnd of ashes and debris under the midday sun.

    Little more than sted ruins remained of my hometown and its surrounding region. The eruption had ravaged the forests and fields near my home, snapping pines like twigs and burning everything until only ashes covered thend. A desert of dust nketed the world, as it did in its beginning. I saw ck soot everywhere I looked where grass used to be. The few houses that remained had their roofs sted off, their crooked walls standing amidst the eerie silence. No one spoke; no one had survived. Even the river where Eztli and I used to y had dried up, its bed devoid of water.

    How many souls used to live in Acampa¡¯s region at its height? Three-hundred? How many of them had managed to escape the region before the mes and quakes consumed them?

    <em>¡°Behold the wastnd that you have created,¡±</em> the wind taunted me. <em>¡°A grave fit for burned men.¡±</em>

    ¡°What a dreadful sight,¡± Nlmented with a horrified expression. She nced at me in concern. ¡°I am so sorry, Iztac.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Nl,¡± I replied with a shrug. Harsh as it sounded, the sight of this sted vige gave me a measure of peace amidst the mncholia. ¡°I expected such destion.¡±

    Myposure cracked when I finally caught sight of Iztacoatl¡¯s<em> ¡®gift.¡¯ </em>

    In spite of this disaster¡¯s magnitude, a single building appeared untouched by the chaos: the very house in which Necahual and Guatemoc once weed me. This was a mere illusion: familiar cracks in the dry mud walls were missing and the fence looked better than before Smoke Mountain¡¯s rage came crashing down.

    The very sight of this cursed ce unsettled my mother-inw and caused my lips to twist in annoyance. There was no way the house miraculously survived the eruption. Iztacoatl must have ordered it rebuilt to better taunt me.

    ¡°Was this your home, my lord?¡± Ingrid guessed, her arm coiled around mine to support me.

    ¡°It was my <em>house</em>, once,¡± I replied with a scowl. I¡¯d lost my true home alongside my father.

    ¡°Our Lord Emperor lived in a shack,¡± Chikalmented. ¡°Good. There is greater nobility in rising from nothing than being born into wealth.¡±

    There was no nobility in being Yohuachanca¡¯s emperor at all, but I knew Chikal was only ying along. Unwilling to let Iztacoatl rattle me so easily without retaliating, I ordered the longneck to stop near the vige.

    ¡°Necahual,e with me,¡± I ordered. ¡°The goddess wishes us to say goodbye to our old lives, and we shall indulge her.¡±

    ¡°As Your Majesty wishes,¡± Necahual replied with an utterck of enthusiasm.

    <em>¡°She does not mourn the old days,¡± </em>the wind whispered in my ears. <em>¡°Though the cold nights ahead are no better.¡±</em>

    I snorted. She only regretted these times because she had Eztli for herself and power over me. I didn¡¯t miss them in the slightest.

    I climbed down from my longneck alongside Necahual and Itzili the Younger, who growled at the house. I patted him on his feathered head and gave him free rein to hunt down any of Iztacoatl¡¯s snakes, should he find any.

    ¡°Wee to the ruins of your former life, Your Divine Majesty,¡± Tayatzin weed me on the ground below with a deep bow. He had seen my agitation and sought to reassure me. ¡°Pay no mind to these embers of mortality. You are a god incarnate now, and the earth shudders in your presence.¡±

    ¡°Who ordered this ce rebuilt?¡± I asked Tayatzin with a cold dead voice as we inspected the area.

    ¡°Lady Iztacoalt,¡± he replied, confirming my suspicions. I¡¯d expected another one of her cruel jokes. ¡°An emperor¡¯s old house should stand on stronger foundations than those of peasants.¡±

    ¡°She is right, of course,¡± I said without meaning any of it. <em>She will pay for this.</em> ¡°Were there any survivors?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid your hometown of Acampa was entirely wiped out,¡± Tayatzin confirmed. ¡°However, a few of your ssmates at the region¡¯s school managed to evacuate in time, alongside their families.¡±

    ssmates?

    The word only brought back troubled memories: the smell of trash down the sanitary pit, the sensation of my fingers wing at walls of dung, the mocking, the shunning, and the beatings. A well of buried scorn swelled to the surface of my soul and overwhelmed it with filth. I thought I had left these memories in the dust, but the past always found a way to cling to me.

    Nheless, this turn of events provided a grim opportunity for me to seize. Wicked souls shouldn¡¯t survive cataclysms that ughtered the innocent.

    I briefly nced at the longneck holding my roaming pce and consorts. Nl, Ingrid, and the others were luckily too far away to hear what I was about to say. I would at least spare them an awful truth today, at least until Iztacoatl inevitably revealed it to them.

    ¡°How is the school?¡± I questioned Tayatzin.

    ¡°Damaged, but the facilities can be repurposed.¡±

    ¡°Gather my former ssmates at the school¡¯s ruins.¡± I marked a short pause as a small part of me still hesitated, only to be swept away by the unrelenting tide of pragmatism. ¡°And bring ropes.¡±

    Necahual flinched at my side, her eyes wide open with horror. Tayatzin didn¡¯t show half of her moral qualms, but he clearly guessed what I had in mind.

    ¡°<em>All</em> of them, Your Majesty?¡± he asked me.

    ¡°At least a hundred,¡± I replied off-handedly. ¡°If you can¡¯t make the count, grab refugees that would be a burden to the state. The old, the criminals, the useless ones who have no ce in our empire of faith.¡±

    ¡°We shall gather them within the hour, Your Majesty.¡±

    I deigned to dignify his answer with a nod, then stepped towards Guatemoc¡¯s house and pushed open the small wooden door. Necahual meekly followed me closely without a word while Itzili began to patrol the area around the house to ensure no one would listen in on us.

    The insides of her home hadn¡¯t changed in the slightest; the maize-woven mattresses used by the familyy in a dark room right next to a small central room and its hearth. A near-perfect recreation of Necahual¡¯s herb reserve stood along a wall. Either the red-eyed priests recorded the position of every object in the house when they came to capture the family on Yoloxochitl¡¯s orders, or Iztacoatl used magic to obtain this information.

    This ce and its associated memories filled me with quiet fury. I should have been beyond this by now, but it was stronger than me. This house reminded me of my greatest fear.

    <em>Powerlessness</em>.

    Frustrating memories assaulted me the moment I nced at Necahual. I recalled the kiss of the stones she threw at my face, the sensation of her hand on my cheek, the noise of Guatemoc drinking pulque as he had me work his fields. I wanted to burn this house like I did the beasts of Xibalba.

    My eyes lingered on the herbs first. I immediately recognized some of the pots that Eztli switched around. Did Iztacoatl put them there as a joke of some kind?

    ¡°What are those for?¡± I asked Necahual. ¡°I remember seeing them on your shelves.¡±

    My concubine scowled and looked away. ¡°Contraceptives.¡±

    I thought I¡¯d misheard for a second. The word hit me like a wave and left me shaken in disbelief. I blinked at Necahual as my mind struggled to ept what my ears had just heard.

    Contraceptives?

    <em>Necahual¡¯s </em>contraceptives?

    <em>There has to be a mistake.</em><em>She wouldn¡¯t have dared, </em>my heart insisted, though my head knew otherwise. The old Eztli wouldn¡¯t have sunk so low, but the new one¡¯s vampiric nature stripped her of shame and much of her human empathy. <em>She can¡¯t do this to me. To her own mother. </em>

    But then doubt began to gnaw at me. I recalled how Eztli once tried to dissuade me from practicing Seidr with Ingrid, and subtly encouraged me to get intimate with Necahual. I saw all the tiny hints that I¡¯d blinded myself to behind a veil of nostalgia.

    I knew Eztli was on our side. She supported me in our secret war and did her best to protect us both, but her deception filled me with a deep nausea and lurched my stomach. My oldest friend¡ªor rather, her shadow¡ªhad betrayed me and her own mother in the most deplorable way possible.

    <em>Why would she even think this was a good idea? </em>Bearing my children was Necahual¡¯s worst fear, and the thought of my child bing either a vampire or breeding stock sickened me to my core.<em> Did she think in her undead madness that a child would bring us closer together? </em>

    My fists clenched at the betrayal. Eztli was <em>sick</em>. Evil had infected her since the night I saw her kill her own father, but it was only now that I fully fathomed how deep the vampiric curse corrupted her. Yoloxochitl sucked out her soul alongside her blood.

    I sensed the weight of Necahual¡¯s gaze on me. I opened my mouth to gasp for air, suppressing the sickness overtaking me. Though I couldn¡¯t hold my tongue, I retained the presence of mind to stay vague in case Iztacoatl could somehow listen in on us. I opened the bottles and pretended to check their contents.

    ¡°Someone sabotaged yours,¡± I said without exining how I reached this conclusion. I hoped that Necahual could fill in the nks on her own, and I didn¡¯t have the heart to mention Eztli.

    As it turned out, I didn¡¯t need to.

    ¡°My daughter,¡± Necahual replied with a grim look. ¡°She switches them while I sleep.¡±

    My eyes widened in shock and horror. ¡°You <em>knew</em>?¡±

    Necahual sneered at me. ¡°You thought it would change anything if I didn¡¯t?¡± she asked me. ¡°After all they¡¯ve done to us, you think <em>they </em>would let me have control of my own body? That they would let me keep those herbs if they did anything?¡±

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the vition.

    I froze in ce. ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    ¡°The cooks put enough fertility herbs in our food to quicken any barren womb,¡± Necahual replied in disgust at my ignorance. ¡°Eztli hasn¡¯t noticed because she doesn¡¯t eat with us, but I recognized the taste instantly.¡±

    ¡°Then your contraceptives¨C¡±

    ¡°Gave me hope.¡± Necahual crossed her arms and stared down at the ground in defeat. ¡°Little else.¡±

    Her words sank in my mind, and for a brief instant I feltpassion for her. Neither of us had any choice in the matter. Necahual¡¯s guess was likely correct, as much as it disgusted me. The Nightlords would never allow concubines ess to effective contraceptives when their only purpose was to give birth to new generations of vampires.

    They never gave us a choice.

    But though it might not have changed anything, I still couldn¡¯te to terms with Eztli¡¯s actions. They shed so much with the memory of the sweet girl she used to be that I simply couldn¡¯t reconcile the two.

    Necahual looked away in shame and regret. ¡°All my daughter wanted was a simple life,¡± she whispered. ¡°Find a husband, run her own household, and raise a family of her own. First with Chimalli, then you. I denied her that gift.¡±

    ¡°You did not,¡± I replied, though Necahual silenced me with a re. We both knew that Yoloxochitl wouldn¡¯t have given her a thought had she not spent my childhood throwing stones at me.

    ¡°My daughter can¡¯t have any of that anymore, so she hopes to experience it through me,¡± Necahual muttered under her breath. ¡°Use me as a surrogate for the child she wanted to have herself.¡±

    I struggled against nausea. ¡°That is sick.¡±

    ¡°My daughter <em>is </em>sick.¡± Necahual squinted at me. ¡°You haven¡¯t noticed.¡±

    ¡°Noticed what?¡±

    ¡°My daughter¡¯s flowers.¡± Necahual clenched her jaw. ¡°I¡¯ve seen her water them with her blood.¡±

    My heart skipped a beat as I recalled Yoloxochitl¡¯s garden. Pieces fell into ce and recontextualized past events to form a horrifying picture.

    The signs became clear to me. Eztli¡¯s sudden obsession with forcing a child on Necahual; the way she treated her handmaiden Atziri; and her decreasing humanity.

    Taking on the role of the First Emperor allowed him to speak through my mouth. So great was the ult weight of the Nightlords¡¯ rituals that it allowed Eztli to stand in her vampiric sire¡¯s ce. To embody her.

    To <em>be </em>her.

    Eztli, my oldest friend and the love of my life, was slowly transforming into the very thing that robbed her of her life. Taking on traits from thete Yoloxochitl and growing to fit her role.

    And for now, I was powerless to stop her change.

    My hands began to shake on their own. I stared at my trembling fingers in disbelief and tried to clench my fists to stop them, to no avail. My breath grew short and weak.

    <em>How long has this been going on?</em><em>Since the moment Yoloxochitl perished? After the First Emperor¡¯s promation? Before? </em>I tried to recall every little hint that could inform me when Eztli began to change, everyment that could enlighten me, but I failed to pinpoint an exact start. <em>How long until she bes Yoloxochitl reborn? </em>

    Eztli was slipping into darkness before my eyes. I hadn¡¯t even noticed, and even after doing so I still couldn¡¯t protect her from herself.

    My pact with the Yaotzin didn¡¯t fully reassure me either. Warning Mother of iing danger wasn¡¯t a promise of ensuring her safety. I couldn¡¯t rule out the possibility that Iztacoatl prepared countermeasures to capture her; and even if she failed to catch Mother, she would likely interrogate me tonight.

    Not to mention whatever she had nned for Astrid. My gut told me it would end in tears.

    <em>This is too much. </em>I hit the nearest wall so hard it scratched my knuckles. <em>I can¡¯t deal with this right now. </em>

    ¡°She knew,¡± I whispered under my breath, my heart seized with horror. ¡°She <em>knew</em>.¡±

    ¡°Whom?¡± Necahual asked with a frown.

    ¡°Iztacoatl, who else?¡± I snapped at her, my teeth grinding against each other. ¡°She knew about Eztli. She had to.¡±

    Was she truly blind to my spywork, or did she expect Ezti to spill the beans when she was gone far enough? Was that part of her n? Did Eztli know something about what the Nightlord had nned for Astrid? Did she already betray us? <em>Would </em>she betray us?

    The more I thought about it, the more anxious I became. I held my head with my hand as I furiously tried to figure out how to handle Eztli. She already knew too much, and if she said the wrong thing to Iztacoatl...

    ¡°Can¡¯t trust her anymore,¡± I mumbled under my breath, my mind a storm through which I couldn¡¯t see any ray of light. ¡°Can¡¯t. Too risky, too dangerous¡­¡±

    ¡°Iztac,¡± Necahual whispered in concern. ¡°Iztac?¡±

    I was too far gone to listen. ¡°Is this all part of her n?¡± I muttered to myself as I attempted to figure out how far the snake¡¯s reach extended. ¡°Mother might have been a smokescreen, a trick¡­¡±

    Necahual studied my clenched fists for a moment, pondered how to proceed, and then said the one thing I never wanted to hear.

    ¡°Brings back memories, <em>cursed child</em>?¡±

    My blood ran cold. She might as well have pped me out of my confused state.

    ¡°What did you say?¡± I asked with a venomous re, my panic reced with rising anger.

    ¡°I asked if this ce refreshed your memories, <em>cursed child</em>,¡± she replied while stressing thest two words. ¡°You are still the same weakling as you were back then, cowering at the first sign of trouble.¡± Then she spat on the ground. ¡°My daughter deserves better than you.¡±

    I pped her before I realized it. She didn¡¯t flinch, though my hand left a scarlet mark on her cheek.

    ¡°Do you like this caress of mine?¡± I replied with anger, my hand grabbing her hair and pulling her closer. ¡°Do you want to feel it again?¡±

    Necahual sneered at me. ¡°As if you could make me feel <em>anything</em>.¡±

    I briefly thought that the sight of this cursed house awakened Necahual¡¯s worst instincts, until I saw the steely resolve in her eyes. The truth suddenly dawned on me.

    My mother-inw was smart. She had seen my agitation today and she knew that Astrid¡¯s presence meant nothing good for this expedition. She was trying to break me out of my dark mood the same way she managed to after Lady Sigrun¡¯s death: through anger and control.

    She offered herself to me so I could regain a measure of power. She gave me a visceral way to exorcize my troubled memories in the very ce that birthed them, to give me back my confidence by offering herself as a sacrifice.

    And as sick as it sounded, I needed it. She soothed my wounded pride and reminded me that I held the power of life and death over others. That I could hurt her as much as I wished.

    ¡°Something has been bothering me for a while,¡± I retorted with a malicious smirk. ¡°Guatemoc needed a son to help him take care of the farm, but you never gave him one.¡±

    Necahual¡¯s eyes widened in genuine, unbridled anger.

    ¡°Yet you fear bearing my child, so it can¡¯t have been infertility.¡± My hand brushed against the shelves of medicinal nts. ¡°Though he raised a daughter that he knew might not have been his own, you used these herbs whenever he took you to bed, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    I guessed correctly. Her guilt was written all over her face.

    ¡°You say you loved Guatemoc, but your actions say otherwise,¡± I taunted her. ¡°He was just a ceholder. A constion prize meant to take care of you until my father finally set my mother aside and took you for a bride.¡± I studied Necahual head to toe, my gaze lingering on her slim waist. ¡°You couldn¡¯t bear the thought of raising a drunk¡¯s son.¡±

    Necahual pped me on my left cheek with all of her strength, the noise of her hand hitting my skin echoed through the house like the sound of a whip. I didn¡¯t flinch.

    ¡°The funny part is, my father didn¡¯t dislike you,¡± I chuckled in dark satisfaction. ¡°He never held a secret grudge that caused him to deny your affections. He simply never noticed them. You never registered as a partner in the book of his mind.¡±

    She tried to p me on the other cheek. I caught her arm in midair, the same way I did when she tried that in the gardens weeks ago. I pulled her close to me, my other arm wrapping around her waist.

    ¡°But don¡¯t worry,¡± I said as my lips closed on her own. ¡°You¡¯ll forget both men by the time you¡¯re done screaming my name.¡±

    I nted a ferocious kiss on her, my tongue forcing its way past her teeth. Necahual hit me on the chest to push me back, but I held her by the waist and mmed her against the nearest wall with such force that the medicinal herbs nearby fell to the ground. She moaned in pleasure as I began to kiss my way down her neck. My hands fondled her thighs and worked their way under her dress¡­

    ¡°No,¡± she suddenly whispered in my ear.

    I abruptly stopped. Had I gone too far? ¡°No?¡±

    Necahual met my gaze, then nced at the cotton bed in the other room.

    The one she used to share with Guatemoc.

    A thrill of pleasure and arousal coursed through me, barely held back by my sheer disbelief at her boldness. ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Are you so craven?¡± Necahual pushed me back and then began to undo her sash. ¡°You were right about one thing. I deserved better.¡±

    <strong>¡ª NSFW Scene starts ¡ª</strong>

    Her robes dropped to the floor with a soft thump, her lustrous body wearing only a ne and a sheet of sweat. My clothes soon followed. Necahual soony on the marital bed with her back pressed against the cotton, her legs spread apart and inviting me to im her.

    ¡°You dreamed of this, didn¡¯t you?¡± she taunted me as her hand went to knead at her breast.

    I blushed. The truth was, she was right. Dark dreams often visited me in the nights after she abused me during my adolescence where I would rape and beat her as revenge for past humiliations. I never expected that they woulde true one day.

    Satisfied with my awkward response, Necahual dared me to go further. She turned to crawl on her knees and hands, her back turned on me.

    ¡°Come, coward,¡± she said as she beckoned me. ¡°Make me forget my husband, if you can.¡±

    A rush of arousal took me over and I soon crawled over her. My cock was so hard I didn¡¯t even need preliminaries.

    A memory of Guatemoc briefly crossed my mind when my hands gripped Necahual¡¯s hips. Making love to his widow in his own bed felt like the ultimate insult, but I felt no guilt. Quite the contrary. The transgressive nature of this y filled me with overwhelming desire. The thought of pulling back never even crossed my mind.

    Necahual moaned my name as I filled her and pried her open. Each inch of progress sent jolts through me, and a pulse thrummed between my legs. An overwhelming feeling of conquest erased my lingering doubts. One stroke caused our hips to finally meet. She was wetter than a swamp and softer than cotton.

    I had never taken Necahual from behind. Not like this, with my hands gripping her quivering hips so firmly that they would leave marks. Her own fingers grabbed the cotton bed while I began to pound into her with animalistic fury. She convulsed with each movement, her inner walls sucking me deeper after each thrust.

    ¡°This is better, isn¡¯t it?¡± I grunted, pinning her down. ¡°Better than with Guatemoc.¡±

    ¡°Whom?¡± Necahual groaned in my ear in between moans of pleasure. Somehow, that sounded even better than <em>yes</em>.

    Coupling with Necahual never failed to provide me pleasure, but something was different this time. I could tell in the way my hands roamed over her body and how our conjoined bodies quickly settled into a perfect rhythm. Her knees shuddered when she came for the first time, but it hardly stopped anything. I continued to plunge into her.

    She moaned about how good I made her feel, how Guatemoc neverpared to me, how I was a real man worthy to take her. I couldn¡¯t tell how much of it was lies or words she truly believed in, but it only heightened my passion. My fingers ran through her hair and my lips nipped at her ears.

    ¡°You are home, Iztac,¡± she whispered. ¡°Everything here is yours.¡±

    My heart swelled with confidence with each of my concubine¡¯s whispers. But it wasn¡¯t enough to take her like this.

    I wanted to <em>see </em>her.

    She gasped when I pulled out just long enough to turn her over and pin her on her back. The mere look of the sweat dripping between her strands of hair. She smiled at me, and for a brief instant, she became the most beautiful woman in the world.

    I finally understood Necahual¡¯s deviousness. This house of sorrow had now turned into a victory site. I felt like a warrior returning home after earning glory and wealth. This ce no longer inspired memories of shame and defeat; the present triumph washed away the past.

    <em>It is one way to bury bad memories,</em> I pondered as I spread her legs apart with my hands, <em>under new ones.</em>

    Sinking inside her came easy to me by now, but it was her kiss that drove me wild. Necahual was giving me back the confidence Iztacoatl tried to rob me of and I rewarded her with pleasure. I kissed her, squeezed her breasts, sucked her neck, and kneaded her navel until her eyes and teeth clenched. Her moans grew louder the longer our tryst went on. Her chest bounced against mine.

    My heart threatened to burst in my chest. I was close, and so was she. Thest vestige of my reasons brought me back from the brink. We didn¡¯t need to practice Seidr today¡ªand doing it now might alert Iztacoatl¡ªso an exchange of body fluids was unnecessary.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± I groaned as I sensed the pressure building up. ¡°I¡¯m gonna pull back.¡±

    Her eyes met mine. Countless emotions crossed them in an instant. Fear, most of all. Desire as deep as the sea. Doubtced with excitement. And finally, that strange determination she had shown in her darkest moments.

    ¡°No,¡± Necahual decided.

    I thought my ears had deceived me for a moment, but her legs soon tightened around my waist. They held me weakly at first, her knees shaking, and then tightened further. My pulse pounded in my head as my lust-addled mind struggled to make sense out of her demand.

    Was she asking me¡­ I slowed down in surprise

    ¡°Do it,¡± she confirmed.

    Had she lost her mind? Was that a trick meant to further bolster my confidence? She didn¡¯t need to go that far, and the risk of impregnating her was real. My mind told me it was mere roley, but I found no deceit when I studied her face.

    <em>My gods, she is serious. </em>

    ¡°Why?¡± I could only whisper in disbelief.

    ¡°Because if it is to happen either way¡­ I wish to be <em>my </em>choice.¡± Necahual snorted with pride. ¡°Not <em>hers</em>¡­ not <em>yours</em>.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t tell whether she referred to Eztli or Iztacoatl. It didn¡¯t matter. I could easily break out of her embrace if I pushed hard enough. Spill my seed on her belly and be done with it.

    But I didn¡¯t.

    It was stupid. I knew it all too well. But the rush of euphoria proved too strong. This woman, who had loathed me with all of her heart for years and whose greatest fear quivered between her legs, dared me to cross the final line of our twisted rtionship; to knowingly vite our final taboo.

    I came.

    My vision went white as I unloaded my seed inside Necahual. Gasps and convulsions coursed through our bodies while they joined in a deep union of flesh and soul. I avoided using Seidr, but I had visions of our Teyolias nheless. Our heart-fires had joined together so often that our connection had grown intimately close.

    I saw my me dance with her own in the inferno of our lust and hatred; mine a sun and her a growing fire whose meager strength I had fed one Seidr ritual at a time. They joined together in a bond as old as the Fifth Sun, melding together and separating.

    <strong>¡ª NSFW Scene Ends ¡ª</strong>

    I couldn¡¯t tell when I returned to reality. When I did, I found myself panting and sweating over Necahual. Her eyes widened in shock and surprise. The enormity of what we had just done slowly dawned on us once the waves of pleasures receded.

    Necahual had asked me to impregnate her in herte husband¡¯s bed.

    And I¡¯d obliged. For all I knew, I¡¯d even seeded.

    My mind was still addled with surprise when I pulled out of her. I gathered my breath as I tried to regain myposure,

    ¡°It¡¯s not inevitable,¡± I finally said.

    ¡°It is,¡± Necahual replied softly.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be.¡±

    She looked at me as if I were a na?ve child, which I probably was. I¡¯d made this inevitable the moment I chose her as my favorite and Seidr partner. Necahual needed to y both roles in order to secure her daughter¡¯s freedom and obtain the magical power she craved.

    She was indeed willing to bear any price for both. I admired her resolve.

    ¡°Did you do it for Eztli?¡± I asked her. ¡°To stabilize her?¡±

    ¡°For me,¡± Necahual insisted. ¡°I did it for <em>me</em>. At least this will be on my terms.¡±

    ¡°But¨C¡±

    Necahual silenced me with a re. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of you,¡± she snapped at me. ¡°I know what I signed up for the first time.¡±

    Her mind was set.

    My hands suddenly found themselves roaming Necahual¡¯s belly. My touch startled her, but her fingers didn¡¯t push mine back. An idea wouldn¡¯t leave my mind.

    My own mother-inw. My favorite. Pregnant with my child.

    The thought sounded as absurd as it was terrifying. Any scion of mine was bound to grow into a horrible fate, and siring one on <em>this</em> woman of all people¡­ I waited for a surge of nausea that never came.

    <em>I¡¯m not against it, </em>I realized much to my own surprise. I should have been afraid, but somehow I wasn¡¯t. <em>What¡¯s happening to me?</em>

    ¡°You were right.¡±

    Necahual¡¯s words woke me up from my trance. Her eyes were filled with tears.

    ¡°You were right,¡± she repeated, her eyes darting at the room around us. ¡°I wanted more than this. This¡­¡± She bit her lower lip. ¡°I <em>loathed </em>this life.¡±

    And like me, she tried to forget it today.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t love my husband,¡± Necahual confessed. ¡°I had¡­ <em>affection </em>for him after years of marriage, and he didn¡¯t deserve to die, but¡­¡±

    ¡°But you would have cast him aside for another in a heartbeat,¡± I guessed.

    Necahual nodded slowly. ¡°He didn¡¯t love me either, or else he wouldn¡¯t have forced you on me, or would have stopped drinking when I asked him to.¡± She avoided my gaze. ¡°By the end of our marriage, it sickened me to feel the pulque on his lips. I put draught in his drink so he wouldn¡¯t have the strength to crawl into my bed, and I cleansed myself the one time his seed took hold.¡±

    The confession of her treachery should have sickened me as yet another proof of her rotten heart. Somehow though, I didn¡¯t care all that much. I hade to ept her for what she was.

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Because I thought I deserved better than him.¡± Necahual let out a deep, sorrowful sigh. ¡°I wanted to be your mother. I wanted her man and those powers she had. The things I would have done with them¡­¡±

    ¡°Of my mother and you, you were the better person.¡± Not by much, but still enough to bemended.

    Necahual snorted in disdain. ¡°What good did it do?¡±

    ¡°More than you think.¡± I stroked her hair. ¡°More than you think.¡±

    Necahual was an awful person. A bitter hag who had betrayed her own husband, abused a child who had the misfortune to look like a woman she envied, and brought much of her own misfortune on herself.

    But though it wounded me to admit it, she had shown a few admirable qualities since. She was brave, far more than my own mother, though she had none of her supernatural powers. She possessed a deep sense of loyalty for the handful of people she loved, and a willful ambition great enough to defy the Nightlords themselves. She was willing to bear the child of a man she hated for the sake of saving a daughter who had betrayed her.

    I loathed her as much as I loved her.

    ¡°My daughter is all I want to keep from those times,¡± Necahual said, her hands brushing against my chest. ¡°I want to start anew everywhere else. Forget these years.¡±

    ¡°So do I,¡± I replied. ¡°You gave me everything as I¡¯d asked once, so I will grant your wish. I will give you a new and better life.¡±

    Our rtionship had changed so much, from enemies to difficult lovers; our union was built on loving and hurting one another, but it had grown like an old oak and had be something far more intense than an alliance of convenience. She had be my mistress, confidant and most trusted aplice, for better or worse.

    I kissed her on the lips and sensed her resolve. We¡¯d both decided to move on from our past and begin anew. Our rtionship was far from healthy, but it gave us both strength.

    ¡°I hate you,¡± Necahual whispered once I broke the kiss. ¡°I want you. I hate that I want you.¡±

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    ¡°I will never be your ve,¡± she warned me. ¡°Never.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I replied softly. ¡°But you will be my favorite.¡±

    Somewhere along the way, the lie had be the truth.

    Necahual studied my expression for a moment, then nodded slowly. We both rose up afterward and put on our clothes in a somewhat awkward silence. When I looked at the house around us, I felt none of the rage and frustration from earlier, nor even a hint of nostalgia; just a distant feeling of closure.

    Necahual had freed me from those days in her own way. I¡¯d fully avenged my past humiliations and I was now ready to move on towards the future.

    ¡°Will you truly do it?¡± she asked with some concern in her voice. ¡°The school?¡±

    ¡°I must,¡± I replied firmly. ¡°For my own sake."

    These feelings carried on from my old life¡ªhatred, nostalgia, powerlessness¡ªwere weaknesses. Open wounds that allowed the likes of Iztacoatl to gain an advantage over me and that blinded me to the future. They made me close my eyes on Eztli¡¯s behavior and enved me to my anger.

    I had to expel this frailty from my heart like gangrene. Burn the shackles of my childhood so I could truly fly free, the way Necahual and I exorcized our past demons today.

    Iztacoatl meant for this ce to weaken me with past burdens, but she had given me an opportunity to im my freedom instead.

    ¡°I see,¡± Necahual whispered. She pondered what to do next before holding onto my shoulders. ¡°I wish to witness it, if you will let me.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she conceded, ¡°but I want to.¡±

    I agreed to her demand with a slow nod. Of all the women inhabiting my harem, Necahual was the only one who saw the true me. I didn¡¯t have to hide anything from her.

    We were both equally ugly on the inside.

    We exited the house to find Tayatzin and Itzili waiting for us alongside a trihorn. If my priestly advisor hadn¡¯t guessed what happened between us with a nce, the way Necahual adjusted her messy hair likely confirmed his suspicions.

    ¡°We are ready to proceed, Your Majesty,¡± he informed me while ncing at my concubine. ¡°Shall I have Lady Necahual return to her quarters?¡±

    ¡°She wille too,¡± I replied before climbing onto the trihorn and inviting Necahual to join me. She moved to sit behind my back without sparing Tayatzin a nce. ¡°She knows the way.¡±

    So did I.

    Byw, all Yohuachancan schools were located less than an hour¡¯s walk from any poption center. Outsiderge cities like the capital, these facilities were built to house the children of multiple nearby viges.

    The House of Youth which I attended was no exception and weed hundreds of students at its height. The sted ruins that remained were a ghostly silhouette facing an ashen wastnd. The ce once echoed with the shouts of young men training to be schrs, merchants, and warriors; but now only an eerie silence ruled its crumbling walls. The great stone buildings bore deep cracks and sections of the roof had caved in after the quakes, leaving gaping and ash-filled holes where ssrooms used to be. The air was choked with dust and the lingering smell of sulfur.

    Necahual and I triumphantly rode into the central courtyard with Itzili rushing on foot after us. Red-eyed priests and masked guards had gathered a hundred souls on the broken pavement near the sanitary pits amidst volcanic debris. All of them were men; young students my own age or older warriors who gave us lessons, alongside strangers grabbed from nearby viges. Their hands and feet were bound with ropes, forcing them to kneel in ordered lines.

    They reminded me of a flock of turkeys bound for the ughter.

    I climbed down from my trihorn alongside Necahual and then surveyed the sacrifices. I remembered a few faces well. Students who had thrown me into a sanitary pit in my first weeks in this very school until I wed my way out, beaten me during training, or scorned me. Now they trembled with fear at my feet. A few opened their mouths to plead for my mercy, only for my guards to silence them with punches to the face. Others cowered at the sight of Itzili stalking them with hunger in his eyes.

    I would be lying if I said I didn¡¯t feel a slight sense of malicious glee at their despair, but I mostly struggled to care at all. Their old schoolyard bullying was a pale shadow of the Nightlords¡¯ cruelty and the trials I underwent in Xibalba. I¡¯d gone through far grander ordeals.

    Their lives weighed frighteningly little in my mind.

    <em>¡°They shall spend theirst moments cursing your name,¡±</em> the wind whispered in my ear. <em>¡°Your cruelty shall be renowned among the living and the dead.¡±</em>

    I could live with that. In this harsh world, I would rather be seen as <em>cruel </em>than <em>weak</em>.

    ¡°Kiss the ground before His Imperial Majesty Iztac Ce Ehecatl!¡± one of the red-eyed priests shouted to the crowd. ¡°Emperor of Yohuachanca, Godspeaker, and master of all he sees!¡±

    My men forced the doomed thralls to hit the ground with their foreheads in supplication. I heard cowers, whispers, and quiet prayers. For each man who faced his iing demise with stoicism, ten more shivered and trembled.

    Priests could teach us men the arts of war, but not bravery in the face of death.

    I let the tense silence hang in the air for a moment, with Necahual standing beside me without a word. The sun shone behind me and cast my dark shadow on those closest to me.

    ¡°Thou have once shown me scorn because the gods marked me as special,¡± I said. ¡°You thought me cursed and weak, but here I stand as the savior of the Fifth Sun.¡±

    I extended my hands, hoping that word of my deration would reach Iztacoatl¡¯s ears and inspire fear in her heart.

    ¡°Your faithlessness invited the First Emperor¡¯s wrath upon us,¡± I lied through my teeth. ¡°Though my words spared this world from utter destruction, the heavens will not give us a third chance. My rule shall be one where weakness won¡¯t be tolerated. It is by my hand that your sorry lot, who has dared to disappoint the gods, shall find redemption.¡±

    I snapped my fingers, and a masked guard bound a rope into a hangman¡¯s noose. He moved behind the closest of my former ssmates. I didn¡¯t remember his name, though I recalled his mockingughter when he pushed me into the dung pit well enough. He whimpered at my feet like a coward.

    Did his childish prank warrant execution? Clearly not, but I did not waver. I¡¯d killed better people for far less than my mother¡¯s life.

    That was what it meant to live in my world: growing numb to death, one tragedy at a time.

    ¡°The Gods-in-the-Flesh demand blood, but the Gods-in-Spirit crave a highermodity.¡± I raised my chin, my eyes looking down on the first condemned. ¡°<em>Silence</em>.¡±

    The masked guard coiled the noose around the student¡¯s neck and <em>pulled</em>. His inhuman strength let him lift the victim with one hand until his feet dangled above the ground.

    I watched the scene without a word, listening to the man¡¯s final struggle with coldposure. Necahual seemed quite disturbed, but to her credit she didn¡¯t try to look away. Itzili squealed with animalistic hunger and anticipation.

    The gods made us resilient. It took seconds for the man to pass out from theck of air, but minutes for his body to grow stiff and cold. The masked guard let the corpse hit the ground with a thump, the victim¡¯s final breath escaping his lungs soon after. Though I let Itzili eat his fill of human flesh, the man¡¯s life belonged to the wind.

    The scene repeated time and time again. My soldiers were strong and experienced; they had done this before on behalf of Nightlords and past emperors. They carried out the mass sacrifice in hardly half an hour with ruthless efficiency.

    It wasn¡¯t this quiet massacre that disturbed me the most, or the fact that I ordered it, but the fact that it left me devoid of guilt. My mind was clearer than a cloudless sky. Even the sight of Itzili dining on a corpse failed to affect it.

    If anything, murdering my past brought me a measure of peace. Of detachment.

    <em>¡°The debt is settled for us both,¡±</em> the wind whispered in my ear once I delivered thest sacrifice¡¯s breath. <em>¡°The man is dead and the demon remains.¡±</em>

    The wind was wrong for once. The man I used to be died when I plunged that knife into my heart. Everything afterward had been an overdrawn death rattle.

    ¡°Burn them all,¡± I ordered the priests. ¡°Then throw the ashes to the wind.¡±

    I would carve many names on my bones tonight.

 Chapter Sixty: Burned Bridges

    Chapter Sixty: Burned Bridges

    After ughtering my former ssmates and having their ashes join those left by Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption, I went to visit the rest of the refugees.

    I found it eerie how easily I went from one to the other. I¡¯dmitted a brutal massacre and switched to charity work in a heartbeat without guilt or remorse. My mind was clear and devoid of doubt.

    I¡¯d grown numb to killing my fellow man.

    ¡°By the will of the heavens, Emperor Iztac shall now listen to your grievances!¡± Tayatzin announced to the line of visitors waiting for me to bless them. I counted hundreds of them, from families in tattered clothes to wealthier individuals. ¡°Prostrate yourself in submission, and know his divine wisdom!¡±

    Smoke Mountain had ravaged the region, but my imperial bureaucracy took care of the waves of refugees that resulted from it. They did a pretty good job at it, setting up camps of animal hide tents and wooden shacks to house them. The eruption¡¯s victims carried all their belongings in bags of cloth or wagons filled with salvaged food, housewares, and what little wealth they had left. Turkeys and dogs lingered among my people, all of them desperate for food and shelter.

    My men set up a makeshift audience chamber for me to wee visitors. I sat on a pnquin throne backed up by smaller chairs. Only Nl would advise me today, alongside Necahual; Eztli still hid from the sun, while Ingrid and Chikal attended to other duties. We had received messages rted to our uing war with the Sapa, and I would rather have them review those documents on my behalf.

    Itzili rested at my feet, his hunger satiated on the flesh of my former ssmates, and a bonfire set behind me cast a bright light upon my improvised court. Arge escort of guards and priests ensured that no one could get close enough to me with a weapon. With the uing war with the Sapa and the Nightchildren¡¯s depredations, it didn¡¯t hurt to be on the lookout for disgruntled assassins.

    It felt so strange to see rolling hills rather than walls around us. Birds soared in the clouded sky above my head, while the sun approached the horizon with each passing minute. I only had hours until twilight and the uing operation.

    Yoloxochitl¡¯s garden wouldn¡¯t survive the night, and I hoped that my mother would.¡°Your Majesty won¡¯t have time to hear them all,¡± Necahual noted upon seeing the line. ¡°I suggest distributing torti bread to those who will have waited in vain.¡±

    ¡°You should distribute food to <em>everyone</em>, Iztac,¡± Nl replied with surprising firmness. ¡°These people need all the help they can get.¡±

    Nl had little confidence when it came to herself, and plenty when defending the interests of others. Her unrelenting kindness soothed my heart after this noon¡¯s mass sacrifice.

    ¡°You speak true, Nl: an emperor¡¯s magnanimity should be renowned,¡± I said before waving a hand at Tayatzin. ¡°See that these people receive a portion of our supplies on my consort¡¯s behalf.¡±

    ¡°As Your Majesty demands,¡± Tayatzin replied with a bow, before addressing the crowd. ¡°By the will of Godspeaker Iztac, ruler of the earth, and his beloved consort Lady Nl, all of you shall receive a gift of food and drink as a reward for your faith!¡±

    A chorus of prayers, thanks, and supplications erupted in response. Its power paled whenpared to that of Nl¡¯s smile, however, which filled my heart with warmth.

    <em>¡°If only she knew the fiend beneath the guise of humanity,¡±</em> the wind taunted me. I ignored it.

    We began the audience afterward. Imperial protocol demanded that priests and noblese first, to my distaste. Giving preference to the Nightlords¡¯ servants kept reminding me of my own servitude.

    First came the local high priest, Mahuizoh, who served the Jaguar Woman. That alone did not endear him to me in the slightest, and his demands proved quite the annoyance.

    ¡°Ourmunity¡¯s temple was destroyed in the eruption, and the loss of Lady Yoloxochitl¡¯s priesthood diminished our manpower,¡± he exined while bowing at my feet. ¡°The people have lost their spiritual haven and are now left adrift in a sea of uncertainty. I humbly petition Your Imperial Majesty for a new temple, where our citizens can properly worship the gods.¡±

    The idea of investing resources in a temple dedicated to the Nightlords sounded like an utter waste of time, but Necahual swiftly offered me an amusing alternative.

    ¡°Your Majesty should dedicate it to Lady Yoloxochitl,¡± she said with solemn gravity that hardly hid the thin smile at her lips¡¯ edge. ¡°So the people can pray for her safe return among us.¡±

    I suppressed a chuckle of my own. While the suggestion appeared innocent at first nce, rebuilding a temple dedicated to Yoloxochitl near the site of her death would fiercely annoy Iztacoatl. The fact that Necahual was officially unaware of the truth offered me usible deniability too.

    I was just keeping up appearances about our lost Nightlord¡¯s supposed survival, after all.

    ¡°My favorite speaks true,¡± I dered. ¡°I shall allocate materials andbor for the temple¡¯s facilities, under two conditions: I will dedicate it to the goddess Yoloxochitl first and foremost, so that she may one day bless us again with her presence; and its facilities will offer free lodging to our homeless citizens.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡¯s faith is only matched by their magnanimity,¡± Mahuizoh replied as he prostrated himself. Tayatzin sent me a strange nce, but didn¡¯tment on my decision.

    Next came a council of elders representing localmunities overseen by a local noble, whose entire family had been decimated by the eruption. The ownership of hisnds and remaining possessions remained in question.

    ¡°If thesends have no owners left, then they belong to everyone, Iztac,¡± Nl suggested before quickly catching herself for her overt familiarity. ¡°I mean, Your Majesty¡­ Your Majesty is free to distribute them as he wishes, but I suggest having them divided among the people.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± I replied, much to Nl¡¯s relief. ¡°Our country will benefit more from thirty of our disced citizens gaining a plot ofnd than a single man monopolizing them all. In the absence of a living next of kin, I order this man¡¯s inheritance to be fractioned and distributed evenly to the poorest members of the localmunities.¡±

    This did not seem to entirely please the farmer collective. ¡°Your Imperial Majesty is kind,¡± their representative said with the utmost respect, his eyes set on the ground so he wouldn¡¯t meet my gaze. ¡°But mostnds are covered in ashes and debris. It¡¯ll be <em>years </em>before crops can grow.¡±

    ¡°It will be a blessing in disguise over time,¡± Nl said without thinking, her cheeks turning scarlet when she realized how insensitive it must have sounded to the refugees. ¡°I, uh, I¡¯m not saying that the eruption wasn¡¯t a tragedy, but in the long-term¡­ in the long-term, it will make thend more fertile.¡±

    ¡°The imperial administration will oversee unusable areas until they be cultivable again,¡± I dered. ¡°Those that are still fertile will be distributed immediately, and ourte lord¡¯s belongings sold off so that his peasants may each earn a marypensation.¡±

    The farmers thanked me for the gifts and wisdom, then left. Next came a group of wealthier locals who had caught a man stealing two maize bushels this morning. Though he admitted to the crime, the thief argued that he did it to feed his two children, having lost his livestock in the eruption.

    ¡°I sympathize with the reasons behind your crime, but it cannot remain unpunished,¡± I said. Allowing refugees to steal from one another without consequences would encourage rampant robbery. ¡°I shall show you mercy and give you an opportunity to redeem yourself. You shall be conscripted into my army as a porter until your debt is repaid.¡±

    I would have likely spared that man early on in my reign to foster chaos among the people, but I¡¯d since switched my strategy to portraying an image of divine foresight and infallibility; a facade that would strengthen my sorcerous power in due time.

    <em>¡°This man will die all the same,¡± </em>the wind taunted me. <em>¡°His blood will stain the battlefield rather than the gallows.¡±</em>

    A kinder death than the one I¡¯d given to so many already.

    Next came a mother of two called Xochitl. I could immediately tell that this case would prove difficult. She held a sickly-looking babe in her arm and guided a child of three by the hand; a boy who clearly hadn¡¯t eaten his fair share of foodtely. She stared at me with abject fear and intimidation.

    ¡°Prostrate yourself before the emperor!¡± one of my priestly escorts ordered, much to me and my advisors¡¯ annoyance. How could this woman be expected to kneel while holding a babe against her bosom?

    ¡°Then you shall help her,¡± I said sharply. The priest recoiled at my reproach, and a re from Tayatzin encouraged him to behave. Xochitl was clearly reluctant to let go of the babe, but she eventually surrendered it to my men and knelt alongside her older son.

    Necahual, whose gaze had been lingering on the baby for a while, ordered it brought to her. Her expression darkened the moment she took a closer look at it.

    ¡°This boy is sick,¡± Necahual whispered with a grim expression. ¡°He needs food and immediate medical attention, or else he will die within days.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty, I¡­¡± Xochitl rubbed her forehead against the dirt, tears falling from her eyes onto the earth below. ¡°I came begging for the lives of my children. I do not produce enough milk to feed my Teiuc, nor do I have food to give to his elder brother.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s awful,¡± Nl replied, her cheeks pale as chalk. ¡°Can you save the baby, Lady Necahual?¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± my favorite replied. I could tell that it would be a long shot from her uncertain tone.

    ¡°I have faith in your abilities,¡± I encouraged her before setting my gaze on Xochitl herself. ¡°Children are the seeds of the future. I shall have my dear Necahual, my favorite and personal physician, tend to your youngest son and have his brother taken care of.¡±

    I expected more tears of joy and kind words from that woman, and received shivers and whimpers in response. My nails sank into my throne¡¯s armrests. This reaction didn¡¯t bode well.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡± She gulped in fear of speaking up and then mustered her courage. ¡°When¡­ When will my husband return? My brother Zolin was in by the bats for his faithlessness, but my husband¡­¡± Her voice died in her throat. ¡°chinolli¡­ he always prayed on time¡­¡±

    I frowned at her in confusion, before the truth hit me. I exchanged a nce with Tayatzin, who confirmed my guess with a small movement of his chin.

    My guards had strangled that woman¡¯s husband to death a few hours ago.

    Though Necahual guessed the truth on her own, Nl¡¯s gaze wandered from that woman to me in confusion. I knew the news would inevitably spread sooner orter, but I couldn¡¯t suppress a pang of guilt.

    <em>No, not guilt,</em> I realized. <em>Fear</em>.

    It wasn¡¯t my crime¡¯s discovery that I dreaded, but Nl¡¯s judgment and reaction. She had been my kindest friend and confidant, choosing to see the good in me rather than the growing darkness I carried in my heart. I¡¯d done my best to preserve her innocence and avoid staining her hands with my dirty deeds. The idea of losing her respect and adoration bothered me more thanmitting the crimes themselves.

    <em>I can¡¯t lie to her forever.</em> Nl said she wished to see the true me.<em> I might as well show it to her now. Better she learn the truth from me than Iztacoatl, who will twist it. </em>

    I gestured at Tayatzin toe closer, then whispered in his ear. ¡°Why was this chinolli on the list?¡±

    ¡°Your Imperial Majesty asked me to gather burdens to the state,¡± Tayatzin reminded me. ¡°That woman¡¯s husband suffered grievous wounds in the eruption and could no longer work. He wouldn¡¯t have been able to feed his family, nor provide usefulbor.¡±

    <em>But he could still offer his shoulder to his crying wife and guidance to his sons. </em>My heart sank in my chest when I stared at the two boys, whose father would never see them grow up. <em>I took one of their parents away to save one of mine. </em>

    The weight of Nl¡¯s horrified gaze soon became unbearable. She had overheard Tayatzin¡¯s words, and she was smart enough to guess that something terrible happened to chinolli.

    <em>¡°Your sins are yours to bear,¡±</em> the wind warned me. <em>¡°You will choose how to carry that weight.¡±</em>

    I¡¯d promised I would own up to my crimes, and I shall honor that promise.

    ¡°I cannot return your husband nor brother,¡± I dered as solemnly as I could. ¡°Both belong to the gods now.¡±

    Xochitl remained quiet for a brief second, then began to sob. A floodgate of tears opened all of a sudden and stained the earth with its salty waters.

    While my heart had been unclouded before, the skies of my soul now darkened. The consequences of my choice cried at my feet. It had been so easy for me to take so many lives, and it would be so hard to make up for it.

    Nl didn¡¯t speak a word. She stared at me in disbelief, her voice dead in her throat. Her heart struggled to reconcile her good image of me with reality. I sensed I had lost something irreceable today.

    That ship had sailed.

    ¡°Know that chinolli perished to save your brother¡¯s soul from the damnation his sins condemned him to, alongside many others,¡± I lied through my teeth. I had opened this woman¡¯s wounds, and while I couldn¡¯t close them, I might at least soften the pain. ¡°Both shall now rest in M with the Gods-in-Spirit, where they shall feast until the Fifth Sunes to an end.¡±

    I expected my words to fall on deaf ears, but they did lessen the flow of Xochitl¡¯s tears. I was the Godspeaker, who had carried the First Emperor¡¯s words to the untold masses of our capital. She saw the prophet in me, and mistook my lies for divine truth.

    ¡°The gods forgave Zolin?¡± she asked, no, <em>pleaded</em>.

    ¡°They did. His ashes will be returned to you in time.¡± Once we found the Nightchild he had no doubt be. ¡°Carry this pride with you and see that your sons inherit it. I shall honor your husband¡¯s sacrifice by ensuring that you never want for anything.¡±

    My lie and promises soothed Xochitl¡¯s heart a little, enough that she wiped away most of her tears. I had Necahual and a handful of priests take her and her sons to receive both food and medical attention. Nl remained with me, her hands bound in silence, her expression forlorn.

    I sighed and decided to cut this farce short. ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of these audiences, and the sun shall set soon,¡± I told Tayatzin. ¡°I shall now return to my quarters to rest.¡±

    Tayatzin offered me a deep reverence. ¡°Would Your Majesty allow me to present one final petitioner first?¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. Tayatzin rarely insisted on such things. ¡°Whom?¡±

    ¡°As you may expect, many of our citizens know that they owe our world¡¯s survival to Your Divine Majesty¡¯s bravery and wisdom.¡± To his credit, Tayatzin appeared to at least believe part of this propaganda. My many miracles had made a believer out of him. ¡°Enough that they would offer their wives and daughters to join your harem.¡±

    I scowled in disgust, but Tayatzin hurriedly finished saying his piece before I could shoot the idea down. ¡°Knowing your tastes, I denied most of their requests, but I believe that one candidate warrants your personal appreciation. She ims to have known you in your mortal life.¡±

    This caught my attention; enough that I allowed the audience to proceed.

    My guards soon introduced a brown-haired girl of sixteen to me. She was pretty in amon sort of way, but nothingpared to the beauties that popted my harem. Her face seemed familiar to me, though it took me a while to remember her.

    ¡°Ciceptl?¡± I blinked in genuine surprise. ¡°You are alive?¡±

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°I am, Your Majesty Iztac, though only by the skin of my teeth,¡± the young woman replied with an awkward bow and a shy smile. ¡°I am pleased that you remember me and to hear that Lady Necahual is safe and sound. I owe her very much for saving my life all those years ago.¡±

    <em>¡°You whispered her fianc¨¦¡¯s name to us once,¡±</em> the wind whispered in my ear, <em>¡°and you gave us his breath.¡±</em>

    Cipetl was the fianc¨¦ of Chimalpopoca, a ssmate whose sexual indiscretions I¡¯d shared with the Yaotzin when I first used the Augury. He had been one of the hundred souls sacrificed to the wind today. Although she lived in a vige away from Acampa, Necahual once cured her of a strong fever in her childhood.

    Did Cipetle to inquire about Chimalpopoca¡¯s fate? She did look quite anxious, biting her lips and keeping her hands joined to hide her unease.

    ¡°It has been many moons since west met, Cipetl,¡± I said with the full solemnity of an emperor. ¡°Last time we met, Chimalpopoca and you nned to wed.¡±

    ¡°Chimalpopoca?¡± To my utter surprise, Cipetl responded to the name with a face of genuine anger. ¡°That boy cheated on me with another boy! When my father heard of it, he had our marriage pact immediately canceled!¡±

    A light breeze flew on my face. The Yaotzin used its payment to harm others, and it made good use of mine. This farce would have been halfway amusing if I hadn¡¯t put Chimalpopoca to death hours earlier.

    ¡°He has never touched me, Your Majesty,¡± Cipetl insisted as if that would have made a difference. ¡°My maidenhead is for you alone to take.¡±

    <em>You know not what you ask for. </em>¡°Why offer yourself to me?¡± I asked her. ¡°This world owes me its life, but your submission is gratitude enough.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ it¡¯s a bit shameful¡­¡± Cipetl shyly avoided my gaze. ¡°My father lost everything in the eruption, Your Majesty. <em>Everything</em>. His house, hisnds, and with Chimalpopoca¡¯s affront, his hopes of seeing me wed to a good party. He is too old to rebuild his life, so I want him to retirefortably.¡±

    ¡°You hope to secure your father¡¯s prosperity by bing my concubine?¡± I asked Cipetl, who nodded in confirmation. ¡°Blessed are those who sacrifice everything for their kin.¡±

    Truth be told, I was halfway tempted to take her up on her offer. Cipetl was pretty, educated, and somewhat kind based on the few interactions we had in the past. I didn¡¯t remember her mocking me about my cursed birth. Nl needed a handmaiden of her age who could help her fight her loneliness, and I owed Cipetl for destroying her family farm in the eruption.

    Nheless, bing an imperial concubine wasn¡¯t a fate I wished on anyone with a good heart.

    I nced at my advisors, whether real or imagined. Nl was too concerned about what she had learned earlier to focus on the audience; as for Itzili, my feather tyrant had grown forebodingly quiet. His reptilian eyes red at Cipetl and sized her up in tense silence. I took it as a dire warning.

    <em>Am I truly letting Itzili¡¯s reactions affect my judgment?</em> I suppressed a scoff of amusement at the sheer irony of it. The joke had gone on long enough to be true. <em>Well, he has proven twice wiser than Tayatzin time and time again.</em>

    I decided to test the girl first.

    ¡°A pity my dear Eztli is currently asleep,¡± I said before setting up a subtle trap. ¡°She would have loved to meet you again. The two of you yed patolli more times than I can count, though she¡¯s still sore over yourst victory.¡±

    She shyly smiled at me, a brief flicker of uncertainty in her gaze. ¡°That takes me back, Your Majesty. I fear my skills have dulled since those days.¡±

    A chill traveled down my spine, though I hid my true feelings behind a veil of affability. She had misyed there. The real Cipetl and Eztli were never close, nor did they ever y patolli together.

    The fact that Necahual saved Cipetl¡¯s life in her infancy and her issues with Chimalpopoca would be a matter of public school records. The priests had selected the perfect disguise: a girl I was familiar with, but not close enough with for me to notice any discrepancies.

    My predecessors¡¯ warning rang true. This Cipetl was a fake. One of Iztacoatl¡¯s spies meant to infiltrate my bed and inner circle through an borate scheme.

    <em>This was too perfect of a setup</em>, I soon realized to my utter annoyance. The nice, pretty childhood ssmate, wronged by my ¡®failure¡¯ to light the Sulfur Sun and who now required a protector to save her loving family from financial ruin. She pulled all of my heartstrings. Moreover, Tayatzin skillfully moved her audience right after Xochitl¡¯s, which was sure to leave me emotionally devastated. <em>The real Cipetl must have died in the eruption. What a vicious trick the snake whore yed on me.</em>

    Then again, this offered me a golden opportunity to turn Iztacoatl¡¯s trap in on itself. I could let her believe that she had sessfully infiltrated my spywork and feed her false information.

    ¡°It would be a shame for a flower such as yourself to wilt this way,¡± I said as I pretended to examine her closely, mostly as a way to buy time to think. ¡°Truly a shame¡­¡±

    Cipetl smiled at me as she awaited my decision. I quickly chose against making her Nl¡¯s handmaiden. Iztacoatl would grow suspicious if I fell for the first trap she set on my path. I needed to y hard to get; to be the wily fish who avoided all the hooks, so she would feel a sense of triumph once she finally caught me in her. Victory would blind her to my own deceit.

    Should I take the fake Cipetl as a concubine anyway? I had no regrets about condemning a Nightlord¡¯s servant to very, and I could easily y with her for a bit before losing interest. Denying her outright would raise suspicions¡­

    A snarling growl drew me out of my thoughts.

    Itzili had risen, his ws out, his lips unveiling his fangs. He threateningly snapped his jaw at Cipetl, growling all the while. His plumage extended to make him look bigger. I recognized this as a posture of intimidation.

    And it worked too. Cipetl took a step back in fear and the guards kept a hand on their weapons. Itzili paid them no mind. His snarls grew louder and more threatening. His reaction caused Nl to snap out of her gloomy thoughts too.

    ¡°Itzili?¡± I called out in surprise. <em>I¡¯ve never seen him so agitated. </em>¡°Itzili, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Itzili answered with more growls, his muzzle pointing at Cipetl, who could only shiver.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡± she whispered. Itzili took a step forward with murderous aggression, much to her horror. ¡°Your Majesty!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s going to attack her¡­¡± Nl muttered under her breath, her hands covering her mouth. ¡°Iztac!¡±

    ¡°Guards, take that woman out of my sight!¡± I ordered before things could degenerate any further. ¡°She is unworthy to stand in my presence!¡±

    My soldiers grabbed Cipetl without ceremony and dragged her away from my audience za in spite of her protests. Itzili didn¡¯t calm down in the slightest. He continued to re at Cipetl, his body tense, his feathers on full disy, his tail straighter than an arrow. I immediately recognized the tension coursing through him for what it was.

    <em>Fear. </em>

    That girl disturbed Itzili enough to register as a <em>threat</em>.

    <em>What¡¯s going on here?</em> Itzili wouldn¡¯t have reacted so dramatically for a mere human infiltrator. <em>Something doesn¡¯t feel right. </em>

    I took a good look at Cipetl before she vanished. I caught a brief glimpse of her brown eyes, and then I saw it: a re of pure, undiluted hatred; a well of malice and seething malevolence whose depth rivaled the Nightlords¡¯ ckened souls. I recalled Chamiaholom¡¯s immense cruelty and briefly gazed at its earthly reflection.

    The impressionsted less than an instant, but it left me shaken until Cipetl vanished among the crowd of refugees. Itzili stopped growling soon after. He remained on his guards, however, and my own hand was shaking on its own.

    <em>¡°Do you not see it?¡±</em> the wind whispered in my ear.<em> ¡°The faceless knife that stalks your steps?¡±</em>

    My first thought was to have the fake Cipetl hanged from a tree. I took all of myposure to decide against it. Whatever game Iztacoatl yed, I couldn¡¯t afford to show any weakness.

    Tayatzin quickly begged for forgiveness. ¡°I apologize for my foolishness, Your Majesty. The thought that your feathered tyrant would dislike her so much never crossed my¨C¡±

    ¡°This shall <em>not </em>happen again, Tayatzin,¡± I interrupted him as I rose from my throne. ¡°Do you understand me?¡±

    Tayatzin paled at the barely veiled threat and quickly prostrated himself in penance. ¡°I swear to Your Majesty¡­ I shall not disappoint you again.¡±

    I returned to the longneck with Itzili and Nl in short order, my mood fouler than ever. We were preparing to climb back into our quarters when my consort finally mustered the courage to ask me a burning question.

    ¡°What¡­¡± Nl gathered her breath and dared to face me. ¡°What happened to that woman¡¯s husband?¡±

    ¡°He died.¡± I didn¡¯t deny it. ¡°I had him sacrificed, alongside many other souls.¡±

    Nl flinched. She had guessed the truth already, but to hear it from my own mouth came as the final nail in the coffin. ¡°How many?¡±

    ¡°<em>Enough</em>.¡± A tense silence fell between us, which I quickly broke. ¡°Don¡¯t be naive, Nl. This is the heavens¡¯ will, whispered to me by the skies above.¡± Which wasn¡¯t even a <emplete </em>lie. ¡°I was granted the freedom to choose who would die, but not how many.¡±

    ¡°Did you choose these people at random?¡± she asked me, her voice lower than before. ¡°Or because they hurt you in the past?¡±

    ¡°Both.¡± As usual, she was more insightful than I gave her credit for. ¡°The truth is that the goddesses taught me a harsh lesson: not all lives are equal in an emperor¡¯s eye.¡±

    Nl¡¯s expression twisted into one of utter sadness and disappointment. I didn¡¯t think it was the fact I had to order that sacrifice that broke her heart¡ªthe Nightlords had already forced me to do it in the past¡ªbut the fact that I showed no guilt over it.

    ¡°Were there any alternatives?¡± she inquired. Even after what I told her, she hoped to hear onest excuse.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I confessed. ¡°But none were satisfactory.¡±

    I could have let my mother die and Iztacoatl triumph, or surrendered on the first day of my tenure instead of rebelling. I always had the choice to lie down and die. I simply couldn¡¯t stomach it.

    ¡°Do you want another eruption to wipe out thousands, Nl?¡± I asked her. ¡°For gues to take sons and daughters away from their parents? For death to triumph? For these refugees to be the norm among our subjects rather than an unfortunate exception?¡±

    Did she want the Nightlords to kill her by the year¡¯s end? For their cruelties and oppressive rule to continue uncontested for six more centuries? For Eztli to slowly turn into the very monster who had corrupted her?

    Nl lowered her head. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Then you must understand my position. I¡¯ll dirty my hands in the name of a greater cause.¡± Father had suggested that Iy hints of the truth to Nl in the name of honesty. Perhaps now was the best of times. ¡°This war with the Sapa was my choice to wage too, Nl. The first stepping stone on the path of a better future.¡±

    Nl nkly stared at me. She was smart; smart enough to figure it out. I could see the slow realization creeping on her. Now that she knew what I was capable of, the truth wasn¡¯t hard to glimpse. She reassessed every tiny detail and recontextualized them into a darker picture.

    I must have looked exactly the same when Necahual revealed the truth about Eztli¡¯s descent into madness. A veil had been lifted off our eyes and we both began to see a loved one for what they truly were.

    But much like Eztli still loved me in spite of her curse, I bore great affection for Nl and wished her only the best.

    ¡°You are precious to me, Nl,¡± I swore to her after taking her trembling hands into my own. ¡°If I had to choose between your life and that of another, I would dly sacrifice thetter. Remember this.¡±

    ¡°You¡­ I understand, Iztac, but¡­¡± Nl removed her hands and stepped away from me. ¡°That is not a choice I would like you to make.¡±

    And I hoped I would never have to face it myself.

    <em>¡°You will,¡±</em> the wind warned me. <em>¡°True tests never end."</em>

    We climbed aboard the longneck in a tense and awkward silence. There was nothing more to say. Nl needed time to digest the truth, and I had to ept that our rtionship would now suffer from it. Father argued that mutual honesty would strengthen the bond between us, but I couldn¡¯t muster the strength to believe in his advice at the moment. I felt I had instead opened up a fresh wound.

    The truth was a sword without a hilt. It cut both ways.

    Chikal, Ingrid, and their respective handmaidens weed us back. Eztli was still asleep in her coffin. Good. I wasn¡¯t in the right state of mind for <em>that </em>particr discussion. Not to mention that I only had a few hours until Iztacoatl inevitably came to wake me up. Either she would parade my captive mother in chains in spite of all my efforts to avoid that scenario, or she would confront me about her escape.

    I expected trouble in either case.

    ¡°Wee back, my lord.¡± Ingrid intertwined her fingers, her green eyes alight with cunning. Burying herself in her work helped her avoid thinking of her sister. ¡°We have received two messages from the Sapa Empire. An official one, and a secret counteroffer.¡±

    ¡°The self-proimed emperor Manco agreed to your offer of a wide-scale battle of four thousand warriors and he will increase the number of fighters ordingly,¡± Chikal exined. ¡°This Flower War shall be thergest in half a century and a wee distraction for our n.¡±

    ¡°And as I expected, one of Manco¡¯s brothers, Ayar Cachi, has secretly contacted us,¡± Ingrid continued. ¡°He has sent a messenger with a gift for my lord, since his words are too precious to bemitted to writing.¡±

    ¡°An euphemism for treachery,¡± I guessed.

    ¡°Ayar Cachi wouldn¡¯t need this secrecy if he acted on his country¡¯s behalf,¡± Ingrid confirmed. ¡°In all likelihood, he will offer us a secret alliance to remove his brother from power.¡±

    I¡¯d hoped that the Sapa imperial family would pull through and unite against the external threat that I represented, but blood mattered little nowadays. It saddened me that greed proved stronger than kinship so often.

    My father¡¯s warning came to mind: <em>some people didn¡¯t want to be free. </em>

    I quickly moved from disappointment to quiet eptance. I wasn¡¯t losing anything from listening to Ayar Cachi¡¯s messenger and could always figure out a use for him.

    ¡°Arrange a meeting as soon as you can, Ingrid,¡± I ordered my consort. ¡°I will hear what this messenger has to say.¡±

    ¡°As my lord wishes.¡± Ingrid¡¯s head leaned slightly, a knowing look on her face. ¡°Will my lord retire to rest?¡±

    ¡°I will meditate alone,¡± I replied. ¡°I must ponder the future in solitude.¡±

    This next task demanded all of my concentration.

    My vessel¡¯s steps resonated through Cuexn¡¯s hospice.

    Riding a human woman¡¯s body proved to be an interesting experience. I would rate it somewhere between using a male body and my brief time inside Tetzon; the humanoid shape wasfortably familiar, but the breasts and other anatomical details filled me with a subtle sense of wrongness. It was like wearing a sandal with the wrong measurements.

    No one paid me any mind when I walked between the rows of sick beds. The patients wheezed and moaned in beds as diseases tormented them, while the nurses and midwives counted me among their numbers. I was Xiloxoch to them, one of the head healers in charge of the facility. My presence, even sote in the evening, was nothing to fuss about.

    The small barrel which I carried on my back hardly warranted a nce from them.

    I walked all the way into my vessel¡¯s office. Its collection of herbs, potions, and medical scrolls put Necahual¡¯s to shame. Icked the expertise to identify a tenth of them, nor did I care to do so. I moved behind a desk of carved ashwood and assessed the wall behind it with my pristine hands. I pushed and scrambled about until I sensed a small contraption answer to my touch. I heard a faint clicking noise, and the stones fell back slightly to reveal a hidden passage.

    So far so good.

    Ingrid provided me with my current vessel¡¯s name and Necahual¡¯s Seidr ritual with theyout of the ce. My spywork, carefully groomed and pruned like a garden, yielded the tools I would use to set this ce aze and ced them in a hidden spot where my current body could easily recover them. I wouldn¡¯t have been able tounch this operation without my many allies.

    All my efforts were finally paying off. My heart overflowed with satisfaction.

    It was too early to rejoice though. I put on a pre-prepared mask of cloth around my mouth and nose before venturing into the secret passage. Unlit torches lined the dark corridors. I grabbed one, set it alight, and progressed by following my carefully rehearsed mental map of the tunnels. Combining my Seidr visions with the official map of theplex gave me a rough but reliable idea of the ce¡¯syout.

    I didn¡¯t encounter any guards. Most of them protected the hospice above, and the treasure they protected was so toxic that nobody could visit it for long. Only Nightkin could survive its touch, and they wouldn¡¯t transport their weapon until the war to avoid the risk of mass contamination.

    The deeper I went, the more decorated the tunnels became. Lurid murals of crimson flowers, cavorting skeletons, and vampires soon stered the stone walls. The sight of Yoloxochitl pictured among them like a goddess of pestilence overseeing her grim work filled me with disdain.

    <em>Just you watch</em>. I hoped Yoloxochitl could see me from whatever helly in her father¡¯s stomach.<em> Observe how I spit on your grave. </em>

    Fewer torches lit up the deepest levels of the tunnels to avoid threats to the Nightlords¡¯ secret weapon. Mine provided all the light I required. A fetid smell hung in the air; the stench of fungi and corpses. I followed the ck staircase down and reached a promontory.

    Yoloxochitl¡¯s red garden sprawled below me in all of its horrifying glory.

    Nestled in a vast cavernrge enough to house a full vige within its earthly bosom, the monstrous forest of fungi was a terror to behold. A sea of green and red growths covered every inch of the primeval stone. They were mushrooms in the loosest sense of the word; their tumorous bulbs had no ce in the gods¡¯ natural order and wouldn¡¯t stand the sun¡¯s kiss. Pale white trees hung from the walls, their roots legs, their arms branches, their heads crimson flowers of unnatural beauty. I counted over two dozen of them. Their petals blossomed in spores seeking to spread to all life on earth, while their stomachs bore fruits filled with nutritious blood.

    A throne of obsidian stood alone amidst these flowers, its owner long dead. Yoloxochitl must have witnessed countless murders from it with a mad smile on her lips. This garden was her masterpiece and inheritance: an orchard of murder whose seeds would soon be unleashed upon the Sapa and the people of the world.

    By my will, this poison would never see the light of day.

    I descended down the stairs, my pale mask turning redder with each breath. This paltry protection wouldn¡¯t preserve my vessel for long. I only had minutes before the spores worked their way into her lungs and her body joined the ranks of Yoloxochitl¡¯s forest. That would be more than enough.

    I opened the barrel once I¡¯d reached the bottom and drenched the fungi in pitch-ck oil. I doused the human-trees while promising that I would soon free them of their misery. Death would be their deliverance. By the time Ipleted a trail crossing the entire garden, my host had begun to wheeze out loud. I felt the poison taking hold of her lungs.

    I had no regrets. This woman deserved as much for helping hide this abominable ce under a hospital.

    ¡°I always liked my mushrooms well cooked,¡± I mused out loud before throwing the torch into the oil.

    A great fire erupted like Smoke Mountain and spread in an instant. A golden trailze spread through the cavern along the line I¡¯d traced. The mushrooms <em>shrieked </em>as the mes began to devour them. They wailed with the voice of men, only for the fire to silence them forever. The blood fruits boiled in the womb of tree-candles and the cavern¡¯s darkness receded under a tide of cleansing light.

    No one would douse these mes. By the time the rising smoke alerted the hospice staff, it would already be toote.

    I ascended to Yoloxochitl¡¯s throne and sat to better observe the devastation. The sea of fire looked so beautiful to me. Red, orange, crimson, blue, and white in some ces¡­ I found it wonderful to see so many colors reflected in the mes.

    They warmed my heart.

    This spectacle reminded me of the time I burned the House of Jaguars to the ground. I felt at home among the mes, even as they began to consume my host¡¯s flesh. The pain of burning alive paled before the joy of watching thest of Yoloxochitl¡¯s legacy go up in smoke. I was the light that banished the darkness, like the Fifth Sun in the sky, and none would deny my dawn.

    Iughed to death.

    I woke up with a smile on my lips, and a cold hand pressed against my chest.

    ¡°Eztli?¡± I blurted out on pure instinct.

    Iztacoatl¡¯sugh resonated through my bedroom. ¡°You wish, songbird.¡±

    My eyes snapped open without any surprise. Night had long fallen and nketed my room in shadows, but Iztacoatl¡¯s eyes remained fully visible even in the thickest darkness.

    ¡°Why are you smiling, my pet?¡± Iztacoatl asked with a tone that could pass for amusement. ¡°Is it the thought of frustrating my efforts that delights you so?¡±

    I yed coy. ¡°What efforts, oh goddess?¡±

    ¡°I woke up to capture your beloved mother, only to find her hideout empty and the spies I¡¯d posted around the area dead.¡± Iztacoatl gently pinched my cheek, as if I were a misbehaving child. ¡°It seems someone warned her of mying.¡±

    ¡°I am truly sorry to hear this,¡± I replied withplete and utter insincerity. Thank the gods, Mother received my message. ¡°Your pain wounds me, oh goddess of my heart.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± she retorted with the exact same tone. I didn¡¯t sense any anger from her. She had nned for this oue and gleaned information from it, so she probably considered it a minor victory. ¡°But worry not. Tales of your brave ughter of innocents soothed my wounded heart.¡±

    She leaned on me to better stare down at me. ¡°I¡¯m impressed, Iztac. I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d be so ruthless as to sacrifice your entire ss to us. Did you get a kick out of it?¡±

    ¡°The death of those who have wronged me never fails to bring me joy,¡± I replied with a smirk.

    ¡°No doubt,¡± Iztacoatl whispered with a snort. She could see my veiled threat. ¡°I think you¡¯ll like the spare entertainment I prepared for you tonight then. A <em>hunt</em>.¡±

    ¡°A hunt?¡± A chill traveled down my spine as a frightful possibility formed in my mind. ¡°Who¡¯s the quarry?¡±

    ¡°A human, of course. The smartest, hardiest beast of them all. Your mother would have been my pick of quarry, but I prepared a spare in case she slipped through our fingers.¡±

    Iztacoatl leaned over me, her lips twisting into the most despicable of smiles.

    ¡°Why do you think,¡± she asked, so softly, ¡°I brought dear Astrid along?¡±

 Chapter Sixty-One: The Child Hunt

    Chapter Sixty-One: The Child Hunt

    I came to the hunt dressed for war.

    Iztacoatl had me clothed in the emperor¡¯s fabled scarlet <em>huiztli</em>, as if I were about to lead my armies to glory rather than to attend an unjust execution. This lightweight armor put those worn by my warrior lodges to shame. Itsminateyers of cotton, leather, and scales formed an impressive protection coating my chest, legs, and arms. Each of them had been bathed in secret spices and sacrificial blood to give them a crimson coloration. I sensed thetter¡¯s viscous texture on my skin, though this costume did not reduce my speed in the slightest.

    The higher-ranked a warrior, the more ornate his equipment; and none should look more fearsome and ostentatious than Yohuachanca¡¯s emperor. A small cloak of yed skin belonging to ancient warriors in by my predecessors adorned my shoulders, alongside shining rubies and pitch-ck obsidian crystals. The damn jade bat mask that I had worn when the First Emperorst spoke through me served as my helmet, its back adorned with a crown of quetzal feathers.

    I¡¯d heard tales that enemy warriors often fell to an emperor¡¯s feet in fear when they took the field of battle, and I understood why when I took a look at myself in a mirror. I had be the very image of a bat warrior god rising to im a tribute of blood and fear.

    Wearing the mask unsettled me too. Iztacoatl no doubt forced me to wear it because she disguised this cruel execution as a religious ritual, but it also possessed a strong connection to her dreadful sire. The thought of that monster speaking through me again did not enchant me in the slightest.

    Did Iztacoatl intend to study how it would impact me? Or how much her father dearest influences me? Or was she ying arger game that I couldn¡¯t see yet?

    Whatever the case, Iztacoatl had selected a halfway intact forest spared by the eruption for her hunting grounds. Smoke Mountain loomed in the distance under the glow of crimson moonlight like a great ck fang. Lightning wracked the skies in blood-curdling bouts of thunder as dreadful clouds began to nket the stars.

    A host of at least twenty Nightkin and over a hundred red-eyed priests gathered in these dark woods for the cruel ceremony, with thetter wearing sinister wooden serpent masks and scaled cloaks. They weed me with a maddened dance to the tune of wailing obsidian flutes, hunting horns, and war drums. Each and every one of them carried a weapon themed after their patron: scythes shaped like a snake¡¯s fangs, barbedshes, serpentine bows¡­ The dulled edge of some des told me that this hunt wasn¡¯t a one-time asion.

    How often did these madmen gather in the dark to hunt down their own citizens?Tayatzin and my four consorts were gently ¡®invited¡¯ to witness the hunt¡¯s grand opening. Ingrid was weeping in fear and had to be restrained from embracing her sister by a Nightkin in full bat form. Nl covered her mouth in horror and powerlessness. Chikal alone appeared to retain a cool head in this situation; she hade dressed for battle, like myself.

    As for Eztli, she red at the Nightkin with malice and hatred that rivaled mine.

    The sight gave me a little measure of hope in this dark moment. No matter how much my love had changed under the ritual¡¯s influence, her heart remained true to itself.

    However, it was poor Astrid who retained most of my attention. The poor girl had been dragged to this awful site with her hands bound, her mouth gagged, and her legs forced to kneel in submission. I would have loved to say that she stayed brave in this awful moment, but life didn¡¯t work that way. Tears of panic poured down her cheeks instead. Her emerald eyes, so much like her mother¡¯s, pleaded with her sister toe and save her.

    The cultists¡¯ song grew in volume into a maddened cacophony, while the Nightkin settled on hushed meditations. A mighty thunderbolt struck a tree near the congregation¡¯s center and set it aze. A female figure appeared in the midst of the blinding sh in all of her terrible beauty, her magnificent feather dress fluttering before the pyre¡¯s light.

    I had to give it to Iztacoatl; she had a sense of theatrics that her sisterscked. Even the wind had grown awfully silent, offering neither taunts nor support.

    ¡°Wee to this year¡¯s Hunter¡¯s Moon!¡± Iztacoatl dered to her congregation. A priest gave her a goblet of fresh blood to dine upon, and she soon beckoned me to join her. ¡°Please acim tonight''s champion, our very own emperor!¡±

    The cultists¡¯ maddened cacophony of cheers and ps filled me with revulsion. I silently prayed for a second eruption to bury this lot under fire and smoke, or for the thunderbolts above to strike them all dead. Nheless, I confidently walked up to Iztacoatl with all the confidence my hatred could inspire in me. I wouldn¡¯t let her rattle me.

    ¡°I want you to know, songbird,¡± Iztacoatl said as she sipped from her bloody cup. ¡°That everything happening tonight shall be on <em>your </em>head.¡±

    Was she too much of a coward to take responsibility for her own cruelty? She would have run this hunt whether or not Mother escaped her clutches. Only the quarry¡¯s identity would have changed.

    ¡°Are you that frustrated about my mother¡¯s escape?¡± I taunted her back, the cultists¡¯ song muffling my words. ¡°Or is this about Cipetl? Your scheme was painfully obvious.¡±

    ¡°Cipetl?¡± Iztacoatl raised an eyebrow at me. ¡°What are you talking about, songbird?¡±

    Did she think ying coy would throw me off my game?

    Ingrid¡¯s voice cut through the cacophony. ¡°Take me! Take me instead!¡±

    Her panicked words, fueled by desperation, drew both of my and Iztacoatl¡¯s attention. Ingrid had copsed to her knees, her forehead hitting the grass so intensely that I thought she might start bleeding.

    ¡°Please¡­¡± she begged Iztacoatl with trembling hands. ¡°Not again¡­¡±

    She had already seen a parent die before her eyes. Her heart wouldn¡¯t survive the loss of herst sibling.

    ¡°Take me instead¡­¡± Ingrid looked up at Iztacoatl, her tearful eyes full of despair. ¡°I will give you my life.¡±

    ¡°Ingrid, Ingrid¡­ I <em>already </em>own your life¡­¡± Iztacoatl wagged her finger at her chosen consort. ¡°Could you be under the misconception that I will execute your sister? Do you mistake me for Ocelocihuatl?¡±

    I clenched my jaw. Those two sisters were equally matched when it came to awfulness.

    ¡°Unlike my dear elder, I do not believe in taking lives without giving them a chance,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°Where¡¯s the sport in a foregone conclusion? The uncertainty? The <em>challenge</em>?¡±

    <em>The challenge in what, hunting a child not even a decade old? </em>My eyes lingered on Astrid, who had run out of tears and was now covered in the shadow of a Nightkin clutching her. That one felt vaguely familiar to me, though I couldn¡¯t tell why. <em>I have to take her to safety somehow. </em>

    But how? Revealing my powers now would be suicide. I wasn¡¯t yet strong enough to take Iztacoatl in battle, let alone her Nightkin hunting party. No distraction wouldst long enough for the girl to escape, and even if she did, there was nowhere in Yohuachanca for her to hide.

    ¡°I am giving your sister a way out¡­¡± Iztacoatl smiled at me, her fangs shing under the moonlight. ¡°<em>If</em> our emperor proves a good enough protector.¡±

    Here it was, the true reason for this sick game. It was yet another way to torment me and gauge my abilities. Iztacoatl had slowly increased the pressure sincest night until it led to this moment.

    ¡°Be honored, for the grandest of rites is now upon you!¡± Iztacoatl dered to the crowd. ¡°Our great emperor will now put his warrior skills to the test before the heavens and earth! Should he seed, the gods above and below shall bless his campaign with eternal glory!¡±

    The maddened crowd of cultists roared in religious frenzy like the beastly fanatics they truly were. The Nightkin, however, were as silent as tombs. Their eyes oozed hunger and bloodlust.

    ¡°And should he fail¡­¡± Iztacoatl chuckled to herself. ¡°Well, he will learn the cost of not giving his all!¡±

    <em>I will not settle on half-measures the night I y you, snake,</em> I thought, my teeth biting my tongue so I keep my venom to myself.<em> That</em><strong><em>, </em></strong><em>I promise you. </em>

    ¡°Six hours separate us from dawn,¡± she exined, her gaze lingering on Astrid and me. ¡°I will give our quarry and her champion a two-hour head start, after which I will send my pets to chase her; first my red-eyed flock, then my spawn. Finally, I shall join the hunt myself two hours before sunrise. That should keep the chase interesting.¡±

    Of course the coward would gost.

    ¡°If dear Astrid survives until dawn, I shall not only spare her, but reward our emperor¡¯s persistence with a gift of my own,¡± Iztacoatl said, though I didn¡¯t believe in her promises in the slightest. ¡°If one of my pets catches her though¡­¡±

    The Nightlord relinquished her bloody goblet to a priest and then moved to grab Astrid with her inhumanly strong hands. She examined the poor girl the way a buyer would check out a prospective turkey to eat.

    ¡°First, she¡¯ll be raped.¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s words were cruel on their own, but they sounded even more awful whening out of an adult woman¡¯s mouth addressing a child. ¡°It would be a shame for the daughter of an esteemed concubine of Sigrun¡¯s standing to die a virgin. If our emperor performs well, I shall let him do the honors; otherwise, my pets shall take turns first.¡±

    I didn¡¯t think the Nightlords could inspire more disgust in me after I¡¯d witnessed so many of their cruelties. I stood corrected. I struggled to suppress the wave of fury and nausea that overwhelmed me. More color drained from Ingrid¡¯s face; tears of horror formed in gentle Nl¡¯s gaze; Chikal clenched her jaw, her eyes radiating with disdain; and Eztli red at Iztacoatl with undisguised loathing. Even <em>Tayatzin </em>of all people looked appalled by his mistress¡¯ words.

    I suddenly realized that Iztacoatl had been right about one thing. She and the Jaguar Woman were indeed different. Thetter¡¯s cruelty was guided by her ruthlessness and served as a tool to strengthen her control over others; Iztacoatl¡¯s malice was wild, wanton, and freely shared. Unlike her colder sister, she enjoyed hurting mortals for its own sake rather than for any productive purpose.

    I swore to myself that I would give Iztacoatl a taste of her own medicine before I killed her. I imagined bending that whore of a false goddess over a stone altar as I strangled her to death. How sweet our final kiss would be¡­

    ¡°Then whoever catches her will earn the privilege to drink her blood,¡± Iztacoatl continued. ¡°Finally, I will have her head mounted on a wall inside our emperor¡¯s bedchamber, so he never forgets the price of failure.¡±

    Ingrid¡¯s fear and sorrow suddenly turned to intense anger. When she realized that begging and pleading wouldn¡¯t work, she must have remembered the Jaguar Woman¡¯s warning when she had Lady Sigrun murdered; that obedience was expected and service would go unrewarded. The Nightlords saw all life as their ythings, to toy with and dispose of as they choose.

    It was said that the failure of diplomacy always resulted in war; and when reason went unheard, anger always swelled back to take the lead.

    ¡°Your heart is more rotten than a festering corpse!¡± Ingrid spat at the Nightlord in full defiance of her congregation. ¡°You are nothing but a soulless monster!¡±

    ¡°Are you doubting my generosity, Ingrid? After all the kindness I¡¯ve shown you?¡± Iztacoatl dismissively trimmed her nails. ¡°In that case, I will lower your sister¡¯s head-start to one hour instead of two.¡±

    That cruel response was meant to break Ingrid¡¯s spirit, but Iztacoatl had miscalcted. My consort didn¡¯t fall back weeping in prostration, nor did she beg for forgiveness; she had realized nothing she would say could save her sister. Even if she were to reveal our secrets, Iztacoatl would still kill Astrid sooner orter.

    So when a false goddess failed her, she prayed to me for salvation.

    Her fists instead clenched so tightly that blood began to drip between her fingers. Her eyes turned to Astrid in concern, then to me. I raised my head ever so slightly in response to her silent demand.

    Ingrid had made me promise to protect her sister; and though this would be a heavy oath to keep tonight, I would do everything in my power to carry it through.

    Iztacoatl hadn¡¯t missed our short exchange though. This exercise was meant to torment me as much as it was about breaking Ingrid¡¯s spirit, so the Nightlord quickly decided to double down further.

    ¡°Tayatzin,¡± Iztacoatl said softly. ¡°Strip our quarry naked.¡±

    It said something about Iztacoatl¡¯s cruelty that even Tayatzin appeared shaken by her suggestion. He failed to obey her order on the spot, and mustered the courage to argue with his mistress.

    ¡°Goddess, she is¡­¡± Tayatzin gulped and carefully chose his next words. ¡°She is the child of an emperor, and a consort¡¯s sister¡­ certainly her august birth and age afford her a measure of dignity...¡±

    ¡°Have you ever seen a hunted animal wearing clothes, Tayatzin?¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s tone harshened noticeably. ¡°Strip her naked. <em>Now</em>.¡±

    Though I considered Tayatzin my enemy, the fact he remained silent a few seconds instead of immediately following through earned him a sliver of my respect. When he obeyed the loathsome order, it was with a scowl of shame and efficient speed. He cut through the back of Astrid¡¯s dress in a single stroke with an obsidian dagger, revealing her pale skin and underdeveloped body. The poor girl tried to cover herself with her bound arms in shame and humiliation. Ingrid tried to reach out to her sister, but a Nightkin quickly grabbed her by the shoulder before she could reach out to her.

    I contained my anger, waited for Tayatzin to step back and Iztacoatl to smirk in cruel triumph¡­ and then dramatically grabbed my cloak and draped it on Astrid to warm her up without a word. She immediately clutched its fabric tightly and covered herself with it.

    Iztacoatl¡¯s unbearable smile quickly faded away, and the cultists¡¯ song grew quieter. I didn¡¯t care. Ingrid¡¯s look of gratitude more than made up for it.

    ¡°Emperor Iztac, have you not heard my order?¡± Iztacoatl asked with a dangerous edge to her tone. ¡°I asked that this girl be stripped naked.¡±

    ¡°You did, beloved goddess,¡± I replied with false confusion. ¡°Is the cloak not made of skin? Surely you have never seen a human without any?¡±

    The Jaguar Woman would have answered my words with wanton brutality, but Iztacoatl was more clever. She understood that answering such a small act with overwhelming violence would signal insecurity rather than strength. Unlike her sister, she knew how to deal with humor.

    With derision.

    Iztacoatl wisely answered my clever retort with a small chuckle; the way the truly powerful would snicker at an amusing jester. Better to treat my meaningless defiance as part of the farce than a hurdle. She let my act of defiance slide, and in doing so, diminished it.

    ¡°Now, Emperor Iztac¡­¡± Iztacoatl traced a line along my scaled and padded chest. ¡°Due to the great esteem in which I hold you, I shall allow you to pick four weapons to protect this poor animal; one for each of us Nightlords. No more, no less.¡±

    I suppressed the urge to grab her hand and break her fingers.

    In spite of Iztacoatl¡¯s attempts to infuriate me, I managed to assess the situation rationally; both because all of my ordeals had strengthened my mind, and because I might indeed have a chance to save Astrid.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Iztacoatl had no honor, but she hated losing face. She feared it so much that she avoided informing her sisters of the ps I gave her in private, even though it would prove to them that my rebellious spirit remained unshaken. Having sworn to spare Astrid and give me a gift before her core congregation, she couldn¡¯t back down anymore.

    Iztacoatl would cheat, of course. She would use loopholes and traps to sabotage the hunt, because she was a cowardly, spiteful bully behind her grandiose fa?ade of divinity.

    But if I managed to protect Astrid until dawn, then she wouldn¡¯t be able to execute her without losing face before her own followers. She would instead make a public show of ¡®mercifully¡¯ sparing Astrid¡¯s life, forget about her, and instead turn her anger onto me. Her so-called ¡®gift¡¯ would no doubt be another form of punishment.

    And this was intentional. Iztacoatl knew I wouldn¡¯t try anything if I thought I had no slim hope of victory, so she intentionally gave me a way out; one so difficult to fulfill that I would have no choice other than to reveal some of my secret weapons to win.

    Hence the current question: how could I save Astrid¡¯s life without revealing too much, if it all?

    Iztacoatl already suspected that I could talk to animals and that there was something wrong with my blood, so I was willing to sacrifice a few assets to give her a sense of victory. Besides the fact that I wished to protect Astrid for its own sake, it would protect Ingrid and keep our alliance intact.

    <em>Weapons¡­</em> Iztacoatl¡¯s offer was a joke, a travesty. She knew no obsidian club nor dagger would let me save Astrid. <em>But if I coat them with my blood though, I could take out a Nightkin¡­ </em>

    No, I was thinking along the wrong lines. I was Yohuachanca¡¯s one and only emperor. Everything and everyone within thesends was my property, a tool for me to use. I could answer Iztacoatl¡¯s mockery with a clever loophole.

    I nced at the crowd of hunters whom the Nightlord gathered to kill a single child. If those thralls counted as her weapons in our secret war, then I would select warriors of my own.

    ¡°My first pick¡­¡± I said, my eyes observing my supporters until I settled on the obvious choice. ¡°Is you, Eztli.¡±

    The cultists¡¯ music grew quieter for a moment as my words echoed across the woods. Eztli immediately stepped forward before Iztacoatl could recover from her surprise and protectively moved behind Astrid.

    ¡°A wise choice, Iztac,¡± my dearest consort said, her hands gently grabbing Astrid¡¯s shoulders to reassure her. ¡°I shall be your wings, little girl.¡±

    Iztacoatlughed heartily. ¡°Clever, songbird,¡± shemented in genuine amusement. ¡°I¡¯ll allow it, but she won¡¯t be allowed to carry any weapons of her own.¡±

    I expected she would try something like that. Chikal would have been my second choice in that case. Moreover, I knew that Iztacoatl wasn¡¯t allowing me this choice because I¡¯d outwitted her; letting me pick allies would let her gauge whom I trusted and who to target.

    Having Eztli by Astrid¡¯s side reassured me in many ways, though. She could fly, possessed inhuman strength, and most importantly, she was off limits for Iztacoatl¡¯s cohorts. Striking her risked undoing the ritual on which their fiendish plot relied on. She required neither swords nor axes to kill her foes either.

    I could think of another creature that would fit this description.

    ¡°My brave Itzili will be my second champion,¡± I dered. ¡°His mind and fangs are sharp, and he has yet to dine on a priest¡¯s flesh.¡±

    Iztacoatl answered my thinly veiled threat with augh. ¡°Bold of you to think that your lizard will survive the night,¡± she said mockingly before snapping her finger at Tayatzin. ¡°Fetch him his pet.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, oh goddess,¡± Tayatzin replied as he bolted away. I could tell from his hastiness that he was more than happy to seize any excuse to sit this gruesome mess out. The man was no true fanatic, unlike his predecessors.

    Perhaps I could use that one day¡­ But not tonight.

    My third and fourth picks demanded greater consideration than the previous two. None of my options avable were ideal. Chikal would have been my obvious pick had she been allowed to use weapons, considering her experience, killing instincts, and strength. Selecting her meant I would have to sacrifice the fourth spot to maximize her effectiveness.

    My other picks were hardly any better. Ingrid¡¯s natural talent wouldn¡¯t make up for herck of experience or weapons. And Nl¡­

    ¡°I would choose quickly if I were you, Emperor Iztac,¡± Iztacoatl taunted me. ¡°Every minute you waste on indecision is one poor Astrid won¡¯t spend running.¡±

    I ignored the Nightlord, but she had a point. None of my options would be ideal and time wasted now would diminish Astrid¡¯s chances of surviving the night. I nced at my consorts and met Chikal¡¯s fearless gaze. Unlike everyone else, she trembled in anticipation at the prospect of this hunt.

    ¡°Chikal shall be my third pick,¡± I decided. Her experience, bravery, and tactical acumen would outweigh herck of spear or obsidian clubs.

    ¡°Our Lord Emperor chose wisely,¡± the amazon queen replied after joining Astrid¡¯s side. The way she strode forward told me that she never doubted that I would pick her.

    ¡°Will our emperor give her a toy to y with?¡± Iztacoatl mused.

    ¡°I won¡¯t need one,¡± Chikal replied confidently.

    Others would have mistaken it for bravado, but I¡¯d been on the receiving end of her blows often enough to know she was merely stating a fact. Moreover, Chikal¡¯s words carried a hidden message: that I shouldn¡¯t think of her when selecting my fourth pick. She would adapt either way.

    Which left me with a final and critical choice. I had one optimal pick in mind whose strength and ferocity could match any Nightkin, but it would require me to use a one-time resource I¡¯d hoped to keep hidden up my sleeve forter. Choosing her would be a gamble.

    Unfortunately, I had few other options. An obsidian weapon wouldn¡¯t help too much and I could always take one from our pursuers. I had no other obedient beast of battle of Itzili¡¯s strength among my menagerie.

    ¡°My fourth pick¡­¡± I took a deep breath as my eyes settled on my final choice. ¡°Is you, Nl.¡±

    A short, shocked silence followed my deration, which Iztacoatl¡¯s roaringughter quickly broke. Nl froze in ce, gobsmacked, and even the likes of Ingrid and Chikal stared at me as if I had gone mad.

    ¡°M-me?¡± Nl asked, trembling like a leaf. ¡°Iztac, I¡­¡±

    ¡°Bold choice, songbird,¡± Iztacoatlmented. She kept a hand over her mouth to contain her amusement. ¡°Do you think the dog will be a wolf when pushed into a corner?¡±

    <em>I don¡¯t think, I know</em>. I had subtly subverted the Jaguar Woman¡¯s tattoo to allow me to trigger her transformation at will. With proper positioning and trickery, I could make it seem that she transformed by her own willpower instead of mine. <em>But this will be a one-time use. </em>

    Nl herself had no idea though, nor the required confidence to believe in her own totem.

    ¡°Iztac, I¡­ I don¡¯t know how to fight,¡± she protested. ¡°I¡­ you should pick someone else¡­¡±

    I didn¡¯t let her finish. ¡°There is no better choice, Nl,¡± I dered with the confidence shecked. She didn¡¯t believe in her own power, but<em> I</em> did. ¡°You have shown great strength and defended me once in the past.¡±

    I waved a hand at Astrid, who gripped the gruesome mantle of skin I¡¯d given her to protect her nakedness. What a pitiful sight it was to see an innocent child forced to rely on such a thing for warmth.

    ¡°Will you do the same for this girl?¡± I asked Nl. ¡°Will you step up for her?¡±

    If I had learned anything about Nl, it was that although she was afraid of standing up for herself, she nevercked bravery when it came to defending others. Her fear was written all over her face, but it wasn¡¯t directed at herself; rather she imagined what awful fate would befall Astrid should we lose. Her concern for the child¡ªthe sister of Ingrid, whom she had grown to consider a friend¡ªoverwhelmed her own apprehension.

    Nl nodded meekly, then stepped up to the task. My party wasplete. Ingrid¡¯s fellow consorts had gathered to protect her kin. The irony wasn¡¯t lost on him. If we prevailed tonight, we would grow more united than ever.

    <em>If. </em>

    Tayatzin soon returned with Itzili. My feathered tyrant stomped the ground with his feet and bared his fangs at the gathered Nightkin, his fighting spirit stronger than ever. His boundless fury echoed mine, though it took a mere touch from my hand on his neck to force him to focus.

    Chikal, as befitting of her experience as a warlord, immediately started assigning roles to our party. She had Eztli grow wings¡ªas she did when she carried me away from Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption¡ªand then carry Nl. Poor Astrid would ride Itzili, if I could call feverishly hanging on to his neck from behind ¡®riding.¡¯ Chikal and I both had the endurance and speed to run quickly on our feet.

    This would be the longest night of our lives.

    ¡°Please¡­¡± Ingrid all but begged us, her hands joined in prayer. She would have hugged Astrid if she could, but the Nightkin denied her even that smallfort. ¡°Please, my lord¡­¡±

    ¡°We will protect her, Ingrid,¡± I promised her. This would be a tough oath to keep, but I would do everything in my power to pull off a miracle. ¡°She will live to see the dawn.¡±

    ¡°I would tell you good luck with that, Emperor Iztac,¡± Iztacoatl said with false sweetness. ¡°But we both know you won¡¯t have any tonight.¡±

    She was right, of course. I didn¡¯t believe in luck. I believed in wits, strength, and determination. And more than anything, I believed in oveing impossible odds.

    As we prepared to leave, I took a moment to face the crowd of dancing cultists and hungry Nightkin. This hunting party would have inspired fear in many a warrior¡¯s heart, but their malice and ferocity paled before the raving horde I¡¯d fought in the House of Jaguars.

    ¡°Anyone who dares cross my path tonight will suffer for it,¡± I warned the cultists with a deep, menacing tone. ¡°Remember that.¡±

    Iztacoatl scoffed. ¡°Is that a threat, songbird?¡±

    ¡°No, goddess,¡± I replied as I turned my back on her. ¡°It is a prophecy.¡±

    One which I would fulfill myself.

    We fled into the forest without another word. Eztli flew between the zapote trees with Nl while the rest of us followed on foot. Astrid clung to Itzili with all of her strength. My loyal pet didn¡¯t seem to mind, and in fact slightly adjusted his posture so she wouldn¡¯t fall off his back.

    The canopy grew thick with intertwining branches and thick foliage the further we advanced. The pale moonlight struggled to pierce through the dry nket of leaves. The cultists¡¯ music faded into the background while the noise of cicadas and frogs grew slightly louder. I took thetter as good news: frogs meant water and, hopefully, a stream or a river.

    More ominous signs followed though. I heard the flutter of bat wings as they darted between the trees and the glow of animal eyes observing us in the shadows of towering ceiba trees. Thick moss and red vines smothered the noise of my footsteps, and I saw that Chikal briefly paused at some point to cover our shallow tracks with leaves.

    The wind rustled between the leaves, but it remained eerily silent. Itzili was tense, as was Eztli above us. We¡¯d all sensed it the further we progressed through uneven ground.

    Something sinister prowled the night. I could feel it in my bones. I recognized the familiar miasma of evil alongside the rusty smell of dried blood. My thoughts were confirmed when Itzili began to bay and led us to a deer¡¯s carcass. The beast had been exsanguinated until nothing but a dried husk remained. Chikal had us briefly stop to better examine it.

    ¡°Nightkin?¡± I asked Chikal, though I knew better. The smell of blood remained strong around this carrion.

    ¡°Bats,¡± Chikal replied while pointing at the countless biting marks on the animal¡¯s back. They were too small for Nightkin, and too numerous too. That beast had been in by a swarm¡¯s worth of killers. ¡°You know which kind, Iztac.¡±

    Yes, I did. I sensed them around us, always out of sight yet forever present. My mask tightened slightly each time I sensed their gaze on my back. There was only one force in this world that couldpel the wind¡¯s silence.

    The First Emperor¡¯s servants haunted these woods. Bats and Nightchildren both.

    It didn¡¯t reassure me in the slightest. I couldpel thetter to obey my orders, but these malevolent creatures hungered for life and feared no man. I suspected that the only reason a swarm hadn¡¯t attacked Astrid and the others yet was because of my presence among them.

    ¡°Stay close,¡± I warned everyone. ¡°They will strike the moment you leave my protection.¡±

    ¡°Can you order them to strike our pursuers?¡± Chikal asked.

    ¡°They won¡¯t need an order to do so.¡± Not that it would offer us too much respite. ¡°They will kill the cultists, but the Nightkin won¡¯t have anything to fear from them.¡±

    ¡°That should at least impair them,¡± Eztli said as shended near us with Nl, thetter immediately rushing to console Astrid. We had put enough space between us and our pursuers to discuss our options. ¡°How do we proceed? I helped my mother gather herbs in this forest once in a while, so I know of a shallow river to the west. The water will smother our scent.¡±

    ¡°<em>After</em> we make decoys,¡± Chikal replied. My consort quickly browsed through nearby nts, then searched for something hidden under her cotton armor. ¡°Cut that carrion to pieces and disperse them away from our trail, Eztli.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked curiously.

    ¡°The smell of blooding from it will distract them,¡± Chikal replied. ¡°We need to split up too. One group is too easy to track, and forcing our enemies to disperse will increase our chances of sess.¡±

    ¡°This will invite attacks from the bats,¡± I warned her.

    ¡°Hence why we will split into two groups once we reach the stream,¡± Chikal replied after she found what she was looking for: a hidden obsidian knife, which she used to cut leaves off a nt. ¡°One led by you, and another by Eztli, who can fly away from them.¡±

    Nl paled at the sight of the de. ¡°Y-you brought a weapon? But the rules¨C¡±

    ¡°This is no weapon,¡± Chikal replied with a snort. ¡°This is jewelry.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but scoff at her response. I supposed that from an amazon¡¯s perspective, a knife was no different from a ne. Besides, we could always lie and say that we found it on a corpse or stole it from one of our pursuers.

    Eztlipleted her task first, severing the deer to pieces and dropping its severed limbs in multiple directions. Chikal collected a collection of leaves and swiftly cut parts of Nl¡¯s dress to use the linen as an improvised pooch.

    ¡°What¡¯s<em></em>that?¡± Nl asked as she pinched her nose at the pungent smell. Itzili let out an annoyed noise. ¡°It smells awful.¡±

    ¡°Allspice,¡± Eztli recognized. ¡°Clever. The smell is strong enough to mask our scent from hounds.¡±

    ¡°They won¡¯t use hounds,¡± Chikal replied confidently. ¡°I didn¡¯t see any dogs with the cultists, and the smell of Nightkin drives most animals mad with fear. Nor do they need them. Nightkin have excellent senses and can catch a whiff of blood from leagues away.¡±

    ¡°Hence the carrion,¡± I guessed.

    ¡°We¡¯ll need more than a dead deer to trick them.¡± Chikal tossed me her knife. ¡°We¡¯ll need your blood, Iztac.¡±

    I blinked in surprise, my eyes settling on the knife. Chikal didn¡¯t wait for me to respond. She immediately had Nl help her crush the leaves and apply the resulting paste to both Eztli and Astrid.

    ¡°This should cover your scents for a while,¡± Chikal replied before addressing Eztli. ¡°You¡¯ll go into that stream of yours with Astrid, swim downstream, then exit it and fly away while we flee in the other direction.¡±

    ¡°Just the two of them?¡± I asked in surprise. ¡°We won¡¯te with them?¡±

    ¡°If you want to save that young girl, no, you won¡¯t,¡± Chikal confirmed. ¡°Our pursuers will hunt Astrid¡¯s scent first and yours second, Iztac, because they will assume that you will try to personally ensure her safety. Iztacoatl will never expect you to entrust to another, since you swore to Ingrid that you would protect her, and she¡¯ll be confident that her agents can recover Eztli once she¡¯s forced to hide from the daylight. She won¡¯t be a priority.¡±

    <em>She¡¯s right, </em>I thought as Chikal¡¯s n dawned upon me. Iztacoatl was clever, but she didn¡¯t think I fully trusted anyone with something so important, and the whole hunt¡¯s goal was to torment me personally. Her followers would prioritize hunting me, and by the time they realized their mistake, Eztli might have covered enough ground to win us the dawn. She knew these woods, and she was fast enough to outpace the bats should they track her down. <em>It¡¯s risky, but doable. </em>

    However, that n relied on us acting as decoys long enough for Astrid and Eztli to fly away. We would have to run for our lives, hope our pursuers would fall for the trick, and buy enough time.

    I stared at the knife for a moment and then exchanged a knowing nce with Eztli. Following Chikal¡¯s n meant shedding blood to create a false trail for the Nightkin to follow. Iztacoatl already suspected something was wrong with it, but this would expose its true nature without a doubt.

    As much as I loathed it, I briefly weighed the worth of Astrid¡¯s life against the loss of that particr bit of information. Revealing the secret of my blood would lose me a surprise weapon once I turned against the Nightlords, but backing out now would lose me the trust of my consorts and Ingrid. Moreover, it was only a matter of time before Iztacoatl found out anyway; either by herself or when I would fight in the Flower War.

    The best I could do was to y the discovery as an ident.

    ¡°There is something you must know about my blood,¡± I said as I raised the knife over my palm. ¡°Observe.¡±

    I shed my own hand and let my blood burn. Without any Veil to hide its true nature, my veins erupted with a burst of golden mes lit with sunlight. Nl let out a startled noise, while Chikal¡¯s eyes widened in genuine shock. Astrid alone stared at the fire with what could pass for genuine wonder; the reassuring glow and surprise strong enough to briefly overpower her fear.

    ¡°What¡­¡± Nl coughed in astonishment. ¡°Are these¡­ mes? Iztac, you¡¯re burning!¡±

    ¡°My blood runs with sulfur mes by the First Emperor¡¯s grace,¡± I lied. ¡°When Eztli and I survived Smoke Mountain, we realized that my bodily fluids could harm her.¡±

    Chikal immediately understood the implications. ¡°How much?¡± she asked, ever the tactician ready to seize any advantage. ¡°How long will it burn?¡±

    ¡°Not enough to kill a Nightkin by itself,¡± I warned her. ¡°But my blood will burn their flesh so long as it doesn¡¯t dry.¡±

    Chikal crossed her arms, her expression thoughtful. ¡°I¡¯ve fought Nightkin in the past,¡± Chikal informed us. ¡°Short of sunlight, the best way to kill one is to either behead them or bleed them to death. They will recover from almost anything else, no matter how severe the injury.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Eztli noted with a flicker of amusement. She clearly relished the thought of killing other vampires as much as I did. ¡°Good to know.¡±

    ¡°To think that you turned what vampires desire most into a lethal poison, Iztac¡­¡± Chikal rarely smiled, and when she did, it always had a ferocious edge to it. ¡°The irony is not lost on me.¡±

    ¡°This will light the way to victory,¡± I replied with confidence, mostly to help motivate them. I coated the knife with my blood until it became a de of sunlight. ¡°We shall not wait for the dawn, no. We shall bring it to our enemies instead.¡±

    My bold words inspired my more forlorn allies. Nl¡¯s eyes sparked up with hope, and Chikal quickly proceeded to grab stones off the ground and coat them in my holy blood. We would drop them off on our trail to make it look to our pursuers that we were trying to divert their attention. This ought to make them focus on my personal trail and lose track of Eztli¡¯s.

    ¡°Stay downwind as much as possible,¡± Chikal advised Eztli once we reached the stream and prepared to split up. ¡°Cover the two of you with mud once you exit the water, then fly without looking back. It doesn¡¯t matter where, so long as it¡¯s away from here.¡±

    ¡°Those fools will never catch me,¡± Eztli replied with vampiric confidence. ¡°Kill a few of them for me, if you can.¡±

    Chikal smirked in anticipation as she took back her knife. My blood had dried up and stopped smoking, but the obsidian¡¯s surface had grown terribly hot. ¡°With pleasure.¡±

    Once we were ready, I took a moment to reassure Astrid. Nl managed to calm her down enough for her to stop crying, though her eyes were red and her skin pale. The poor child continued to tremble like a leaf, but when I knelt to better face her, her expression briefly warmed up.

    I had shown her light in the darkness.

    ¡°Eztli will take you to safety,¡± I said. I hoped. ¡°You must do everything she tells you to do. Obey her, and you will see your sister again. Can you promise me this?¡±

    Astrid gulped, but bravery ran in her blood. ¡°Y¡­ yes,¡± she whispered after wiping away her tears. ¡°I¡­ promise.¡±

    I kissed her on the forehead, her skin smooth and warm, then entrusted her to Eztli. My consort draped Astrid in my cloak like a babe about to be delivered, then entered the stream and swam away westward.

    <em>I¡¯ve gathered capable allies and advisors, </em>I thought once Eztli and Astrid vanished into the darkness, leaving me with Chikal, Nl, and Itzili. I would never have thought of this n alone, let alone been able to pull it off. <em>I am no longer fighting alone. </em>

    ¡°Let us leave now,¡± Chikal advised. ¡°The more ground we can cover, the better.¡±

    I nodded sharply and then nced at my pet. ¡°Itzili, let¡¯s go.¡±

    My feathered tyrant ignored me. His gaze remained focused on the dark woods, his tail straight as an arrow. His reptilian legs were tense and his ws ready for battle. He looked the same as when¡­

    When we met Cipetl.

    A shiver traveled down my spine. I couldn¡¯t see anything in the canopy¡¯s darkness, but I knew what to expect.

    The headstart¡¯s hour had yet to run out, and yet <em>something </em>was already stalking us.

 Chapter Sixty-Two: Skin & Bones

    Chapter Sixty-Two: Skin & Bones

    The hour of grace had long passed and the hunters¡¯ horns resonated across thend.

    Our gracious headstart had alreadye to an end by the time Chikal, Nl, Itzili, and I wandered deeper into the forest. While Eztli took Astrid downstream to the west, where she would hopefully fly the poor girl to safety, we walked to the east amidst the trees. The smell of my blood would inevitably lead Nightkin trackers to us, but the foliage, canopy, and Chikal¡¯s measures to obscure our tracks should shield us from detection for some time.

    I hoped it would prove long enough for Astrid to flee to safety; if such a thing existed in Yohuachanca.

    Our group walked at a steady pace, even Nl. Her endurance took me by surprise. Either awakening her wolf-totem increased her physical abilities or she possessed previously undiscovered wells of resolve.

    My own armor proved surprisingly light too. I would have expected these thickyers of scales and cotton to weigh on me, but it naturally clung to me like a second skin. I felt more vigorous than ever.

    Perhaps a bit too much.

    ¡°You said that the Nightkin track their prey by their blood¡¯s smell,¡± I said upon recalling Chikal¡¯s words. A dreadful thought had suddenly urred to me. ¡°This armor is <em>drenched </em>in it.¡±

    ¡°The Nightlord lent it to you so she could track us down more easily,¡± Chikal replied as she bound her obsidian dagger to a thick branch with her sash and crafted a makeshift spear. ¡°All vampire gifts are poisoned.¡±

    ¡°M-Maybe it will help you in battle, Iztac,¡± Nl said in a vain attempt to cheer us up. ¡°No emperor has known defeat while wearing the scarlet <em>huiztli</em>.¡±¡°That¡¯s a lie. I¡¯ve bested his predecessor in battle before.¡± Chikal snorted, her scornful eyes briefly lingering on my armor. ¡°But the vampires did boil its scales in the blood of my best warriors to gain their strength, so who knows? Their spirits might lend us their help.¡±

    Chikal uttered these words as a grim quip, but she might have stumbled onto something. Generations of emperors dipped the scarlet <em>huiztli </em>in the blood of their enemies after each sessful campaign to acquire the fallen¡¯s strength¡­ and I had seen so many ceremonial charades take a life of their owntely.

    I swept a small stone off the ground from under a tree¡¯s shadow and pressed it within my palm.

    My fingers crushed it to dust, albeit with some effort.

    Nl gasped in joy, and Chikal¡¯s spooked expression told me that my predecessor never showcased any such power.

    <em>Iztacoatl wouldn¡¯t have allowed me to wear this armor if she knew either, so this must be a first.</em> Whether I had to thank the First Emperor or my citizens¡¯ growing belief in my own divine purpose for this blessing, I counted myself lucky. <em>This strength will serve me well. </em>

    Would it be enough to crush Iztacoatl¡¯s skull if she dared to confront me? I doubted it, but the irony would be so <em>sweet</em>.

    Itzili¡¯s hissing drew me out of my violent fantasies. My feathered tyrant snapped his jaw at the shadow behind us, his tail straighter than an arrow. He had grown more and more agitated the deeper we ventured into the rainforest¡¯s heart, where a tangled canopy blotted out the moon and parasitic nts fearful of the sun blossomed among tall grasses.

    Our stalker was growing bolder.

    ¡°Something has been following us for a while,¡± I warned my consorts. Neither of them appeared surprised, though only Nl showed any anxiousness. They must have guessed the truth from Itzili¡¯s agitation. ¡°One of Iztacoatl¡¯s dogs, no doubt.¡±

    I should have expected her to cheat. That coward said that she would send her thralls to hunt us down after one hour, but she said nothing about having one of them harmlessly stalking us to pinpoint our location.

    Chikal scowled. ¡°I do not think Iztacoatl sent that thing.¡±

    I frowned in surprise, but Nl reacted quicker.

    ¡°That <em>thing</em>?¡± she asked Chikal, suddenly uneasy.

    ¡°It moves too quietly for a human and a Nightkin would have used flight,¡± Chikal replied with no hint of fear or concern. Herposure never failed to astonish me. ¡°It has been stalking us since we split up with the others. It would have followed Eztli and Astrid if it hunted on the Nightlord¡¯s behalf.¡±

    She had a point. It would have been child¡¯s y for a spy to notice Astrid¡¯s absence in our group upon taking a closer look at us retreating into the forest. Our stalker instead ignored her and failed to attack us once the headstart hour had passed.

    From Itzili¡¯s reaction, I assumed that our pursuer was none other than whatever creature impersonated Cipetl. Iztacoatl did seem genuinely confused when I mentioned her. I assumed she had been trying to mess with my mind, but on the off-chance she was indeed clueless about this particr matter, then this hunt now involved a <em>third party</em>.

    The woman I¡¯d met earlier was definitely an impostor of some kind instead of the real Cipetl. What other creature could mimic a human so perfectly?

    The answer hit me like a lightning bolt.

    <em>Betrayal with the face of a friend.</em> I assumed it could have been referring to one of Itzacoatl¡¯s tricks or Eztli¡¯s treatment of her mother, but now I began to wonder about the wording. <em>Who sent it then? It couldn¡¯t have anticipated my visit to Acampa nor learned about Cipetl¡¯s importance without local support.</em>

    I quickly deduced the two most likely culprits; the Three-Rivers Federation, which the First Emperor¡¯s bats blighted after the New Fire Ceremony and whom Iztacoatl threatened with an undead gue if they didn¡¯t surrender to me; or Inkarri, who had already sent a magical monster after me in my sleep. Both had the means and motive to hire an assassin.

    Itzili¡¯s presence kept it from attacking so far, but it would likely seize its chance to strike at the first opportunity; one which the hunters would likely provide.

    We heard a hunter¡¯s horn a bit too close to our liking. Chikal knelt and applied her ear to the ground.

    ¡°Trihorns,ing from the west,¡± she said. ¡°Four, maybe five.¡±

    Iztacoatl pressed her thumb on the scale to favor her hunters. I didn¡¯t fear human cultists and would relish killing them, but they wouldn¡¯t have been able to chase us so far without a tracker.

    ¡°There are Nightkin above us,¡± I said. ¡°The canopy blocks their sight.¡±

    ¡°Not for long,¡± Chikal warned before presenting me with her makeshift spear. ¡°Will you do me the honor, Iztac?¡±

    Did she even need to ask? I offered her my palm and let her cut it thinly. The weapon¡¯s obsidian point glowed with bright mes that illuminated the dark.

    A Nightkin descended upon us in an instant, screeching as it crashed through the branches and heavy foliage.

    As the monster breached through the canopy with its jet-ck wings and fearsome ws, it suddenly urred to me that it was my first time fighting vampires in direct battle. These beasts could prove frighteningly stealthy when they wanted, with speed and ferocity surpassing that of any mortal creature. I¡¯d faced worse foes in the Underworld, but I couldn¡¯t lower my guard either.

    Especially since I couldn¡¯t afford to use magic.

    The terrain thankfully didn¡¯t favor the monster. Vines and vegetation slowed its progress, which allowed Chikal to throw her zing spear at its throat. She trusted a Nightkin¡¯s instincts to force it to immediately attack the moment it smelled my fresh blood and thus leave itself open for a counterattack.

    The zing tip of the spear gored through the monster¡¯s neck like an obsidian knife through the softest of flesh. The Nightkin¡¯s battle cry turned into a gargle as its neck erupted in a shower of blood and mes, much to Nl¡¯s horror. Her scream echoed across the woods as the corpse fell at her feet, its head rolling out into the grass.

    I marveled at the strength required to decapitate a creature thatrge with a thrown spear, even with my burning blood boiling their vampiric flesh. I knew Chikal had only shown me a fraction of her warrior skills during our training, and I had now seen a glimpse of her true might.

    My gaze briefly lingered on the Nightkin¡¯s corpse. I watched the bat shrink into the form of a beautiful young man. Wrinkles began to cover his lustrous pale skin, and his ck hair turned milky white soon after. Centuries caught up to that dead spawn of the night in the span of seconds, until his flesh and bones returned to the dust from which we all came.

    ¡°So long¡­¡± Chikal muttered to herself, a cruel smile spreading on her lips. The bloodlust dwelling in her heart answered victory¡¯s call. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for this for <em>so long</em>!¡±

    I would have shared her joy once, before I learned the Nightkin¡¯s true nature. That monster used to be the misbegotten son of an emperor and a concubine, both of them ves to cruel masters. He too had been a Nightlord¡¯s victim.

    My own son would fly in his ce if I failed.

    I felt no sorrow for the creature, since it tried to kill me and my loved ones¡­ but I hoped that my burning blood and death¡¯s kiss freed his tormented soul from the vampiric curse.

    Chikal recovered her spear while Nl kept her hands over her face in horror. Itzili roared loud enough to wake the dead. A second Nightkin descended upon us from above, while I heard the footsteps of hunters closing in on us. The foliage, the darkness, and the shadow of the trees obscured almost everything, but I could see strangely well through my bat mask. The night held no secrets from the First Emperor¡¯s gaze.

    Arrows surged from among the trees. Most of them missed due to the rainforest reducing visibility, but a few aimed straight for Itzili. My reflexes kicked in and I leaped in the projectiles¡¯ way. They swiftly bounced off my armor¡¯s scales or shattered on impact.

    <em>Quite the precise shot</em>, I noted grimly. Few hunters could aim so well in a thick forest inplete darkness. It couldn¡¯t be mere experience alone guiding their bows.<em> If Iztacoatl can change someone¡¯s appearance with her magic, she could easily sharpen her servants¡¯ senses. </em>

    I should expect <em>anything </em>from that cheater.

    The second Nightkin chose to target Chikal and proved too quick for her to intercept mid-flight. Realizing how the canopy limited its movements, the creature swiftly transformed into a muscled, naked bald man with elongated ws sharper than spears and a lipless mouth of fangs. The vampirended on the ground with a loud thump and immediately lunged at Chikal.

    My consort dodged the attack with a panther¡¯s grace and struck back, her spear skewering the Nightkin¡¯s shoulder and narrowly missing the vampire¡¯s head. He shrieked in fury as my mes melted away his flesh, but quickly retaliated by attempting to grab the shaft with one hand. Chikal swiftly pulled back before he could seed.

    Whether the Nightkin didn¡¯t care about harming my consorts¡ªthe older vampires must have seen their mistresses bring them back from the dead more than once¡ªor its kindred¡¯s death enraged it, it swiftly pursued Chikal among the trees with relentless ferocity. My consort hastily used her spear to maintain a healthy distance between the two of them, but she was soon forced to step back. She narrowly avoided a strike to the head, the vampire¡¯s ws slicing the tree behind her down to its sap.

    <em>Iztacoatl¡¯s hunting dogs have turned rabid,</em> I thought while removing the arrows stuck between my armor¡¯syers. <em>She must think I won¡¯t reveal my secrets if I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯m in genuine danger. </em>

    ¡°Stay behind Itzili for now!¡± I told Nl as I heard the hunters close in on us. Our best bet was to stand our ground and kill all witnesses before any of them could notice or report Astrid¡¯s absence among us. ¡°We¡¯ll take care of them!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t¡­¡± Nl clenched her fists in powerlessness. ¡°I can¡¯t transform¡­¡±

    She did her best though. I sensed it through the subtle bond I¡¯d formed with her tattoo. The wolf inside her struggled against the leash binding its power. The Jaguar Woman¡¯s cruel work held strong, with no effort able to shake its hold on Nl¡¯s soul.

    I could have loosened the chains myself, but I decided to hold on to that asset for now. I could only afford to use it as ast resort.

    Itzili stomped his feet in rm, his jaws snapping at the shadows. Our stalker lurked around the woods while using the approaching hunters to mask its presence. My feathered tyrant soon charged into the foliage with a roar, his fangs closing on flesh and bones. I heard a scream of pain in the dark, followed by the sound of my pet tearing out a man¡¯s throat.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    More arrows flew out of the canopy, and I failed to intercept them all this time. One struck Itzili in the leg. His thick scales prevented the projectile from piercing his leg, but it dug its way into his body deeply enough to draw both blood and a screech.

    Anger surged within me. I red at the source of the arrows and soon identified the responsible party lurking in the shadows: a group of five men, three archers, one warrior with an obsidian macuahuitl club, and a fifth attacker lurking at the back. I stepped into their line of fire and walked up to them with murder on my mind. The warrior with the obsidian club swiftly stepped forward to intercept me.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡± The hunter wavered and hesitated to strike me. It must have been easier to let his friends fire arrows at an animal than to stand his ground against a prophet. ¡°Please step aside. The goddess only asked for the tyrant¡¯s¨C¡±

    I punched him through the chest, my fist shattering his armor and ribs.

    My victim and his allies all gasped in horror, except for the fifth hunter at the back. The strength of countless men surged through my body, and my armor¡¯s scales quivered at the touch of warm blood. A sick thrill coursed through me, followed by an all-consuming thirst. My mask¡¯s obsidian teeth creaked on their own in hunger.

    <em>How interesting,</em> I thought as my hand closed on a warm, beating heart. I suddenly felt like I was extracting seeds from a delectable fruit. <em>So tough on the outside, and yet so soft within. </em>

    My hand clutched the hunter¡¯s heart and swiftly tore it out of his chest. His corpse copsed at my feet alongside his weapon, which I caught with my free hand. His macuahuitl was of the highest quality, a long wooden club whose sides were embedded with razor-sharp, prismatic obsidian des. Their edges reminded me of rows of teeth hungry for death.

    A hunger that I would dly satisfy.

    I ignored Nl¡¯s horrified stare on my back and instead reveled in the hunters¡¯ fear. I sensed the armor¡¯s thirst for death flow through me, but its call paled before that of my own ming heart. The same vengeful cruelty that I¡¯d embraced in the House of Jaguars awakened within me.

    After so many schemes and so many days hiding, I could finally ughter the Nightlords¡¯ servants with my own hands.

    ¡°I warned you that to cross my path tonight is to choose death!¡± I dered with all of my pride and malevolence as I crushed the hunter¡¯s heart within my palm. The warm blood felt soforting on my fingers. ¡°Now, bow to your emperor!¡±

    Unlike the Nightkin, these red-eyed hunters <em>willingly </em>sold their souls to the Nightlords in exchange for power and immortality. I would show them no mercy.

    I decapitated the closest archer with a single stroke of the macuahuitl, his headless body kneeling at my feet. His tworades reacted very differently: one dropped his bow and immediately begged forgiveness by kneeling at my feet; the other hesitantly raised his weapon at me, his fear of death stronger than his zeal. I killed them both in an instant, disemboweling one and beheading the other. In spite of the dark joy and fury guiding my actions, my hands remained steady, my movements carefully calcted.

    Chikal had trained me well.

    I hoped she was faring as well as I was. I heard the noise of her shes with her vampiric adversary in the foliage, but the two duelists soon wandered away from the battle. I didn¡¯t like this in the slightest. The more we spread out, the greater the risk of inviting an attack from both the First Emperor¡¯s bats and our other stalker.

    Worst of all, Nl wasn¡¯t doing well. Her first experience with battle had left her shaken and paralyzed with fear. She cowered under a ceiba tree while the wounded Itzili roared at the tall grass.

    A silent shadow bolted out of the vegetation in utter silence.

    I hardly caught a glimpse of it before it pounced on Itzili. The creature was <em>huge</em>¡ªat least twice the size of a man¡ªwith pawsrger than my head and fangs longer than my fingers. The four-legged behemoth of muscle and brown fur possessed a dog-like jaw and nose. I had only seen the animal as a carpet adorning my pce, but I recognized it instantly nheless.

    A northern bear.

    But something was wrong with it. I saw it in the beast¡¯s calcted movements, from the way it slightly leaned on to its hind legs like a man or the quietness with which it ran. Its eyes gleamed with malevolence and cunning.

    Our stalker had shown itself in animal form.

    Its first act was to lunge at Itzili¡¯s throat to tear it out with its fangs. My pet, though wounded in the leg, fought back by biting the bear¡¯s shoulder, his feet wing at the beast. The two animals brawled among the grass in front of a paralyzed Nl, who had no idea how to react.

    s, the battle¡¯s result was obvious. Itzili was smaller than his foe and wounded. He wouldn¡¯tst long.

    ¡°Kill yourself and spare me the trouble,¡± I told thest warrior as I moved to save my pet. ¡°I have no time for yo¨C¡±

    The hunter lunged at me with superhuman speed, his fingers turning into scabrous ws and his mouth into a maw full of fangs.

    He would have likely mmed me to the ground in an instant had I not survived so many battles through my journeys across the Underworld. My honed reflexes let me react quickly enough to raise my club in time to protect myself. The warrior¡¯s ws screeched upon locking with my weapon¡¯s obsidian des; his entire body pushed against mine with strength greater than a trihorn, but I held my ground.

    I realized my mistake now that I could take a closer look at my foe. He was strong and muscled, his red-eyes gleamed through his long blond hair. His skin was etched in symbols I did not recognize, and a single loincloth covered his nakedness. His inhuman features and strength quickly let me identify his true nature.

    A Nightkin.

    Clever bastard. By mingling with the human cultists, he ensured that I wouldn¡¯t see him as a true threat.

    ¡°Where is she?!¡± he snarled at me, his ws slowly pushing back my obsidian club. Not even the strength provided by my armor could match his raw power. ¡°Where is the girl?!¡±

    Was that a sh of concern I caught in his crimson eyes? How strange. His face felt vaguely familiar, but Itzili¡¯s shrieks prevented me from focusing.

    ¡°You will never know,¡± I replied. I could have crushed this Nightkin in an instant with the ze, the Doll, or Bonecraft spells, but I couldn¡¯t reveal hints of my sorcerous abilities yet.

    I pushed him back with a thrust instead, then sliced my palm open and let my burning blood stain my weapon¡¯s des. ¡°You will not live to thwart me.¡±

    The Nightkin¡¯s eyes widened in shock upon seeing my weapon catch fire. I had no time to waste with Itzili fighting for his life, so I went straight for the kill. I swung my club in an attempt to behead my foe, but he quickly lowered his back to dodge. His ws grazed my armor without prating it. He instinctively stayed out of my zing weapon¡¯s range and tried to skirt around me from the left.

    This one had a warrior¡¯s instinct, and he wasn¡¯t afraid of harming an emperor.

    Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t fully focus on him. The bear had thrown Itzili against the ceiba tree Nl was hiding under. My feathered tyrant limped on the ground, his pristine scales covered in blood. His opponent rose on its two feet, its lumbering form overshadowing my pet.

    A small rock bounced off the bear¡¯s nose.

    Nl stood against the beast, her knees shaking, her hands holding a handful of stones.

    I froze in panic upon seeing the bear turn its massive head in her direction. Nl threw another stone at the monster in a desperate attempt to drive it away from Itzili.

    ¡°Nl!¡± I shouted my consort¡¯s name. ¡°Back off¨C¡±

    The Nightkin immediately exploited my moment of inattention. He grabbed my arm with his left hand, forcing my weapon out of the way, and then gripped my throat with his right. My back was mmed against the nearest tree before I knew what hit me.

    ¡°Where is she?!¡± the Nightkin snapped at me once again. ¡°Where is <em>Astrid</em>?!¡±

    <em>Astrid? </em>His wording took me aback. <em>He¡¯s calling her by name? </em>

    The Nightkin pressed me against the tree, the bark cracking under the pressure, while the bear raised a paw at Nl. A thousand options crossed my mind in a split second until I reached a decision.

    With no other choice, I mentally activated Nl¡¯s tattoo.

    And she sensed it. Her Tonalli howled at the contact of my own. The effect was so subtle that no one else would have noticed, but Nl <em>knew</em>. She sensed my talons loosening her leash and setting the beast inside her free for a time.

    The transformation was immediate. Ayer of fur grew over her pale skin, her nails turned into ws and her gentle visage twisted into a snarling wolf¡¯s face. The bear hardly had time to react before Nl pounded him with all her might. The two shapeshifters brawled in the grass while Itzili crawled away.

    The Nightkin tightened his grip on my throat and forced me to look at him.

    ¡°I asked you a question!¡± the Nightkin snarled at me. The source of his fury confounded me. I¡¯d learned to recognize hatred and rage well enough, but this vampire¡¯s anger swelled from a different source; something purer and familiar.

    <em>Concern</em>.

    The Nightkin¡¯s identity finally dawned on me. His hair, the runes on his skin, his exotic ent¡­ The chaos of battle and the veil of bloodlust clouded my mind to the truth before, but I finally recognized the familial resemnce with Ingrid.

    A smile stretched on my lips. ¡°Do you hope to save your sister yourself, <em>Fjor</em>?¡±

    The sound of his own name shook the Nightkin more than a blow to the face. ¡°How do you know my¡ª¡±

    His hold loosened slightly. Not much, but <em>enough</em>.

    I wrenched my arm free and punched him in the chest. The blow would have killed a normal man, yet it hardly shook Fjor off me. I raised my obsidian club for a counterattack. Fjor instinctively raised his arms to protect his neck from a killing blow, as I expected him to.

    I lowered my zing ded club and sliced off his legs.

    My blood melted his knees and muscles enough for the obsidian to cut through them. My own inhuman strength did the rest. I cleanly severed his legs and caused him to copse at my feet.

    Fjor began to transform back into his bat form, with wings springing out of his arms. He probably expected to heal from his injuries in an instant, but my blood carried the radiance of sunlight itself. His cauterized knees wouldn¡¯t let him grow new legs anytime soon.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have the courage to stand up for her when she needed you the most, <em>coward</em>,¡± I taunted him with all of my scorn. ¡°It is only now, on the precipice of her death, that you find any resolve within yourself?¡±

    The Nightkin, now more bat than man, widened his wings to take flight. I cut off his left one before he could even p. He pathetically tried to grab my leg with hisst arm, powering through the pain, but I easily kicked him in the chest as if he were a dying animal.

    It would have been easy to finish him off. One swing and his head would roll on the grass at my feet. It would have freed the lost prince¡¯s soul from the vampiric curse and spared his sisters further heartbreak.

    Yet I stayed my hand.

    I recognized the look he¡¯d sent me when mming me against a tree: the same worry that fueled Ingrid when she begged Iztacoatl to spare her sibling. Eztli¡¯s transformation didn¡¯t strip her of her affection. She never stopped loving her parents, no matter how much Yoloxochitl attempted to ruin their rtionship. Fjor retained that bond with his sisters, enough that he wished to protect one from his own mistress.

    Fjor was trying to save Astrid.

    He hoped to get to her first so he could protect her. So great was his devotion that he was willing to fight Yohuachanca¡¯s own Emperor and Godspeaker; one of the few beyond his grasp as a Nightkin. I would have admired his resolve if he had dared to stand up to Iztacoatl when he had the chance, or perhaps he thought he would have a better chance of saving Astrid if he hid his goals from his mistress.

    In any case, I decided to spare him; for an audacious plot had crossed my mind, daring in its strategy and cruel in its execution. A grand plot of the highest irony that could yield such incredible results.

    I knew it the moment I identified Fjor and his reasons for fighting.

    I knew how I would <em>kill Iztacoatl</em>.

    It would require Astrid and her brother to survive the night and significant preparations, but all the pieces I required had fallen onto myp. The Nightlord¡¯s cruelty inadvertently gave me the tools of her own demise.

    That would wait forter however. Nl¡¯s howls were turning into whines.

    Leaving the beaten Fjor behind, I rushed to my consort¡¯s rescue. The sight of her lupine body bleeding on the forest¡¯s floor left me shaking with rage. Itzili protectively crawled in front of her and snapped his jaws like a wounded dog trying to defend his injured packmate from a predator.

    The bear stood over her on its two legs, battered and bloody, its back tense with frustration. It must have hoped to y Itzili during the confusion by passing it off as an animal attack, then maybe abduct a consort and impersonate her. Perhaps it hoped that the Nightkin would do its job for it.

    My allies¡¯ strength hadn¡¯t been enough to ovee the monster in battle, but sufficient to ruin its n.

    So it dropped the act.

    ¡°Cursed wolf,¡± the beast hissed angrily, its voice twisting from an animal¡¯s snarl into a woman¡¯s malediction. ¡°Curse your stinking jaws and silver fur!¡±

    The Skinwalker shed its fur like a snake did with its skin.

    The bear¡¯s skull split open to reveal a grotesque horror underneath. A lurching hunchback of stitched skin emerged from within, bloated and abominable. Its emaciated figure was humanoid in shape only, with antler horns surging from its skull and arms too long for a man. Its elongated, bloody fingers yearned for the touch of living flesh.

    The monster only had skin over its bones, none of it its own. Its body was a grotesque amalgamation of half-faces stitched together by strings of pulsating sinews. I saw Cipetl¡¯s eyes and nose on the shoulder, stuck between sprouting fingers and lipless mouths wheezing in agony. I noticed a few animal body parts here and there¡ªbird beaks, bear fangs, serpent scales¡ªbut most body parts belonged to humans. <em>Hundreds </em>of victims contributed to the squirming hill that served at its back¡¯s hump.

    How many screams did it take to weave this horrifying tapestry?

    The Skinwalker¡¯s only unblemished face was its own; or should I say, <em>her </em>own. Sunken white eyes opened on a d sulk, right above a crooked nose and wrinkled cheeks. They oozed malevolence that rivaled the Nightlords¡¯.

    The abomination met my gaze.

    Lahun warned me that to lock eyes with a Skinwalker was to open oneself to their influence. Being on the wrong end of the process allowed me to understand it fully. A Skinwalker¡¯s Tonalli was a mangled abomination, a monstrous chimera of warped skin. I caught a brief glimpse of a butchered quail-like bird forming the broken heart of the monster. It must have been her totem once, in the days before she stained it with the act of kinying. It lingered to this day as the crooked foundation of a patchwork tapestry of death.

    The Skinwalker¡¯s Tonalli invaded my mind and filled my eyes with visions. I saw myself hung to a hook of bone, a razor sharp knife gently peeling my skin away until my yed flesh shed it off. I witnessed Cipetl put on a costume harvested from my own body and wear my skin with smooth ease.

    The Skinwalker showed me all the horrors it would visit upon the world upon taking my ce: the mountains of corpses it would raise, the wardrobe of skins it would harvest from my harem, the rivers of blood it would shed, the empire it would destroy from within. A gruesome spectacle of rapes and murders and tortures unfolded, each crueler than thest.

    This mental assault likely left many warriors quivering in fear, their souls so broken that their minds would forever be beholden to the Skinwalker¡¯s will. Her malevolent Tonalli would subsume their spirit and lurk over their shoulders in their darkest nightmares. A normal human would have no choice but to submit to her gaze. The Skinwalker would crush their will, the mere threat of meeting her eyes again sufficient to enve them.

    I responded the only way I could.

    ¡°Ha¡­¡± The sound came rolling out of my mouth, slow and deep. ¡°Ahah¡­¡±

    Like with Smoke Mountain, a billowing eruption followed the tremors. Myughter echoed through the vision, dark and cruel. The Skinwalker¡¯s vicious confidence crumbled at my unrelenting scorn.

    ¡°Hahaha!¡± I struggled to breathe through the fits ofughter. ¡°<em>Pathetic</em>!¡±

    I had stood in the presence of King Mtecuhtli, the First Emperor, and the Lords of Terror. I had survived the Nightlords¡¯ tortures, the Burned Men, vampires, and hordes of maddened beasts.

    How could this <em>human</em> abomination hope to frighten <em>me</em>?

    My own Tonalli rose to challenge the Skinwalker¡¯s, its ck wings enveloping the mangled tower of flesh in a predatory embrace. A colossal dark owl of shadow rose from the Underworld¡¯s depth with a purple ze for a heart and the shadow of a great, hungry bat looming behind it.

    My baleful Tonalli overwhelmed the Skinwalker¡¯s own. My will took the initiative in this battle of the mind, and I wrestled control of the vision. To the Skinwalker¡¯s cruelty, I answered with a memory of the House of Jaguars burning, of the Lords of Terrors dancing among the ashes of the wastnd I had created, of Smoke Mountain¡¯s breath devastating the world.

    The Skinwalker¡¯s shadow recoiled at the sight of a greater darkness. She had sought to intimidate me with prophecies of what she <em>would </em>do; I answered with memories of what I¡¯d <em>already </em>aplished.

    I gave her a taste of <strong><em>annihtion</em></strong>.

    ¡°What a poor fool you are, to face me with such paltry strength!¡± I taunted her. ¡°You are a breeze challenging a hurricane!¡±

    The vision copsed on its own, the Skinwalker¡¯s will repelled by my own. She was strong and ancient, her sorcery refined by decades, possibly <em>centuries</em> of depravity.

    But I alone feasted on a dead sun¡¯s embers.

    The night enveloped us and its court answered my authority. Swarms of red-eyed bats descended from the leaves and branches to devour their emperor¡¯s enemy. The dead rose from their forested grave to feast.

    The hunter had be the hunted.

 Chapter Sixty-Three: The Theft

    Chapter Sixty-Three: The Theft

    The First Emperor¡¯s servants rushed to defend his prophet.

    A swarm of thousands of red-eyed bats descended from the canopy in a great tide of fangs and fur. The cacophony of their flight resonated across the silent forest. They fell upon the Skinwalker in an instant, covering her utterly. Her screams were delightful to my ears.

    Nheless, the smell of Nl¡¯s and Itzili¡¯s blood proved to be too much for the frenzied beasts to resist. A few moved to drain my allies of their life, so I hastily tried to stop them.

    ¡°Do not harm them!¡± I ordered before sparing the wounded Fjor a nce. ¡°Not that one either, nor my red-haired consort! y the Skinwalker alone!¡±

    I feared that the bats would disobey me, since I¡¯d never tried tomand them like I did with the Nightchildren before, but my voicepelled them to obey nheless. They joined their siblings in swarming the Skinwalker until she vanished under a hill of them.

    I seized the opportunity to check on my allies. Itzili whined in relief at my approach, his tongue licking my hand. He had taken heavy blows from the Skinwalker and one of his legs limped from an arrow stuck in it, but the rest of his injuries didn¡¯t run too deep. His young scales shielded him from most projectiles and the worst blows.

    Nl though¡­

    My heart skipped a beat when I examined her. Unlike feathered tyrants, a wolf was d with a pelt of fur in ce of thick hard scales. The Skinwalker¡¯s ws and fangs deeplycerated her body, some wounds reaching all the way to the bone. Red spots stained Nl¡¯s fur, while her blue eyes threatened to close forever.

    ¡°No, no!¡± Panic seized my heart as I rushed to her side. ¡°Hold on, Nl!¡±Part of me knew deep down that the Nightlords would bring Nl back from the dead should she expire. They could bring her back from M anytime they wished as long as they held her soul into their grasp. Her pain and demise would carry no long-term consequences.

    But I was too blinded by guilt and concern to think rationally.

    I¡¯d known death on the first day of my tenure and given it often enough to understand the pain Nl was going through. Her animalistic whines of pain and agony tugged at my heartstrings. I cared deeply for her, enough that I¡¯d been ready to tell her the truth about myself in the hope that we could form a genuine bond. Yet I returned her kindness with betrayal, twisting her tattoo for my own use and turning her into a beast when I thought it most opportune. She didn¡¯t deserve to suffer like this, bleeding out on a cold forest¡¯s floor.

    I had to do <em>something</em>.

    I attempted to cover Nl¡¯s wounds with bandages made from her own torn dress. The cotton absorbed the blood, but too much spilled out. I hastily covered the gashes in her skin with my hands in a foolish attempt to contain it somehow.

    A jolt of energy coursed through my fingers.

    I immediately pulled back my hand in surprise. Droplets of my blood burned on the surface of Nl¡¯s skin. The shes I opened in my palm had yet to heal.

    <em>This sensation¡­ </em>It felt pleasantly familiar, though it took me a second to recall it. <em>I¡¯ve experienced it many times before. </em>

    When I practiced Seidr.

    My eyes widened as an idea crossed my mind. I applied my shed palm to Nl¡¯s wounds and let our blood connect.

    And as our fluids joined, so did our Teyolias.

    I practiced Seidr so often that I¡¯d grown urately attuned to my own heart-fire. My awareness sharpened each time Iy with Sigrun, Necahual, and Lahun, and the shared curse binding me to my consorts gave me a weak grip on their own lifeforce.

    The bond between our Teyolias was faint and hardly noticeable, since blood exchange was a crude and pale imitation of a true Seidr¡¯s union. The ritual of lovemaking emted ¨­mete¨­tl, the first being who split into male and female at the dawn of the cosmos. It drew upon primal powers older than the Fifth Sun that a meeting of wounds could never hope to emte. I would not receive visions nor achieve great feats of magic tonight.

    Nevertheless, a bond was a bond. This was hardly the ce for our first time and Nl¡¯s wolf form made the prospect unappealing anyway, but the ritual required a mere exchange of body fluids to connect two Teyolias.

    <em>I can save her! </em>Mother said that Seidr could heal wounds and Sigrun used Seidr to steal vitality and maintain her youth by taking a fraction of my power for herself. <em>I shall renew the me of Nl¡¯s life with my own!</em>

    Instead of taking, I gave. I sent my lifeforce flowing into Nl¡¯s heart-fire. So much of it was lost because of the improper connection, like a river spilling out of its bed before it could reach theke it was supposed to feed, but enough did reach its destination to make a difference.

    Nl whined at the contact of my burning blood on her wounds. I half-expected it to cauterize them, but they instead began to close as I reinforced her Teyolia with my own. Lacerated skin joined back together, as did flesh and veins, while Nl¡¯s dying body surged with newfound vigor. I sensed her desire to survive and used it to nurture our connection.

    <em>It¡¯s working!</em> Mother¡¯s casual disdain of Seidr blinded her to its broader applications: sharing lifeforce with another helped me understand how to <em>manipte </em>it. <em>This power can save lives¡­ or end them.</em>

    I immediately noticed two issues with my performance, however. First of all, the results were nothing spectacr. Flesh stitched itself back together, but no new bits magically appeared to fill the parts taken away by the Skinwalker¡¯s fangs and ws. I¡¯d done little more than elerate Nl¡¯s natural recovery.

    Second, I couldn¡¯t focus on one wound over another. My power flowed through Nl¡¯s body without direction. Superficial scratches and bruises took as much energy as life-threatening wounds.

    I needed more practice.

    ¡°Shush,¡± Iforted Nl. I¡¯d stabilized her enough to ensure her survival. ¡°The pain will end soon, I promise. I am here.¡±

    Itzili let out a warning screech, and a roar answered it.

    I watched as the hill of bats pierced the canopy, not because more beasts gathered in greater numbers, but because the creature buried beneath them grew in size. A new shape emerged under them, far different than the Skinwalker¡¯s humanoid countenance. A tail burst out from beneath the mass of pping wings and I caught a glimpse of brown scales.

    It seemed I¡¯d seeded in frightening the hag a little too much. The Skinwalker had decided to trade subtlety for overwhelming strength.

    ¡°You should have stayed put, you thief of skin!¡± I shouted angrily. Unwilling to let the hagplete her transformation and angered on Nl¡¯s behalf, I grabbed my obsidian club, left my allies to recover, and rushed to behead the Skinwalker with a fearsome battle cry. ¡°Agony awaits!¡±

    I cut into the swarm of bats, my sharp de and immense strength allowing me to cut into thick brown scales. I had little idea which part I sliced. I simply hacked with wild abandon and let the screams of pain guide my hand. But no matter how hard I hit her, the Skinwalker continued to grow.

    I caught a glimpse of a reptilian eye ring at me through the blood and fur.

    Jaws closed around my chest with immense force and lifted me up in the air. Rows of sharp fangs bit into my armor, biting through the scales and blood-soaked cotton. The pointed ends of some of the fangs reached my skin, drawing blood, while the sheer pressure emptied my lungs of air. An elongated crocodilian head held me firmly within its grasp, moving wildly from left to right to shake off the bats trying to pierce its scales.

    The monster was <em>huge</em>. Its size paled before that of a longneck, but its back reached all the way to the canopy above us. Five men standing on each other¡¯s shoulders would struggle to meet its slitted eyes. Its body bore a worrying resemnce to Itzili¡¯s, exceptrger and without feathers. I feared that the Skinwalker had transformed into a feathered tyrant until I caught a glimpse of a red, dorsal sail of flesh rising from its back.

    A spineking.

    Every fisherman learned to fear these aquatic behemoths. They rivaled feathered tyrants in size and aggression, though they huntedrge fish rather thannd animals. This fact,bined with the scarlet <em>huiztli¡¯s </em>enchanted resilience, likely saved my life. The creature¡¯s fangs and jaw weren¡¯t adapted to properly bite through my armor. A feathered tyrant would have crushed me in a single bite, but the Skinwalker had to put in the effort to crack it like an egg.

    It still <em>hurt</em>.

    Xibalba¡¯s trials taught me how to remain focused through unbearable pain, yet I¡¯d rarely felt worse. An immense pressure pushed on me from two sides of my body, with fangs closing on my back and chest. My blood dripped and burned the monster¡¯s scaled lips, but the Skinwalker was no Nightkin. It proved little more than an inconvenience as she continued to tighten her grip.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± I snarled as I fought back with my obsidian club. My sharp des proved too brittle to inflict much damage. Most shattered against the Skinwalker¡¯s thick scales, nor could the wooden handle keep up with my inhuman strength. The club snapped in half when I hit the creature too hard. ¡°Let me go, I said!¡±

    The monster answered by crunching my chest. A surge of sharp pain coursed through my body, my fury now only matched by my fear of being swallowed alive.

    <em>She¡¯s crushing me! </em>With no weapon left, I grabbed the spineking¡¯s jaws with my hands and pushed. My arms¡¯ muscles surged with inhuman power fueled by my scarlet <em>huiztli</em>. I fought back against the increasing grip, but though I held my own I couldn¡¯t force the creature¡¯s mouth open.<em> If I use the Doll¡­ But then they''ll know¡­ I have to find another way!</em>

    An obsidian spear surged from the trees and struck the Skinwalker in its left eye.

    The creature let out a roar of pain as a shower of blood erupted from its wound. I fell upon my back from high, though my armor¡¯s cotton considerably softened mynding. Strong hands quickly grabbed my shoulders and hastily helped me rise up to my feet. It proved quite arduous between my wounds, blood loss, and weakened breath.

    Chikal stood by my side while drenched in blood, none of it her own. The Nightkin she was fighting earlier was nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Can you stand by yourself?¡± she asked me.

    ¡°Yes, of course,¡± I grunted, only for a sharp pain in my chest to make a liar out of me. I nearly copsed until Chikal caught me. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Any n, then?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± I smiled cruelly beneath my bat mask. ¡°We <em>watch</em>.¡±

    Chikal frowned at me, until she noticed what I already did: her breath was turning to mist from the sudden cold.

    My soldiers crawled out of the forest with smoking ck pits for eyes, their hunger so great as to suck out all warmth in the air.

    I counted dozens of Nightchildren of all ages and sizes. All were humans, but not all were adults. A few looked no taller than small children, their rags hardly sticking to their pale frail frames. The First Emperor¡¯s bats consumed indiscriminately, their hunger sparing neither the old nor the young.

    I would have felt sad once, but reinforcements were always wee.

    Chikal straightened up. I didn¡¯t remember her seeing these creatures before, and she was suitably on edge. I answered her caution with confidence. I pointed at the spineking before they could notice Nl and the others, then barked out orders. ¡°Bring me her soul!¡±

    An emperor did not <em>ask</em>, he <emmanded</em>.

    The Nightchildren rushed at the spineking without a sound. Their very presence muffled the beast¡¯s roars of pain and dulled the forest¡¯s noise around us. Those closest to the beast grabbed her ankles.

    Mother once told me that men possessed lifeforce second only to those of great beasts like feathered tyrants. I¡¯d seen the Nightchildren drain their victims to dust in less than a minute¡¯s time. They feasted on the soul without moderation, and a group of them should kill anything within a heartbeat.

    Either the Skinwalker umted quite the strong Teyolia over her cursed life or her shapeshifting let her borrow an animal¡¯s lifeforce, for she didn''t die on the spot. It would have been a kinder fate if she did. The scales around her feet crumbled to dust, exposing brittle flesh and calcifying it in an instant.

    The monster¡¯s sheer weight turned against her. With no strong foundation to stand on, she copsed onto the nearest trees in a catastrophic fall. My heart nearly stopped at that, but she managed to fall on the side opposite of Nl, Fjor, and Itzili. Chikal and I still had to step back to avoid the dust and debris. The noise of the impact would have been deafening without the Nightchildren¡¯s flock to smother it.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    I found the silence that followed far more ominous.

    The Skinwalker attempted to shed her skin the same way she had transformed from a bear into an abomination earlier. I didn¡¯t quite understand how the process worked, but the Nightchildren¡¯s touch swiftly sabotaged it somehow. The spineking¡¯s belly ruptured open in a shower of blood and gore, the Skinwalker sliding out of it in her horned, deformed true shape. The Nightchildren and the red-eyed bats fell upon her in an instant to feast on her blood and lifeforce.

    ¡°She has to transform back into her original form before donning a new skin,¡± Chikal observed with a thoughtful expression. Not even the Nightchildren managed to shake herposure for long. ¡°We should finish her off while we can.¡±

    ¡°Not yet,¡± I replied. Chikal raised an eyebrow right as I raised my hand. ¡°Release her!¡±

    I didn¡¯t want the Skinwalker to die too quickly.

    The bats and Nightchildren retreated like hounds recalled by their master. Good thing they did so too. The Skinwalker¡¯s body had turned pale and gaunt, her life hanging on by a thread. She wouldn¡¯t havested another minute.

    Without new prey, the red-eyed bats circled above Nl and Itzili. I quickly realized the limits of my control. Without a direct order, they would swiftly return to their natural, predatory behavior.

    I needed to distract them.

    ¡°Kill every red-eyed human in this forest and beyond,¡± I ordered my troops. I would have said every red-eyed <em>creature</em> if it wouldn¡¯t have endangered Eztli, but a hundred priests¡¯ deaths would satisfy me. ¡°Spread out and kill, kill, <em>kill </em>them all.¡±

    The bat swarm screeched as it dispersed across the sky. The Nightchildren simply returned to the shadows in utter silence.

    Chikal scowled at me. ¡°Iztac,¡± she said, marking a brief pause before continuing. ¡°Are you yourself?¡±

    I snorted. ¡°What kind of question is that, Chikal? Of course I¡¯m myself.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t act like it,¡± Chikal replied with a hint of concern. ¡°You seem¡­ <em>wilder</em>. And too bold by half.¡±

    ¡°Like you said,¡± I said with a scoff. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting a <em>long </em>time for this.¡±

    I could finally visit the indignities I¡¯d suffered back on my tormentors. Of course I enjoyed this. I¡¯d spent so many nights hiding the power I umted, and I finally had the opportunity to show some of it off. Why shouldn¡¯t I revel in it?

    The Skinwalker didn¡¯t even have the strength to move a finger. Her eyes, both those above her nose or embedded in her patchwork abomination of a body, stared at me in absolute terror. I was the shadow of deathing to take her soul, and she was helpless to resist my call.

    ¡°Finally realized that you never had a chance?¡± I taunted her, holding my chest with one hand and hiding my pain behind a mask of arrogance. This encounter took its toll on me in spite of my bravado. ¡°Now tell me who sent you, and I <em>might </em>spare your life.¡±

    It was a lie, but the Skinwalker appeared desperate enough to believe it. She tried to move her calcified lips to the best of her ability, all in vain. Only dust and rattles came out of her mouth. The Nightchildren drained the sorry excuse of an assassin of all her strength.

    A pity. I decided to put her down when Chikal¡¯s hands suddenly tightened their grip on my shoulders.

    ¡°Iztac.¡± Chikal stared at the sky with greater unease than anything the Nightchildren could inspire. ¡°She¡¯sing.¡±

    I froze in ce. Hisses and whistles thrummed around us, first quietly, then louder and louder.

    Snakes slithered around us in the grass by the dozens, the hundreds, the <em>thousands</em>. Small vipers and copperheads joined with adders and feathered serpents in a swarm that rivaled that of the First Emperor¡¯s red-eyed bats in size. They covered the entire forest floor in an instant and surrounded us all in a mass of squirming scales and fangs. Itzili snapped his jaws at them while doing his best to shield the nowatose Nl with his body, but it hardly frightened the growing mass of reptiles. Crimson serpentsrge enough to swallow adult crocodiles appeared among them and matched Itzili¡¯s hostility with hisses. Fjor and the Skinwalker alike stared at the scaly mass with apprehension.

    Iztacoatl wouldn¡¯t let her father¡¯s court overshadow her own.

    The greatest among the snakes coiled together at the center of the squamous mass. Their form melded together into steps of a scaled stairway that reached up to the canopy above us. I looked up to the night sky and saw a graceful figure cast a dark shadow in the moonlight. Iztacoatl descended upon us with wings of crimson feathers sprouting out of her shoulders and near-divine grace. Shended on the highest staircase and looked down upon us with her smug golden gaze.

    Fjor inclined his head in submission, as did Chikal. I alone dared to match Iztacoatl¡¯s gaze. I recalled the wind¡¯s words from so long ago: that true gods had nothing to prove. All this hollow pageantry inspired me with nothing but disdain.

    ¡°Has it been four hours already, oh goddess?¡± I asked, mostly to buy more time for Eztli to flee.

    ¡°My apologies, dear emperor,¡± Iztacoatl said with a wry smile, her feet climbing down the stairs of snakes with a confident strut. ¡°I am hopeless when ites to counting time.¡±

    <em>She came alone?</em> I didn¡¯t see any Nightkin flying with her. Either she thought she wouldn¡¯t need them or she hoped that I would try to attack her. Showing up alone in the middle of nowhere would have made her an inviting target under normal circumstances. <em>I won¡¯t take that bait. </em>

    Iztacoatl walked down to me, the snakes forming a thick carpet for her to step upon. Gods forbid that she would walk on the same ground as usmoners.

    ¡°My hunters inflicted quite the wounds on you and your consorts,¡± shemented upon examining me. ¡°We ought to rename your advisor <em>Itzili the Lame</em>.¡±

    Itzili responded by showing his fangs at her. This only served to amuse the Nightlord further as she turned her sight to Fjor next. ¡°You disappoint me,¡± she said while studying his wounds. ¡°I expected better from Sigrun¡¯s son. Has concern for your human sister dulled your edge, Fjor?¡±

    Fjor knew better than to talk back to a Nightlord and simply kept his head down in penance. Chikal¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly. Either she recognized the name or was memorizing it for future investigations.

    Iztacoatl grabbed my palm next, her cold finger tracing a line along my new scars. ¡°My poor songbird, how long did you intend to keep this from me?¡± Her smile had all the sweetness of rotten honey. ¡°I knew something was wrong with your blood for a while, but to think it could burn my children?¡±

    I feigned innocence. ¡°You didn¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°You truly take me for an idiot,¡± Iztacoatl replied, her wry smile now stretched thin. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us that your blood burned my children? Surely your consort must have noticed.¡±

    ¡°I assumed it was the case for <em>all </em>emperors,¡± I lied outrageously. ¡°My blood is for the heavens alone to taste. Lesser Nightkin are unfit to touch it.¡±

    ¡°True indeed,¡± Iztacoatl replied with bemusement, her gaze lingering on my throat. She leaned in closer, a pair of serpentine fangs surging from behind her lips. ¡°You are <em>ours </em>alone.¡±

    She bit me in the thin chink between my bat mask and armor.

    I¡¯d never been on the end of the vampire kiss before, although I¡¯d seen it give death to so many. Eztli never tried to drink my blood, and even the mad Yoloxochitl refused to do so when I tempted her. I thought the Nightlords were forbidden to dine on the emperor until the Night of the Scarlet Moon.

    Either I¡¯d been deceived, or Iztacoatl didn¡¯t care.

    The pain of her fangs sinking into my throatsted a mere second, raw and deep. The horror and agony were swiftly drowned in a tide of numbness and ecstasy. A wave of exquisite pleasure spread from my neck to the rest of my body, softer than a warm bath and more intimate than the greatest heights of sexual release. Sigrun, Necahual, Eztli, Ingrid¡­ I¡¯did with so many women, and none gave me a greater bliss than a second of Iztacoatl¡¯s touch.

    My entire body no longer answered me. A powerful sense of euphoria paralyzed it. My senses dulled to the point my vision blurred and the noise of suction became no more than a soft echo in the back of my mind. The cold filling my fingers as Iztacoatl drained me of my blood felt downright wee. Both the battle¡¯s pain and the armor¡¯s inhuman strength vanished in an instant.

    Vampires turned death into a <em>delight</em>.

    But while my body betrayed me, my mind recoiled in horror. My acute awareness of my Teyolia let me sense my lifeforce leaving me. Itzacoatl stole enough of my blood to kill a Nightkin twice over, but her hunger proved greater than mere body fluids. She filled the void of her heart with souls, and now sought to devour mine.

    Visions shed before me. I saw myself strapped to a stone table under a crimson sky set alight by the scarlet moon. Obsidian spikes nailed my wings and ws to an altar, while the Nightlords feasted on my limbs, draining my holy blood until I became a shriveled husk.

    ¡°Struggle all you want, foolish father,¡± the Jaguar Woman taunted me, her mouth painted blue and yellow by the taste of my sulfur blood. ¡°Your power is ours, now and forever.¡±

    I shrieked and screamed in anger and pain, but when I opened my mouth, burning tar filled it instead of words. My cold body boiled in a viscous liquid that melted the flesh off my bones. My heart turned ck with fury at this betrayal. And when the sulfur me of my heart was extinguished atst, only hunger and darkness remained.

    I snapped back to reality the moment Iztacoatl removed her fangs from my throat. I would have copsed without Chikal to hold onto me. My knees were weak, my legs without strength. I couldn¡¯t move anymore. The rapture from earlier turned into a deep numbness and frigid cold. I¡¯d matched a spineking¡¯s jaws in a contest of might, but I nowcked the energy to move an eyelid.

    Iztacoatl had stopped before she could swallow my soul, but she had taken cups upon cups of my blood. She licked it off her lips with a rapturous expression. Dining on my flesh had been as pleasurable for her as it had been for me.

    ¡°Mypliments, Songbird,¡± Iztacoatl thanked me with a mock chuckle. ¡°You will be our best drink in centuries.¡±

    My sunfire blood, which melted the flesh of Nightkin in an instant, had no more effect on a Nightlord than a strong spice.

    The vast gap in power between the spawn and their progenitors became clear to me this instant. I dined on the embers of a dead sun and achieved power greater than most of the horrors that haunted the dark corners of the world, but I remained a young fish in a vast ocean full of great sharks and other primeval beasts.

    Iztacoatl gluttonously licked the blood off my neck with her snakelike tongue, much to my and Chikal¡¯s disgust. I knew this was payback for the time I¡¯d pped her. Viting my body let her reassert her power over me, like a master yanking the dog¡¯s leash until it whined.

    ¡°Did you think you could poison us on the night of the Scarlet Moon? That you could die a martyr and take us down with you?¡± Iztacoatlughed after she finished licking every drop of my blood off my skin. ¡°Such a transparent plot.¡±

    My only constion was that she didn¡¯t see anything when she drank my blood, or else she would have reacted more violently. Either she needed to fully consume my soul to see my memories, or my predecessors¡¯ shroud of illusions continued to hide my Teyolia¡¯s true nature from her.

    ¡°I do not see our dear Eztli among you, nor our little quarry,¡± Iztacoatl noted before finally deigning to notice the Skinwalker. ¡°Who is this?¡±

    I was too weak to speak up, so Chikal answered on my behalf. ¡°An assassin who sought to kill our Lord Emperor,¡± she replied with no small amount of disdain. ¡°A Skinwalker.¡±

    Iztacoatl¡¯s eyebrows curved in slight interest. She snapped her fingers and hundreds of snakes coiled around the Skinwalker. My would-be assassin was helpless to resist and swiftly lifted up in the air. I would have felt a degree of kinship for her had she not tried to kill Nl earlier.

    I expected Iztacoatl to eat the Skinwalker for dessert, and I would have appreciated one of my enemies taking out another. But as always, the gods remained deaf to my prayers. Iztacoatl studied her captive in silent fascination, the hissing of her court lowering into a quiet whisper.

    <em>Something is wrong.</em> A terrible feeling sank in my gut. Iztacoatl should have already murdered the Skinwalker on the spot for interrupting her hunt. She couldn¡¯t ignore the offense. <em>She¡¯s taking too long. </em>

    A familiar sound came out of Iztacoatl¡¯s mouth, low and sinister. I¡¯de to hate it with all my heart.

    A <emugh</em>.

    ¡°What a stroke of luck,¡± Iztacoatl said with glee, her fingers stroking her captive¡¯s cheek. ¡°Atst a perfect candidate. Kinyer and betrayer, a broken soul wrapped in human skin!¡±

    My heart skipped a beat in horror. I finally caught on to Iztacoatl¡¯s gruesome idea.

    ¡°Worry not, dear, you are too precious to die yet,¡± Iztacoatl whispered to the frightened Skinwalker. ¡°You have big shoes to fill.¡±

    The Nightlords had been looking for a ceholder for a while. The Night of the Scarlet Moon was a y that had lost one of its lead actresses. Another had risen to upy her ce, but that person required a recement too; a sacrifice that met the exceedingly precise requirements of a centuries-long ult ritual.

    What better candidate to fill the missing role than a monster with a thousand faces?

    ¡°Let us find dear Eztli, songbird,¡± Iztacoatl decided with enthusiasm. ¡°I cannot wait for her to meet her recement.¡±

    I spent the next two hours in Iztacoatl¡¯s tender care.

    Ever thezy coward, she sent her Nightkin hunting for Eztli while she took me and the others to arge temple near the forest. I assumed that she used this ce as a base to run her hunting rituals and sacrifice the losers. Nl and Itzili would receive medical care under Chikal¡¯s supervision, while the Skinwalker had been chained up in the lower chambers for a different kind of treatment. I could hear her screams through the walls now and then.

    Iztacoatl decided to personally oversee my recovery in her own quarters: a decadent chamber adorned with stolen artwork and furnishings taken from dozens of destroyed nations. She had a bath prepared for us in a pool of stone surrounded by serpent statues, undressed, and then dragged me into it naked.

    The warm fluids were the same blend of blood and herbs in which Iztacoatl had me bathe in a few weeks ago. As viscous and disgusting as it was, it did slowly restore my health and vigor. I would have almost appreciated it had Iztacoatl not spent thest hour holding me in her arms in a lover¡¯s embrace and caressing my neck. Capturing the Skinwalker had left her in an unbearably happy mood, and she was clearly resisting the urge to bite me again.

    <em>She liked the taste of my blood a bit too much,</em> I thought grimly. My only constion was the obsidian windows adorning the walls. I could see the dawn rising beyond them, its sunlight blocked by the ckened ss. <em>Would it kill her instantly if I shattered them? If Iztacoatl survived my blood, she might endure a few minutes before turning to dust. </em>

    ¡°Dawn nears, beloved goddess, and your hunters have failed,¡± I said with no small amount of satisfaction. ¡°I win.¡±

    ¡°So you do!¡± Iztacoatl replied with a mockingugh. ¡°<em>This</em> time.¡±

    My joy swiftly turned to anger. Of course the scaled whore wouldn¡¯t let me enjoy a victory, no matter how trivial. ¡°This time?¡±

    ¡°This was only the first test of <em>many</em>, my dear boy,¡± Iztacoatl taunted me. ¡°Worry not, I will find another use for dear Astrid. How about I reshape her flesh until she bes her mother¡¯s spitting image and then put her in your bed? You inspire me so much I fear we will run out of victims before we do ideas.¡±

    She lightly kissed my cheek to better savor my disgust. My blood had turned her lips warm.

    ¡°There is also the small matter of your reward,¡± she whispered into my ear. ¡°I will think over it after putting your menagerie to death.¡±

    Her left hand descended upon my navel while the right held onto my chin. The embrace would have been halfway intimate from anyone else. Every caress, every move, was meant to remind me that I was her property.

    ¡°Between yourmand over bats and your pets¡¯ habits of wandering where they shouldn¡¯t, it is now clear to me that you canmand animals,¡± she whispered into my ear. ¡°It would be unwise to let you retain ess to such a vast army under our nose. I shall spare that reptile advisor of yours so I can kill him at my leisureter, and turn the rest into carpets.¡±

    I met her taunts with silence.

    I¡¯d managed to spare Astrid¡¯s life tonight and managed to hide most of my abilities from Iztacoatl, but I could hardly call it a victory. The Nightlord knew about my blood¡¯s properties, and worst of all, she could shrug it off. Destroying the menagerie would also deny me the ability to Ride most animals and the Skinwalker¡¯s capture would ensure the ritual¡¯s renewal.

    The chambers¡¯ doors opened, and a pair of Nightkin escorted Eztli into the room.

    I didn¡¯t see Astrid with her.

    I blinked in surprise, waiting for guards to drag Ingrid¡¯s sister weeping and screaming into the chambers for Iztacoatl to mock her. I did so in vain. The Nightkin kept their heads low in silent shame.

    Iztacoatl¡¯s expression swiftly turned from smug to confused. ¡°Where is the child?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have her,¡± Eztli replied.

    My fists clenched at the same time Iztacoatl¡¯s nails sank into my skin. I first feared for Astrid¡¯s safety, but I had spent enough time with Eztli to recognize when she struggled to suppress a smile.

    Why did she look so damn happy?

    ¡°You don¡¯t have her?¡± Iztacoatl repeated, her voiceced with disbelief.

    ¡°I¡¯ve lost her,¡± Eztli said. ¡°I don¡¯t know where she is anymore.¡±

    I turned my head to take a better look at Iztacoatl¡¯s face. I discovered a new pleasure even greater than sex or the thrill of a vampire¡¯s kiss: the delight of watching Iztacoatl¡¯s joy turning into utter despair.

    Her short-lived triumph was about to be a <em>monumental </em>humiliation.

    ¡°Exin yourself!¡± she ordered, seething in rage.

    Eztli¡¯s expression turned into the smuggest smirk imaginable.

    ¡°An old owl took her away.¡±

 Chapter Sixty-Four: Good Night

    Chapter Sixty-Four: Good Night

    The p failed to lift the smile from my face.

    A Nightlord¡¯s palm carried more strength than twenty men behind it, and a hundred times the animosity. She struck quicker than a serpent, her blows whistling with each impact. Blood dripped down my cheeks and onto my shoulders.

    ¡°Where is she?¡± Iztacoatl asked me for the hundredth time.

    ¡°I do not know, goddess,¡± I replied truthfully. The pain helped me suppress myughter. ¡°Have you checked the nearest owl''s nest?¡±

    Her next p threw me to the floor. Eztli was already sitting there, her yed cheeks healing before my eyes. Our bloody grins infuriated Iztacoatl beyond anything I¡¯d ever seen. The fairest of the Nightlords had grown scales over her face, her fangs and eyes twisting into reptilian parodies of themselves. So overwhelming was her rage that she struggled not to transform into her true, monstrous form.

    ¡°No matter how many times the goddess asks, the answer will remain the same,¡± I replied. I was almost willing to forgive Mother for abandoning Father and I after pulling such a daring stunt. ¡°My treacherous Mother eluded me for years. I have no idea where she is.¡±

    ¡°Liar!¡± Iztacoatl snapped at me, white scales spreading down her neck. ¡°I know you warned her of my hunt somehow!¡±

    Her panic was something to behold, and more than matched her humiliation. Iztacoatl had failed to catch Mother, <em>twice</em>, and let her escape with a future imperial concubine while <em>she was there</em>. Not only would it shatter her illusion of invincibility among her surviving priests and Nightkin, but her sisters would fall on her the moment they learned of it.

    Iztacoatl¡¯s only hope of salvaging the situation was to locate Mother; an unlikely prospect when she and her flying troops had to hide from the sunlight. The Nightlord had cast a divination ritual in the blood bath in an attempt to discern Astrid''s location, sent loyal messengers looking for them in all directions, dyed the imperial procession to interrogate all of its members, and had hunters scour every vige¡­ all in vain. Mother eluded capture for seventeen years, and her Tonalli form could have flown halfway across the empire by now.The temple¡¯s atmosphere suddenly grew heavier. The air choked with the smell of death and rot. Iztacoatl¡¯s hand, raised to p me once again, stopped in midair. The Nightlord nced at the pool with fear in her reptilian eyes.

    The gathered blood rose into the shape of two vaguely humanoid figures. I recognized the two vampires long before their features sharpened into furious snarls and deep scowls, then immediately forced myself to adopt a nk expression before they could see my smile.

    Iztacoatl¡¯s reptilian features returned to normal. Her apprehension quelled her anger. ¡°Sisters¨C¡±

    ¡°You <em>imbecile</em>.¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s fury somehow looked even more terrifying when manifesting through boiling blood. ¡°How can such a <em>fool </em>share my noble ancestry?¡±

    ¡°Is it true, sister?¡± What Sugeycked in anger, she more than made up in sheer disappointment. The Nightlord quickly materialized inside of the blood pool. ¡°Did you let a godkin escape with one of our enemies?¡±

    Iztacoatl winced at their reproach. The sight of my tormentor cowering this way more than made up for all of tonight¡¯s pain and struggles.

    Word of the disaster had already spread to the other Nightlords in spite of Iztacoatl¡¯s best efforts. Either one of their sorcerous priests warned them somehow, or they discovered it through their own divination rituals.

    <em>I didn¡¯t know they could materialize from these pools. </em>I watched as the Jaguar Woman and Sugey both stepped out of the boiling blood, their bodies now fully incarnated. <em>They must use them to quickly travel across their empire.</em>

    ¡°This is <em>his</em> fault!¡± Iztacoatl protested, pointing at me. When stripped of her grandiose facade and confronted with individuals who matched her power, she behaved like a spoiled child. ¡°He set me up!"

    Her pathetic attempt at deflecting the me would have fallen t on anybody else, but the Jaguar Woman turned her baleful gaze on me next. She was just as desperate to find a culprit to put the me on.

    I quickly bowed, my forehead kissing the ground. The Jaguar Woman¡¯s presence never failed to turn my joy into dread.

    ¡°I only sought to honor the goddess by winning the hunting game she prepared for me,¡± I lied through my teeth. ¡°I thought Eztli could take poor Astrid to safety long enough for us to secure our victory. I never expected my treacherous mother to attack her, nor that Skinwalker to ambush us. I¡¯m sure they set this up together.¡±

    Ever the talented actress, Eztli quickly built upon my lie. ¡°The fault is mine, Iztac,¡± she said, her hands moving to hold her arms. She yed the vulnerable damsel like no other. ¡°It was me that this owl sought to kill. I shudder to think what would have happened had I not escaped her clutches in time¡­¡±

    Her words worked better than expected. Sugey¡¯s disappointment soon turned into disbelief as she turned back to her sister. ¡°You put Yoloxochitl¡¯s recement in harm¡¯s way?¡±

    <em>Clever girl. </em>I hadn¡¯t considered it, but Eztli was indeed a weak link in the Nightlords¡¯ ritual. A magician opposed to Yohuachanca could disrupt it by killing her; a likely prospect since shecked her new sisters¡¯ strength. Between the Skinwalker¡¯s attack on my person and Mother¡¯s presence, it would seem the Nightlords¡¯ enemies coordinated this attack together.<em> The snake whore has stepped in her own trap. </em>

    ¡°We have no one to rece the girl with if she perishes,¡± Sugey scolded Iztacoatl. ¡°Putting her within reach of an assassin¡¯s de was foolish of you.¡±

    Meanwhile, the Jaguar Woman¡¯s fury smoldered into a scarier, colder kind of anger. ¡°We are at <em>war</em>, Iztacoatl, and you y <em>games</em>?¡±

    Iztacoatl¡¯s flinched. ¡°It was a test!¡± she protested. ¡°He¡¯s lying¨C¡±

    ¡°The weapon was <em>destroyed</em>!¡± The Jaguar Woman cut in, her words hitting Iztacoatl harder than any p. ¡°A spy broke into the facility and set it on fire. Our sister¡¯s legacy went up in smoke; the herd questions our power and guidance; Father stirs in his tomb; our enemies smell our blood in the water and bare their fangs. And <em>you¡­</em>¡±

    The coiled serpent statues squeaked around us, an invisible force crushing the stone until it cracked. It became more and more difficult for me to hide my satisfaction. The Jaguar Woman¡¯s anger confirmed to me that my n to wipe out Yoloxochitl¡¯s gue from the world worked perfectly. She wouldn¡¯t be so furious if she could salvage anything from it.

    Their despair brought me such boundless <em>joy</em>.

    ¡°What do you think your <em>weakness </em>taught our enemies tonight?¡± the Jaguar Woman asked her cowed sister. ¡°I will tell you right now: you showed them that they can strike us with <em>impunity</em>!¡±

    ¡°As for the girl¡­¡± Sugey shook her head. ¡°She is an emperor¡¯s daughter and a consort¡¯s sister. Her blood is too precious to fall into our enemies¡¯ hands.¡±

    ¡°Speaking of blood¡­¡± Iztacoatl swiftly grabbed my head, forced me to look up at her, and sliced my cheek with her nail. My sunlight-rich blood caught fire once exposed to the air, its radiance briefly illuminating the room. ¡°See what he has been hiding from us!¡±

    I mustered all of my willpower not to show any unease. I¡¯d been fearing the Jaguar Woman¡¯s reaction since the beginning. I¡¯d spent a great amount of time pretending to have been cowed into an obedient emperor so she wouldn¡¯t torment my loved ones, and here Iztacoatl revealed that I¡¯d been keeping secrets from her.

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s response proved¡­ strangely subdued.

    ¡°I see,¡± she replied while squinting at my blood with curiosity. She touched it with her finger to examine it more closely. The dose would have melted a Nightkin¡¯s flesh away, yet it failed to irritate a Nightlord¡¯s skin. ¡°Interesting¡­¡±

    Iztacoatl¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. ¡°You <em>knew</em>?¡±

    ¡°Yoloxochitl¡¯s spawn informed me on our Godspeaker¡¯s behalf before their departure,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied. ¡°I was too upied looking for the child¡¯s ceholder to deal with it.¡±

    I immediately nced at Eztli. She avoided my gaze, though I could have sworn she briefly winked at me beforehand.

    <em>She told her? </em>I immediately feared betrayal, but the Jaguar Woman¡¯s subdued response and her words let me calm down enough to assess things rationally. <em>Eztli said she did it on my behalf. </em>

    I quickly figured it out.

    Eztli had caught on to the Nightlords¡¯ personal dynamics and exploited them. The Jaguar Woman sought to be in control at all times. Giving her a small nugget of information helped convince her that she could keep us both in her thrall. The secret of my blood was bound toe to light sooner orter,e the Flower War. She must have hoped to drive a wedge between the Nightlords too by informing one and not the other.

    <em>It was a gamble, </em>I thought. I remained unsure if I should be thankful for Eztli¡¯s foresight or furious that she failed to inform me. <em>It paid off this time at least, but¡­ I don¡¯t like it. I don¡¯t like it at all. </em>

    Between that scheme and her attempts at sabotaging her mother¡¯s contraceptives, Eztli was taking far too many risks behind my back for my liking. This one spared me a great deal of trouble, but she might eventually overreach and misstep.

    That would be a discussion forter. Iztacoatl immediately jumped on the opportunity to use me of sacrilege.

    ¡°He has used this blood to y my spawn, my sisters,¡± she said. ¡°One of them witnessed himughing when he killed my priests and servants. He also sent Father¡¯s bats to hunt down his pursuers.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s cold gaze oozed malevolence. ¡°Is it true, our Godspeaker?¡±

    My heart pounded in my chest with such strength I feared it would explode.

    ¡°It was the scarlet <em>huiztli</em>, oh goddess,¡± I half-lied. ¡°The moment it tasted blood, I¡­ I was no longer myself. The hunger¡­ it gave me strength, but it sapped my will¡­ it¡­¡± I clenched my teeth. ¡°It <em>spoke </em>through me.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman red at me, as did her fellow Nightlords. ¡°Why fight at all then? You should have fallen to your knees and sought our divine guidance the moment you sensed evil seeping into your heart.¡±

    I avoided her gaze in fake penance. Saying I fought on to protect Astrid would fall on deaf ears. Admitting that I put a child¡¯s life over obedience would be tantamount to admitting my treachery. I quickly found an alternative motive.

    ¡°Lady Iztacoatl promised me a reward if I won,¡± I argued.

    ¡°Have I not warned you once already?¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s tone turned sharper than any de. ¡°Your loyalty is expected. We reward at our whims, not in return for service.¡±

    <em>Damned if I do, damned if I don¡¯t.</em> ¡°I assumed this was a test of faith which I had toplete.¡±

    ¡°No doubt your victory swelled your heart with pride,¡± the Jaguar Woman said, her voice growing heavier with menace. ¡°The nail that stands out gets hammered down, child. You would do well to remember it.¡±

    ¡°He is right though,¡± Iztacoatl added with malice. ¡°I did promise our emperor a reward. I shall give it to him after he exins why he lied about his other abilities.¡±

    I suppressed a wince of dread. I could almost hear the executioner¡¯s axe in the background as the Nightlords focused their attention on him.

    ¡°He can also speak to animals,¡± Iztacoatl added. ¡°Hemands Father¡¯s bats as easily as he does that feathered tyrant of his. I heard he even seeks the beast¡¯s advice.¡±

    Here it was. I had spent weeks rehearsing a role when it came to Itzili, sowing the seeds of doubt in preparation for a day like this one. I¡¯d followed my predecessors¡¯ advice, baffling Iztacoatl with confusing moves until the climactic finale.

    I hoped I could sell the lie.

    ¡°With all due respect, oh goddess,¡± I said, clearing my throat. ¡°Should a son not listen to his father¡¯s wisdom?¡±

    A tense silence fell upon the room. Even Eztli gave me a sideway nce of pure confusion.

    ¡°Your <em>father</em>?¡± Iztacoatl repeated in disbelief.

    ¡°My father¡¯s spirit wandered in the void for years, robbed of his corporeal flesh,¡± I dered with a feverish kind of resolve. I thank my fear and stress for helping me keep my voice unwavering. ¡°Fate has returned his will to me in a new vessel of scales and fangs. That is why I named him Itzili. Father shares his advice through the child tyrant¡¯s voice.¡±

    Huehuecoyotl taught me once that a good Veil worked because people wanted to believe in it, but he also gave another important lesson: that destabilizing people helped them doubt their own sense of reality. The Nightlords saw me either as a rebel in waiting or a cowed human ything. I now presented a new mask to them.

    The mad puppet.

    My words managed to throw Iztacoatl off her game too, because no one sane would say something so ridiculous in such a tense moment. A smart traitor would havee up with a more believable lie or denial. I knew these words of mine would damage my credibility with the Nightlords in the long term and limit what concessions I could earn from them, but it sowed the seeds of doubt in their dead hearts.

    What if I hadn¡¯t been <em>rebellious</em>, but simply <em>unstable</em>?

    After all they put their Godspeaker through, it would make sense for him to fall apart at the seams. The idea worked in my favor. Where the intelligent underling inspired suspicion, the mad only earned pity; pity and <em>disdain</em>.

    ¡°I think you broke this one, Iztacoatl,¡± Sugey said with amusement. ¡°Like so many before him.¡±

    ¡°<em>Enough</em>,¡± the Jaguar Woman said, at her wits end. ¡°Father¡¯s influence has clearly tainted our Godspeaker¡¯s mind and body. We will need to take measures to limit this.¡±

    Iztacoatl clenched her teeth, her gaze wavering. Part of her knew I was likely lying through my teeth, but another suddenly questioned everything she learned about me. Ever the coward, she would rather retreat for now than wage a battle under unknown conditions.

    ¡°Do I not at least deserve praise for finding us a recement consort, sisters?¡± she said, changing the subject.

    ¡°Her capture is the <em>only </em>good thing toe out of this fiasco,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied. ¡°<em>If</em> the ritual epts her."

    ¡°Did you get anything out of the Skinwalker?¡± Sugey asked Iztacoatl. ¡°Has she revealed who sent her?¡±

    My heart skipped a beat in my chest. I had shown the Skinwalker visions of my own atrocities in our brief mental battle. If she mentioned them to the Nightlords¡­

    <em>Chikal was right, I let the power go to my head! </em>I clenched my teeth to hide my shivers. I¡¯d been so drunk on bloodshed that I foolishly revealed potentially incriminating evidence to an enemy! <em>I should have killed the Skinwalker when I had the chance rather than toy with her!</em>

    Iztacoatl¡¯s scowl reassured me somewhat. ¡°Not yet. Father¡¯s spawn hollowed her from the inside out. She has been babbling incoherently since we caught her.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t believe what I heard. I suppressed a sigh of relief, thanking the gods for throwing me a bone. I supposed not even a living abomination could survive the touch of undead ones unscathed.

    <em>No, no, this is no time to lower my guard.</em> I had no guarantee that the Skinwalker wouldn¡¯t recover. This stroke of luck only bought me a little time. <em>The longer she stays in the Nightlords¡¯ custody, the greater the risk that she speaks.</em>

    I would have to quickly eliminate the Skinwalker; both to plug a potential leak and deny the Nightlords a recement consort for their foul ritual.

    The Jaguar Woman wouldn¡¯t make that easy. ¡°A husk will be of no use to us,¡± she dered. ¡°<em>I</em> must see that your prey can fit her chosen role and tighten my chosen consort''s chains. As for you, our Godspeaker¡­¡±

    The sharp edge in her tone was enough to make me wince. My fear was in no way faked, which certainly reassured the Jaguar Woman.

    ¡°Your role is to bring about our Age of Darkness, and nothing more,¡± she stated, almost dismissively. ¡°Your mother¡¯s foolish rebellion will be met with agony, and her stolen godkin shall soon find its way back into our hands. You shall speak no word of what happened tonight to outsiders, our Godspeaker, and will reassure our subjects that the gods shall ensure their safety, as we shall preserve your own. Do you <em>understand</em>?¡±

    ¡°I do, goddess,¡± I said while keeping my head down. ¡°Your will shall be done.¡±

    ¡°Submitting to our Father¡¯s will was an act of human weakness unbefitting an emperor,¡± she continued. ¡°I hoped that you would learn to control this strength in service of Yohuachanca, but such a feat is clearly beyond you. We shall free you from this burden soon enough.¡±

    My blood ran cold in my veins. Whatever means the Nightlords intended to use to cut my connection to the First Emperor couldn¡¯t spell good things for me.

    I cursed my foolishness. I should have kept Iztacoatl guessing for longer and prevented her from taking the initiative. I¡¯d saved my neck for now, but at the cost of greater supervision and reduced freedom.

    Satisfied with my servility, the Jaguar Woman then ordered Nl to be brought to her for examination. I was apprehensive of her return, since she suffered from terrible wounds thest time we met.

    Thankfully, whatever blood magic Iztacoatl used to return my vitality worked on her too. The sight of Nl entering the temple¡¯s heart without a single wound on her pristine skin soothed my soul.

    The fact she avoided my gaze, much less so.

    ¡°Show me your tattoo, child,¡± the Jaguar Woman ordered coldly. Nl winced in fear, her eyes staring at the ground rather than facing her tormentor. She slowly removed her robes to unveil her back.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    The Jaguar Woman looked at Nl¡¯s skin. Her gruesomely detailed tattoo had decayed into a shapeless mass of ink. It was a special precaution in my predecessors¡¯ suggested alteration of the spell; an insurance to ensure the Jaguar Woman wouldn¡¯t track the changes back to me after I triggered Nl¡¯s transformation. This had always been a one-time asset.

    I considered it wisely spent, though I would have preferred keeping it in reserve.

    ¡°This is useless,¡± the Jaguar Woman stated. From her annoyance, I gathered that she couldn¡¯t draw any information out of the fading tattoo. ¡°It would do us no good if I reapplied the spell as it was. I must ponder what w the witch used to turn it against our Godspeaker.¡±

    I didn¡¯t miss the obvious relief on Nl¡¯s face. Receiving that tattoo had been a horrendous ordeal the first time, and she wasn¡¯t looking forward to a second branding.

    ¡°You will stay in the area for now, our Godspeaker, until we ensure that our foes will not strike at you once more and that no¡­¡± The Jaguar Woman gave me an ominous look, ¡°<em>Outside influence</em> rubs off on you.¡±

    An euphemism to say she wanted to ensure her Father wasn¡¯t turning me against them. I would have to be very careful to present a front of utmost loyalty from now on.

    The Jaguar Woman had a bottle of my burning blood collected for study, then sent us on our way to rest. I left Iztacoatl¡¯s chambers with Eztli, Nl, and a set of guards escorting me to our temporary quarters. The White Snake red at me long after the doors closed behind us.

    She would not forget this humiliation anytime soon.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Eztli whispered in my ear the moment we left.

    ¡°For losing Astrid?¡± I asked evasively. We couldn¡¯t afford to speak openly in a Nightlord¡¯s temple.

    ¡°For Tetzon¡¯s death,¡± Eztli replied. Her guilt sounded halfway genuine. ¡°Your margay came to visit me before a Nightkin killed it. I should have been more careful.¡±

    Tetzon¡¯s death was a shame, but I was more concerned about something else. ¡°What did Lady Ocelocihuatl tell you?¡±

    Eztli looked away. ¡°I asked her if a Nightkin could be pregnant.¡±

    I froze in ce, as did Nl. She blushed crimson, briefly opened her mouth to say something, then meekly fell into silence.

    ¡°I understand that our wombs wither in undeath, but I hoped the Jaguar Woman would have a spell to work around that problem,¡± Eztli said with a scowl. I suspected the Nightlord told her where to shove it. ¡°She noticed the burn marks your seed left on my thighs while inspecting me.¡±

    So Eztli wove a lie on the spot to quell the Jaguar Woman¡¯s suspicions¡­ if I believed her story. The mere fact that I doubted her ount worried me. I used to take her at her word not so long ago. Going behind my back wasn¡¯t like her at all, and that talk of pregnancy even less so.

    Necahual was right. Something had gone <em>wrong</em> with Eztli.

    ¡°You want a child so much?¡± I asked under my breath.

    ¡°Yes, I do.¡± Eztli¡¯s arms closed around my neck, and her lips nted a light kiss on my cheek. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Iztac. I always get what I want. We¡¯ll find another way.¡±

    <em>Like sabotaging your mother¡¯s contraceptives and using her as a surrogate? </em>I hesitated to confront Eztli over it and decided not to. She was slowly growing more unstable, and I couldn¡¯t risk alienating her. <em>I¡¯ll have to keep an eye on her from now on. </em>

    How much was her current behavior the result of her increasing boldness or the ritual¡¯s influence? I had no doubt that Eztli continued to support me wholeheartedly. She kept my truly damaging secrets and didn¡¯t hesitate to flee with Astrid to safety when I ordered her to. I could trust her to protect her mother too.

    How long would thatst though? Would the ritual¡¯s ult sway increase once the Nightlords turned the Skinwalker into a recement consort? Eztli would y the role of Yoloxochitl full-time afterward. I couldn¡¯t fathom the potential consequences yet.

    For now, I simply answered Eztli¡¯s attention with a kiss of my own. ¡°We will,¡± I replied before ncing at another. ¡°Nl.¡±

    She dared to face me this time. So many emotions clouded her gaze. Doubt, relief, unease¡­ I couldn¡¯t exactly me her. That harrowing night shook her to her core. She felt lost and vulnerable.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy to see you safe and well,¡± I said. ¡°I would like to speak with you aler, if you won¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ thank you¡­¡± Nl gulped and lowered her head. ¡°I¡­ yes. If you want, Iztac.¡±

    <em>¡°She is like y, soft and weak and easy to twist,¡± </em>the wind once warned me.<em> ¡°She will be either your puppet or someone else¡¯s, bound by love¡¯s cruel strings.¡±</em>

    Today was a decisive moment. I could feel it in my bones. If I didn¡¯t handle her well soon, I would lose her forever.

    <em>So many moving parts outside my control. </em>The discovery of my blood¡¯s failure to affect the Nightlords rattled me to my core too. <em>My sun does not shine brightly enough yet. </em>

    I needed toplete Xibalba¡¯s trials as soon as possible.

    True power awaited me further below.

    ¡ª----

    It was well past noon by the time we reached our temporary quarters inside the temple. To my slight surprise, Tayatzin greeted us at the threshold. He was among the priests who survived the hunt for Astrid.

    I assumed he stayed safely at the back considering his clear distaste for the event; a precaution which ended up saving his soul and earned him a sliver of my respect.

    ¡°Lady Iztacoatl originally wished to organize celebrations for Your Majesty¡¯s sess during the hunting ritual,¡± Tayatzin told me while coughing in embarrassment. ¡°Considering the temporary¡­ the <em>very </em>temporary disappearance of Lady Astrid, I would suggest dying them.¡±

    ¡°It has been an exhausting night for everyone involved,¡± I replied. <em>Though I am too pleased to feel tired. </em>¡°Let us use this day to rest and meditate on what we learned together.¡±

    I had so many subjects to address with my consorts. I had to debrief with Chikal, reassure a likely mortified Ingrid that her sister was safe, manage Eztli¡¯s shift in personality, andst but not least, convince Nl that I held no ill will when I altered her tattoo.

    I also needed to sleep, both for my personal health and to confront Mother on Astrid¡¯s whereabouts. I still had no idea why or where she took Ingrid¡¯s sister. Mother could have rescued her to pay me back for warning her of the threat on her life, or merely to pay back Iztacoatl for the capture attempt; and while I doubted she would harm Astrid, I could see her abandoning her new charge in the middle of nowhere. That wouldn¡¯t do.

    I would need Astrid alive and well to destroy Iztacoatl.

    I dismissed Tayatzin and then entered my new quarters. While they paled before those of Iztacoatl¡¯s in terms of luxury, my personal entourage was still afforded a boudoir fit for royalty. I entered to find Chikal and Ingrid resting in a vast, central dining room lit by zing torches and adorned with reptilian mosaics. A vast obsidian window facing the central table gave us a perfect scenic view of the forest and hills outside.

    My consorts sat on feathered sofas in thepany of my other concubines. Chikal looked freshly straight out of a bath, though Necahual and Lahun checked her arms for wounds nheless. As for Ingrid, her green eyes had reddened with tears. She immediately rose up the moment we entered.

    ¡°My lord!¡± Ingrid rushed at me, forgetting all decorum out of sisterly concern. ¡°Where is Astrid?¡±

    Of course the priests wouldn¡¯t inform her. Iztacoatl tried to keep that secret from spreading out. Of course, the Jaguar Woman only forbade me to tell the truth to <em>outsiders</em>¡­

    ¡°I apologize, Ingrid,¡± I said, her face withering. She probably expected to hear tales of her death. ¡°A treacherous thief absconded with your sister.¡±

    Shock and gasps spread across the room following my promation. Even the usually unppable Chikal blinked in astonishment.

    ¡°Astrid¡­¡± Ingrid stammered, her eyes wide with disbelief. ¡°Someone <em>took </em>Astrid?¡±

    ¡°My mother,¡± I replied. Necahual¡¯s head instantly snapped in my direction. ¡°A Nahualli witch of small renown. No doubt she plotted to steal your sister from the beginning.¡±

    ¡°I am so sorry,¡± Eztli said. She managed to sound sincerely contrite. ¡°I couldn¡¯t do anything to stop her.¡±

    ¡°This is <em>terrible¡­</em>¡± Tenoch whispered, while Atziri covered her mouth in horror. Lahun alone retained herposure among my concubines. From the curious looks she sent me, she either guessed that I was lying through my teeth or wondered about my mother¡¯s Nahualli powers. ¡°My gods¡­¡±

    Ingrid was sharp. When she quickly picked up on my suppressed smile, her green eyes widened as the truth finally dawned upon her: that her sister had escaped the Nightlords¡¯ clutches with the help of another. The bloody marks left by Iztacoatl on my cheeks let her piece out the rest.

    ¡°We have no idea where she is.¡± I stared into Ingrid¡¯s eyes, unblinking and resolute. ¡°I swear that we will do everything in our power to ensure she returns home safe and sound.¡±

    The utter absence of sincerity in my voice rified my true intent to Ingrid well enough. Though she wouldn¡¯t see Astrid for a while¡ªif ever, should the worste to pass¡ªno one would rape or murder her sister. She had escaped the pce¡¯s golden cage and the awful fate that befell her mother Sigrun before her.

    ¡°Will you promise me, my lord?¡± Ingrid asked me, her eyes pleading.

    ¡°I swear.¡± The gods be merciful, the Nightlords would never get her back. ¡°Nothing will happen to your sister.¡±

    Ingrid pressed her lips against mine in a ferocious embrace. My arms closed on her waist and pulled her closer. To outsiders, it would seem that she entrusted me with her sister¡¯s safe return; in truth, she thanked me with her body for fulfilling my promise better than either of us expected.

    I¡¯d saved her sister from the cruelest of fates, and in doing so, earned her eternal loyalty.

    I had shown Ingrid my honor, power, and wits, while Iztacoatl had nothing to threaten her with anymore. When she broke the kiss, I could see the deep trust and resolve radiating from her green eyes. I¡¯d won her over, now and forever.

    Ingrid let go of me, then bowed to her fellow consorts. ¡°Eztli, Nl, Chikal¡­¡± She struggled to hold back tears. ¡°I wish to thank you all for your bravery. My mother did not raise an ingrate. You have proven yourself to be true friends in my time of need, and I shall endeavor to return the favor you¡¯ve shown me.¡±

    ¡°Ingrid, Ingrid¡­¡± Eztli yfully wagged her finger. ¡°Friends do not count favors.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± Nl blushed slightly. ¡°I didn¡¯t do much, Ingrid.¡±

    ¡°I beg to differ, Nl,¡± Chikal said calmly. ¡°You fought where many would have fled. Your courage honors you.¡±

    ¡°Quite so, Nl,¡± Ingrid replied before taking Nl¡¯s hands into her own. ¡°As far as I am concerned, you are now a sister to me.¡±

    Nl blushed at Ingrid¡¯s boldness, her face briefly beaming with a mix of gratitude and embarrassment. After growing up an orphan, her fellow consort¡¯s words likely filled her with joy.

    ¡°It has been an exhausting night for us all,¡± I dered. ¡°I suggest we all take a well-deserved rest.¡±

    Necahual met my gaze. ¡°Will Your Majesty sleep alone?¡±

    I guessed that she wished to discuss Mother or Eztli in private with me, but both would have to wait. I needed to visit the Underworld first.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t decided yet,¡± I replied before turning to face Nl. ¡°I ask that you join me for a talk first, if you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    Nl assented to my request, albeit with little enthusiasm. ¡°As¡­ as you wish, Iztac.¡±

    Ingrid straightened up, her face radiating with newfound determination. ¡°When you next walk into battle, I shall be first among your choices. I shall train with Chikal until my blood <em>boils</em>. With the gods of Wind as my witnesses, I shall prove worthy of fighting by your side.¡±

    I studied her for a moment before answering her resolve with a sharp nod. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it, Ingrid.¡±

    This hunt had united and strengthened my consorts like never before.

    Afterward, I retreated into my bedchambers with Nl. The opulent room was hardly a fraction of the size of mine back at the pce, but it was quiterge nheless. The bed was draped in purple silk sheets and surrounded by a collection of sweet flowers. The roomcked any serpentine decorations, for which I was thankful.

    I sat on the mattress and invited Nl to the same. She did so after a moment¡¯s hesitation, though she kept her distance. She didn¡¯t face me either. Her hands twitched with apprehension.

    I¡¯d let a great rift rise between us. It wounded me more than I thought it would.

    ¡°Nl,¡± I said. ¡°Nl, please look at me.¡±

    Her silence broke my heart.

    I was so used to her kindness and warmth, to receiving her support in my greatest doubts, that her coldness hurt more than Iztacoatl¡¯s venom. Nl had been my closest confidant second only to Necahual.

    And now she wouldn¡¯t even speak to me.

    ¡°Do you¡­¡± I gulped, fearing the answer to my question. ¡°Do you <em>hate </em>me?¡±

    ¡°N-no!¡± Her head snapped in my direction, her expression full of concern. ¡°No, of course not!¡±

    Her response took me aback and left me speechless. Nl bit her lower lip, her hands tightening.

    ¡°I just¡­¡± Nl stared down at the floor. ¡°I don¡¯t understand you anymore, Iztac. You¡¯ve been so kind to me, and¡­ and so brave. You, you didn¡¯t hesitate to fight vampires for Astrid¡¯s sake. For Ingrid.¡±

    I waited for her to find her words. She wasying her heart bare to me.

    ¡°But¡­ I heard youughing when you killed those men. <em>Laughing</em>. And the things you¡¯ve done¡­¡± Her hands scratched her shoulders all the way to the point where her tattoo began. ¡°They were¡­ they were <em>awful</em>.¡±

    She knew. She knew I triggered her transformation and unleashed her on the Skinwalker when it threatened Itzili. I¡¯d held power over her without her awareness, usurping the vition the Jaguar Woman inflicted on her for my own gain.

    Of course she would doubt me afterwards.

    ¡°I wished I didn¡¯t have to do them.¡± While I confessed to feeling a certain sense of enjoyment whenever I slew a red-eyed priest or put a Nightkin to rest, I would rather live in a world where neither of them existed. I¡¯d hoped to never use her tattoo either. ¡°I did what I had to do to protect my own. You¡¯ve seen what we were up against.¡±

    Nl¡¯s scowl turned grimmer. She was there when Iztacoatl stripped Astrid naked and threatened to have her raped, then killed. She bore witness to the Nightkin¡¯s savagery, the priests¡¯ ruthlessness, and the Skinwalker¡¯s cruelty. She¡¯d already been exposed to our world¡¯s awfulness when Ingrid lost her mother, but she never bore the brunt of the Nightlords¡¯ cruelty until our hunt.

    ¡°Is¡­¡± Nl touched my bloody cheeks. The warmth of her fingers on them soothed the aches and the pain. ¡°Is it¡­ always like this?"

    I let out a sigh. ¡°Yes.¡±

    Nl nodded slowly. She was bright. She must have expected that answer.

    ¡°When you¡­ when you fed me your blood, your hands were so warm and gentle.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve seen you wear two faces, Iztac, and I¡­ I don¡¯t know which one is the mask.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re both sides of me,¡± I replied truthfully. ¡°Like the new moon and the full one. I havemitted good deeds and terrible crimes. I¡¯ve saved lives and taken others. I¡¯m not ashamed of either.¡±

    I¡¯d walked past that line long ago.

    ¡°Nl¨C¡±

    ¡°How do you feel about <em>me</em>?¡± she cut in, her eyes meeting mine. She would not allow me to lie this time. ¡°How do you truly feel?¡±

    ¡°I would go the same lengths if you had been in Astrid¡¯s ce.¡± Probably even further. ¡°I would have cut my own arm if it would have kept you safe."

    ¡°You would¡­¡± Nl paled. ¡°Kill?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied without hesitation. ¡°I¡¯ve told you before that I would do whatever it takes to protect you. I would kill, burn, and lie.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t <em>want </em>you to, Iztac,¡± she protested, her voice with sorrow. ¡°I don¡¯t want anybody else to die.¡±

    ¡°I cannot promise you that, Nl.¡± The Nightlords wouldn¡¯t let me. ¡°Not all lives are equal, and yours is too precious to me.¡±

    After a moment¡¯s hesitation, I took Nl¡¯s hands into my own. She didn¡¯t resist me. I squeezed her fingers with all of my strength and resolve.

    ¡°All I want from you, Nl, the only thing I want, is your safety and happiness,¡± I told her. ¡°I swear it.¡±

    I stared into her blue eyes. I could tell that Nl <em>wanted </em>to believe me. She had seen me at my worst and best, and she wished to focus on thetter rather than the former. She simply struggled to ept that while I¡¯dmitted heinous deeds and lied, I only ever had her interests at heart.

    Words wouldn¡¯t convince her of my resolve. So I didn¡¯t use any.

    I leaned in and nted a kiss on her lips.

    She let out a small, adorable startled noise when I touched her. The sweet taste of her skin against mine helped wash away the souvenir of Iztacoatl¡¯s loathsomepany.

    The kiss was short and sweet, though I eventually pulled back. Nl¡¯s pale cheek turned as red as my own. Her eyes, so blue and full of goodwill, fascinated me more though. Her fear and apprehension soon turned into deep warmth and profound gentleness. I saw the confusion vanish as Nl reached a decision.

    She kissed me back.

    Her touch was clumsy and hesitant at first, but swiftly grew more confident as she suckled. My hand swiftly threaded to her soft white hair while the other grabbed her back. I pulled her closer until her gown brushed against my chest. She seemed so frail and precious in my arms; nothing like the ferocious wolf she could turn into. I felt I could break her with any wrong move, only for her strength to take me aback.

    She was the one to break the kiss this time, though mostly to gather her breath. Letting her go was an agonizing experience, but I let her gather her thoughts.

    ¡°Iztac, I¡­¡± Nl smiled sheepishly. ¡°I think¡­¡±

    She gathered her breath, exhaled, and then mustered her courage.

    ¡°I think that I love you,¡± she confessed shyly.

    I¡¯d faced gods and demons, survived fiendish trials and tortures, and waged so many battles. How could these simple words leave me speechless?

    I thought that telling Nl the truth about my true self would drive her away; that she would never ept the sins I shouldered or the crimes I¡¯dmitted. I¡¯d been deceived. Nl loved me <em>in spite </em>of everything else.

    The same way Father loved Mother.

    And when I pondered her words, I realized that I felt the same. I¡¯d risked so much to save Nl and earn her trust. No one besides Eztli and Necahual warranted the same amount of effort I put into our rtionship. She was a rare exception among my consorts and concubines: a woman whose affection I yearned not for personal gain, but for the sake of love alone.

    My heart overflowed with warmth. ¡°I love you too, Nl.¡±

    Nl¡¯s bright, blissful smile melted all my doubts like snow in the sunlight.

    <strong>¡ª- NSFW Scene starts here ¡ª</strong>

    Her hands grabbed her gown and slowly pulled it over her head. Her pale skin was so smooth and hairless. My eyes lingered on her breasts, only for my excitement to die when I saw the beginning of her tattoo tainting her shoulders.

    I thought I was beyond feeling guilt anymore, but I was wrong. The sight of that twisted ink filled me with intense remorse. Nl immediately realized it, gently grabbed my hand, and put it on her skin.

    ¡°I forgive you,¡± she whispered in my ear.

    The words sank into my mind and lifted a weight off my shoulders. I began to caress her curves, first with some hesitation; and when she encouraged me to continue, more boldly. My hands moved up to her breasts. They were smaller than Necahual¡¯s, but so soft and pliable.

    I began to massage them and drew a startled cry out of Nl. Unlike the other women I¡¯d coupled with, she never had experience or training. She was a virgin, pure and unblemished.

    The desire that I bottled up for so long rose to the surface. I¡¯d denied Nl¡¯s advances once because our rtionship was based on lies and deceit, but no dam of guilt and lies rose to stop the flood this time. She¡¯d seen the true me and epted me, so I would give her all of myself in return.

    Since it was Nl¡¯s first time, I resolved to take it slow. I gently caressed and kneaded her breasts, letting her moans of pleasure guide me to her sweet spots. I kissed her down her neckline while my fingers fondled her.

    Nl¡¯s body squirmed, and her hands clumsily reached for my own clothes. She had no idea where to start, so it took her a while to roll up my imperial robes. By the time she removed them, I was beginning to work my way down her hips and buttcheeks. Her breath shortened into gasps as I massaged her rear. I protectively enveloped her in my arms and imed her all for myself.

    I did most of the work, but Nl soon began to return my touch with boldness. I sensed her ragged breath on my neck as her lips kissed my skin while her hands hesitantly caressed my chest. I lightly lifted her up to enjoy the feeling of her warm breasts rubbing against me. When our lips connected again, Nl boldly invaded my mouth with her tongue.

    One of my hands worked its way between her legs, startling her. Nl was <em>soaked</em>. She had been looking forward to consummating our rtionship even more than I did. I caressed her warm folds, each moan of pleasure an encouragement to continue. Her knees buckled against me and her cries grew stronger.

    Nl was a louder partner than most. It made it easy to guess how to please her.

    I briefly wondered how it would feel to bite her neck the way Iztacoatl kissed me earlier, trading her blood for my seed. The thought was fleeting and disappeared in an instant, but my hunger and desire only grew stronger.

    I wanted to im her, <em>all</em> of her.

    I pried away from our embrace and gentlyid her on her back. Nl stared at me in confusion until I crawled over her. I took a moment to admire her from above. Nl looked so beautiful when she didn¡¯t keep her head down and her back shyly bent. Her sapphire eyes, her white hair messily spread over the purple sheets, the way her chest softly rose with each inspiration¡­ Every detail only strengthened my desire.

    I gently spread her legs, keeping one hand on the side of her head and grabbing my throbbing cock with the other. I looked into Nl¡¯s eyes, waiting for her permission.

    ¡°Is¡­¡± Nl gathered her breath in anticipation. ¡°Is this going to hurt?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I reassured her. ¡°I¡¯ll be gentle.¡±

    Nl smiled shyly, then gave me a short, small nod. I slowly began to push my cock against her quivering pussy. Nl moaned as I entered her, her breasts bouncing softly with her ragged breaths. She was <em>tight</em>; so tight that I had to push a little hard to prate her. I soon felt something viscous and awfully familiar dripping down our thighs.

    Blood.

    The sensation only excited me further. Nl groaned and shivered as I stretched her out, her trembling arms squeezing my hips. My hands soon grabbed her soft stomach to help me gain a better grip

    ¡°Ah!¡± If the others in the hall didn¡¯t figure out what was happening, Nl¡¯s cries and shouts certainly solved that. ¡°Iztac!¡±

    Her head rolled back and her eyelids fluttered. Her body pulsed against me, and I soon began to throw caution to the wind. My desire overwhelmed me. I began to pound into her, first slowly, then boldly. Nl soon began to meet me, her breasts bouncing as she matched my thrusts with pushes of her own.

    Her nails sank into my back, and her behavior changed before I knew it. She held onto me with near-religious fervor and began to kiss me fervently. Her hands grabbed my buttcheeks and pulled them closer. My name stoppeding out of her mouth, reced with moans of pleasure and animal runting. The bed rocked under our weight.

    And as our flesh united, so did our Teyolias.

    It took me aback. I wasn¡¯t <em>trying </em>to use Seidr. In fact, I resisted it. Eztli¡¯s warning about practicing it with my consorts might ring true, and doing it in the temple might put us at risk.

    But whether because we were each Nahualli with a totem of our own, or because I gave her my blood earlier, our Teyolias connected on their own. Nl¡¯s heart-fire was the strongest I¡¯d seen yet, a bright white star shining in the night. Where my Teyolia burned with an ursed me born of curses and hatred, hers weed me with kindness and grace.

    Nl held nothing back. She didn¡¯t try to dominate me like Chikal, nor did she share Necahual and Lahun¡¯s embers of hesitation. She trusted me and weed me unconditionally. Every friction of our bodies, every drop of sweat, every kiss furthered our embrace.

    Our spirits joined together because I could not even think of pulling back.

    I¡¯d <em>never </em>felt something like this. It was like my very sense of self began to melt with Nl¡¯s. I was on her, in her, but I was also below, facing my own self through her eyes. The part where <em>I </em>started and <em>she </em>began became blurry. Our pleasure became reflected, <em>magnified</em>.

    Soon my world faded into a vision. Nl¡¯s facial features shifted. She kept her sapphire eyes and white hair, but her face sharpened. She gained a few years and a ferocious edge. The room changed too, from avish bedroom to a sparse house.

    Our house.

    I suddenly realized that my arms were darker than before, and recognized the woman¡¯s voice. Where I was used to her speaking to me with coldness, she now whimpered with lust and ragged desire.

    Mother.

    Few men could boast of witnessing their own conception through their father¡¯s eyes.

    I had no idea why the Seidr ritual sent me <em>this </em>vision out of all possibilities, but it didn¡¯tst long. It copsed into a white sh as my groin erupted like Smoke Mountain.

    I returned to reality in the throes of our shared orgasm, my hands gripping Nl¡¯s jolting body, her legs wrapped up around my waist while I groaned in pleasure. Every muscle in my body tensed as I came inside her, my seed melding with her blood.

    <strong>¡ª- NSFW Scene ends here ¡ª</strong>

    We were out of breath by the time I finished. Nl gasped, her body covered in sweat. ¡°Iztac, this¡­¡± she exhaled in bliss. ¡°Ah¡­ ah¡­¡±

    Her smile managed to quell all of my fears about the Seidr ritual being discovered. I simply couldn¡¯t muster the strength to worry about anything. I simply basked in the warmth and afterglow.

    ¡°Is this¡­¡± Nl chuckled, her hands caressing my naked chest. ¡°Is sex always like this?¡±

    ¡°Only with me,¡± I replied.

    It sounded much better in my head, but I drew a giggle from Nl nheless. Herugh rang like crystal and reignited the fire in my blood. Our lips met again, her hunger matching mine.

    This night of nightmares ended on such a good note.

 Chapter Sixty-Five: Chindi

    Chapter Sixty-Five: Chindi

    I found Mother waiting for me at the Xibalba crossroad.

    She came in person, though the path to her house remained closed to me. That detail alone was unlike her. She warned me that she would not help me confront my trials, nor did she give me the path to her sanctuary when I first entered.

    ¡°Wee back, my son,¡± Mother said upon greeting me. ¡°I pray that you slept well.¡±

    Her question sounded innocent enough, but it left me feeling somewhat awkward. Seeing Mother so soon after receiving a Seidr vision of my own conception through my father¡¯s eyes unsettled me.

    ¡°I did.¡± Nl¡¯s bosom lulled me to sleep quicker than the softest pillow. ¡°Where is Astrid?¡±

    ¡°The girl is with me for now.¡± Typical of Mother not to call another human by name. ¡°Your consort, Eztli I believe, was quite bold and charming for a vampire. I can see why you are so intent on curing her.¡±

    Somehow, the thought of my mother and Eztli getting along disturbed me to my core. I had the feeling those two would only bring out the worst of each other as mutual bad influences.

    Mother studied me for a moment before asking me a strange question. ¡°Why did you do it?"

    Her words puzzled me. ¡°You ask why I would help my own flesh and blood?¡±¡°No, I ask why did you put yourself at risk warning me? You sacrificed much to the Yaotzin for it and nearly exposed your true nature to the Nightlords.¡± Mother¡¯s head leaned to the side like a quizzical owl. ¡°Considering our differences¡­ I do not understand why you did this. Am I truly so useful to you?¡±

    I snorted. ¡°You could have been useless to me and I would still have acted the same.¡±

    ¡°I do not understand,¡± Mother replied.

    Tragically, she sounded entirely sincere. Only <em>she </em>could find such a simple concept beyond her. ¡°This is the difference between you and me, Mother: should ite to it, I will not hesitate to put myself in harm¡¯s way to protect my blood.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ see.¡± Mother¡¯s chin lowered slightly. Was that a hint of shame and embarrassment I detected in her voice? ¡°Iztacoatl¡¯s hunters came close to my location. What you did was foolish and irresponsible, but I thank you for it.¡±

    ¡°I could say the same for what you didst night.¡± I chuckled to myself. ¡°You should have seen Iztacoatl¡¯s face. No one dared to steal away one of her victims before you.¡±

    Mother shrugged. ¡°Iztacoatl used her to put pressure on you and your allies. I saw an opportunity to remove her and I took it.¡±

    Her cold wording made me fear the worst. ¡°Please tell me you didn¡¯t kill her.¡±

    ¡°Do you take me for a monster?¡± Mother replied gruffly. ¡°Since you were so desperate to keep the girl alive, I simply spirited her away to safety.¡±

    ¡°Where?¡±

    ¡°To the south. I will take her to a ce beyond Yohuachanca¡¯s borders, where the Nightlords¡¯ grasp does not reach yet. It should be easy to find a family willing to take such an exotic child in.¡±

    ¡°Do not,¡± I replied firmly. ¡°Keep her close for now.¡±

    ¡°Are you giving orders now, my son?¡± Mother rebuffed me. ¡°I cannot keep the child with me. She is too young to take care of herself, and the Nightlords might use spells to locate her.¡±

    ¡°You can keep her and you <em>will</em>,¡± I replied imperiously. As I told the Yaotzin earlier, I was done <em>asking </em>and <em>begging</em>. ¡°If you want to get rid of the White Snake who tried to ensnare you once for good, that is.¡±

    My tone and bold deration caused Mother to re at me. ¡°What do you have in mind, my son?¡±

    ¡°I have a n to destroy her.¡± I opened my palm and fashioned a skull out of my bones. ¡°First though, I must confer with my other advisors.¡±

    I called upon the Legion and summoned my predecessors¡¯ spirits.

    ¡°Greetings, our sessor, Lady Ichtaca,¡± the Parliament of Skulls said as their medium¡¯s eyes began to glow. ¡°Many things have happened since west spoke, for good or ill.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± I replied, though I remained optimistic. ¡°For each hardship that we encounteredst night, I say we received a blessing in disguise. I thought we should share our information before moving forward.¡±

    I recounted to Mother and the Parliament everything that happened that night; since thetter could see through my eyes, I assumed they caught on to details that might have escaped me. Mother scowled when she heard how I healed Nl¡¯s wounds.

    ¡°You closed her wounds with your blood?¡± she asked me, dumbfounded.

    ¡°You said that Seidr could achieve that feat yourself,¡± I reminded her. Her own words inspired me.

    ¡°During an <em>embrace</em>, yes. I¡¯ve never heard of a transfer of life using <em>blood </em>as a medium outside of vampires.¡±

    ¡°If you trusted Father enough to practice Seidr with him, maybe you would have learned this technique,¡± I retorted.

    Mother bristled. My remark struck a nerve. ¡°I admit I may have underestimated this magic,¡± she confessed. ¡°With enough practice, you could learn to mimic the Nightkin¡¯s ability to drain the life of others. The Nightlords gained immense strength from consuming the Teyolias of countless victims across the centuries. You could do the same.¡±

    ¡°I have no desire to consume souls,¡± I replied. Killing was one thing, denying a soul its eternal rest was another. ¡°Besides, ying many victims would inevitably draw suspicion.¡±

    ¡°Then take a portion of their lifeforce,¡± Mother suggested. She seemed disturbingly curious about my discovery and its potential applications. ¡°A sip that would strengthen you without raising suspicions. If you switch partners regrly enough, no one will notice.¡±

    ¡°<em>That,</em> I could do,¡± I conceded. Truthfully, I¡¯d already thought of it myself.

    ¡°Lady Sigrun maintained her vitality by draining us,¡± my predecessors said. ¡°As much as we dislike her method, we suggest you follow in her footsteps. Repeated practice will not only reinforce your Teyolia in preparation for future battles, but teach you how to manipte those of others in increasingly precise ways. You may eventually learn how to snuff out a life with a mere touch.¡±

    I wouldn¡¯t mind sharing my blood with a red-eyed priest if it meant draining them of their ill-gotten vitality. ¡°What of Nl, my predecessors?¡± I asked, slightly uneasy. ¡°I identally triggered a Seidr ritual in herpany. You said you weren¡¯t sure if the Nightlords would notice one between a consort and myself.¡±

    ¡°We were able to shroud your union from their sight,¡± my predecessors confirmed, much to my immense relief. ¡°Between this and your blood¡¯s inability to harm the Nightlords, we suspect that your Teyolia does not shine brightly enough for them to notice it yet.¡±

    A saddening truth. Still, if my predecessors could shroud Seidr rituals with my consorts from the Nightlords, then it meant I could practice it with them without fear. Ingrid was trained by her mother in its arts, and Nl¡¯s mighty heart-fire might yield better results than with another partner.

    ¡°Your victory in your hunt fills us with pride and joy,¡± the past emperors said. ¡°The Nightlords¡¯ unexpected resistance to your blood and the scarlet <em>huiztli¡¯s </em>influence on you, much less so.¡±

    ¡°I remained in control of myself through the night,¡± I argued, though my own words sounded empty to me. I had let my own bloodlust cloud my judgment. ¡°ming the First Emperor drew the Nightlords¡¯ suspicions away from myself.¡±

    ¡°You y a dangerous game nheless,¡± the Parliament replied sternly. ¡°The Nightlords fear their vengeful sire more than anything. The threat he represents will distract them, true, but the more you pretend to fall under his influence, the more they will tighten your chains. If they believe he controls you, they will torment you; if the threat lessens, they will suspect you.¡±

    ¡°Adopting a deity¡¯s trappings is never without consequences either, my son,¡± Mother warned. ¡°The Nightlords¡¯ ritual carries immense spiritual weight. The more people believe that the First Emperor speaks through, the stronger his hold on you will grow.¡±

    I crossed my arms. ¡°I must settle on a bncing act then. Make the Nightlords believe the threat of their father looms over my shoulders while I remain manageable. They¡¯ll never fully trust me now that I¡¯ve tasted their sire¡¯s power the same way they leeched it off for centuries, but I can give them cause to believe that they can still control me.¡±

    ¡°You must continue to y the fool now and then,¡± my predecessors suggested. ¡°Your feint with Itzili will seem more genuine when seasoned with frivolity. A plotter backed by a god is <em>threatening</em>, while a jester with power is <em>entertaining</em>. Be like water; fickle, formless, and ever-changing. We fear that the White Snake will never stop suspecting you, but her sisters maye to underestimate you.¡±

    I nodded as I considered how to put this strategy into action. I would carefully me any sign of supernatural influence on the First Emperor or on fits of madness, then hide my better moves amidst decadence and abuses of power.<em> Fear the god, pity the messenger. </em>

    Even so, I knew I wouldn¡¯t be able to sustain this charade forever. I would eventually slip up, or the Nightlords would descend into panic and paranoia once I slew another of their own. They only gave me some leeway because they needed to reassure their empire that everything went ording to n and because Eztli could fill in for Yoloxochitl. The loss of another sister would likely cause things to descend into chaos.

    I would have to be ready to fight by then.

    ¡°The Skinwalker¡¯s survival does not y into our hands either,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°We sense ripples through our shared curse. The Nightlords have already begun to transfer Eztli¡¯s chains to her soul.¡±

    I clenched my fists. Once the Nightlords bound a soul to their curse, they could bring them back from death at will. ¡°Then it is toote to kill her?¡±

    ¡°We are afraid so,¡± my predecessors replied with a frustrated rattle. ¡°The door to their Father¡¯s prison nheless remains cracked, and it would take your sacrifice during the Scarlet Moon to fix it. All they have done is exchange one key for another.¡±

    ¡°It would have been wiser to let those Nightchildren consume that Skinwalker¡¯s soul,¡± Mother said, her head leaning slightly to the side. ¡°Although¡­¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Although?"

    ¡°A Skinwalker¡¯s true name is one of their key weaknesses,¡± Mother replied. ¡°They bury their broken totem underyers of skin to maintain their power and hide their identity. Their very soul is a house raised on rotting foundations; those who disturb them cause the building to copse. Speak it aloud, and their powers are temporarily crippled.¡±

    Oh? Fascinating. Even Lahun didn¡¯t know <em>that</em> particr bit of information. Skinwalkers probably hid it with ferocity.

    ¡°You imply I could ckmail that beast into obedience should I learn her true name?¡± I asked with sudden interest. I had no love for the Skinwalker after she nearly killed Itzili and Nl, but her powers could make her a formidable weapon. ¡°If I contacted the Yaotzin¨C¡±

    Mother shook her head. ¡°The wise Skinwalker purchases the Yaotzin¡¯s silence with countless atrocities. I had hoped that you might have already won that information during your mental duel.¡±

    My jaw tightened. ¡°I did not. We simply fought.¡±

    Mother sighed in disappointment. ¡°A shame. Learning her true name would have guaranteed her silence.¡±

    My eyes wandered to my predecessors¡¯ skull medium as I tried to figure out an alternative solution. If the Nightlords indeed bound the Skinwalker¡¯s soul to their ritual, then it created a link between us. One simr to the Legion spell¡­

    An idea struck me like a lightning bolt.

    ¡°The Ride spell,¡± I muttered out loud.

    ¡°Have you not paid attention to my lessons, my son?¡± Mother chided me. ¡°You need a <em>name </em>for the Ride spell to work.¡±

    ¡°We have better than a name,¡± I retorted. ¡°We have a divine curse binding an emperor to his consorts.¡±

    ¡°Even so, possession does not grant knowledge.¡±

    ¡°I do not want to <em>possess </em>the Skinwalker¡¯s body,¡± I corrected Mother. ¡°I want to invade her mind, to dominate her spirit the way she intended to crush mine, until I rip her true name from her memories.¡±

    My predecessors quickly guessed my intent. ¡°The Legion spell already showed us that we could share our memories through the curse.¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± I confirmed. ¡°Combining the Legion and the Ride should allow for a meeting of the souls, am I correct?¡±

    The Parliament of Skulls pondered my theory before voicing their support. ¡°Though the bond that unites an emperor to his consort is weaker than the one binding him to his predecessors, you crushed the Skinwalker¡¯s will earlier. This ought to have left a bleeding wound; a weakness for us totch onto.¡±

    ¡°Joining minds with a Skinwalker, even a weakened one, is a dangerous proposition,¡± Mother warned me. ¡°Their souls fester in madness and corruption. It might stain you.¡±

    ¡°We have little choice but to try,¡± I replied. ¡°If I cannot obtain her true name, then I must excise dangerous memories before the Nightlords may extract them through torture.¡±

    ¡°Shattering her mind beyond repair would make for an eptable oue too,¡± the Parliament concluded. ¡°Should the worste to pass, we will force her spirit to mesh with our collective. It should destroy her.¡±

    I nodded in assent. I would rather add a tool to my arsenal, but should the Skinwalker prove rabid, then we better put her down before she could bite us.

    ¡°The girl¡¯s case remains,¡± Mother said. By now, she had gained insight into my ns. ¡°You intend to make use of her to put pressure on this Fjor, do you not?¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± I confirmed. ¡°He is a spawn of Iztacoatl herself and thus should have ess to her. Moreover, he cared about Astrid enough to risk disobeying his sire to protect her. Threatening his sister¡¯s life should ensure his cooperation.¡±

    ¡°You wish to use him as an assassin?¡± Mother inquired.

    ¡°Not as an assassin.¡± <em>May Ingrid forgive me.</em> ¡°As a <em>weapon</em>.¡±

    A heavy silence fell upon the crossroads. The eye sockets of the skull within my hand flickered with baleful mes. Fjor¡¯s father was among the dead emperors making up the Parliament, and another sired Astrid. I was loath to propose this n to them.

    Unfortunately, this was our best chance to strike at Iztacoatl. We couldn¡¯t exclude the option.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the vition.

    ¡°Fjor has consumed a skull marked with the Legion spell, thus creating a sympathetic link between us,¡± I exined. ¡°This is a bond that Astrid¡¯s presence could reinforce. I believe we can exploit it to destroy Iztacoatl.¡±

    ¡°I think I see what you have in mind, my son,¡± Mother said. She sounded cautiously impressed by my initiative. ¡°However, youck the power to fuel such a ritual. You would need to im loc¡¯s embers first at the minimum, perhaps even Quetzalcoatl¡¯s own.¡±

    ¡°I intend toplete the former task soon enough.¡± My blood¡¯s failure to harm the Nightlords only strengthened my resolve toplete Xibalba¡¯s trials. ¡°Do you think it would work?¡±

    ¡°It should, in theory,¡± Mother replied with some ambivalence. ¡°It would require serious preparations, and failure would waste it all.¡±

    I assumed as much. I then turned to the skull in my hand. ¡°Do you agree with this n, my predecessors?¡±

    The Parliament did not hesitate. ¡°We would rather see our sons <em>dead </em>than <em>undead</em>.¡±

    I pondered their answer, then nodded slowly. They had long made peace with destroying the Nightkin their progeny turned into should victory require it. I would honor their resolve the best I could.

    I hoped I could spare Fjor¡¯s life, both for his sisters¡¯ sake and to honor histe parents¡¯ memory, but if our n demanded his destruction¡­ then I wouldn¡¯t hesitate.

    Once these matters were settled, I sat in the middle of the crossroads with my predecessors¡¯ skull sitting between my hands. Mother carved words in the stone floor around me; a set of ancient prayers that should improve my odds of contacting the Skinwalker¡¯s spirit. It was the best she could do in the absence of a name.

    ¡°I will ask you onest time, my son,¡± Mother said with a hint of concern. ¡°Are you truly certain that you wish to proceed? You expose yourself to great risks by casting this spell.¡±

    I snorted. ¡°I stand on the razor¡¯s edge each day I spend plotting against the Nightlords. I will take my chances.¡±

    Mother took my answer in silence. With nothing more to say, I closed my eyes and focused. I sensed the Ride and Legion spells activate together, the techniques blending into a clumsy whole. My mind ascended to the world above as a malicious spirit hungry for a vessel of flesh, while my predecessors followed like a cohort of vengeful ghosts.

    Using the Ride spell in conjunction with a name provided a trail to the target. In its absence, I followed the curse that bound my soul and those of my consorts to the Nightlords. I climbed up my leash all the way to a web of chains. I saw doorways of light leading to hearts that I already had touched: Nl, Ingrid, Chikal¡­

    I quickly realized why I could heal Nl with blood alone. Seidr helped me understand the shape of souls, my own included. I could tell them apart and reshape them.

    It helped me gain a greater understanding of the curse that bound our destinies. The Parliament of Skulls warned me that the chains binding us to the Nightlords were tighter than those that kept me connected to my consorts. They were right. The procession of emperors that stretched all the way back to the First allowed no error; each of us actors took on the tragic role without failure or interruption. The path to my sessor was already mapped out. The Nightlords already knew who would rece me should I fail to avoid my fate.

    But for all their importance, consorts were secondary roles in a centuries-long y. When all eyes were on the lead, it was easier to rece the lesser actors when one left the stage. Nl, Ingrid, Chikal, and Eztli only derived power from their link to me. Their leashes were looser.

    I followed the one that once bound me to Eztli. It was weaker than the others, more fragile. At its end was the foulest Teyolia I¡¯d ever seen; a pale, weakened me unfit to be a torch, let alone a sun. It stank of rot and silt.

    I usually used the Ride spell to suppress my target¡¯s mind in order to take control of their body. I acted far more cruelly this time: I joined my Tonalli and Teyolias to her own the same way Seidr let me be united with my partners. I attempted to subsume her very soul.

    I immediately sensed resistance. Animals and normal humans crumbled in an instant when faced with my mighty catecolotl spirit, but though weakened the Skinwalker remained a powerful witch. She identified me for who I was, and her panic let her draw into reserves of strength.

    She might have seeded without the souls of my predecessors carrying me forward. When the Skinwalker tried to push back and escape into the darkness, their ghostly mass clung to her like mud. They tightened the chain binding us until I could climb it long enough to reach her. I felt like an animal cutting its way throughyers of skin in an attempt to reach the soft, delicious flesh underneath.

    I briefly saw through the Skinwalker¡¯s eyes in shes. I felt the pain in her arms and legs as they were nailed to a cross of wood underground, screamed with her lungs, tasted the blood in her mouth, and suffered the kiss of the priests¡¯shes. I saw the Nightlords¡¯ shadows loom over her body, their ws sinking into her chest to bind her heart.

    <em>¡°Get out of my head!¡± </em>she tried to scream, but no words came out of her throat. My dark talons strangled her mind until her body refused to obey her.

    I delved deeper and wed through her recent memories. I tasted her fear when she met my icy blue eyes in the forest and the numb cold of the Nightchildren¡¯s caress. Seidr required both partners to align with each other, to work together. There was nothing consensual about what I was doing. I was forcing my way in, breaking through the door to her rotten heart, and answering her attempts to push me back with brutality.

    It was a mental vition, pure and simple.

    I would have felt disgusted at myself once. I think I may have stopped with anybody else; but the further I descended throughyers of memories, the more my disgust for the Skinwalker grew.

    I watched her peel back the <em>real </em>Cipetl¡¯s skin with a smile and a curved knife. It was such an art to y a human alive: you had to use the right tools, start from the back of the head, and be careful to separate the skin from the fat and cartge. She <em>knew </em>doing it while Cipetl was still breathing would spoil the skin and leave traces, but the screams and blood made the chore so sweet¡­

    I observed through her eyes how the chieftains of the Three-Rivers Federation asked her to y Yohuachanca¡¯s emperor on behalf of their people and spare them the gue of bats ravaging them. I heard her price: the firstborn child of each of her employers.

    I felt her wolfish fangs close around a woman¡¯s throat in a dark forest and the taste of her heart on her tongue. I recalled a time when she caught a child in a bear¡¯s skin and asked him which part of himself he hated the most; when he answered the eyes, she cut them out and left him to bleed in the grass.

    I saw her kill a bride on the eve of her marriage and impersonate her on the wedding night. Then, at the height of the consummation, she returned to her true monstrous form and castrated him. Herugh as she fled into the night would have sent chills down my spine had I been in my body.

    The rest of the Skinwalker¡¯s memories were a cavalcade of pointless horrors that would make a red-eyed priest nauseous. I shared in the thrill and rush of putting on a new skin. She was <em>addicted </em>to it, for she did more than steal their face: she took on a sliver of their Tonalli, growing her strength and extending her life year by year. She carved her skin masks out of people¡¯s souls.

    Yet that dependency couldn¡¯t exin half of the monstrous deeds I witnessed in the archive of her century-long life. Even the Nightlords¡¯ cruelty was guided by long-term visions and ambitions, mad as they were. This <em>thing </em>was a beast in human skin driven by its lusts and hunger. Nay, calling her an animal would have been an insult to Itzili and Tetzon.

    This Skinwalker was a <em>monster</em>.

    Hence my utterck of pity as I dug my way down to her childhood. I saw the res of her fellow tribesmen, the way they threw stones at her and refused to feed her meat for her hair and eyes; she knew they would have killed her for her blue eyes and white hair had the shaman not required an apprentice.

    The hate festering in her heart felt so intimately familiar to me, for I¡¯d shared it. It was like watching a warped mirror of my own life. The Skinwalker suffered for being born a Nahualli the same way I did, but she chose to wallow in her own spite rather than do anything productive with her gifts.

    Would I have turned out like her had the Nightlords not chosen me? Could I still end up like her if I lost sight of my goals? I would like to answer with a resounding no to both questions, but the simrities between us unsettled me. I¡¯d reveled too much in my powerst night to think myself above the temptation to abuse it.

    Still, I didn¡¯t think I had it in me tomit the crime that set this Skinwalker on her path: <em>kinying</em>.

    I saw it all in her memories. The Skinwalker reserved the worst of her anger for her twin sister, Anaye, who had the fortune of being born with ck strands on her head rather than white ones. She was pretty, loved, charming, and <em>healthy</em>. When the chief¡¯s son announced he would take Anaye for a wife, her sibling¡¯s envy turned into murderous rage.

    She had only intended to kill Anaye when she visited her tent in the night, but when she tasted her sweet blood, evil entered her heart and opened up her mind. Everything her sister had could belong to her: her beauty, her vitality, her <em>life</em>. Anaye became her first skin, but it would not be thest.

    That kinyer buried Anaye¡¯s yed corpse in a ditch, then stole her life and husband. She had kept it up for a time until the tribe¡¯s shaman asked her what happened to her sister. Hearing her true name made her new skin feel so ufortable, almost unbearable; and when her ¡®husband¡¯ saw her true face, she murdered him and burned her tribes¡¯ teepees with their people still inside them. None would live to spread knowledge of her hated name, the proof of her guilt and weakness. She would bury that secret deep inside her rotten heart where no one would find it.

    Until I unearthed it.

    ¡°<em>Chindi</em>.¡±

    The Skinwalker¡¯s true name echoed across thendscape of memories and shattered it like a broken mirror. Her resistance copsed like a dam failing to hold the flood of my will. The mindscape shifted into a dark void kept alight by our Teyolias; mine burned like the sun and hers like an ember.

    In thisndscape of the soul, the Skinwalker manifested in her true, twisted, horned shape, but so small and weakened; I meanwhile appeared as a great dark owl many times her size. I towered over her like a spineking over a human. Such was the difference of strength between us.

    Poor Chindi screamed as I pinned her under my talons. She tried to fight me back and move her lips in the real world.

    <em>¡°Your true enemy is inside my head!¡±</em> She tried to plead with the Nightlords. <em>¡°Spare my life, oh mistresses of the dark!¡±</em>

    She struggled in vain, and no sound came out of her mouth. Her pitiful attempts at begging the Nightlords for her life went unheard, for I had taken hold of her soul and flesh. She was a prisoner inside her own head, and I held the key to her cell.

    ¡°Silence, foolish <em>Chindi</em>,¡± I ordered. Her screams died, her Teyolia faltering. Uttering her name wounded her deeper than any dagger could. ¡°You are barking up the wrong tree.¡±

    To prove so, I gave her a peek at my own memories. I showed Lady Sigrun¡¯s struggle and the Nightlords¡¯ utterck of care for loyalty. I gave her a taste of their <em>ungratefulness</em>, followed by a vision of Nochtli the Fourteen¡¯s sacrifice and that of his consorts.

    Chindi¡¯s soul shrunk within my talons. She knew the fate that awaited her and that the Nightlords¡¯ promises weren¡¯t worth the scroll on which they were written; after all, she behaved the same way with so many others in the past.

    ¡°Ah, but fear not,¡± I said as I projected my most delectable memory into her mind: the crunching noise that followed Yoloxochitl¡¯s death at her own sire¡¯s hand and my satisfied smile at my plot¡¯s sess. ¡°Their turn wille.¡±

    ¡°Who¡­¡± she whimpered with a hundred stolen voices. ¡°<em>What</em> are you?¡±

    ¡°I am the demon who shall throw Yohuachanca into chaos. I am thest emperor, he who brings the fiery dawn.¡± I expanded my wings of darkness until I enveloped her in my shadow. ¡°I am the catecolotl, the owl-fiend!¡±

    The Skinwalker had only caught a glimpse of my soul during ourst encounter, but now she saw my true self in all of its dreadful majesty. I appeared to her as a mighty sorcerer and Godspeaker with a baleful heart-fire burning with a dead sun¡¯s embers, followed by the vengeful ghosts of ancient emperors. She <em>felt </em>the weight of all the lives I had taken, the sins I hadmitted, and the spells that I had mastered within her very soul. The disparity in power became undeniable.

    Her lips stretched into a ghastly smile that felt uncannily familiar.

    ¡°Wonderful,¡± she whispered. ¡°Absolutely <em>wonderful</em>¡­¡±

    Of all her possible answers, I hadn¡¯t expected this one.

    The Skinwalker lowered her head in craven submission. She had finally ceased her foolish struggles. Her body had gone limp in the real world too. She was a prisoner within her own mind and at my mercy.

    But I sensed no more fearing from her. Instead, her soul radiated a twisted, delirious kind of joy. A deep, confusing sense of exhration.

    I finally recognized why her expression felt so familiar. It was the same that Chamiaholom gave me whenever she voiced her approval.

    ¡°You are like me,¡± Chindi muttered in warped adoration. ¡°But so much greater¡­¡±

    A wave of disgust and revulsion overwhelmed me.

    ¡°We are <em>nothing </em>alike,¡± I replied coldly. ¡°You are but an insect who dared to fly too close to the sun.¡±

    She didn¡¯t even deny it. ¡°Yes¡­ <em>yes</em>, I see that now,¡± she muttered while licking her lips. ¡°I wanted to rip out your spine and suck the marrow out of your bones, but your blood was not mine to spill¡­¡±

    Nothing in this mindscape was real, yet her eyes managed to form tears of blood nheless.

    ¡°<em>You</em> are the bleeding dawn who will throw this world into chaos,¡± she cried. ¡°What delightful ughter it will be¡­ what grand rapture¡­"

    This creature was <em>insane</em>.

    Had the Nightchildren and I scrambled her mind beyond recovery? Or had she always been like this?

    ¡°Please forgive me, oh lord of darkness,¡± Chindi begged me, not out of fear but out of <em>submission</em>. ¡°I did not know the true extent of your power and vision. I did not <em>know</em>.¡±

    ¡°You have sought my death and harmed my consorts,¡± I replied in utter disdain. ¡°Though you never had a chance of achieving either, that crime warrants a fate worse than death. Why should I spare you?¡±

    She kissed my talons with her bloody lips. ¡°I offer myself to you, Master¡­ Take my flesh to serve your purpose and point me at your enemies. I will peel back their skin and wear it like a cloak, yes¡­ I will serve you, I will love you, I will scream for you¡­¡±

    I briefly wondered if she was lying to me in ast-ditch attempt to save her miserable life, but I held her true name over her in the depths of her soul. I sensed no deceit. Hers was a sincere kind of madness. Her terror had morphed into admiration and worship.

    I struggled to contain my disgust. This Skinwalker was a bully at heart, cruel to the weak and fearful of the strong. After I showed her how the Nightlords wouldn¡¯t reward her loyalty and imed her true name, she decided to cast her lot with <em>me</em>. She craved my power and wished to revel in the destruction I would no doubt continue to sow in my wake.

    She was a cowardly opportunist, nothing more. A lesser horror pandering to a greater one.

    <em>What should I do with her?</em> Reading Chindi¡¯s memories only solidified my distaste for this vicious creature. If there was any shred of goodness in her heart, she ripped it out long ago. She was just as bad as the Nightlords themselves; her cruelty only differed in its scale rather than its depth. <em>Her many victims would praise me for ridding the world of her loathsome presence. </em>

    Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t destroy her Teyolia now that the Nightlords bound it to their foul ritual. They would drag back her ck soul straight from the Underworld the moment I snuffed it out.

    I could go with my predecessors¡¯ suggestion. Throwing this monster¡¯s mind into a boiling cauldron of over six-hundred dead emperors would shatter her mind beyond repair. I doubted she would be able to speak afterward, let alone plot against me or reveal my secrets. On one hand, a catatonic shell would be of no use to me, but it wouldn¡¯t be a liability either.

    On the other hand¡­ on the other hand, a shapeshifter in my employ woulde in handy. I suspected the Nightlords would wisely cripple Chindi¡¯s power the same way the Jaguar Woman limited Nl¡¯s, but I had subverted thetter¡¯s tattoo once. I was confident I could figure out a way to do it again with my current resources.

    However fickle her newfound ¡®loyalty¡¯ might be or how profound her mental instability, my knowledge of her true name would ensure her obedience. The Nightlords couldn¡¯t read minds in spite of their power, so the risk of another gaining dominion over her was remote.

    I had to decide whether the potential benefits of taking Chindi into my employ outweighed future costs.

    I pondered my options until I realized my Tonalli manifested in the mindscape. I plucked a feather off my wing and quickly confirmed my suspicions.

    I had a way of ensuring her long-term obedience.

    ¡°Very well,¡± I decided, much to her abject joy. ¡°I im you as my servant by right of wits and strength. Your true name and weaknesspel you to do my bidding. Serve me loyally, and I shall share my power with you.¡± A lie that I had no intention of fulfilling. ¡°If you dare challenge me again though¡­¡±

    I called upon the Curse spell and infused the feather with my seething hatred. I bound it with Chindi¡¯s true name and ced it in the deepest depths of her soul, where not even the Nightlords would find it.

    ¡°I now ce a curse upon your Tonalli,¡± I dered. ¡°If you speak a word of my true nature to anyone, <em>anyone</em>, if you reveal so much as a <em>hint </em>of what I showed you tonight, if you harm my consorts and servants again or dare turn against me, then you shall suffer a fate worse than death. Eternal suffering shall be your afterlife. Your screaming soul willnguish in the Silent Dark, your weeping ignored, your pleas forgotten. You will regret your foolishness for all eternity.¡±

    ¡°I understand, Master.¡± Chindi knelt the moment my talons released her. ¡°My life is yours, with a thousand skins at your bidding.¡±

    ¡°Then listen well,¡± I said. ¡°Soon the so-called Nightlords will interrogate you. Their time wille, but for now you will feign weakness and tell them what they want to hear: that you came to thisnd on behalf of the Three-Rivers Federation to kill their chosen emperor, whom your shamans predicted would herald an age of darkness. You will say that you have been humbled and you shall act like it. Hide your strength and mine.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, clever, one step ahead¡­¡± I could almost taste the malice in her maddened eyes. ¡°No use running when the timees¡­ my fangs remain forever sharp.¡±

    A predator through and through. The thought of keeping her close to Nl and the others frustrated me, but at least I ensured she couldn¡¯t turn her bloodlust against us. Still, I better inflict a punishment of some kind; something that would remind her not to overstep again.

    ¡°Your first kill was your sister, Anaye,¡± I recalled. ¡°Henceforth, you shall wear her skin and use her name in the living world.¡±

    Her gruesome smile faded away. ¡°Master, I possess countless prettier faces¡­¡±

    ¡°And I may allow you to wear them once you earn my forgiveness. Until then, you will remember that I know your true self hidden beneath her skin each time you look in a mirror.¡± I expanded my wings and prepared to retreat back into the Underworld. ¡°Do not disappoint me.¡±

    And if she did¡­ I could think of another use for her.

    A <em>final </em>one.

    I returned to Xibalba and opened my eyes to find Mother patiently waiting for me. ¡°So?¡± she asked me as I rose back to my feet.

    My gods, was she starting to <em>care</em>? It seemed saving her life did wonders to endear me to her.

    ¡°The Skinwalker has been taken care of, for now,¡± I replied. I would have killed her if the Nightlords¡¯ curse made it possible, but for now I would make good use of her. ¡°I learned her true name and taught her the value of hierarchy. She will behave as Imand.¡±

    ¡°We pray that you did not err in your judgment, our sessor,¡± my predecessors warned me. ¡°He who intends to tame a jaguar should keep it on a tight leash, and this one is rabid.¡±

    ¡°I will shatter her mind and feed her flesh to Itzili if she proves more trouble than she is worth,¡± I reassured them before reincorporating the Legion skull into myself. ¡°It is time I challenge my next trial.¡±

    Mother watched as I took a step towards the archway of mist leading to the fourth House of Xibalba. I sensed a strange weight in her gaze. She had something on her mind that she wanted to tell me, but struggled to.

    ¡°What is it, Mother?¡± I asked to ease her burden.

    ¡°I am proud of you, Iztac.¡±

    These were words I didn¡¯t expect to hear from her.

    ¡°You possess a keen intuition when ites to sorcery,¡± sheplimented me. ¡°You explore paths I never considered and gained strength from it. I find it¡­ <em>inspiring</em>.¡±

    If only she knew what else I inspired tonight¡­ Nheless, her appreciation didn¡¯t fill me with disgust the way Chindi¡¯s malevolent adoration did. In fact, her approval did give me a little joy.

    <em>She is capable of gratitude and good deeds now and then,</em> I thought. <em>Could Father have been right? Had I misjudged her? Perhaps she can indeed be a better person one day¡­</em>

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I replied. An awkward silence settled between us as neither found what to say next. We still had a long way to go before we could act like a real family.

    I walked into the Fourth House of Xibalba with a sigh.

 Chapter Sixty-Six: The House of Bats

    Chapter Sixty-Six: The House of Bats

    I breathed dust in a tomb of ancient stone.

    A grand entrance hall stretched forth ahead of me. An aura of stillness hung in this room, even as my footsteps echoed across the silence. Layers of calcified sand covered walls that hadn¡¯t been touched in thousands of years. Eye symbols flickered with an otherworldly glow on tall pirs. They provided a measure of light akin to a fading sunset; just enough to see, but unable to dispel the long shadows.

    I felt like a man breaking into a crypt that had been sealed away since the beginning of time.

    Though I sensed no enemies around me, I remained on my guard. I had sent my predecessors to scout the Fourth House of Xibalba earlier. This ce fit their description of the ruins they encountered, but the creatures that slew them were nowhere to be seen.

    I activated the Gaze spell and explored the room myself. No illusion recoiled before my sunlight stare. No monster broke the silence with a challenge. I was alone, as far as I could tell, with no lies to obscure my vision. The room seemed empty too, though I also noticed sets of corridors on each side of it.

    Myst trial started by lulling me into a false sense of security, so I erred on the side of caution. I first used the Doll spell to swipe away the dust off the walls and reveal what was hidden underneath.

    Bats.

    I scowled in annoyance as I found myself facing highly realistic carvings of great ck bats all over the room. Scenes showcased these snarling beasts breathing out disease from their t noses on unsuspecting viges on behalf of their mighty king.

    Mother said I would find a hint about how the First Emperor ascended to godhood in this house. Was she referring to these carvings?I studied the rest of them. While most of the pictures showed bats preying on mortals, one particr fresco caught my eye. This one appeared to show a story in a sequence. Two men¡ªtwins, from the way they were simrly painted¡ªentered a dark house with blowguns, only to be attacked by the Bat-King. They both hid to protect themselves while waiting for the sun to rise again. One of the two dared to peek out to see theing sunrise, only for the Bat-King to snatch his head off his shoulders and carry it away.

    The fresco continued on to a frightful scene: the surviving twin was forced to y in a ballcourt against demons, with his brother¡¯s head as the ball.

    <em>Quite the gruesome tale.</em> Thest scene turned into a terrible tragedy: the survivor was defeated by the Bat-King and decapitated, with his head hung from a tree. <em>Is this referencing the First Emperor? </em>

    It seemed quite likely to me. These carvings probably represented the early days of the empire.

    I noticed a white-haired woman praying at the tree where the second twin¡¯s head was hanging from. My eyes narrowed when I observed a tiny, yet telling detail: the picture of a ck bird perched on her shoulder.

    An owl.

    I stared at that picture for a moment, my mind furiously trying to make sense out of it. My eyes lingered at the end of the wall and the corridor beyond. Though it portrayed a grim tale, I had the gut feeling this fresco was iplete. Perhaps the rest awaited me further inside this ruin?

    <em>I¡¯m getting thirsty. </em>Inhaling the dust made me start coughing as I walked through the corridors. A knot formed in my stomach too. Not from fear, but¡­ something else. I checked myself with the Gaze, but didn¡¯t see anything. <em>Strange. </em>

    I doubted it was a disease, since I had already fought that fear in the house prior. Did the dust carry some form of poison? I summoned the Cloak by promising I would give money to the empire¡¯s poor and surrounded myself with ayer of peaceful, floating winds.

    My throat cleared of the dust, but that strange sensation in my stomach failed to abate.

    With no other lead to pursue other than finding the other frescos, I walked into the hallway. It proved terribly cramped, with its ceiling hardly high enough for me to stand upright. My Cloak spell wiped up a small dust storm with each step. Although I knew Mother faced these trials before me, it seemed like no one had visited this ce since time immemorial. I took a turn at one point, and then another until I reached the next room over.

    The next vault was much smaller than the entrance hall, yet quite the sight nheless. Its arched, cracked ceiling was painted dark blue with tiny gems representing the stars. The statue of a great bat built from fossilized wood upied its center, a ghostlight bonfire burning within its mouth. It stared at me with crimson ruby eyes.

    I destroyed it on the spot.

    ¡°Slice,¡± I said, calling upon the winds of chaos to behead the statue. A de of sharpened air, born of thest breaths of the countless people I had killed, surged from my fingers and cut through its throat in an instant. The head rolled off and onto the dusty ground with a loud thump, but the body did not rise to attack me.

    <em>Disappointing. </em>I would have expected a trick like enemies masquerading as statues. I checked on the head head, smiling at the clean cut that my spell left, and then scowling when I saw how it hardly grazed the wall behind it. <em>I could behead a man with it, maybe cut a young tree, but it won¡¯t cut through armor yet</em>.

    I checked the rest of the room for any trace of a trap or ambusher. I found none. Only my growling stomach broke the silence.

    I put a hand on my chest as I felt bitter pangs of pain below my ribs. My stomach growled and my throat grew dry. I finally recognized the sensation, for I had spent so many years suffering from it.

    Hunger.

    I was growing hungry. Thirsty too.

    This shouldn¡¯t be possible. No one needed food or drinks in the Underworld. This ce was doing something unnatural to me.

    Was that what this house represented? Fear of starvation?

    I guessed it was a primal experiencemon to all living beings, but I responded with a mere snort. I¡¯d suffered from droughts and famines before. I¡¯d spent my entire life until my imperial ascension being malnourished.

    I¡¯d grown up with hunger and wouldn¡¯t let it distract me with panic.

    Nheless, I took it as an ominous warning. Thirst and starvation sapped the body of strength. I didn¡¯t know whether it worked the same in the Underworld, but this could be the House¡¯s attempt to weaken me before it sent enemies to take my head. I remained alert for any threats as I searched the room for answers.

    My eyes wandered to the walls, and the wind from my Cloak spell cleaned the stone in my wake. New carvings appeared, this time representing the woman from the previous room with two children of her own. Male twins; one crowned with the sun, the other with the moon, both born with white hair and blue eyes.

    I recalled Queen Mictecacihuatl¡¯s story of how the Fifth Sun and its moon came to be. I wondered if this fresco referred to the myth.

    <em>How does this all fit together?</em> I nced at the next picture in the sequence, which showed the two twins, now adults, venturing into the world. I noticed a strange artistic choice: simrly to their mother, who was always represented with an owl on her shoulder, both twins had an animalpanion of their own. A golden bird for the sun-crowned brother¡­ and a white bat for the moon-blessed one. <em>Curious.</em>

    I wondered the meaning behind the animals¡¯ presence until I reached the next picture. This one showcased the brothers in a reversed position: the sun-crowned one shot down a winged demon with his blowgun in the sky, while the moon-crowned one was shown with a scroll in hand and petitioning a great skull under the earth. I immediately recognized thetter.

    King Mtecuhtli.

    This carving had to represent M¡¯s king, and the moon brother¡¯s descent underground on a journey through the Underworld. If so, then the animals on the siblings¡¯ shoulders most likely represented their Tonalli. Their totems.

    A bat Nahualli crowned with the moon carrying a scroll¡­

    A gnawing doubt formed in my heart, followed by the bitter pangs of growing hunger. I was too engrossed by the pictures to pay attention to thetter. The next one, whichpleted this room¡¯s fresco, showed the brothers hunting catfish near a river while four women watched on.

    Four women.

    Not one more, not one less.

    I stared at the picture for a very long while, knowing this <em>couldn¡¯t </em>be a coincidence. I became so entranced that I searched for any tiny detail I may have missed. The four women appeared utterly unremarkablepared to the twins, like footnote characters in somebody else¡¯s story. The artist hardly bothered to give them distinctive appearances. The way they sat behind the moon-brother though, like children listening to a parent teaching them how to fish, only strengthened my suspicions.

    The pangs of my hunger only grew more bitter, with no tests nor enemies yet in sight. Something wasn¡¯t right.

    I rushed over to the next room to see the rest of the frescos. This hallway was even more cramped than the previous one, to the point I had to crouch to walk through it. My Cloak blew a cloud of dust ahead of me.

    I soon crawled into a Nightkin¡¯s tomb.

    I couldn¡¯t call it anything else. Ayer of sand covered a cracked floor and withered stems of fossilized torches were held by carved sconces. A narrow staircase led to a raised dais and an obsidian altar on which rested the corpse of a giant bat.

    I had fought lesser Nightkinst night, yet this long-dead creature put them all to shame. Even reduced to a withered husk with pale dry skin and moldy, yellow bones, the monster was easily thrice the size of its lesser kind. Ity on its back, its wings folded in what could pass for a funeral position. Its yed head stared at the ceiling with empty holes for eyes, with a crown of horns sticking out of its skull. I¡¯d never seen a Nightkin with those.

    Why would a vampire be buried in Xibalba? How could it even leave bones at all? The Nightkin I¡¯d killed turned to dust when in.

    Though my Gaze spell detected no sign of magic, I immediately prepared to cast an offensive spell should the corpse begin to move. I saw words carved onto the altar as I stepped up its stairs, and quickly recognized thenguage as the same ancient dialect used in the First Emperor¡¯s codices.<blockquote>

    <em>I am no mortal bat. </em>

    <em>I am Camazotz.</em>

    <em>I am a god.</em></blockquote>

    Camazotz?

    ¡°Camazotz?¡± I muttered to myself and instantly regretted it. The thirst turned my throat so dry it hurt to speak.

    I¡¯d never heard of a god with that name, let alone a bat one. Besides, I had met true deities in the past. I had cowered in the First Emperor¡¯s shadow, stood in the presence of King Mtecuhtli, and seen the true face of Queen Mictecacihuatl. I would expect one of their equals to look more impressive in its demise; or to enjoy a more prestigious resting ce than a dusty chamber in Xibalba¡¯s Houses of Bats.

    I gazed into the monster¡¯s chest and found no me, no embers of a dead sun, not even dry blood. If there ever was any spark of divinity contained in this old shell, it was long gone. This well had dried up.

    <em>Dried up? </em>

    I didn¡¯t know why these words echoed in my mind at that moment, but they rang in my skull for a while. Something about this oversized Nightkin¡¯s corpse felt disturbingly familiar to me. The way its calcified skin shrank into a husk of itself, without a single trace of dried blood filling its shriveled veins, reminded me of far too many other people.

    <em>Could it be?</em> My questions found their answer when I checked the monster¡¯s throat: two familiar, fang-shaped holes in its dry skin and calcified flesh. A chill traveled down my spine as I realized how this creature perished.

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    This Nightkin had been preyed upon by another of its kind.

    It didn¡¯t make any sense. The Nightkin had no Teyolia for their kind to feast upon. Their blood was as ck and rotten as those of diseased corpses. The only reason I could see for them to cannibalize each other was for the sake of a gruesome execution.

    I was missing <em>something</em>; a key piece of a puzzle whose solution I knew was within my grasp.

    Dust fell upon my shoulder and glided off the Cloak¡¯s barrier of wind. I looked up at the ceiling and found myself staring at the remaining frescoes. I bore witness to a crackedndscape of disparate pictures forming a coherent whole.

    I saw the twins facing the Bat-King in battle, only for the moon-brother to fall. His sibling cried over his corpse while their foeughed. His prayers were answered, but not in the way he would have expected.

    A red-eyed shadow arose from the dead twin¡¯s remains, dark and hungry.

    My skin crawled at the sight of its all too familiar crimson gaze. The Bat-King cowered in the face of the great darkness, but it was no use. The shadow feasted on his heart while the surviving twin fled into sunlit mountains.

    The final picture sent shivers down my spine.

    The Bat-Kingy dead and shriveled, his chest empty and his throne shattered. The four women from the previous fresco knelt before the darkness, which had now taken on a form of its own: a great winged beast crowned in the glow of a scarlet moon, whose crimson, shining eyes stared at me with the untold malice of endless hatred, and a vile hunger that no flesh nor soul could satisfy. Their malevolent glint filled my vision and mind in a sea of red and screams, the malicious re tightening the chains binding my soul and casting dust upon my face¨C

    A foreign sensation jolted me out of my trance.

    Dirt hit my face, with no barrier of wind to keep it out.

    My Cloak was <em>gone</em>.

    ¡°What¡­¡± I coughed dust and a terrible pain seized my chest. A slight shakiness took over my body the moment I recovered from my hallucination, my hands trembling. ¡°Wha¡­¡±

    I looked at my shriveled fingers and saw the bones through my withered skin.

    My arms had shriveled until my flesh had all but vanished. I hadn¡¯t noticed it disappearing; in fact, I hardly felt anything. My hands had grown numb and the mere act of moving them demanded extraordinary effort. Dust covered my skin in so many ces, as if I had stood in ce for days.

    How much time did I waste watching that nightmarish picture?

    ¡°Cloa¡­¡± My withered vocal cords couldn¡¯t evenplete the word. More dust fell upon me from above. When I managed to stare up again, I saw that the frescos had grownrger¡­ no. Notrger.

    <em>Closer</em>.

    The ceiling had buckled, withrge dents in the stone pushing down. Its corners bent and twisted under a crushing weight. A great pressure pressed on the room from all sides.

    I looked around in realization, my blurring eyes staring at the hallway I had used to enter. I remembered how I had to crouch to travel through it. I thought it had been smaller than its predecessor. I was wrong.

    They had both <em>shrunk</em>.

    The entire tomb was closing down on me like a great beast¡¯s fangs.

    I tried to call upon the Doll spell, so that my talons of darkness would break through the ceiling. My sorcery, the very power that kept my hope alive in these dark times, failed me. A wave of agony surged through my throat and my chest the moment I tried to summon my spell. Even my Gaze had flickered and died.

    I looked down at my ribs in panic.

    My raging heart-fire had shrunk into pale embers.

    Dread seized me as I finally understood my mistake. The supernatural hunger within these walls didn¡¯t feast on nutrients; it fed on my magic. On my <em>soul</em>.

    I cursed my foolishness. I¡¯d been so focused on the threat of hidden enemies, so <em>starved </em>for answers, that I failed to pay attention to the <em>real </em>danger. No monsters woulde to kill me. They didn¡¯t need to.

    The closing walls would simply crush me to paste with no spell to stop them.

    I looked around, my weakened neck creaking when it turned. I saw no clear exit except two hallways: the one I used to enter this room and another fast shrinking. With no other option, I ran towards thetter in search of an escape route.

    My weakened knees failed to support my weight. I copsed when I tried to climb down the dais¡¯ staircase, the sickening noise of bones breaking echoing into the crumbling chambers. My left leg had twisted into an unnatural angle. I had so few muscles remaining that I hardly felt any pain.

    Pushing past my growing exhaustion and weakness. I crawled into the corridor like a worm into a closing mouth. I was getting desperate, and panic let me tap into hidden reserves of strength. I entered the darkness, breathing dirt and sand, seeing nothing but a veil of dust. My skull burned with the strongest headache I¡¯d ever felt.

    The walls cracked and twisted around me. I knew they would give way any second now and bury me in a nket of stone. I understood which other fear this ce represented besides famine now.

    The fear of being trapped.

    Of being <em>buried</em>.

    I crawled ahead even as the ceiling started pushing down on my back. Dust had long reced air, and darkness swallowed light. Yet I didn¡¯t falter. My fingers hurt with every inch of dirt they sank into.

    Then I hit something.

    A smoothyer of stone stood ahead of me and pushed me back.

    I¡¯d hit a dead end.

    <em>No, no, no! </em>I tried to move back and escape, only for the ceiling and floor to trap me in a tight embrace. The pressure had warped the walls into a coffin of stone keeping me tightly bound. Neither my weak kicks nor pushes would make them move.

    I couldn¡¯t turn anymore.

    I would have raged and fought back if I had the strength and space left; as it was, I could hardly move my hands. The walls pressed on me from all sides into a crushing hug. The earth wrapped me in its fatal embrace, slowly grinding my bones together.

    Was this how my tale concluded? Crushed to death while powerless, and denied any answer while I was on the verge of obtaining the truth?

    <em>I won¡¯t allow it!</em>

    But what could I do? My strength was leaving me, and I had only seconds left before the walls crushed me. The hunger sapping my heart deprived me of my strength. What else would renew it?

    An idea crossed my mind.

    I had something to feed the fire with.

    I squeezed my arms close to my chest the best I could, my shoulders cracking as the walls pushed against them. I slipped my fingers through my ribs and put them into my heart-fire.

    Then they burned.

    The pain proved stronger than the numbness which had overtaken my limbs. My soul feasted on my own flesh in an act of spiritual self-cannibalism, consuming my body to fuel its sorcery.

    I called upon the Doll.

    I¡¯d traded away my two hands for a dozen talons. They pushed back against the walls with all of my strength and determination. The stone wept at the pressure from within and without.

    The otherworldly strength forcing the tomb to close on me did not let go. A battle of wills ensued as the earth tried to push me into its crushing embrace. My talons could crush rock and tear men apart, but they had to push in all directions to keep me from getting crushed.

    Clenching my rotting teeth, I shoved my arms into my Teyolia. I coughed and hissed as my flesh and bones turned to coal and ashes in the furnace of my soul. My starved heart-fire consumed indiscriminately. Yet I would rather feed myself to the me rather than give this ce the honor of killing me.

    My talons pushed, and pushed, and pushed until pieces of stone copsed on my neck. Streams of sand began to leak from the cracks and slowly filled what little space I managed to scrounge for myself. This only hardened my resolve. I growled while directing my talons to exploit any weakness in the closing walls I could use to escape. My ws dug into rifts and widened them until the earth screeched.

    The floor copsed under me.

    I fell into a narrow shaft so long and sinuous that it felt like I was on my way to hit the earth¡¯s bowels. I tried to catch a grip on anything with my talons, only for the walls to turn into brittle sand at my touch.

    Inded on a floor of soft mud in a dark expanse.

    For the first time since I set foot in this ce, I breathed air instead of dust; a foul miasma filled with a nauseating stench of rot, yes, but air nheless. A single, bright torch cast a bubble of light in a sea of shadows. My blurring eyes struggled to limate to it, and when they did, I saw that I was no longer alone.

    A monster sat behind a dinner table, watching me with two jackal heads and four hungry eyes.

    The monstrous beast was the size of a house even while seated on a throne of jagged stone. Its body was that of a thin, starved man with petrified bones and withered, oily ck skin. Two necks stood atop its uneven shoulders; the right one was a skull filled with darkness, the left one a statue of cracked stone. Both studied me with a mix ofpassion and malice.

    Two Lords of Terror in one body.

    ¡°Are you hungry, child?¡± the right head asked, its voice akin to the raspy rattle of a starved soul. ¡°Are you thirsty, child?¡±

    My dry lips failed to form words, so I nodded slowly in response.

    ¡°Then feast with us,¡± the monster¡¯s left head said with a voice deeper than a cave¡¯s echo. It waved a wed hand at the table and a seat of bones appeared out of nowhere to wee me. ¡°You must feed to grow big and strong.¡±

    With a broken leg and burning stumps for arms, I had to use the Doll spell¡¯s limbs to force myself onto the seat. A gruesome feast was set for me on the dinner table: a vile assortment of rancid milk cups, tes of diseased meat, and baskets of rotten fruits sweetened with ashes. This meal was about as disgusting as Chamiaholom¡¯s diet of human flesh.

    I gorged myself on it nheless.

    I was so starved, so consumed with hunger and thirst, that I consumed indiscriminately. I fought against the nausea of drinking poisoned milk and crunched maggots infesting the flesh with ravenous exaltation. I cleaned the tes in a minute, my disgust drowned in the sweet, sweet release from the bitter pangs of starvation.

    ¡°We are Ahalpuh and Ahalgana, the buried and the starved,¡± the stone head introduced itself. ¡°Many hungers go unsatiated. Love, wealth¡­ <em>knowledge</em>.¡±

    ¡°What will you do to satisfy your appetite?¡± the other head asked.

    By now, I had recovered enough strength to answer through a mouthful of food.

    ¡°<em>Everything</em>,¡± I rasped without fear or hesitation.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± the skull head asked. I noticed that this one asked questions, and the other spoke with statements. ¡°Shall you show us?¡±

    The monster presented me with another te, one of my size that appeared out of thin air.

    A womany on it.

    A pale, gaunt woman no older than thirty, who had gone bald from starvation. Her mouth was sewn shut, her hands and legs bound like a stuffed turkey. Her skin was seasoned with rotten sauce and her back served on a bed of rot.

    Her weak, milky-white eyes remained wide open though. They stared at me with fear; whether she begged me for salvation or the sweet release of a true death, I couldn¡¯t say.

    She was still alive. I could hear her heart beating in her chest.

    Was she another of the Lords¡¯ illusions? An imitation of life, or a genuine victim abducted and denied death¡¯s salvation?

    ¡°Mourn her not, for men are pitiful beasts condemned to starve,¡± the stone head said, its voice so sweet and soothing. ¡°They hunger for so many things. Food, wealth, knowledge, love, yet a human¡¯s appetite is never satisfied. They are born hungry and die starving. Only in death do they know satiety.¡±

    ¡°What else are you, other than a devourer?¡± the other head asked me. ¡°Have you not done worse?¡±

    I would have hesitated once.

    But neither did I fold.

    Instead of feasting on the woman¡¯s flesh as these demons expected me to, I used the Doll to slice her open. The woman whined as her blood stained the te and then cried when I shoved my bloody, burning arm stumps into her wound. Our blood mixed the same way mine and Nl¡¯s didst night. This time, I did not give anything.

    I <em>took</em>.

    The woman¡¯s Teyolia was starved and weak, but mine was hungrier. I drained her of her wavering lifeforce and vitality in an instant. Memories shed through my mind as I did; brief and bloody remembrances of gnashing teeth closing on her flesh and screams haunting the darkness.

    I regained my strength by consuming her own through Seidr. By the time I removed my stumps from her corpse, I had grown new hands and she breathed herst.

    I gave this woman the quick release of death.

    ¡°Do you think it is nobler to kill a woman than to devour her?¡± the skull head asked me. ¡°Is it not cruel to kill a beast for sustenance and yet waste its meat?¡±

    ¡°I am cruel,¡± I replied coldly. ¡°Animals hunt to feed, but I only kill for power¡¯s sake.¡±

    The stone head let out a chuckle akin to crumbling rocks. ¡°Your mother ate her meal.¡±

    I suppressed a shiver of disgust and answered the taunt with silence.

    ¡°Your will is stronger than her own,¡± the demon said. ¡°You are right. Your hunger for power shall guide you well, for that well is truly bottomless. A mighty demon you have be, and greater still you shall rise.¡±

    ¡°Will you ask your question?¡± the other head asked. ¡°Do we not sense thy curiosity?¡±

    A question was indeed burning on my lips.

    ¡°What was that creature in the tomb?¡± I asked. ¡°Was it truly a god?¡±

    ¡°Have you not guessed Camazotz''s identity yet?¡± The skull head let out a sinisterugh. ¡°Surely you must have seen the broken statue outside our city, have you not?¡±

    ¡°There was once a man who hated the shadow of his soul as much as you despise your captors,¡± the other head said. ¡°He hungered for justice and happiness, but in the end he too starved and devoured himself. The <em>hungry </em>became <em>hunger</em>.¡±

    I meditated on their answer for a moment. I recalled that statues of totems stood outside Xibalba, with the bat one being the only one shattered. <em>The shadow of the soul¡­ a bat standing on a man¡¯s shoulder and guiding him through the Underworld¡­ and that crown of horns¡­</em>

    The shadow likely referenced to a Nahualli''s totem. The First Emperor was a Tzinacantli, a chosen of the bat. If he loathed his own reflection, then...

    ¡°This Camazotz was the story¡¯s Bat-King,¡± I guessed. ¡°He''s linked to the Tzinacantli¡¯s totem somehow; he must have been its incarnation on earth or close enough. The First Emperor consumed and usurped him during his godly ascent, taking on his form and duties.¡±

    I understood it all now. The First Emperor had consumed his own totem, his soul¡¯s reflection, in a cannibalistic feast. He had usurped his mastery over bats the same way his daughters attempted to steal his own divinity.

    The Lords of Terror smiled at me in silence. They had dangled the answer in front of me, and then rejoiced in denying it to me.

    My hunger for answers would go unsatisfied tonight.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± I replied. ¡°I will find the truth on my own.¡±

    My resolve pleased the Lords of Terrors. The skull headed-one nodded in appreciation. ¡°Shall we bestow a blessing upon you then, son of chaos?¡±

    ¡°We gift you with the Pit, the earthbound fangs of Xibalba,¡± the other head dered. ¡°Mark that which you despise with your blood and utter their name. The House of Fright shall receive your offering with gnashing teeth and an endless fall.¡±

    I sat still as they caressed my Teyolia with fingers of bone and stone. Knowledge flowed into the fire of my soul, opening my mind to a new secret¨C

    Then someone yanked my chains.

    A pain greater than anything I¡¯d ever experienced seized me with such suddenness that I fell over my chair. My soul ached and howled in agony, my chest burning and bursting at the seams. I held onto my ribs, unable to do anything other than <em>scream</em>.

    The Lords of Terror looked upon me with what could pass for concern. ¡°It seems your time hase to an end.¡±

    ¡°Was it too early?¡± the other half of the duo giggled cruelly. ¡°Shall we see?¡±

    I was yanked out of the House of Fright and back into the waking world.

    Something was terribly wrong.

    I had gone to the Underworld and back so often that I could sense any change in the shift. This time felt <em>different, </em>and not in a good way. My sorcerer¡¯s instincts told me that I had woken up from a nightmare into a different one.

    The pain in my chest was only matched by the one in my hands and feet. Spikes of wood impaled them, and my back was strapped to a table of stone facing the night sky. I had been stripped naked and my mouth gagged.

    ¡°Have you slept well, songbird?¡±

    Iztacoatl¡¯s face loomed above me, alongside Sugey¡¯s and the Jaguar Woman¡¯s. That alone would have been cause for rm, but their expressions immediately filled me with dread. Iztacoatl was smiling; Sugey red at me; and the Jaguar Woman was filled with the same cold fury that possessed her when she ordered Lady Sigrun¡¯s execution.

    <em>Something </em>happened while I was asleep.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make that face,¡± Iztacoatl mocked me. ¡°You knew this would happen one day.¡±

    She leaned on me to better whisper into my ear.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been sold out, Iztac.¡±

 Blood & Furs First Books Launch on Amazon and Audible!

    Blood & Fur''s First Book''s Launch on Amazon and Audible!

    Hello everyone!

    It is with a great pleasure that I announce theunch of Blood & Fur''s first volume, <em>The Last Emperor</em>, on Amazon and Audible! I''ve posted a bonus chapter to celebrate this asion!

    This tale has been uwfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Amazon: /amazon/B0D61473NG

    Audible: /pd/The-Last-Emperor-Audiobook/B0D9MHBZRP

    It''s been a pleasure sharing this story with you for now over a year and a half; I was very apprehensive about its reception (vampire mesoamerican dark fantasy isn''t exactly a big hit premise) but it''s managed to make a ce a ce for itself on Royal Road. I''m very happy to have shared that adventure with you, and I hope you will enjoy the rest of Iztac''s adventures :)

    As always, I would super thankful for any review, readthrough on KU or shares for theunch. It''s gonna be a tough sell on amazon so any help counts!

    Best regards,

    Voidy.

 Chapter Sixty-Seven: Unbreakable

    Chapter Sixty-Seven: Unbreakable

    I was used to being scared.

    I¡¯d spent every moment since the Night of the Scarlet Moon looking over my shoulder, hiding behind a mask, lying to everyone, dreading the day this pyramid of deceit would alle crashing down on me. I knew that the feeble bnce between rebellion and usible deniability would inevitably tip the wrong way one day; that the Nightlords would learn the truth and corner me.

    That moment had now arrived, and it <em>terrified </em>me.

    What happened while I slept? Who spoke? Who dared? The Skinwalker? Eztli, Necahual, Ingrid, Chikal? So many people I¡¯d trusted with sensitive information, so many potential suspects, too many who could have said too much or been caught!

    Lahun warned me. ¡®<em>Betrayal with a friend¡¯s face.¡¯ </em>She foresaw it would happen. Chindi was no more than a false rm, a lull that destiny¡¯s hand cruelly used to lower my guard.

    <em>No, no, no! </em>The word rang in my head like the toll of ancient bells. The faintest flicker of hope burned within my chest. <em>This is a transparent bluff! A trick!</em>

    Iztacoatl was clever. She set the stage and improvised a y to let me lower my guard, to trick me into confounding myself. I had to calm down, feign confusion, and make them doubt themselves! I could still turn this around, I could still¨C

    ¡°You think I¡¯m lying, songbird?¡± Iztacoatl¡¯sugh reminded me of shing daggers. ¡°Have you nothing to say, sister?¡±

    Sister.Singr.

    I sensed her approaching me from the east. Her feet produced no noise, and her lungs carried no breath within them. An aura of malice hung over her like how a cloud obscured the sun. Her pale skin shone pale in the moonlight under a pitch ck sky.

    Eztli.

    But something was wrong, so terribly <strong><em>wrong</em></strong>. Her dress of woven flowers and her crown of bloodstained marigold stank of death and poisoned petals. She moved with a kind of grace and poise that my consort never bothered with. And her eyes¡­ her crimson eyes burned with a familiar glint of madness.

    <em>It¡¯s impossible. </em>My panicking heart refused to believe the sight my eyes sent it. My blood ran cold with denial. <em>Impossible¡­ </em>

    My hopes died the moment Eztli¡¯s lips stretched into that awful, maddened smile.

    ¡°I am truly disappointed, my child,¡± she said, so softly, so kindly.

    Those were not her words.

    <em>Another </em>spoke through Eztli¡¯s lips, using her voice, using her lips, using her flesh and body the same way the First Emperor once voiced his displeasure through me.

    This was a nightmare, a Veil, a feverish dream I had to wake up from. This couldn¡¯t be real.

    ¡°You still doubt the miracle in front of you?¡± she asked me, her cold, frigid hands caressing my cheeks in what could pass for motherly love. ¡°Do you not recognize me, my wayward child?¡±

    I did. Every fiber of my body recognized the reborn vampire standing next to me, speaking in a usurped mortal shell.

    Yoloxochitl.

    Yoloxochitl smiled at me while reborn in Eztli¡¯s flesh.

    <em>Betrayal with a friend¡¯s face.</em>

    My body went limp, and all strength abandoned my feeble limbs. I sensed something wet at the edge of my eyes. Tears of utter defeat born from my deepest fears.

    ¡°Oh my?¡± Iztacoatl, ever cruel, narrowed her head to better taste my sorrow. ¡°Are you going to cry? For that girl?¡±

    Yoloxochitl shook her head in empty sorrow. ¡°Do not cry, Iztac. My daughter wanted this. I gave her a true life, and she returned it to me.¡±

    Tears of blood dripped down on me, colder than ice and fouler than tar.

    ¡°Have you ever witnessed,¡± she asked me, ¡°a purer act of love?¡±

    I had failed.

    I had <strong><em>failed</em></strong>.

    I had failed Eztli and her mother¡¯s hopes. Once unshackled from her role as my consort, Eztli bore the full brunt of the Nightlords¡¯ ritual. Centuries of ult power fell upon her cursed soul and forced her to fit the role she was intended to fulfill.

    The lie had be true.

    Yet my heart refused to surrender to despair. There had to be a way to undo the possession. I¡¯d plotted Yoloxochitl¡¯s demise once, I could do it again. If I destroyed Iztacoatl and the other Nightlords, the ritual would <em>have </em>to copse.

    It couldn¡¯t have been all for nothing¡­

    ¡°My poor, deluded songbird.¡± Iztacoatl shook her head with a malevolent smirk. ¡°There is no happy ending for the likes of you.¡±

    She grabbed the edge of my stone table. I heard a click under me and movement beneath my strapped back. The table that held me rose up and forced me into a vertical position, my limbs impaled in a cross position. I saw the sky and moonlight, then the stone pirs holding mes to the ckened heavens.

    ¡°Let me show you,¡± Iztacoatl said, ¡°The cost of rebirth.¡±

    I was held at a stone pyramid¡¯s summit in the middle of a dark forest; this must have been the same temple in which I¡¯d been held after the failed hunt. I noticed my consorts old and new tied to a stone pir around me, their mouths covered to silence their screams. While Nl cried tears of fear and horror and Ingrid stared at me with pain and sorrow, Chindi stared at something at my feet with evil glee. As for Chikal¡­

    Chikal was <em>free</em>.

    She stood in front of the southern pir, unbound, unbroken, and unsilenced. She faced me with the same stoic regality she adopted no matter the situation, though her gaze betrayed an emotion which I¡¯d never seen her express at any point before.

    Guilt.

    Guilt and shame.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I heard her whisper under her breath.

    I stared back at her for a moment that seemed to stretch on forevermore. Her words cut me deeper than daggers and weighed heavier than stones. My confusion turned to shock and then boiling fury; but beneath all, the bitter dread.

    I dared to follow Chikal¡¯s gaze and see the most hideous crime of all.

    A host of Nightkin surrounded me from all sides, their baleful eyes gleaming with malevolence. A few of them feasted on a corpseying at my feet. Their fangs and talons had torn her apart by the waist and spilled her guts all over the stone floor, but her head remained intact.

    My blood ran cold when I saw her face, forever frozen in an expression of terror.

    ¡°My daughter¡­¡± Yoloxochitl pressed her hands against her womb, as if she had carried Eztli to terms herself. ¡°My daughter refused to ept her destiny at first. That woman shackled her. I tried to excise that weakness with my blood so many times¡­ when the answer was that it was another¡¯s which I had to shed.¡±

    A Veil. It had to be a Veil. A cruel and borate illusion meant to deceive me into using my powers.

    I continued to tell myself that, because the scene in front of me was too awful and sickening for me to stomach. My heart pounded in my chest so hard I could feel my pulse ringing in my skull.

    ¡°When my fangs closed on that whore¡¯s neck and sucked her blood¡­¡± Yoloxochitl wiped away her tears of blood. ¡°Only then did my daughter fully give herself to me. Only then did she fully return my love.¡±

    Necahual¡¯s head stared at me with two holes on her pale neck pissing blood.

    The Nightkin feasted on my mother-inw¡¯s husk.

    ¡°It¡¯s ironic, truly,¡± Iztacoatlughed in my ear. ¡°You did choose her the first time, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    I choked on my gag. My blood boiled within my veins, my horror suddenly reced with overwhelming hatred and revulsion. I couldn¡¯t ept this. I <em>refused </em>to.

    <em>It¡¯s fake</em>, I told myself. <em>A replica. </em>This had to be another of Iztacoatl¡¯s tricks, a vicious Veil that yed on my senses, an borate spell to break my will, or a fleshcrafted impostor like the false Sigrun.

    But the gods were never this kind to me.

    ¡°I treated you like a son, Iztac,¡± Yoloxochitl said through my oldest friend¡¯s lips, despoiling her flesh and voice with her loathsome, pathetic excuse forpassion. ¡°I did my best to mend your wounds, and you rewarded me with lies. So many lies and so much ingratitude.¡±

    She kissed me on the forehead, only for her nails to sink into my cheeks. Eztli¡¯s face twisted into an inhuman expression of pain and betrayal.

    ¡°You were smiling when I died,¡± she cried. ¡°Youughed. I know you did. You <emughed </em>at my death. It amused you, tough at the fire and destruction, at all these lives lost. How could you be so cruel, Iztac?¡±

    This wasn¡¯t a Veil. The Veil couldn¡¯t conjure thoughts and information from nothing. It showed what the caster wanted the victim to see and gained strength from the belief. No one saw meughing after the New Fire Ceremony.

    No one but Eztli.

    Then the raw, terrible truth dawned on me.

    This was <em>real</em>.

    ¡°See this?¡± Iztacoatl chucked, her fingers pointed at my face. ¡°He finally epted it.¡±

    ¡°I know not what spell you and your whore of a mother used to sabotage our ritual, Iztac Ce Ehecatl, but this shall not happen again,¡± the Jaguar Woman rasped, her cold dead eyes full of icy fury. ¡°Your paltry schemes end here, pathetic child. Alongside the lives of those who dared to follow you into treachery.¡±

    ¡°We will not let you run free again,¡± Sugey warned me. ¡°We have tightened the chains on your soul so much, you will never slip through our grasp.¡±

    I didn¡¯t move. I didn¡¯t blink. I didn¡¯t struggle. The only ce where I could retreat was the confines of my own mind. I turned inward, frantically trying to figure out a way out of this situation.

    The situation had degenerated beyond words. If Yoloxochitl had ess to Eztli¡¯s memories, then she knew about my spywork. And Chikal¡­

    I looked at her in disbelief, hoping¡ªnay, <em>praying</em>¡ªthat I had misunderstood it all. That she didn¡¯t do the unspeakable.

    Instead, she didn¡¯t even bother to deny it.

    ¡°It was you or my homnd,¡± Chikal said in an attempt to justify herself. ¡°I warned you I would pick my own over you. They forced my hand.¡±

    I choked on my gag in frothing rage. Had Lady Sigrun¡¯s death not been enough of a lesson? She¡¯d betrayed her only hope of saving her city for an empty promise which the Nightlords would never keep!

    Chikal scowled at me and matched my re. ¡°Do not look at me like that. You weren¡¯t yourself in that forest. The First Emperor was <em>possessing </em>you. His bats devastated Chm and preyed on my subjects.¡± She shook her head, her voice more bitter than ever. ¡°I would rather see my people live in very than die in a god¡¯s gullet. That sorcery of yours couldn¡¯t control him.¡±

    Sorcery?

    No, no, she wouldn¡¯t have <em>dared</em>. Even if she had forged a deal with the Nightlords, this would have been herst chance to stab them in the back. She had no reason to reveal that information.

    But doubt wormed its way into my heart. The Jaguar Woman mentioned my mother and I using a spell. If Chikal told them¡­ if she had told them¡­

    I activated the Gaze.

    At this point, I might as well try to use it. Should I be wrong and tip my hand, then I would go down fighting.

    Terrible pain surged from my chest and an invisible spell halted my own magic.

    No sunlight poured out of my eyes. The magical power, the cry of my soul and the wellspring of my hopes, remained out of my reach. A veil of agony had risen between my mind and the divine energies dwelling within me.

    My eyes lingered on my smoking chest and gazed upon steaming ink. A ghastly tattoo of a chained owl burned on my skin, its painted chains of blood-tainted tar seeping into my bones and caging my heart-fire.

    The Nightlords had sealed my sorcery the same way they bound Nl before me.

    I fought back nheless. I tried to summon the Doll, the Veil, the ze, even the Tomb. I knew almost a dozen spells, and yet none worked tonight. My efforts were answered with chest burns.

    The Nightlords¡¯ mockingughter echoed around me, sharp and deadly. It battered my broken spirit far worse than betrayal¡¯s sting, Necahual¡¯s murder and Yoloxochitl¡¯s return. All my allies had been outsiders and our alliances borrowed power, but my sorcery was <em>mine</em>.

    Stolen from its rightful ce, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°No more magic, songbird,¡± Iztacoatl taunted me. ¡°You were given the chance to rule in our name, and now, you will <em>serve</em>.¡±

    My magic, my only innate gift, the one power that the gods blessed me with, was gone.

    I felt a great emptiness within me. A void of numbness beyond fear, denial, and eptance. Yet somehow, I did not despair. I had been denied my greatest asset, the one power that truly belonged to me, but my mind was filled with rity rather than fatalism.

    ¡°Worry not, songbird.¡± Iztacoatl, as always, never missed an opportunity to pour salt on my wounds. ¡°Your struggles have touched my heart, and I did promise you a reward.¡±

    Iztacoatl whispered in my ear with the smug satisfaction of a sore winner taking her revenge.

    ¡°Once Chikal¡¯s unborn childes of age, I will personally im the child myself,¡± she promised with cruel glee. ¡°The best part of you shall endure forevermore.¡±

    I answered her joy with a re of pure, undiluted malice.

    So baleful was my murderous hatred that it briefly startled Iztacoatl. Her smug glee turned to fury. Her hand pped me with such force I felt a tooth crack within my jaw, yet I continued to stare at her in vicious defiance.

    Even while denied my sorcery, I refused to submit.

    I would not give up on my revenge, and I would <strong><em>never </em></strong>stop fighting the Nightlords.

    Even if I were to fail today, even if I were to die and join my predecessors in silent suffering, then I would do everything in my power to ruin whatever I touched. I would not beg for forgiveness nor meekly waste away. I would give my captors nothing but ashes and curses.

    If it came to it, I would call upon the First Emperor and do his bidding. I would see the Nightlords cower in fear no matter the cost. I would dly bear the burden of eternal suffering if I could drag these bats down along with me to our shared doom.

    I would never be <em>powerless</em>, because I would never <em>surrender</em>.

    I was far from defeated yet. Mother remained free. Though it was a long shot, she might find a way to assist me. She had endangered herself to save Astrid; perhaps Father was right and she would finally make the right choice. Ingrid still had the First Emperor¡¯s Codex stashed away too. This knowledge could tip the scales, whether for me or a sessor.

    <em>Don¡¯t look at Ingrid and Nl, Iztac. Don¡¯t look, don¡¯t involve them, don¡¯t look at them! </em>My hatred and my overwhelming desire to torment the Nightlords in any way I could gave me rity.<em> Keep the Nightlords¡¯ attention focused on yourself! Focus, focus!</em>

    I forced myself to stare at Necahual¡¯s corpse rather than my other powerless consorts. Here was a woman who I had hated and desired in equal measure, who had sacrificed so much for the feeble hope of saving her daughter, only to be murdered by a monster possessing her own flesh and blood. She had suffered the cruelest of deaths; enough for me to pity her and vow revenge on her behalf.

    Guilt stirred within me beneath the anger and the bitterness. If I had undergone the Mometzcopinque ritual with Necahual and imbued her with sorcery, she might have been able to escape somehow. The odds would have been slim, yet I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what could have been.

    I red at the viper I¡¯d foolishly allowed into my inner circle. Chikal returned my stare with a nk expression, the same she always wore to hide her unease. Did shame and regrets overwhelm her? Or did she realize what kind of relentless enemy I would be?

    Whatever the case, she had burned her bridges tonight. I swore I would rip out my unborn daughter from her womb and burn her to death for her treachery.

    <em>We conceived a child together.</em> That promise sounded so hollow in my head. My rtionship with Chikal had always been an alliance of convenience, a mere exchange of services. Our bond was only as strong as my promises to defeat the Nigthlords. <em>My weakness cost me her faith¡­</em>

    My anger burned those thoughts away. <em>Chikal </em>was the weak one, to ept servitude over hope andy down her weapons in exchange for false promises. She would rue this foolish choice.

    A knot formed in my stomach. A seed of a doubt.

    Something¡­ Something didn¡¯t add up.

    Chikal wasn¡¯t weak. My own mind struggled to ept otherwise. I had seen her fearlessly fight Nightkin, keep her calm in tense situations, and bet on the hope that I, a puppet emperor and aspiring sorcerer, would one day help her overthrow a six-hundred year old vampire dynasty. She bet everything, from her own life to her pride, on the faint possibility that I would <em>seed</em>.

    She was like me; a person who would never give up the fight.

    So why would she fold <em>tonight </em>of all times? Especially after our great victory during Astrid¡¯s hunt?

    I nced at Yoloxochitl and her fair face. Eztli was stronger than this. She had resisted her vampiric sire¡¯s influence in the past, though she was force-fed her blood. I couldn¡¯t imagine her turning on Necahual and then giving up in despair. Losing her mother would inme her spirit, not weaken it. My suspicion only grew stronger.

    Something about this treachery didn¡¯t add up.

    I closed my eyes and looked into myself, ignoring the vampires¡¯ taunts and their victims¡¯ cries. A shroud of shadows obscured my Teyolia and blinded my spirit to magic, yet I continued to sense its baleful light shining behind it. It appeared when I woke up, I was certain of it.

    When I woke up¡­

    The truth struck me like a bolt of lightning.

    I woke up right after the Lords of Terror touched my heart.

    I opened my eyes and faced a vision of nightmare: Yoloxochitl ying with Necahual¡¯s head while in her daughter¡¯s body; Ingrid praying for my salvation; Chikal observing it all with the detachedposure of a heartless politician; and I, powerless to change anything.

    This wasn¡¯t a Veil, I was sure of it. This was no illusion meant to deceive my senses, but a y with real props and actors.

    All of this was my fears made manifest.

    ¡°I never left the House of Fright,¡± I muttered in realization. ¡°I¡¯m <em>still </em>asleep.¡±

    The words flowed out of my mouth, even though a gag bound it shut.

    The shroud of darkness around my heart dispelled immediately, and my baleful heart-fire erupted in a mighty ze.

    Purple mes surged from my body in a flood of fire. The Nightkin were vaporized in an instant alongside the wooden stakes keeping me bound and my consorts. The Nightlords were thrown back to the ground, their robes burning off from the heat.

    I walked free on a floor of searing stones and my wounds no longer bothered me. ck feathers grew over my skin. I was a catecolotl again, the owl-man who danced among chaos¡¯ mes.

    I looked at my ¡®consorts¡¯. Their skin had gone up in smoke, revealing the props hiding beneath their false flesh.

    Dolls.

    Ceramic dolls with knives for fingers and faceless masks for a face. They burned like kindling against the pirs, and soon only ashes would remain.

    ¡°How have you freed yourself?!¡± the Jaguar Woman snarled in cold fury. ¡°You will regret this, insolent v¨C¡±

    I crushed her throat with a talon of darkness. My Doll spell grabbed the four false Nightlords and lifted them up above the ground. They struggled pointlessly, cursing and shouting. This confirmed it. The real sisters would have easily broken free, but these props only wielded as much power as my mind allowed them to.

    ¡°Do you believe yourselves to be real?¡± I asked these imitations. ¡°Are your masks so well-crafted that you mistake them for real faces? Do you have their memories too?¡±

    From the Jaguar Woman¡¯s snarls of impotent rage to the abject fear in Iztacoatl¡¯s eyes, I assumed they were indeed unaware of their true nature. Good. So very good. A cruel smile stretched on my lips.

    ¡°Then it means your pain will be real,¡± I said, my heart overflowing with joy. ¡°I will have some fun then.¡±

    I had a lot of anger and frustration to vent out.

    I couldn¡¯t tell how long I spent torturing these props. Hours? Days? Time meant little in Xibalba¡¯s bowels, but I was sure of one thing only: it ended <em>way </em>too soon.

    I was naked and drenched in vampire blood by the time I was finished, my feet walking on a carpet of guts and ashes.

    Sugey ended up impaled atop a burning pir. The Jaguar Woman had been torn into so many pieces I doubted anyone could reassemble them. Iztacoatl bore the brunt of my cruelty: she died strapped to the stone table after countless humiliations, her body gutted from chin to groin. Only Yoloxochitl got off lightly with a snapped neck, mostly because I couldn¡¯t bear to torture someone wearing Eztli¡¯s face.

    All of them became dolls bound by unbreakable strings.

    For a very long moment, I basked in the sound of cracking embers and smoldering ashes surrounding me. I only had to follow the puppets¡¯ strings to face the hidden ywrights floating above the stage.

    A pair of Lords of Terror descended from their fake, painted sky.

    The first of them was the most pitiful picture imaginable: a limbless, castrated torso of a humanoid with a stitched mouth and empty eyes. Its raw flesh, which merged a woman''s breast on one side of the chest and torn nipples on the other, was a canvas of scars and muttion. This thing could hear nothing, see nothing, and say nothing. It had been denied every freedom and suffered through every torment known to mankind.

    Strings bound this Lord of Terror to an amorphous, limbless mass of hands and fingers floating above its head. They wove a web of puppets connecting this entire stage in a grand procession which only my mes freed me from. A single, immense eye protruded out of this quivering flesh. It gazed at me with otherworldly light that pierced through my skull and judged my very soul.

    ¡°What is this ce?¡± I asked them.

    The hand-mass wove its strings. Subtle vibrations resonated in an omnipresent symphony that echoed within my own mind

    ¡°This is the Razor House, where puppets gather and sharpen their knives,¡± it said. ¡°I am Ahalmez, the sweeper of souls, the one who maniptes. I am the puppeteer¡¯s strings and the invisible hand. I am the hangman and the judge. I am the faceless state, the cruel destiny, the deceiver, the ver. I am hierarchy and domination.¡±

    Its eye looked down on me in judgment.

    ¡°I am that which you fear most,¡± it boasted. ¡°I am <strong><em>control</em></strong>.¡±

    The torso held within its strings gargled and struggled in a pitiful disy of powerlessness.

    ¡°This is Ahaltocob, the shamer and backstabber,¡± Ahalmez said, who denied its counterpart the right to speak for itself. ¡°He is betrayal, shame, rejection, impotence, and humiliation. The puppet and the toy, denied even the right to cry.¡±

    The fear of humiliation and the fear of abuse. The ego¡¯s destruction and the loss of one¡¯s autonomy. The dominated and the dominator, the ve and its master. A codependent pair as old as human civilization. No wonder their trial worked so well and so insidiously.

    They were the twin terrors who ruled my heart.

    ¡°We are the fears that have followed you since you first drew breath, Iztac Ce Ehecatl, and you¡­¡± Ahalmez red down on me. ¡°You have <em>disappointed </em>us.¡±

    I bristled. ¡°I have passed your trial, demons.¡±

    ¡°By putting your misced faith in mere humans?¡± The eye contemted the ashes of my rampage. ¡°We have shown you more than your fears. We have shown you your <em>future</em>.¡±

    I clenched my teeth and nced at the doll that used to be Yoloxochitl. This fear was born of my mind, but I wondered if it was grounded in reality. ¡°How much of that was true?¡±

    ¡°This will be your story¡¯s end, should you fail to avert destiny,¡± Ahalmez warned. ¡°The endless procession will resume on the Night of the Scarlet Moon, with that girl living to fit the role granted to her. Such is the pyramid¡¯s nature: to grind the weak into pirs on which it may forever stand.¡±

    My jaw clenched tightly. I hoped this fear of mine had been misfounded and that she would be able to resist the ritual, but if the very embodiment of control said otherwise, then Eztli would likely be Yoloxochitl reborn in the next cycle of dead emperors.

    Still, my instincts told me the Lords of Terror kept details from me. Something about their insistence bothered me.

    ¡°That vampiric consort of yours will inevitably turn on you, as well that amazon queen once she receives a better offer. Do you believe that the Wind princess¡¯ loyalty is any more secure? Once the Nightlords bring back her sister in chains, and <em>they will</em>, what would she do then?¡± Ahalmez¡¯s eye glowed brighter. His power delved into my mind and read my thoughts like a book. ¡°Heed the seer¡¯s prophecy. <em>Betrayal with a friend¡¯s face</em>. The only thing a sorcerer can trust in this world of deceit is themselves.¡±

    ¡°What do you have to gain from telling me all this?¡± I asked with growing skepticism.

    ¡°Such is the Razor House¡¯s purpose. To cut away your human weaknesses, so that a sorcerer may be reborn as a pure demon free of fear and doubt. A lesson which you have <em>failed </em>to learn.¡±

    This smelled like a half-lie. I had rattled the Lords of Terror in a way none of my previous trials had. My insistence on trusting my consorts and drawing strength from it annoyed them to their core.

    I finally guessed what bothered me so much.

    ¡°Yohuachanca oppresses countless people,¡± I pointed out in skepticism. Of all the Lords of Terror I¡¯d encountered, these two benefited the most from the world¡¯s current state. ¡°Why help me topple the institutions that fuel your existence?¡±

    ¡°Because it is the <em>duty </em>of the strong to rule over the world and oppress the weak,¡± the lord of control replied. ¡°It does not matter to us who sits at the top ornguishes at the bottom. Only the pyramid stands eternal.¡±

    Its mutted counterpart whined in what could pass for a moan of pleasure. They would delight in humiliating Nightlords and humans alike. Much like the Yaotzin, these fiends were the enemies of all sides.

    They would exist so long as human society endured. An act of abuse within a family would nourish them just as much as the Nightlords¡¯ daily oppression.

    A new tyrant would sustain just as well as the old.

    King Mtecuhtli¡¯s words echoed in my mind like a dire warning.<em> ¡°Do not be what you fight against.¡±</em>

    ¡°You are not neutral at all,¡± I realized.

    These two had struck me at the perfect moment and yed on my deepest fears. They had dug up my subtlest insecurities, sharpened them into knives, then used them to stab my very heart. They gave me a taste of what I dreaded most:<em> betrayal</em>.

    They were trying to poison my faith not only in humanity, but also in everyone I loved and trusted. They wanted to break my friendships and affections until I saw treachery in every shadowy corner. They wanted to turn me into the enemy of <em>all </em>sides.

    ¡°You are trying to turn me into what the Nightlords <em>failed </em>to be,¡± I guessed in horror. ¡°A dark god who shall oppress mankind and let you feast on the chaos.¡±

    ¡°A glorious destiny that will slip through your grasp, should you continue to sink into naivety.¡±

    ¡°My destiny is mine alone to seize, as is my freedom!¡± I red at these arrogant fiends. ¡°I ce my trust in who I want and I do as I wish!¡±

    Ahalmez¡¯s single eye squinted at me in utter disdain. ¡°How disappointing. We ce such high hopes in you, and in the end, youck the strength to shed your humanity.¡±

    ¡°And yet, what would <em>you </em>be without us humans?¡± I countered. ¡°You are not gods who helped create the Fifth Sun, not even the Fourth, or the Third. Instead, the world created <em>you</em>. You are born from our human fears; parasites and carrion feeders sustaining yourself on <em>our </em>pain. King Mtecuhtli will endure long after mankind has disappeared, but your lot?¡±

    I chuckled in disgust.

    ¡°You will fade away,¡± I said. ¡°Like ice in the sunlight.¡±

    ¡°We have witnessed many sunsets,¡± the lord of control replied with the Jaguar Woman¡¯s voice. If it thought it would rattle me, then it failed. ¡°You fathom not the power we possess.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I think otherwise. I have read the First Emperor¡¯s codex. ¡®The lords of Xibalba are a cruel lot, both masters of their realm¡­ and its <em>prisoners</em>.¡¯¡± I waved a hand at this house of lies in which they had tricked me into. ¡°You rule over reality within these dollhouses of yours, but you cannot escape this city¡¯s confines. You are ves tows stronger than you will ever be.¡±

    ¡°Yet I have enthralled your very soul and forced it to dance on my stage!¡± Ahalmez boasted. ¡°Men believe they can take refuge within their mind, and I have proved them wrong time and again. I show them that a master¡¯s grasp extends into the ve¡¯s mind. Humans are <em>never </em>safe, not even inside their own heads. To vite this final refuge, to deny a victim this final dignity, is the ultimate act of conquest.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you fail to break me?¡± I replied with newfound pride. ¡°You showed me my greatest fear and I burned it away. You tried to poison my mind against my consorts, but my trust in them proved stronger.¡±

    I extended my arms and dared the Lords of Terror to strike me down.

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± I dared them. ¡°Break my will, if you are so powerful. Shatter my mind to pieces and make me your ve in the waking world. Go on, try!¡±

    A tense, terrible silence followed my challenge.

    ¡°Just as I thought,¡± I replied as I lowered my arms. I had a feeling about this. ¡°It is not that you so-called Lords <em>choose </em>to give a spell to those who pass your trials; it is that you are <empelled </em>to<em>. </em>You are thralls to this cursed city¡¯sws. Now that I have passed this test, you can no longer harm me.¡±

    I took Ahalmez¡¯s frustration as confirmation. ¡°Your arrogance will be the death of you, feathered fool.¡±

    ¡°And your ignorance blinds you to who I am, carrion-feeders,¡± I boasted. ¡°I am Iztac Ce Ehecatl, the emperor who shall destroy Yohuachanca and dance among its ashes! And if you think you can control me, then let me give the same answer I once offered the Nightlords!¡±

    I crossed my arms and faced the Lords of Terror with the same defiance I showed false gods once.

    ¡°I <em>refuse</em>,¡± I dered boldly. ¡°Now give me that spell I am entitled to, so that I may be on my way to my final House of Trials. I am growing tired of this farce.¡±

    Ahalmez red at me for a while in impotent rage, only for a soft sound to shatter the silence between us.

    Its prisoner Ahaltocob let out a sinister rattle from its bleeding throat. The stitches binding its mouth shifted just enough to free its lips.

    ¡°We shall teach him the <em>Word</em>,¡± it moaned pitifully.

    Ahalmez seemed genuinely confused. ¡°The Word?¡±

    ¡°A single word the weak will follow,¡± the humiliated one whispered. ¡°Sleep, burn, love, obey¡­ <em>Die</em>.¡±

    Ahalmez pondered its cohort¡¯s proposal, before acquiescing to it. It made me wonder which of these two was the true master.

    ¡°You alone, of all of mortalkind, shall know this spell,¡± the lord of control dered, albeit with clear reluctance in its voice. ¡°Use it to quell your fear to rest. Strip your ves of their ill-gotten free-will so that they may never betray you. Build your own pyramid, one broken back at a time. Only then will you absolve yourself from Fate¡¯s decrees.¡±

    I could recognize a poisoned gift when I saw one. The offer was as generous as it was insidiously corruptive. I had spent so much time earning the trust of others and cajoling their cooperation through services or favors. A spell thatpelled obedience, even if it was limited to a single word, would let me force it without fear of betrayal. It would be so easy to rely on this spell, to grow dependent on this tool of oppression to secure my peace of mind. I wouldn¡¯t have to fear Chikal turning on me if her mind bent to my will; same with Eztli.

    Since the Lords of Terror failed to crush my trust in my allies, they offered me an easy way to neglect it.

    I would have to avoid falling into their trap and use the spell with parsimony. Loyaltypelled by force was more fickle than it looked, as my captors taught me, and abusing the Word would only y into the Lords of Terror¡¯s hands. Not to mention the danger that would befall the world should the Nightlords ever learn of it.

    The Lords of Terror gave me a chain to strangle myself with. A leash that would bind me to its victims.

    I would have to prove myself the master of my own fate.

    Only a single trial stood between me and those cursed city¡¯s gates.

    My time in Xibalba would soone to an end.

 Chapter Sixty-Eight: Eyes Wide Shut

    Chapter Sixty-Eight: Eyes Wide Shut

    I woke up from a long nightmare with Nl by my side.

    The bed was warm, and her feet pressed against mine even more so. My eyes slowly limated to the faint sunlight filtered through obsidian windows. While the trials of Xibalba exhausted my spirit in the Underworld, here my body now felt well and truly rested. Since the morning sun had risen, I guessed I¡¯d been asleep for an afternoon and a whole night.

    ¡°Morning, Iztac.¡± Nl turned to face me when she sensed me move, her head resting in her hands while she stared at me. ¡°You¡¯re finally awake?¡±

    I studied her face for a very long moment. Though I felt my soul return from the Underworld as usual, I¡¯d half-expected to be facing a third trial now. A mere look at Nl¡¯s bright smile and kind eyes reassured me. No Lord of Terror could mimic the genuine, gentle warmth radiating from my consort.

    She was the <em>real </em>Nl.

    ¡°Iztac¡­¡± Nl smiled sheepishly. ¡°Is, uh¡­ is something the matter?¡±

    ¡°I was just admiring you,¡± I replied sincerely. After two trials in a row, seeing her again soothed my heart better than any poultice. ¡°You¡¯re beautiful, Nl. <em>Radiant</em>.¡±

    Nl¡¯s cheeks reddened in a mix of joy and embarrassment. ¡°You really mean that?¡± she asked me, almost anxiously. ¡°Even with¡­ the hair and eyes?¡±

    ¡°I have the same too,¡± I pointed out, slightly amused.¡°I know, but¡­¡± Nl bit her lower lip. ¡°They look better on you.¡±

    They didn¡¯t, but I guessed that even simplepliments like mine hit all the harder after a lifetime of being bullied over her ¡®cursed¡¯ appearance.

    ¡°I love them, Nl.¡± I pulled my arms around her waist and pulled her naked body over my chest. Her startled cry of surprise only emboldened me to kiss her on the neck next. ¡°I could devour you right now.¡±<ul><li>

    <strong>NSFW scene starts</strong></li></ul>

    ¡°Oh, Iztac¡­¡± She shivered with pleasure as my hand caressed her back and then her buttcheeks. By the time I pressed my lips onto her own, she had already grabbed my manhood.

    We were rutting like animals a minuteter. I sat on the bed with my lips kissing every ounce of flesh within reach, while Nl rode me with her arms around my neck. My consort answered my desire with wild energy, nibbling and grunting and gasping. I had yet to bed a woman with such a bottomless appetite since Eztli. Nl hungered for me, for love, and for pleasure.

    I had created a monster.

    Our Seidr connection was simply abnormally potent too. It usually took a few thrusts for my Teyolia to connect with that of my lovers, but ours joined the moment I prated Nl. I felt like we were a single soul split into two shells of flesh jumping at any asion to reunite. The fact we both possessed a totem of our own probably strengthened our spiritual bond.<ul><li>

    <strong>NSFW scene ends</strong></li></ul>

    Images shed before my eyes as our minds and flesh melded together in a deep embrace. I watched Nl¡¯s face transform into Mother¡¯s through my Father¡¯s eyes, his hands closing on her waist. I vaguely heard cries in the distance, drowned in grunts and sighs of pleasure. The visionsted an instant before Nl and I returned to reality, yet it left me disoriented.

    Why did I keep seeing that?

    ¡°Iztac¡­¡± Nl stared at me in confusion as she recovered her breath, her salty skin sweating profusely. My seed dripped down her thighs and on my waist. ¡°That was¨C¡±

    ¡°Wonderful.¡± I pressed a short kiss on her lips. ¡°You are wonderful.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ thank you.¡± Nl shifted a bit as my manhood exited her, but her grip on my neck remained strong. ¡°That¡­ that was <em>great</em>.¡±

    I found myself forgetting all about Xibalba, the Nightlords, and everything else. All those considerations paled before the joy of embracing a woman who deeply, <em>truly </em>loved me. I had needed this after suffering through that treacherous y in the Underworld: the reassurance that there was something about humanity worth fighting for.

    ¡°Thank you for epting me, Nl,¡± I said before kissing her on her fresh, inviting lips. ¡°It means more than you think.¡±

    Nl giggled lightly. ¡°That¡¯s silly, but¡­ I hope they¡¯ll have our eyes¡­¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Whom?¡±

    ¡°Our kids.¡± My confusion caused Nl to hesitate. ¡°I mean, uh¡­ we had sex and you¡­ you know.¡± Her smile turned awkward and anxious. ¡°Is that not how it works?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. I would have expected the harem¡¯s other women to have enlightened her on that front.

    ¡°Kids aren¡¯t guaranteed after sex, Nl,¡± I replied. ¡°It often takes a few tries.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Oh, that¡¯s, that¡¯s good to hear¡­¡± From Nl¡¯s expression, I could tell that she was looking forward to carnal pleasures. How <em>voracious</em>. ¡°I thought that since it worked for Chikal¨C¡±

    My fingers tensed on her waist. ¡°Chikal?¡±

    Nl¡¯s eyes widened in realization. ¡°I spoiled it¡­¡± she muttered in horror before covering her mouth with her hands. ¡°Oh gods, I spoiled the surprise¡­¡±

    ¡°Worry not, Nl,¡± Chikal¡¯s voice said from behind our bedroom¡¯s curtain. My amazon consort swiftly pushed it aside, causing Nl to let out a cry of surprise, get off me, and retreat under the bed sheets. ¡°This was a long time in the making.¡±

    I sat on the bed as Chikal entered the bedroom, closely followed by Ingrid and Eztli. Thest time I saw them, one cried while tied to a pir, one had betrayed me, and thest one had been possessed by a Nightlord.

    The three women in front of me couldn¡¯t look any different from my nightmare. Chikal strutted forward with the regal, proud poise of a true queen. Ingrid smiled warmly at me with a gaze filled with a deep and profound affection. And Eztli was <em>Eztli</em>, smirking and mischievous.

    She did put a single marigold in her hair, however.

    It was a single flowerpared to Yoloxochitl¡¯s crown of petals, but it sent a shiver down my spine nheless. The Lords of Terror hadn¡¯t lied; they showed me a vision of a dreadful future that woulde to pass should I fail. I would need to have a word with Eztli and her mother soon.

    Nheless, another subject preupied me more at the moment. Chikal sat on the side of my bed and met my gaze. She seemed especially pleased today for her joy to break through herposed facade.

    ¡°Are you¡­¡± The word remained unsaid on the tip of my tongue, like a curse

    ¡°I am pregnant.¡± Chikal put a hand on her belly and beamed with pride. ¡°Your seed has taken root, Iztac. Both Necahual and Lahun confirmed it.¡±

    Pregnant.

    Chikal was pregnant.

    With <em>my </em>child.

    <em>I had another once. He burned with Sigrun in the mes. </em>

    I expected overwhelming dread to follow this revtion, especially after learning the truth from the Parliament of Skulls and facing Fjor during the hunt. Instead, I felt a strange, serene kind of grim eptance. Fathering a child with Chikal had been the price of our political alliance and an inevitability. I¡¯d likely impregnated Necahual already as well, even if I hadn¡¯t received a confirmation yet.

    What was bound to happen, happened.

    What did Lahun predict? The son of chaos would be the father of terror?

    The fear of siring a future vampire or broodmare always hung over me like a cloud whenever Iy with my consorts and concubines. Strange as it sounded, knowing that the damage was already done lifted a weight off my shoulders; the same way I felt strangely at peace after sacrificing a hundred souls to the Yaotzin.

    The bridge had been crossed. My descendants would suffer under the Nightlords¡¯ yoke if I failed, no matter their numbers.

    The Lords of Terrors¡¯ vision had only reminded me of my precarious position¡ªhow a single mistake would lead to me being stripped of my magic and ultimate suffering. The nightmare also hardened my resolve. I knew from within my heart that I would never surrender to the Nightlords under <em>any </em>circumstances.

    Chikal was right, I had to consider ways to prepare for the future should I fail to destroy the Nightlords myself. Children could inherit my hatred along with my Nahualli powers. With mothers such as Necahual or Lahun to whisper tales of duty and revenge in their ears, one of them might take up my sword and finish what I¡¯d started.

    Besides, the imperial system offered privileges to concubines who bore an emperor¡¯s children. My chosen mates would never know true safety under the Nightlords¡¯ yoke, but they could rue influence the same way Sigrun did. I could even arrange for my knowledge and secrets to pass on to them.

    Eztli, who knew me so well, smiled ear to ear. ¡°Does Your Majesty want more?¡±

    I considered her question and then realized that I had no idea.

    Impregnating Necahual gave me such pleasure because it let me avenge myself on her for her mistreatment and Guatemoc for his inaction, and having a queen like Chikal bearing my daughter filled me with a certain kind of masculine pride. My blood stirred with desire when I looked at Nl, Ingrid, Eztil, and the others.

    But I couldn¡¯t exclude the danger of giving the Nightlords a stable of Nahualli-bred vampires. I suspected they¡¯d selected me as this year¡¯s emperor partly to produce magical offspring they could repurpose for their own uses.

    I also had to factor in the possibility that my descendants would either refuse to follow in my footsteps or worse, <em>submit </em>to my captors.

    <em>Is that what I am reduced to now? Treating my sons and daughters as resources to be managed and weapons for me to wield? </em>Then again, I¡¯d already used childbearing as a test of loyalty with Lahun earlier.<em> What does that make me?</em>

    In a better world, I would have wanted children for their own sake rather than to secure political alliances or take up my cause should I perish. I would have raised them with the same care Father showed me once.

    I <em>had </em>to win. I couldn¡¯t abandon my descendants to fend off for themselves on their own like Mother did.

    ¡°I would have loved to grow up with a sibling,¡± I replied, though in truth I only ever aspired to freedom and solitude. I suddenly recalled another matter that I should at least pretend to address. ¡°Speaking of siblings, do we have any news of your sister, Ingrid?¡±

    ¡°The search is ongoing,¡± Ingrid replied with a tone that could <em>pass </em>for concern, but the impish look she sent me said otherwise. ¡°I am sure my lord¡¯s faithful servants will recover her in no time. I shall pray for their sess each night.¡±

    I doubted that. Nheless, I took joy in the fact none of us would have to worry about Astrid¡¯s safety anytime soon. I would wait a few days for Fjor to stew in his confusion before approaching him for my n.

    ¡°So shall I,¡± I said before slouching on a pillow. A n came to mind. ¡°I have spent too much time fulfilling my imperial duties and not enough of them taking care of you all, my dearpanions. Henceforth, this day shall be dedicated to love and pleasure.¡±

    While Nl reddened and Chikal raised an eyebrow, Eztli grinned in anticipation. ¡°A day of pleasure?¡± she asked with a slight chuckle. ¡°I could think of a few pastimes.¡±

    ¡°What of the matters of state, my lord?¡± Ingrid asked with a strange look in her eyes.

    ¡°They will wait,¡± I decided while waving my hand. ¡°The conception of my first child, though soured by Astrid¡¯s disappearance, warrants a grandiose celebration.¡±

    My predecessors suggested that I follow up onst night¡¯s tension with frivolity to better deceive the Nightlords, and what better waste of time and money than a day of luxurious decadence? I would give them a feast of excess that would shame the gods themselves.

    This strategy worked well for Nochtli the Fourteenth in the past, while offering me the perfect excuse to discuss recent events with my consorts and concubines underyers of misdirection. The fact that I confirmed that I could practice Seidr undetected only added more benefits.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind taking it easy for a day,¡± Eztli said. ¡°Especially since this may be myst day as your official consort before my¡­¡± Her lips stretched to unveil her sharp fangs. ¡°<em>Recement</em> arrives.¡±

    Her words instantly soured many moods, none worse than Nl; having nearly died at the Skinwalker¡¯s hands, she didn¡¯t look forward to cohabiting with her as a fellow consort. I could only hope that Chindi would put her acting talents to use to at least fake repentance.

    ¡°I have no doubt the goddesses will domesticate that wild beast by the time shees to us,¡± I said with an imperious, confident tone.

    ¡°If not, I will do it myself,¡± Eztli promised with a malicious, predatory gleam in her eyes. ¡°A predecessor should personally ensure that their sessor lives up to their example, should they not?"

    I exchanged a nce with Eztli. Having her keep an eye on Chindi would certainly soothe my mind, if only to ensure she wouldn¡¯t harm or disturb my other concubines. I did wonder what method my consort intended to use to ensure her recement¡¯spliance.

    ¡°We shall see,¡± I replied before stretching. ¡°Ingrid, I leave it up to you and Eztli to organize my schedule today. See that everyone in my harem gets their fair share of my valuable time.¡±

    ¡°Does my lord have a peculiar wish in mind?¡± she asked me back.

    I smiled ear to ear. ¡°Quite a few.¡±

    It was time for me to organize my first <em>imperial orgy</em>.

    After some consideration, we decided that I would do a different activity with each of my consorts and their handmaiden; and that no woman may wear clothes in my presence, so that their emperor may bask in their beauty. A most frivolous request that should lull spies into a false sense of safety.

    The first spectacle would be a series of diatorialbat held in my first child¡¯s honor. Since we remained confined to our quarters for now, my servants transformed our dining room into an arena by removing the central stone table and setting a vast bed of luxurious pillows on which we spectators could rest.

    Here I slouched, naked as the day I was born, with one arm around Chikal¡¯s waist and the other around Lahun¡¯s. While thetter arrived only with her fang ne and feather headband, the former bore a queenly ruby diadem, golden bracelets, and a tight choker which I found most alluring.

    ¡°I thought amazons were above such luxuries,¡± I teased her.

    ¡°This is a special day,¡± Chikal replied as the fighters¡ªan Eagle Knight and a Jaguar Warrior¡ªtook position in the makeshift arena. Each of them wielded obsidian clubs, for the fight would be to the death. ¡°Unless you would rather see me clothed in rags?¡±

    ¡°Not for all the gold in the world,¡± I replied before kissing Chikal on the cheek and earning myself a wry smile from her.

    Servants soon served us drinks¡ªthough Chikal refused alcoholic beverages on ount of her pregnancy¡ªas the fighters took their positions. My dear Itzili returned to me wounded, but alive. He rested at my pillow throne¡¯s feet with bandages around his leg, his reptilian eyes studying the duelists with hunger. I¡¯d promised him that he could eat the losing fighter¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Who do you think will win, Lahun?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°I have not consulted fate on this oue,¡± the shamaness replied, her hand hesitantly resting on my chest. Being in this position right next to her queen unsettled her at first, but she was growing slowly used to it. ¡°I would wager on the Jaguar Warrior.¡±

    ¡°He does look more experienced,¡± Chikal noted while stroking her chin. ¡°The other looks fitter though. I will take that bet.¡±

    I chuckled. ¡°You would wager against a seer, Chikal?¡±

    ¡°One must shape their own future,¡± my consort replied with a knowing smile. ¡°You understand this more than most.¡±

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°Mydy refused to let me read her child¡¯s fate once we confirmed her pregnancy,¡± Lahun informed me. ¡°In spite of my best arguments to convince her otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked her curiously.

    Chikal shrugged her shoulders. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of tomorrow. I shall face whatever destiny awaits my future daughter and me.¡±

    I wondered what could frighten this woman of stone. I had to admit I found her willfulness and confidence quite arousing.

    ¡°Lady Necahual was a wiser listener,¡± Lahun said as the fighters began to circle one another, waiting for an opening. ¡°She and I have kept each otherpany and shared mutual advice. She would make a great seer.¡±

    I understood the hidden message. Lahun had begun to teach Necahual her shamanic ways, as I¡¯d ordered her to. Excellent. My coven of witches was slowly taking shape in the background.

    ¡°Did you read her fortune?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I did. Her lifeline is weaker than Your Majesty¡¯s, so signs were more sinct. I can recount my predictions to Your Majesty, but I suspect Lady Necahual will tell you on her own.¡±

    ¡°I will ask her directly,¡± I replied. ¡°Were they good or bad signs?¡±

    Lahun pondered my question for a moment before answering. ¡°Good for her, and bad for others.¡±

    I took this as an excellent sign.

    The Eagle Knight suddenly lunged at his adversary upon seeing an opening. Their obsidian clubs shed in a sh of speed, their des mutually scratching each other and leaving thin gashes across their chests. Itzili¡¯s head perked up at the sight of droplets of blood hitting the ground.

    ¡°Have you thought about us?¡± Chikal asked in my ear while her eyes watched the duel with rapturous attention. The allure ofbat excited her like nothing else.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied. I noticed that Lahun listened attentively to our discussion. Good, it concerned her too.

    ¡°You have fulfilled your part of the bargain,¡± Chikal said. ¡°We no longer need to share a bed, should you desire it.¡±

    ¡°Have I left such a poor impression?¡± I teased her. ¡°How do amazons run things in Chm? Are fathers involved in their children¡¯s lives?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Chikal replied. ¡°As I said before, males are only for procreation. Most believe letting them influence their daughters will result in weaklings.¡±

    Quite the savage take on paternity. ¡°<em>Most</em>?¡±

    Chikal shrugged. ¡°The question does not concern us, Iztac. We will not live long enough to raise our daughter.¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± I replied. Walls had ears, so we had to tacitly pretend to ept our fate in the open. ¡°What of love then? Can a proud amazon rest her head on a man¡¯s shoulder to forget her lonely days?¡±

    ¡°A woman can have a favorite consort,¡± Chikal exined. ¡°They rarelyst long. My own father was around for five years before my mother reced him with a younger captive, and many considered it an exceptional tenure.¡±

    ¡°What man could rece an emperor, I wonder.¡± I stroked my consort¡¯s crimson hair. ¡°I trust you, Chikal.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°No, you do not,¡± I replied. ¡°I trust your strength, your honor, your wits, and your bravery. Few would have dared join us in ourst hunt, and fewer would have dared to fight a Nightkin head on. You possess an unwavering spirit which I admire.¡±

    ¡°Yourpliments are appreciated, but unwarranted.¡± Chikal looked away from the duel long enough to study my face. ¡°Where does thise from, Iztac?¡±

    <em>A nightmare.</em> ¡°The heart. A political alliance no longer satisfies me. I would like to form a deeper bond than an union of convenience.¡± I lovingly caressed her cheek. ¡°I would like to be your husband in deed and name, if you will let me.¡±

    The proposal amused Chikal. ¡°I would be the first queen of Chm to have a husband then. This would vite many of our oldest traditions.¡±

    ¡°And they failed to repel Yohuachanca,¡± I stated bluntly. ¡°If your old ways failed you in your hour of need, then perhaps you ought to change them.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± Chikal considered my proposal for a moment before shaking her head. ¡°I would not be opposed to deepening our alliance, but I am not certain that I can trust you yet, Iztac. The way you behaved in the forest makes me wonder how much in control of yourself you are.¡±

    ¡°I am the Godspeaker. The heavens speak and kill through me. That will never change.¡± I would have to keep up this charade for the sake of deceiving the Nightlords. ¡°But I can swear one thing to you.¡±

    I brought my left hand to my mouth and bit my palm so hard I drew blood.

    mes surged from beneath my skin. Lahun stared at them with fascination, while the Jaguar Warrior froze in shock. This moment of inattention cost him dearly, as his foe proceeded to swing his obsidian club for the kill.

    ¡°I am a man with <em>fire </em>in his veins,¡± I dered.

    I pressed my burning palm against her buttcheek.

    My consort let out a cry of surprise at the sudden heat. At the same moment, the Eagle Knight sliced the Jaguar Warrior¡¯s throat in a shower of blood staining the ground. His head swiftly rolled across the makeshift arena.

    My other hand let go of a shocked Lahun and grabbed Chikal by her choker. I pinned her under me with all of my strength before she could regain her bearing.

    ¡°I promise you neither cozy stability nor fleeting peace of mind, Chikal.¡± I didn¡¯t think she sought either. ¡°What I offer is a wild ride to <em>war </em>and eternal <em>glory</em>.¡±

    Chikal scowled and counterattacked. Her right hand grabbed my hair and pulled, while the other tried to shove my burning palm away from her ass. She was strong, but weeks of training and the divine fire coursing through my veins let me hold my ground; I continued to caress her flesh while Itzili squealed in the background upon earning himself a free meal.

    ¡°Do you have what it takes to reach the finish line with me? If so, then I promise you this.¡± I leaned on to whisper in Chikal¡¯s ear while she grunted at my touch. ¡°When I¡¯m with you, we will always be our true selves.¡±

    Chikal met my eyes, her scowl turning into a vicious grin. ¡°You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re getting into.¡±

    Her mask ofposure dropped to reveal the true Chikal lurking under the queenly mask. She shed me a look of pure bloodlust and savagery; the face of a woman who loved to fight and kill as much as I did, who had spent her life carefully controlling it throughposure and sharp political skills.

    I felt like staring at my own reflection.<ul><li>

    <strong>NSFW scene starts</strong></li></ul>

    Chikal¡¯s grip on my burning hand tightened and forced my palm away from her skin. So strong were her fingers that I thought she would break my wrist, but she did no such thing.

    Chikal instead moved my palm to my manhood and soaked it in my burning blood.

    It didn¡¯t hurt me, not in the slightest. The challenge <em>aroused </em>me. I shoved my erect manhood inside Chikal, a grunt of pain and pleasure answering me. My hands savagely grabbed my consort¡¯s waist while her legs closed on my back, her thighs wrapped around my pelvis.

    I ignored Lahun¡¯s gaze, the bout¡¯s victor waiting in silence, and Itzili¡¯s noises as he chewed on the loser¡¯s heart. Chikal and I entered a savage rhythm free of thought and concern; an ebb and flow, a constant shifting of the tides slowly increasing into a frenzied dance. The deeper I pushed, the faster our hearts pounded and the stronger her grip grew. Her legs closed on my back with such strength I thought she would snap me in two. Her teeth sank into my throat deep enough to draw blood, as did my nails in her waist. Our pain and pleasure became so closely intertwined I couldn¡¯t tell one apart from the other.

    As our thrusts escted into a crescendo of grunts and gasps, our flesh and souls began to meld harmoniously together. I had spent so many nights trying to form a Seidr ritual with Chikal, to no avail. Our souls never managed to align because she always sought to dominate me, to control and bend me to her will.

    I showed her whatst night already taught her: that she would <em>never </em>seed.

    Chikal had been raised to see males as tools to dominate. Her rtionship with me, though respectful, followed these principles so far. She had hoped to exploit me to destroy her enemies and fulfill her political agenda while holding my leash. Her concerns about the First Emperor were no more than a reflection of her fears of losing her hold over <em>me</em>.

    And <em>that </em>was a shadow of her truest fear: losing control over <em>herself</em>.

    Such was the understanding that came to me once our Teyolias finally connected into a Seidr ritual. I saw nothing so grandiose as a vision of the past, nor did we share memories. Our souls simply melded in an intimate embrace that gave us insight into one another.

    Chikal was a queen, and true leaders did not show vulnerability. She had never let her emotions guide her actions, instead bottling them up with reason¡¯s rule, because any mistake could spell her people¡¯s doom. Chikal behaved like a sleeping volcano, boiling magma swirling under a deceptively quiet bed of stone. Hence why the few times she allowed herself to truly let loose seemed so sudden and shocking to outsiders.

    What I offered in our rtionship was the same thing I always promised: <em>freedom</em>. Not only from the Nightlords, but the gaze and pressure of queenship. She wouldn¡¯t have to wear a mask with me.

    She could be Chikal of Chm, in all of her pent-up savagery and violent glory.

    As our heart-fires split, I caught a final glimpse of a small fire between us. A newborn and flickering me, so weak and fragile I could hardly see it.

    The precious Teyolia of my unborn daughter.<ul><li>

    <strong>NSFW scene ends</strong></li></ul>

    I returned to reality with aches, bleeding scratch marks all over my skin, and a newfound sense of purpose. Chikal exhaled in the wake of our shared orgasm, the silence in the room hardly filled by Itzili¡¯s mastications.

    ¡°Is that a yes?¡± I teased her.

    ¡°For now,¡± Chikal replied with the same tone. ¡°I am not a prize to be shelved, Iztac. You will have to win me every day of your life.¡±

    A challenge I would dly take on. I pressed my lips against her own in a ferocious final kiss.

    Our political alliance had deepened into a stronger one today.

    Chikal released her hold on me after that, allowing me to turn over and look beyond herself. Lahun remained silent as a tomb, as was the victorious Eagle Warrior. As for Itzili, he had mostly finished consuming the loser¡¯s heart.

    ¡°You¡¯ve done well, soldier,¡± I congratted the victor, my blood and seed dripping on the pillows. ¡°I will see that you join my personal guard once we march to ughter the Sapa.¡±

    ¡°Your Divine Grace honors this humble warrior,¡± the man replied with a deep bow, though he could hardly hide the disturbed edge in his voice. Whether it was my savage behavior or burning blood that spooked him, I couldn¡¯t tell.

    Either would serve me well. Every new rumor about the emperor¡¯s entricities would strengthen my chosen facade of instability, and tales of my miracles would increase my subjects¡¯ reverence.

    I dismissed the soldier with a wave of my hand. Itzili belched after finishing his meal, which amused Chikal.

    ¡°It seems I won again, Lahun,¡± she said while cleaning my steaming, dried blood and seed off her thighs. If the burns bothered her, she didn¡¯t show it.

    ¡°Your Majesty has always had good judgment,¡± the shaman replied, though she hardly cared about the battle anymore. She only had eyes for my zing blood. ¡°If I may¡­¡±

    I presented her with my bloody hand and the faint mes rising from my palm. Lahun grabbed it almost too eagerly and studied it with fascination. The visions I¡¯d given her during our Seidr union looked almost quaintpared to this obvious, tant feat of supernatural power.

    ¡°The gods smile on me,¡± I told Lahun. ¡°And those who serve me well.¡±

    Lahun looked up at me with eyes burning with ambition. I could read her thoughts written all over her face. She realized that I didn¡¯t simply wield magic; I <em>was </em>sorcery. Divine power coursed through my veins.

    Power which I¡¯d subtly promised to her, should she pay the price I asked.

    ¡°I am always Your Majesty¡¯s faithful servant,¡± Lahun replied. She moved my hand against her chest, right above her heart. The heat of my mes caused her some irritation, but she dly bore it for the sake of her goal. ¡°My soul and body are yours to use and dispose of as you see fit.¡±

    ¡°Then let me pace myself and sip from a drink,¡± I dered after snapping my fingers and calling for a servant to bring us refreshment. ¡°I will take care of you right after.¡±

    Coupling with Lahun proved a much calmer experience than spending time in Chikal¡¯s embrace.

    I didn¡¯t mind it. Sex was mostly an excuse to practice Seidr with her, a skill which she showed an excellent grasp on. Now that I had gotten a better hang on Teyolias, I explored its healing properties by voluntarily leaving scratches during lovemaking, which I then healed with a transfer of energy.

    When I tried to save Nl¡¯s life back during our hunt, I couldn¡¯t iste which wounds the transfer should focus on. I now believed that Seidr could indeed allow me to heal individual body parts without wasting my heart-fire on other spots. It was simply a matter of controlling how the flow moved through the bloodstream.

    I wondered if I could turn the process on its head. I could in theory incapacitate individuals by withering their lungs and hands rather than drain them to death the long, hard way. This warranted further experimentation.

    ¡°Continue to serve me well,¡± I whispered in Lahun¡¯s ear after we finished, ¡°and a greater reward might be just around the corner.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty only has to ask,¡± she replied. ¡°And I shall obey.¡±

    I¡¯d primed her enough. I would just need an opportunity to put her through the Mometzcopinque ritual for a test run.

    After the servants cleaned up the bones left from Itzili¡¯s meal, I moved on to a warm hot bath in thepany of Ingrid. I decided to spend some time alone with her before following on with the rest of the agenda. Officially, I had to show her preference considering her sister¡¯s disappearance; unofficially, I simply wanted tofort her personally after our harrowing hunt.

    ¡°Chikal didn¡¯t go easy on you.¡± Ingrid traced the scratches on my arm with her hands, her fingers peeking above the bubbles. She sat on myp in a corner of the baths, the water covering up to her shoulders. ¡°Does my lord like it rough?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes.¡± Truthfully, I didn¡¯t have any particr preference. I adapted depending on my partner. I mostly saw sex as a tool to umte power, whether magical or political. ¡°Would you prefer that I change my approach with you?¡±

    ¡°My lord is doing well as he is.¡± Ingrid looked away at the nearest wall. ¡°Very well.¡±

    Why did she look so morose all of a sudden? I put my arms around her waist and pulled her to me, her back brushing against my chest. ¡°Is something bothering you, Ingrid?¡±

    Ingrid let out a sigh. ¡°I would like it better if my lord had eyes for me¡­ and <em>only </em>me.¡±

    My jaw clenched and my grip on her strengthened. I could guess her next words.

    ¡°I concede that this may sound petty,¡± Ingrid said with a sigh. ¡°You are the emperor. I always knew I would be one of four consorts, and a single woman among thousands. I would never have you all for myself. Even back when Mother¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°Mother wanted us to work together. She would bear your child, while I would remain avable at all times. This way we could hold you by the heartstrings.¡±

    ¡°Ingrid¨C¡±

    She didn¡¯t let me finish. ¡°I thought I could live with that, until you bedded Mother.¡± Her nails sank into her arms. ¡°I felt like a side piece. A stooge meant to prop-up another and then be reced by her newest child.¡±

    I would have loved to say that Lady Sigrun had better intentions, but we both knew better. As much as I¡¯d admired her wits, beauty, and intelligence, she was always the ruthless schemer.

    ¡°You will never be a prop to me, Ingrid,¡± I promised her. ¡°You are the smartest woman I know, and one of the bravest. I <em>need </em>you.¡±

    Ingrid turned her head to better look at me. She studied my expression for a moment before gently grabbing my chin and nting a kiss on my lips. It was slow, sweet, and genuine, with none of Nl¡¯s shyness and all of the sincerity. Like all good things, it ended way too soon.

    ¡°Can you promise me one thing, Iztac?¡± she asked me.

    Since she used my name instead of ¡®my lord,¡¯ I assumed it would be a big favor. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Whenever we call me to your bed¡­¡± Ingrid took in a deep breath and gave me a bittersweet smile. ¡°Can you be mine alone?¡±

    Ingrid was a trained actress and spymistress in spite of her young age, but I didn¡¯t detect an ounce of deceit or confidence in her words. She looked so frail and vulnerable making such a small demand. She feared I would deny her, because she understood very well where we stood.

    Ingrid well and truly loved me. After saving her sister from certain death, I had won more than her trust; I¡¯d won her heart. She loved me not because I was the emperor, but because of my own deeds.

    I would be lying if I said her feelings didn¡¯t touch me deeply. We¡¯d gone through many hardships, and it would have been so easy for her to me me for her mother¡¯s death. We¡¯d faced and triumphed over any tragedy that the Nightlords sent on our way. Our trust in each other had grown stronger than stone.

    But unfortunately, Ingrid loved me more than<em> I</em> loved <em>her</em>.

    Had I never met Eztli or Nl, I could have seen myself dedicating myself to Ingrid the way Father devoted himself to Mother. She was kind, smart, charming, and above all, loyal. Had the stars been kinder on her, I might have cherished her as my only wife.

    But I couldn¡¯t set aside all the others for her alone, nor sacrifice the advantages strategic unions could bring me. I wouldn¡¯t let Necahual go should we prevail against the Nightlords, nor would I abandon Nl, Chikal, and Eztli.

    Ingrid would never be my main priority, and she was painfully aware of it. She understood I would always put my own power and pleasure first.

    Worse, she had no idea of what I nned to use her missing brother for¡­

    ¡°I promise you.¡± I kissed her on the neck, her skin shivering at my contact. ¡°When we are together, you will not share me with another.¡±

    It was a small request born of desperation. A cry for relief andfort. I could afford to fulfill it.

    ¡°Thank you, Iztac.¡± Her fingers intertwined with mine. ¡°That means so much to me.¡±

    This way, she could lie to herself the same way she deceived many others. She could pretend she was the only one, if only for a brief moment.

    I pitied her¡­ but not enough to change.

    Ingrid cleared her throat and changed the subject. ¡°If I may, my lord, you may soon join matters of state and pleasure in Zacha.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°Do you remember that messenger from Ayar Cachi? The one who was supposed to bear a gift on his master¡¯s behalf?¡± Ingrid sighed when I nodded in confirmation. ¡°It appears the messenger and gift are one and the same.¡±

    I pondered her words for a second. I could read between lines. Ayar Cachi had settled on the most typical way of gaining influence over Yohuachanca¡¯s emperor.

    I spent a good minute pondering this turn of events when our first visitor arrived.

    I hadn¡¯t seen Lady Zyanya since I arranged her forced marriage to xc. As befitting an honored guest, she arrived in a splendid gilded dress, a gemstone ne glittering around her neck, and golden earrings shining beneath her braided raven hair.

    ¡°I thank Your Imperial Majesty from the bottom of my heart for inviting me today,¡± she said with a deep, respectful bow. ¡°Please let me offer you my most sincere congrattions for your first child¡¯s conception. I am certain Lady Chikal¡¯s daughter will be a blessing upon Yohuachanca.¡±

    ¡°Your words are appreciated,¡± I replied politely before faking annoyance. ¡°However, I believe you were misinformed, Lady Zyanya. No women may appear clothed before me today.¡±

    Lady Zyanya¡¯s queenly poise wavered a little, her smooth earthly skin paling slightly. I could see the sh of dread in her deep ck eyes. To disobey imperial protocol usually spelled death or punishment.

    ¡°My deepest apologies, Your Imperial Majesty,¡± she said with a deep bow meant to hide her unease. ¡°I was not informed."

    Of course she wasn¡¯t. Ingrid¡¯s message intentionally left it out. I wanted to test her reaction raw, without preparation nor anticipation.

    ¡°I shall have my messenger whipped for their carelessness,¡± I decided, though I purposefully avoided officially forgiving her.

    ¡°Perhaps Lady Zyanya ought to join us,¡± Ingrid said. ¡°She would appreciate the show I¡¯ve prepared for my lord.¡±

    I pretended to ponder her words for a few seconds before nodding to myself. ¡°You speak wisely, Ingrid. Come to your emperor, Zyanya.¡±

    Not too long ago, I had Lady Zyanya¡¯s husband executed and then forced her into a betrothal with the man¡¯s hated brother. Most women in her situation would have argued, hesitated, or shown some polite reluctance; or at least I would have expected them to react in such a way.

    Zyanya Quiabgayo wasn¡¯t like most women. Her robes hit the floor in an instant, unveiling her nakedness to the world. She then proceeded to adjust her braid far too quickly for her reaction to be spontaneous, giving me an enticing view of her breasts.

    I knew three things about this woman: she understood her own worth; she was an opportunist; and she was no fool. She knew being invited to an emperor¡¯s private party without her future husband could mean very few things¡­ and offered special opportunities.

    I leered at Lady Zyanya from head to toe, being very careful to make my attention seem more lurid than it truly was. I had to admit that she looked quite the beauty beneath her robes, but after being surrounded by many splendid women since the beginning of my tenure, I had grown jaded to it.

    I had a n in mind for Lady Zyanya¡¯s wedding, but I would need tobor the field a bit in order to soothe suspicions. I would consciously give a few hints that would recontextualize a future decision in Zacha; one that would serve as a smokescreen for the Mometzcopinque ritual.

    ¡°You wear a new ne,¡± I noted.

    ¡°A gift from xc,¡± Lady Zyanya replied with a knowing look. ¡°It is yours, if Your Imperial Majesty would like it.¡±

    Was the gift the ne, or its wearer? I wondered. xc shared his wife-to-be¡¯s ambition. He would close his eyes on many things if it meant securing political advantages.

    Not that I would bed her today¡ªthe strings would have been too obvious otherwise¡ªbut I feigned interest in her and beckoned her to join us in the bath. ¡°You are quite the beauty, Lady Zyanya.¡±

    ¡°Your Imperial Majesty is very kind, as are you, Lady Ingrid.¡± Lady Zyanya slid into the bath with the slow, near-regal poise of a noblewoman. The waters rippled with each step. ¡°May I sit by your side?¡±

    She was quite bold too. This would prove even easier than I expected. I wordlessly extended an arm to allow her to sit by my side, then put it around her shoulders the moment she leaned against me. Ingrid pointedly didn¡¯t step down from myp and kept the jaguar¡¯s share of the space, so Lady Zyanya wouldn¡¯t grow too cocky.

    ¡°Do you consider yourself a good judge of character?¡± I asked her, priming her forter.

    ¡°I would not be so bold as to boast, but I would say I have an eye for treachery,¡± Lady Zyanya replied. ¡°With myte husband¡¯s exception, of course. My inability to see his treachery was a momentarypse in judgment born of love and trust.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you are above any reproach,¡± I replied without meaning it. ¡°There is a woman we will soon meet in Zacha. She will likely attend your wedding on her patron¡¯s behalf. I would like you to observe her very closely, since I may call upon your judgmentter.¡±

    Lady Zyanya frowned. She could recognize a test when she saw one. ¡°What kind of woman?¡±

    <em>An infiltrator.</em> ¡°An ambassador from the Sapa Empire.¡±

    ¡°I would expect those foreigners to seek a settlement with Your Imperial Majesty,¡± Zyanya replied. ¡°Or a faction among them to ally with you against other imperial contenders.¡±

    So she did keep an eye on international politics. Sharp. ¡°You will help me ascertain where they stand,¡± I dered. ¡°But this will be for another time. This is a time for rxation.¡±

    I snapped my fingers. Tenoch, Lahun, and Atziri soon arrived naked alongside castrated musicians desperate to y for my entertainment.

    I spent the next hour rxing in my bath, chatting with two women while three more danced to the tune of foreign songs for my pleasure only.

    It was good to rule now and then.

 Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Price of Love

    Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Price of Love

    I brushed a scroll with fingers that weren¡¯t mine.

    The vellum felt so soft beneath my nails, even as the words I read carried little more than empty titudes. I focused on the hidden patterns within the text, catching the first signs of each sentence and rearranging them in a sequence that revealed the hidden truth.

    It had taken me so long to set this up without my captors noticing. I¡¯d called upon favors from Mother¡¯swork of spies and allies, obscured the delivery of these messages under countlessyers of misdirection, and paid the necessary intermediaries with both gold and favors. Exhuming this codex had taken a long time, and tranting Mother¡¯s secret notes undetected even more so.

    All so that I could be useful to <em>him</em>.

    All so that he would notice me and free me from this lonely prison.

    How could these stories possibly help though? They were mere tales; stories about a nameless magician descending into thend of the dead, seeking power and wisdom to defeat a great evil he couldn¡¯t kill nor understand. Deeper he descended, beneath a kingdom of fire and ashes into the wind-battered ruins of a world that used to be.

    There he met the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl, father of mankind, who now watched over the degenerate children he failed to save. The ancient god congratted his visitor on braving the trials required to reach him and enlightened him.

    ¡°The Teyolia is the essence of life, that which separates the living from the dead,¡± Quetzalcoatl said. ¡°A Tonalli may take many incarnations, but the heart-fire is unique to each vessel.¡±

    ¡°What of darkness?¡± the sorcerer asked. ¡°Why must the bat feast on fearful men?¡±¡°Because it would starve otherwise,¡± the great serpent replied. ¡°Though the bat may travel between the realms of the dead and the living at will, it remains among thetter; and life is <em>consumption</em>. So it is that men must die to fuel the sun that gives them life. For the me to be nurtured and the chain of existence to remain unbroken, it must feed continuously. The gods who cannot sustain their me fade away into the depths of the earth, the same as any man.¡±

    The tale made little sense to me, since Icked true understanding of such things, but I knew it would serve him well and so I engraved these words to memory.

    The vision ended there.

    The softness of the scroll under my fingers was reced by the warmth of Ingrid¡¯s sweating hips. She faced me, her arms coiling around my neck and her legs dangling in the void while I held her against her bedroom wall. Her warm breath blew on my face before her lips pressed against mine in a final kiss.

    I had held true to my promise. I gave myself to her wholly and exclusively. Lady Zyanya and my other concubines didn¡¯t hide their disappointment when I said I would carry Ingrid to her chambers alone after the spectacle in the bath, but it pleased my consort.

    The Seidr ritual had worked better than I expected. I didn¡¯t feel the same immediate connection I shared with Nl, but Ingrid had copiously studied her mother¡¯s notes and methods. She held nothing back from me either.

    I¡¯d already considered using Seidr as a method of sharing information without being overheard by others, but Ingrid was the first to follow through with the idea on her own. She had begun to recover information about the First Emperor¡¯s codex her mother gathered and gave me a peek of its secrets; she guessed, correctly, that I could make good use of them.

    I couldn¡¯t help but ponder about something else as we separated and caught our breath. I¡¯d <em>felt </em>Ingrid¡¯s love and dedication in every kiss and sh of memory. I¡¯d shared the depth of her feelings for me, and I would be lying if I said it didn¡¯t touch my heart.

    I wanted to return at least a sliver of that devotion, and I could think of only one way to do so.

    ¡°I will show you Wind soon,¡± I said after putting my clothes on again.

    Ingrid quickly caught on. She appeared deeply moved for a brief instant, until her sense of reason reasserted itself.

    ¡°My lord was kind to offer me my own private Wind, but surely imperial resources would be better spent elsewhere,¡± she replied, when she truly meant, <em>¡°Should we waste a ritual on indulging me rather than destroying the Nightlords?¡±</em>

    ¡°I can find no better use of them than ensuring your own happiness.¡± And I meant those words. ¡°Ingrid.¡±

    She looked into my eyes, her pale marble skin glittering like moonlight under the glow of nearby torches.

    ¡°I will never take you for granted,¡± I promised her. ¡°Every kindness you give me, I shall return tenfold.¡±

    I wanted her to be happy, not because it would secure her loyalty to me, but because I wanted her to know how much I appreciated her. Because I valued her as a person¡­ and as a wife.

    Ingrid pondered my words for a moment before offering me a warm, genuine smile. ¡°Thank you, Iztac,¡± she said before draping herself in a bedsheet. ¡°I never doubted it.¡±

    Somehow, those four words¡ªso simple in their sincerity¡ªfelt better than any of the many empty luxuries which I¡¯d enjoyed today.

    I kissed Ingrid goodbye onest time and then moved to visit myst consort.

    As usual, Eztli chose to share a room with her mother. I immediately sensed the distance between them the moment I walked in, both physically and emotionally. My vampiric consort rested in the only bed avable, nude and smirking in anticipation. Necahual otherwise stood in front of the obsidian window, staring through it with a deep scowl on her face.

    Most importantly, she was fully clothed.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard?¡± I asked while embracing Necahual from behind, my arms closing on her waist. She didn¡¯t resist my pull. She knew that she was <em>mine</em>. ¡°No one is allowed to wear clothes in my presence. You have disobeyed me.¡±

    Necahual ignored me.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°I have been asking myself the same question,¡± Eztli replied while lying on her back. The marigold ced in her hair sent shivers down my spine. ¡°Mother has been in a foul mood all day.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± I kissed Necahual on the neck. ¡°What bothers you so much?¡±

    My favorite stopped watching the window just long enough to re at me. ¡°Your mother.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± I should have expected as much. Of course, learning of her survival rattled Necahual to the bone after what Mother put her through; doubly so since she came into contact with her own daughter. ¡°Yes, learning about her survival came as quite the shock.¡±

    Necahual didn¡¯t believe me. I could see it written all over her face. She knew that I knew and that I¡¯d kept it to myself. No wonder she gave me the cold shoulder.

    ¡°She was quite the sharp woman,¡± Eztlimented. ¡°I could smell the scent of danger around her.¡±

    ¡°She still hasn¡¯t been found?¡± Necahual asked coldly. ¡°Nor has Astrid?¡±

    ¡°Not yet, but they will be caught in time,¡± I replied without really meaning it. This only served to deepen Necahual¡¯s scowl until she turned back to gaze at the world beyond the window while sulking in silence.

    Necahual¡¯s jealousy of Mother¡¯s gifts was half the reason she threw her lot in with me. She craved the magical power her romantic rival wielded. Hearing how Mother managed to swoop in and steal Astrid from the Nightlords while Necahual failed to protect her own daughter no doubt infuriated her.

    Eztli, who had been observing us for a while, crossed her legs in the bed. ¡°Mother saved him.¡±

    ¡°Whom?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That sick refugee child. Teyok, I think his name was?¡±

    ¡°Teiuc,¡± Necahual said sharply, her arms crossing beneath her breasts. ¡°His name is Teiuc.¡±

    ¡°That is great,¡± I said with sincerity. That child was within a heartbeat of death when we found him, and I felt some responsibility for him. I did order his father murdered after all. ¡°How did you do it?¡±

    Necahual gathered her breath and then showed me her palm. A small scar marred her smooth, beautiful skin. I immediately recognized the leftover trace of a shing wound.

    ¡°You fed him your blood?¡± I muttered in disbelief.

    ¡°Since you saved Nl by giving her yours, I assumed I could do the same.¡± Though Necahual continued to scowl, I detected a brief flicker of pride in her eyes. ¡°You visited my bed so often I thought¡­ that your vitality would rub off on me, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Being <em>my </em>mother must have helped,¡± Eztli guessed. ¡°You are blessed in many ways.¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps,¡± Necahual conceded with a shrug.

    I knew better. Necahual and I practiced Seidr so often she could transfer her Teyolia to another through her blood. Of course she could. If Sigrun could steal the vitality of others without being a Nahualli, why couldn¡¯t someone else give it away?

    I finally understood what put her in such a foul mood. Necahual achieved her first feat of witchcraft by saving a child wavering on the brink of death, only for it to be overshadowed by Mother¡¯s much more daring and spectacr return. It reawakened so many old wounds.

    ¡°Fulfill your promise,¡± Necahual muttered under her breath.

    I tensed up. She didn¡¯t say which promise, but there was only one oath I had sworn to her: that I would share in my sorcery in exchange for her full assistance and servitude.

    And after being forced back into Mother¡¯s shadow once again, her patience was running thin.

    ¡°I gave you everything. My soul, my body, my daughter¡­¡± Necahual grit her teeth while her hands moved to her belly. ¡°Even <em>this</em>. Now give me what you promised me in return.¡±

    ¡°Not yet,¡± I whispered back into her ear. I couldn¡¯t put her through the Mometzcopinque ritual without testing it on Lahun first. The risk of losing her was too great.

    Necahual wouldn¡¯t listen. ¡°I want it <em>now</em>.¡±

    ¡°The child?¡± Eztli asked with enthusiasm.

    Necahual froze in my arms. As for myself, I was used to hiding my emotions enough not to show surprise.

    ¡°Sorry for eavesdropping,¡± Eztli replied without meaning it, her gaze lingering on her mother¡¯s belly with the thrill of <em>hunger</em>. ¡°I can¡¯t help but feel you¡¯ve finally decided to¡­ <emmit</em>.¡±

    ¡°You are right,¡± I said, both to deflect suspicions and finally address the trihorn in the room. My grip on Necahual¡¯s waist strengthened slightly. ¡°Your mother and I are trying to conceive.¡±

    ¡°We are,¡± Necahual replied, her head turning to nce at her daughter. ¡°As you no doubt wished when you sabotaged my contraceptives, my daughter.¡±

    ¡°Do you me me?¡± To her credit, Eztli didn¡¯t bother denying it. ¡°Deep down, you both wanted to cross that line. The tension between you two was <em>palpable</em>.¡±

    She might have been right, but her casual yfulness when considering such a heavy subject rattled me.

    ¡°It remains a serious breach of trust,¡± I warned Eztli. ¡°You knew how sensitive the matter was for the both of us.¡±

    ¡°And what was I supposed to do? Stand by and watch as you continued to be at each other¡¯s throats, as you had been for <em>years</em>?¡± Eztli sounded genuinely confused by our reaction. Had her humanity degraded so much? ¡°You craved the thrill of crossing that taboo, but feared to. I simply helped you do so.¡±

    ¡°It was our choice to make, my daughter, not yours,¡± Necahual replied. Her voice carried no resentment, only concern for Eztli¡¯s behavior. ¡°Did you want me to bear a child for our sake, or yours?¡±

    ¡°Both.¡± Eztli smiled at us in a way that I found both innocent and frighteningly intense. ¡°Don¡¯t you see how it will be the lynchpin that binds us together? The blood that ties us? We can finally be a <em>real </em>family, all three of us, without Father standing in the way.¡±

    She said thosest words almost absentmindedly, as if it were a detail we all agreed on. The statement¡¯s true significance sank into my heart, while Necahual stared nkly at her daughter in shock and disbelief.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°What?¡± Eztli asked. She¡¯d picked up on our reaction.

    ¡°Eztli.¡± I took a deep breath and braced myself for her answer. ¡°What¡¯s your father¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°Why that question, Iztac?¡± Eztli scoffed in amusement. ¡°It¡¯s Yohuach¨C¡±

    Half of the First Emperor¡¯s cursed name escaped her lips before she could catch herself.

    A tense silence filled the room. None of us dared to speak or move a muscle for a few seconds. The magnitude of that simple mistake didn¡¯t simply dawn on me or Necahual, but Eztli herself. She was the first to move again, sitting at the edge of the bed with her unblinking eyes staring at the wall. Her face was utterly nk, wearing an expression of utter vacuity.

    ¡°My father¡­¡± Eztli grabbed her head with both hands, massaging her skin as if to jog her warped memory and only seeding in falling deeper into confusion. ¡°He¡¯s inside me¡­ my father was a <em>god</em>, so why is there a <em>man¡¯s </em>soul within my belly?¡±

    I was too weak to stop Necahual from breaking out of my embrace, and too spooked to say a word myself. I could only stare at Eztli in silence, my mind conjuring visions of the Razor House. I saw her with a crown of flowers, her mischievous face twisted by Yoloxochitl¡¯s madness.

    I¡¯d identified the marigold in her hair and prior behavior as warning signs of her mental degradation, but I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d progressed <em>this </em>far already.

    ¡°Eztli,¡± Necahual said, kneeling in front of her daughter and facing her. ¡°Eztli, look at me.¡±

    Her daughter¡¯s eyes stared through her mother, rather than at her. ¡°Why can¡¯t I remember his <em>name</em>?¡± Eztli muttered to herself. ¡°I can¡¯t recall it anymore¡­¡±

    ¡°Your father was a man named Guatemoc,¡± Necahual said while reaching for her daughter in concern. Though we both know Eztli had been sired by one of my predecessors, he was the father that mattered. ¡°Eztli¨C¡±

    Eztli pped her mother¡¯s hand away, her expression twisting into a snarl of rage. ¡°You made me like <em>this</em>!¡±

    Her venomous words shook Necahual harder than any p. My favorite recoiled from her own daughter, her skin bleaching.

    ¡°It¡¯s your fault¡­¡± Eztli hissed angrily, anger boiling at the surface of her heart like pouring magma. ¡°It¡¯s your fault I can¡¯t stand in the sun anymore.¡±

    ¡°Eztli, it¡¯s not,¡± I said, trying to intervene before it got ugly. But it was far toote.

    ¡°It is!¡± Eztli gripped her knees with such pressure that she began to bleed where her nails sank into her flesh. Her eyes were two crimson pits of boiling blood ring at Necahual. I¡¯d never seen her so <em>hateful</em>. ¡°We all asked you to stop mistreating Iztac. I did, Father, my <em>real </em>father, who died because of <em>you</em>¡­ he ordered you to stop, but you never <em>listened</em>! You just couldn¡¯t let it go!¡±

    Necahual remained as silent as a tomb. Her jaw tightened, her eyes moist with guilt and shame. She didn¡¯t provide an excuse, because she had none.

    ¡°It should have been <em>my </em>life,¡± Eztli whispered in utter defeat, her face buried in her hands. ¡°All I wanted was a good husband, a happy family, and children who wouldugh with me. Was that too much to ask for? Instead, I have to crawl away from the sun for all eternity and spend all of existence as a cold, lifeless <em>thing</em> who murdered her own father!"

    She began to sob, each sound a dagger in my heart.

    What was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to say? That Eztli shouldn¡¯t worry about slowly transforming into another person, forgetting her entire life as a cruel role subsumed her very will? That I would kill the Nightlords and free her before it came to this? That we would get through this together?

    What could I say that wouldn¡¯t sound like empty titudes?

    I had to do something, so I took a step forward and reached for my consort. ¡°Eztli¨C¡±

    ¡°Stop there,¡± Necahual said sharply.

    Her icy tone froze me in my steps. She had given me an order without care for decorum nor caring if anybody listened. Though her expression remained tainted with sorrow and remorse, her eyes brimmed with that same unbreakable resolve she had shown me time and time again.

    Necahual wanted me to trust her. Eztli was right, Yoloxochitl wouldn¡¯t have picked her had she not spent so many years tormenting me. She put her daughter in this situation, even if it had been involuntary; so she wanted to resolve this herself. If she couldn¡¯t help her own daughter, what other hope did she have?

    So I stayed my hand for now.

    Necahual gave me a little nod of gratitude, then forcefully grabbed her daughter and forced her to look at her.

    ¡°I¡­ I am sorry, Eztli.¡± Necahual¡¯s apology always came out as awkward even now; she wasn¡¯t used nor built for them. ¡°More than you can imagine.¡±

    ¡°<em>Sorry</em>?¡± Eztli sneered in disgust. All the pent-up resentment she bore for her mother bobbled back to the surface and gave her a certain kind of rity. ¡°You are sorry, now? You stole my <em>life</em>!¡±

    ¡°I did n¨C¡± Necahual stopped herself, biting her lower lip. ¡°I know that my bitterness is to me for your suffering. If I could turn back time and spare you this fate, I would.¡±

    Eztli snorted, her voiceced with disdain. ¡°I wish I could trade you for Father.¡±

    I winced, words dying on the tip of my tongue. Necahual didn¡¯t say a word either. She probably agreed with her daughter deep down.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it,¡± Eztli apologized immediately, before looking down at the floor in shame. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I can¡¯t think¡­ I don¡¯t even know who I am anymore.¡±

    ¡°You are Eztli, my daughter,¡± Necahual replied firmly. ¡°That will never change.¡±

    Eztli didn¡¯t believe her. ¡°Your words mean <em>nothing</em>.¡±

    ¡°Then I shall back them with action.¡±

    Necahual grabbed her robes and partly tore them off to expose her left breast. She grabbed it with a hand, pressing the nipple, and then presented it to her vampiric daughter.

    ¡°Drink,¡± Necahual said.

    Eztli and I stared at that madwoman in shock. Horror seized me as I immediately recalled the awful sight of Necahual¡¯s blood-drained corpse lying on the temple¡¯s grounds, her husk fed upon by a host of vampires.

    The Lords of Terrors¡¯ vision unfolded before my very eyes.

    ¡°Do not!¡± I all but ordered. ¡°Neca¨C¡±

    ¡°This is <em>my </em>choice!¡± Necahual venomously hissed at me. ¡°I told you, I will <em>never </em>be your ve!¡±

    My teeth grit into a snarl of frustration. ¡°You are a fool if you think I will let you kill yourself.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right, Mother,¡± Eztli pleaded. ¡°If I do drink your blood¡­ If I do, I think I¡¯ll start seeing you as food.¡±

    Necahual didn¡¯t waver. ¡°I¡¯ve fed you before you could even speak. I¡¯ll do so again.¡±

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t understand.¡± Eztli nced at her mother¡¯s breast with a mix of hunger and fear. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m not sure I can stop once I start.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t take my blood. I will <em>give </em>it to you, the same way I gave you life so many years ago.¡± Necahual shrugged. ¡°If I must spend eternity as a voice inside your head reminding you of who you are so that you may live, then I shall.¡±

    I was about to p some sense into her when I caught a glimpse of Necahual¡¯s hand-scar. Her n suddenly appeared clear to me.

    Yoloxochitl asserted her dominance over Eztli by feeding her blood in a perverse attempt to usurp Necahual¡¯s ce, reshaping my consort¡¯s will and memories until she lost herself. Now that Necahual had be aware enough of her lifeforce to pass it on to a mortal, she hoped to repair the damage; to transfer her memories and feelings to her daughter until she recalled who she was.

    It was a brave and dangerous n fraught with danger. If Eztli lost control of her thirst and identally killed her mother, the sheer trauma would destroy her mind for good. Necahual had to know that, yet I sensed no fear in her.

    Her show of devotion touched Eztli. ¡°You¡­ you would truly do this for me?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Necahual gently caressed her daughter¡¯s cheek, wiping away a tear of blood. ¡°I would do anything for you, Eztli. <em>Anything</em>.¡±

    Eztli stared at her mother¡¯s breast for a moment, her hunger struggling with her inner humanity.

    Then she bit down.

    I swallowed a gulp of disgust as my consort¡¯s fangs sank into her mother¡¯s breast in the blink of an eye. Necahual let out a faint cry as red droplets dripped down her skin. Eztli¡¯s eyes widened with thirst, her mind overtaken by vampiric instinct. She grabbed her mother¡¯s flesh to gain a firmer grip on it, which Necahual encouraged. She moved a hand behind her daughter¡¯s head and pushed her deeper into her bosom while stroking her hair.

    I knew from experience how thrilling the vampire¡¯s kiss felt for both its victim and perpetrator. Neither Eztli nor Necahual were exceptions. The former sucked and drank with feverish excitement, while thetter let out soft moans and sighs of pleasure.

    ¡°I love you,¡± Necahual whispered in her daughter¡¯s ear. ¡°I love you. I love you.¡±

    The scene was about as unnerving as it was arousing. I watched on with concern and focus, ready to intervene and forcefully separate them should the worste to pass. I¡¯d seen Eztli drink her father to death in a minute¡¯s time in a frenzy. Each gulp rang like the horn of iing death.

    Yet Eztli slowed down once the first few seconds passed. She continued to suckle her mother¡¯s breast and drink her blood, but more gently, more kindly. Necahual kissed her daughter on the forehead, her mind clear like the morning sky, and then plucked the marigold in her hair and tossed it aside. Eztli paid it no mind.

    As astonishing as it looked, Necahual¡¯s n appeared to work. Eztli was calming down.

    ¡°I asked the seer to read my future,¡± Necahual told me, her hand stroking her maddened daughter¡¯s hair. ¡°After an hour¡¯s worth of rituals, she came up with three sentences.¡±

    I braced myself for what would follow. Lahun warned me that the prophecies would benefit Necahual at the expense of everybody else.

    ¡°Which ones?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°Cruel widow bes the mother of witches. ve to the demon emperor flies on borrowed wings.¡± Necahual¡¯s jaw clenched as she looked at her daughter with concern. ¡°The parent buries the child.¡±

    Thest sentence rang inside my skull for a while before I could muster a response. ¡°Burial can mean many, <em>many </em>things.¡±

    ¡°Or <em>one</em>.¡± Necahual locked eyes with me. ¡°Fulfill your promise.¡±

    That was more of a prayer than a demand, but one that I considered nheless.

    I carefully considered my options. Both Necahual and Eztli were quickly reaching a breaking point. The former was sick of being powerless as thetter underwent a mental breakdown. Her patience was wearing thin.

    I¡¯d nned to put Lahun through the Mometzcopinque ritual first in order to test it because of the risks involved. Switching her with Necahual presented some danger, but now that I¡¯d learned how to heal with my blood¡­ It should make it safer. Empowering her would both secure her loyalty and reassure her that we were making progress.

    Eztli concerned me more. If she struggled to remember her own father¡¯s name, then how long until she began to <em>think </em>like Yoloxochitl? The Razor House had given me a taste of that fear. I didn¡¯t want to experience it once again.

    I wouldn¡¯t allow it.

    ¡°Very well,¡± I replied without borating.

    Necahual appraised me for a while, then gave me a small nod of assent and gently let go of Eztli. My consort slowly emerged from her post-feeding daze, her mind recovering. Her mother had grown a little paler from the blood loss, but didn¡¯t seem in any danger.

    ¡°Eztli?¡± I asked.

    She looked at me without a word. I took her hands into my own, knelt in front of her, and then stared straight into her crimson eyes.

    ¡°Everything will be alright,¡± I said without emotion.

    It wasn¡¯t an attempt at reassurance nor empty words, but a statement.

    I knew what I had to do now.

    I thought back to the information Ingrid decoded from the First Emperor¡¯s codex about how the Tonalli and Teyolia intertwined. From my understanding, Eztli lost thetter once she became a vampire and required feeding on the heart-fire of others to linger among the living.

    Meanwhile, her Tonalli, the very source of her identity, was slowly being transformed by the ult weight of the Nightlords¡¯ ritual until it matched that of Yoloxochitl.

    The Ride spell already proved that a foreign Tonalli could temporarily possess the body of someone without requiring a Teyolia, since it worked for the Burned Men that Mother unleashed around Smoke Mountain. If the vampiric curse clung to the hungry pit that reced the victim¡¯s heartfire instead of their own, then I could see a way to save Eztli¡¯s soul.

    I would require Chindi¡¯s <em>¡®assistance¡¯ </em>to pull it off however; something I thought I would only force if she proved too much of a liability to use any other way, but which I now believed to be an inevitability. I also needed Mother¡¯s wisdom and secrets.

    In the meantime, all I could do was to lessen Necahual¡¯s burden. Feeding Eztli my burning blood directly might do her more harm than good in the long run, but I could replenish her mother¡¯s lifeforce after every feeding session with Seidr. This ought to dilute my sunlight and lessen the risk of Necahual suffering from blood loss.

    I wouldn¡¯t let Eztli waste away any further, even if I had to break a few rotten eggs along the way.

    My confidence seemed to reassure my consort. One of her arms grabbed me, while the other caught her mother and pulled us both into a tight embrace. Eztli hugged her only remaining family with a series of pained sobs.

    I returned the hug, as did Necahual. Eztli felt so weak and fragile in our hands in spite of her inhuman strength, but I think we offered her a brief moment of respite amidst the fear and madness.

    Of course, there was always a shadow to ruin the moment.

    ¡°Quite the touching sight, songbird,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°If I could, I would cry.¡±

    I had been too focused on Eztli to notice the rotting snake slithering in.

    Eztli let go of us, mother and daughter staring at the Nightlord with fear. I was the only one to gaze at her with cold, unfeeling eyes.

    ¡°s.¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s lips stretched into a carnivorous smile. ¡°The likes of you do not get happy endings.¡±

    As befitting of a self-proimed goddess, Iztacoatl both decided to ignore and mock my promation. While she visited me in her splendid robes, she also dragged in a naked ve by a leather leash. It was a pretty woman around my age with deep brown skin and long ck hair, with cheeks marked by fresh tattoos representing crimson chains traveling down until they reached her throat and then her heart. An unbearably tight bronze ve cor covered inplex Yohuachancan scripts bound her neck. A ck blindfold obscured her eyes and her skin bore countless marks which I attributed to a strenuous whipping session.

    I immediately recognized her from Chindi¡¯s memory.

    ¡°We havepleted our preparations,¡± Iztacoatl said before tugging her captive¡¯s leash. The woman was forced to step forward, her fingers bent like ws and her jaw frozen in an expression of seething hatred. ¡°Let me introduce you to your new consort and our new sister¡¯s recement, Anaye. Quite the splendid pet, don¡¯t you agree?¡±

    Chindi obeyed me by hiding within her sister¡¯s stolen skin.

    ¡°Is this the Skinwalker?¡± I said while pretending to <em>discover </em>my new consort, grabbing her mouth and examining it. She didn¡¯t resist me. She was smart enough to feign powerlessness. ¡°Does she bite?¡±

    ¡°We kept her teeth and tongue to pleasure you,¡± Iztacoatl replied. ¡°But you may notice a few missing bits. If she behaves, she may even get them back.¡±

    It was a lie, since the Nightlords never rewarded their service. I quickly guessed which ¡®bits¡¯ Iztacoatl referred to when I pressed my hand against Chindi¡¯s blindfold and sensed thick scars where the eyes should have been.

    The Nightlords had blinded her.

    I would have been horrified once, but now I could hardly muster the strength for surprise or annoyance. Of course they would blind a creature capable of manipting others with her gaze. I suspected the ve cor would also prevent Chindi from changing her shape.

    This reduced my options when it came to exploiting her gifts¡­ but convinced me to go forward with my other n for her.

    ¡°Does my new master enjoy what he sees?¡± Chindi asked me with a half-feral smile.

    ¡°You will suffice,¡± I said, though mostly to myself. ¡°If you never forget who holds your leash.¡±

    ¡°I can hear yourck of enthusiasm from here, Iztac,¡± Eztli said with a smile that didn¡¯t reach her eyes. She had chosen to hide her pain and unease behind a mask of impish insolence, as usual. ¡°Be reassured, though, that I will continue to visit you.¡±

    ¡°I am sure he will find his dear Nl more appealing than either of you,¡± Iztacoatl replied with stifledughter, her hand moving to cover her lips.

    Something about her behavior sent chills down my spine.

    ¡°Does it bother the goddess?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°Not at all,¡± she replied with a stifled chuckle. ¡°You have my congrattions for finally<em></em>tying the knot. You have made my sister Ocelocihuatl a very happy goddess, and filled my heart with joy. I very much needed a reason tough in these trying times.¡±

    Her expression boiled the blood within my veins. I¡¯de to loathe that unbearable, smug conviction that she knew something which I didn¡¯t.

    I apparently didn¡¯t hide my frustration well enough, since it encouraged Iztacoatl tough at me.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± She taunted me. ¡°Of course you don¡¯t. What a prophet you make, not to see the moon to your sun.¡±

    I knew the wording was meant to be a cruel hint of some kind, but I drew a nk at what it referred to. A wolf totem¡¯s association with the moon and my own with the sulfur sun, mayhaps?

    Whatever the case, I refused to let her scramble my mind. ¡°If the goddess is pleased, then so am I.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± Iztacoatl replied, unmoved by my utter insincerity. She surrendered Chindi¡¯s leash to me. ¡°Now, bind that animal somewhere ande with us. You too, my new sister.¡±

    Eztli froze in ce, as did Necahual. I alone refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing my fear.

    ¡°What does the goddess have in mind?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°Well, I did promise you a reward for winning my little hunt, didn¡¯t I? So I will share a little secret that none of your predecessors ever learned.¡±

    Iztacoatl¡¯s hand grabbed my shoulder, her fingers growing scales and pressing against my naked skin.

    ¡°I shall show you firsthand,¡± she whispered into my ear, her fangs turning into that of a snake, ¡°How I murdered my father.¡±

 Chapter Seventy: Drowned in Darkness

    Chapter Seventy: Drowned in Darkness

    I couldn¡¯t breathe through the First Emperor¡¯s mask.

    Cold obsidian stone pressed on my cheeks and jaw, sucking out the air out of my lungs and the warmth of my sunlight blood. Colder hands removed my clothes from myid, pallid blue skin. I could hardly feel them.

    ¡°Do you know what godhood is, Iztac?¡± Iztacoatl asked me, her voice a pale mist slithering inside my ear. ¡°True godhood is <em>appetite</em>.¡±

    My body was slow and sluggish from the drugs coursing through my veins. I tried to turn my head and re at the Nightlord, but my own skull felt so heavy and my lips so weak¡­ I was a stone atop an unmoving hill.

    ¡°Shush,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°No more singing, songbird. Keep your voice for the full performance.¡±

    Her voice was so soft it could have lured me to sleep easily enough. The Nightlords didn¡¯t give me that mercy. The four chains grabbing each of my limbs slowly pulled them, the asional jolts of pain forcing me awake under a dark sky.

    ¡°I remember the days back when Father was a mere man rather than a god,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°I believe he was freer back then. Happier. His power <em>enved </em>him, Iztac. It strengthened his hunger until it mastered him. Lust, bloodthirst, gluttony¡­ no excess became too great for him. Every high had to be more extreme than thest.¡±

    I struggled to follow her trail of thought. My mind was muddled by pulque, drugs, and spices.

    ¡°Father was always so possessive too. We were his precious treasures. I still remember the looks he sent me whenever I toyed with a vige boy, but it was Yoloxochitl¡¯s fianc¨¦ who bore the brunt of his contempt. She was his favorite, do you know that? The youngest, the <em>romantic</em>. He couldn¡¯t stand the fact she would fancy a wastrel like that¡­ Tloroc? Tlocan?¡± I heard a dark chuckle. ¡°Whatever, Father killed him anyway.¡±The taste of a young man¡¯s blood formed on the tip of my tongue. I heard Yoloxochitl¡¯s screams and sobbing prayers, and the sensation of flesh down my gullet. A memory that was not my own lingered at the edge of my consciousness.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s why he bit us first. He couldn¡¯t stand the idea that we could leave him, or that another could steal us away. He wanted to ensure we would be his <em>forever</em>.¡±

    Iztacoatl¡¯s eyes looked down on me, her vile smile obscuring the stars in the sky.

    ¡°Did you know Yoloxochitl was pregnant from her Darling when Father bit her?¡± I sensed her fingers pressing against my mask. ¡°She miscarried, of course. Our immortal bodies aren¡¯t meant to shelter life, only to devour it. I think that¡¯s when she started losing it.¡±

    A wave of shame and disgust washed over me from within. I saw a small, ckened thing crawling in a pool of blood, an abomination of my own creation.

    <em>No¡­</em> I struggled to keep these intrusive thoughts out of my skull. I fought to keep my sense of self separated from another. <em>Not mine¡­ </em>

    ¡°Father wanted to sleep with us,¡± Iztacoatl said, her mocking chuckle ringing into nothingness. ¡°I used to tease him about it. Touch him in some ces, invite mortals to couple with me while I knew he was watching, tempting him. I knew he <em>hated </em>those lusts and that it took all of his willpower to resist them. He was disgusted with what he had be, but the more he resisted, the stronger his urges became.¡±

    Her sharpugh cut through my ears, until I felt blood dripping down my cheeks.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t wait for him to <em>snap</em>,¡± she gloated with all the weight of her malevolence. ¡°And one night, he did in the most unexpected of ways! He had four of his concubines brought to him, reshaped their faces into mirrors of our own, and then he took <em>them</em>.¡±

    Herugh merged with that of that hag Chamiaholom, who had told me this story first. I hadn¡¯t connected the dots back then; why had I been forced to wed four consorts, when they were meant to represent the First Emperor¡¯s own flesh and blood.

    ¡°You could say those four were the first consorts. Wives in the shape of his beloved daughters whom he refused to despoil any further; for we were the final refuge of his own decaying humanity.¡± Iztacoatl scoffed in disdain, she who had cast away all vestiges of morality in the name of her cruel pleasure. ¡°Yoloxochitl¡¯s actress was his favorite. It hardly took him a fortnight to impregnate her.¡±

    ¡°Enough,¡± Eztli¡¯s voice cut through the vile words.

    I heard a p ringing through the chill air of the empty night. The stars had gone dark, and the moon began to fade away too.

    ¡°My sister was there when she gave birth,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°Having miscarried herself, watching a woman with her face giving birth to her Father¡¯s own son was¡­ <em>traumatizing</em>, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡± I heard Eztli beg out of my vision. ¡°Please¡­¡±

    Iztacoatl cruelly denied her plea. ¡°I wonder if you will look like her once your mother gives birth too. I¡¯m sure you will act like my dear sister did back then, greedily grabbing that child in your grief and longing.¡±

    Her voice became lower,ced with smugness.

    ¡°You will im it like she imed <em>you</em>,¡± she whispered to Eztli beyond the range of my vision. ¡°With your <em>fangs</em>.¡±

    Eztli¡¯s sobs tore out at my heart. If the drugs had allowed me enough strength to feel anger, I would have pped Iztacoatl in the face in revenge. s, I could do little more than mumble incoherently with my back pressed against a floor of stone. Chains continued to stretch me thin until I heard my bones crack oh so slightly¡­

    ¡°It was then that we realized we didn¡¯t need Father to make more of us.¡± Something cold grabbed my cock and caressed it. ¡°Well, not <em>all </em>of him.¡±

    Something stirred within my heart. A pitch-ck darkness awakened, his crimson eyes ring through the bars of his ancient cage.

    ¡°My sister Ocelocihuatl formed a n. <em>Blood for blood</em>, she said. <em>The sons will bind the father</em>. She conceived a trap, which I executed. I lured Father in with so much fresh blood until he grew drunk on it.¡± Herugh echoed again in the night, louder and sharper. ¡°Can you fathom how much blood it takes to get a god of hunger <em>drunk</em>?¡±

    I remembered. I remembered the frenzy of the thundering drums beckoning me into the shadow of a zing mountain, lightning shing, a plume of smoke rising into the storm-wracked sky. They came to me naked, a line of a thousand birds guided by my daughters into my waiting maw. I recalled the soft noise of their bones being crushed within my palms, blood and pulque dripping on my fangs.

    I remembered the shame and guilt, the horror at what I had be, the disgust that my own wed hands inspired in my heart, but I could not stop¡­ I was thirsty, and the blood of men tasted so sweet¡­

    ¡°Then, when he was in the throes of his blissful addiction, we gently carried him to bed,¡± my daughter said, mocking me. ¡°You should have seen him, songbird. How he kept saying he loved us, that he did it all for <em>our </em>sake. What a fool.¡±

    I remembered the chains my daughters put around my hands and feet. Their links burned with words I was too drunk to recognize. I did not fight them as they led me to the altar, for I was too tired to think. I only wished to sleep and rest, to forget the pain of existing¡­

    ¡°It was always about <em>power </em>with us, long before your godhood,¡± my third eldest said. ¡°We had it all, we obeyed you; and when we had a chance to rule in your ce, we seized it.¡±

    And then I recalled their twisted betrayal.

    I struggled against the chains, my mask¡¯s jaws snapping with anger. My heart burned with a sulfur glow and my lungs screamed with the rage of centuries past.

    ¡°Finally awake, are you?¡± my treacherous daughter taunted me. How I longed to snap her neck with these borrowed hands¡­ ¡°Good. We can atst put you back in your ce, Father.¡±

    ¡°??????????????????

    Y????????????o???????????u???????????????????????r????????????????? ??????????????????c?????????????h?????????????i???????l????????????????d?????? ????????????????????????w????????????????i?????????????????????l????????????????????????????l???????????????? ??????????????????w?????????????????????????e????????????????????????a??????r?????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????y???????????????????o?????????????????????????u????????????r???????????? ?????????????????????????f?????????????????????l???????????????????a???????????????????????????y????????????????e?????????????????????????d?????????????????? ?????????????????s????????????????????????k????????????????????????i??????????????????????n???????????????????.???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????¡±????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

    I smelled it in the air. That delectable scent of fear, that creeping horror at the thought of lurking death. It only grew stronger as my <em>true </em>children circled us above us, a cloud of blood and fur on jet ck wings. They used to demand blood and worship once.

    Now I only craved silence.

    ¡°Are you in there, songbird?¡± my beautiful snake of a daughter asked my other self, the tyrant sun to my endless night. We were one tonight, united in spite and pain. ¡°Then you will feel it too. What we put him through that night¨C¡±

    ¡°Enough, Iztacoatl,¡± Ocelocihuatl¡¯s voice cut through the chatter. ¡°Let us proceed.¡±

    My jaguar¡¯s words were as cold as my fury boiled with sulfur mes. She was the one who I loathed most. The one who led her sisters down the path of treachery. The one who learned almost all of which I had to teach her and whose gifts she turned against me, her own father, after I had saved her from that so-called god¡¯s jaws!

    How I loathed her! How I wished to skin her, to bite her, and drink her to thest drop of rotten blood!

    I raged against the chains constraining our limbs, but my other self was too weak to free us from their sorcery and the drugs inhibiting our veins. My daughters¡¯ shadows gathered around us, each of them holding one of our bindings. Yoloxochitl¡¯s recement held onto us with feebler hands than the others, her eyes weeping tears of blood, but it made no difference.

    They were fools, all of them. The door would never close again. They could keep pressing against me for years, centuries, but I would not let them sleep soundly anymore. One night they would falter, and I would devour every single one of them. I would wee my children back into my bottomless belly, where they shall never escape me again.

    But that night was a long time away.

    My daughters spoke words of power which I¡¯d taught them once. My true children fled, repelled by my own stolen sorcery. We heard liquid dripping on a stone floor, ck and viscous. My other self recognized the smell of the vile tar which he had seen flowing so many times underground, but I?

    I remembered the pain.

    ¡°Burn!¡± my daughters chanted as the ck tide crept upon us. ¡°May your body burn like the sun, foolish father!

    The tar swallowed us both, devouring our skin and flesh as I once ate so many others.

    And we burned.

    I died screaming.

    I had already tasted the cold kiss of death once, so I knew I hadn¡¯t merely been knocked out unconscious by the pain. Sleep wouldn¡¯t have sent the message, wouldn¡¯t have hurt their Dark Father through me the way they¡¯d hoped to.

    The Nightlords roasted me alive, like they cooked their sire once.

    They boiled me in ck tar until the flesh was stripped from my bones. They burned me to death until the sharp sting of agony overpowered the numbness of the drugs, and until the pain sank into my marrow.

    My eyes zed within their sockets. My vision became a shining light that pierced the veil between life and death, between existence and nothingness, between the past and the future. I saw a great golden condor flying under a blinding sun and above golden mountains, whose radiance was denied to me.

    <em>Brother, </em>I thought, before recalling thest time I¡¯d seen this bird. <em>Inkarri? </em>

    But that wasn¡¯t my brother¡¯s name. I had no brother of my own. I was¡­

    The thread of my life snapped, and I was alone in my head again.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    Death tore the First Emperor and me apart in a violent splintering of the soul. This was no gentle separation. Our selves had blurred together for a few minutes, the actor and the role so closely intertwined I couldn¡¯t tell where I began and where the dark god Yohuachanca began.

    Such had been the purpose of the Nightlords¡¯ ritual: to let their father possess me by reenacting his trauma, so they could hurt him again through me.

    I was thrown back into Xibalba¡¯s crossroads with all the violence of a sudden murder, my mind a chaotic maelstrom of disordered thoughts and mangled ideas. I thought dying once already would have softened the backsh, but so thorough was my soul¡¯s vition that I shivered when I recalled the memories that I¡¯d shared with the First Emperor. So much pain and hunger¡­

    Monsters all of them. Father and daughters both.

    I fought to crawl onto my knees, my head dizzy and my body unbearably warm. My current shape in the Underworld was partly influenced by that of my physical body above ground. When I looked at my hands, the flesh had been stripped from their bones.

    I would likely look no different from the Burned Men, just without the baleful heart-fire burning inside my chest. Just another charred skeleton wandering the ruins of an undead world.

    I slowly limated to the chilling air of Xibalba and recovered my thoughts. Hatred helped my mind achieve a certain rity. Meditating over my grudge helped me anchor myself into the present moment.

    The Nightlords would <em>pay </em>for this humiliation.

    I should have expected them to kill me to weaken the First Emperor at one point or another. Why wouldn¡¯t they? So long as they kept my soul in bondage, the Nightlords could afford to bring me back again and again, as many times as it took to cow their betrayed god back to his slumber. An emperor was little more than an effigy to suffer in a dark god¡¯s ce to them.

    Would the Nightlords do something to my body before they brought me back from the dead? Would they carve spells into my bones?

    I activated Bonecraft to form a skull in the palm of my skeletal hand and used the Legion to infuse it with my predecessors¡¯ spirit. The pale glow forming within the eye sockets reassured me greatly. My sorcerous powers remained undiminished. The Nightlords¡¯ cruel ritual hadn¡¯t denied me my gifts at the very least.

    ¡°We weep for you, our sessor,¡± the past emperors said with genuinepassion. They had experienced death often enough to sympathize with my situation. ¡°The Nightlords may have burned away your flesh, but your spirit shines brighter.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel this way¡­¡± I rasped. My own words sounded like crackling embers. ¡°It was¡­ <em>difficult</em>.¡±

    Not the torture itself¡ªI had suffered far worse in Xibalba¡¯s trials¡ªbut the loss of my identity. I hated the thought of bing the puppet of a higher power. To have my own sense of self blurring with that of another disturbed and enraged me to my core.

    Was this how Eztli suffered every day? Slowly losing herself until her thoughts were no longer her own? Having experienced it for myself, I could understand why she broke down the way she did.

    This only solidified my resolve to spare her any further vition.

    ¡°We wish we could do more,¡± the Parliament of Skulls apologized to me. ¡°s, unless our minds join together through the Legion, we cannot shield your mind. You will require more power before our collective may serve as your shield.¡±

    ¡°I understand¡­¡± I had every intention of iming loc¡¯s embers soon enough. ¡°How much¡­ how much did you see?¡±

    ¡°Everything,¡± my predecessors replied. ¡°We are certain that the totem you saw in your vision was indeed the condor, lord of the sky. The same totem that blessed the Apu Inkarri, who hounded you in the Underworld¡¯s firstyer.¡±

    ¡°And who hasn¡¯t plotted against me since,¡± I noted. ¡°Is he truly limited to the firstyer without King Mtecuhtli¡¯s blessing?¡±

    ¡°He may be simply unwilling to ess Xibalba in any way,¡± my predecessors said. ¡°Few would dare to do so. We suspect he must have been focusing on gathering resources for our now inevitable conflict.¡±

    I nodded sharply. He would likely strike me during the Flower War, when I would approach his territory. ¡°There¡­ I think there is more.¡±

    I recounted to my predecessors what unfolded during mytest Xibalba trials. I told about the carvings I¡¯d seen, the tales of the two brothers which they represented, and my argument with the Lords of Terrors when they failed to corrupt me any further.

    My predecessors pondered the matter for a long time before sharing their observations. ¡°These carvings that you have observed present a very interesting development, assuming that they contain the truth. We cannot exclude the possibility that the Lords of Terrors are trying to deceive you.¡±

    ¡°I felt the tale was a little dubious too,¡± I replied. ¡°But my vision¡­ it at least confirms some parts.¡±

    ¡°Yes. If the First Emperor indeed had a brother with a condor totem who fled into the mountains after his sibling¡¯s ascension, signs would seem to point in the Sapa Empire¡¯s direction.¡± Ghostfire light flickered in my predecessors¡¯ eye sockets. ¡°If we recall correctly, the Sapa believes that their empire was first founded by a son of the sun that descended from the sky, who then sired the imperial line that rules them over them to this day.¡±

    The simrities with my own situation were too great for me to ignore. ¡°You believe it could have been the First Emperor¡¯s brother?¡±

    ¡°If they were indeed brothers, and if the story happened ording to those carvings,¡± the past emperors replied with heavy skepticism. ¡°We are basing our thoughts on visions, unreliable information, and assumptions. We suspect we would be better off discussing the matter with your mother. Having passed the trials herself, she may possess insight that would help rify your findings.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± I rose back to my feet, pulled the skull in my hands close, and summoned the Doll to carve a path open into the floor. The way to my mother¡¯s den appeared to me without issues. ¡°They could not obstruct it. I guess this is part of their deal with Mother.¡±

    ¡°Your recent feud with the Lords of Terror concerns us,¡± the Parliament said. ¡°However bound they might be to this city¡¯sws, the fact remains that you are trapped in their seat of power. Proceed with caution until you escape these walls.¡±

    ¡°I shall not lower my guard,¡± I promised.

    One trial and a ballcourt game.

    One more trial and a game, then I could leave this ce for good.

    ¡ª-----

    I found my parents arguing in their living room.

    I used the term ¡®argue¡¯ loosely; while my mother didn¡¯t hide her frustration, twitching and clenching her fists, my father remained unmoved like an ancient stone. I don''t ever recall him ever truly showing fury.

    ¡°My answer is no, Ichtaca,¡± Father said. ¡°This¡­ crosses too many lines.¡±

    ¡°I do not wish to do it with anyone other than <em>you</em>,¡± Mother said with a voice full of bitterness. She wasn¡¯t used to being denied anything.

    ¡°Then let us find another way. I do not know, would it not be possible to create a temporary body for me to inhabit?¡±

    Mother groaned. ¡°Why create something that we already have plenty to choose from?¡±

    ¡°Because people do not belong to us!¡±

    ¡°They wouldn¡¯t remember anything!¡± Mother took my father¡¯s hands into her own. ¡°You would be the one in control, Itzili. I would be <em>all </em>yours¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Father looked away. ¡°Even if I wished to go along with this plot, I¡­ I don¡¯t think I could perform in those circumstances.¡±

    ¡°I will cast a Veil over you, so neither of us will be able to tell the difference,¡± Mother pleaded. ¡°Please, Itzili.¡±

    ¡°I will know,¡± Father replied with skepticism, before noticing me walking into the room. He immediately let go of Mother¡¯s hands and rushed to my side the moment he saw my charred, fleshless appearance. ¡°Iztac?! By the gods, what happened to you?!¡±

    ¡°I died,¡± I replied bluntly.

    ¡°You¡­¡± Father took a step back in shock. ¡°You died, but¡­ how¡­¡±

    ¡°He did not die permanently,¡± Mother replied upon noticing my zing heart-fire. She studied my bones and noticed the charred traces on them. ¡°The Nightlords?¡±

    I shrugged my shoulders. ¡°I have experienced worse.¡±

    ¡°Iztac, they burned you to the <em>bone</em>,¡± Father replied in concern. ¡°This is <em>not </em>nothing. Do you need¨C¡±

    ¡°I am fine, Father,¡± I replied before he started worrying too much. His concern touched me, however uncalled for. ¡°I do not need anything. They will bring me back sometime soon.¡±

    ¡°Do you see what our son has to go through, Itzili?¡± Mother told Father. ¡°If you went along with my proposal, I could help him better.¡±

    Her hypocrisy caused me to choke in outrage. Even Father shook his head in tiredness. ¡°Ichtaca, are you truly trying to drag him into this? I will not do it.¡±

    ¡°Your father is impossible,¡± Motherined to me with a groan. ¡°Perhaps you will be able to beat some sense into his thick skull.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked, though I had my suspicions.

    ¡°Your Mother has¡­¡± Father fidgeted in embarrassment. ¡°She¡¯s keen on trying a new spell that involves the two of us¡­ well¡­¡±

    ¡°Making love?¡± I guessed while struggling not tough. ¡°You finally agreed to try out Seidr, Mother?¡±

    Mother snickered in annoyance. ¡°Your smugness is unbefitting of you, my son.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re the one who put her up to it, Iztac?¡± Father shuddered. ¡°Unfortunately, being dead limits the possibilities on my side. Your mother suggested a solution I am notfortable with.¡±

    ¡°She wishes you to Ride someone above ground.¡± Of course Mother would do that. She was already working on a spell to transfer minds permanently, and she was more interested in mating with Father¡¯s soul than his current vessel. ¡°It could work.¡±

    ¡°See?¡± Mother said, immediately pouncing on the opportunity. ¡°He understands.¡±

    Father gave me a mortified look; quite the difficult feat to achieve when you had a skull for a face. ¡°I do not wish to sleep with my wife in another¡¯s body, Iztac. Your mother may call it a meeting of the souls and that it wouldn¡¯t count so long as I was in control, but¡­¡± He shook his head in disgust. ¡°It does matter to me.¡±

    ¡°That would be awkward,¡± I conceded. I wouldn¡¯t feelfortable making love to Nl while in, say, xc¡¯s body. ¡°How about you both possess newlyweds then? I can think of two who would fit nicely.¡±

    ¡°I cannot believe what I¡¯m hearing.¡± Father sounded angry for the first time in years. ¡°How is forcing two people to have sex against their will any different from a <em>rape</em>? Except that in this case we would have two victims instead of one?¡±

    Mother refused to give up. ¡°Iztac is right though, we could possess an existing couple who has consummated their rtionship. What would be the problem then? They would already make love without us Riding them.¡±

    ¡°They would not experience nor remember anything either,¡± I added. I intellectually understood his concern, but I¡¯d used the Ride spell to kill my vessels, so using them for lovemaking sounded middling at best; hardly anything to get worked up over.

    ¡°Their bodies will experience it, and¡­ it is a slippery slope. I fear it will be easy to justify stealing another man''s life so that I may enjoy what I lost.¡± Father sighed and looked at his lifeless, skeletal hands. ¡°I want to hold you in my arms, Ichtaca. I want to feel your warmth, I want to kiss you, and I want to <em>be </em>with you.¡±

    His sincerity took Mother aback. If she wore her mortal body rather than her Underworld form, she would have likely looked quite flustered. ¡°Then why are you being so difficult about this, Itzili?¡±

    ¡°Because I want to hold you with <em>my</em> arms, not borrowed ones,¡± Father replied before embracing his wife. ¡°We will find a better solution, Ichtaca, but not this one. Not at any cost.¡±

    While I remained ambivalent and Mother grumbled in defeat, my predecessors immediately supported his decision. ¡°Your integrity honors you, Lord Itzili.¡±

    ¡°I am no lord, Your Majesties,¡± Father replied with embarrassment.

    ¡°You have the heart of one,¡± the Parliament insisted. ¡°We have watched this world for over six centuries. We have seen too few good men with principles during this time, and fewer with the resolve to abide by them. Though some of us have indulged in the worst pleasures this world can offer, we all respect your decision.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m, uh¡­ thank you.¡± Father respectfully bowed to the skull. ¡°Your praise honors me.¡±

    ¡°Enough,¡± Mother grumbled while moving towards the door to her divination room. ¡°Come with me, my son. We have little time to continue your training before your captors raise you again.¡±

    ¡°Will Your Majesty stay with me until they finish?¡± Father asked my predecessors. ¡°I can set up a Patolli game for us to y in the meantime.¡±

    ¡°We must advise our sessor for now, but we can split our attention over six-hundred ways,¡± the Parliament of Skulls replied with what could pass for enthusiasm. They had clearly taken a liking to my father. ¡°Would you kindly create another vessel, Iztac?¡±

    I agreed to the request, leaving one skull in Father¡¯s care to give the dead emperors a reprieve from their monotonous existence and taking another with Mother in her divination room.

    ¡°Your father is so stubborn!¡± Motherined the moment she closed the door behind us. ¡°So unreasonable!¡±

    I chuckled. ¡°Isn¡¯t that why he won you over?¡±

    To my amusement, Mother¡¯s behavior softened considerably. ¡°Yes, it is,¡± she replied with a heavy sigh. ¡°I simply wish he would be more flexible. The Embrace could assist me in my research to help return him to life, and I do not wish to share my bed with anyone else.¡±

    For some reason, I found myself warming up a bit to Mother on the matter. While it annoyed me that she would only push Father to try it out after I¡¯d shown her the spell¡¯s potential, I was happy that she didn¡¯t even consider doing it with anybody else nor forcing the matter on him. I was starting to believe that her feelings for him were indeedpletely genuine.

    ¡°I would love to share thoughts on Seidr,¡± I said. ¡°I have been experimenting with ittely, and I formed a surprisingly strong bond with Nl.¡±

    ¡°Nl?¡± Mother asked in confusion until she recalled the name, at which point she grew curious. ¡°Ah yes, your Nahualli consort. Did the Embrace spell behave differently with her?¡±

    ¡°I think it did, yes,¡± I confirmed. ¡°Our connection was¡­ <em>intense</em>. It was like we were a single soul sharing two bodies.¡±

    ¡°Odd,¡± Mother replied. ¡°You said her totem was the wolf? There is no special association between her totem and yours.¡±

    ¡°It could be love,¡± I replied with a chuckle. ¡°I am very fond of her.¡±

    The past emperors remained skeptical. ¡°We suspect there is more to this, our sessor. Remember the White Snake¡¯s reaction. She would not rejoice over you and your consort finding love unless she meant to destroy it.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I conceded. ¡°She called Nl the moon to my sun. I am uncertain what this means.¡±

    Mother didn¡¯t say a word.

    I waited for her toment on the matter, but she simply stared at me silently for a while. I found her nk expression quite unnerving.

    ¡°How old is this Nl?¡± she asked me suddenly.

    What an odd question. ¡°Around my age?¡± I replied with a frown. ¡°Maybe slightly younger, I think. Why?¡±

    ¡°I am merely curious,¡± Mother replied with a shrug that looked¡­ <em>faked</em>. ¡°What is she like?¡±

    Her question surprised me. ¡°Very kind,¡± I replied. A smile would have formed on my lips if I had any left. ¡°Much like Father.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± I caught a strange glint in Mother¡¯s eyes, though I couldn¡¯t identify its nature. ¡°You should stay away from her. Practicing Seidr with a fellow Nahualli might have unforeseen consequences that risk alerting the Nightlords to your true potential. Growing attached to her will only give your enemies more means to pressure you.¡±

    Her concern sounded quite reasonable, but I was starting to know my mother; enough that I could smell a lie.

    She was hiding something from me. Something that concerned Nl.

    Should I push for details? It was only a hunch, and I doubted Mother would remain silent if it was anything truly serious. It did arouse my curiosity, however. I decided to y the fool and stay quiet for now.

    I would have other opportunities to find outter.

    ¡°Let us discuss more productive things, my son,¡± Mother decided. ¡°What have you witnessed in the House of Bats?¡±

    ¡°Carvings,¡± I replied. ¡°Who was Camazotz, Mother?¡±

    ¡°The cruel bat god who once ruled Xibalba.¡± Mother tilted her head to the side. ¡°So you have reached the same conclusions I did.¡±

    ¡°You believe that the First Emperor is the man from the carvings?¡± My predecessors inquired. ¡°The moon brother?¡±

    ¡°Evidence would point that way,¡± Mother confirmed. ¡°I have researched this Camazotz and interrogated the ancient dead on the matter. ording to them, he used to be a god of bats and terror that lurked in Xibalba and terrorized mankind all the way back to the Fourth Sun¡¯s dawn.¡±

    ¡°He was a Lord of Terror?¡± I asked before quickly excluding the possibility. ¡°No, it cannot be. He would have been bound to the city otherwise.¡±

    ¡°As a god associated with the bat totem, I suspect that Camazotz could move freely between the realms,¡± Mother replied. ¡°A monster that could torment both the living and the dead, and who would have no equal in a world where most of his surviving brethren perished to raise the Fifth Sun.¡±

    ¡°In this case, we can assume that the First Emperor likely consumed him during his ascension,¡± my predecessors said. ¡°In doing so, Dread Yohuachanca usurped control over their shared totem and corrupted it. A bat consuming another for supremacy.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the source of the vampire curse,¡± I muttered to myself upon piecing things together. ¡°A corruption of the totem choosing its Nahualli incarnations.¡±

    ¡°Maybe, maybe not,¡± Mother replied with uncertainty. ¡°The process of how the First Emperor usurped Camazotz¡¯s role remains uncertain. We¡¯ll need the remaining codices to confirm our assumptions, and I couldn¡¯t extract any more information from the Lords of Terror.¡±

    I would have to inform her about those demons¡¯ power y, but a more urgent matter upied my mind. Namely, Ezlti¡¯s fate.

    ¡°Do you think the vampire curse stains only the Teyolia?¡± I asked Mother. ¡°Or would it stain the Tonalli too?¡±

    ¡°I would assume the curse most focuses on the former,¡± Mother replied. ¡°While the lesser Nightkin turn into bats to a fault, the Nightlords have retained their original totems in spite of having been imed directly by their godly sire.¡±

    I nodded sharply. ¡°I had that hoped it would be the case. I would assume that your soul transfer spell project would focus on overwriting the Tonalli of another?¡±

    Mother studied me carefully. ¡°Do you have something on your mind, my son? I recall that you showed distaste at the idea of using the spell.¡±

    ¡°For my own sake, most certainly,¡± I replied. ¡°If I remember, you said that it would require a strong spiritual connection between the participants? Would an actor and its recement suffice?¡±

    My predecessors were the first to catch on. ¡°You are thinking of your consorts.¡±

    ¡°My former consort, Eztli, is having her mind slowly being taken over by her predecessor, and her body tainted by the vampiric curse.¡± A smile stretched on my lips. ¡°I would like to offer her soul a fresh start¡­ in a new <em>skin</em>.¡±

 Chapter Seventy-One: The Last Trial

    Chapter Seventy-One: The Last Trial

    It said something about Mother that the prospect of transferring a girl¡¯s soul into a monster¡¯s body aroused her intellectual curiosity.

    ¡°Quite the brilliant n, my son,¡± she congratted me while casting a spell on her divinatory pool. The purple water¡¯s surface rippled, with indistinct mirages forming on it. ¡°Very bold. Tell me, how do you intend to bind those two?¡±

    ¡°My idea was to piggyback the ritual¡¯s web of connections, the same way my predecessors and I exploited it to fuel the Legion,¡± I exined. ¡°If Chindi is now supposed to represent Eztli during the Scarlet Moon, then this should create a sympathetic link between them.¡±

    ¡°Your former consort¡¯s identity crisis already provides proof enough of this bond,¡± my predecessors replied, albeit with a caveat. ¡°Nheless, can a Skinwalker¡¯s spirit be conquered so easily?¡±

    ¡°A Skinwalker¡¯s soul is a pitiful, fragmented mirror,¡± Mother countered. ¡°Its malleability is why the Nightlords selected that creature to y the role of a recement actress in their foul y. Its face will grow to fit the mask others force it to wear.¡±

    I took her answer as encouragement. ¡°So you think my n can work?¡±

    ¡°Undoubtedly, albeit only with sufficient preparations.¡± Mother waved her hand over the pool, with the image of Chindi appearing on it. The Skinwalker rested in her newvish bedroom, while poor Atziri did her best not to attract her predatory attention. The way Chindi smiled, with saliva dripping between her teeth, caused my stomach to sink. ¡°This presents so many opportunities. Would young Eztli retain her new body¡¯s powers if she overtakes its Tonalli? Or would she kick the old spirit out, magic and all? Would their spirits merge into a new personality?¡±

    My enthusiasm quickly petered out. I hadn¡¯t considered those oues. ¡°You think Chindi¡¯s mind may influence Eztli?¡±

    ¡°Who can say?¡± she replied. ¡°My version of the spell is designed to take over a normal human¡¯s body by casting their Tonalli into the Underworld and taking over their flesh. A Skinwalker¡¯s Tonalli is stronger than any mundane soul, yet splintered and malleable. It might merge with young Eztli, adapt and force the invader out, or depart for its afterlife.¡±¡°The third oue is the most preferable,¡± I said. Eztli already struggled with sharing her mind with one monster, so I didn¡¯t have the heart to impose the presence of another. ¡°Is there no way to guarantee it?¡±

    Mother shook her head, crushing my hopes. ¡°The spell is experimental, and I do not have a handful of Skinwalkers to test it out on. We cannot know if it will work on its intended vessel until we try.¡±

    My teeth ground against each other. ¡°Which makes it quite the gamble.¡±

    ¡°I do not believe we will find a better host to house Eztli¡¯s mind,¡± Mother argued. ¡°Save her mother perhaps, which is an option I assume neither would entertain.¡±

    She was half-right. Necahual would do <em>anything </em>for her daughter, even give her life, but Eztli would never consent to it.

    ¡°No,¡± I confirmed.

    ¡°I assumed so,¡± Mother said. ¡°Then either it will work with this Skinwalker or it never will.¡±

    The Parliament of Skulls urged us to proceed anyway. ¡°We would suggest proceeding with the spell as soon as possible, our sessor. Whatever risks this plot carries pale before the possibility of your former consort revealing all of our secrets under Yoloxochitl¡¯s influence. Her mind is breaking down at the seams and she knows too much.¡±

    Unfortunately, my predecessors had a point. I had already received a glimpse of what fate awaited me should Yoloxochitl¡¯s image fully take over Eztli¡¯s mind in the Razor House. Necahual¡¯s blood donations would only stabilize her daughter for a while, but I doubted she could keep it up forever.

    ¡°Heed their wisdom, my son,¡± Mother said with what could pass for fondness. ¡°Young Eztli reminds me of myself when I was her age. I am certain that she will adapt to her new vessel easily enough.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t sure how I should take that remark. s, I had very few other options and ack of time to find a better one. Time was running out for us, and I had no idea when this particr deadline woulde calling.

    ¡°How do we proceed?¡± I asked Mother. ¡°<em>When</em> should we proceed?¡±

    Mother smiled at my enthusiasm. She delighted in showcasing her expertise. ¡°I see three hurdles that we must address before we begin. First of all, I designed my spell to transfer the caster¡¯s soul, which would provide a stronger anchor. Since young Eztli is not a Nahualli, your current n would have you serve as the intermediary between them. You will need to mark both of your consorts in a way that will allow you to serve as a bridge between them.¡±

    ¡°I can think of a few ways,¡± I replied with a shrug. Seidr should take care of that issue, and I could reinforce the bond by other means such as feeding Eztli and Chindi my blood and bones. Recruiting Necahual as a Mometzcopinque assistant might help me improve the sympathetic connection as well. ¡°What¡¯s the second problem?¡±

    ¡°The cost of sess.¡± Mother¡¯s smile faded into a scowl. ¡°Even if we do transfer young Eztli¡¯s essence into her new vessel, then this will leave her old body an empty shell filled only by the vampire curse.¡±

    I knew this subject woulde up. ¡°Do you think this will allow Yoloxochitl¡¯s influence to possess the empty body?¡±

    Mother thankfully exined otherwise. ¡°You would need an <em>actual </em>spirit to settle in there. The Nightlord Yoloxochitl is well and truly dead, her Tonalli forever trapped in her Father¡¯s belly. She does not possess young Eztli from beyond the grave; your consort¡¯s mind is simply being reshaped by the ritual into a copy of her predecessor. Without a spirit to transform, that vampire body will be no more than a piece of meat fueled by darkness. It may be catatonic or transform into a mindless monster.¡±

    ¡°Either oue will bring the Nightlords¡¯ attention,¡± my predecessors warned me. ¡°We must proceed in a way that willy the me at another¡¯s feet. We suggest the First Emperor.¡±

    ¡°He would make for a fine patsy,¡± I conceded. After what he went through tonight, it would be easy to make my lover¡¯s transformation seem like a direct bacsh from the First Emperor; a spiteful attempt to punish his daughters for putting him through the agony of his own murder. ¡°Eztli¡¯s ability to rece Yoloxochitl for the ritual is already an unexpected fluke. We could trick the Nightlords into believing that she simply couldn¡¯t survive the ult strain it put on her, if we cover our tracks well.¡±

    ¡°This will nheless raise their suspicions, fuel their paranoia, and cause them to keep a closer eye on Eztli¡¯s recement,¡± the Parliament pointed out. ¡°You will find your options even more limited than before.¡±

    ¡°Which brings me to the third issue with the spell.¡± Mother tilted her head to the side. ¡°While the Skinwalker¡¯s consent isn¡¯t required, Eztli must agree to it. Any doubt she might have in her heart will cause the transfer to copse part way through. She must ept her new life without remorse, never looking back.¡±

    ¡°I do not think she will object to the transfer, not too much,¡± I replied. Eztli hated her existence as a vampire, and I couldn¡¯t see how the possibility of escaping Yoloxochitl¡¯s hold on her mind wouldn¡¯t appeal to her. The risks of our n paled before the certainty of bing a Nightlord¡¯s vessel. ¡°Breaching the subject with her undetected will prove more difficult, but I can manage it.¡±

    I had spent a lot of effort building awork of intermediaries by handpicking my consorts¡¯ handmaidens. Between them and Necahual, I could give Eztli enough hints and information to figure out my n on her own without arousing the Nightlords¡¯ suspicions.

    ¡°We would not be so confident, our sessor,¡± the Parliament replied. ¡°It would be difficult for anyone to wake up and see the face of a stranger in the mirror.¡±

    ¡°I got used to the Ride spell quickly enough,¡± I countered. ¡°But I see what you mean. Agreement and resolve are two different things.¡±

    ¡°You will only have one chance to cast the spell sessfully,¡± Mother warned. ¡°Do not try it unless you are<em></em>absolutely <em>certain </em>your consort will go through with it with a clear mind.¡±

    Eztli and rity rarely went together nowadays, but for the sake of the n I would find a way to dispel those clouds obscuring her thoughts. This would likely require Necahual¡¯s assistance.

    ¡°How does the spell work?¡± I asked. ¡°Must all of its participants be in close proximity?¡±

    ¡°No, so long as they are properly marked and their Tonalli properly resonate,¡± Mother replied. ¡°You will however need to guide Eztli¡¯s soul to its new receptacle and ensure the host¡¯s will is suppressed. Both will likely require your physical presence near the Skinwalker.¡±

    ¡°But I could mark Eztli and transfer her soul remotely.¡±

    ¡°If you time the spell correctly,¡± Mother said. ¡°The spell works only one way too, since it is based on an advanced form of the Ride.¡±

    ¡°So there is no risk of Eztli and Chindi switching bodies?¡± I felt no loyalty to the Skinwalker, but the possibility of her running around in a vampiric shell disturbed me. She was better off gone.

    ¡°Of course not,¡± Mother replied gruffly. ¡°I would never be stupid enough to let someone run around in my body. No loose ends.¡±

    I could agree with that mindset. This greatly simplified a very difficult situation.

    I considered how to proceed. My first order of business would be to put Necahual through the Mometzcopinque ritual in Zacha, then use the Flower Wars as a distraction to run the soul transfer spell.

    The Nightlords would never allow Eztli to risk herself near the frontlines for fear of disturbing their wicked ritual. They would keep her at the pce while the rest of us traveled south to fight the Sapa.

    Which meant I had only a very short time window to both mark Eztli and convince her to use the spell.

    ¡°I will work on refining the spell as much as I can,¡± Mother said. ¡°You should face thest of the Lords of Terror in the meantime. This will clear the path to the pyramid and grant you a final spell that may or may note in handy in your endeavor.¡±

    This would also give the Lords of Terror an opportunity to sabotage me too. I doubted they had taken ourst encounter well, however bound they were to Xibalba¡¯s rules.

    ¡°Will I be able to return here afterwards should I pass the trial?¡± I asked. ¡°They have already denied me ess to your Owl House when I needed to contact you the most.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem anymore after you conquer thest House of Trials,¡± Mother replied reassuringly. ¡°Conquering them will mark you as worthy of entering the ck Pyramid and of participating in the Lords¡¯ sacred ballcourt game. All the city¡¯s doors will open to you then.¡±

    ¡°All of them, except the exit.¡±

    ¡°Crossing <em>that </em>threshold will require another sacrifice.¡± Mother marked a short pause, as if hesitating to broach a peculiar subject before deciding against it. ¡°Go now, my son. Your final trial awaits you.¡±

    I faced Xibalba¡¯s misty archway for thest time.

    The thick mantle of fog swirled with the rancid stench of bitterness and nauseating fumes of disdain. I sensed no invitation to a trap or to uncover ancient knowledge like my previous visits. The threshold no longer bothered to deceive and trick me with a false allure of safety.

    The farce was up. I would only find hatred beyond this doorway to darkness.

    ¡°Are you ready, our sessor?¡± the two skulls in my hands asked. ¡°There is no telling what awaits you inside.¡±

    Their concern was not unwarranted. I¡¯d refused to be the Lords¡¯ pawn. This sixth ordeal and the ballgame that followed would be their final chance to either corrupt or punish me for my defiance. I could expect almost anything.

    Yet I felt no fear. My mind was clear like a cloudless sky, my will stronger than the thickest stone.

    ¡°Many times have the Lords of Terror tried to destroy my spirit and failed,¡± I dered, both to my predecessors and this cursed city. ¡°This trial will be no different.¡±

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred tform and support their work!

    Whatever foul ploy they nned for me, I would beat it.

    In a way, the Lords had seeded in their aim. They had purged me of my fears and doubts until only the twin mes of hatred and resolve remained. Neither gods nor demons would intimidate me anymore.

    I absorbed the skulls back into my skeletal frame and crossed into the fog alone with my thoughts.

    The mist seared my bones.

    The heat sharply increased the moment I crossed the threshold, as if I had walked into Smoke Mountain¡¯s crater. It almost felt like a breezepared to the boiling tar that melted the flesh off my skeleton, but it was noticeable enough to spook me. I felt dizzy all of a sudden.

    Then I fell.

    I didn¡¯t trip, I was sure of that. The ground simply vanished beneath my feet and caused me to fall down through the mist. A familiar plunging feeling sank into my stomach as the fog cleared and revealed a clear blue expanse all around me.

    The sky weed me in its free-falling embrace.

    I immediately activated Spiritual Manifestation. I flew on wings of ck feathers into a pure blue expanse that stretched as far as I could see. The horizon shone so brightly it hurt to look at it.

    It went on forever.

    No cloud obscured my view, nor did any sun shine in this endless expanse. I couldn¡¯t see the ground below me either, nor any mountain peak challenging the heavens.

    The ground was gone too.

    A vast, empty abyss stretched beneath my wings. No wind pushed against my feathers, whether they carried the prayers or malice of men. I was gliding down on hot air in a void without beginning or end. I couldn¡¯t even get a sense of my direction. I was alone in a quiet world of nothingness.

    I could already identify one of the two fears that this ce represented.

    Falling.

    Was there a ground hidden below me? A set of stone jaws waiting to surprise me with a sudden snap the moment I lowered my guard? A floor on which to crash at thest second? I activated the Gaze spell to dispel all illusions around me, yet detected none.

    This didn¡¯t mean anything. The Lords of Terror running this house didn¡¯t need lies to deceive me. They could materialize the ground from thin air at any time.

    How long would I have to wait? Or would I continue to fall until I found a way out?

    I pped my wings and rode across currents of hot air. The air felt heavy and lifeless. Itcked the dust and ashes that suffocated locan, the smell of flowers or snow, nor the moisture of rain and clouds. This sky never floated above earth of any kind, nor did any bird ever explore its vastness before me.

    And the silence¡­ The silence weighed on me.

    I¡¯d never heard of skies quieter than these. The heavens above were usually a noisy ce, a maelstrom of winds and air blowing onto my face. The world constantly <em>moved</em> because it was <em>alive</em>.

    Yet no matter how long I focused, I could only hear the soft p of my wings and the resistance of my feathers against the air.

    Was I flying east or west, north or south? I could hardly tell without any frame of reference. I searched the horizon for any floating ind, cloud, star, whatever could help me find where I was, or if there <em>was </em>a ce where to go in this void.

    I flew.

    I flew.

    I flew.

    I flew for so long and all I could see was the endless blue. I floated aimlessly in a void without a beginning nor end, without ground nor up, without people nor obstacles.

    At this point, I began to realize what the word <strong><em>alone </em></strong>truly meant.

    Nobody was ever alone in this world. Even a hermit living in the wilderness or a cave could often hear the sound of the rain, the sensation of a bug crawling on their skin, or rejoice at the smell of a warm meal cooked on the fire. There was always some kind of movement to remind the human mind that it did not exist in a void separate from everything else.

    Only in this ce did I truly feel the crushing weight of true istion.

    <em>Loneliness</em>. The thought crossed my vertigo-addled mind in a sh of insight. <em>This ce¡¯s other fear is loneliness. </em>

    I was alone in a world without ups and downs.

    ¡°Show yourself!¡± I called out to the void. ¡°Come out! I know you are there!¡±

    I receive no answer besides the echo of my own voice.

    I reviewed my options. There was no wind for me to call upon in this lifeless void, nothing solid to which I could attach myself to with the Doll spell, and no shadow to use the Curse or the Haunt on.

    I used the ze to unleash fireballs in multiple directions, trying to measure whether this void was indeed infinite or merely a trick of my mind. My baleful mes flew across the horizon until they became flickering stars in the distance, and then vanished.

    The Pit wouldn¡¯t be too useful in my situation and required ground to stand on anyway. Which left the Word.

    ¡°<em>Stop</em>.¡±

    My voice echoed across the nothingness and rippled with power.

    Nobody answered, whether to obey or tough. No one was listening.

    What was I supposed to do then? Was this a lesson about letting go? Of the joys of surrendering oneself to the vast meaninglessness of an empty universe?

    I closed my eyes and let myself fall. I folded my wings and embraced the call of gravity.

    The sky yanked me back.

    Down became up, and up became down. I suddenly fell backwards, or at least what <em>felt </em>like backwards. The force observing this void denied me thefort of a clear direction and the calm eptance of a freefall.

    A warden observed me in this wall-less prison. A will who didn¡¯t want me to find rest, even in feigned surrender.

    But what else was I supposed to do? What lesson was I supposed to learn to escape this trial? I could do nothing.

    <em>Nothing¡­</em>

    My heart grew cold as I finally understood.

    There was no trial for me to pass. I had no lesson to learn and would receive no apprenticeship in cruelty. The Lords of Terror had either given up on corrupting me or decided to use me as an example to uppity sorcerers.

    This house was a trap. It had no exit nor hidden ground for me tond on.

    There was only the fall. A down without an end where time and space had no meaning.

    The sky would be my coffin.

    How long had I been falling?

    Hours? Days? It felt like days, but I couldn¡¯t tell without directions or any frame of reference. I could hardly focus enough to count seconds in my head. The Lords of Terror ruled over time within their dominion. I might have spent years within this ce for all I knew.

    The dizziness and vertigo only increased over time. I felt sick. My world flickered into fractal lights and azure spirals whenever I opened my eyes. The void twisted and bent to mock me, to cruelly refuse me whatever peace I could find in the mundane, the usual.

    My very senses betrayed me. The sky didn¡¯t let me rest either. Whenever I grew toofortable, it would adjust my direction and velocity. It denied me any form offorting certainty, keeping me on my toes, and ripping away any form of reassurance.

    I forgot how often I snarled in rage or called out to the Lords of this cursed house to fight me rather than hide. Often, I struggled to recall how many trials I¡¯d conquered. It became harder and harder to conceptualize the world before the emptiness.

    It was awful, how weak the human spirit proved to be when denied an anchor on which to focus on; and how much we relied on others to understand reality. What was there left for me topare myself to?

    Who was left to see me?

    I thought of Nl, Ingrid, Eztli, Chikal, Father, and Mother¡­ I tried to use their memory as an anchor, but it became harder and harder to remember the sound of their voices, the shape of their faces, and even what they meant to me. What I would have given to see them even for a moment.

    The numbness and silence were maddening. They <em>drained </em>me.

    I needed someone to talk to. Someone to anchor my drifting sense of reality.

    I crafted a skull from my hands and attempted to summon my predecessors through the Legion, only for an invisible force to yank it off my hand before I could speak the correct incantation. The piece of bone flew into the distance and then vanished without a sound.

    The sky ate my skull.

    The blue would ensure I remained <em>alone</em>.

    I didn¡¯t think I ever realized how <em>oppressive </em>loneliness was before today. I had suffered for years at the hands of my fellow human beings, who had mocked and resented me because of their own prejudices, who had thrown stones at me and spat on my face¡­ but at least they had been <em>there</em>, seeing me, acknowledging that I existed.

    Even a re remained a human interaction at the end of the day; a reminder that one existed as part of a greater world. I almost came to miss them. I would have given so much to have even the likes of Tezozomoc, caelel, and all those bootlickers and abusers speaking to me right now. I would take any reminder that someone, <em>something </em>existed outside the prison of my mind.

    To be truly weightless, unburdened by anything and anyone, meant stopping to exist.

    And it felt <em>awful</em>.

    The silence numbed my soul. The sky would devour my mind piece by piece, slowly corroding my sense of self until I forgot that there used to be a ground beneath it. Only empty blue, forever and ever.

    Absolute istion could drive any man to insanity.

    ¡°Anyone?¡± I whispered to the void, then shouted. ¡°Answer me!¡±

    Not even the echo of my own words answered me. The sky denied me that small mercy.

    Perhaps the Lords would let me out if I begged for their forgiveness, or if I agreed to a pact that would bind me to their service. Maybe a single word of apology separated me from hitting the ground and thefort of an ending, of collision with another.

    ¡°No.¡± Something within me flowed out of my mouth, a raw, stubborn desire born of my pride and tattered conviction. ¡°No, no, never surrender, neverpromise.¡±

    I <em>refused </em>to give in.

    I said¡­ I said once that I would beat this trial. I remembered it. I promised it to¡­ to someone I couldn¡¯t recall¡­

    I fought back the tiredness and exhaustion in an attempt to focus. I closed my mind to the velocity and the maddening silence of this maddened atmosphere. I retreated into myself in search of an answer deep within.

    I sensed it. A chain binding my heart to ghosts of an ancient past. The one anchor that the blue couldn¡¯t take from me; a leash that I loathed from the very bottom of my soul.

    Yet gazing upon it filled me with gratitude, for I sensed so many presences through it. Links in a chain praying for my sess.

    There had to be a way out of this cell. A spell I hadn¡¯t considered. A secret trick that would let me escape.

    I couldn¡¯t be powerless¡­

    <em>Powerless</em>.

    My eyes snapped open. A mad idea had crossed my mind.

    I canceled Spiritual Manifestation and became a man again. I faced the new fall calling me and stared into the endless abyss with a wicked grin.

    ¡°Behold, demons!¡± I taunted the void. ¡°How a man brings down the sky!¡±

    I mmed my hands together and called upon the secret terror engraved within my heart.

    ¡°Powerlessness,¡± I whispered with a smile.

    I called upon the Tomb to swallow me whole.

    My power rippled out of my body like a storm of dirt filling the empty air. Baleful purple me spread through the void. The whispering shadows of a bird cage made of vengeful skulls swirled around me, unformed and half-born.

    The strain affected my Teyolia and Tonalli both. The Tomb required more power than I had to fully manifest it. In the absence of more embers, it was condemned to remain an iplete and stillborn manifestation of my own fear. Its true potential remained beyond my grasp for now.

    But it didn¡¯t matter now. I could already sense the pressure buckling against my Tomb.

    Although this ce seemed endless, it remained a closed domain within Xibalba; a House of Trials.

    And no two houses could stand in the same spot.

    My metaphysical weight pushed against my prison, imposing structure into the formless void. It recoiled and raged at this vition. The blue cracked like ss, thin lines spreading across the horizon. They were thin at first and hardly more visible than the shadow of dancing clouds in the distance, but the mere sight of this change in the unmoving nothingness filled my heart with glee.

    The ze of my soul burned brighter and strengthened the unborn Tomb it called forth from the depths of my being. I sensed it as the chain around my heart-fire strained and answered my call. A horde of ghosts sang within my half-born birdcage, their fears and spite resonating with mine. A chorus of past emperors lent me their aid, my plea an echo of their own.

    The curse that bound us together pulled the weight of over six hundred ghostly spirits down onto this empty house.

    I was not alone anymore, nor had I ever been.

    We were legion, and we were many.

    A greater darkness stirred at the beginning of the chain as I pulled it to me. I sensed the First Emperor look upon me from high above. My resolve and pride pierced through the veil of pain and horrible memories the Nightlords put him through, and the weight of its distant, eldritch gaze proved too much for this paltry excuse of a sky to hold.

    The void shuddered in pain, like a gullet struggling to hold back a piece of food too spicy for it. Vibrations coursed through the nothingness around me, slowly building up towards its apex.

    Then the sky <em>screamed</em>.

    The void let out an inhuman noise; a high-pitch wail of pure pain and suffering, whose strength was only matched by that of my roaringughter.

    What boundless joy to hear the heavens weep!

    Only when the scream finally reached its apex did the ground appear below me. A floor of stone sprawled and rushed towards me with gnashing teeth of sharp obsidian. A mouth the size of a city opened to swallow me whole, and within it, I saw only smoke and a tongue of steaming magma.

    I looked into the dark abyss of its gullet and uttered a single Word.

    ¡°<em>Close</em>.¡±

    The maw snapped shut.

    I summoned my jet ck wings and gracefullynded on a tooth longer than my entire body. I sensed the fanged ground shudder beneath me, its animalist hunger fruitlessly pushing against the power of my will. A vain effort. This thing was little more than a wall with hunger, a beast meant to obey the orders of higher beings.

    Its master swiftly whispered in my ear. ¡°How?¡±

    I almost mistook its voice for the Yaotzin¡¯s at first, but no wind blew in my ear. I only sensed the pressure of air.

    I looked up to the sky and found myself facing a spiral. The shining blue sky had transformed from an endless expanse into a maelstrom of air. I almost suffered from vertigo simply by looking at it.

    As I focused and my eyes adjusted to the blinding light, I noticed a shape in the spiral¡¯s center: the floating body of a hairless, gray humanoid in a fetal position, so far above me it would take me hours of flight to reach it. I must have looked exactly the same when the sky had caught me in its grip.

    Thest two Lords of Terror looked down upon me in defeat. Their jail of air had failed to hold me.

    ¡°How?¡± the spiral whispered in my ear with a feminine voice. ¡°How did a mere mortal destabilize our den of fear?¡±

    ¡°You answered your own question, demon,¡± I replied with my head held high. ¡°There is nothing <em>mere </em>about me.¡±

    I was the heir to a six-hundred year old legacy of death and murder. Its ult weight allowed my unborn Tomb to overwhelm even the Lords¡¯ domain.

    ¡°Yes¡­ yes, I see that now.¡± The spiral coiled into a fractal, a mind-numbing vision of light and blue colors. ¡°You gaze upon Xic, the vast and wingless, she who brings men down and down into the deepest void. Behold Patan, the forsaken, the weightless loner.¡±

    The lonely humanoid did not turn to address me. I figured that the demon of istion would not deign to greet its visitor. How impolite.

    ¡°You are wasting your immense talents on the happiness of lesser beings, sorcerer,¡± the sky said. I sensed no anger in her voice; only disappointment. ¡°Why will you not embrace true freedom?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I scoffed. ¡°It is freedom that I seek above all things. The freedom to do as <em>I </em>choose.¡±

    ¡°Such a state can only be achieved by true weightlessness,¡± Xic argued. ¡°When chained to others, a soul can only fall further down towards its doom. Only by severing themselves from their mortal attachments can a sorcerer live free of suffering.¡±

    I snorted and red at Patan. ¡°You would have me end up like <em>him </em>then? A crawling shadow left adrift in the void?¡±

    ¡°The fall never kills, demon emperor,¡± the empty sky replied. ¡°The impact does. Only a soul that travels unburdened can remain beyond the reach of pain and sorrow. You believe your bonds strengthen you, when they are no more than a noose tightening around your neck.¡±

    ¡°Then give me the spell which you owe me, so that I can sever my obligations to you Lords of Terror and fly far away free,¡± I replied coldly. I was done taking lessons. Now I would seize power. ¡°You can be alone again in this endless prison you call your house.¡±

    ¡°Beware the pride before the fall, demon emperor. No one escapes Xibalba without paying their due.¡± The sky coiled and unfurled like a great beast shifting its form. ¡°We bestow upon you the Fall spell. Up, down, left, right, forward, and downward. You alone will decide which way gravity falls.¡±

    Another spell added to my repertoire.

    I had concluded myst trial.

    Only the final ballcourt game stood between me and this cursed city¡¯s threshold.

 Chapter Seventy-Two: Forbidden Unions

    Chapter Seventy-Two: Forbidden Unions

    I woke up alive.

    My body felt both fresh and sluggish at the same time. My skin was smooth like a fresh fruit and my flesh was brand new. The Nightlords had stripped my old, burned remains from my skeleton and draped me in a new shell of life.

    My senses were sharper than knives. The smell of incense filled my nostrils and raised me from my slumber. I rested on a bed of white flowers with stone borders, all while dressed in my imperial regalia. My eyes looked up at the ceiling of an underground vault lit up by ghostly mes. The corpses of a hundred red-eyed bats were nailed to the surrounding walls with their hearts pierced by obsidian stakes. The dead servants of the First Emperor looked at their prophet in utter silence.

    I realized that I hadn¡¯t woken up in a bed, but inside a coffin.

    ¡°How is it to die, songbird?¡±

    The snake whore who helped put me in said coffin looked over me with the coldest of faces.

    Iztacoatl loomed on my left with the palpable disappointment of someone who would have preferred to see me dead and stiff rather than alive again. Eztli stood on my right, her eyes alight with a mix of relief and sorrow. From the red rings around them, she must have cried tears of blood over my corpse. I couldn¡¯t see the other Nightlords.

    How long had I stayed dead?

    ¡°I asked you a question, songbird,¡± Iztacoatl reminded me sharply. ¡°How does it look on the other side?¡±I wondered how much I should lie, but the Nightlords likely knew of the Underworld. I decided to stay evasive, like a man waking up from a confusing dream.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± I replied. ¡°There¡¯s nothing worthwhile on the other side, goddess. Nothing but darkness, bones, and tears.¡±

    ¡°How thankful I am to linger in this world then¡­ and how I rejoice at the thought of your soul weeping in the dark for all eternity.¡± Her frozen hand caressed my forehead. ¡°I should put you back into the ground, help you prepare yourself for it.¡±

    She was angry, which I took as a good sign. ¡°Have I disappointed you, goddess?¡±

    ¡°Partly,¡± Iztacoatl replied with a sinister re. ¡°Father has grown quiet, but your blood continues to burn at hismand. A shame we have to parade you around for the Flower War. I would have preferred another rehearsal of the Scarlet Moon to put the both of you in your ce.¡±

    ¡°I am truly sorry, goddess,¡± I lied through my teeth. ¡°I truly wish I could serve you better.¡±

    She didn¡¯t believe me, and I didn¡¯t expect her to. Thankfully, losing face in front of her sisters had forced her to y along. ¡°You will have the opportunity to serve,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°We are in Zacha¡¯s grand temple, and we will need you to strut about to reassure the herd. Do not fail us again.¡±

    ¡°I shall not.¡± In fact, my n required that I y along. ¡°I have learned my lesson, oh goddess.¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Iztacoatl shook her head in disappointment. ¡°This will be thest night we share for a very long time.¡±

    My heart nearly skipped a beat in surprise. ¡°What does the goddess mean?¡±

    ¡°My sisters believe that I have grown too invested in you. That my¡­¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s smile boasted a set of serpent fangs. ¡°That my boundless <em>affection </em>for you clouds my judgment.¡±

    If she had shown me affection so far, then her hatred was likely safer. Nheless, assuming that she was indeed telling me the truth, then I would struggle to hide my joy.

    ¡°Besides, you will move straight to the Flower War after that pointless marriage concludes,¡± Iztacoatl said. ¡°Sugey will thus take over your safety and ensure you do not humiliate us in the field of battle.¡±

    ¡°Saddening,¡± I lied. I didn¡¯t look forward to serving under Sugey, but that one at least didn¡¯t seem as likely to put me through mind games. The Bird of War always struck me as the direct sort of monster. ¡°I shall miss your advice, oh goddess.¡±

    ¡°We both know you won¡¯t.¡± Iztacoatl red at me with all of the weight of her disdain. ¡°Deep inside your heart, you believe us to be monsters who deserve your scorn. <em>Abominations</em>.¡±

    She leaned in to better look into my eyes; an act which caused me no end of concern, for her scowl swiftly turned into a ghastly smile of pure delight. I could sense her brimming impatience.

    Whatever she was about to tell me, she had been dying to do so for a <em>very </em>long time.

    ¡°But if you ask me,¡± Iztacoatl whispered, her voice struggling to stifle herughter. ¡°The real abomination is the one you nted in your sister¡¯s womb.¡±

    A dreadful silence fell upon the vault, fueled by my doubts and confusion.

    <em>My sister¡¯s womb? Does she mean Eztli? </em>I briefly looked at her, but my previous consort looked just as lost as I was.<em> No, that¡¯s¡­ not possible. </em>

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t know?¡± Iztacoatl asked with a dark chuckle. ¡°Nl and you?¡±

    Nl?

    <em>Nl</em>? What absurdity was this? Was this Iztacoatl¡¯s newest mind game? A plot to destabilize and sicken my mind with doubt? If so, then she could have found a better lie. It was so transparent, so obvious, that I should have answered it with mockingughter.

    Yet a sick feeling stank in my stomach, though I couldn¡¯t tell why.

    ¡°Goddess, I fail to understand,¡± I said.

    ¡°You¡¯ve never noticed the family resemnce? Beyond the hair and eyes? Looking at her must have felt like fucking your mirror.¡± Iztacoatl shook her head with a mocking sigh. ¡°What a poor elder brother you make.¡±

    She was lying through her teeth.

    That was ridiculous. Nl resembled me because we were both Nahualli, born with totems marking us for a great destiny. Moreover, I would have known. Mother kept secrets to herself, but Father didn¡¯t have an insincere bone in his body. He wouldn¡¯t keep something so big from me.

    Nheless, I smiled and yed along with Iztacoatl¡¯s plot. ¡°Apologies for my forwardness, but the goddess must be mistaken,¡± I argued. ¡°My father never told me of any sister.¡±

    ¡°Because he never knew himself, songbird. He sired her on your witch mother a mere few days before our priests came to arrest her.¡± Iztacoatl snorted in disdain. ¡°My servants said you were still crying in your crib back then.¡±

    I should have disregarded her words as mere lunacy. A diseased phantasm born of a maddened, cruel mind.

    Yet¡­ yet a memory wormed its way at the forefront of my mind. That fragment of the past which obscured my vision the two times Iid with Nl, where I made love to my mother in my father¡¯s skin.

    I¡¯d heard a child¡¯s cry in the background back then¡­ if¡­ if it had been mine¡­

    ¡°We had ess to her husband¡¯s blood, so it was easy to track her unborn child,¡± Iztacoatl whispered, her lips oozing venom metaphorically and <em>very </em>literally. ¡°We kept hounding her for months, each day getting a little closer. I could almost taste the sweetness of her neck bending under my fangs¡­ until that day when we found her crying child weeping and screaming alone in a cave.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t <em>my </em>conception that I saw.

    ¡°You should thank us, songbird. Your sister would have died without our rescue.¡± Iztacoatl¡¯s scratched my hair, savoring every ounce of my dread and disgust. ¡°Your mother bravely abandoned her to save her own hide. She knew how to hide herself easily enough, now that she had freed herself from the burden of a family. Did she truly deserve your help?¡±

    Lahun¡¯s words rang in my skull. <em>Forbidden unions beget abominations.</em>

    No. No, no, it was a lie. It couldn¡¯t be true, couldn¡¯t be real. It was just a lie ying on my fears and half-cryptic prophecies. It was just a ploy to destabilize me psychologically before the Flower War, a bully¡¯sst attempt to spit on me.

    But Mother¡­ Mother had behaved so strangely when I told her about Nl. I¡¯d sensed she was hiding something; something that bothered her andpelled her to remain silent. Had it been <em>shame</em>?

    Could Mother even feel that?

    ¡°Ocelocihuatl kept that girl in reserve like a treasure and called her Nl. <em>Puppet</em>. A doll always meant to serve a purpose.¡± Iztacoatl delighted in savoring my expression. She knew that I was starting to believe her. ¡°When the stars deigned you as our new emperor, we knew that the time hade for her to fulfill her role.¡±

    I felt sick. A wave of nausea washed over me, which Eztli¡¯s horrified expression and guilty silence didn¡¯t help in the slightest.

    ¡°Can you fathom how rare it is to have two Nahualli born of one?¡± Iztacoatl taunted me. ¡°That gift is neithermon nor hereditary, songbird. So for all of that woman¡¯s children to show it¡­ your bloodline is <em>special</em>. It had to be¡­¡±

    Her cold dead hand moved under my robes and caressed my cock.

    ¡°<em>Concentrated</em>.¡±

    I wanted to vomit. My heart refused to believe it, but my mind couldn¡¯t help but see all the tiny hints, all the guilty avoidances, and the visions and the prophecies and the Nightlords¡¯ cruelties forming a monstrous picture. I tried to tell myself that Nl¡¯s other totem meant we couldn¡¯t possibly be rted, that it was a mistake.

    Yet¡­ yet I recalled how it felt to sleep with her, how our souls melded so easily and harmoniously, like halves of a greater whole eager to merge together¡­

    ¡°You <em>enjoyed it</em>, didn¡¯t you? Rutting like an animal with your own flesh and blood?¡± Iztacoatl¡¯sughter echoed inside the vault, vile and cruel. ¡°You must have both loved it quite a bit. It¡¯s rare for a man to be so virile as to impregnate a woman on the same night he deflowered her. Imagine my joy when I smelled that sinful seed of blood nted in her fertile womb.¡±

    She removed her hands from my crotch and then kissed me on the cheek, like a twisted parent approving of their child¡¯s naughty behavior.

    ¡°I wonder how this affront against nature will look when it crawls out of your sister¡¯s thighs,¡± she whispered, so soft and sweet. ¡°You were an aspiring merchant once. Surely having a daughter and a niece in one transaction sounds like an excellent deal.¡±

    My body tensed with such boiling fury that I all but bolted out of the coffin. Iztacoatl¡¯s vicious smile made me want to choke her myself with my bare hands, to smash her head against the stone and tear her apart with¡ª

    Eztli¡¯s hand grabbed my shoulder, kindly but firmly. My head briefly snapped in her direction to see her expression of anger and concern. It brought me back to reality. I had almost made a terrible mistake.

    ¡°Enough,¡± Eztli rasped. ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡±

    ¡°It is not enough until <em>I </em>say it is, my dear new sister,¡± Iztacoatl replied with a hiss. She was nowhere near finished with me. ¡°You have outyed me, songbird. I don¡¯t know <em>how</em>, but you¡¯ve managed to make a fool of me in front of my sisters. We give emperors a measure of power so that they may embody our foolish father in the eyes of gods and men, but you already do that so well on your own. So why should I let you keep even a scrap of authority?¡±

    She grabbed me by the throat with inhuman strength, yanking me out of Eztli¡¯s grasp, and forcing me to look at her.

    ¡°I know how Tayatzin suggested that you organize marriages between nobilities,¡± she said, her snakelike eyes ring into mine. ¡°I¡¯ve already denied his request. Your ns to form a power block around yourself? You can forget them. Your spies? I¡¯ll root them out and kill them. I will tighten your leash until you choke. I will make ake of your concubines¡¯ blood and drown you in it, do you understand? Do you <em>understand</em>?¡±

    Yes. Yes, I understood. When I looked into her eyes so desperate to hurt me, I fullyprehended the depths of hatred that I felt for this hag; and what I had to say to hurt her back.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°I remember what he told you,¡± I whispered. ¡°Your father.¡±

    These two simple words caused Iztacoatl to recoil as if pped in the face.

    ¡°What?¡± she asked, her fair face twisted in a scowl of anger and unexpected surprise.

    ¡°I remember what he told you, goddess,¡± I repeated myself, being very careful to state a neutral fact rather than a threat. ¡°The truth he spoke through me.¡±

    Iztacoatl pped me with such strength I thought she would break a bone. I did not flinch. She raised her hand to hit me on the other cheek, but a mere look at my cold dead eyes was enough to shake her confidence.

    We both knew how she would die.

    And I swore to the gods that I would ensure it myself.

    ¡°There is so much I can do to you and your whores,¡± she hissed at me in an attempt to recover the initiative. ¡°So many torments you can hardly imagine them.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t bring myself to respond. Not after what I¡¯d learned today, not after what I went through. I was simply so shocked and horrified I¡¯d grown numb, at least for a brief moment. I had died again, except I was still breathing.

    I saw Iztacoatl hesitate to strike me, to threaten my consorts and to promise a hundred more tortures, but the wall of my silence proved too high for her to climb. Poisoning my rtionship with Nl was the best victory she would earn today.

    ¡°Get out of my sight,¡± Iztacoatl hissed at us in disgust and impotent anger. ¡°Both of you.¡±

    I sensed her angry gaze on my back long after Eztli guided me out of the vault and into dark underground corridors.

    While I held nothing but disdain for Iztacoatl¡ª<em>Nl might be my sister</em>¡ªI would be a fool to disregard her warnings. If she intended to proceed with a pce purge¡ª<em>Nl was my sister</em>¡ªthen I might lose ess to many resources. It would be a blow to my operations¡ª<em>I¡¯d impregnated my sister</em>¡ªbut no emperor defeated the Nightlords with mundane means, so long as I umted spells and forbidden knowledge¡ª<em>forbidden unions beget abominations</em>¡ªthen I would remain on track to destroy¡ª<em>incestuous horror¡ª</em>destroy them<em>¡ªMother lied to me</em>.

    I held my head with a hand as those awful thoughts continued to intrude upon my mind, even as I tried so hard to focus¡ª<em>a daughter and a niece</em>¡ªtried to focus on what mattered right now!

    It took all of my mental strength to deny these vile allegations to myself, to bury all these tiny hints¡ª<em>my own flesh and blood</em>¡ªwhich I¡¯d ignored and now couldn¡¯t banish from my memory. They kept returning, again and again, waves of disgust that left me feeling soiled and vited.

    ¡°Eztli,¡± I said once we were alone, unable to bear it any longer. ¡°Is it true? Nl?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Eztli bit her lip. ¡°I don¡¯t know, Iztac.¡±

    ¡°I need to know.¡± I refused to ept it, not without proof, not without confirmation. I couldn¡¯t. ¡°I <em>need </em>to know, Eztli.¡±

    Whether these usations were true or a false ploy born of my own fears and Iztacoatl¡¯s cruel lies, I couldn¡¯t let them distract me. Not when Eztli¡¯s own existence hung on a precarious bnce, not with waring to me, not with the trials of Xibalba soon reaching their long-overdue conclusion. I had to face the future with a clear mind.

    My former consort, who had acted uncharacteristically meek towards me so far, dared to speak up again on her own. ¡°Iztac¨C¡±

    ¡°I forgive you forst night, Eztli,¡± I said before she could apologize. ¡°You were forced into it. I do not fault you for participating.¡±

    ¡°Iztac, I helped<em> boil you alive</em>,¡± she snapped at me, her hands reaching for her arms and rubbing them. ¡°They¡­ they had me drink your blood too. I can¡¯t¡­ I can¡¯t brush it off.¡±

    I looked at her for a brief second, then pulled my arms around her waist and pulled her closer to me. She didn¡¯t resist me, but didn¡¯t return my embrace either. I forced her to look into my eyes.

    ¡°My blood is yours to drink whenever you wish to sip it,¡± I stated. ¡°Freely given.¡±

    ¡°Iztac, you don¡¯t know what¨C¡±

    I forced a kiss on her lips, dispelling her doubts with my hunger and desire. My passion surprised her at first, having no doubt expected resentment and coldness from me after participating in the Nightlords¡¯ rituals, but her hands eventually grabbed my hair and returned my embrace.

    ¡°All of me is yours, Eztli, without exception,¡± I said upon breaking the kiss. ¡°What happenedst night changes nothing between us. I love you.¡±

    None of Iztacoatl¡¯s vicious little games would split us apart.

    Eztli¡¯s expression twisted into one of deep doubt and sorrow. ¡°You truly mean that, Iztac?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied without hesitation. Much like her mother, I would do anything to ensure her safety and happiness. Even use forbidden magic. ¡°You are mine, and I am yours.¡±

    Eztli nodded to herself, my words reassuring her a bit. She nted a light kiss on me, short and sweet. ¡°I love you too,¡± she said with a small, painful sigh. ¡°I hope that I will remember it.¡±

    ¡°You will,¡± I reassured her. ¡°I promise you.¡±

    If anything, drinking my blood during the ritual would make that task easier.

    Eztli looked at me for a long while. She¡¯d detected the confidence in my voice, and she knew me well. She¡¯d guessed I had a n, albeit one I couldn¡¯t discuss in the open.

    ¡°I am sorry,¡± she whispered.

    ¡°I told you¨C¡±

    ¡°I know, Iztac.¡± She put a finger on her lips to silence me before I could interrupt her. ¡°I¡­ I haven¡¯t been myself for a very long time. Not with Mother, not with you. This curse of mine obscures my thoughts, but I should have¡­ I should have seen it earlier.¡±

    ¡°None of this is your fault.¡±

    ¡°Is it?¡± Eztli shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not so sure, Iztac. I am guilty of <em>weakness</em>. The way I treated you, the way they treated you and Nl, it¡¯s <em>sick</em>.¡±

    Eztli was sick, true, but not in a way that made her guilty. ¡°Your mother is a healer,¡± I said. ¡°She would be the first to tell you that you¨C¡±

    ¡°That the sick cannot be med for sumbing to their disease?¡± She finished for me. ¡°Maybe not, but I¡¯ve closed my eyes on your own suffering. I¡¯ll try to¡­¡± Eztli gulped. ¡°To be more mindful.¡±

    I opened my mouth to answer, but no wise words came to me. I simply nodded in eptance and tightened our hug. It was the onlyfort we could offer each other for now.

    ¡°We should go,¡± Eztli said after breaking our embrace. ¡°The others are waiting.¡±

    Such words would usually reassure me, but not this time. Not this time.

    The Nightlords had set up quarters for us almost identical to those I enjoyed in Iztacoatl¡¯s little forest retreat; I began to think their architects followed a simr design for all of them in order to build these dens of evil more quickly. I found my consorts old and new waiting in the living room while nearly separated by a table. Chikal, Ingrid, and Nl faced Chindi in her ¡®Anaye¡¯ disguise with various degrees of wariness; thetter had put on a dress, though she retained her blindfold and cored leash.

    I could cut the tension with a knife.

    Chindi¡¯s smile seemed demure enough, almost charming, but I could sense the undercurrent of predatory wrongness I¡¯d noticed in her previous disguises. She could mimic normal humans well enough to pass for one among those unfamiliar with Skinwalkers, because we humans had grown to expect the familiar. Those in the know noticed the tiny hints of wrongness about her posture and character, like an actor¡¯s true self leaking through their character.

    My consorts had picked up on them. Chikal stared at Chindi with the cold, calcting focus of a warrior expecting a jaguar to jump at them at the first sign of weakness; Ingrid disguised her uneasiness behind a mask of queenlyposure; and Nl didn''t hide anything. Having nearly died at the Skinwalker¡¯s hand, she shivered and stared at the ground rather than face her gaze.

    That was good, because Nl likely missed the stare I sent her myself. The sight of her used to fill me with delight, like a man returning home to find sanctuary from the world¡¯s horrors; now she only inspired doubt and shame.

    ¡°Master, goddess,¡± ¡®Anaye¡¯ said with a musical voice. She had sensed our approach before the others, likely thanks to her enhanced senses. ¡°You have returned to us.¡±

    All gazes turned to me, all of them filled with relief; but Nl¡¯s own filled me with a terrible kind of dread. My eyes lingered on her stomach before I knew what to do. Iztacoatl¡¯s mocking words rang in my head and sapped me of my strength.

    ¡°Is something the matter, Iztac?¡± Nl asked me with concern.

    I suddenly realized what kind of face I was making; the same one that Mother showcased when I told her how I loved Nl.

    ¡°No.¡± I used to lie so easily, but this one tore me apart to my very core. ¡°Everything is well and fine, Nl.¡±

    Her reassuring smile made me feel soiled. <em>Stained</em>.

    I needed to wash it all away somehow, and a look at ¡®Anaye¡¯ told me how. I grabbed her leash with a firm hand and pulled her so quickly she fell off her chair. This ought to showcase to everyone the hierarchy between us.

    ¡°I see that you have been acquainted with my new consort,¡± I said before patting Chindi on the head as if she were an animal. ¡°You have behaved well, pet? You know what happens to those who defy me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, master,¡± she replied with servility. ¡°I did not forget.¡±

    Chikal¡¯s eyes moved from me and back to Chindi, as did Ingrid. They both guessed I had a n in mind. My confidence also reassured Nl a bit, although my behavior unsettled her just as much.

    ¡°What happened, my lord?¡± Ingrid asked. ¡°The goddesses would not tell us anything.¡±

    ¡°The goddesses put me through a purification ritual, to cleanse me of my sins before the Flower War,¡± I replied. Eztli couldn¡¯t help but look away when I said that, which likely informed the others what kind of ¡®purification¡¯ I went through. ¡°I am told Lady Zyanya¡¯s wedding will soon take ce?¡±

    ¡°We have a few hours before the ceremony,¡± Chikal confirmed. ¡°We will depart to the frontlines tomorrow morning.¡±

    Ingrid nodded sharply. ¡°Ayar Cachi¡¯s gift has also arrived, my lord. I hoped to introduce her to you early.¡±

    ¡°Send her to me a bitter. Eztli and I will take a moment to¡­¡± My grip tightened on Chindi¡¯s leash. ¡°Rest.¡±

    I would soon see if my new consort would live up to her predecessor.

    She did not.

    Making love to a Skinwalker was a miserable experience, even with Eztli there to keep uspany. Part of it was my fault. My mind kept wandering back to my sist¡ª<em>Nenelt</em> and Mother whenever I tried to focus on strangling her to calm myself. I couldn¡¯t use Seidr with her either for fear of her learning my true ns for her.

    Chindi wasn¡¯t a good partner either. She shared none of the affection I had with my other consorts, not even lust. She wasn¡¯t a woman in search of a steady partner nor a good time, but a monster who craved the power I possessed. Nothing more.

    Only when I cut my hand with a knife did she show arousal.

    I recalled the visions I saw of her past back when I first invaded her mind. The Skinwalker enjoyed recing women and then murdering their husbands after a night of passion. She craved death and suffering the same as any Nightlord would.

    I think knowing I intended to dispose of her made it easier on my mind.

    ¡°What do you think of her?¡± I asked Eztli as I force-fed Chindi my burning blood, thus forming a link between us. ¡°Do you find her pretty?¡±

    ¡°She has a certain wild edge,¡± Eztli whispered in my ear from behind, her arms wrapped around my chest and her chin resting on my shoulder.

    ¡°But is she fit to rece you?¡± I asked her. ¡°Would she live up to your example?¡±

    Ezli¡¯s grip tightened slightly. She had sensed a hidden message in my words, butcked the context to interpret it correctly. I didn¡¯t need her to yet. I was only¡­ nting seeds.

    ¡°I do not think so,¡± she replied honestly. ¡°I fear you will find everyoneckingpared to me.¡±

    ¡°When can I change my skin, master?¡± Chindi rasped after I freed her mouth. She scratched her cheeks as if to remove them. ¡°I <em>suffocate </em>within this one. I have so many better faces to show you.¡±

    ¡°When permitted,¡± I replied before slouching on the bed. My two consorts crawled up to me; Eztli, with affection; and Chindi, with craven servility. ¡°Can you detect lies as easily as you can switch skins?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Chindi boasted. ¡°I weave them, smell them, live them.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± I stroked her hair. ¡°A liar ising to visit us soon. I want you to observe her closely.¡±

    Chindi sensed a test. ¡°The master wishes for me to keep an eye on her?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied, though it was mostly to distract Chindi from my true ns. ¡°Treat her kindly and report anything suspicious to me.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we do this with everyone, Iztac?¡± Eztli asked mirthfully. ¡°So many people wish you dead.¡±

    ¡°And they are wee to try to take my life, if they dare,¡± I replied with false arrogance. ¡°Those who defy the goddesses¡¯ prophet will learn the meaning of <em>suffering</em>.¡±

    I snapped my fingers, and Ingrid soon brought the Sapa spy to us.

    As expected, Ayar Cachi¡¯s messenger was a vision of charm and elegance. Thedy standing before me couldn¡¯t be older than twenty, with long chestnut hair woven into a braid falling onto the left side of her fair, aquiline face. Her pale green eyes were much paler than even Ingrid¡¯s, and she dressed in a fantastic dress of woven fibers.

    However, it was the color of her skin that struck me the most.

    Golden.

    I¡¯d heard rumors that the Sapa people held rituals where their rulers would be caked in gold dust and then swim in holykes to purify them. This woman may have undergone those rituals once, except the water failed to cleanse her. Her skin had gained the very color and texture of glittering gold to the point I could have mistaken her for a moving statue without her eyes and hair.

    This woman was a <em>treasure</em>, figuratively and literally.

    Ingrid proceeded to introduce her. ¡°My lord, this is Ac Kuraka Coricancha, a virgin ve-wife and half-sister to Ayar Cachi, heir presumptive to the heavenly throne of the Sapa Empire.¡±

    <em>The man sent us his half-sister</em>? My mind briefly conjured an image of Nl in Ac¡¯s ce, which sickened me to my core. Families shouldn¡¯t be treated like animals to be traded and¡­ bred. <em>What kind of man enved his blood and then sold her to a foreigner? </em>

    ¡°Words of Your Divine Majesty¡¯s bravery and cunning extend beyond the mountains,¡± Ac dered in near-perfect Yohuachancan. She managed to mimic the Yohuachancan salute to the point I could have mistaken her for a native noble. ¡°My master, the great and wise Ayar Cachi, sent me to strengthen the alliance between our honored nations.¡±

    ¡°I have no allies,¡± I dered with a fake scoff. Losing myself in the emperor act let me forget my true feelings for a moment. ¡°Only thralls and enemies. Does your master wish to bend the knee, or to fight?¡±

    The woman gave me a smile that reminded me of Lady Sigrun¡¯s. ¡°Your Divine Majesty is my master now.¡±

    I smiled ear to ear. I recognized a trained diplomat.

    ¡°My honored brother does not wish to be Your Divine Majesty¡¯s enemy, and he hopes that my presence shall be proof of his goodwill,¡± Ac said. ¡°I have been tasked with advising you towards the highest of paths: that of peace.¡±

    ¡°You people have tried to murder me and my consorts, among many other crimes,¡± I replied. ¡°Would your emperor choose peace if he were in my ce?¡±

    ¡°The fiends who threatened Your Divine Majesty should indeed be punished,¡± Ac remained calm. ¡°Wise Ayar Cachi will dly assist you in bringing justice to the guilty and shielding the innocent from wrongdoings.¡±

    In short, he asked that I kill his brother and deal with him as an ally so he might inherit the throne. Or so it seemed at first nce.

    I could see two possibilities: either Ayar Cachi was indeed a self-serving snake, in which case Ac would serve as his personal ambassador tasked with championing his cause and sabotaging Manco¡¯s war effort; or he was secretly loyal to his brother and she would be a spy for the Sapa Empire as a whole.

    Either scenario worked for me. I could make use of both allies <em>and </em>enemies.

    ¡°I shall inform Ayar Cachi that his gift is well-received and appreciated,¡± I replied with the dignity of an emperor. ¡°You shall henceforth be assigned as my dear consort Nen¡­¡± I suppressed a wave of nausea and powered through. ¡°My consort Nl¡¯s handmaiden. Serve her faithfully and showcase your loyalty to your new home. Should you prove worthy, I may grace you with my favor.¡±

    I¡¯d been looking for a candidate to serve as my sist¡ª<em>Nl¡¯s</em> handmaiden for a while now. Ac would do. She would do. Let me focus on something else whenever I¡­ whenever I visited Nl.

    I would have preferred a loyal servant to serve in this capacity, but a Sapa spy would prove even better. How unfortunate it would be if a critical message ¡®identally¡¯ fell into the enemy¡¯s hands because Ac overheard something she shouldn¡¯t have¡­

    ¡°Your Divine Majesty¡¯s wisdom more than lives up to the tales,¡± Ac ttered me. ¡°I shall endeavor to prove my usefulness to you and your esteemed consorts. Besides the arts of diplomacy and the history of my people, I can weave, cook, brew chicha, dance, sing¡­¡±

    ¡°A woman of many talents,¡± Eztli mused.

    ¡°Those are interesting skills, but many share them in my harem,¡± I replied. ¡°I am interested in¡­ <em>practical </em>applications.¡±

    Ac¡¯s smile failed to hide her calcting gaze. ¡°If Your Divine Majesty would allow me to fetch a map, I would dly enlighten them in the secrets of my homnd.¡±

    She knew how the game was yed. Good.

    So many soldiers never managed to return from foreign conflicts.

    I would ensure Sugey joined their numbers.

 Chapter Seventy-Three: Mother of Witches

    Chapter Seventy-Three: Mother of Witches

    I entered Zacha as a god among men.

    Itzili had grown and recovered enough for me to ride him as we passed through the city gates. How mighty I must have looked to themoners of my forlorn empire, d in the scarlet armor of past emperors atop a feathered tyrant. An army of trihorn riders and footsmen followed in my wake, singing my praises with their mouths and war horns. My consorts, old and new, waved at the cheering crowds from atop the imperial longneck. If anybody noticed that Chindi had slipped into Eztli¡¯s ce, no one showed a hint of it.

    I supposed it made sense. My subjects only ever saw my consorts from afar and at night. Few made the trip from Zacha to my capital, and fewer still would be able to tell the two apart. As far as the world was concerned, ¡®Anaye¡¯ had always been my fourth consort. A scarf hid the cor and leash marking her as a glorified ve.

    What a joke.

    After my triumphant entrance, I proceeded with the usual ceremonies. I met with Lady Zyanya¡¯s father, a portly noble thrice my age with more titles than actual power, whose obsequiousness matched that of my most zealous priests. I could almost<em>taste</em>the family¡¯s desperation to remain relevant.

    Iztacoatl had ordered me to behave on behalf of the other Nightlords, and considering the depths of her recent humiliation, I knew better than to tempt their wrath. I blessed the city in the goddesses¡¯ name,pleted public rituals at their grand temple, visited the sick and dying, and then promised the recruits who would march with me into the Flower War glory in this world and the next. In short, I acted like the perfect puppet emperor.

    At least, until the wedding.

    I had witnessed a few of them back in Acampa, so I knew the procedure well enough. First of all, xc housed his guests in a stone mansion in the heart of the city; one which his father once purchased on histe brother¡¯s behalf. Though my entourage received thergest share of attention and courtesy, he had also invited his family¡¯s business partners and all of Zacha¡¯s nobility to witness the ceremony. I suspected many came to see me over him. They even had to reject some visitors considered too baseborn to feast in my presence.

    Most marriages in Yohuachanca were arranged by matchmakers, who decided the date of the ceremony under a favorable day sign and then carried the bride to her future husband¡¯s house for the wedding feast. That role technically fell to me, but it was beneath an emperor¡¯s dignity to carry<em>anyone</em>on his back, even a noble. I thus assigned this duty to Lahun in order to reinforce her political position as my personal soothsayer.

    Watching the bridal procession from the manor¡¯s threshold was quite the sight. Lady Zyanya¡¯s rtives arrived at nightfall, walking with bright torches in utter silence. I had my consorts join them in order to honor the bride, who was carried on Lahun¡¯s back across the street in all of her finest finery and then delivered into xc¡¯s waiting hands.

    The ¡®happy¡¯ couple invited us to the feast in the manor¡¯s grand hall afterward. While I knew it wasrge enough to please any noble, I found itughably smallpared to my pce¡¯s rooms. Gifts to the newlyweds piled up near a central hearth meant to honor the First Emperor, who burned in the sky for the sake of all life on this Earth. I personally provided a wealth of gold and jewels which would shame the wealthiest of nobles. The other guests carefully ensured that their own offerings would pale before mine.

    <em>The wise man does not overshadow his emperor,</em>I mused as my harem and I were granted a dais above the cramped floor on which the other guests were forced to gather. The lesser men among them had so little space for themselves that raising one¡¯s cup meant hitting their neighbor. In contrast, I enjoyed more than enough space and the presence of Necahual at my side.<em>I have a better ce than the newlyweds.</em>

    As per tradition, xc and his new wife sat together on a mat below the hearth and a bowl of incense filling the air with warmth and a thick odor. I had imagined myself and Eztli in their ces once, drinking together andughing as we celebrated our union. Tonight¡¯s newlyweds hadn''t exchanged a word, let alone a nce. No love norplicity had blossomed between them, and from the way xc eyed the nubile female ve serving him food, I doubt it ever would.

    At least the food was nice enough. We were served a basket full of tamales, bowls of roasted turkey, and plenty of maize. The servants provided the guests with their fill of pulque while the pounding drums and wailing flutes of musicians resonated across the room. My consorts and concubines enjoyed themselves well enough at least. I could hardly hear their discussion over the noise, though Ac earnedughter from Tenoch and Atziri. A few guests sent her distrustful nces due to her obvious Sapa origins, but none dared toin in my presence.

    <em>I doubt any spy can hear us any better.</em>I nced down at Itzili, who remained alert at my feet. The guests wisely gave him a wide berth, even the roaring drunks among them.<em>No sign of snakes either</em>.<em>Excellent.</em>

    I had set up this entire situation to create a unique opportunity, which I decided to seize now.

    The music turned silent the moment I rose from my seat. All chatter ceased in an instant out of fear and respect. I would see to it that both soon turned to awe.

    ¡°Atst,¡± I said with my pulque cup raised and my voice thundering through the hall. ¡°The knotting!¡±

    Acim and apuse followed my deration. xc¡¯s mother¡ªa shrewish woman whose eyes were filled with the same all-consuming greed that fueled her son¡ªand Lady Zyanya¡¯s father rose to each bless their inws with a gift. Lady Zyanya received a white blouse wrapped over her shoulders, while a red cape was wrapped around xc¡¯s shoulders.

    It was customary for the matchmaker to tie their clothes together and officialize the union between the newlyweds. Lahun made a move to proceed with the ritual, but I stopped her with a wave of my hand.

    ¡°No need,¡± I decreed with the grave authority of an emperor. ¡°I shall bless these two myself as the Godspeaker.¡±

    Murmurs spread across the room at my deration, followed by quick and servile bows from the newlyweds.

    ¡°My house would ever be so grateful, Your Divine Majesty,¡± Lady Zyanya said, recognizing the supreme honor this would represent.

    I also caught a glint of interest in her gaze. Unlike her new and less experienced husband, she likely suspected what I had in mind for tonight¡¯s entertainment.

    ¡°Your Divine Majesty would please us beyond words,¡± xc added with the obsequiousness I¡¯de to expect of him. ¡°We shall be bound forever as your humble servants.¡±

    <em>You might swallow those words soon enough, xc</em>. I walked up to these two in silence, hundreds of eyes focusing on me. I grabbed the cloak of the groom and the blouse of the bride, then tied them into a tight knot. For Yohuachanca¡¯s emperor to bind these two lines would already be a great honor, but I would ensure nobody would forget this night.<em>Time for a miracle.</em>

    I grabbed an obsidian knife from my belt and shed my left hand.

    My burning blood surged from my palm in a streak of smokeless fire. Shouts and murmurs of awe answered my disy of supernatural power. Some guests stared at me in shock, their minds unable to process the miracle unfolding before their eyes; others joined their hands in prayer and knelt in adoration.

    I basked in xc¡¯s shocked expression and the fiery ambition in Lady Zyanya¡¯s eyes. Both witnessed the First Emperor speaking through me in the capital, but it was another thing entirely to witness magic so closely. I had shown them a taste of true divine power, the likes of which mortal fools could only revere.

    ¡°I thus bind you by the grace of the gods, by the shining radiance of the Fifth Sun and his daughters in shadow,¡± I boldly dered as droplets of my fiery blood fell upon the knot. ¡°Your union shall be Yohuachanca¡¯s light in the nights toe.¡±

    My blood had cooled off enough not to set the clothes on fire once it touched them, but it would leave an eternal mark on them nheless. I wondered if they would be a sacred heirloom in the future; a relic blessed by the one true Godspeaker.

    While the thought amused me, this entire disy only served toy the groundwork for my next demand.

    ¡°Now, xc, as per tradition, you and your wife shall spend four nights together to conceive our empire¡¯s future champions.¡± I turned to look at Zyanya, a false smile stretching on my face. ¡°But her first¡­¡±

    I softly grabbed Lady Zyanya¡¯s chin with my bloody hand, letting her feel the warmth of my divine power and forcing her to meet my gaze.

    ¡°Her first night belongs to your emperor alone,¡± I dered.

    The hall grew quiet as I invoked the right of the First Night.

    The first hands soon pped to congratte Lady Zyanya. Her family was the first to do so, quickly followed by Zacha¡¯s nobility and a very amused Chindi. xc¡¯s rtives and my consorts were thest to imitate them, mostly to avoid the shame of remaining silent when others rejoiced. Nl¡¯s apuse was the weakest and most half-hearted, while Ingrid and Chikal exchanged a quick nce. They knew me well enough to guess that I had a n in mind.

    xc hardly hesitated. He removed his wedding cape without undoing the bindings and then relinquished them to me without a word of resentment. In fact, he seemed almost<em>pleased</em>. His wife didn¡¯t bother to hide her pride at being chosen.

    I suppressed a wave of contempt washing over me. iming a wife¡¯s First Night in his own house would have been a humiliation for any husband under normal circumstances, but the Nightlords¡¯ propaganda thoroughly turned it into an<em>honor</em>. My miracle at the wedding only reinforced their perception of me.

    The divine could dispose of the mundane as they wanted in Yohuachanca.

    Everyone present profited from this state of affairs too. An emperor whose blood glowed with the sun blessing a daughter of Zacha in such a public way would reinforce her and the city¡¯s prestige, doubly so should she bear a child from my loins. xc had already shown his willingness to give away his wife for political favors; he knew that nting her in my bed would no doubt earn my gratitude.

    Opportunistic vermin, all of them.

    ¡°Necahual,¡± I said, my favorite straightening up. ¡°A single woman is not enough to satisfy my needs, however gracious. Your time hase to assist the blessed bride.¡±

    Necahual¡¯s eyes widened ever so slightly at my subtle wording. She rose from her seat and followed me as I seized Lady Zyanya in my hands. I carried her into the bridal room upstairs to the cheering acim of the cuckolded husband and guests alike. Itzili crawled in our footsteps, his increasinglyrge frame struggling to squeeze through the doors.

    The wedding boudoir reflected the newlyweds¡¯ wealth and prestige, with mosaic patterns of the rising sun decorating the walls alongside a set of statuettes and stone masks honoring the gods-in-spirit. Urns stored plenty of food and water for the newlyweds to enjoy during their four-day honeymoon next to a luxurious, double-sized bed of jaguar furs and cotton nkets. A wood panel covered the only window while Iztili stood watch over the single door.

    Iid Lady Zyanya on the bed, then quickly whipped up a Veil around myself. No gaze other than the two women present in the room interfered with my illusion. None of Iztacoatl¡¯s spies hid in a corner, and why would they? I had only ever shown unease at the idea of iming a woman¡¯s first night in the past.

    On the other hand, I had been careful to show some interest in Lady Zyanya so as not to arouse suspicions about my sudden change of behavior. Iztacoatl might suspect something was up, though I sincerely doubted that she would figure out the truth. Zyanya would serve as a fantastic smokescreen to obscure my true activities.

    ¡°You have served me well, Zyanya,¡± I said with a degree of sincerity. ¡°Your obedience and loyalty please me greatly.¡±

    ¡°Your Divine Majesty honors me,¡± Zyanya replied with hardly disguised desire and ambition. She removed her blouse and clothes, letting them slide off the bed to unveil her nakedness. The sight slightly aroused me, I would not deny it. ¡°All that I am is yours to seize.¡±

    I sensed Necahual stare at this woman with deep contempt, which I shared in my heart and hid behind a smile.

    ¡°I have executed your first husband and forced the second to surrender you to me,¡± I said. ¡°Are you so eager for these bloodstained hands of mine to fondle you?¡±

    Lady Zyanya sneered, her true self shining through. ¡°Neither of my husbands were worthy of me, unlike Your Divine Majesty.¡±

    She had quite a high opinion of herself. I answered her by bending the knee and seizing her in my hands. She all but threw herself at me as my mouth approached her cheek.

    Then I whispered a single Word in her ear.

    ¡°Sleep.¡±

    Her body went stiff, her eyes snapping shut and her breath growing weak. She copsed onto the cotton in the throes of deep slumber. I let her go with amusement.

    Necahual stared at her with unease. ¡°Is she¡­¡±

    ¡°Asleep.¡± I didn¡¯t exclude killing her to hide the blood should the ritual go wrong, but I hoped to wake her up soon in the best-case scenario. ¡°This night is ours alone.¡±

    Stolen story; please report.

    Necahual quickly caught on to my intention. ¡°This farce served to offer us a moment of privacy.¡±

    ¡°One that willst until sunrise.¡± I turned to face her, my eyes studying her for a while. ¡°It is time.¡±

    Necahual tensed up with both apprehension and excitement. ¡°You willplete your part of our bargain?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied bluntly. ¡°I won¡¯t lie, there is a chance that you won¡¯t survive the ritual. I will do my best to ensure your survival, but I cannot guarantee it. Power requires sacrifice.¡±

    ¡°Do you mean to dissuade me? After everything I went through for the sake of my promise?¡± Necahual sneered, her eyes alight with pride and resolve. ¡°I am ready.¡±

    I hoped so. I could not arrange another window of opportunity for a while.

    ¡°Strip andy down on the mattress,¡± I ordered Necahual, who swiftly obeyed me. The bed wasrge enough to house her and Zyanya together, their clothes soon forming a pile on the side. ¡°Bite your tongue or fill it with cotton.¡±

    Necahual red at me. ¡°I will not scream.¡±

    ¡°This will<em>hurt</em>,¡± I warned her.

    ¡°I will not scream,¡± she simply repeated, her voice carrying the strength of stone. ¡°Do it.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± I took in a deep breath, then knelt at Necahual¡¯s side. I seized her left arm at the junction with her shoulder, my hands squeezing her soft flesh. I called upon the Doll and manifested talons of darkness from the depths of my soul. The Nightlords¡¯ ritual to cripple their father failed to affect me and my sorcery remained undiminished.

    ¡°Ready?¡± I asked Necahual.

    My favorite observed the talons of darkness rising from my body with a mix of apprehension, fear¡­ and envy. Envy most of all. She knew that the power I offered would carry a price, but she had sacrificed too much and brushed too close to sorcery to refuse its call.

    Necahual gave me a sharp nod.

    I tore off her left arm with the Doll.

    My talons sliced through her flesh and bone like a knife through a scroll. Necahual remained true to her word: she didn¡¯t scream. Her face instead strained into an expression of absolute agony. She was forced to bite her tongue, as I¡¯d warned her to, and her eyes closed when I used a burst of my smokeless ze to cauterize her stump before any of her blood could fall onto the bed.

    She didn¡¯t scream when I severed the other arm either.

    I should have felt nausea and unease at mutting Necahual so thoroughly. I had shared this woman¡¯s bed on many asions and tasted the flesh which I now despoiled. Yet I felt nothing. I had killed and dismembered so many that the sight of blood and suffering hardly aroused any emotional response from me anymore. My mind remained focused on the goal ahead.

    I had grown numb to inflicting pain on others in the name of the greater good, even to a woman with whom I shared aplicated rtionship. I wasn¡¯t sure what to think of it. I used to enjoy demeaning and tormenting Necahual, but she had suffered so much in the name of our victory. I tried to tell myself that the end would make the pain worth it and only ended up feeling guilty.

    The best I could do for her was to proceed quickly.

    I went through the motions as I cut and cauterized each of Necahual¡¯s limbs. By the time I cut off herst leg, her body had gone into the early stage of shock. Her skin had paled, her steaming stumps shivered, and she produced so much sweat I worried she would dry up.

    But she didn¡¯t scream.

    Even as blood dripped down her bitten tongue and her lips, Necahual retained her dignity.

    I saw it once again: that unbreakable resolve that no pain could break; that strange brand of bravery so simr to mind and which allowed this vile woman to endure the Nightlords¡¯ tortures for so long.

    Inspired, I soon proceeded to switch the severed limbs. I bit my palm to let my blood bind the stumps together in an unholy union. By the time I finished, wing-like legs stuck to Necahual¡¯s shoulders, and hands reced her feet like a bird¡¯s talons. It was quite the disturbing sight, though far from the worst that I¡¯d encountered.

    I ced a hand on her chest, my bleeding palm pressing against her heart. I sensed it pounding wildly within her ribs. Though I hoped to alleviate the worst of it with a Seidr transfusion, the stress of this traumatizing experience would likely kill her should the ritual fail.

    I would not allow it.

    ¡°Necahual Ce Quiahuitl,¡± I said, uttering her true name. ¡°I am catecolotl, the owl-fiend of disaster. I hold your life within my very hands. Now I demand your<em>soul</em>.¡±

    I immediately sensed a shift in my Teyolia and Tonalli. My owl-spirit stirred within the depths of my soul as I called upon it to form a binding rite of alliance. My shadow lengthened until it grew wings and talons.

    ¡°I shall take your name and heart for my own, and bind them to my will until the day death drags us both into the Silent Dark,¡± I told Necahual. ¡°In exchange, I shall grant you wings to fly into the night, talons to torment the meek, and mes to burn your enemies with. I shall make you the mother of witches which all mortals shall dread. I shall make you a Mometzcopinque, hated and feared by men and women alike.¡±

    I leaned over Necahual, my lips growing so close to her own that I could feel her panicked breath on mine. The ritual would soon reach its climax.

    ¡°Will you be mine?¡± I asked. ¡°Now and forever?¡±

    ¡°<em>Yes</em>,¡± she replied without hesitation, fighting through the pain and the throes of iing death. ¡°Yes¡­ I will.¡±

    Her Teyolia zed within her chest, and a pressure closed on mine.

    I felt my strength fading for an instant as an unbreakable bond formed between Necahual and me. My power flowed into her heart, forming a chain that bound it as solidly as the ones the Nightlords used to enve my soul. My malevolent heart-fire and the feathers of my Tonalli joined with Necahual¡¯s essence, changing it, reshaping it, befouling it.

    Her dying body metamorphosed before my eyes.

    Her shoulder-legs grew a coat of dark, owlish feathers cker than the darkest night. Her thigh-arms transformed into talons with ws longer than des. All of Necahual<em>sharpened</em>. Her teeth, her features, her frame¡­ She became beautiful the same way an eagle was, wild and savage with slitted yellow eyes brimming with ferocity. Her Mometzcopinque transformation reminded me of a Nightkin¡¯s monstrous self, albeit bearing the marks of the owl rather than the bat.

    The stronger she became, the weaker I grew. For all of the power I had umted from the embers of a dead sun, empowering Necahual spiritually diminished me. I remained strong enough to shake the world with my spells, but their edges would dull.

    I traded strength for control.

    I<em>owned</em>Necahual.

    This truth was engraved within my very soul. By answering my words and swearing fealty to me, she had surrendered her very essence. She would not outlive me. She would not leave me. She would lord over others with sorcery, yet forever stay by my side. She was mine, physically and spiritually.

    By the time my hand stopped trembling on her chest, I felt the soft movements of her chest rising up and down.

    ¡°It is done,¡± I whispered, gathering my breath to recover from my exhaustion. ¡°It is done.¡±

    Necahual let out a heavy sigh as her eyes darted around to look at herself. She raised jet-ck wings marked with my own feathers. Her hand-feet had transformed into twisted talons. She moved one of them closer to her face to take a better look.

    Then it caught fire.

    Baleful purple mes born of my power surged from Necahual¡¯s talons at her mentalmand. They came out on their own, almost instinctively. Their glow lit up her face and cast dark shades in the background.

    Tears of bliss formed at the edge of Necahual¡¯s gaze.

    She had resented my mother¡¯s gifts for so many years,nguishing in envy of her magic and the freedom it afforded her. The powers I lent Necahual were a mere shadow of a true sorcerer¡¯s might, but she didn¡¯t care. She wielded sorcery of her own at longst.

    She gently pushed me back without a word and grabbed one of the decorative stone masks. Her talons closed on it with such strength that it shattered into dust. The sh of pleasure on her face dwarfed any that I had seen thus far. She reveled in her newfound power after so many moments of weakness and surrender.

    ¡°You should be able to turn back into a human at will,¡± I exined to her. ¡°The opportunity to train with your new powers wille, but for now, you will have to hid¨C¡±

    Her talons closed on my throat before I could finish my sentence.

    Necahual mmed me against a wall with such strength that a few of the decorations fell off their perches. She pressed herself against me and pushed her lips onto mine with desire and bottomless hunger.

    Her boldness surprised me. We mostly coupled at my initiative; Necahual made herself avable, but I usually had to make the first move. She fully took the lead this time, folding her wings around my neck and devouring my face with lust. She soon whispered words I¡¯d hardly ever heard say in my ear.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± she whispered with sincere gratitude. ¡°Thank you.¡±

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    My blood stirred with desire, and my arms coiled around her waist. I used the Doll to remove my clothes without breaking our embrace, then grabbed her ass and lifted her up. She grinded against me as I prated her, her talons closing on my back.

    Our lovemaking was wild, primal, and savage. I pounded her against a wall, any thoughts of asking her to return to her human form forgotten. The danger of discovery and Zyanya¡¯s sleeping snorts near us only heightened the experience. Necahual weed me into herself with an unmatched passion that surpassed everything the likes of Chindi coulde up with.

    It hardly took a thrust for our Teyolias to connect and for me to sense that presence between us: a tiny unborn fire gestating in the shadow of our own mes, brighter than the one I¡¯d sensed inside Chikal.

    I froze mid-thrust in realization, my lips breaking a kiss just long enough to whisper three small words.

    ¡°You are pregnant,¡± I said, gasping and panting.

    Necahual caught her breath, then nodded sharply. ¡°Since the house.¡±

    I detected no self-hatred or resentment in her expression, as I would have expected from her; only a twisted and inexplicable kind of pride that it happened on her terms rather than anybody else¡¯s.

    I knew we had nned for this oue for a while, but it took a bit for its reality to hit me with all of its weight.

    Necahual was pregnant with my child.

    I¡¯d sired a child on my mother-inw at longst, something which she wouldn¡¯t allow Guatemoc to do. We had vited thest taboo that stood between us.

    The realization filled me with such peerless bliss. She was<em>mine</em>now, in body and soul. I had imed her both within and without, marking her flesh in its innermost refuge and iming her life for myself. She would give birth to my sorcerous brood and follow me into death¡¯s cold embrace when King Mtecuhtli finally imed me for the final time.

    I had avenged myself of years of torment. She had given in to me, putting a ve cor on her own neck and letting me hold the leash. The thrill of victory washed away my earlier distaste and the humiliation of Iztacoatl¡¯s previous taunts. I felt my confidence restored and renewed.

    For a brief instant, I was the happiest man in the world.

    ¡°If you give me a daughter, I will call her Ichtaca,¡± I taunted her, twisting the knife. ¡°Itzili, if it¡¯s a son.¡±

    Her smile had teeth. ¡°How about I name our daughter Iztacoatl instead?¡±

    I should have known better than to challenge Necahual to a contest of cruelty. She always bit harder than she took. It<em>excited</em>me, that thin frontier between mutual loathing, violent lust, and twisted affection.

    ¡°You are<em>mine</em>,¡± I whispered as my arms coiled around her back, iming her,<em>owning</em>her. ¡°Your soul and body are mine. You are all mine. I<em>own</em>you.¡±

    ¡°Do you?¡± She kissed me, biting my lip to draw my burning blood. ¡°Whoes crawling to me whenever a vampire wounds his poor heart? Who needs me to soothe their pride? Who requires thefort of my bosom to feel strong?¡±

    Necahual licked my blood while her talons marked their territory on my back.

    ¡°Who owns<em>whom</em>, Iztac?¡±

    I remembered the twin terrors that tormented me in the Razor House; how the Lord of Control relinquished power the moment its abused ve spoke for itself. When a master required tormenting their servant to feel powerful, were they truly in control of themselves? Or simply a ve to their own desires and others¡¯ perceptions?

    Necahual had a point. I was<em>addicted</em>to her. I needed her as much as she needed me, like poison required water in which to hide. I didn¡¯t think I would have been able to keep calm should she have denied me her embrace. She held power over me with strings subtler than any spell.

    I would<em>never</em>let her leave me. I would kill any man who dared to touch her. I would sire witches and demons on her until we started a whole dynasty. She would love me, and hate me, and counsel me, andfort me. That was the price I exacted from her.

    In return, Necahual would bask in my power and rule at my side as my favorite. She would fly over the mundane humanity she used to be part of and enjoy youth eternal fueled by sorcery. She would no longer linger in my mother¡¯s shadow. At longst, I would allow her to stand proud at my side as my most trusted advisor.

    My seed built up in my loins. Necahual was already full, but she epted my gift all the same. The union of our souls came quicker now that they were bound by the chains of our contract.

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    As our minds melded together, demon and witch cavorting over a sleeping fool, I showed her my n for Eztli. I gave her the information she required, not with words and whispers, but pictures and thoughts.

    When the white sh passed and empty serenity followed it, I still held Necahual pressed against the wall. Her hands had changed back into fingers and her eyes had returned to normal. Her feathers were unseen, but not gone; she had retracted them into herself, hiding her newfound inhumanity the same way I kept my own powers beneath notice. Her posture had strengthened though, and she held her head higher than before. Her heart swelled with the secret pride of a witch. She would masquerade as the bitter woman she used to be until the moment to strike came.

    A time that woulde soon enough.

    ¡°We have little time,¡± I said as I relinquished my hold on her legs and allowed her to stand on her own two feet once more. ¡°Can you convince Eztli to go along with it?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Necahual replied with confidence. ¡°I already have an idea how.¡±N?v(el)B\\jnn

    ¡°Good. She will know when the momentes.¡± I had my ways of informing Eztli of theing ritual, even if I didn¡¯t stand in her presence. ¡°All I need from her is a cloudless mind free of doubts.¡±

    Necahual responded with a small nod. That was reassurance enough for her. She would do as I asked, end of the story.

    Wey in the bed afterward, right next to the sleeping Zyanya. Necahual hardly spared her a nce. ¡°Will you wake her up?¡±

    ¡°Soon,¡± I replied. ¡°I will say she fainted at my touch, then im her for appearance¡¯s sake.¡±

    Necahual scoffed. ¡°What a waste.¡±

    My hands caressed her belly. Once she would have recoiled in disgust at my touch, yet she did no such thing. Her hands joined mine and encouraged them to press against her skin; to celebrate the fruit of our twisted union.

    Our child was desired by both sides.

    ¡°Are you happy now?¡± I asked her softly.

    ¡°Almost,¡± Necahual replied. ¡°I will not raise her in a prison.¡±

    ¡°<em>Her</em>?¡±

    ¡°Your soothsayer believes it will be a daughter.¡± She caressed my hair almost lovingly, the way Zyanya would have with xc had they shared any affection for one another. ¡°Mother of<em>witches</em>, remember?¡±

    I smiled. ¡°That implies I will sire more than one.¡±

    Necahual answered me with a smile full of condescension. ¡°If you are man enough to keep up, maybe.¡±

    She knew how to challenge me. I kissed her again, basking in the taste of her blood on her lips. A demon and a witch made for a fine pairing, stronger than a gnarled tree.

    ¡°What happened with Nl?¡± Necahual asked me, her eyebrows furrowing upon sensing the tension racing down my spine. ¡°I am not blind. You keep avoiding her gaze while you could hardly look away from her a few nights ago.¡±

    I had no wish to speak of the matter, for the wound remained sore. However, Necahual had been my truest confidant for a while now and was wiser than expected. Perhaps I ought to seek her counsel.

    ¡°She¡­ she may be my sister,¡± I confessed. Merely saying the word disgusted me. ¡°Nl.¡±

    Necahual pondered my words for a very long while. ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°I see?¡± Her subdued reaction disturbed me. ¡°I might havemitted<em>incest</em>.¡±

    Necahual snorted in disdain. ¡°That taboo hardly stopped you when you first crawled into my bed and that of my daughter.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not¡­ that¡¯s not the same.¡± My jaw clenched. ¡°You think it is possible?¡±

    ¡°Your mother wouldn¡¯t think twice about cheating on your father,¡± Necahual replied with bitter hatred. Her assumption was incorrect, but her opinion of Ichtaca might not be too off the mark. ¡°The Nightlords have done worse too. Still, can you confirm it?¡±

    ¡°Not yet, but the thought won¡¯t leave my mind.¡± I hoped this would be one of Iztacoatl¡¯s ploys meant to disturb me and nothing more. If not¡­ ¡°Nl was the one rtionship the Nightlords hadn¡¯t tainted yet. I thought I had something pure going on with her. Now I feel<em>sick</em>whenever I look at her. The love we shared has been turned into a twisted experiment.¡±

    ¡°It might have been,¡± Necahual replied. She studied me for a while, her sympathy for my situation tampered with cold calction. ¡°You ought to confirm the information first, then discuss it with Nl. You should at least inform her of your reasons for ending your rtionship. Otherwise, your silence will wound her.¡±

    ¡°What am I supposed to tell her if this proves true?¡± I replied in annoyance. ¡°<em>¡®I am your brother and we slept together?¡¯</em>¡±

    ¡°It will be better than guilty avoidances and lies,¡± Necahual replied bluntly. ¡°Have you such little faith in her?¡±

    I frowned. ¡°This is not about faith. The truth will devastate her.¡±

    ¡°She is stronger than you think, and wiser than you give her credit for. She may react badly, or she may not. If you truly love her, then you will tell her the truth and help her move on.¡± Necahual scoffed. ¡°Or are you so craven that you would rather stay silent and let her suffer?¡±

    My hand moved up her neckline and closer to her throat. ¡°You tempt me, witch.¡±

    Necahual remained utterly unimpressed. ¡°If you want a shoulder on which to cry on, Iztac, then go find someone else. I sold you my soul, not my tongue.¡±

    And I loved her for it.

 Chapter Seventy-Four: Murder in the Family

    Chapter Seventy-Four: Murder in the Family

    I took as much from Lady Zyanya as I gave her.

    Draining lifeforce through Seidr came to me much more easily than healing wounds. Thetter required direction and a sacrifice on my part, while the former was like drinking from a pond of honey. I simply had to pace myself to avoid draining my partner dry without letting her notice.

    I was unwilling to train this skill on my consorts considering the risks involved. Zyanya was expendable, and I wouldn¡¯t sleep with her often enough for her to notice the long-term effects of Teyolia draining anyway. I would leave her more exhausted than usual; hardly anything suspicious in itself for her, but a good exercise for me.

    Draining her without notice proved a bit more difficult than I expected. I had grown experienced enough at seeing the shape of my and my partner¡¯s soul that I could snuff out their life like candlelight. There was something faintly addictive about stealing another¡¯s health and vigor, especially after giving Necahual some of mine. It was so easy to<em>steal</em>rather than to<em>earn</em>.

    The Nightlords probably felt that way when they betrayed their monstrous father. The thought kept me grounded enough not to overstep, though it demanded a mental effort to restrain myself.

    Zyanya was thankfully a skilled lover, so I found the experience quite pleasant. I hardly spared a thought for thete zohtzin and poor xc while I spent my seed into their moaning wife; the way I saw it, it was merely a necessity to hide the Mometzcopinque ritual.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡± Lady Zyanya let out a sigh of pleasure and exhaustion once we finished. ¡°That was¡­ divine¡­¡±

    ¡°Savor that memory, Zyanya,¡± I replied after pulling out and letting myself fall on the mattress¡¯ side between her and Necahual, who had been watching everything. ¡°That pleasure will taste all the sweeter for its rarity.¡±

    Zyanya¡¯s satisfaction turned into a grimace. ¡°Your Majesty is wee to enter my bed at any time.¡±

    ¡°While it is an enticing thought, I have a war to wage,¡± I replied while Necahual lovingly stroked my hair. ¡°You and your husband will serve the empire better by staying here in Zacha and keeping our internal enemies in check.¡±

    Truthfully, I was content to end this charade and move on from this opportunist. I¡¯d spent weeks pruning her and xc to set up this exact situation. With Iztacoatl going on the warpath against my imperial privileges and the loss of surprise that taking her First Night provided, Zyanya¡¯s usefulness to me had sharply dropped.

    Nheless, it never hurt to be polite.

    Zyanya studied me with a scowl. I could see her assess her different options. On paper, she had already gained much from our association. xc might not be the ideal partner, but he granted her ess to his family¡¯s wealth and connections. Publicly<em>¡®gracing¡¯</em>her the way I did would also bring her great prestige. What more could she want from me? And what did she have to offer in return?

    ¡°Would you mind indulging a simple request, Your Majesty?¡± she asked me suddenly. ¡°Would you kindly show me your holy blood again?¡±

    ¡°Have you developed a taste for sunlight, Zyanya?¡± I mused. Though her wish surprised me, it was easy enough to grant. I bit my palm and let fire pour out of my wound. ¡°Behold its shine and warmth.¡±

    Zyanya eyed the burning me of my blood with desire. It reminded me of Lahun¡¯s own intense interest, albeit with a subtle difference. Lahun¡¯s fascination was born ofprehension, of watching the sorcery she sought for years performed before her eyes in true; Zyanya¡¯s own interest was born of ignorance, of the awe of seeing something she couldn¡¯t fully understand. She was a mortal entranced by the sight of a true miracle.

    Zyanya dared to move her hand close to mine, although she pulled back the moment the mes licked her skin. I saw her hesitate to try again. She reminded me of an animal enticed by honey: the prize looked so sweet, but the buzzing bees lurking nearby never ceased to threaten her.

    ¡°I have seen many emperors,¡± she whispered to herself, ¡°But none who could perform Your Majesty¡¯s miracles.¡±

    ¡°My predecessors paved the way for mying.¡± In a way, I was entirely truthful there. ¡°I am the herald of a new age for Yohuachanca.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­ Yes, I see that now.¡± Zyanya nodded to herself, as if reaching a decision. ¡°I must inform Your Majesty of a plot against his person and that of his consorts.¡±

    My palm clenched into a fist. Necahual tensed up at my side, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

    ¡°A plot?¡± Necahual asked on my behalf, knowing an emperor couldn¡¯t show concern in front of a lowly mistress.

    ¡°My husband and I were approached three nights ago by a priest in Lady Iztacoatl''s service,¡± Zyanya dered. The mere mention of the Nightlord¡¯s name caused my heart to skip a beat. ¡°We were ordered to spy on Your Divine Majesty and report any suspicious behavior. In return, we would receive financial favors and protection beyond Your Divine Majesty¡¯s term.¡±

    I would have loved to say it took me by surprise, but I¡¯d sadly expected as much. It also helped contextualize some of their recent behavior.

    My predecessors had warned me that Iztacoatl would seek to subvert my spywork and nt someone in my bed in order to gather information. Approaching xc and Zyanya made sense; after all, I¡¯d selected them as my catspaws<em>because</em>they were greedy and ambitious opportunists willing to do anything for imperial favor.

    It was why I¡¯d been careful to use those two without revealing too much about my true activities. They had been useful, but untrustworthy.

    Why would Zyanya tip her hand like this?

    ¡°Interesting,¡± Necahual said while faking amusement. ¡°And have you found anything suspicious?¡±

    ¡°I do recall that Lady Ingrid had us obtain an odd set of supplies and send them to what I assume was an intermediary,¡± Zyanya replied sharply, her eyes meeting mine. ¡°Nothing incriminating by itself, but definitely suspicious. Of course, I saw no reason to waste the goddess¡¯ time with mere supposition, and my new husband is too foolish to notice anyway.¡±

    I waited a moment before finally speaking up with a low, dangerous voice. ¡°Are you<em>threatening</em>me, Lady Zyanya?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Necahual said shrewdly. ¡°She would not say it now of all times, when we could easily snap her pretty neck with no one the wiser.¡±

    ¡°Your favorite is cunning, as expected of her,¡± Zyanya replied with what could pass for halfway sincere ttery. ¡°I am Your Majesty¡¯s faithful servant.¡±

    ¡°For a price, of course,¡± Necahual guessed. I let her do the talking for now in order to keep my options open withoutmitting to anything. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°First of all, I would like to deepen my rtionship with Your Majesty.¡± Zyanya traced a line along my chest with her finger. I must have left a good impression on her. ¡°I have no wish to end up trapped inside your harem, but I would enjoy the benefits of your public affection.¡±

    ¡°You wish to be my official mistress,¡± I guessed. ¡°Did Iztacoatl put you up to this?¡±

    ¡°My husband and I thought it would be the best way to worm our way into both of your good graces,¡± Lady Zyanya replied. ¡°I expect to be showered with the wealth and honors of my station. Meanwhile, I will ensure that Lady Iztacoatl hears everything she needs to hear.¡±

    Necahual looked at her with some measure of interest. ¡°Everything<em>we</em>want her to hear.¡±

    ¡°I see no difference,¡± Zyanya replied with a cunning smile.

    ¡°You intend to y both sides for as long as you can,¡± Necahual said with a hint of contempt. ¡°To ensure you win no matter what.¡±

    ¡°Why make this offer at all?¡± I asked Zyanya. That part puzzled me. ¡°You are not blind. Surely you must know that a Godspeaker cannot offer more than the goddesses he speaks for.¡±

    ¡°Simple.¡± Lady Zyanya nced at my wounded palm. ¡°A goddess would not ask me to spy on Your Majesty if you weren¡¯t a<em>threat</em>to her. If she wants me to investigate Your Majesty and keep an eye on those close to you, then it means that she<em>fears</em>you.¡±

    I knew Zyanya was shrewd, but her sharp insight took me aback. Of course, it could be a lie; a long con meant to gain my trust on Iztacoatl¡¯s behalf in order to sell me outter for a higher price. Nheless, the miracles I¡¯d performed would indeed present me as something utterly new in Yohuachanca¡¯s history: a viable alternate source of power to the Nightlords. The potential rewards of such an uncertain situation exceeded the risks.

    ¡°It is quite the unique opportunity, I¡¯m sure Your Majesty would agree,¡± Lady Zyanya said.

    ¡°You said<em>¡®first of all¡¯</em>earlier,¡± Necahual noted. She had grown halfway experienced at intrigue by now. ¡°Bing his mistress is only part of your price. What else do you want?¡±

    ¡°Widowhood.¡± Zyanya¡¯s face twisted into a scowl. ¡°I would like Your Majesty to secretly arrange for my new husband¡¯s demise, hopefully as soon as I can confirm my pregnancy. A heroic death in battle would suit me best, so that he departs this world with glory and honors our house on his way out.¡±N?v(el)B\\jnn

    I couldn¡¯t help but scoff. ¡°Has xc truly been so tiresome that you would seek his death so soon?¡±

    ¡°xc is a wastrel and a fool,¡± Zyanya replied with a scoff of absolute disdain. ¡°Which I assume is why Your Majesty chose him as their tool.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I conceded. ¡°Nheless, a good tool is always useful.¡±

    ¡°He hardly listens to me, and I swear that he will waste away his father¡¯s fortune within a mere few years with his ipetence.¡± Zyanya¡¯s sneer reminded me so much of Necahual¡¯s. ¡°I do not appreciate xc, but I desire his family¡¯s wealth and contacts; both of which I would inherit once he perishes. He has outlived his usefulness to both Your Majesty and I since the moment we held our wedding. I would see his wealth prosper and serve Your Majesty better than he ever did.¡±

    She was probably right, though I saw a wrinkle in her n.

    ¡°It is true that he has no heir that could threaten him now,¡± I said, having removed his only majorpetitor myself. ¡°Nheless, your im on his assets will remain shaky as his widow. You would need to bear him a child to secure your position.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zyanya smiled ear to ear. ¡°<em>¡®His¡¯</em>child.¡±

    A dark shiver coursed through my body. I knew Lady Zyanya to be ruthless and willing to throw her husbands to the wolves for an advantage, but I never expected her to go this far to secure our alliance. She was well and truly ruthless.

    ¡°Quite bold, are you?¡± I asked while stroking her cheek. ¡°This could lead to¡­plications.¡±

    This novel''s true home is a different tform. Support the author by finding it there.

    ¡°Who will be able to confirm the truth?¡± Zyanya replied, her wicked ambition nowid bare before me. ¡°Certainly there will be rumors and ambiguity, but those were unavoidable the moment Your Majesty took my First Night. Were my husband to die in a glorious battle, any protest would be seen as nder and be met with outrage. Your Majesty¡¯s bloodline would rule Zacha forevermore, and I would not have to suffer my husband¡¯s existence.¡±

    Necahual studied Zyanya with a cold, nk expression. She had already been forced to bear an emperor¡¯s child while passing her off as her husband¡¯s own, so I assumed the proposal deeply gnawed at her.

    ¡°You would use your own flesh and blood as a tool to secure your wealth?¡± she finally asked Zyanya, her tone more disappointed than anything.

    ¡°We women have precious little power in thisnd, Lady Necahual,¡± Zyanya replied with a shrug. ¡°Our gods value us for our work and ability to give birth, and our men for the pleasures we provide. We do what we must to scrap what freedom we can find. I will do what I must to secure my house¡¯s ce in the sun.¡±

    I finally realized why Zyanya had often felt so familiar: she reminded me of Lady Sigrun. Perhaps Ingrid¡¯s mother behaved the exact same way once, scraping any bit of power she could secure through her bloodline and political connections to an emperor. The Nightlords had seen to it that the empire¡¯s women would fall into that trap again and again; they were condemned to y pointless games of intrigue for a scrap of glory and a vampire¡¯s ingratitude.

    Nheless, Lady Zyanya¡¯s offer presented an opportunity I couldn¡¯t pass on. Assuming that she spoke the truth, at least partially, then I had a unique way to filter information to the White Snake in a way that would provide me with a key advantage.

    I knew Iztacoatl. She wouldn¡¯t let me go even if Sugey sidelined her for the duration of the Flower War. If informed of a plot, she wouldn¡¯t resist the opportunity to catch me in the act herself. This would neatly reinforce the operation that I had in mind for her, Astrid, and Fjor; perhaps even ensure its sess. I could spin a web so strong it would catch the snake in its.

    I reached a decision.

    ¡°I could have you and xc join us for the Flower War,¡± I said, stroking her hair. ¡°There he could find the glory he deserves¡­¡±

    ¡°We would of course ept Your Majesty¡¯s invitation,¡± Zyanya replied, her eyes alight with ambition. ¡°I shall also keep an eye on that Ac woman, as you asked me to.¡±

    Necahual observed us for a moment, then spoke up. ¡°On which day were you born?¡±

    ¡°The first day of the Monkey Month,¡± Zyanya replied with a frown. ¡°Might I ask why?¡±

    My favorite lied about learning divination, though I knew better and suppressed a smirk of amusement.

    My witch was already scouting her future coven.

    I awoke in front of the ck pyramid.

    I had only ever seen the edifice from afar in the past, though it could be observed from any point in the city. Now it towered over me like the fang of a hungry and starless night. Its obsidian walls were smooth and untouched by the decay that struck the rest of the city; its peak seemed to rise on forever, obscuring the gray sky and the faint glow of loc¡¯s sun in its dark majesty.

    A single entrance was carved into its base, served by a set of stairs and surrounded by decorations that reminded me of teeth. Shadowy vapors and vile mists billowed out of this maw of nightmares to fuel the fog overtaking this cursed city. A thick and imprable wall of miasma surrounded the edifice and kept me separated from the rest of Xibalba.

    Mother awaited me atop the stairs.

    ¡°You knew,¡± I said immediately upon seeing her, my heart overtaken with resentment. ¡°You<em>knew</em>about Nl.¡±

    Mother looked down on me with haunted eyes. She always carried herself with authority, even in her human form; yet tonight her posture seemed frail and fragile, like a stick of wood ready to fly away with a burst of wind.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she whispered, far too softly. ¡°Yes, I¡­ I knew.¡±

    Something was wrong. Utterly<em>wrong</em>.

    I could feel it in my bones. Mother¡¯s eyes were sunken into her owl-mask, her posture too crumpled for her, her voice too weak.

    Mother was<em>shaken</em>.

    ¡°I was afraid that¡­¡± Mother cleared her throat. ¡°That your father would think less of me if he knew that I¡­¡± She looked down with an emotion I¡¯d never seen from her:<em>shame</em>. ¡°What I¡¯ve done to survive.¡±

    ¡°He would. He will.¡± I clenched my fists. ¡°We have to tell Father. You don¡¯t get to keep his daughter away from him.¡±

    Mother remained silent for a terribly long moment, then slowly shook her head. ¡°It¡­ it won¡¯t change anything now, my son.¡±

    The sorrow in her voice chilled me to my core. The seed of the darkest of doubts wormed its way into my heart. ¡°Mother?¡±

    ¡°Come in,¡± she said, so quietly I hardly heard her. ¡°The Lords of Terror await you.¡±

    ¡°Let them wait,¡± I replied angrily. ¡°You said that this city¡¯s doors were open to me.¡±

    ¡°Things have¡­ things have changed.¡± Mother joined her hands together and looked down at the stone floor. ¡°The invitationes from above. From the First Fear itself.¡±

    I frowned in confusion. ¡°The First Fear?¡±

    ¡°The heart of Xibalba.¡± My mother¡¯s hands were<em>shaking</em>. ¡°The primal terror from which all the others arose.¡±

    <em>By the gods, she is terrified</em>. Mother was a powerful sorceress with the knowledge and spells to cheat death itself. For her to be shaken enough to tremble like a leaf¡­

    The most horrible of fears suddenly seized me. I could only think of one thing that would scare<em>her</em>.

    ¡°Mother?¡± The dreadful words formed on the tip of my tongue, my blood turning to ice in my veins. ¡°Where is Father?¡±

    Her long, ominous silence was enough of an answer.

    The Lords of Terrors had spent many nights trying to find a way to scare me, and finally found one.

    ¡°What have they done?¡± My fists clenched in panic and cold rage, as did my jaw. ¡°What have they<em>done</em>?¡±

    ¡°There is¡­ no other way but forward now, my son.¡± My mother turned her back on me, her gaze facing the maw of Xibalba¡¯s pyramid. ¡°No other way but forward.¡±

    I hardly hesitated before ascending up the stairs, my steps echoing across the silent mists of Xibalba.

    My concern for Father¡¯s soul was only matched by my zing fury. My baleful heart-fire shone as bright as the all-burning sun of locan.

    Were they holding Father hostage inside the pyramid? Was that their ploy to force me to behave as the demon they wished me to be? If those so-called Lords of Terror dared to hurt my father, then I swore to the gods I would gather all the past suns¡¯ embers and return here to smite their cruel city to smoking rubble!

    The suffering they inflicted on their victims would look like a childish prankpared to what I would put them through!

    I followed Mother into the pyramid, through the vast miasma pouring out of it as though moved by pulsing lungs. I could hardly see through it, even with the Gaze spell on. The ground had turned chalky white, its ancient stone reced with a carpet of powdered bones. Walls of obsidian carved with ancient diagrams, words, and forgotten tongues glowed around us.

    I began to hear a sound the further we progressed; a subtle, pounding tremor that coursed through the air and stones, too weak to be an earthquake yet too strong to be caused by the drums of war. Part of me found it strangely familiar, though I couldn¡¯t put my finger on why.

    The path behind us had long vanished into the mists by the time we reached the ballcourt. It was immense,rger than the capital¡¯s greatest arenas. Its stadium stretched on a in of bones surrounded by dark stands of carved obsidian and crystal skulls. The upper goal, a ring of bones overseeing the ballcourt from a wall, loomed high above us.

    The twelve Lords of Terror watched us from the spectators¡¯ stands.

    They were all gathered on six tforms of bound bones and sinew. Each of them hosted a pair; ghoulish Hun-Came stood in the light and the illusive Vucub-Came remained in the dark, an unknown phantom hidden in the shadows; sweet smiling Chamiaholom sat next to Chamiabac, the very essence of a hateful world materialized in the shape of a skeletal cloud of ice; Xiquiripat and Cuchumaquic, the gue and the hunter, remained side by side as a totem of bone and a hill of diseased flesh; Ahalpuh and Ahalgana, two faces sharing the same loathsome body, ate a rotten meal in a bowl between their thighs; Ahalmez and Ahaltocob, the master and the ve, had the former floating above and dangling thetter on his bench like a puppet; as for Xic and Patan, the swirling spiral of the void holding the lonely one trapped in her bosom. All of them had materialized in the form of human-sized avatars looking down on us mortals from above.

    ¡°We wee thee into our hall, sorcerer,¡± Hun-Came said, the fear of death and first among equals. He stomped the ground with his ancient staff like a judge opening a court case. ¡°Your graduation to true demonhood is at hand.¡±

    ¡°Where is he?¡± I seethed through my mouth, looking up to better re at these overmighty parasites. ¡°Where is my fath¨C¡±

    I stopped upon catching a glimpse of the<em>thing</em>hanging from the ceiling.

    It dangled from high above, far higher than the Lords of Terrors themselves, like how the sun shone upon kings andmoners alike; though there was nothing shiny about this horrible, monstrously huge diseased organ pounding above my head.

    I¡¯d seen enough human sacrifices to identify a<em>heart</em>.

    It was cker than the darkest night and of titanic proportions. Whatever giant once bore it in its chest probably rivaled King Mtecuhtli in size. Its diseased flesh pulsed with the strength of unlife, its surface a tapestry of silent faces frozen in eternal terror; for no one would hear them scream in the House of Fright. Hooks of iron and bronze hung the heart above the ballcourt by ck feathered wings recing its arteries. I immediately recognized them for what they were.

    I¡¯d found the heart of Xibalba, and it had<em>owl wings</em>.

    ¡°Behold the First Fear, the Heart of Nightmares; the very soul of Xibalba made manifest,¡± Hun-Came dered with reverence. ¡°Gaze upon the flesh of terror and despair. Every fear, every evil, every cruelty known to mortalkind flows into it; as we feed it, so does it feed us. Gaze upon your progenitor, catecolotl.¡±

    <em>My progenitor?</em>The longer I looked up at this heart, the more the owl in my soul rejoiced. This dark heart called to me with each pulse of its rotten countenance. I sensed its vile and putrid alien affection for me, like a proud parent weing its child back to the roost. Its whispers soothed the fear seizing my heart, albeit only barely.

    ¡°This is¡­¡± I inhaled the mists in the room. They tasted of<em>home</em>, of a nest of nightmares from which the beast within me once took its first flight. ¡°My totem?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Hun-Came said. ¡°The first fear and thest, born not of men, but of the very gods themselves. The fear of the<em>end</em>.¡±

    The heart fueled Xibalba¡¯s fog. Its faces breathed out the cursed mist with each pounding, letting the essence of fear flow into the city to give life to a thousand nightmares. This ce had taken its first pulse on the dawn of the first humanity and would continue to haunt it well into our final nights.

    ¡°When the four creators gazed upon the skull of King Mtecuhtli for the first time, they too learned that they were mortal,¡± Hun-Came exined. ¡°That all of life, all that which they have created, all their glories and triumph, would one daye to a close. As their terror wormed its way out of their hearts, it grew wings and flew away to thend of the living to torment them. At the site of its birth arose our eternal city; the nest to all of the children of fear, and which has followed in death¡¯s wake as new suns reced the old.¡±

    The word<em>¡®children¡¯</em>broke me out of my trance. The anger surging within my heart lifted the cloud of fascination obscuring my mind and reminding me of my purpose foring to this cursed ce.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite the touching family reunion, but the only one I seek to see is<em>my</em>father,¡± I rasped, a finger pointed at Hun-Came in challenge. ¡°What have you done with him, demon?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± said the Fear of Death.

    ¡°Lies!¡± I snarled, my hands swirling with the fires of the ze. I would burn down this entire temple and its very heart if I had to. ¡°I have conquered your trials and ovee your schemes! You have no right to take my father¡¯s soul away!¡±

    The Lordsughed at me, Chamiaholom first among them.

    Their dark glee echoed across the halls. Not all of them mocked me, since the likes of Hun-Came were beyondughter and joy of any kind, but enough did so to shake the walls.

    My heart sank into my chest. I had suffered enough mockery in my life to recognize what kind of joy I inspired; the smug, condescending irony born of watching a fool unaware of a hurtful truth.

    Hun-Came stomped the stand with his staff and silenced his colleagues.

    ¡°Your presence and freedom within these halls are at the whims of the First Fear and the will of Xibalba,¡± Hun-Came dered to me. ¡°Your father¡¯s soul was your mother¡¯s property, as per the covenant she formed with us. We had no power over it until now.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you misunderstand, sweetheart,¡± Chamiaholom said with a rancid smirk. ¡°We are here to congratte you<em>and</em>your mother on your graduation. You have already passed with flying colors.¡±

    ¡°The ballcourt game is a pure formality in your case, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± Hun-Came said calmly. ¡°Your mother already supplied the required sacrifice.¡±

    He uttered thest words so absentmindedly, like a bureaucrat discussing a technical administrative issue, that I almost missed their awful and deep cruelty.

    The pieces fell into ce into a ghastly picture.

    My mind refused to entertain the possibility at first, in spite of all the hints presented to me. My eyes turned to Mother, whose guilt and sorrow were written all over her face. She cradled her arms and suppressed a sob.

    <em>She wouldn¡¯t have¡­</em>In spite of her cowardice, in spite of abandoning me and Nl, in spite of everything¡­<em>That</em>was the one line she would never cross.<em>She couldn¡¯t have¡­</em>

    Lies. Those were lies. Another illusion meant to deceive me like in the Razor House, a vile trick to poison my mind against my mother and crush my spirit. I could tell it was all a lie.

    A lie told to myself.

    ¡°What have you done?¡± I dared to ask, though I already knew the truth within my heart. ¡°What have you done, Mother?¡±

    Mother wouldn¡¯t answer. The coward wouldn¡¯t even face my gaze. Even in the face of the ultimate crime she could havemitted, she still wouldn¡¯t own up to it.

    ¡°What have you<em>done</em>?!¡± I shouted at her, the mes of my rage and disbelief illuminating the ballcourt.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t know, sweetheart?¡± Chamiaholom wiped out a tear from her eye; an act which I found infinitely more ominous than the Lords of Terrors¡¯ trials andughter. ¡°Every sorcerer must provide their ball to y their graduation game and leave our fair city. Such is the toll that Xibalba asks of you¡­ a duty which your loving mother so kindly agreed to pay out of parental affection.¡±

    Hun-Came stomped the ground with his staff, and all of Xibalba trembled.

    ¡°Fetch him the ball,¡± he ordered.

    The ball court shifted beneath my feet, its powdered field of bones reassembling itself into a small tower of skeletal hands. It arose in front of me, fingers clicking and chittering as they brought forth a treasure buried beneath the arena¡¯s floor and presented it to me.

    Hope died within me the moment Iy eyes on it.

    My father¡¯s soulless skull silently stared back at me.

 Chapter Seventy-Five: Father of Terror

    Chapter Seventy-Five: Father of Terror

    There were moments in the life of a man that seemed to go on forever.

    How much time did I spend looking into my father¡¯s empty eye sockets, desperately searching for a hint that the skull within my hands was a clever forgery? My heart wished to believe in a lie, when my reason knew the truth well enough. I sensed no soul in this empty skull, no shadow hiding in the dark in an attempt to deceive the Lords of Terror; only the remnants of paternal warmth and the lingering scent of betrayal.

    The silence would havested forever, had Mother not broken it.

    ¡°I did it for you,¡± she said quietly.

    My hands gripped my father¡¯s skull so hard I heard it crack within my palm.

    ¡°If you had killed him yourself, you would have be a Skinwalker,¡± Mother said. It might even be true, but her words reeked of a shamed soul¡¯s pitiful attempt to justify her hideous crime. ¡°They wanted to stain your soul forever, beyond repair.¡±

    Chamiaholom¡¯sughter resonated across the stands, her cruelty echoed by the mocking chuckles of half her siblings.

    My sorrowful heart burned with the kind of blinding fury no word could ever describe. I raised a hand at the stands in my rage and unleashed the power of the ze upon its spectators. A torrent of all-consuming mes devoured the Lords of Terrors as I turned the very power they taught me against them.

    It failed to silence Chamiaholom and her colleagues. The fire devoured their flesh and bones, only for new ones to grow and rece the old in an instant. My mes didn¡¯t burn so hot that they could kill the fears of men.

    ¡°It¡¯s useless, sweetheart,¡± Chamiaholom said after calming down, almost kindly. ¡°We are<em>you</em>. We are<em>humanity</em>. We are<em>life</em>.¡±

    ¡°So long as fear endures in the heart of men and gods, so shall Xibalba stand eternal,¡± Hun-Came added. ¡°No spell nor prayer will end us, child.¡±

    ¡°Besides, why attack<em>us,</em>my dear?¡± Chamiaholom asked. ¡°We only epted your mother¡¯s sacrifice. She brought him to us out of her own free will, although she was under no obligation to do so.¡±

    ¡°Nor the only option avable,¡± Ahalmez added, the Lord of Control.

    I was about to throw another ze at these monsters, if only to calm myself, when their words struck me like a p to the face. My head snapped in Mother¡¯s direction, whose guilty expression immediately confirmed my suspicions.

    ¡°The ball sacrifice can be anyone sufficiently close to the sorcerer,¡± Chamiaholom exined cheerfully. ¡°Your consorts¡¯ souls belong to Lord Yohuachanca by right and are out of our jurisdiction, but your father and mother were both eligible sacrifices.¡±

    I red at Mother, who held my gaze back. The fact she would cowardly choose to save her own life over Father<em>disgusted</em>me to my core, but hardly surprised me. This woman abandoned her own children to save her own skin, and then never risked her life to save us from the Nightlords. She was a craven coward; the kind only my selfless Father could love.

    My predecessors were right from the start. Their marriage was always bound to end badly.

    I knew Mother was capable of sacrificing Father for the sake of saving her own miserable life, but I also understood the depths of affection he felt for his family. I wasn¡¯t enraged enough not to see through the Lords¡¯ attempts to sow discord between us either.

    ¡°Iztac¨C¡± Mother said, though I didn¡¯t let her finish.

    ¡°Was he willing?¡± I cut in, although I already suspected the answer. If she dared to callously throw him away¡­ ¡°Did you tell Father what fate awaited him? Did you ask for his permission before you sacrificed him?¡±

    Mother stared at the ground. She covered her eyes, as if to hold back tears of dust.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Mother whispered quietly, her voice breaking. ¡°Yes, when I told him one of us would¡­ would need to disappear for you, he¡­¡± She sobbed. ¡°He<em>volunteered</em>.¡±

    My blood turned to ice as Mother copsed on her knees, her nails scratching her face in bitter regret. Her wail of agony echoed across the halls with such strength it silenced my anger withpassion and shared sorrow.

    Mother was no actress and saw open disys of affection as weakness. I didn¡¯t think she was capable of faking such deep depths of grief; and neither did the Lords of Terror use her of lying, though it would have certainly widened the wedge between us. For all of their cruelty, they were an honest andwful sort of evil.

    Father gave away his afterlife for his family¡¯s sake.

    A wave of deep and profound grief overtook me, as cold as my anger had been warm. It sapped me of my strength until my heart-fire¡¯s light grew quieter than embers. I couldn¡¯t muster the might to stay angry at Mother.

    I didn¡¯t even have the strength to cry.

    ¡°You should have told me,¡± I muttered under my breath, my hands cradling Father¡¯s skull. ¡°You should have told me.¡±

    If she had, we¡­ we could have found another way. There had to be another option we hadn¡¯t considered, had those two fools not acted so hastily!

    ¡°You would have be a Skinwalker either way,¡± Mother said, her voice so terribly weak in her throat. ¡°I¡­ your father and I made the best call we could¨C¡±

    ¡°The best call?¡± My jaw clenched. ¡°You knew this would happen! You¡­¡± My eyes widened in horror as a dreadful thought crossed my mind. ¡°You<em>knew</em>this would happen.¡±

    Mother had passed the trials before me. She must have sacrificed someone close to her to escape it the first time too; maybe one of her surviving parents who had abandoned her, or a friend I knew nothing of¨Cif she was even capable of forming such a bond.

    She knew the Lords of Terror would force me to select either of my parents as my sacrifice to pay Xibalba¡¯s twisted toll the moment she invited me inside this cursed city. Yet she hadn¡¯t done anything to smuggle Father out of Xibalba, nor warn me of the danger ahead. I didn¡¯t think that she was ipetent enough to simply forget, especially after I cleared one trial after another.

    Which meant¡­

    The fire within me glowed like the sun, my eyes alight with hatred.

    ¡°You thought I might sacrifice<em>you</em>, didn''t you?¡± I asked, the words choking on my throat. ¡°Even though you<em>knew</em>Father would have taken that burden out of love¡­ part of you feared I would choose you<em>anyway</em>.¡±

    Mother signed deals with the Lords of Terror to set up her small owl nest in their basement. One of the uses likelypelled her to answer their summons or forbade her from running away. Creating a home inside the House of Fright meant binding oneself to its inviblews.

    Since Mother couldn¡¯t skip town to avoid risking her soul, she secured<em>insurance</em>.

    ¡°Yes indeed, sweetheart,¡± Chamiaholom confirmed my suspicions, her lips stretched into a ghastly smile of absolute joy. ¡°Your dear mother always nned to sacrifice her beloved husband should no other soul fit Xibalba¡¯s demands.¡±

    ¡°Even in this, she disappointed us,¡± Ahalmezined. ¡°The truth is that your mother found herself unable to go through with the bargain. When we asked her to sever her husband¡¯s head from his corpse, her resolve faltered. She tried to offer us a substitute.¡±

    A substitute?

    A shiver ran down my spine. I could only think of one hypothesis.

    ¡°Astrid,¡± I said, the name echoing through the hall like a curse. ¡°You tried to sell them<em>Astrid¡¯s</em>soul.¡±

    Ahalmez let out a droning sound which I took for a snort. ¡°Why do you think she saved her life in the first ce, child?¡±

    A wave of nausea seized me over. Of course Mother wouldn¡¯t think I would risk so much just to save Astrid on her sister¡¯s behalf, or for the sake of protecting an innocent. If I put so much on the line to protect that child, it must have been because I cared deeply for her; perhaps enough for Xibalba to take in my parents¡¯ ce.

    ¡°We refused, of course,¡± Chamiaholom said. ¡°The girl doesn¡¯t mean that much to you, and Xibalba demands<em>heartbreak</em>. Even if the House of Fright had epted her request, our brave Itzili wouldn¡¯t let her argue her case.¡±

    ¡°That man sacrificed himself out of his own free will,¡± Hun-Came said. His cold, emotionless voice betrayed a hint of respect. ¡°He did not fear me. He did not fear<em>death</em>.¡±

    Mother didn¡¯t even dare to look at me, nor contest their ims. She simply clenched her fists and brought them down on her thighs, struggling to suppress sobs. I had no doubt that her reaction was genuine.

    It must have been a pretty new and disturbing experience for her, to feel<em>shame</em>.

    Oh, I was sure she tried to cheat her way out of this obligation. Her obsession with a soul-transfer spell made a lot more sense as an escape n to safeguard her and Father¡¯s souls from Xibalba¡¯s grasp. My mother loved her husband enough to work on saving him.

    But whenever she had to choose between a loved one and saving her own skin, Mother always put herself first. She would rather weep over Father¡¯s demise than die for him.

    I had no pity for her. I was no stranger to anger and bitterness; they had fueled me long before the Nightlords had enved my soul. What I felt for the wretch who brought me into the world went far beyond mere<em>wrath</em>. My entire body shook with absolute disgust. My heart had be a depthless abyss of contempt and baleful hatred.

    Mother¡¯s obvious regret only made it<em>worse</em>.

    ¡°That¡¯s what broke you, isn¡¯t it, honey?¡± Chamiaholom taunted Mother, her tongue licking her lips as if she could savor our pain. ¡°The knowledge that your husband loved you and your son so much that he was willing to bear eternal suffering on your behalf. That his affection for you was as deep as the sea, and pure like the dawn. That¡¯s the kind of love that onlyes once in a century.¡±

    ¡°And now, it is gone forever,¡± Ahalmez said, cruelly salting our wounds with his venom. ¡°You will never find<em>anyone</em>willing to love you like he did, Ichtaca.¡±

    And Mother knew it all too well. The truth cut through all of her lies and deceit, even the ones she told herself. She must have expected Father to require some convincing before agreeing to the deal, or even thought she might have to force him to go along with it. She never expected him to give his soul away for her sake without question, because the thought of doing so herself never crossed her mind. Only when he went along with it did Mother realize she had sacrificed something<em>priceless</em>.

    She only understood Father¡¯s true value when she lost him.

    ¡°I was wrong¡­¡± she muttered, both to me and to herself. ¡°I was¡­<em>wrong</em>¡­¡±

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    It was so easy to feel remorse or guilt after the deed was done. Feeling sorry cost us<em>nothing</em>. I was guilty of that sin too, of wallowing in self-pity for the crimes I¡¯dmitted to survive. Part of me supposed I ought to owe Mother some sympathy and understanding over it.

    But the wound went too deep this time.

    I could have forgiven Mother for sacrificing Necahual, Ingrid, even so many others whom I loved if it meant saving Father; I would have even wavered for Eztli or Chikal, even though thetter carried my child. I held great affection for all of them, but as much as I loved them, they weren¡¯t the man who had raised me from birth. Father was<em>blood</em>. He had been with me since my birth, and even in death sought to alleviate my burden in any way he could. That kind of kinship ran deeper than the bond between men and women, or between friends sharing amon purpose. I would have traded any other soul for his own.

    I would have forgiven Mother for sacrificing<em>anyone else</em>.

    I knew it was hypocritical to condemn Mother for something I was guilty of. I had killed so many people in the name of my own safety and mission to take down the Nightlords. It was her refusal to seek any other alternative first, to cravenly fold under the tiniest bit of pressure rather than fight back with all her strength, that nauseated me to my core.

    I was sure the Lords of Terror counted on this reaction. I had been acquainted with plots often enough to see the strings guiding us toward a fateful conclusion. The doors out of Xibalba should have already opened if there was nothing more to say.

    I still had a choice to make tonight.

    ¡°What did you do with my father¡¯s soul?¡± I asked the Lords of Terror, my voice quieter and sharper than an assassin¡¯s de.

    ¡°It now belongs to the First Fear and Xibalba,¡± Hun-Came replied calmly, his staff stomping stones. ¡°Eternal terror shall be his afterlife.¡±

    My spine straightened with purpose. ¡°Unless I offer a substitute?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Hun-Came confirmed.

    Mother ceased her weeping. Her eyes stared at me with confusion, then the fear of prey who suddenly realized she was now facing the direst of dangers. My face might have been made of stone and my eyes of ice for all she knew; and when she turned to look up at the Lords of Terror, she only saw a pack of scavengers hungry for more death and despair.

    ¡°You said we would be safe,¡± Mother protested.

    ¡°You are both safe from<em>us</em>,¡± Cuchumaquic the Hunter replied. ¡°One may still y the other.¡±

    This was the Lords of Terror¡¯s final gamble. Either let my father¡¯s demise go unavenged for my personal gain, since Mother had more to offer me; or sacrifice her and stain my soul with kinying.

    Mother met my gaze. How quickly she forgot her grief when in the throes of fear. I supposed it made sense why she would find herself at home in the House of Fright¡¯s basement; terror had always been the roots supporting the tree of her life.

    ¡°Iztac,¡± she said. ¡°Iztac, this is what they want¨C¡±

    I only said a Word.

    ¡°Bow.¡±

    My power seized her heart and body. I saw her surprise when she sensed a spell unknown to her overtake her will andpel her to follow mymand.

    She resisted of course. Her limbs struggled against my absolute order, and she already summoned the Doll¡¯s dark talons to defend herself. Whether she intended to fight or free herself from mypulsion I didn¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t care either way.

    ¡°I said¡­¡± My eyes burned with hatred as I spoke with the voice of the Godspeaker feared by millions of ves and foes. ¡°<em>Bow</em>!¡±

    My Word shook the walls of Xibalba. Its weight forced Mother¡¯s forehead to hit the ground with a smacking sound, her hands gripping the chalky bone dust covering the floor and her talons of darkness vanishing. All of her willpower and magic hardly amounted to token resistance before the inevitable submission.

    Even the Lords of Terror shifted in their seats. Though they only had to only make a small effort to resist mypulsion, the mere fact that they had to at all filled my heart with grim satisfaction.

    ¡°<em>Bow</em>to your emperor, Ichtaca,¡± I ordered. The fact that this wench gave birth to me once would not afford her any pity. ¡°Your life is in my hands now.¡±

    Her hands shook with the awful dread of the condemned. So absolute was my power over her that no word nor breath escaped her mouth; she could only<em>bow</em>, and<em>fear</em>.

    ¡°Do you see her now, Iztac?¡± Ahaltocob the Abused asked through his stitched lips. ¡°Do you see her for what she is?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied, my voice brimming with contempt. ¡°Yes, I do.¡±

    I didn¡¯t need the Gaze to see past the veil Mother surrounded herself with.

    From the very moment I met her, she had tried to portray herself as a powerful witch with ess to forbidden knowledge and talents I did not possess. She reveled in secrecy and the image of a vile thief of souls, daring and dangerous, when she was neither of these things.

    She had some power, yes, but what use was power when its owner feared to wield it? Mother hadn¡¯t used her gifts to wage war on the Nightlords who oppressed her, or carve out a kingdom of her own. She chose to hide instead. She abducted the souls of the dead who couldn¡¯t defend themselves, terrorized civilians like Necahual, and searched for ways to steal another¡¯s flesh to escape the icy grip of death. She had spent her entire life running.

    Mother was<em>weak</em>.

    She had always been<em>weak</em>. A craven soul too afraid to take the risks required to achieve true greatness. She was the kind of pitiful, fearful creature that only my father could love.

    ¡°You never dared to face loc yourself,¡± I guessed. ¡°You knew the angry god would see through your lies and tteries the moment he saw you. You were afraid he would smite you, so you put your hopes on me; the very son whom you had abandoned.¡±

    Mother had so many ways to contact me, whether in the world of the living or thend of the dead. She could have used the Ride on a servant, called upon the Yaotzin to carry out a message, or any other method. Instead, she only met me once I entered locan and crossed into the Underworld¡¯s secondyer, when I would be of use to her.

    ¡°<em>Speak</em>,¡± I said, one Word freeing her from the other.

    The tension overtaking Mother¡¯s body didn¡¯t abate. It simply came from within rather than without this time. She didn¡¯t dare to meet my gaze again. She knew I would tear out her eyes if she tried.

    ¡°Iztac¡­¡± Mother gulped, struggling to find her words. Although she had given birth to me, she didn¡¯t know me well enough to know how to talk me out of killing her. ¡°Once we be gods, we can save your father, get him back¨C¡±

    ¡°Once<em>we</em>be gods?¡± Such foolishness would have made meugh bitterly, if I still had enough patience left to feel joy. ¡°<em>You</em>do not have what it takes to be a<em>god</em>, Mother. You never did.¡±

    ¡°You sought godhood to free your heart from fear, you foolish shadow of a witch,¡± Ahalmez dered with mocking condescension. ¡°But you had it all<em>wrong</em>from the start.¡±

    ¡°Wrong,¡± Vucub-Came whispered in the dark. ¡°Wrong way, the other way¡­¡±

    ¡°Only the bold may reach the heavens, either as gods or demons,¡± Hun-Came dered calmly. ¡°No coward has ever be a sun.¡±

    ¡°To be truly evil or truly good demands unwavering determination,¡± Ahaltocob said. ¡°The fearful can only aspire to<em>mediocrity</em>.¡±

    ¡°The pain of others may buy favors from the strong,¡± Ahalpuh and Ahalgana spoke at the same time. ¡°But true power requires<em>personal</em>sacrifices.¡±

    ¡°Again and again you have tripped on your ascent to power,¡± Xic taunted Mother. ¡°Putting your faith in your wayward son, who you had cast away in the name of your own safety.¡±

    A voice arose from Patan the Lonely, so low I could hardly hear it. ¡°You sought solitude not out of inner strength, but weakness,¡± he whispered. ¡°You are unworthy of greatness, Ichtaca.¡±

    ¡°This is your true fear, sweetheart, the one you will never escape no matter how deeply you hide it,¡± Chamiaholom concluded. ¡°<em>Insignificance</em>.¡±

    Mother had misunderstood the heart of sorcery and the nature of power; the truth which I learned from Queen Mictecacihualt¡¯s story of how the Fifth Sun came to be. Only those willing to sacrifice<em>themselves</em>could aspire to shine in the heavens. Those too scared to offer themselves to the pyre were condemned to linger in the shadows of brighter souls.

    Mother bit her tongue. ¡°My son¨C¡±

    ¡°Blood won¡¯t save you,¡± I cut in pitilessly.

    ¡°I can still be of use,¡± Mother pleaded, her nails scratching the floor. ¡°I know so many spells which you do not, and Astrid¡­¡±n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    ¡°If you had any secret spell worth teaching me, you would have already used it to free yourself from my grip. I have the means to recover Astrid too, should you perish.¡± My eyes narrowed on her. ¡°You have nothing to offer me, except prayers.¡±

    Mother quickly found her faith.

    ¡°My son¡­¡± She sobbed in fear and powerlessness. ¡°Please, Iztac¡­ I¡­¡± Her voice broke in abject dread. ¡°I don¡¯t want to die¡­¡±

    ¡°Die?¡± I snorted in disdain. ¡°You won¡¯t die.¡±

    An ominous silence followed my deration. I had spooked demons and witches alike.

    ¡°If I kill you now, I will be a Skinwalker. You can still be of use to me,<em>Ichtaca</em>¡­¡± I marked a short pause. ¡°And Father wouldn¡¯t want you to die.¡±

    I respected his memory too much to go through with this. Not after he sacrificed himself for her. For<em>us</em>.

    Neither would I let the Lords of Terror win, no more than I would either suffer living in a world where the Nightlords could get away with their crimes.

    I looked up at this charade¡¯s true ywright, at the beating heart of Xibalba to which the so-called Lords of Terror were no more than thralls and prisoners. My trials and this parody of a game were all meant to feed this grotesque abomination.

    It was the only audience that mattered.

    ¡°Xibalba! Heed my words!¡± I raised my father¡¯s skull at the First Fear, not as a prayer, but a<em>demand</em>. ¡°Return my father¡¯s soul back to me, healthy and whole, and I swear to you that I shall shepherd this world to its ultimate terror! The thirteenth fear that surpasses all others!¡±

    I clenched my free fist to the heavens.

    ¡°I am the fear of the<em>gods</em>!¡±

    Some Lords of Terror emerged from their silence tough at me, but they were few in number. The likes of Hun-Came among them had sensed it too, same as me; that subtle imbnce in the pounding that coursed through Xibalba.

    The First Fear¡¯s heart had skipped a beat.

    I had its undivided attention.

    ¡°I am the blood on the altar!¡± I boasted. ¡°I am the priest who burns the heathens! I am the heavens¡¯ judgment and the tribute of flesh! I am the prophet that foretells the doom of kings andmoners, the Godspeaker whose every miracle is a curse! I am the cmity that punishes the faithless and the faithful alike!¡±

    I was the dread that the Nightlords made of me, the mask through which the First Emperor foretold the end of the world, the sorcerer who brought forth a Fire Dawn.

    ¡°I am the fear of the gods true and false!¡± I dered to the heart of terror itself. ¡°I teach men that the gods exist, but do not care for them! I show them that the heavens relish their suffering and drink their tears! I am the fear that the world is not cruel by chance and indifference, but by design and purpose! I am the fear that we were created to beughed at and toyed with! I am the fear that this Fifth Sun shall end like all the others before it, to be reced at the whims of its makers and destroyers!¡±

    I staked my im on the House of Fright which my soul called home. In a world where the image of power carried a strength of its own, I was careful to put on a great show.

    ¡°Your ves each embody a single fear, but I wield them all, weave them, bring them!¡± I dismissed the Lords of Terror, these thralls and parasites whom I had ovee one after another. ¡°I kill in the light and plot in the dark! I bring forth cmities and lure men to sin! I wage war and spread pestilence! I starve my lovers of their strength and crush my foes! I enve and abuse at mymand! I madden the weak and cast down the strong from their thrones! Have I not fed you all well on the fruits of my kingdom?!¡±

    Had there been any emperor since the First who had sown more terror and suffering than I did? Had any of my predecessors woken up the mountains, humiliated the Nightlords, and sowed the seeds of a war that would engulf an entire continent? What mortal could boast of causing so much destruction in the mere beginning of his year-long tenure?

    And I was just<em>starting</em>.

    ¡°If you wish for a banquet of fear, then do as Imand!¡± I ordered the First Fear. ¡°For as I trample the Sapa underfoot and bring ruin to Yohuachanca, as I ascend to godhood to take my rightful ce in the bloodstained skies, I shall teach mankind the folly of praying for mercy when the heavens have none! But if you do not relinquish my father¡¯s soul¡­¡±

    My free hand burned with the mes of my hatred, which had consumed so many souls and set alight so many houses.

    ¡°Then I swear to you, once I be a god¡ªand I<em>will</em>be one¡ªthen I shall rise from the depths of the Underworld to ughter everyst soul on this earth,¡± I spoke quietly, not with passion, but with the cold determination needed to carry through a war to its conclusion. ¡°The skies will rain fire in a spectacle that will make loc¡¯s wrath look like a child¡¯s tantrum. I will scorch thends and seas so quickly its inhabitants won¡¯t even have the time to fear their demise. I will blink, and then they will all be<em>gone</em>.¡±

    The Lords of Terror had grown silent as a set of tombs by then. What would these parasites do, once the men that gave them their life disappeared, with no gods left to raise a Sixth Mankind to rece them with?

    <em>Nothing</em>.

    They could do nothing, and would return to<em>nothing</em>.

    ¡°And once I have buried everyone who could ever possibly feed you, once the lonely Fifth Sun shines on ashes and silence, I shall descend to watch your<em>end</em>. And then you will know<strong><em>fear</em></strong>.¡± I marked a short pause, my eyes ring at the first of all terrors. ¡°If you think I do not have what it takes to do that, if you think I am not the kind of yer who would rather burn the board than let my opponent win¡­ then you haven¡¯t been paying attention.¡±

    I concluded on these words; not with a threat, but a<em>fact</em>.

    For a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, the First Fear appeared to have a stroke. Its bloated heart stopped pounding mist through the House of Fright. Its malevolent intelligence, born of all of mankind¡¯s terrors and cruelty, assessed my im. After all the crimes which I hadmitted, all the devastation I had caused, and all the defiance which I had shown in the face of danger, it could only reach one conclusion.

    I<em>would</em>follow through with my promise.

    And the fearful would always choose submission over death.

    My father¡¯s empty eye sockets glowed with ghostfire.

    ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡­¡± Chamiaholom said, her shocked expression swiftly turning into tears of joy and pride. ¡°The First Fear recognizes his im!¡±

    Mother dared to look up, her astonishment only matched by that of her tormentors. For the first and perhaps the only time in its entire history, the House of Fright had let go of its sacrifice. I could feel its blessing flow into my heart. It was a small tug, a single word whispered within the depths of my soul.

    A name.

    ¡°You have been crowned with a new title, Iztac Ce Ehecatl, by which Xibalba shall know you forevermore,¡± Hun-Came said, his deep, wizened voice oozing pride. He stomped the stands with his staff, then sang my praises. ¡°All hail<em>Cizin</em>, the fear of gods! All hail the thirteenth Lord of Terror! All hail the demon emperor!¡±

    The Lords of Terror acimed me in front of my spooked mother and father. The demons apuded, danced, and sang, for they knew the world of the living was now in bloody hands. The scavengers rejoiced at receiving the scraps of a banquet of terror.

    ¡°Iztac¡­¡± My father whispered feebly. ¡°I had such a terrible nightmare¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Iforted him. ¡°You don¡¯t need to be afraid anymore.¡±

    I had conquered fear itself.

 Chapter Seventy-Six: Family Matters

    Chapter Seventy-Six: Family Matters

    I left Xibalba a conqueror, holding my father¡¯s skull in my hand and with Mother following in my wake.

    I didn¡¯t look back.

    The city opened its gates through the mist and let us walk through its dark doors. The desert surrounding the House of Fright stretched across the horizon, the statues of destroyed totems standing still under the pale gray sky. I¡¯d buried my carrying frame and its contents there.

    ¡°Are you well, Father?¡± I asked him out of concern. He hadn¡¯t said a word since we left the ballcourt behind us.

    ¡°I¡­¡± The fire in his eyes slightly wavered. ¡°I think so.¡±

    ¡°You do not<em>sound</em>well,¡± I replied while ring at Mother. She didn¡¯t even have the decency to look at the husband she sacrificed.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ merely shaken,¡± Father replied. He sounded tired, like someone waking from an exhausting nightmare. ¡°It¡­ it could have been worse, Iztac. I wasn¡¯t in there for long, so I¡­ I just need a second to gather my thoughts.¡±

    We ought to consider ourselves lucky then.<em>Very</em>lucky indeed. Father was a strong soul with great willpower, but being absorbed into an embodiment of primordial fear would have probably driven him mad from prolonged exposure. As it was, he was only spooked.

    I let Father rest for now as I I moved closer to the statues and used the Doll to unearth the carrying frame from underneath the owl totem. Mother observed us without a word, too guilty to speak up or apologize.

    That ship had sailed long ago.

    I examined the frame to check on its contents. To my astonishment, the urn I was meant to deliver to loc and the First Emperor¡¯s Codex inside it remained untouched. I would have expected Mother to steal one or the other while I ventured into Xibalba, but I supposed the city enforced certain rules against thieves. That or the totem indeed protected my belongings.

    With Xibalba¡¯s trialspleted, I would now ascend to locan and confront its godly master for his embers; after settling another matter first, of course.

    I put the carrying frame on my back and broke the silence. ¡°Where is the way to M, Ichtaca?¡±

    The fact I called her by her name rather than ¡®Mother¡¯ ought to get the point across. It certainly woke her up from her guilty torpor. ¡°The¡­ way?¡±

    ¡°The door I used to enter thisyer is one-way only, and I need to return Father to his proper afterlife.¡±<em>Far away from you,</em>I left unsaid. ¡°Why do you think I spared you back there?¡±

    Father¡¯s eyes glowed in his eye sockets. ¡°I¡­ I have no wish to return to M, my son.¡±

    That took me aback. ¡°Father, I will descend into the Underworld¡¯s thirdyer soon enough. It will be a dangerous journey and I may not be able to protect you.¡± My grip on his skull tightened, my eyes ring at the pitiful woman who once gave birth to me. ¡°You cannot hope to stay with this¡­ this<em>traitor</em>.¡±

    ¡°There was¡­ no treachery,¡± Father replied, his voice a little firmer. Speaking seemed to help him put his thoughts in order. ¡°I¡­ I knew my fate from the start, my son.¡±

    Mother flinched as if she had been pped. ¡°From¡­¡± Her voice was weak, hardly a whisper. ¡°From the start?¡±

    ¡°When you took me to this city¡­ you said I should not take anything that I was willing to lose with me,¡± Father reminded her with a small, ghostly sigh. How he managed to do so without a body escaped me. ¡°I¡­ Well, I assumed I was one of those things, my love. You left us once already.¡±

    Mother stood still for a brief instant, then copsed to her knees, sobbing.

    I looked with disgust at this weakling witch who only learned the true value of people after she had discarded them. I felt cautious respect for her once, even harboring the hope that we might mend the bridge separating us, but now only loathing remained. I nced at Father, expecting to see a simr feeling in his ghostfire eyes, or at least disappointment.

    Instead, he looked at her with<empassion</em>.

    ¡°Are you pitying her, Father?¡± His wasted kindness boggled my mind. This selfish wench, who had cast away everyone who ever cared for her, did not deserve his mercy. ¡°After<em>everything</em>she did to you, to<em>us</em>? Why won¡¯t you spit on her?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s the thing about unconditional love, my son. Ites without reservations.¡± Father marked a short pause. ¡°However¡­¡±

    It was strange how a simple word could carry such weight. Mother looked up at him with genuine fear and worry, her yed heart faltering at the mere hint of her husband condemning her.

    ¡°I have seen things¡­ things on which I cannot close my eyes anymore, Ichtaca,¡± Father said, his voice heavier than stones. ¡°When that¡­ that evil<em>thing</em>made me a part of it, I became one with the terrors of the living¡­ yours included. I became one with fear itself and learned of so many evil deeds¡­¡± Another short silence followed as Father mustered the courage to broach a most cruel matter. ¡°Including our daughter.¡±

    Mother stared down at the ground in guilt and shame. She did not deny it. I would have felt a pang of familial sympathy if she wasn¡¯t the reason Nl had found herself caught in the Nightlords¡¯ grasp.

    ¡°Did you think I would think less of you if you admitted it?¡± Father asked softly. This time, I did detect a hint of disappointment in his words. ¡°Oh, Ichtaca¡­ I forgave you for abandoning us. I would have done the same if only you had reached out to her the same way you did with Iztac. It is your unwillingness to right your past wrongs that I¡­ that I cannot ept anymore.¡±

    He said these words with a strange kind of finality, firm yet gentle. They carried no anger, but no mercy either. Father was the kindest man I had ever met, and I¡¯d rarely heard him set his foot down in the past.

    Mother gulped. ¡°Itzili¡­¡±

    Father did not let her finish. ¡°I cannot enable you anymore, my love. I thought that with time¡­ I thought that with time, your better nature woulde through¡­ that you would put our son ahead of your selfish desires. I still want to believe there is good buried deep within you, but¡­¡± He marked a short pause as he searched for the right words. ¡°It cannot stay buried anymore. This¡­ this has to change.<em>You</em>have to change, do you understand?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± Mother clenched her fists in her weakness. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I can.¡±

    I snorted in disdain. ¡°You certainly won¡¯t if you refuse to take a single step.¡±

    ¡°I have faith in you, Ichtaca¡­ even if you do not believe in yourself,¡± Father replied kindly. ¡°Are you happy as you are¡­ driving everyone who cares for you away? Hiding and losing everything again and¡­ over again?¡±

    ¡°I only meant well,¡± Mother protested. ¡°Once we became gods, I would have made everything right. I would have saved you, saved our daughter. The end would forgive the means.¡±

    ¡°You are mistaken,¡± Father replied sadly. ¡°An end¡­ an end is shaped by the means used to reach it¡­ and what we<em>meant</em>matters less than what we<em>did</em>.¡±

    My jaw tightened slightly. While Father spoke to Mother first and foremost, I sensed a hint of reproach directed at me. Knowing him, he hadn¡¯t appreciated my speech to the Lords of Terror.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    ¡°Moreover, I¡­ I know what deal you have made with the lords of this ce to create your sanctuary,¡± Father said, his wife flinching at his words. ¡°The souls within it are only safe for a time. They will experience the illusion of life, but¡­ once you have obtained and recorded all of their knowledge¡­ their protection will be stripped away and the Lords will feed on their fear of their paradiseing to an end.¡±

    I would have loved to say Mother¡¯s deceit surprised me, but I only expected the worst from her by now.

    ¡°You will return those souls to their proper afterlife in M above, one way or another,¡± Father insisted. ¡°They¡­ they all deserve better than a fleeting false hope and an eternity of torment.¡±

    ¡°But their knowledge¡­¡± Mother protested. ¡°They know so much¡­¡±

    ¡°Nothing that you hope to glean is worth the sacrifice of so many souls, my love. I will not abandon my children to eternal suffering in a vampire¡¯s belly either. You will help us get them out of the Nightlords¡¯ grasp, or¡­¡± Father¡¯s bone jaw tightened. ¡°Or this is farewell, my love.¡±

    Mother remained silent for a moment, but then nodded weakly. After nearly losing her husband¡ªthe only person in the entire cosmos who still loved her¡ªshe was unwilling to risk him again.

    This served me well. While I<em>detested</em>Mother and distrusted any help she could provide, I still required Astrid to destroy Iztacoatl for good. If she had any sense, she would behave herself from now on. I would not be so merciful as Father.

    Nheless, a detail caught my ear.

    ¡°Help<em>us</em>?¡± I asked. ¡°Father, I told you I cannot take you any further down.¡±

    ¡°I will not stay in M praying that you seed¡­ I refuse to stand on the sidelines while my¡­ my children risk everything,¡± Father insisted. ¡°There is¡­ there is another way for me to remain at your side.¡±

    I stared into the skull¡¯s eyes and immediately guessed what he meant. ¡°<em>No</em>,¡± I said. ¡°No way.¡±

    ¡°I have discussed this with the previous emperors,¡± Father insisted, confirming my suspicions. ¡°I will not say I have much wisdom to offer, but at least¡­ At least this way I can help you shoulder the burden of your quest and provide what littlefort I can.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t use the Legion spell on you,¡± I replied sharply. ¡°Besides the fact your mind would meld with a thousand more, you cannot fathom the suffering my predecessors are going through every waking moment. It is<em>torture</em>.¡±

    ¡°Then I hope mypany will alleviate some of their pain¡­ and yours,¡± Father said, his voice suddenly full of wariness. ¡°Also, I¡­ I think you need an advisor who will help you stay on the right path.¡±

    My jaw clenched at the subtle reproach. ¡°What is<em>that</em>supposed to mean?¡±

    ¡°I heard¡­ I heard what you told the First Fear,¡± Father exined. ¡°I am¡­ concerned, my son.¡±

    ¡°It was a bluff,¡± I reassured him. ¡°I have no intention to do the Lords¡¯ bidding.¡±

    ¡°But you<em>would</em>have followed through with your threat, had the First Fear denied your request,¡± Father said, the glow in his eyes flickering. ¡°Do not deny it, Iztac. I saw¡­ I saw the evil in your heart, as did the First Fear. I know what you would have done. What you are¡­ what you are capable of.¡±

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    I wondered how much he had seen. I wouldn¡¯t put it past the First Fear to show him my worst sins without the context that made them necessary.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I confessed softly. ¡°Yes, I would have burned this whole rotten world if it meant saving or avenging you. You are my father and raised me from birth. You thought I would simply surrender you without a fight?¡±

    ¡°Iztac, while part of me appreciates the thought¡­¡± Father searched for the right words. ¡°I will<em>not</em>be your<em>excuse</em>.¡±

    His words felt like a p on my cheek. ¡°You can¡¯t tell me you would rather have spent eternity trapped in that cursed city?!¡±

    ¡°That was a price I was willing to pay for your safety,¡± Father replied, much to my utter consternation. ¡°I took the burden of that sacrifice so that you¡­ so that your and your mother¡¯s hands would remain clean. So that you would live happy lives away from that awful ce.¡±

    ¡°I swear to you that I will live free of the Nightlords one day,¡± I replied. However, I couldn¡¯t make any promises for Mother after what we went through. ¡°And<em>you</em>will spend your afterlife in peace rather than in eternal torment. We will get the best of both worlds.¡±

    ¡°No, my son.¡± Father let out a heavy sigh. ¡°Words have power¡­ doubly so when uttered in the House of Fright. Gaining that awful title of Cizin has stained your soul. Your choice will have<em>consequences</em>.¡±

    ¡°Whatever they are, I will bear them,¡± I replied confidently. I was not afraid of Xibalba and its craven thralls. ¡°I did what was necessary to save you, and I do not regret it.¡±

    Father didn¡¯t agree. ¡°I wish I could be so sure, yet¡­ yet I fear you have begun tomit crimes not out of<em>necessity</em>, but out of<em>convenience</em>.¡±

    ¡°Sinful acts are justified in the service of a righteous cause, Father,¡± I countered, my heart struggling with a rising feeling of frustration. Why couldn¡¯t he see the big picture? ¡°If you were truly one with the First Fear, then you have seen what Nightlords do. Their very existence makes our world a crueler ce to live in!¡±

    ¡°That is true,¡± Father conceded. ¡°And if you continue down your current path¡­ then you will be an equal scourge on the world.¡±

    ¡°<em>Me</em>?¡± I choked in outrage, my grip on my father¡¯s skull strengthening in cold rage. ¡°I haven¡¯t forced a brother and sister to procreate, nor threatened to hunt and rape a child no older than ten, or tried to reorganize the cosmos into a vampiric realm of sulfur and terror!¡±

    ¡°Yet¡­ yet I¡¯ve seen you abuse Necahual and other women to feel more powerful,¡± Father replied. ¡°I¡¯ve seen you start a war for glory for gains that will remain elusive. I¡¯ve seen you ughter our vige¡¯s survivors and schoolmates for a spell¡­ and to avenge your wounded pride.¡±

    ¡°I did it to save that wench, though she did not deserve it,¡± I replied, ring at Ichtaca. ¡°Though I did negotiate with the wind to earn a spell, it had made its demands clear.¡±

    Father remained convinced. ¡°But if you had the will to argue with the Yaotzin for a greater prize¡­ why didn¡¯t you argue for a lesser price instead?¡±

    His question took me aback for a moment, though I had a good reason. ¡°I need more spells to destroy the Nightlords.¡±

    ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you negotiate another, lesser price?¡± Father sounded so<em>sad</em>it hurt to listen. ¡°Don¡¯t you see, my son? Human lives aren¡¯t fruits to be plucked, to be sold and discarded. Don¡¯t you see how<em>awful</em>that mindset is?¡±

    ¡°We cannot win without sacrifices,¡± I replied, more and more frustrated with his judgment. ¡°If I have to choose who dies, then I would rather select those who hurt me than innocents.¡±

    ¡°My son, I¡­ I understand your resentment, and I do not fault you for letting it guide your actions, but¡­ did your schoolmates¡¯ mockeries warrant<em>death</em>? It¡¯s not something that should be spread so casually.¡±

    I held his gaze. ¡°It is an emperor¡¯s duty to give people¡¯s life and death value.¡±

    Father stared at me with deep sorrow. ¡°Do you truly wish to be what you fight against, Iztac?¡±

    For a brief second, I was no longer facing my Father¡¯s skull. Instead I saw the great face of King Mtecuhtli, who had seen the first world¡¯s dawn and would witness thest sunset. My father¡¯s warning was an echo of the god¡¯s, whose truth I had long ago buried deep within my heart.

    Be what I fought against? I waged war against evil itself! Monsters who ruled the world from high above¡ª<em>like I did</em>, a faint voice whispered in my skull¡ªusing and discarding humans at their leisure¡ª<em>same way I brought witches into the fold and plotted to kill those whose usefulness to me had run out</em>¡ªwhile relishing the death and destruction they sowed in their wake¡ª<emughing over the mes which I spread and the blood I shed.</em>

    I held my head with a hand as wicked thoughts intruded upon my mind and weakened my resolve. Why was Father¡¯s gaze making me doubt myself so much? I had done¡­ I had done what needed to be done. I¡¯d tried other means before and they never helped me prevail.

    I tried to tell myself these things, and yet Father¡¯s heavy stare wore down on my resolve anyway. I recalled Queen Mictecacihuatl, who had offered me her kindness and protection when I was still an innocent soul full of hope. A grim question gnawed at me.

    Would she have offered me her help had Ie to her as I was now? Or would she have looked at me with disappointment, as yet another soul lost to dark ambitions?

    It wasn¡¯t theck of answers that bothered me, but the fact I knew them all too well.

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong, Father,¡± I insisted, both to him and myself. I opened my carrying frame and put his skull there next to the urn I was meant to deliver to the great loc. ¡°You will<em>see</em>.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Father asked in protest. ¡°My son¨C¡±

    ¡°If you truly wish toe along, then I¡¯ll show you how mistaken you are,¡± I cut in before closing the carrying frame and trapping my father in darkness. It wouldn¡¯t be the nicest way to transport him to locan, but it was still better than holding him within my talons. ¡°Just wait.¡±

    The sight of her husband being put into a carrying frame awoke Mother from her self-pitying torpor. ¡°Iztac,¡± she whispered in protest, though I ignored her. ¡°Iztac, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I will go visit locan and fulfill my destiny,¡± I replied harshly while using Spiritual Manifestation to take on the shape of a great ck owl. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare follow me, selfish mother of mine. If you¡¯re wise, you¡¯ll free those poor souls as Father asked of you before I return.¡±

    ¡°Iztac!¡±

    I flew away before she could say another word, leaving only guilt and regrets behind me. My great dark wings pped over the desert surrounding Xibalba, blowing salt and dust across the silentndscape. Hardly a noise disturbed me as I ascended upward. The city of evil had let me go and I couldn¡¯t hear Father¡¯s muffled words from within the carrying frame.

    I was left alone with my doubts.

    Be what I fought against? That was ridiculous. I wouldn¡¯t deny I¡¯d dirtied my hands time and time again, but I¡¯d always done so in the service of Yohuachanca¡¯s destruction. Every action that I had taken was only ever meant to free the Nightlords¡¯ grasp on my homnd and ensure they would suffer for their cruelty. Even actionsmitted for my personal gain were meant to increase my power and odds of taking them down.

    After all the horrors they had sowed, after they put his children through, how could Father not see that their demise was worth almost any price?

    <em>But if I fail, it would have been all for nothing,</em>I thought grimly, my heart-fire wavering.<em>History will remember me as just another monster, a mad emperor in a long line of puppet-tyrants.</em>

    The thought gnawed at me after I escaped Xibalba¡¯s territory and returned to the rest of the Second Layer. Volcanic fumes choked the air and the heat suddenly increased. I whipped up a Cloak spell to protect myself by promising I would shower the city of Zacha with favor on my way out of the city. A protective wind swirled around me, shielding me from the mes and ashes raining down from the clouds above.

    I looked up at loc¡¯s blue sun. Its radiance shone upon the world which he had once devastated with fire and brimstone. I knew that his promisednd awaited me above the clouds; his paradise untouched by the burning and the suffering of his countless victims.

    Perhaps it would make a good afterlife for Father, if loc allowed him to stay there. It would be better than M, and<em>certainly</em>better than Mother¡¯s false refuge.

    A great shadow passed over me.

    I barely had time to dodge to the side to avoid a pair of house-sized talons closing on me. A monstrous bird passed by me with a malevolent shriek of pain and fury, its feathers burned by locan¡¯s mes and revealing only a skeleton coated in yed burning flesh. It was huge, many times bigger than myself, with pitch-ck eyes ring at me with seething hatred.

    Azcapalli.

    I hadpletely forgotten about the mad spirit who had hounded Mother and me all the way to Xibalba¡¯s frontier. Had he been waiting outside its borders until I finally escaped its grip, all for the grim pleasure of killing me?

    Whatever the case, Azcapalli began to chase after me across the clouds with relentless aggression. I was smaller and quicker, but it pursued me with dogged malice and determination. The spirit had nothing to gain from killing me besides the satisfaction of sharing his pain with the living, and that was reason enough to hunt me down. Considering the agony from which he suffered since the Third Sun¡¯s final twilight, I could almost sympathize with him.

    Almost.

    Mother suggested that we avoid a fight with this monster when it first began to stalk us. It would have made a powerful foe once, but I had conquered too many trials to be intimidated and I was too angry for mercy.

    This would be a good opportunity to test my newfound strength.

    ¡°Fall,¡± I said, activating the namesake''s spell.

    The course of gravity changed instantly, from down to sideways. My current version of the Fall could only affect one target, but it proved capable of affecting even something as big as Azcapalli. The monstrous bird let out a screech as an invisible force pulled him to the left and caused him to lose control of his flight.

    I ascended upward to better look down on the wayward spirit.

    ¡°I am the fear of the gods,¡± I boasted, knowing he had been a lesser deity himself before loc stripped him of everything. ¡°I am with you every time you look at the sun that burns your wings.¡±

    I had hoped to break Azcapalli¡¯s spirit and convince him to let me go without a fight; but the mes and the pain had long stripped him of his reason. His agony had burned away everything until only hatred remained.

    The monster let out a soul-rending screech and blew his wings at me. A mighty gust capable of upturning trees and casting down houses hit me in the face. I was flung backward into the clouds, my Cloak spell lessening the impact enough to spare my carrying frame from destruction. The thought of losing my father to this creature<em>incensed</em>me.

    ¡°Fool,¡± I snarled as Azcapalli flew upward towards me. ¡°Return to dust!¡±

    I waved a talon and channeled the power of the Slice. A wind born of my victims¡¯st breaths cut through the sky in the form of a sharp de of air. If Azcapalli had any remaining sanity left, he would have been wise to dodge it; instead, he was so mad that he took it head-on in his desperation to grab me with his beak.

    My Slice cut off his left wing at the shoulder, causing the spirit to lose control of his flight. I avoided hisst-ditch attempt to eat me alive with his beak and watched him fall onto the ashen ground below. His bones cracked at the impact, his shrieks echoing across the burnedndscape.

    ¡°Now<em>burn</em>,¡± I said.

    I opened my mouth and unleashed a flood of fire from my mouth. The ze of my soul erupted from the depths of my being to incinerate the fallen god. A purple inferno rained down from the sky to punish my enemy like loc¡¯s wrath once did.

    Azcapalli screamed.

    If I had lips in my owl form, I would have smiled in cruel joy. My mes seared thest of his yed flesh to reveal the bones underneath. I put the spirit through the same agony he suffered at loc¡¯s hands in the fading days of the Third Sun. I roasted the turkey until only a feeble skeleton remained.

    I burned him until he lost the strength to scream and could only whimper. Only then did I stop with a cackle of satisfaction.

    ¡°You were a fool to defy me,¡± I warned him. ¡°I am your prey no longer.¡±

    The monster answered with a pitiful cry of agony; one that brought me no satisfaction.

    I stopped, my heart-fire wavering. The monster below me had been reduced to a one-winged, charred skeleton unable to fly. Azcapalli limped on the ground with moans of agony and sorrow, the noise echoing from his skeletal gullet akin to sobs.

    Beneath the malice, there was only<em>pain</em>.

    As I looked down on the miserable creature, I found myself suddenly ovee with pity. Yes, he had tried to kill me out of malice; but men once worshiped the creature as a god of beauty if my mother was to be believed. It used to be great and kind until loc¡¯s wrath reduced him to this sorry state. Centuries of torment had robbed him of his mind. Azcapalli should only inspirepassion.

    Yet his suffering had filled me with cruel joy.

    ¡°This¡­¡± I struggled to find my words, the seed of guilt oveing me. ¡°This¡­ this is wrong.¡±

    After experiencing weakness for so many years, I¡¯d begun to revel in my hard-won power. I¡¯dughed at killing priests and the Nightlords¡¯ soldiers, although most were mere fools led astray by lying vampires, taken women as ves for my pleasure, and delighted in sowing chaos.

    I¡¯dmitted so many of these sins out of necessity, telling myself that they were mere chores in the name of a greater cause, but now I realized I was starting to take a perverse kind of joy in them.

    I relished in cruelty.

    Just like the Nightlords and the Lords of Terror.

    My sunlit blood turned to ice in my veins. It was an awful thing to learn about oneself, to find happiness in the pain of others. I told myself that Azcapalli deserved this punishment for attacking me, but it sounded like empty justification even to me. Agony had stripped away all his rational thought. He wasn¡¯t even aware of right and wrong anymore, no more than a rabid dog could be med for biting a man¡¯s hand.

    I¡¯d enjoyed tormenting this animal because it helped make me feel strong. Nothing more.

    <em>This is wrong</em>, I realized. I was starting to see what bothered my father so much.<em>I¡¯ve grown numb to the pain of others¡­ and sometimes, I¡¯ve grown to appreciate it.</em>

    But what else could I do? Should I put Azcapalli out of his misery? He was already dead. What would it take to reduce his spirit to merciful nothingness? Would grinding his bones to dust free him from his horrifying existence? Or would his consciousness endure even in this form?

    I gazed upon thatnd of death and fire that stretched across the horizon. These ashes of a lost world, filled with Burned Men and tormented souls.

    I could only think of one option to alleviate their suffering.

    I flew upward, leaving Azcapalli on the ground for now.

    loc awaited me.

 Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Third Sun

    Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Third Sun

    I ascended to thend of the gods.

    I flew through the clouds of volcanic smoke upward into the searing skies. The dead world below me vanished through thickyers of ancient ash carried by mighty storms. They pressed against the Cloak of wind shielding me. So much dust blew into my face at one point that I couldn¡¯t see loc¡¯s sun.

    Then I finally pierced the veil. I emerged from the ashes like a fish hopping out of water and into fresh air. The horrid heat and dust were reced by a soothing andfortable atmosphere, like a faint summer breeze. A pure and starless blue horizon stretched out as far as my eyes could see, its great azure sun shining over a sea of dust.

    Then I saw the <em>true </em>locan.

    I saw <em>green</em>.

    A great mass of earth floated above the ocean of ashen clouds covering the Underworld¡¯s secondyer. It was huge, a whole ind¡¯s worth of space, if not more. Fields of grass and flowers covered its shores alongside pristine white houses, which I knew was impossible; no life thrived within the dead bowels of the Underworld. Yet they appeared vividly real to me as I approached. Soft melodies unlike the screams and cries of the Burned Men filled my ears soon after, growing louder with each p of my wings.

    Songs.

    The call of drums and trumpets lured me closer until I flew over the ind. A vige appeared below me, inhabited by men, women, and children of all ages wearing fine clothes and feather crowns. They danced in a circle around a fire to the tune of musicians among their numbers.

    All of these people had blue skin. A quick nce was enough to ascertain that it wasn¡¯t simply paint. Great loc had given souls in his domain flesh of their own, but only in his own image.

    These people gathered in groups to eat food growing from the very earth beneath their feet. I saw a man wave his hand with augh and a guava fruit appeared in it in an instant. Their cups never seemed to run dry either.

    I expected to see fear in these people¡¯s gaze and forced smiles on their faces. I searched for any glimpse of dread on their faces, like the fear actors forced to y for the sake of a divine audience who would not tolerate dissatisfaction in his paradise. I didn¡¯t find it. Theirughs were too genuine, their eyes too full of sparkling joy for it to be a lie. These people were <em>happy</em>.

    locan was a true paradise floating high above a burning hell.

    Then I heard the call of thunder in the distance.

    No storm clouded the clear sky, nor did I see any lightning bolt shine on the horizon. Yet I heard three thunder strikes, each carrying a booming word.

    <em>¡°Come to me!¡±</em>

    The sheer weight of themand steered my flight away from the celebration.

    I was already flying above fields of blooming flowers before the mere thought of resisting even crossed my mind. The order was stronger than a Word and heavier than the mountains. I could not have disobeyed even if I had struggled with all of my strength. A terrible wave of fear and apprehension spread through every fiber of my being. A power that eclipsed mine like the sun cowed the stars had requested my presence, and would punish disobedience with death.

    I hadn¡¯t felt that way since meeting King Mtecuhtli.

    I wisely decided to go along with the voice¡¯s demands for now, my wings guided by the call to the ind¡¯s center. I had to say that locan looked wonderful from above; a verdant paradise where every patch of earth was home to bright flowers and lush trees. Crystalline rivers coursed across the ind and fed bountiful wildlife, though all of them¡ªfrom deer to turkeys¡ªshowcased traces of blue in their fur and feathers. It reminded me of the House of Trials where I braved the fears of being hunted and pestilence, but in this case I saw no lie hiding horrors lurking beneath the surface. locan was a <em>true </em>paradise.

    Beautiful little viges popped up here and there, groups of houses and farms that only differed from ces like Acampa in one detail: no one appeared to be <em>working</em>. I saw a few practicing pottery, art, or ying ballcourt games, but nothing that actually required them to toil for a living.

    loc¡¯s gifts were only matched by his punishments in their grandiosity.

    I moved to what seemed to be the ind¡¯s center to me. I first thought I was aiming for a green mountain when I saw the branches and realized my mistake. A massive, primeval willow tree stretched under the blue sun of locan, its leaves and shrubs lush enough to fill a forest¡¯s entire canopy on their lonesome. Happy songs resonated from thick roots drawing water from pristinekes filled with fish fat enough to feed an entire family each.

    A colossal statue sat there on a throne carved into the trunk itself, attended by hundreds of musicians.

    It was <em>huge</em>, taller than my pce¡¯s highest floor even while seated, and entirely carved from the bluest turquoise. It represented a massive and frightful humanoid with rows of sharp fangs and beastly tusks. Ringed white diamond eyes radiated sunlight under an exquisite headdress of quetzal feathers and snake eyes that probably required thousands of donors to create. A dress of spider webs and ancient scales covered its torso and intimate parts.

    I knew intellectually that this statue was made of stone, but my eyes deceived me on that front. The turquoise seemed to vibrate and undte like sweating skin in the bright sunlight of locan. Its eyes too radiated a fiery will as bright and imperious as the celestial fireball shining above us.

    The thick pressure in the air¡ªquite unlike the glorious songs filling the silence¡ªreminded me of an iing thunderstorm¡¯s first signs, when summer¡¯s heat threatened to transform into devastating lightning at any moment.

    I¡¯d best proceed very, <em>very </em>carefully. The master of this ce had <em>none </em>of King Mtecuhtli¡¯s undying patience.

    Inded at the statue¡¯s feet, on a tform of wood which I assumed served as a spot for petitioners bidding loc for mercy. I took back my human form and then¡­

    And then I bowed, my hands and forehead touching the ground.

    It was hard and distasteful. I supposed I¡¯d grown so used to standing up to the gods that my skill in kneeling had begun to rust; but I knew who I was up against, and that that kneeling wouldn¡¯t be enough.

    Rays of locan¡¯s sun shone through the thick canopy. The pressure in the air thickened further and the musicians suddenly stopped their performance. Drummers stopped with their hands in the air; flutists looked at me with apprehension; and harmonica yers nervously clutched their instruments. One after the other they began to bow before the statue of their master. The dreadful silence seemed to stretch on forever.

    Then lightning struck.

    A blue blinding bolt barreled down from the sun above, incinerating a few leaves on its way down. It hit the statue in a thundering boom that set its turquoise skin alight with the sheen of electricity and the spark of life. Its mouth and fangs moved on their own with the roar of a waking storm, and its fists clenched on the armrests of its throne.

    <em>¡°You bow to loc!¡±</em> the statue said with a booming voice stronger than the direst thunder, male and imperious. <em>¡°Third and brightest sun of the world, he who is made of earth and summons the rain! Praise my name! Praise my glory!¡±</em>

    The ground beneath my feet shook with each of the deity¡¯s words. I sensed electricity coursing through the air and my bones. The bowing musicians whispered prayers of gratitude to loc in an attempt to cate him, though I remained silent.

    I had seen enough visitors crawl before my throne to understand the proper protocol. I would only speak when ordered to, though it pained me to do so.

    I had been warned what kind of god loc was: a mercurial deity of immense power who had destroyed the world he ruled over in a fit of fury, who epted human sacrifices and who possessed the might to back up his heavenly pride.

    He was what the Nightlords <em>aspired </em>to be.

    <em>¡°You, stranger, who dares intrude upon my realm!¡±</em> loc¡¯s statue pointed a finger at me, his eyes shining with usation. <em>¡°You reek of Xibalba¡¯s stench, as do all the thieves who would dare to abscond with my chosen souls! Those who would dare torment my beloved worshipers with nightmares warrant only the kiss of my lightning!¡± </em>

    I did my best to hide my unease and distaste. The very thought of bowing before a tyrant, godly or otherwise, sickened me to my core¡­ but I was acutely aware of my limitations and bargaining position.

    I could <em>feel </em>the wide gulf in power between us, the same way I had when I met King Mtecuhtli and saw the First Emperor devour his daughter. loc was no vampire ying deity; he was one of the world¡¯s creators whose will had set the universe aze in a fit of rage.

    He could vaporize me in the blink of an eye, and no spell would shrug off his wrath. Worst of all, I knew of his temper and proclivities. He never forgot a slight, and unlike the Nightlords, he didn¡¯t need me alive for an ancient ritual. My life meant <em>nothing </em>to him. He wouldn¡¯t hesitate to vaporize me on the spot should I frustrate him.

    Nheless¡­ Though I knew better than to make assumptions, loc summoned me to his hall instead of smiting me instantly. That alone gave me hope of surviving through this encounter.

    <em>¡°Yet your heart burns with life, and though you bear the crown of terror you fly free of that cursed city on a caetcolotl¡¯s wings.¡± </em>loc put his hand back on his armrest, which I took as a hint I had a chance to walk out of this meeting alive.<em> ¡°Are you a messenger from Xibalba,ing to deliver a missive?¡±</em>

    I knew this was my cue to answer. ¡°I am indeed a messenger, oh great and mighty loc,¡± I said, while being careful to keep my head down to avoid showing my distaste. ¡°But I came from M above to bear you a gift from Lady Chalchiuhtlicue.¡±

    The mention of his wife left loc speechless.

    I found a god¡¯s silence a thousand times more ominous than his wrath. I felt his heavy gaze upon me, searching for any hint of deceit in me. He studied my burning heart, then my carrying frame.

    <em>¡°I see that my wife entrusted you with a fraction of her radiance,¡±</em> loc noted, but though I detected an undercurrent of hope in his voice, the electrical tension did not abate in the slightest. <em>¡°Show me this gift then; but should you have lied to me, owl, then I shall rain ake of fire and drown you in it! You shall beg for a mercy that will nevere!¡±</em>

    I had seen enough of loc¡¯s wrath to take him at his word. I opened my carrying frame and stared inside. Father¡¯s skull looked at me, though he wisely remained silent. He had heard everything.

    I carefully took Lady Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s urn out of the carrying frame. It was as blue as loc himself and bore its carved visage alongside ancient words professing her love for her husband. It was fragile and hardlyrger than my fist, but I¡¯d managed to carry it without damage all the way from M.

    loc¡¯s fingers gripped his throne¡¯s armrests the moment he saw the urn. I immediately sensed the tension in the air lessen as I ced it down on the wood tform. The statue¡¯s eyes no longer gleamed with wrath, but with pure joy.

    <em>¡°You speak true¡­ I recognize mydy wife¡¯s handiwork¡­¡±</em> loc¡¯s enthusiasm suddenly vanished with the noise of thunder. <em>¡°Why did you note to me immediately?¡±</em>

    I tensed up upon sensing the wrath in his voice. ¡°Forgive me, oh great and mighty loc, but I do not understand¨C¡±

    <em>¡°Why fly to Xibalba, messenger, when you should have delivered mydy wife¡¯s gift to me the moment you entered my realm!¡± </em>loc stomped his armrest with his fist, and all of locan trembled in response. <em>¡°What kind of courier dares to make a god wait?!¡±</em>

    I was treading on dangerous grounds here, so I chose my next words <em>very </em>carefully. I knew that loc would smell any lie, but he wouldn¡¯t ept that I made a detour for my own personal gain; he was a true sun who believed that the cosmos revolved around him. I had to find a reason that was both genuine and eptable to him.

    ¡°I feared I was not strong enough toplete the journey with my former strength, Lord loc,¡± I said. ¡°I feared to disappoint you and Lady Chalchiuhtlicue if I lost her package on my way to you, unable to ovee the many dangers down below. Only by braving the trials of Xibalba did I find the bravery to fly to you.¡±

    That was true enough. Mother lured me to Xibalba in the first ce by promising me the strength to prevail on this perilous journey, and then sweetened the deal by mentioning Father.

    <em>¡°I see.¡± </em>loc nodded to himself and epted my exnation.<em> ¡°You have erred on the side of caution, messenger, but I shall forgive you.¡±</em>

    I suppressed a sigh of relief. I¡¯d avoided the worst of the storm.

    loc rxed on his throne, his mood swiftly changing from angry and frustrated to content. His stone lips and fangs morphed into a smirk of joy while his hand stroked his chin.

    <em>¡°You braved great ordeals to bring me my beloved¡¯s gift,¡±</em> loc said. <em>¡°I shall grant you an audience in return for your service.¡±</em>

    My hands tightened into fists. The moment of truth hade.

    My first instinct was to ask for his embers, but I held on to that thought and kept it to myself. loc did not ept requests, as he <em>despised </em>tterers. All codices and ounts I¡¯d gathered about him agreed that his temper was only matched by his fits of magnanimity. I had been advised to give him gifts and simply hope for the best.

    If I directly asked him for his embers, he might see it as a ploy to exploit his generosity and take offense. To ensure I would receive his blessing, I needed to ensure that he came up with the idea on his own; to apply <em>very </em>subtle pressure.

    I had long considered how to proceed on my flight to locan¡¯s promisednd, and I thought I¡¯d found a way to kill two birds with one stone.

    ¡°If I may, oh great and mighty loc,¡± I said while clearing my throat in deference. ¡°As a messenger, I would like to argue the case of another rather than acquire anything for myself.¡±

    <em>¡°Another?¡± </em>loc appeared pleasantly intrigued.<em> ¡°Do you speak of the old soul you are transporting? Do you wish me to wee him into my realm?¡±</em>

    I had to admit that the thought crossed my mind. Although loc was as tempestuous as the storms he ruled over, a glimpse at locan showed that it seemed to be exactly the kind of paradise so many souls wished to find after death. Unlike Mother¡¯s parody of a sanctuary, loc cared for his worshipers at least enough to cover their needs and protect them from soul thieves; his pride as a king and god would not allow him to give anything but the best to his chosen people. A peaceful existence among forests and viges would please my father, and he was too kind to ever arouse loc¡¯s wrath.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the vition.

    s, I knew Father would never agree to it.

    ¡°He would not forgive me if I argued in his name and abandoned others to suffer,¡± I replied. My spine tensed up, as I knew my next words might spell my doom. ¡°Lord loc, I would like to argue on behalf of the tortured souls below.¡±

    A lightning bolt struck the spot next to me in a blinding sh.

    It hit the wood tform with such intensity it shattered part of it and sent splinters bouncing off my face. A tense silence fell upon the hall of loc, who observed me with eyes cackling with the heavens¡¯ wrath.

    <em>¡°Speak very wisely, messenger,¡±</em> loc warned me, his voice heavy like the iing storm. <em>¡°Make your case with the utmost grace.¡±</em>

    Had I not faced the fears of Xibalba without flinching and came out reforged, I would have stopped there out of terror. But I¡¯d faced the gods time and time again; though I would remain circumspect, I stayed true to my n.

    ¡°Oh great and mighty loc, I beg you to show the Burned Men the same generosity for which you are known for,¡± I implored the god. ¡°Please end that rain of fire that sears their skin and souls so that their torment might end.¡±

    <em>¡°A torment which they brought upon themselves!¡± </em>loc replied imperiously, his voice heavy with bitterness. <em>¡°I gave those ungrateful traitors plentiful rain and fertilends, so they would never grow hungry. I spared them from disease and cmities, so they would never suffer. I taught them secrets of the gods and industry, so that they could create anything they wanted. I showered them with gifts and love, always helping and guiding those who stumbled. I ruled the sky justly and generously, and in return, only ever expected gratitude. Yet when that witty jaguar stole away my first love, when I was at my lowest point, did they show me the respect I was entitled to?¡±</em>

    Lightning struck all around the tform in a crescendo of rising intensity, with dark rain clouds obscuring loc¡¯s own sun. I myself did my best to remain calm.

    <em>¡°</em><strong><em>No</em></strong><em>!¡±</em> loc thundered, his voice sending a mighty gust blow upon my face with such strength I was thrown backward. Neither the urn nor my carrying frame were affected, however. <em>¡°Instead they tried to raise towers that would reach to the clouds and take through sorcery the water I used to dispense upon them for free! I </em>gave <em>them so many gifts, but the one time I required their love to soothe my soul, they chose to </em><strong><em>steal </em></strong><em>them from me! So tell me, messenger, why should I forgive such treachery?¡± </em>

    The air was so thick with tension that I was tempted to shut my mouth to avoid wasting my chances of earning the embers, when I noticed a startling detail: none of the lightning bolts had struck the assembled musicians, and none bothered to run or take cover.

    The few among them who showed concern weren¡¯t afraid of loc; they were afraid for <em>me</em>. None of them believed that their deity would identally hurt them in his wrath, the way the Nightlords¡¯ servants always feared for their lives.

    I remembered acutely thest time I tried to argue with the Jaguar Woman. She had taken the mere gesture as offense, and forced me to pay the price with Sigrun¡¯s life and that of so many others.

    loc could have reduced me to dust at any time with his lightning, yet deliberately missed. He made his frustration known, but did not punish me for talking back. Thereinid the crucial differencepared to how the Jaguar Woman treated me.

    Though stubborn and bitter, loc was actually <em>listening </em>to my case.

    This realization emboldened me. I might have a chance of convincing him should I find the right, respectful arguments.

    ¡°Your wrath is justified, oh great and mighty loc,¡± I argued calmly as I adjusted my strategy. I had been in enough tense situations to keep a cool head. ¡°But those husks feel no guilt anymore. The pain has stripped them of their very reason. I do not think they even remember why they ought to beg for your forgiveness, or the crimes that they havemitted. They simply exist to <em>suffer</em>.¡±

    <em>¡°As they </em><strong><em>should</em></strong><em>. As they </em><strong><em>deserve</em></strong><em>.¡±</em>

    ¡°But how can they understand their faults and show you proper respect if they cannot understand <em>what </em>they did wrong anymore?"

    <em>¡°Enough!¡± </em>The roar of booming thunder silenced me. <em>¡°Why are you asking me this, mortal? Why beg for the salvation of souls who deserve their pain? Answer me!¡±</em>

    Once again I sensed the will of loc take me over. His words wormed their way into my mind and soul to draw the truth out of them. His power demanded a statement from me, and no amount of willpower I could muster would stop him. I almost confessed my n to endear myself to the god, a ttery for which he would smite me over.

    However¡­

    However, another and deeper truth fought its way to my lips. I hadn¡¯t lied about one thing: I did not make that demand for myself, not only. I argued for the sake of another whose judgment I couldn¡¯t bear.

    ¡°I want to make my father proud of me,¡± I confessed, the words flowing out of my mouth on their own. ¡°I do not wish for him to be disappointed in me for passing on an opportunity to make this world a better ce.¡±

    loc immediately released his hold on my mind. I felt like a drowned man being pulled out of the water and allowed to breathe. The thunder stopped echoing in the distance, though the rain clouds didn¡¯t dissipate.

    <em>¡°You are a virtuous son, messenger,¡± </em>loc dered with genuine praise. His wrath had turned to an almost paternal pride. I suddenly realized that this god was like the wind: suddenly blowing one way or another with all his strength, neither settling on a middle ground<em>. </em>

    I took thepliment in good grace. Truthfully, my own words surprised me. I didn¡¯t think my father¡¯s words had rattled me so deeply, though I was thankful that they did. ¡°Your praise honors me, oh great loc.¡±

    <em>¡°I shall reward your filial piety ordingly¡­ but I will not forgive my own treacherous children on a single mortal¡¯s behalf. I was </em><strong><em>their </em></strong><em>father, and they </em><strong><em>disappointed </em></strong><em>me.¡± </em>The god¡¯s statue held his head high.<em> ¡°loc has spoken.¡±</em>

    And like that, I knew I¡¯d missed my chance to save the Burned Men. I wished I could argue further, but the god¡¯s tone broke no disobedience. He considered the matter closed and the hearingpleted.

    At least I had tried¡­

    loc¡¯s gaze lingered on his wife¡¯s urn for a long time, then he waved his hand at the gift. The receptacle opened and its content floated out of it. I dared to take a peek and found myself speechless.

    I had expected many things; a jewel, a scroll, even tears and water.

    But never a maize flower.

    It was small and colorful, but otherwise inly ordinary. I detected no ancient magic woven into its strands, no divine power empowering it with vitality. It was a mere nt, preciously rare underground, but all toomon in the world of the living.

    The sheer absurdity of it all almost drew augh from me. All of this effort, all to transport a mere <em>flower</em>?

    However, I kept my mouth shut.

    loc wasn¡¯tughing.

    The god of storms called the maize flower into the palm of his immense hand, then examined it with a grace that belied his strength and size as if it were the most precious thing in the world. The crackling lightning in his eyes dimmed.

    I heard a soft sound, and then sensed something fresh hit me. A moist drop of water dripped from the leaves and onto my back. More followed, softly pounding against the earth as the clouds wept.

    For the first time in eons, the skies of locan rained water rather than mes.

    It was a faint drizzle rather than the overwhelming downpour that engulfed the Underworld¡¯s First Layer, but the raindrops were fresh enough to likely reduce even locan¡¯s high temperature.

    <em>¡°After I rained fire upon the world in my grief and fury, Inguished in bitterness over and of mes,¡±</em> loc said with deep and profound sorrow.<em> ¡°All of which I had made and loved was reduced to ashes, and I knew I had failed to guide the world.¡±</em>

    He clutched the flower and then pressed it against his heart, as if it were balm for his soul.

    <em>¡°Yet through my wrath, my dear Chalchiuhtlicue offered me a maize flower which she had saved from the destruction, to remind me of what I could create and soothe my wounded heart,¡±</em> he said with fondness. <em>¡°I was seized by such passion that I took her as my wife and granted her wish to mother a new humanity.¡±</em>

    I kept my mouth shut. The affection in loc¡¯s voice reminded me of the tone Nl used when she said she loved me, and how Father spoke of Mother; a deep and boundless affection like the sea.

    <em>¡°Very well,¡±</em> loc dered after a moment¡¯s consideration. <em>¡°I have changed my mind. Where I have destroyed, I shall now create.¡±</em>

    My head perked up slightly.

    <em>¡°I shall no longer rain fire upon my treacherous children,¡± </em>loc dered.<em> ¡°I will grant them respite from their suffering. Should some have learned their lesson and petition me for forgiveness, I shall judge them fairly. Those who show genuine contrition shall be granted a chance to return to locan. The rest will be allowed to find rest with King Mtecuhtli. So spoke loc, god of the rain.¡±</em>

    loc wouldn¡¯t forgive his children for a mortal¡¯s sake, but he couldn¡¯t deny his divine wife anything. Such was the privilege of a god, to change one¡¯s mind on a whim and shake the world.

    I wondered if this had been Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s intent from the start. She always possessed a great deal of affection for humankind; enough to cry over its fourth incarnation for eons. Perhaps she hoped to inspire a fit of remorse in her husband¡¯s heart, or maybe it was all a fortuitous coincidence.

    The rain soon ended, and loc finally remembered my existence. <em>¡°What is thy name, messenger?¡±</em>

    ¡°I am Iztac Ce Ehecatl, current and <emst </em>emperor of Yohuachanca,¡± I replied politely. ¡°Though I have been called Cizin, the fear of the gods.¡±

    <em>¡°A bold title for a mortal such as you.¡±</em> loc stroked his tusks. <em>¡°Yohuachanca¡­ I remember a bat who bore this name visiting me once, and who then went on to ascend to the highest of heights. I knew you seemed familiar to me. Are you his descendant, perchance?¡±</em>

    ¡°I¡­ I cannot say, oh mighty loc.¡± The mere idea of sharing a family tree with the Nightlords disgusted me, but I couldn¡¯t exclude the possibility. Their blood-refining program ran deep. ¡°I am the inheritor of his mortal throne, at least.¡±

    <em>¡°The two of you look very much alike,¡± </em>loc mused. <em>¡°He was a seeker of knowledge, who sought to understand the mysteries of the world in order to free his people from an upstart cmity. The purity of his quest moved me, so I lent him my power.¡±</em>

    ¡°Yohuachanca did seed in defeating the god that oppressed his people, only to sire more disasters himself,¡± I replied, which didn¡¯t seem to surprise loc in the slightest.

    <em>¡°I expected as much. He nursed a terrible hunger for knowledge, for truth, for secrets that no answer could satisfy. A mortal¡¯s desire pales before a god¡¯s appetite.¡±</em> loc looked up at the canopy. The rain clouds had dissipated, allowing the sunlight to shine through once more. <em>¡°Divinity will magnify what lurks inside of you, Iztac Ce Ehecatl. Should you not contain your ws, there wille a time when they be the masters, and you the ve. We gods </em>are <em>our powers; we cannot prevail over our own nature.¡±</em>

    loc¡¯s mood turned almost mncholic and regretful. To my utter surprise, the boastful and wrathful god seemed to be humble and self-reflecting.

    <em>¡°That is why I created this sanctuary, for</em><em>I </em><strong><em>must </em></strong><em>bring forth the storm and the rain among the living and the dead,¡± </em>loc said with a sigh heavier than mountains. <em>¡°Sometimes, I cut short lives before their time with floods and lightning, or the pestilence that my rain brings. I am always seized with remorse for ying those who did not slight me, and so I im their souls and grant them sanctuary along with my truly faithful. So do I wee those who were sacrificed in my name, for while a generous god always rewards his worshipers¡¯ acts of faith, he must also take responsibility for them.¡±</em>

    I had to admit, I never considered why loc built this promisednd floating above the hell of his own making. I knew he imed the souls of his worshipers, sacrifices, and those in by natural disasters, but I thought he did it out of greed rather than guilt and a twisted sense of duty.

    I didn¡¯t hold loc in the same esteem I shared for King Mtecuhtli and Queen Mictecacihualt. These two had earned my respect with their wisdom and thetter¡¯s kindness, and none of them shared an ounce of loc¡¯s violent predisposition. Neither did loc forbid human sacrifice in his vanity and desire to be loved by men, even though he did take care of the dead in in his name.

    But I found him nheless infinitely superior to the Nightlords in his capacity for <empassion</em>.

    His words disturbed me a little however. I pondered them until a worrying possibility formed in my mind.

    loc was the god of storms and rain. I would have thought that his domain reflected his mercurial temperament, but¡­ what if it was the other way around? What if his extreme behavior was the <em>result </em>of his mastery over storms rather than the <em>cause</em>?

    I remember Iztacoatl¡¯s story about how the First Emperor was eventually consumed by the lusts, pain, and hunger which he represented. I¡¯d felt her sire¡¯s own conflict with his divine nature; a battle with himself which he eventually lost.

    How much control over their actions did the gods truly have? I suddenly wondered if they had less freedom than the mortals which they had created. What was the value of power when we couldn¡¯t choose how to use it freely?

    What would befall me should Iplete my ascension? The anger and hatred that pushed me to defy the Nightlords burned brightly enough. Would they spiral out of control, the same way the First Emperor¡¯s hunger for more consumed him? Would my crimese to <em>define </em>me?

    I was starting to understand what my father was afraid of. Even if I had no intention of destroying the world as a god, if the steps I took to reach the heavens were paved with blood¡­ then I might be a blight upon the Fifth Cosmos whether I wanted it or not. Chaos and destruction would be impulses rather than tools.

    <em>¡°Tell me, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡±</em> loc said, his words drawing me out of my thoughts.<em> ¡°You mentioned that young Yohuachanca sired new cmities. What did you mean by this?¡±</em>

    I banished my doubts from my mind. I still had time to think this through; I <em>needed </em>power to cast down the Nightlords. The memory of Iztacoatl shrugging off my burning blood weighed heavily on me.

    The risks inherent to godhood¡­ were eptable.

    ¡°My homnd is under the thrall of Yohuachanca¡¯s daughters, oh mighty loc,¡± I said. ¡°They pretend to be gods while keeping us mortals in bondage.¡±

    I could <em>taste </em>loc¡¯s disgust as I narrated my torments and tribtions at the Nightlords¡¯ hands, followed by tales about how they presented themselves as gods and actively reced the worship of true deities. Thunder resonated above us once again. I took this rising fury as a good sign that loc would support my quest.

    However, I swiftly realized that the god¡¯s righteous anger wasn¡¯t on my behalf, but his own.

    <em>¡°To usurp the title of gods without earning it is the highest of insolence!¡± </em>loc snarled, his anger echoing across locan with the strength of earthquakes.<em> ¡°I understand now why the House of Fright entrusted you with the title of Cizin. You seek to bring the heavens¡¯ justice upon these usurpers.¡± </em>

    ¡°Yes, oh mighty loc,¡± I replied. It wasn¡¯t even truly a lie. The true gods had given their lives to light the various suns. They deserved all of the Nightlords¡¯ unearned veneration. ¡°I wish to cast down these false idols from their ill-gotten thrones, and remind them to fear the heavens which they aspire to obscure.¡±

    <em>¡°A most pious goal.¡± </em>loc nodded to himself, his decision made. <em>¡°I, loc, will grace you my embers as my heart¡¯s dearest did before me. You shall use my power to cast down these false gods who would deceive grateful mortals. Thou shall be my messenger, punish their sphemy on my behalf, and restore the world¡¯s natural order.¡±</em>

    It took all of my willpower to contain my excitement, which I hid by bowing respectfully before the god. ¡°I am most thankful for your magnanimity, oh mighty loc.¡±

    <em>¡°Then rise to your feet, emperor of man, and expose your heart-fire to my glorious light.¡±</em>

    I slowly and obediently followed themand, standing up with my chest held high. The bright sunlight of locan pierced through the rain clouds and the thick canopy above my head and shone upon the fire of my heart.

    Then lightning struck me.

    A bolt brighter than anything descended upon my skeletal ribcage and ignited the spark of my soul. Divine power flowed into my Teyolia, its purple mes glowing with loc¡¯s bright blue hue. The grace of the Third Sun touched me in a sh that brightened the earth and sky.

    Visions flowed into my mind in the blink of an eye and burned their way into my skull. I beheld the rise of civilizations that mastered iron and shaped towers that would rival mountains. I witnessed the arrogance of men, the rain of fire that set their cities aze, and the quakes that cast them down back to the dust where they belonged. I roared in anger at my betrayers who roasted in the ashes of my fury, for I was one with the thunder of victory.

    I weed the newfound strength that rained upon me. The lightning coursed through my veins and set them aze, while my eyes cackled with the shine of truth. My Teyolia absorbed loc¡¯s blue hue and made it into a brighter shade of purple. It had taken time for my soul to burn away Chalchiuhtlicue¡¯s sorrow, but the storm god¡¯s anger mirrored my own so well that it found a wee abode within me. A thrill of indescribable pleasure overtook me, sharper than sex and greater than the pride I felt when I witnessed the fires of Smoke Mountain ascend into the sky.

    The light of my heart cast the deep shadow of the First Emperor behind my soul. His hunger mirrored the great pride which swelled from within me, the same darkness appeared thicker in the glowing light. My mind cleared of all doubts until I reached a keen and absolute certainty.

    The world was <em>mine</em>.

    Mine to take, mine to seize, mine to rule.

    Why be a <em>ve </em>when I could be the <em>master</em>, fair, magnanimous, and all-powerful? Glorious in his kindness and terrible in his wrath? Father of a dynasty that wouldst a thousand years, wealthier and brighter than the stars?

    Divine justice was mine to dispense as I wished. I was the fear of the gods themselves; the wrath and mercy of the righteous heavens, who would restore their proper worship and cast down the usurpers into the abyss. I alone among mortals would decide whom to reward and whom to punish. For unlike the daughters of the night, I had earned every ounce of my power and privilege. I had conquered Xibalba, earned the blessing of the true gods, and set the world aze.

    Who else but me <em>deserved </em>to rule?

    Woe to any fool who dared to threaten my property. Those who paid me homage, returned my kindness with gratitude, and earned my affection would be well-defended and cared for; while those who defied me would burn in a rain of cosmic fire! I was one with the storm that could bring down the mountains, and <em>none </em>would stand in my way!

    Then, after the bright sh of pride, came the remorse.

    I was suddenly seized with the sorrow and mncholy of the rain clouds, and the guilt that followed the flood. I suddenly remembered the cost of my triumphs and the dead left in my wake, often by intent, and usually by ident. I was acutely reminded of my losses, great and small. Sigrun¡¯s life, Father¡¯s esteem, and the innocents whom I had murdered.

    I had the power to turn everything to ashes, and sometimes, that included what I loved.

    The surge of power faded, and I soon returned to reality. I remembered kneeling when I received my first embers; this time, I stood with my head held high. My heart burned like Smoke Mountain and my soul shone with the lightning of victory. My entire being shuddered with the power of a storm waiting to be unleashed.

    I was stronger and more confident than ever before, but also acutely aware that my strength and appetite would carry a cost if used unwisely.

    I was halfway through the path to godhood.

    And I had no idea what reflection awaited me at the road¡¯s end.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter Seventy-Eight: Rainmaker

    Chapter Seventy-Eight: Rainmaker

    My heart was a furnace.

    My once paltry Teyolia now burned with the intensity of a zing crucible. Its mes hungrily flowed out of my ribs in waves of searing heat. My veins brimmed with the sunlight of life. I had grown strong enough to crush skulls like grapes or crack stones within my palms. I knew, I had checked. I had grown more agile than a jaguar and gained the acute senses of one. My flesh healed from its wounds far quicker too. My skin knitted itself back together in seconds without leaving a scar.

    As for my blood¡­ The purple mes it gave birth to always appeared with shes of lightning now, like a curse summoned by the heavens¡¯ will. They were no longer small nor weak, hardly able to leave burns on the skin of those I applied them to. They instead endured with the vigor of bright torches. A mortal would likely suffer from heavy wounds at their contact, and a lesser Nightkin would likely turn to dust in an instant. My own skin felt far too warm to the touch, as if I had just gotten out of a hot bath.

    I was halfway to bing a god, and it showed. There was no way I could hide these supernatural urrences.

    However, all of these physical changes paled before the increased power of my spells. I had only begun to test the basic ones, and the results already spoke for themselves.

    loc had allowed me to stay in locan for as long as I wished under the condition that I did not disturb the souls living there, so I set up shop in an isted area near the floating ind¡¯s edge. I¡¯d set down one of my predecessors¡¯ Bonecrafted skull vessels next to Father under the shadow of a tree alongside my carrying frame, so that they might observe my progress. They both watched in awed silence as I triggered the ze and unleashed a mighty fireball into the sky beyond locan.

    loc had been true to his words. His fiery clouds had started to clear and stopped raining fire upon the poor Burned Men below. Instead, it was now <em>my </em>turn to set the heavens aze. I¡¯d been limited to small streams of fire with the ze before, but now the purple fireball that erupted from my hand put all my previous disys to shame. An incandescent explosion of searing purple mes wide enough to st a house apart detonated above the clouds, sending waves of heat at me.

    ¡°This is quite encouraging,¡± my predecessors¡¯ skull vessel muttered with enthusiasm. I sensed their voice rippling through their bones and teeth, the same way Bonecraft granted me a supreme awareness of all of my bones.

    I focused on the skull almost on instinct, like a fish suddenly realizing that he could swim. My predecessors floated up in the air and hovered over the grass without any effort on my part, nor with the use of the Doll spell. I only had to <em>think </em>of it and it <em>happened</em>.Bonecraft now allowed me to manipte bones when they were <em>outside </em>my body. I tried to do the same with Father¡¯s skull, but sensed no link between us, no reaction of any form. The power only applied to my own skeleton, or skulls shaped from them.

    ¡°All of my spells have grown in strength and application,¡± I noted as I mentally caused the emperors¡¯ skull tond softly on the grass. ¡°I will need time to check them all, and the night is almost spent.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± my predecessors whispered in return. ¡°We have hidden the worst of it, but we suspect the Nightlords may have at least sensed a pulse in your heart-fire. It would be wise to weave a lie and me the First Emperor once more.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± I replied, my jaw clenching. ¡°I will not be able to hide these new changes from the Nightlords.¡±

    ¡°You can at least downy the power you¡¯ve earned,¡± the Parliament of Skulls advised me. ¡°We have hidden most of the surge behind our spiritual veil. The Nightlords will mistake your heart¡¯s radiance for the north star¡¯s bright glow rather than a young sun.¡±

    ¡°My newfound power will frighten them even if I feign loyalty,¡± I countered. ¡°They have tried their best to shackle me and their vile father, and yet I wake up stronger. It will give the White Snake a de to stab me with.¡±

    The past emperors pondered the question for a moment beforeing up with a solution. ¡°Then you need to both reassure the Nightlords by reminding them of their leverage, and to redirect their attention on a more pressing threat.¡±

    ¡°Like the Sapa?¡±

    ¡°That would be your wisest option,¡± my predecessors replied. ¡°You have sessfully med many setbacks on them. If you can tie them to your burning blood, or even better, the First Emperor¡¯s actions¡­ then all these moving parts and coincidences will be part of a threatening conspiracy against them. A plot whose destruction will remove any danger you might represent to their established order.¡±

    I pondered the suggestion. Yes, my best bet to avoid the Nightlords¡¯ wrath was to both redirect their attention <em>and </em>present them with a false solution to the problem I represented. The strings would have to be subtle so they would not be too visible, but I could think of a story that would at least give me a chance to deceive them.

    As for the leverage¡­ I had already shown them the lengths I was willing to go through to save Astrid on Ingrid¡¯s behalf. The Nightlords knew how much I cared for my consorts and concubines. If I reminded the bats of my affection for them, then I could convince them that they still held power over me through them.

    ¡°Be warned that your power now far eclipses ours,¡± the previous emperors said. ¡°We won¡¯t be able to hide your next set of embers from our enemies¡¯ sight. The Nightlords will sense the light of your heart pierce through the ghostly veil of our wailing souls. They will <em>see</em>, and they will <em>know</em>.¡±

    I gave them a sharp nod. I had reached the same conclusion the moment I sensed loc¡¯s power flow within me. No armor of lies could keep divinity hidden forever. I had to find a way to weaken the Nightlords¡¯ grasp on my soul and prepare for a fight before I obtained the third set of embers.

    The prospect of confronting the Nightlords over my sudden surge in power would have filled me with anxiety once, but I found myself keeping a clear head. Yes, I understood that my captors learning of my sorcery and treachery would of course be devastating to my cause. I would do my best to keep the truth to myself.

    But I didn¡¯t fear the Nightlords like I used to.

    I¡¯d lived through the fear of discovery once in the halls of Xibalba and found an unquenchable well of resolve within myself then. Most importantly, I had faced true deities and seen what the vampire desperately wished to be; the great and terrible forces of nature that they so miserably failed to mimic. None of the Nightlords could hope to measure up to loc, whose might and confidence ran deep in my veins.

    The power to drag them down from their thrones was almost within my grasp. I only had to stall for time until I was ready to fight them on even ground; and then I would teach them how to fear the <em>true </em>gods of the world.

    However, while my predecessors did not hide their enthusiasm at my progress, Father had remained eerily silent so far. I could feel his gaze on me at all times, assessing my actions without judging them. I sensed no reproach in him, but <em>something </em>definitively weighed on his mind.

    ¡°Father?¡± I asked softly. ¡°Is there something wrong?¡±

    ¡°I am proud that you negotiated with loc on behalf of these poor souls below, my son,¡± Father said with sincere warmth. It filled my heart with relief. ¡°However, it does not alleviate the dread his words inspired. If the divine power which you have gained magnifies what lurks inside your heart¡­¡±

    ¡°Then he will possess the strength to destroy the vampires,¡± the emperors replied confidently. ¡°So long as our sessor does not lose sight of his righteous quest.¡±

    ¡°But what will <em>define </em>my son¡¯s godhood, Your Majesties?¡± Father asked grimly. ¡°His righteous goal, or the bloody means he used to reach it?¡±

    The emperors had no answer to those questions; and neither did I.

    Father had a point. I had stained my hands with blood, epted Xibalba¡¯s crown of fear, and embraced the image of the First Emperor¡¯s prophet. Though I only acted in the pursuit of my ultimate goal of destroying the Nightlords, I had sown chaos and death among the living. As far as mortals were concerned, I might as well embody a god of tyranny and brutality.

    Would it be my actions that woulde to define me, or my intentions? As much as I hoped for thetter, I had learned that the beliefs and perception of mortals had a heavy impact on the divine. The appearances of power mattered just as much as strength itself. In the eyes of many, I was the mad emperor of Yohuachanca, murderous ruler of and built on bloodshed, and Godspeaker for the hungry masters of the night.

    Would the spark of my godhood be tainted from the start?

    <em>It was the Lords of Terror¡¯s n all along.</em> The certainty wouldn¡¯t leave me now. It didn¡¯t matter if my intentions were noble should the role I assumed forced me to y the role of the tyrant and tormentor. Even the First Emperor eventually sumbed to the hunger and suffering he hade to embody in spite of his fearsome resistance. <em>To bring forth a new god of fear into the mortal world. </em>

    My father sensed my doubts and attempted to reassure me. ¡°I know you only mean well, my son,¡± he said calmly. ¡°However, the actions of the powerful are never without consequences, and I fear that you will be crushed under their weight if you continue down your current path. We <em>are </em>our choices.¡±

    ¡°There is still time to adjust our course of action and gather information, Lord Itzili,¡± the Parliament of Skull insisted. ¡°We have yet to find the key to the nextyer, and we must assess the limits of our sessor¡¯s new powers. Studying the First Emperor¡¯s codices might provide insight into divinity itself.¡±

    That seemed to be the most sensible course of action so far. I couldn¡¯t allow my godhood to be a prison. I hadn¡¯t sacrificed so much to escape my current cage only to fall into another.

    Moreover, this would give Father some time to reconsider his decision to join with my predecessors. Though I knew he would refuse to return to M or stay in locan, the idea of binding his soul to them bothered me to my core.

    I felt the call of wakefulness tugging at my mind.

    ¡°I am about to awaken,¡± I warned the skulls before putting them inside the carrying frame and using the Doll to dig a hole to bury it. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone will steal you here, but it is better to be safe than sorry.¡±

    ¡°It has been a long night,¡± Father conceded with a sigh. ¡°Think about everything, my son. Haste has never been a friend to good decisions.¡±

    ¡°I promise,¡± I replied softly. I knew I could expect a long discussion about our family and my choices once I fell asleep again.

    ¡°Please watch over your sister in my stead,¡± Father asked softly, his ghostfire eyes wavering in their eye sockets. ¡°She¡­ she should know. Both the truth, and that she¡¯s not alone.¡±

    I clenched my jaw and failed to answer before closing the carrying frame. I barely had time to bury my father and predecessors under a tree before the call of dawn dragged me out of the Underworld.

    I awoke changed.

    I could feel it the moment I opened my eyes. The energy, the strength, and the warmth flowing through me. My Underworld self was a reflection of my living self, hence why I had to slowly reinforce my skeleton to fuel my Bonecraft spell, but it remained a projection of my soul. I harbored little of my living flesh.

    I¡¯d never woken up feeling so <em>powerful</em>.

    My heart pounded louder than a war drum in my rib cage. My muscles strained with newfound might. They¡¯d grown thicker since Ist fell asleep. The faint touch of the bed sheet had never seemed so sharp, nor the warmth of a woman¡¯s skin so pleasurable. My senses were <em>knives</em>, my skin smooth and imperishable like marble. No impurity survived within my lungs and I exhaled air purer than the wind itself.

    I sensed a gaze upon me. Lady Zyanya slept on my left, but Necahual was awake on my right, her eyes studying me carefully. I immediately noticed a few changes. Her skin was lustrous and without imperfections, her breasts firmer, her face radiating health and vitality. She had lost her wrinkles; maybe even a few years of age.

    ¡°Did you dream of lightning?¡± she asked me immediately.

    My thundering heart skipped a beat in surprise. I knew I had bound her soul to mine, but had our bond grown so strong? How much did she <em>see</em>? ¡°How do you know that?¡±

    ¡°Because I dreamed of being struck by it, and when I woke up, you were¡­¡± Necahual searched for the right word for a moment. ¡°<em>Sharper</em>.¡±

    I supposed ¡®sharper¡¯ was a good way to describe the change. I studied my arms and admired my rippling muscles. I clenched my fist and basked in my newfound power. After spending most of my years weak and malnourished, the thrill of growing stronger was almost <em>addictive</em>.

    Necahual locked eyes with me. ¡°Something happened in your sleep. I could feel it in my heart and bones.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it did.¡± I smelled something on Zyanya¡¯s lips; an odor so faint I almost failed to notice it. ¡°You drugged her.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you could tell,¡± Necahual replied with genuine surprise. ¡°I have strengthened sleep¡¯s hold on her with a near-odorless potion. I did not wish for her to raise the rm should anything unusual happen.¡±

    ¡°Wise.¡± I wasn¡¯t even surprised that she carried that kind of poison hidden on her person. It helped in a pinch.

    ¡°That is how you gained your powers,¡± Necahual guessed. ¡°Your spirit wanders away in your dreams.¡±

    I clenched my jaw. If she had noticed the pattern, I feared others would see it too. ¡°Do you truly wish to know?¡±

    Necahual hesitated, then shook her head. ¡°I won¡¯t probe further, to avoid any slip-ups.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± I caressed her cheek, only to sense a small jolt at our contact, like a current of electricity flowing between us. It startled me a bit, much to Necahual¡¯s amusement. ¡°I¡¯m not the only one to have been struck by lightning.¡±

    ¡°It seems so.¡± Necahual raised her hand and focused on her fingers. I saw faint jolts of electricity coursing between her nails, their blue bright light reminding me immediately of locan¡¯s sun. ¡°Is this normal for a witch?¡±

    ¡°I suppose.¡± My predecessors never mentioned that Mometzcopinque could call upon lightning, but I guessed none of those on records had formed a pact with a demigod. Necahual and I were spiritually linked now. The greater my power, the more abilities she would likely obtain. ¡°Are you pleased with your gift?¡±

    ¡°You know I am.¡± Necahual waved her hand and the lightning vanished. ¡°I have waited my whole <em>life</em> for this. I will relish the day when I can wield these powers in public."

    ¡°Perhaps thepany of a coven would improve your mood,¡± I suggested while ncing at the other woman in my bed. ¡°I have enough energy to bind another witch. Would she suffice?¡±

    ¡°You would be a fool to choose her.¡± Necahual sneered at the sleeping Zyanya in disdain. Clearly their earlier discussion hadn¡¯t improved her opinion of my future mistress. ¡°Go with Lahun. She will make for a better witch, and most importantly, a loyal one. She is wise enough to understand the Nightlords will never reward treachery for long, unlike this snake.¡±

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences.

    ¡°Hence why binding her soul to me would secure her obedience,¡± I countered.

    Necahual scoffed. ¡°The same way the Nightlords secured <em>yours </em>by binding your soul?¡±

    Her answer drew augh from me. ¡°True.¡±

    The Nightlords schemed against their father though the vampire curse bound them, and I was doing the same in spite of the danger such action presented. Loyalty built on sorcery alone was more fickle than it looked.

    ¡°Bind Lahun and lead the opportunist on without trusting her,¡± Necahual suggested. ¡°I will keep an eye on Zyanya and research better candidates for the ritual, after informing my daughter of your other plot concerning her new¡­ vessel.¡±

    I studied Necahual for a moment. She looked like every bit the schemer Lady Sigrun had been.

    I realized that the changes weren¡¯t just physical. Her confidence had grown too. Necahual usually stuck to advising me or following my orders, but here she was taking the lead on multiple fronts. Gaining magic had made her bolder, the same way it gave me the courage to stand on my own two feet.

    It pleased me greatly.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Necahual asked me when I failed to answer.

    ¡°I find it arousing when you scheme and plot,¡± I said while caressing her cheek. My blood stirred with fierce desire. Consuming loc¡¯s embers had only magnified my passion for her. ¡°As far as I am concerned, this was <em>our </em>wedding night.¡±

    ¡°If I were your wife, you would be mine for three more nights,¡± Necahual countered, a smile at the edge of her lips. ¡°I am not certain your other bedves would appreciate it.¡±

    ¡°I will be sure to visit you again soon, my witch of disaster.¡± I resisted the urge to im her immediately. I would have loved nothing more than to savor the taste of her flesh on my lips, but I had to cover my tracks. ¡°I will have to report to the Nightlords.¡±

    ¡°It would be wise.¡± Necahual stared at me for a moment, a thought crossing her mind. ¡°I think I used to be the same as her.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Whom?¡±

    ¡°Your snake. Her soul is as small and petty as mine once was.¡± Necahual gave me a knowing look. ¡°Use that against her.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Necahual¡¯s insight often proved very close to the truth. ¡°I will keep it in mind.¡±

    I had many lies to tell.

    I visited the grand temple of Zacha in the morning.

    First though, I thanked the wedding¡¯s guests for the fantastic event, promising them that the heavens would soon reward their hospitality and that I would personally shower its poor citizens with gifts. I only did that to fulfill the Cloak spell¡¯s demands, but Zacha¡¯s people would thank me nheless.

    xc feigned gratitude for the ¡®honor¡¯ I bestowed upon his wife, and dly epted my request to follow me south to witness me crushing the Sapa Empire beneath my feet. I suspected he was even sincere. Staying close to me would let him curry favor with Iztacoatl and give him the glory of participating in a war without actually endangering himself.

    The things men did for wealth and fame.

    Afterwards, I entered the temple¡¯s depths demanding an audience with the Nightlords, which I was granted. I knew Eztli and Iztacoatl were already in the city, and the other two simply teleported from the pool of blood hidden in their sanctuary.

    I was now certain that each temple across thend had one of these devices to allow the Nightlords to manifest everywhere around their dominion in a pinch. I would need to take them into ount when plotting their demise.

    And blood they made me shed.

    I had to slice open my palm with an obsidian knife and fill a cup under their watch. The sight of the Jaguar Woman¡¯s frustration when she saw a burst of purple fire surge out of my veins almost brought a smile to my face, though I managed to contain my joy.

    ¡°A disappointing oue,¡± Sugey stated bluntly.

    ¡°A <em>dangerous </em>one,¡± Iztacoatl corrected her.

    ¡°Quite,¡± the Jaguar Woman hissed through her clenched teeth. She had spent so much effort trying to traumatize her father in an attempt to deny me ¡®his¡¯ supernatural gifts, only to see them grow stronger a mere night afterward. It was a humiliating turn of events for her, and unlike me, Eztli didn¡¯t bother to hide her amusement at this turn of events.

    Moreover, none of the Nightlords dared to touch my burning blood; or at least not in my presence. I¡¯d seen Iztacoatl swallow it before without issue nor hesitation, so their hesitation warmed my heart.

    Part of them at least <em>thought </em>it could harm them.

    As I feared, it only gave Iztacoatl more arrows to fire at me. ¡°Do you see the danger that he represents, my sisters? Father is turning him into a dagger to bury into our hearts!¡±

    ¡°Is he?¡± Sugey asked sharply. ¡°Father is the night incarnate, yet our Godspeaker¡¯s blood burns with sunlight, and not the sulfurous kind.¡±

    I hid my unease behind a mask of stone-coldposure. Curse it, I hadn¡¯t expected the Bird of War to be so sharp. She had pulled a thread that could unmake me.

    ¡°True,¡± the Jaguar Woman said with a mix of frustration and curiosity. From the look on her face, she was as equally puzzled by this oue as it annoyed her. ¡°You said that you dreamed of <em>lightning, </em>our Godspeaker?¡±

    I could not fail this. I had rehearsed the story in my head on my way to the temple, and now I prayed to the true gods that I could make it sound true.

    ¡°At the end of the dream, yes,¡± I replied while on my knees. I had considered what tale to tell them and decided to go with half-truths, while also fishing for information. ¡°The vision itself began with two brothers hunting a monstrous bat.¡±

    The short silence that followed confirmed my suspicions.

    It was extremely <em>brief</em>, but Eztli and I both caught that brief glimpse in the Nightlords¡¯ eyes; that odd look of confusion when a story sounded oddly familiar, yet vague enough to sow doubt.

    ¡°I cannot exactly describe them, though they felt like brothers to me for a reason I can¡¯t exin,¡± I recounted, both of which were true. I was basing myself on second-hand ounts. ¡°They slew the creature, but one of them transformed into a bat of shadow that casts thend into eternal night. The other flew to the mountains in the shape of a bird with golden feathers.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman¡¯s gaze sharpened, and I didn¡¯t fail to catch the brief nce her sisters exchanged.

    ¡°Afterwards, I found myself in a mountainousnd where fire rains from the sky. A great bird descended from above and hunted me down.¡± I was careful to avoid mentioning that this bird and the emperor¡¯s brother were unrted. I would let the Nightlords draw their own assumptions. ¡°I flew away on owl wings into the clouds, and then I was struck with lightning when I finally reached the sun shining above them.¡±

    ¡°Describe the bird,¡± the Jaguar Woman ordered me, her voice sharper than a de.

    ¡°It was a great vulture, with a ruff of feathers around the neck and a featherless head,¡± I replied before feigning partial ignorance. ¡°I believe it was a¡­ <em>condor</em>. I believe they are called that?¡±

    ¡°A <em>condor</em>?¡± Iztacoatl studied me coldly. I knew she knew I wasn¡¯t telling the full truth. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t hide details from us now, would you?¡±

    I feigned unease. ¡°Well, there is something that I¡­¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°That I fear would sound sphemous.¡±

    ¡°How could anything <em>you </em>say be sphemous when you speak in our name?¡± the Jaguar Woman replied. ¡°Your duty is to keep nothing from us. We alone shall judge the truth from heresy.¡±

    I nodded slowly while feigning submission. ¡°One of the brothers, the one who became the shadow¡­ His presence felt simr to that of the First Emperor himself.¡±

    The deafening silence, undercut neither byughs nor denials, put my suspicions to rest. I was sure of it now. The pictures in Xibalba indeed recounted the origins of their vampiric n.

    ¡°But that would be impossible,¡± I replied, my head low. ¡°Mighty Yohuachanca had no brother nor equal, that it is known.¡±

    ¡°It is known,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied, lying through her teeth.

    I resisted the urge tough in scorn. The Jaguar Woman always presented a facade of regal divinity, presenting herself as standing abovemon mortals, but now I realized what first made me doubt her ims of godliness in the first ce.

    She was trying to convince<em> herself</em>.

    The Jaguar Woman had genuine power, and more than enough cruelty to terrify mortals into going along with her decisions, but deep down a part of her would always <em>know </em>that she was an imposter and that she existed in the shadow of another. She would <em>always </em>try a little too hard, whereas the likes of loc had nothing to prove. A storm didn¡¯t try to convince people to cower in its presence. It simply blew everything in its way and let men fear its wrath on their own.

    I wouldn¡¯t say I¡¯d <em>stopped </em>fearing the Jaguar Woman¡ªI definitely was no match for her in battle yet¡ªbut she no longer intimidated me to the core of my being.

    Nheless, I did feel an edge of danger when she asked, ¡°Is that all?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°Afterwards, I saw the bird fall onto the ground below,¡± I replied, conveniently leaving out the fact that I cast it down myself. ¡°The fiery clouds cleared afterwards to unveil a new sky. Then¡­¡±

    I took a deep breath, as if I hesitated to keep my mouth shut for a moment. It was all a trick, but it did win me over all of the Nightlords¡¯ undivided attention.

    ¡°I saw a blue sun floating over my head,¡± I said, ¡°My heart bare open.¡±

    I knew I had won the moment the Jaguar Woman¡¯s eyes widened in greed and surprise. ¡°<em>Blue</em>?¡±

    ¡°A blue sun, goddess,¡± I confirmed, finishing with a killing blow I knew they couldn¡¯t resist and the very thing that kept me alive: <em>hope</em>. ¡°Brighter than a sulfur¡¯s me.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman studied my expression, looking for any hint of treachery. Her expression reminded me of an eagle eyeing a tasty rodent which had unwittingly crossed its path. Such a surprising, tasty prize to be taken away, if only there was no catch to it. But she found none, for I had only said the truth; or at least, the interpretation which they so desperately wanted to hear.

    My vision ended with a sulfur sun.

    I had dangled the most irresistible catch in front of her, greater than the possibility of ultimate victory: the possibility that she could wash away the insult that represented the New Fire Ceremony¡¯s fiasco; that she could somehow salvage the failed ritual she worked so hard toplete, if only she could figure it out.

    Sugey studied the cup of burning blood I¡¯d so kindly shed for them. ¡°How do you exin this, sisters?¡±

    ¡°Father has grown quiet and his shadows dimmer, yet our Godspeaker¡¯s blood shines brighter still. Could it be that this light does note from our progenitor, but our¡ª¡± The Jaguar Woman¡¯s face twisted into a frown, a question on the tip of her tongue. ¡°No, that should not¡­ hecked the spark of godhood¡­¡±

    ¡°As far as we know,¡± Sugey replied. ¡°We have suffered a string of setbacks and incidents this year, and all of them point towards the Sapa Empire. Those ma-lovers wouldn¡¯t act so boldly against us without a secret weapon. If they have found a way to use him to disrupt the ritual¨C¡±

    ¡°It should <em>not </em>act this way,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied, her eyes ring at Eztli. ¡°But then again, our new sister has big shoes to fill.¡±

    Eztli bristled ufortably. ¡°I did everything as you¡¯ve asked.¡±

    ¡°And that clearly wasn¡¯t <em>enough</em>,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied angrily.

    ¡°How can we even believe him?¡± Iztacoatl pointed out with skepticism. ¡°Our Godspeaker could have imagined things.¡±

    ¡°I sensed no lie, and his dream¡­¡± The Jaguar Woman studied the cup and its mes. ¡°What if¡­ what if it is another sun that prevents ours from rising¡­¡±

    I had nted the seeds of doubt. Now was my opportunity to remind them of their leverage.

    ¡°If I may, oh great goddesses,¡± I said, clearing my throat. ¡°With your permission, I would also like to petition you for better guards.¡±

    This took Iztacoatl by surprise, and why wouldn¡¯t it? I would be a fool to request more oversight.

    ¡°Why?¡± she asked immediately, her eyes squinting at me.

    ¡°Two of my consorts are pregnant with my children.¡± One of whom I very much regretted. ¡°As is my favorite, Necahual.¡±

    Eztli¡¯s face beamed with happiness, her lips stretching into a smirk of absolute relief and pleasure. ¡°<em>Finally</em>?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied with a genuine smile, albeit one full of unease. I had no idea how this news would influence Eztli¡¯s behavior. I feared it would strengthen Yoloxochitl¡¯s hold on her mind more than anything. ¡°Our gift to you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, Iztac¡­¡± Eztli didn¡¯t bother hiding her joy, her hand moving to her face to suppress forming tears of blood. She almost sobbed in relief, as if we had conceived the child ourselves. ¡°This is¡­ I do not know what to say¡­¡±

    ¡°You fear for their safety,¡± Sugey guessed with a snort of amusement.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I replied, which was entirely true. The Three-Rivers Federation had already sent an assassin that came frighteningly close to killing two of my consorts after all. ¡°One killer nearly slew Nl and Chikal, and I expect more wille soon.¡±

    ¡°I cannot me you for requesting better help,¡± Sugey replied, her eyes turning at Iztacoatl in contempt.

    Thetter clenched her jaw. Her sister didn¡¯t openly me the White Snake for that disaster in front of me out of a desire to present a unified front, but her true thoughts were more than clear.

    Nheless, that ought to reassure the Nightlords. Asking them to protect my bedmates and unborn children meant that I <em>cared </em>for them, and they had never failed to see love as a weakness to exploit.

    ¡°I intend to sire more children, so that my bloodline may endure after me,¡± I said. ¡°I would ask for immortal soldiers to protect my progeny.¡±

    ¡°Your bloodline is precious to Yohuachanca and will be protected,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied. ¡°So long as you continue to fight our empire¡¯s enemies.¡±

    Iztacoatl stared at her in disbelief. ¡°You will still send him to fight? Even after all of <em>this</em>?¡±

    ¡°We still need to ascertain what is happening, but an emperor that does not show up to his own war will make us look weak,¡± the Jaguar Woman stated bluntly. ¡°Especially now that the Sapa have clearly taken up arms against us. We need to mobilize the herd and stamp the vermin out.¡±

    ¡°I will watch over him and lead the charge,¡± Sugey replied sternly. ¡°I intended to have our Godspeaker march onwards to the Flower War today anyway. Should the Sapa plot anything, I will deal with it and bathe in their blood.¡±

    The Jaguar Woman nodded, then dismissed me. ¡°We must ponder this prophecy between ourselves, our Godspeaker, alongside your request. You may leave.¡±

    ¡°Yes, crawl back to your sister¡¯s bed,¡± Iztacoatl taunted me. ¡°She must weep at night to see you prefer strangers to your own blood.¡±

    The jab hit where it <em>hurt</em>.

    I had expected as much, so I kept my mouth shut while my heart boiled with silent anger. The storm within my soul brewed with ominous thunder, and while I could hide my rage well enough, my silence and Eztli¡¯s cold re informed the Nightlords that the snake¡¯s words had struck a nerve.

    ¡°Is that why you chose to take that bride¡¯s first night, our Godspeaker? Because you felt you had soiled my chosen consort?¡± the Jaguar Woman asked with a dismissive snort. She seemed almost <em>disappointed </em>about my reaction, as if having memit incest with my long-undiscovered sister was nothing to fuss over. ¡°Put these fatuous thoughts aside. You are an emperor and above such trifle matters. Thews that bindmon men do not apply to you, and the child you have sired on her may one day rule Yohuachanca after you.¡±

    She said that expecting me to rejoice at the honor, the same way xc had to pretend the theft of his wife had been an honor rather than abuse of power. I swallowed the insult with false grace.

    ¡°I understand the goddesses¡¯ words,¡± I replied. ¡°I havee to realize that while my life will end on the Night of the Scarlet Moon, my bloodline will run deep through our empire¡¯s veins.¡±

    ¡°And it will, songbird,¡± Iztacoatl said with venom. ¡°I will take <em>good </em>care of your descendants after you¡¯re gone, I promise you that.¡±

    A mountain should not pay attention to the blowing wind, nor the spitting spite of the enemy.

    My reason ordered me to let it slide, to swallow my tongue and ept the taunt with grace, but I couldn¡¯t close my eyes. The fire within my soul <em>refused </em>to let it slide. I had tasted loc¡¯s pride and it rubbed off on me. The thunder of my heart would not allow an uppity runt to disrespect me.

    Something deep within mepelled me to stand my ground, to <em>retaliate</em>.

    Yet Necahual¡¯s words once again proved wise enough to temper my heart. For as I looked at Iztacoatl, at the desperate wait for my reaction in her eyes, all my fury suddenly vanished. Instead, I only felt a deep sense of contempt.

    She was <em>pathetic</em>.

    Iztacoatl wielded more power than most would ever dream of. She couldmand armies, received the adoration of the masses, and all of her whims were immediately fulfilled. She might not be a true goddess, but she certainly lived like one.

    And she would throw it all away if she could inflict a little bit of pain on another.

    Deep down, she was such a bitter creature that taunting me was the closest thing that could bring her true happiness.

    Necahual was right, those two were more alike than I thought. Both felt the need to torment someone within their power and couldn¡¯t appreciate what they had. My favorite had moved past that petty mindset, but Iztacoatl remained trapped in it.

    I recalled Ahalmez and Ahaltocob, the lords of control and abuse. It always struck me as odd how the former abided by the wishes of thetter, but I thought I understood the core of their dynamic. When one required another¡¯s validation to exist, who was truly the most powerful? A true god <em>never </em>needed to prove themselves.

    ¡°The goddess is as kind as she is great,¡± I simply replied without emotion.

    I met Iztacoatl¡¯s eyes, and I knew she knew what I was thinking: that I looked down on her more than I hated her. My silence stirred the important frustration that fueled her weak heart, but she held her tongue. She had lost face once and any more words would lower her sisters¡¯ opinion of her further.

    I was dismissed for now and walked outside the temple while the Nightlords deliberated these new developments. I took the fact that they kept Eztli with her as a sign they would not allow her out of their sight again. I moved past the columns holding the Nightlords¡¯ sanctuary atop their pyramid and gazed upon the city of Zacha, the wind softly blowing on my face. The sun was high, the sky clear.

    The storm brewing within me awoke again. My power stirred and demanded to be used, pushing me with an overwhelming instinct to prove my divine power not to my foes and servants, but to the veryws of reality.

    ¡°<em>Rain</em>,¡± I whispered under my breath, so low that no one could hear it.

    By the time I realized what had just happened, it was already toote.

    A Word had pushed its way to my lips from the depths of my Teyolia, <em>demanding </em>to be uttered.

    I hadn¡¯t¡­ I hadn¡¯t thought nor willed it. It slipped out of my tongue on its own, striking like lightning.

    The storm had been brewing within me since I was forced to kowtow to false gods and thundered forth the moment I lowered my guard, and I finally realized what loc meant when he said he <em>had </em>to cause disasters.

    I had grown so powerful that my own magic <em>sought </em>to manifest into the world.

    I had managed to feign weakness in the Nightlords¡¯ presence, to feign powerlessness, but I was half a god now; and that part of me <em>refused </em>to hide. I was like a feathered tyrant pretending to be a trihorn. The instinct to conquer had always been there, waiting to express itself; and if I could not satisfy it, then it would eventually <em>force </em>its way to the surface, even near a Nightlord¡¯s temple.

    I could only pray that the sky alone listened to this secret Word of mine, for it most certainly did.

    The wind blew in the distance. Dark clouds appeared out of nowhere across the horizon like a pack of hounds answering their master¡¯s whistle. They nketed the sky and obscured the Fifth Sun.

    The first droplet fell at my feet.

    A drizzle rained from the heavens, followed by a nourishing downpour that would feed Zacha¡¯s streets and farnds. The masses would not learn of this blessing, though I suspected that they would attribute it to my visit and promise of a heavenly bounty nheless. Perhaps I would inform them of the truth once I destroyed the Nightlords and let them draw their own conclusions. I wondered if they would raise shrines in my name.

    <em>My bloodline ruling over Yohuachanca, and I over its skies¡­ </em>I looked at the weather which I had bent to my will, the truest expression of my divine will, and I came to a conclusion. <em>I like the sound of that. </em>

    I had uttered these words as an excuse to hide my deceit, but the thought appealed to me. I had sired children from my loins, like many emperors before me. Would it not be better if they were to inherit this cursed empire as themselves, rather than as vampire thralls to unworthy masters? It could grant them an inheritance worthy of a god-to-be.

    I would let the Nightlords y false deities in their underground hole.

    A greater destiny awaited me.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter Seventy-Nine: Dark Truths (+Book 2s launch!)

    Chapter Seventy-Nine: Dark Truths (+Book 2''sunch!)

    The gods had smiled on me for once.

    Though I feared discovery when they recalled me into their halls, the Nightlords did not notice my Word of power. Either my predecessors sessfully managed to obscure my spell from their sight, or they were too preupied with the twin threats of the Sapa and their dreadful father to fully pay attention to me.

    When they weed me back into their hall, I could immediately tell that they hadn¡¯t found a solution to my sudden growth in power, besides increasing their surveince and destroying the Sapa.

    ¡°Your request for additional security for your unborn children shall be granted,¡± the Jaguar Woman decided. ¡°As for the Sapa Empire, it has now be clear that these fools have plotted against our beloved Yohuachanca long enough. Our sister Sugey, as goddess of war, shall ensure your victory in the conflict toe.¡±

    I¡¯d expected as much, though I remained apprehensive about the consequences. On one hand, I expected the Bird of War to be less of a hassle than her sister Iztacoatl, since she seemed utterly disinterested in intrigue; on the other hand, having a Nightlord overseeing my military strategy limited my choices when dealing with the Sapa Empire.

    Whatever the case, I feigned submission.

    ¡°I shall do as the goddesses ask,¡± I promised.

    ¡°Yes, you shall,¡± the Jaguar Woman replied with a tone that promised great punishment if I stepped out of line. ¡°At her request, young Eztli will be allowed to join your procession and enjoy her mortal pet¡¯spanionship until you reach the frontier, at which point she will need to dedicate herself to her new duties.¡±

    I noticed Eztli scowling at the mention of ¡®mortal pet,¡¯ but both of us wisely kept our mouths shut. This intermission, however brief, should allow Necahual to brief her about our n without too much oversight. ¡°Go forth now, our Godspeaker,¡± the Jaguar Woman dered as the Nightlords dismissed me. ¡°Crush Yohuachanca¡¯s enemies so that your descendants may enjoy a prosperous future under our Sulfur Sun.¡±

    I lowered my head in submission, while promising myself that I would drown that foul vision in vampire blood.

    I was thus allowed to leave Zacha in triumph. The heavy rain miraculously ceased as I ascended on Itzili to ride out of the city at the forefront of the imperial procession.

    Consuming loc¡¯s embers also had a noticeable effect on my feathered-tyrant. Not only had his feathers started to take on a blue hue, but his daily growth spurts had starkly elerated. While he could squeeze through doors with difficulty only a night ago, he was now too big for that. He intimidated smaller trihorns when he walked, and I suspected he might reach adult size by the time we invaded the Sapa. It would make for quite the surprise for our enemies, and he more than awed the crowds ofmoners and nobles that arrived to celebrate the imperial procession. As I suspected, many thanked me for the rain that blessed their fields.

    The prophet had promised them a gift from the heavens and delivered.

    I felt their trust and faith flowing into me as they mored for me to prevail in the war and bring fortune to the empire. My example had inspired hundreds of young men to join the army and follow on my journey south. Their belief in my divine strength hung in the air and emboldened me. My Tonalli greedily weed them like a bird gathering branches to build its nest.

    It was quite the intoxicating sensation, and the worrying kind.

    My soul was already reacting to the worship of themon men, but I remained first and foremost the First Emperor¡¯s and the Nightlords¡¯ Godspeaker for most; the intermediary between the dark gods of Yohuachanca and the herd they ruled over. As ever, I was wary of the lie bing the truth.

    How much influence did other people have over my divinity? I could tell that their beliefs had an impact, but as far as I knew the First Emperor became a god of hunger because of his own search for knowledge; a quality that came from a quality dwelling deep within his soul rather than enforced by the will of his worshipers.

    How much impact did my choices havepared to the perception of thousands?

    Between the danger of being forced into a role and the risk of my magic acting on its own if I didn¡¯t practice it, I was starting to wonder what kind of image I wanted to portray among the poption. So far, I had only yed the part of the generous emperor whenever possible in public; proceeding with rituals, blessing cities and refugees, and speaking on behalf of the gods. Most of my questionable actions, such as Acampa¡¯s massacre, remained hidden from the public atrge.

    But on the other hand, I was the emperor who oversaw the disastrous New Fire Ceremony, brought about Smoke Mountain¡¯s eruption and prophesied doom on behalf of the First Emperor in front of the entire capital. Whatever good I did was likely overshadowed in the minds of people by all the cmities my reign brought about thus far.

    Not to mention that while I inspired zeal among my people through centuries of imperial propaganda, the likes of the Sapa and the Three-Rivers only saw me as a hated enemy to destroy. Would their hatred influence me too?

    More than anything, I found the idea of being a deity subordinate to the Nightlords and their sire in any way utterly <em>unbearable</em>. It was paramount that I use this war as a way to express my independence in some way. I needed people to associate my acts with my person, whether they brought curses or blessings.

    ¡°My lord looked magnificent atop his mount,¡± Ingrid told me as I ascended to my longneck¡¯s roaming quarters to rejoin my consorts and concubines. ¡°Like the rising sun.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Ingrid,¡± I replied with a pleased smile. ¡°Perhaps I should ride Itzili in public more often.¡±

    The image of an emperor riding atop a feathered tyrant on his way to conquer newnds ought to linger in people¡¯s minds.

    I gave a cursory nce at my confidantes. Chikal and Lahun gave me pointed looks, while Chindi smiled at me with what could pass for hunger; those three had noticed the changes in me. I suspected Ingrid detected them too, though she pretended otherwise. My other concubines avoided my gaze, as if awed by my mere presence, even our new arrival, Ac.

    Necahual and Eztli had retreated into another room, both to protect thetter from the sun and to give the former an opportunity toy the groundwork for the soul transfer ritual. I knew our quarters were carefully watched, but I trusted my favorite to provide her daughter with the necessary information in a subtle enough manner.

    As for Nl¡­

    My sister was smiling at me with cheeks so scarlet they looked like tomatoes on her pale face. She fidgeted in ce, her fingers joined, her breath short, and her eyes fluttering with excitation.

    She looked <em>happy</em>. Blissfully, sincerely happy. She blushed when she looked at me, clearly dying to tell me what she thought would lift my spirits beyond words.

    This broke my heart, because I knew <em>exactly </em>what she was about to tell me.

    I had to make this private. Turning it into a public scene would destroy Nl once the truth came out¡­ <em>if </em>the truth came out. I was still afraid that it might destroy her.

    ¡°Is there something you wish to tell me, Nl?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said with excitement. ¡°You¡¯re going to love it.¡±

    I suppressed a surge of disgust boiling up inside my throat, then forced myself to smile. ¡°Very well,¡± I said before turning to my other consorts. ¡°Ingrid, Chikal.¡±

    ¡°Yes, my lord?¡± Ingrid replied, her back straightening up.

    ¡°Our war will be waged not only on the field of battle, but the people¡¯s hearts and minds. I want you to work with our new Sapa advisor¨C¡± I waved a hand at Ac, ¡°¨Cto prepare a campaign that will both embolden our soldiers and intimidate our enemies.¡±

    Ac bowed before me. ¡°I shall endeavor to advise your divine consorts wisely, Your Majesty.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you shall,¡± I replied. Involving Ac was a test on my part. I had yet to ascertain whether she was a mole intended to sabotage me or a spy tasked with furthering her master¡¯s interests by weakening his rivals to the Sapa throne. Her actions should soon dispel any doubt.

    ¡°An interesting approach,¡± Chikalmented. ¡°From my experience, the more spectacr or outrageous an event, the more it shall stay in people¡¯s minds in the long term.¡±

    ¡°Quite so,¡± Ingrid agreed with a sly smile. ¡°We can think of a few ways to bolster my lord¡¯s standing among his friends and foes.¡±

    ¡°I cannot wait to hear of it,¡± I replied before bracing myself for a difficult time. ¡°Nl, if you would follow me.¡±

    I invited my lost sister into my personal quarters, then had us served soothing chocte drinks and closed the curtain separating us from the rest of theplex. I immediately felt uneasy as we sat around a small table near my bed; the very same one in which we snuck in to make love to each other not too long ago.

    Those moments had been such good memories, and now I couldn¡¯t look back on them without feeling sick.

    ¡°So¡­¡± Nl put back her hair, a streak of red spreading across her face. ¡°My breasts felt a bit strange yesterday, and I was more hungry than usual, which felt very strange to me¡­ since you know I don¡¯t eat much¡­¡±

    I clenched my jaw while trying to hide my sorrow.

    ¡°I thought it might be some sign of a sickness, so I asked Lahun to check on my future.¡± Nl giggled to herself, her lips beaming into a smile. ¡°Guess what she told me?¡±

    I shifted uneasily in my seat. I had fought horrors and faced gods without flinching, yet I dreaded the truth ahead of me.

    ¡°You are¡­¡± I took a long deep breath.¡°Pregnant?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Nl beamed like the morning sun. ¡°We¡¯re going to have a baby, Iztac, all of our own! Isn¡¯t that wonderful?¡±

    Such words would have inspired great joy in me before, and now they tasted foul in my mouth.

    I had so dearly hoped against all odds that Iztacoatl and the Jaguar Woman would be lying about this; that it was just another fear for her to torment me with. I had known better though. I¡¯d never been that lucky.

    ¡°Iztac?¡± Nl¡¯s smile faded away upon seeing my face. ¡°Iztac, why¡­ why aren¡¯t you smiling?¡±

    For a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, I hesitated.

    The awful truth remained stuck in my throat. Nl looked so happy, so d that our love had blossomed into a fruit of our union, that I knew the truth would <em>devastate </em>her. She had opened her heart to me out of love, and now I would have to break it.

    I cared for her as much as I cared for Eztli, and the thought of inflicting such pain on her felt almost unbearable.

    Worse, my blood stirred too when I looked at Nl. Though my mind now knew the true nature of our rtionship, my flesh had mingled with her own in a union as deep as it had been pleasurable. I craved the taste of her skin on my lips and the simple bliss of our love.

    I still desired her, as much as she desired me.

    The Jaguar Woman had a point. I was an emperor above men¡¯sws. The worst had already happened, so what would it cost me to keep the truth to myself and carry on like nothing happened? The truth wouldn¡¯t make Nl happy, and I could always close my eyes and lie to myself that everything would be fine¡­

    ¡°Iztac?¡± she repeated, my silence unsettling her. ¡°Iztac, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    Although the look on Nl¡¯s face broke my heart, I forced myself to soldier on. Lying would be the coward¡¯s way out.

    I was sure Mother thought along the same lines.

    It was so easy to sweep our mistakes under the rug in order to avoid tears and unfortunate conversations. My entire empire ran on such lies, and its debt to the truth would one day be paid in blood. It was in the nature of things for illusions to copse under their own fragile weight.

    Part of me knew that Nl would inevitably learn her true heritage either by ident or because of a vampire¡¯s malice. How would she react once she realized I had known from the beginning and said nothing? Could our fragile bond of trust survive this? I didn¡¯t think so, and I valued Nl too much to risk it.

    I loved her enough to be truthful, even if it was bound to hurt us both.

    ¡°There is something I must tell you, Nl,¡± I said with a heavy sigh. ¡°Something that you won¡¯t like in the slightest.¡±

    Her eyes widened in horror. ¡°About our child?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I confirmed. Nl was too clever not to see the dark clouds on the horizon. ¡°And about <em>us</em>.¡±

    ¡°Us?¡± Nl bit her lips. ¡°Iztac, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re¡­¡± I gathered my breath as I tried to find a way to break the news as gently as I could. ¡°We are rted by blood.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re¨C¡± Nl blinked in surprise and confusion. ¡°W-what?¡±

    ¡°The goddesses told me the secret of your birth,¡± I exined, my fingers gripping the cup with all my strength. ¡°My mother was pregnant before¡­ before she left my father and I.¡±

    ¡°What does it have to do with¡­¡± I saw her blush and happiness slowly fade away like snow in the sunlight, reced with pallid horror as the awful reality finally hit her. ¡°With¡­ us?¡±

    ¡°Everything.¡± I would have given up so much to ensure that this conversation never had to take ce. ¡°Our mother abandoned you to the red-eyed priests, who then¡­ who then raised you.¡±

    Nl didn¡¯t say a word, but I could see the <em>pain </em>in her blue eyes. It hurt like a dagger to the heart. When Iztacoatl told me the truth, I must have looked exactly the same, with my mind trying to deny what my heart and gut knew were true.

    ¡°We are¡­ we are siblings,¡± I finally said, my fingers clenching my chocte cup. ¡°I¡¯m your older brother by less than a year.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Nl shivered in ce, her eyes staring at her chocte cup to avoid my gaze. ¡°Are you¡­ how can you be <em>sure</em>?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard it from the goddesses themselves. They had nothing to gain from lying to me on that front.¡± And Iztacoatl had taken great pleasure in humiliating us. ¡°Lahun¡¯s prophecies attest to it in their own way, and our physical resemnce is uncanny too. Too many elements point in that direction.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ that could just be our curse, or¡­¡± Nl covered her mouth, her mind struggling to ept the truth the same way I did. ¡°It can¡¯t be¡­ it can¡¯t¡­¡±

    Liquid umted at the edge of her eyes and her breath grew short. Nl was a kind girl who trusted me utterly. She knew I wouldn¡¯t lie about such things, which only worsened the pain.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I don¡¯t know what to say, Iztac¡­¡± She sobbed, her eyes filled with tears. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m so happy I have a family¡­ but¡­¡± She began to cry out. ¡°But the rest¡­ by the gods¡­¡±

    ¡°Nl.¡± I put my hands on her own. Her fingers had grown warm from prolonged contact with her steaming cup, yet they had never felt frailer. ¡°<em>None </em>of it was our fault. Neither of us knew.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­¡± Nenelt possessed a great strength of character born of her kind heart, but she couldn¡¯t contain her tears. ¡°It¡¯s so¡­ so much at once¡­¡±

    I moved to hug her.

    I did not hesitate and encountered no resistance. My arms wrapped up around her waist and pulled her against my chest in an intimate embrace. Holding her felt deeply ufortable after everything we had done, as I felt her warmth through her dress and her smell in my nose; the same way I did when wey together.

    I powered through my unease for my¡­ for my <em>sister''s </em>sake. She gripped me so tightly, so desperate forfort, that I could do nothing other than let her cry into my shoulder.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± Nl apologized while sobbing. I sensed moist liquid drip on my imperial robes and skin. ¡°The tears won¡¯t stop flowing¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± I reassured her while kindly stroking her hair. ¡°I¡¯m here for you.¡±

    ¡°Is it wrong to say that I¡¯m¡­ that I¡¯m partly relieved about this?¡± Nl whispered back. ¡°I thought I was alone in the world, abandoned because of my¡­ because of our appearance¡­¡±

    ¡°If our father had known you existed, then he would have loved you with all his heart,¡± I whispered in her ear. And he <em>did</em>. ¡°I can promise you that.¡±

    It was meagerfort, butfort nheless; and though Nl had confirmation that our mother did abandon her, my words at least helped soothe her heart. She <em>did </em>have a family that cared about her.

    I calmly waited for Nl to calm down while holding her tightly. Her tears eventually stopped pouring out and she regained her breathing. Her hands gripped my shoulders next as an ufortable silence stretched between us.

    I already knew what she was about to say.

    ¡°Is it <em>so </em>wrong?¡± Nl whispered, so low I barely heard it.

    We were so alike, she and I.

    ¡°I never¡­ I never had a brother, so it¡­¡± Nl took a deep breath and tightened her grip on my shoulders. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter to me.¡±

    A thrill coursed through my skin when she touched me. She still desired me as much as I craved herpany, and I couldn¡¯t me her for her reaction. I was the only boy her age she ever interacted with who wasn¡¯t a vampire or an eunuch, her first love and likely the only one should we fail to overthrow the Nightlords.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    She was, to put it bluntly, desperate and short on options.

    Unfortunately for us, there was a wall I couldn¡¯t climb.

    ¡°But it matters to <em>you</em>, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Nl whispered in my ear after I failed to answer. ¡°You can¡¯t look at me without feeling betrayed and used.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I apologized. She understood me all too well.

    Maybe under different circumstances, I could have closed my eyes, I suppose; but whenever Nl held me in her arms, all I could hear was Iztacoatl¡¯s malevolentughter ringing in my head. Every caress summoned that awful shame of having been yed for a vampire¡¯s amusement and the ominous warning of Lahun¡¯s prophecy. They had set our love up like a y on a stage and then poisoned whatever joy I could draw from it.

    I would <em>never </em>forgive the Nightlords for this humiliation. They had let us build up a pure rtionship founded not on power or alliances but trust and love, then twisted it into something foul and diseased.

    ¡°I¡­ I understand.¡± Nl released her hold on me and wiped tears from her bloodshot eyes. ¡°It was just another way for them to hurt you, wasn¡¯t it? They turned us into a joke for them tough at.¡±

    ¡°I still love you, and I always will,¡± I reassured her. My protective feelings towards Nl remained as strong as ever, doubly so now that I knew we were family. ¡°I just¡­ can¡¯t touch you that way again.¡±

    Nl gave me the saddest nce I¡¯d ever seen, then rubbed her stomach with her hands. What should have been our most joyful moment had now be yet another horror.

    ¡°So our child is¡­¡± Nl gulped and suppressed a sob. ¡°Is it going to be a monster? An abomination? They say the children born of incest are cursed, and we¡­ we already <em>are</em>.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how our child will turn out.¡± Lahun¡¯s prophecy was quite clear on that, and I had no idea what an incestuous union between Nahualli would produce. I suspected it would be nothing good. ¡°I don¡¯t know. The goddesses certainly have ns for them.¡±

    And knowing the Nightlords, they couldn¡¯t be good.

    ¡°If the goddesses wanted it to happen, then maybe¡­ maybe it won¡¯t be <em>that </em>bad?¡± Nl asked, eager for reassurance that some good woulde out of our union. ¡°Maybe our child will have a¡­ a great <em>destiny</em>?¡±

    ¡°They will,¡± I replied with a sigh. ¡°As a future emperor, consort, or sacrifice.¡±

    Nl¡¯s expression darkened even further, much to my dismay. I wished I could have lied and told her that the seed of incest growing inside her would have no consequence, yet part of me knew otherwise. The Nightlords had arranged our coupling because they hoped to refine our bloodline for their sick breeding project and other purposes. Our child might be important to their ns, or simply serve as fuel for their twisted rituals.

    I wasn¡¯t even sure if we should let it be born at all.

    I kept that thought to myself. Not only would the Nightlords retaliate should I voice it out loud, but Nl had already gone through enough for the day. <em>That </em>subject could wait for another time once she had time to digest everything else first.

    Nl nodded to herself slowly, her expression resolute. I now saw a new determination in those blue eyes we shared. She wouldn¡¯t let her own flesh be a tool in the Nightlord¡¯s ns.

    ¡°You¡¯re strong, Nl,¡± I said with the utmost sincerity. I didn¡¯t think many people would have kept their dignity after such news; in a way, she took it much better than I did myself.

    ¡°Thank you, Iztac.¡± Nl forced herself to smile. ¡°You know, I¡­ I always wondered how it would be to have a brother. I just never thought that it¡­¡± She chuckled nervously, though there was no joy to it. ¡°That it would happen this way.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I was about to tell her that Eztli had been like a sister to me once, before realizing that I shouldn¡¯t mention that at all; especially not in the current circumstances. ¡°We can still y board games whenever you want.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I would like that.¡± Nl nodded to herself. ¡°It would help me¡­ help me think things through.¡±

    The same went for me.

    We ended up setting up a tumi game a few minutester. I asked Nl if she already had the opportunity to try ying one with Ac, and to my utterck of surprise, she answered yes.

    ¡°She let me win,¡± Nl said as we put the pieces on the board. ¡°I think she thinks I¡¯ll be angry with her if I lose.¡±

    ¡°Or she is gauging you,¡± I replied. I suspected both Nl and I were correct. It would make sense for Ac to y it safe and assess our personalities like any talented diplomat, but her mask was bound to slip eventually.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Nl said before changing the subject. ¡°How was he?¡±

    ¡°Whom?¡±

    ¡°Yo-<em>our</em> father.¡± Nl stared at her pieces for a moment before asking for more details. ¡°How was he?¡±

    ¡°He was the kindest person in the world,¡± I said as I made the first move. ¡°And so very much like you.¡±

    We ended up ying untilte in the afternoon.

    I won a few times, which was exceptional enough to be mentioned. Nl <em>never </em>lost a board game when she tried. I took it as a sign of how much distress the truth put her through. Once Nl grew tired of ying, she asked me if she could have the bathroom for herself for a time; a demand I graciously granted.

    Warm waters would help her clear her mind. She definitely needed some alone time with her thoughts.

    I still wasn¡¯t sure if I had made the right decision, though I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Whatever our rtionship would be, at least it would be based on truth rather than lies and omissions. It would make for sturdier foundations.

    Afterward, I remained alone in my room and summoned my next visitor. ¡°Come in.¡±

    Lahun walked into my bedroom with grace and swiftly bowed before me. ¡°You¡¯ve called for me, Your Majesty?¡±

    I immediately noticed that she carried her fortune-telling tools, from her bowl to her pouch full of corn. She had already foreseen what I¡¯d called her for. Her wisdom and insight surprised me once again.

    ¡°I have,¡± I replied before inviting her to sit down at my table. ¡°I would like you to read my future for the second time.¡±

    ¡°I suspected as much.¡± Lahun sat and immediately took my hand into her own to read my palm lines. ¡°I would usually tell Your Majesty that a second prophecy never differs from the first, but such bindings only apply to ordinary men.¡±

    ¡°And you would be right.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± Lahun replied calmly. ¡°I have checked.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± This caught my interest. Could she tell that I had changed in clear and imperceptible ways sincest night? ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°I consult fate each morning to assess which weather the heavens will grace us with during the day,¡± Lahun exined to me. ¡°When Your Majesty dered that the heavens would bless Zacha for their hospitality, I decided to check my previsions in case his words had altered them.¡±

    My head perked up in interest. ¡°Did they?¡±

    Lahun nodded sharply. ¡°My first consultation indicated that the sun would shine all day, while the second predicted the rainfall.¡±

    Her observation, on the surface, seemed utterly inconsequential. Of course her prediction would have been affected by the Word I cast. However, the timing provided key information I could not ignore.

    If Lahun ran her prediction after I promised Zacha¡¯s nobility a bounty from the heavens, then fate had changed <em>before </em>I cast the Word. I¡¯d chained myself with ropes thicker than any material.

    <em>Belief</em>.

    While it came out of frustration, the reason why my magic took the form of a Word that called the rain was <em>because </em>I had announced publicly that Zacha would receive a blessing from the skies. By promising a reward to this city, I¡¯d bound myself to fulfilling my own prophecy. I had shaped my own fate, but in doing so, condemned myself to follow it by forming a covenant with Yohuachanca¡¯s citizens.

    The implications sent a chill down my spine. Father was right, the words of the powerful were never inconsequential. I had to be <em>extremely </em>careful with what I said from now on in public.

    ¡°I noticed that my weather predictions had grown more urate since Your Majesty showered me with his trust and confidence,¡± Lahun carried on. ¡°I am now convinced that I could assist Your Majesty in foreseeing the heavens¡¯ whims in a way that will serve him well during his war.¡±

    True, being able to predict¡ªnay, <em>decide</em>¡ªthe weather would indeed provide a terrific advantage in battle. Necahual''s instincts proved right once again. Lahun''s wisdom, initiative, and keen intellect would make her a fearsome witch. I found all of these qualities rather appealing.

    ¡°I have the utmost faith in your abilities, Lahun, and I hope I can continue to rely on them,¡± I said with the utmost sincerity. ¡°I believe much of your prophecy has already happened.¡±

    Lahun gave me a pointed look. ¡°Did knowing your fate bring Your Majesty happiness?¡±

    ¡°Joy and sorrow both.¡± Besides the incident with Nl, I was quite happy with the fact that the ¡®murder in the family¡¯ and ¡®betrayal with a friend''s face¡¯ parts ended rtively well. ¡°I would rather know and be prepared than surprised.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Lahun nodded to herself. My answer pleased her, likely because she thought along the same lines. ¡°May I ask why you have summoned me now of all times, however?¡±

    ¡°The gods have visited and graced me in my sleep, though the purpose of their message remains elusive to me.¡±

    I caught a glint of curiosity in Lahun¡¯s eyes. The opportunity to trante a message from the gods appealed to her. ¡°I will do my best to help you interpret the signs then.¡±

    She continued to read my lifelines and my blood stirred as I felt her soft fingers rub on my skin. I immediately saw the surprise in her eyes the moment she felt my unnatural warmth, followed by puzzled fascination the more time she spent examining my fate.

    ¡°How could it be?¡± Lahun muttered to herself. ¡°Was Your Majesty struck by lightning without my knowledge?¡±

    ¡°In a dream.¡± I ought to learn how to read lifelines too. If Lahun could learn that much from a cursory glimpse, then what else could I gather from others? ¡°I was struck by lightning under a blue sun sky.¡±

    ¡°Fascinating¡­ lightning and rainfall are usually a manifestation of loc, lord of storms, but I¡¯ve never heard of him sending messages in dreams.¡± Lahun gripped my palm with undisguised amazement and curiosity. ¡°Your lifelines have be so much more vibrant since Ist examined you, Your Majesty. I¡¯ve never seen anything like this before¡­¡±

    ¡°And never will you,¡± I replied confidently. Considering I¡¯d purchased her loyalty with disys of supernatural power, I shouldy on it thickly. ¡°I am <em>power </em>the likes of which mere mortals can only hope to prostrate themselves to.¡±

    Lahun seemed a bit amused. ¡°I witnessed Your Majesty¡¯s sparks atst night¡¯s wedding.¡±

    ¡°Have you?¡± I smiled in amusement, then grabbed my obsidian knife and cut a finger open. Lahun¡¯s eyes widened in astonishment as a purple me far brighter thanst night¡¯s disy erupted from it. She did not let go of my hand though. She basked in the me¡¯s glow and warmth until my wound closed on its own. ¡°As you can see, the heavens have delivered more blessings upon my person.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡¯s lifelines shine brighter than <em>any </em>mortal,¡± Lahun concluded. ¡°But the brightest light invites the darkest shadows. I see that you stand on the twilight¡¯s threshold between day and night; between light and darkness.¡±

    <em>Between Iztac the liberator and Cizin the destroyer, </em>I guessed as Lahun proceeded with other rituals, throwing corn grains that ended in tight piles and a few circles, observing how they floated or sank in her bowl of water, then asked me to gaze into my own reflection.

    ¡°There are more corn piles than circles this time,¡± I noted upon recalling our first session. ¡°I believe you mentioned that they represented a strong lifeforce?¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty¡¯s memory does not fail him. While he used to dance on the edge between life and death, thetter has slightly retreated without surrendering its chase.¡± Lahun nodded to herself. ¡°Your Tonalli has been strengthened further too, although your reflection¡¯s shadows are starker as well. As your Majesty gains power, so does the darkness within him.¡±

    ¡°You said I stood in the twilight?¡± I asked with a frown. ¡°So I still have a choice.¡±

    ¡°For <em>now</em>,¡± Lahun replied. Which implied that past a certain point, that decision would be final.

    I blew into Lahun¡¯s conch shell next to measure my Ihiyotl. The song that came out of it was stronger thanst time, and loud like a war horn. Lahun nodded to herself and then proceeded to match my birthdate with the stars¡¯ positionst night and sacred numbers. Lahun¡¯s calctions still escaped me, but the numbers nine and thirteen¡ªthose that represented the Underworld and the Thirteen Heavens¡ªcame up more than they didst time.

    ¡°Betrayal with a friend¡¯s face, snake shedding skin,¡± Lahun recounted with a scowl on her face after she finished drawing her calctions. ¡°Forbidden unions beget abominations. War of the puppeteers burns the stage. Battle of the three wings. Golden city answers the tide of sorrow. To the banquet of blood the dark one triumphs. New skull on the pile weeps in night eternal.¡±

    My jaw clenched in disappointment. ¡°The prophecy hasn¡¯t changed in the slightest.¡±

    ¡°It has not,¡± Lahun replied with a deep scowl. She seemed as surprised as I was. ¡°Only what has alreadye to pass has vanished.¡±

    Her words sent chills down my spine. Betrayal with a friend¡¯s face was <em>still </em>on the list, despite my assumptions, as was the forbidden union bit. Thetter could be exined by the fact my child with Nl wasn¡¯t born yet, but the former¡­

    ¡°The fact the readings changed alone is unheard of, Your Majesty, whether from me or any seer I¡¯ve encountered,¡± Lahun replied while pondering her observations. ¡°I have an exnation for the prophecy¡¯s resilience.¡±

    ¡°Which one?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°I warned Your Majesty that the signs do not change and are never wrong,¡± Lahun said. ¡°However, a sentence may mean many different things depending on its interpretation. Take ¡®to the banquet of blood the dark one triumphs,¡¯ for example. The ¡®dark one¡¯ could refer to an enemy, a vampire, or even yourself¡­ and though the role remains undisturbed, a different actor may wear the mask.¡±

    ¡°You suggest that their identity could change depending on circumstances?¡± I asked, my eyes alight with interest. ¡°That I could be the dark one the prophecy refers to, even when it wasn¡¯t refering to me when you first wrote it down?¡±

    ¡°I believe so,¡± Lahun confirmed. ¡°The y¡¯s meaning and conclusion may change depending on who inherits the role. I suspect that the different changes I observed imply that the prophecy¡¯s spirit has changed, even if the letter has not.¡±

    I pondered her words in silence. Come to think of it, ¡®betrayal with a friend¡¯s face¡¯ formed a sentence with the ¡®snake shedding skin¡¯ part, which implied both were rted. Could it refer to my n for Iztacoatl and Fjor instead of a plot targeted at me? Mother had suggested that Iunch my n only after obtaining loc¡¯s embers. Had this influx of power been enough to alter fate in my favor?

    Thest line of the prophecy bothered me most. I would love it if the new skull on the pile referred to a Nightlord suffering after my victory, but ¡®night eternal¡¯ was an unambiguous cmity. Unless it meant the skull would be buried forever somewhere¡­ What if it referred to my father joining the Parliament¡­

    I wished prophecies could be straightforward and unambiguous. The best I could do for now was to hope that my newfound might would ensure a good surprise came to pass.

    Lahun observed my hand for a while, paying particr attention to my previously cut finger. I allowed her to grab it again, a thrilling sensation coursing through my hand when she caressed it.

    ¡°If I may, Your Majesty, I can think of a way to rify the prophecy further,¡± Lahun proposed. ¡°Observing your palm alone may be insufficient to truly assess your lifelines.¡±

    ¡°Would you rather feel my lifeforce more closely?¡± I guessed, a smile stretching on my lips when Lahun acquiesced with a smile.

    Lahun wished to use Seidr to obtain helpful visions rted to the prophecy, and who was I to deny her? I hadn¡¯t yet tested how my new set of embers had strengthened the spell, and it would allow me to give her some information I couldn¡¯t exactly vocalize out loud.

    Moreover, I weed the distraction after my charged moment with Nl. My sister¡¯s smell still lingered on me, and I craved the taste of female flesh.

    I began by pulling Lahun to me and embracing her in a ferocious kiss. Her tongue danced with mine with serpentine deftness. I could taste her raw desire for the power within me and the magic she sought to master. Witnessing my sorcery aroused her like violence awakened Chikal¡¯s hunger.

    <strong>¡ª NSFW scene starts</strong>

    My fingers moved to remove her robes, and hers hastily did the same with mine. She had been quite clumsy during our first lovemaking sessions, but she had grown more confident since. She knew what she wanted.

    My hands swiftly began to tease her soft breasts. Her moans of pleasure quickened my pulse, as did the feeling of her naked chest and hips pressing against mine. It helped me forget the difort of Nl crying on my shoulder.

    Seidr only demanded an exchange of fluids, but I decided to savor the moment and make the experience pleasurable for Lahun. I teased her by tenderly nipping her ear and caressing her back, delighting in her whimpers whenever my warm fingers touched her. She moaned as she rubbed against my abs.

    I carried her to bed,id her on the side, then began to caress her soft legs. I moved behind Lahun, one arm around her breasts, the other slipping between her thighs to pleasure her with my fingers.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡± She moaned as I kissed her on the neck. ¡°No need for¡­ such borate¡­¡±

    ¡°You have served me well, Lahun, and deserve a reward,¡± I purred while lining my manhood with her ass. ¡°You will find your fealty to me a most pleasant experience.¡±

    Lahun let out a soft sound of surprise as I prated her from behind, my manhood slipping within her with my fingers continuing to y with her on the other side. I pressed my lips against her in a ferocious kiss even as I pushed. She was tight, and her breathing was so incredibly quick.

    I drowned myself in her, all to better take my mind away from my sister and all this sorrow.

    I broke the kiss just long enough to let her moan as I settled on a steady pace, her sweat slipping between my fingers. I sank into her and wrapped my arms around her to pull her closer. Whereas Nl had smelled of salt and perfume, Lahun carried the scent of corn, mushrooms, and the herbs she used for her divinations.

    ¡°Would you like to serve me like this each time you visit me?¡± I asked in between kisses, her body jolting with pleasure.

    ¡°Yes¡­¡± she whispered back with a sigh of pleasure. ¡°I will serve Your Majesty as he wishes.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you will.¡± My hand moved from her breast to her belly. ¡°Our contract you have fulfilled, and so shall I do my part.¡±

    I had grown so acutely aware of sensing another¡¯s Teyolia that I could sense the ember inside Lahun; a presence that filled me with pride.

    Lahun¡¯s head snapped in my direction, her eyes alight with excitement. ¡°Will Your Majesty¨C¡±

    ¡°Soon,¡± I promised in her ear. ¡°If you have the stomach for it.¡±

    I intended to put Lahun through the Mometzcopinque ritual as soon as the conditions would allow it; but to ensure she wouldn¡¯t walk away, I would give her a brief glimpse of what she could expect.

    I softly pulled back from her ass and then put her on her back. We locked eyes as I spread her legs, her hands clutching my chest in anticipation. I pulled my fingers out of her, gently grabbed her hips, and lined myself up. I slid inside her without encountering any resistance, her flesh so fluid and weing that it felt like honey.

    Then <em>lightning </em>coursed through me.

    Our Teyolias aligned in an instant, but where my heartfire had been a flickering shadow of a god¡¯s radiance once, it now burned with a wild brazier¡¯s glow. Lahun gasped in pleasure and surprise as my essence gobbled her up like a torch thrown into a bonfire. Each roll of her hips sent jolts of electricity coursing through my muscles.

    She was entirely within my power. The frontier between our souls might as well not exist.

    I could have snuffed out her existence in an instant had I wished it, but I simply gripped her thighs and pushed. Lahun obliged me, her soft hands clenched against my back as I took her ferociously.

    And as I did, memories of mine flowed through our bond. I shared visions of Necahual¡¯s ascension with Lahun. I showed her in vivid detail how I had dismembered and reshaped her into a witch of my own creation, holding back none of the pain and agony required for the process to work. Power required sacrifice, after all.

    I didn¡¯t hide the rewards either. I showed her a vision of Necahual¡¯s ebon wings, of the me bursting out of her hand and the lightning coursing between her fingers. Lahun¡¯s lips clenched immediately, her entire body shivering in excitement and anticipation.

    ¡°Are you willing?¡± I whispered in her ear. ¡°Would you give me your soul for my gifts?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Lahun replied without hesitation. The thought of wielding magic, of mastering the fire and lightning she had been forced to beg the sky for time and time again was too sweet of an offer. ¡°I would do¡­ <em>anything</em>.¡±

    Her passion for magic was inspiring, as was her dedication.

    I banished those memories aside and focused on her prophecy. As I suspected, gaining loc¡¯s embers had strengthened the spell. The visions sharpened with each kiss and pounding.

    <strong>¡ª NSFW Scene ends</strong>

    When Lahun¡¯s arms and legs coiled around me to tighten our embrace, our minds expanded beyond the reaches of consciousness. We found ourselves in a temple of gold with walls and pirs gleaming like the morning sun in the light of flickering torches. A great bridge stood high above a river of molten gold flowing deep underground. Unbearable heat suffused the air, though it paled whenpared to the warmth of my own Teyolia. Our spirits wandered inside a tabernacle attended by masked men with golden masks. There, in a vast chamber, rested a jeweled sarcophagus carved in the image of a sleeping condor with its wings folded. A skeletal, mummified figure watched over it; one whom I immediately recognized.

    Inkarri.

    My foremost enemy among the Sapa and his masked cohorts prayed around that strange tomb. I felt a great power stir within the sarcophagus; a will that seemed both distant and familiar. The shadow walking in my step darkened in recognition, but its darkness couldn¡¯t touch the glowing from the sarcophagus.

    Then there was light.

    I awoke back to reality as my muscles strained and my loins ached with release. Lahun let out a cry as my manhood throbbed and erupted within her. My seed let out a smell of burnt embers and fumes in their wake, but the thought of stopping and pulling out didn¡¯t even cross my mind. My body tensed like hard metal until I finished.

    ¡°Are you¡­¡± I let out a heavy breath. I was satisfied, but I had no idea how it felt to Lahun. ¡°Alright?¡±

    ¡°Alright, Your Majesty?¡± Lahun let out a chuckle of pleasure, her legs and arms falling to my side in blissful limpness. ¡°It felt <em>amazing¡­</em>¡±

    Good. I smiled in pleasure as Iy on top of Lahun and basked in the soft contentment of our union. It had been both enjoyable and productive.

    <em>Golden city answers the tide of sorrow. </em>I¡¯d been wondering what Inkarri had been up to since ourst confrontation in the Underworld, and received a glimpse of his n. Whatever he had in mind, it involved a powerful spell; a ritual involving an ancient tomb hidden somewhere, likely in the Sapa homnd.

    From the vision and various elements, I had a pretty good idea of <em>whom </em>rested within that sarcophagus. I pondered its implications.

    ¡°Did it help you?¡± I asked Lahun after I pulled out from between her thighs. They had grown slightly redder from the warmth of my seed in them, though she thankfully hadn¡¯t suffered any burns. ¡°Did it improve your prophecy?¡±

    ¡°I would need to ascertain,¡± Lahun replied softly as she pulled back her hair and wiped off the sweat from her brow. Her eyes thoughtfully stared at the ceiling. ¡°Wings¡­¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Wings?¡±

    ¡°Owl wings, bat wings,¡± she muttered to herself. ¡°Three is not four.¡±

    ¡°Are you speaking of the war of the three wings mentioned in the prophecy?¡± I asked, my eyes squinting. I had the feeling Lahun wasn¡¯t simply speaking her thoughts out loud.

    ¡°I apologize, Your Majesty.¡± Lahun gave me a pointed, knowing look. ¡°I simply find the number strange now that I think of it. Three means imbnce while four implies bnce, the way four women have always assisted an emperor since the rise of your empire.¡±

    She was trying to tell me something important, a detail she couldn¡¯t vocalize out loud for fear of being overheard.

    I pondered her words. Owl wings¡­ was she talking about Necahual? If so, then I assumed bat wings referred to the Nightlords, doubly so since she mentioned the number four.

    <em>Four women have assisted each emperor since Yohuachanca¡¯s birth¡­</em> My eyes widened slowly, an idea forming in my mind. <em>Four consorts¡­ or four witches. </em>

    Mother insisted that I bind four Mometzcopinques to me, no more and no less; one for each sun ember collected. A path which the First Emperor saw through.

    Iztacoatl had said that two Nahualli being born from the same bloodline was unheard of, but the Nightlords were all siblings and daughters of the First Emperor. Each of them had exhibited a totem of their own which differed from their father¡¯s bat. The Jaguar Woman lived up to her name, Iztacoatl¡¯s soul bore scales, and Sugey wore feathers. Even thete Yoloxochitl¡¯s true form was that of a putrid flower.

    Yet none of them showed the physical signs of being a Nahualli. Neither their eyes nor hair were pale in the slightest. I¡¯d assumed they¡¯d simply changed their appearance with magic, but now that I was thinking about it¡­

    The Nightlords could <em>all </em>fly on batlike wings.

    My Necahual had inherited my feathers through the Mometzcopinque ritual, even though I knew for sure that she housed no owl totem within her soul. She wielded magic not through being born with it, but by my leave; the same way my captors drained their dread father of his power to strengthen their own.

    Which begged an important question.

    Were the Nightlords Nahualli at all?

    Could they be <em>Mometzcopinques </em>instead?

    <em>And if they are,</em> I thought, my gaze lingering on Lahun. <em>What does that mean for </em><strong><em>us</em></strong><em>? </em>

 Chapter Eighty: The Long Night

    Chapter Eighty: The Long Night

    I¡¯d spent the evening watching a y with Lahun at her request.

    I¡¯d grown somewhat tired of simple dances, so I had asked her what she usually enjoyed back in Chm. Lahun had answered <em>theater</em>, of all things.

    By a stroke of luck, some of the amazons that served as my consorts¡¯ personal guards knew how to perform. I wouldn¡¯t say that their talent rivaled the capital¡¯s best entertainers¡ªquite the opposite¡ªbut it was sufficient enough to intrigue me. Chm¡¯s traditions focused more on shortic scenes, like fools suffering from diseases or beatings than borate stories. I was quite surprised that aposed schr like Lahun would be into such things.

    Not that I paid much attention. I couldn¡¯t get the possibility of the Nightlords being Mometzcopinques out of my head.

    The more I considered it, the more it made sense. Those four were leeches through and through. My predecessors thought that a Mometzcopinque couldn¡¯t cast spells, but Necahual already showed the aptitude to create lightning; it wouldn¡¯t surprise me if another set of embers would allow her to use the Doll or Veil.

    This would also exin how the Nightlords had managed to bind a god. They had reversed the bond that united a patron spirit with its coven of witches, draining their father¡¯s lifeforce and using their numbers to form an unbreakable equilibrium. A lender always had more influence over one debtor than a multitude of them.

    Which presented a key issue: could the same thing happen to <em>me</em>?

    The rewards of recruiting more spellcasters outweighed the risks so far, but I would need to do more research on the subject after binding Lahun¡¯s soul. I trusted her and Necahual to remain loyal to me until we destroyed the Nightlords at least, if only because all of our lives depended on it.

    Afterwards¡­ I believed that my bond with Necahual was strong like an oak, but I would bet the First Emperor thought the same right until his daughters betrayed him. Would a lover be more loyal than one¡¯s own flesh and blood? <em>This feels like a cycle</em>, I thought while watching the performance. <em>A y repeating itself. </em>

    I wasn¡¯t blind to the simrities my life shared with that of the First Emperor. Was Fate subtly nudging me into settling into my predecessor¡¯s role? I would be lying if I said the possibility didn¡¯t bother me.

    ¡°Is Your Majesty bored with the performance?¡± Lahun asked me, drawing me out of my thoughts.

    ¡°Far from it,¡± I replied while pulling her naked body closer to mine. ¡°I was merely too focused on you, Lahun.¡±

    My answer seemed to amuse her. ¡°Your Majesty¡¯s words honor me, but I didn¡¯t take him for a tterer.¡±

    ¡°I do appreciate yourpany,¡± I insisted. ¡°But to tell you the truth, I was too preupied with our future. We are to visit your hometown tomorrow, and then wage war the day after.¡±

    Chm, as Yohuachanca''stest and most southern tributary, would be our final stop before reaching the frontier of the Sapa Empire and the chosen site for the Flower War. We would spend a day there to gather soldiers and then resume our journey to arrive on time for the first of the Wind Month.

    I did not particrly expect a warm wee in Chm, even with Chikal at my side. While I assumed she stillmanded her people¡¯s respect even as an imperial consort¡ªher fellow amazons would not obey her so readily otherwise¡ªI was the very face of their conqueror; the sessor to the line of emperors which had brought their city into Yohuachanca¡¯s fold.

    Then again, perhaps this would be my first opportunity to work on my imperial image. Chm¡¯s people had never seen me yet, and first impressions always stuck. How I chose to portray myself to them would no doubt influence their perception of me in the long term.

    ¡°I suspect that Your Majesty will find a warmer wee than he expects in our fair city,¡± Lahun replied. ¡°A male strong enough to conquer an amazon is <em>desired</em>, for he is a challenge; while the amazon who lost to him will be <em>despised </em>for her weakness.¡±

    ¡°Even a queen?¡± I asked, knowing full well that Chikal would likely announce her pregnancy during our visit.

    ¡°Lady Chikal will no doubt have to face her fair share of challengers and opponents during your visit, but I do not fear for her safety nor reign. She is fiercer than any woman in Chm.¡± Lahun rested her head against my chest. ¡°I, however, will only find contempt for yielding to Your Majesty¡¯s will.¡±

    ¡°Do you regret it?¡±

    ¡°Not at all,¡± Lahun replied without a doubt. ¡°I was willing to bear this burden when Your Majesty asked me to be his concubine. I do not regret my choice in the slightest.¡±

    I expected as much. My discussions with Lahun gave me the impression that she wasn¡¯t especially attached to her hometown. Her loyalty was to magic first and foremost. She mostly served Chikal because they were cousins, and even then it hadn¡¯t stopped Lahun from bearing a potential rival to Chm¡¯s throne when I asked her to.

    ¡°Although¡­¡± Lahun looked into my eyes. ¡°If Your Majesty would allow me to do so, I would appreciate revisiting my oldboratory during our visit. I have stored many scrolls there that I would like to recover.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± I replied, immediately seeing through her game. ¡°You could show me where you worked too. I am curious.¡±

    ¡°It would be my pleasure.¡±

    Lahun knew her city like the back of her hand and I assumed herboratory included private areas. If she knew a secret spot where we could practice the Mometzcopinque ritual, I would leave the city with two witches in my employ instead of one.

    ¡°Is there anything you would like?¡± I inquired. ¡°A precious book that you would like to read and add to your library? Ask, and it is yours.¡±

    ¡°Nothinges to mind yet, though I appreciate the offer,¡± Lahun replied with the utmost sincerity. ¡°Truthfully, I am quite surprised by Your Majesty¡¯s generosity towards me. A male breeder in Chm would not enjoy my current privileges.¡±

    I smiled in amusement. ¡°Would you rather that I put you in a cage and ravish you each night?¡±

    ¡°Far from it,¡± Lahun replied with the same yful expression as my own. ¡°The cage part at least.¡±

    I appreciated the fact that she had a sense of humor.

    ¡°I cannot promise you <em>each </em>night,¡± I replied while pinching her cheek, ¡°But I could ravish you once more, if you wish.¡±

    Lahun chuckled to herself. ¡°I must say that Your Majesty¡¯s lust has exhausted me for now. I would like a respite, if you would allow me.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± We had already made love three times tonight, so I couldn¡¯t me her for wishing to stop there. ¡°Rest as much as you''d like.¡±

    Lahun thanked me for my understanding, and we watched the end of the y in quiet silence. It didn¡¯t take long for my seer concubine to fall asleep at my side while the actors left us.

    It was quitete and well past midnight. The candles in my bedroom were all extinguished, with the only light allowed within being the pale moonlight. By all means, I should be falling asleep sometime soon.

    Yet my dreams took their sweet time.

    I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind, to focus on my heartbeat until the rhythm of its pulse lulled me to slumber. When that failed, I lit up a candle and read imperial documents. Lahun was a heavy sleeper, so it did not wake her up; but neither did it help quell my mind either. In fact, I felt as fresh as a man who had just woken up.

    It didn¡¯t take long for me to realize the source of the issue.

    loc¡¯s unbound vitality was a curse in disguise. If I healed from wounds in an instant, then it made sense that my body would take much longer to get exhausted. I was half a god already with the endurance to match, and gods did not <em>sleep</em>.

    This was <em>bad</em>.

    I knew I would likely fall asleep sooner orter¡ªmy body remained mortal¡ªbut <emter </em>could mean a <em>long </em>time. Considering I could only practice magic openly in the Underworld, every hour counted.

    My first reflex was to call Necahual to brew me a potion that would lure me to sleep more easily. I immediately decided against it, since I could only do that a few times. Making it a habit would be noticed and inevitably draw suspicions.

    On paper, being sleepless while remaining alert and full of vitality was a blessing. Why would anyone insist on wasting time when they didn¡¯t need to? On top of that, I had first showcased my current transformation after a dream. The Nightlords would likely draw a connection between these elements.

    If they suspected me of using dreams tomunicate with say, their dread father, then I would never be allowed to close my eyes again.

    I decided to keep Necahual¡¯s potions for emergencies and considered other options. I could opt for grueling training each day. The Flower War would give me plenty of excuses to work myself to the bone during daytime hours, but I could hardly justify a spar in the middle of the night.

    Unless¡­

    An idea crossed my mind. I snapped my fingers, and Tayatzin quickly arrived. ¡°Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°I need you to carry a message to Lady Sugey,¡± I said. The priest¡¯s eyes widened in shock, but he listened attentively. ¡°I would like to train with her, if she would not mind.¡±

    ¡°To train, Your Divine Majesty?¡± He didn¡¯t hide his surprise. ¡°For <em>war</em>?¡±

    ¡°What else?¡± I shrugged my shoulders. ¡°I will soon champion our nation against foreign heathens, and she is the goddess of battle. Now that I have learned the basics with my consort Chikal, I would assume that Lady Sugey would prove an apt teacher for more difficult techniques.¡±

    ¡°Certainly,¡± Tayatzin replied with a bow. ¡°I shall ask her immediately.¡±

    Half an hourter, I climbed down from my longneck in the middle of the night. Our procession had stopped for a time near a river to let the longnecks and trihorns drink before resuming our march, which lent itself to some activity.

    I walked into a ring of masked guards and red-eyed priests wearing only a loincloth, a spear, and a shield. Sugey awaited me there, her crimson gaze seizing me up with a mix of amusement and what could pass for excitement. Unlike me, she came wielding a shield and a star-shaped mace, while clothing herself in cotton armor and wearing a helmet made of wicker. A cloak of wool fluttered from her shoulders. This outfit was foreign to me. I hadn¡¯t seen any Yohuachancan soldiers dressed like this.

    ¡°I must say, I find this refreshing,¡± Sugey dered.

    ¡°How so, goddess?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I do not recall any emperor demanding that I tutor them in the arts of war. A few of your predecessors did have the guts to defy me in a duel, but they were few and far between.¡± Sugey studied me for a moment. ¡°Unless you are trying to assess my skills for such a day?¡±

    That was exactly my objective, but I wisely kept my intentions hidden. The Bird of War was sharper than she let on. ¡°If I were to defeat you, Lady Sugey, then you would make a poor goddess of war.¡±

    ¡°True.¡± She scoffed in amusement. ¡°I have heard good tales about your prowess while wearing Father¡¯s armor, but borrowed power can never be relied upon. I will test you as yourself.¡±

    Big words for a leech stealing her father¡¯s magic for herself. Her hypocrisy disgusted me. ¡°I shall endeavor not to disappoint you, oh goddess.¡±

    ¡°I would suggest against it, Iztac Ce Ehecatl. I have no patience for weaklings.¡± Sugey lightly hit her shield with her mace. ¡°I shall train you in the Sapa style of warfare, so that you may familiarize yourself with our enemies. Unlike us, they favor clubs and slings over obsidian des and arrows.¡±

    She pointed at her cloak. ¡°This is alpaca wool. The Sapa soldiers use it to stop arrows while the armor can resist heavy blows, but our obsidian des can cut through both. Our weapons are more brittle than theirs, so they have the edge in prolongedbat.¡±

    If youe across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°So I must eithernd a decisive blow quickly or target exposed weak points?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Or hit hard enough that neither matters.¡± Sugey cracked her neck. ¡°Stand ready.¡±

    Then she charged at me with blinding speed before I could respond.

    I would have loved to say it was a metaphor, but it wasn¡¯t. The Nightlord moved faster than a jaguar, Chikal, or any opponent I¡¯d faced yet. She closed the gap between us in an instant with her club aiming at my heart. I barely had time to step to the side and raise my shield. It shattered as her weapon hit it with immense force, nearly taking off my arm.

    The Bird of War did not y with her food.

    ¡°Give your all, or die,¡± she warned me. ¡°I would rather have a broken emperor than an embarrassing one.¡±

    ¡°You shall have neither, goddess,¡± I replied while throwing my spear at her chest. The projectile flew faster than an arrow and with enough strength to gore three men in one blow. She snapped it in two with a swing of her mace.

    ¡°Foolish,¡± she said, ¡°to leave yourself without¨C¡±

    I closed the gap between us in an instant and punched her straight in the face.

    My fingers could crush a skull easily enough, yet I felt like I was hitting a wall of ancient stones. My blow would have likely killed a mere mortal. It hardly made her <em>flinch</em>.

    But I heard a crack. A slight fracture of a tooth right above the jaw, so subtle I hardly noticed it over the impact of my fist.

    Yet it was the silence I found most deafening, as the red-eyed priests watched me punch their goddess. A tense stillness followed, with nobody present daring to move a muscle. Had I done the same to Iztacoatl or the Jaguar Woman in front of their servants, my life would have been forfeited on the spot.

    But if I hadn¡¯t misjudged Sugey¡­

    A chuckle broke the silence, and I allowed myself a breath of relief.

    The Bird of War was smiling.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Sugey said, her cracked tooth healing in the blink of an eye. ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡±

    She tossed away her weapons and charged me bare-handed.

    I tried to dodge and throw another punch, but her own speed and ferocity proved superior even with my newfound strength. She struck me in the chest so hard she cracked at least two ribs. The pain would have been unbearable once, but I¡¯d grown used to it since.

    I attempted to catch her with one arm and ram my fingers into her eyes, to at least blind her. I instead earned a fist to my face that sent me to the ground in return. Blood filled my nostrils and mud my mouth.

    ¡°Ferocious and crafty,¡± Sugeyplimented me; and unlike the likes of Iztacoatl, she sounded sincere. ¡°You hide your intent well enough, but you¡¯re overthinking it.¡±

    I tried to rise up, but she simply grabbed me by my hair and lifted me up with a single hand. I might as well have been a bundle of maize to her.

    ¡°That mind of yours will serve you well before the battle begins, boy, but once it does?¡± She forced me to look at her, her crimson eyes zing in the dark. ¡°There¡¯s only blood and savagery.¡±

    She smashed my face into the ground.

    I knew it would have killed any other man, and even then it hurt enough to leave me dizzied and briefly paralyzed. The pain was atrocious beyond words, but I was too enraged to care. I clenched my fists and forced myself to my knees.

    I would not go down quietly.

    ¡°Thinking in a fight makes you hesitate, unfocused, <em>distracted,¡± </em>I heard her say as she cracked her knuckles. She <em>relished </em>this; the pain, the violence, the challenge. ¡°We¡¯ll have to beat that w out of your thick skull.¡±

    <em>Do your worst</em>, I thought while rising up. <em>One day, the brain spilling out of a skull will be </em><strong><em>yours</em></strong><em>. </em>

    Sugey eventually beat me to sleep.

    ¡°You acquainted yourself very well for a mortal, Iztac Ce Ehecatl,¡± I¡¯d heard her say once she finished brutalizing me to resume the march. ¡°I look forward to you iming heads on the battlefield.¡±

    I supposed that my n worked, although I would have preferred a kinder method in retrospect and would focus on finding one next time. I¡¯d learned enough tonight.

    Although Sugey had recruited Chikal, the simrities between them were only superficial. Both enjoyed the thrill of battle and violence, but while my consort¡¯s lessons always focused on exining to me what went wrong and how to improve, Sugey¡¯s idea of ¡®training¡¯ mostly involved relentlessly beating me up and punishing every mistake I made with overwhelming brutality. More than that, I could tell she enjoyed it.

    Sugy was a <em>brute</em>. A cunning brute, but a brute nheless.

    This encounter at least taught me not to underestimate her. Sugey wasn¡¯t stupid in the slightest. She fought with an ancient warrior¡¯s experience and sharp senses, and she had familiarized herself with Sapa fighting tactics enough to mimic them. She was the most dangerous kind of warrior: the fighter that extensively researched their enemy before engaging them in battle.

    She would not underestimate me if I ever challenged her openly. Unlike the White Snake, the Bird of War did not toy with her food.

    Sugey also differed from Iztacoatl in a few ways. Namely, she didn¡¯t care much for mind games or humiliating me. In fact, she seemed pleased with my performance enough topliment it. She respected strength above all else. I had a feeling I could use that against her.

    Most important of all, she wasn¡¯t insecure in the slightest.

    Iztacoatl was a coward at heart, and the Jaguar Woman¡¯s obsessive need to crush any form of dissent with disproportionate force bordered on madness. Even Yoloxochitl pathetically demanded the love of others. Sugey instead struck me as the kind of person who felt secure in her strength.

    This could prove a problem going forward. Those who didn¡¯t fear losing face were the most willing to take bold risks.

    All in all, I suspected that it would take much less effort to hide things under Sugey¡¯s nose than with Iztacoatl, but she wouldn¡¯t hesitate to get her hands dirty if I slipped up in any way.

    I put those thoughts aside as I finally faded into unconsciousness and returned to locan. Nobody disturbed my Father or my predecessors¡¯ hiding spot, which I appreciated. Moreover, the fiery clouds below had all but cleared, revealing an endless wastnd of ashes. The temperature had dropped too.

    I knew this dead world would never sustain life again, but it would at least be <em>tolerable</em>.

    ¡°That is a fascinating possibility,¡± my predecessors¡¯ skull said after I recounted Lahun¡¯s hypothesis. ¡°If the Nightlords are indeed Mometzcopinques rather than Nahualli as we assumed, then it would mean that studying your bond to young Necahual might grant you insight into their rituals.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t thought of it, but they had a point. If the bond that united the Nightlords to their enved father was the same that united me to Necahual, then examining thetter would give me an edge in sabotaging the former.

    I might even find a way to break their hold over <em>my </em>soul. The New Fire Ceremony already proved that the Nightlords¡¯ various rituals were interconnected in a web of ult power, with the alteration of one impacting the others.

    However, the Parliament of Skulls also noticed a problem I hadn¡¯t considered. ¡°We do foresee another issue, our sessor. A Mometzcopinque derives their power from their patron, which is split between their witches. Not only will the First Emperor regain more of his strength with each Nightlord that we destroy, but the surviving sisters may individually ess a greater amount of magic each.¡±

    ¡°So if I were to y Iztacoatl, both the Bird of War and the Jaguar Woman could array stronger spells against me?¡± I asked with my jaw clenching in displeasure. This didn¡¯t please me in the slightest.

    ¡°They would need to expend more to keep the First Emperor sealed too,¡± Father pointed out. ¡°Would the two counterbnce each other?¡±

    ¡°Possibly,¡± I conceded. I didn¡¯t notice a fluctuation in the Nightlords¡¯ powers after Yoloxochitl¡¯s demise, but it could have simply been the result of Eztli quickly filling in for her deceased vampire sire.

    ¡°Your sleeping difficulties present another problem we must address,¡± my predecessors said. ¡°An exhausting schedule will mitigate the worst of it, but we will have to assume you might no longer be able to fall into the Underworld each night from now on; and since our Reliquary is now half an empire away from you, opportunities for us to advise you will be rarer.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t meditation help?¡± Father suggested. ¡°I am no expert in these things, but your Mother had her own way of venturing into the Underworld without being beholden to sleep¡¯s demands. She should know a spell that would allow your spirit to wander here.¡±

    I pondered his words in silence. He had a point. Mother mentioned that she preferred the Underworld and rarely stayed among the living. It would make sense for her to have learned or developed a spell to make it easier.

    Nevertheless, I had no desire to meet her again unless she fulfilled Father''s demands that she release the souls she kept in captivity; and even then, I didn¡¯t think I could do more than tolerate her. Her sacrifice of Father had been one act of cowardice too many.

    But then again, that very same fear would force her to behave if I ordered her to do anything. She was already no match for me before I consumed loc¡¯s embers. I would simply have to <em>ask </em>and she would <em>obey</em>.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± I replied evasively while bringing out the First Emperor¡¯s codex. ¡°Until then, we should investigate the path to the Third Layer. I¡¯m wary of asking loc for directions considering his temperament, so this book remains our option for the moment.¡±

    ¡°His Majesties and I can read it for you, my son,¡± Father suggested. ¡°It¡¯s not like we have better things to do around these parts.¡±

    ¡°A wise proposal,¡± my predecessors agreed. ¡°Until then, you can use this time to practice your spellcasting.¡±

    It would indeed be an optimal use of our time and resources, except for one issue: namely, my father and the previous emperors had both been reduced to skulls with no arms to flip the pages with. I considered how to solve this problem when an idea crossed my mind.

    I remembered Queen Mictecacihuatl mentioning that a sorcerer could animate armies of corpses with the Doll, and I had sessbining different spells in the past.

    I looked at the skull channeling my predecessors, which I had crafted from my own bones. Knowing that they would eventually regrow, I grabbed some of my ribs and reshaped them into a small skeleton norger than that of a small child. I bound the emperors¡¯ skull to it and sensed them join together through our shared curse.

    ¡°Can you control it, my predecessors?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The past emperors raised their new hands to examine them. ¡°How strange. We had almost forgotten how it felt to <em>move</em>.¡±

    The Legion¡¯s power had increased enough that the skulls could animate bones bound to them. This pleased me greatly. Six hundred emperors slumbered in anguish within their parliament of the dead. If each of them could animate a body, then I would only be limited by the quantity of vessels I could provide them.

    ¡°Ick enough bones to create more than one body yet,¡± I apologized to Father. ¡°If you can wait until tomorrow night, I should have enough resources to change that.¡±

    ¡°No need,¡± he reassured me. ¡°Simply attach me to this one. If I am to join with His Majesties through your Legion spell, I might as well get used to sharing a body.¡±

    The idea of his soul suffering as part of the Parliament of Skulls shook me to my core. ¡°Father, we have talked about this. That idea is out of the question.¡±

    ¡°We appreciate your determination, Lord Itzili, but we humbly suggest that you reconsider,¡± my predecessors added. ¡°We would trade <em>anything </em>for our current state of existence.¡±

    ¡°I more than understand,¡± Father replied with a somber tone that made me wince. He had been assimted into the First Fear not too long ago, a fate arguably even worse than bing another skull on a pile. ¡°However, I cannot let my son risk his life while I wait on the sidelines.¡±

    ¡°The book might offer us other alternatives,¡± the previous emperors argued, though I could tell it was mostly to dy this critical discussion for another time. ¡°Let us not jump to conclusions too hastily.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, jumping at the opportunity to change Father¡¯s mind. ¡°Look into the codex until you find more information on the nextyer first.¡±

    Father agreed to drop the matter for a moment, and I swiftly bound his skull to the new body I¡¯d shaped. The result looked quite grotesque, the head of the small skeleton¡¯s two heads forcing it to hunch over, but it was functional enough for them to flip through the book¡¯s pages.

    In the meantime, I continued to practice with my other spells in order to assess their increase in power. I first began to experiment with Spiritual Manifestation and quickly found that my control over it had sharpened. While I was once forced to shift back and forth between forms, I quickly managed to grow wings out of my shoulders and turn my hands into talons without surrendering my humanoid shape. I could blend the aspects of man and the beast however I wished.

    With practice, I could see myself developing a shape thatbined the strengths of both and the weaknesses of neither.

    I didn¡¯t notice any particr change with the Doll besides an increase in range and grip strength for its shadow talons. I could use them to punch through stone and shred men, but it didn¡¯t seem to have gained any new application.

    The Veil, however, showcased a noticeable change.

    I wove an illusion of a sparrow within my hand, so small and weak it could be crushed within my palm. I pressed against its feathers with my fingers and felt a slight pressure against them. The fake bird let out a cry as if I were genuinely hurting it.

    The illusion had <em>substance</em>.

    I wouldn¡¯t call it <em>solid</em>, since the sparrow vanished into nothingness when I pressed a tiny bit harder, but it was definitely <em>tangible</em>. Semi-real.

    This opened up <em>many </em>possibilities. While a tangible illusion would copse easily, it would be more credible too. The Veil¡¯s main weakness was that the victim had to buy into a lie for it to take hold over their mind, so I remained limited to subtle and believable scenarios. Creating a false demon among a crowd would have been impossible for me to sustain beforehand.

    However, if it were halfway solid enough to touch its victims, then thetter would likely start buying into the illusion; thus strengthening it enough to be real in their eyes. This greatly broadened my options for the Veil.

    I wondered about the implications for a moment. What would happen once I consumed a third set of embers? Would my illusions be <em>real</em>? Would I be powerful enough to shape reality like y?

    I felt I had only touched the surface of absolute power.

    I heard Father¡¯s voice calling out to me. ¡°We¡¯ve found it, Iztac.¡±

    I put aside those thoughts and turned to my allies. My father and predecessor pointed at a page with a drawing of a strange portal with ephemeral, shadowy boundaries. It reminded me of a ring made of intertwined smoke and winds. I quickly read the description. <blockquote>

    <em>Located in the depths of Matzakuy, the first city raised by the Third Sun¡¯s people, the Gate of the Twin-Breaths links the tombs of loc and Quetzalcoatl. Built from wind and fire, it is thest frontier between the dreams of mankind and the primeval unknown; for it was only with the rise of the Third Sun that the gods created the race of man that lingers to this day. The Layers beyond serve as tombs for things that preceded us, some of which were too dangerous to linger in the heavens¡¯ newer creations. The horrors that dwell within these realms are both primordial and unrecognizable. </em>

    <em>The Second Sun came to an end when the gods raised a hurricane that would sweep away the sins and evils that inhabited this doomed world. To cross the Gate of the Twin-Breaths requires a ghastly sacrifice that only the bravest and most determined will be willing to pay.</em>

    <em>A first breath and thest.</em></blockquote>

    ¡°A first breath and thest?¡± I repeated, pondering its meaning.

    ¡°Then you would need the breath of a newborn and that of a dying person?¡± Father asked. ¡°This does not sound too difficult.¡±

    The previous emperors unfortunately disagreed. ¡°The book mentions a single sacrifice, not two,¡± they pointed out. ¡°This suggests a different interpretation: the first breath <em>must </em>be thest.¡±

    It didn¡¯t take long for the implications to dawn on Father and me.

    I would have flinched at the sacrifice required once, but I could have filled ake with the blood of all my victims by now. At that point, one more wouldn¡¯t hurt.

    The logistics involved would prove another matter. A human¡¯s first breath meant I would have to extract a child from a mother¡¯s womb and then kill them before they could take a second breath.

    Did it even need to belong to a <em>human</em>? Would a turkey chick¡¯s first breath count? It would seem far too easy, but magic obeyed its own rules.

    Father clearly thought along the same lines. ¡°Let us try with an animal before we do anything drastic, my son.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± I said. ¡°Does the book say more?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately not,¡± Fatherined as he flipped thest page. ¡°This book ends with the gate¡¯s description.¡±

    ¡°Our sessor has ess to another volume,¡± my predecessors replied. ¡°We suspect it will pick up where this one left off.¡±

    I nodded in confirmation. The First Emperor codex currently in my possession only covered the Second Layer of the Underworld. However, I recalled that the volume which Ingrid had started to trante covered the author''s meeting with Quetzalcoatl, the Second Sun of the world; an interaction that could have only taken ce in the Third Layer. There was a chance that the author recorded his crossing of the Gate of the Twin-Breaths in that volume.

    And if my predecessors were right about the sacrifice, and if it required a human¡¯s life¡­

    If they were right, I would do what I had to do.

 Chapter Eighty-One: Chilam

    Chapter Eighty-One: Chm

    I looked down upon my father¡¯s skull, my eyes shining with sunlight and my words carrying a ruler''s authority.

    ¡°Lie to me,¡± I ordered.

    ¡°I¡­¡± It said something about Father that he had to think over themand for half a minute beforeing up with the most harmless lie possible. ¡°I¡­ I do not like turkey meat?¡±

    My Gaze brightened with golden light. A wisp of smoke emerged from the mouth of his skull, like a cloud of corruption escaping him; as it did when I asked the Parliament of Skulls to deceive me earlier. The lie they came up with had been subtler and more insidious than Father¡¯s, but no less visible to my spell.

    ¡°I can see falsehoods,¡± I confirmed upon canceling the Gaze. ¡°My spell not only pierces through magical illusions, butmon deceit too.¡±

    ¡°A useful ability,¡± my predecessorsmented. ¡°Albeit one best used sporadically in conjunction with the Veil.¡±

    I nodded and meditated upon our new findings. Besides the Gaze¡¯s new application, my Curse feathers had grown more potent and vibrant, which suggested that they had gained a greater pull over destiny. I couldn¡¯t thoroughly test it nor the Haunt within loc¡¯s domain, as the god would not tolerate me putting a malediction on hisnds and chosen souls, but I would have plenty of targets to choose from when I returned to the waking world. Same with the Pit, which I had yet to try out and should sacrifice a chosen target to Xibalba. I could find a red-eyed priest or two to ¡®volunteer¡¯ to test these spells on my behalf.

    Otherwise, much like the Doll spell, the Fall¡¯s function hadn¡¯t changed much besides increasing in strength; I¡¯d managed to uproot a tree and send it flying away in the sky, among other things. The Slice cut slightly deeper and the Cloak¡¯s winds blew harder, but nowhere near as much as I would have expected. I supposed that since those spells relied on outside forces¡ªnamely, the hatred and adoration of the masses respectively¡ªrather than my own strength to function, my own surge in power wouldn¡¯t affect their potency.

    Which left only the Ride and the Tomb to check out next. I decided to try out thetter after I left locan to avoid damaging it and enticing its master¡¯s wrath, and I considered how to use the former. Mother warned me that the spell wouldn¡¯t work on red-eyed priests nor Nightspawn due to the vampiric curse providing a degree of protection, but if my magic had grown strong enough to bypass it, then¡­ I felt the sting of wakefulness at the edge of my mind, far too early to my liking.

    ¡°I will wake up soon,¡± I warned my father and predecessors with undisguised frustration. ¡°My nights are getting shorter.¡±

    Not only did my inhuman vitality dy the need for rest, but it also reduced the sleep that my body required. I¡¯d been struck with a curse disguised as a blessing.

    ¡°We feared as much,¡± the past emperors said. ¡°We shall begin to count the hours the next time you fall asleep. What can be measured can be improved.¡±

    ¡°We ought to visit your mother on your next visit,¡± Father argued. ¡°While I understand that you may feel uneasy around her, I think we should consult her. She must know a way to ease your journey.¡±

    ¡°Mayhaps,¡± I replied without too much enthusiasm. While I had no love left for my mother, I couldn¡¯t argue with Father¡¯s logic. I needed to find a way to address the sleeping problem without arousing suspicions.

    My already precious time was only growing shorter.

    I woke up as we arrived near Chm.

    We had to travel through a sinuous stone road, crossing dense marshes that reminded me of the Underworld¡¯s First Layer until the peak of the city¡¯s grand temple appeared to us looming over the trees. Rows upon rows of spears were lined up along the path; ording to Chikal, they were memorials to fallen amazon sisters who died protecting the city across the ages.

    I doubted anyone would have found their way through the dense jungle without the narrow road; and even then, I immediately felt watched as our procession advanced across it. I¡¯d heard stone highways connected amazon cities together while allowing their people to set ambushes for travelers who hadn¡¯t paid their due. I wondered how many armies had vanished here, their soldiers¡¯ corpses left to rot and sink in the surrounding bogs.

    The spears along the road attested to the hefty tributes the amazons paid for their independence; and even then, it hadn¡¯t been enough to keep Yohuachanca¡¯s armies at bay forever.

    We eventually rode past one of the four cenotes that fueled the city¡¯s water supply and great blocky masonry, basalt walls covered in mosaics of monstrous faces meant to discourage invaders. A good chunk of them had fallen under outside assault, but most of it remained standing. I could almost imagine the moment when Chikal decided to negotiate with Yohuachanca rather than continue a doomed fight upon seeing the damage.

    Chm itself was no bustling capital, but it was no small city either. The vast settlement housed several pyramids and structures several floors up, each of them precisely connected to each of the four cenotes that served as the amazons¡¯ water reservoirs. I caught a glimpse of a ballcourt and zas filled with women-run markets. Besides the absence of men, Chm¡¯s civilization didn¡¯t look too different from the rest of Yohuachanca.

    However, I quickly noticed a few details that set it apart from my empire¡¯s other cities. Most actual houses and huts were built from wood and stood on pirs dug into the earth, perhaps to avoid flooding. Palisades protected farnd and gardens were tended to by men with ve cors, all of them working under the careful watch of women warriors with leashes and spears; the males¡¯ faces were hidden behind wooden masks covering their entire heads except for the eyes and mouths.

    <em>¡°Fathers and brothers all,¡± </em>the wind whispered in my ear.<em> ¡°Never allowed to love or fight, only to fear.¡±</em>

    I watched it all from my longneck¡¯s balcony as a small crowd of female warriors escorted our procession to the main pyramid. I¡¯d originally intended to enter the city riding on Itzili¡¯s back, but Chikal demanded that we instead arrive on the longneck together so I wouldn¡¯t overshadow her in front of her own people. By sharing the same vehicle and climbing down together, we would appear as equals rather than imply a hierarchy.

    I noticed that many of the younger women gave me strange looks¡ªsome intrigued, some disapproving. I had the distinct impression a few of them had never seen a non-ve male¡¯s visage in their entire lives, let alone an emperor waving at them from a roving mansion¡¯s balcony.

    ¡°Most men aren¡¯t allowed to show their faces, to avoid tempting young amazons astray,¡± Chikal exined to me as she joined me on the balcony. ¡°Yohuachancan prisoners were freed as part of our treaty, so most of the men you now see were taken from the Sapa or lesser jungle tribes.¡±

    Which exined the looks. I was probably the first maskless man that many of these women ever saw.

    <em>¡°All they see is their enemy,¡± </em>the wind whispered in my ear.<em> ¡°The oppressor, the conqueror, who took them through numbers and guile rather than strength of arms. Do you hear their knives sharpened behind your back?¡±</em>

    ¡°I see,¡± I replied without borating. The sight of masked ves never became easier to me¡ªespecially since I couldn¡¯t help but see myself in those people denied their freedom and identity¡ªbut thews of Chm were far older than I was and I required its people¡¯s assistance. Criticizing their way of life in the open would not win me any friends. ¡°I will do my best not to tempt your citizens then.¡±

    My words amused Chikal to no end. ¡°Quite the contrary, Iztac. I would rather that you tempt them.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow, with my consort leaning on me to whisper her ns in my ear. Little of it surprised me. I¡¯d already reached simr conclusions from my discussions with Lahun.

    ¡°Can I count on your cooperation?¡± Chikal asked me.

    ¡°Of course.¡± I boldly put one of my arms around her waist in front of her fellow amazons and waved to them with the other. ¡°Anything for my beloved.¡±

    Recognizing my move for what it was, Chikal smiled in amusement as she imitated me. The effect was as I expected: many amazons looked up to us in shock as their queen and a male stood before them not as master and servant, not as conqueror and conquered, but as <em>equals</em>. It was a sight that likely spooked many of them to their core.

    Our longneck¡¯s destination, Chikal¡¯s pce, could be held within a wing of my own. It only had two floors elevated on a limestone tform and nine doors separated by stone pirs, though its facade was elegantly decorated with beads, birds, and feather motifs. Layered tree trunks formed the roof. An elderly woman of advanced age awaited us in front of the main stairway, wearing old skins, golden bracelets, and a crocodile¡¯s skull over her head. She leaned on a staff to bend her back in submission once our delegation climbed down our mount.

    Of my consorts and concubines, only Chikal, Ingrid, Tenoch, and Lahun emerged from the longneck after me; and thetter two did so in their position as handmaidens to the former. The others remained aboard, either because the sight of a blinded ve like Chindi would send the wrong message to the locals, or because they simply wished for solitude in Nl¡¯s case. My sister still required time to figure things out when it came to our situation, so I assented to her wish.

    Most importantly, all of our guards were amazons from Chikal¡¯s retinue. I had sessfully argued that bringing in masked males with weapons and red-eyed priests would aggravate the poption we aimed to pacify and incorporate, which ought to give us a rare day of privacy.

    Chikal had otherwise briefed me on how her people treated their elders. When an amazon grew too old to fight, they instead entered retirement as advisors to the royal family. This council possessed a certain pull in Chm¡¯s affairs, though little binding power. I was expected to treat them with respect, which I would.

    ¡°Wee home, Your Majesty,¡± the old woman said. Though she bowed in front of Chikal and me, I knew she only respected one of us. ¡°All of Chm rejoices at your visit.¡±

    ¡°Does it, Ixmucan?¡± Chikal asked with a knowing look. ¡°I have heard of unrest among my sisters-in-battle.¡±

    ¡°A few fools still resent Your Majesty for surrendering to Yohuachanca.¡± The old woman turned to face me, her ancient eyes appraising me with suspicion. ¡°Theing of their emperor does not inspire joy, I must say. To be blunt, Your Majesty, you should not expect apuse.¡±

    This one was honest at least. I had almost forgotten what it sounded like among all the tterers and deceivers in court.

    ¡°I will be sure to remind them of the honor my visit represents,¡± I replied. ¡°And I have a need for true warriors. If they have the strength toin, let them showcase it with des in hands and capturing men worthy of them.¡±

    While I wasn¡¯t particrly approving of Chm¡¯s traditions, I knew better than to say so out loud. Attacking a people¡¯s way of life was the surest bet to encourage rebellion, and I mostly required loyalty for now.

    ¡°A few hotheads will jump at Your Majesty¡¯s proposal,¡± Ixmucan replied with skepticism. ¡°Most will resent serving a male.¡±

    ¡°How about serving their queen?¡± Chikal replied with a scoff. ¡°I shall lead them myself.¡±

    ¡°Will you?¡± Ixmucan squinted in surprise. ¡°I heard Yohuachanca wished to incorporate us into their own militarymand.¡±

    ¡°The voice of Yohuachanca stands before you, elder,¡± I replied with the imperious dignity of an emperor. ¡°Chm¡¯s forces shall serve under my dear consort as she sees fit.¡±

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    Ixmucan studied us for a moment, then nodded in assent. I had the stark intuition that this old fossil hid an experienced political mind behind her crumbling flesh. She could see the signs that Chikal and I had formed an alliance of some kind.

    In any case, we soon settled on an agenda for the day. Chikal would officially announce the deration of war to the council of elders as queen of Chm, as tradition demanded, and she would do it alone so as not to diminish her legitimacy. Her pregnancy would be announced in the evening at a feast where most of the city¡¯s warriors would be invited, and where I was expected to show up. Otherwise, I was free to explore the city as I wished.

    This presented an opportunity I could not let pass.

    ¡°I recall that my dear Lahun wished to visit the city¡¯s archives,¡± I said before turning to Ingrid. ¡°You should apany us.¡±

    Ingrid bowed slightly. ¡°I am always pleased to follow, my lord, but I wonder what he has in mind.¡±

    ¡°Chm is right next to the Sapa, and it woulde as a surprise to me if such an ancient and revered people did not gather information on our enemies,¡± I replied. ¡°Perhaps you will find something interesting among these ancient documents; maybe even tales pertaining to the goddesses and our own nation¡¯s history missing from our capital.¡±

    A sh of recognition passed over Ingrid¡¯s eyes. She knew I wasn¡¯t talking about Chm¡¯s archives, but the emperor¡¯s secret codex. She could read between the lines: I wanted her to keep studying it and report any findings to me in short order.

    ¡°My lord is wise and farsighted, as always,¡± Ingrid replied while turning to look at her handmaiden. ¡°Will you assist me in this task, Tenoch?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Mdy,¡± my concubine replied with a pleasant smile. ¡°I have never seen a foreign city before. I wonder if they will let me see their treasures.¡±

    With the matter settled, our group split, with Chikal going with the Ixmucan to meet with the elders while the rest of us visited the royal pce under Lahun¡¯s guidance. The structure¡¯s austerity contrasted with my own dominion¡¯s opulence. Where almost every inch of my floors were covered in expensive carpets and its walls adorned with mosaics, the amazons preferred smooth stone, and the trophy heads of hunted beasts for decorations. Even the rooms were more akin to barracks than bedrooms, with hammocks of snakeskin leather strung between stone posts. I daresay that my own longneck roving house had more amenities than this ce.

    Chm¡¯s entire culture revolved around war, and I had the distinct impression that they saw shows of wealth as a weakness.

    Lahun eventually led us to the archives wing of the pce, arge, windowless chamber lined with books, scrolls, and tablets umted through age and conquest. Thenterns meant to illuminate it hadn¡¯t been lit in a while, and a faintyer of dust covered some of the desks. Clearly, no one had entered the premises since Lahunst visited.

    ¡°These stairs lead to the observatory above, if you wish to consult the stars and clouds,¡± Lahun said as she used a torch to set thenterns alight. ¡°My privateboratory is further up ahead.¡±

    ¡°Interesting,¡± I said upon checking the tablets. ¡°I recognize some words and not others.¡±

    ¡°Most tribes and nations around the Boiling Sea share the same linguistical roots,¡± Lahun exined. ¡°Our dialect, Yohuachanca¡¯s, the Sapa¡¯s, and many others that once lived in the region all have amon ancestor before each developing a unique identity over time.¡±

    Most interesting. If the story about the First Emperor¡¯s brother leaving for Sapa Empire¡¯s mountains was correct, then he might have introduced his and Yohuachanca¡¯snguage to those people that already lived there.

    ¡°Do you have records of your city¡¯s founding?¡± I asked Lahun. ¡°And the Sapa?¡±

    ¡°Most certainly.¡± Lahun pointed at a part of the library with her staff. ¡°This wing contains historical and mythological records my predecessorspiled. I must confess that my queen and I were more interested in predicting the future, so I cannot recall which codices will soothe Your Majesty¡¯s curiosity.¡±

    ¡°Tenoch and I can browse these archives for you, my lord,¡± Ingrid wisely suggested. ¡°This will spare some of your precious time.¡±

    ¡°Always dependable, Ingrid,¡± I said before lightly kissing my consort on the cheek; a gesture that drew a giggle from Tenoch. ¡°What would I do without you?¡±

    ¡°My lord tells me,¡± my consort replied with a knowing wink. ¡°Please do not linger too long though. I have heard that the amazons tend to beautiful gardens, and I would like to visit them next if my lord allows me.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± I reassured her. ¡°This will only take a moment.¡±

    I had grown talented at dismembering people.

    True to her word, Lahun guided me into a small, isted chamber further into the archives with smooth rounded corners, walls stered with iprehensible star maps and diagrams, and a single small carpet of fur for meditation purposes. Lahun examined every inch of the room to check for observation holes.

    ¡°Your Majesty has found a bright and capable consort,¡± she said with sincere praise. ¡°Lady Ingrid¡¯s mind is sharper than my queen¡¯s de.¡±

    ¡°I am fond of her,¡± I replied before whipping up a Veil around us for secrecy and swiftly confirming that no one was observing us. The Nightlords¡¯ surveince had grown less intense under Sugey¡¯s leadership, and Chm was too far away from their center of power for them to deploy spies in every wall.

    We were alone for the time being.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± I asked Lahun.

    ¡°Yes.¡± My concubine sat on the carpet, set aside her staff, and faced me. ¡°I have been ready since the day of my birth.¡±

    Of that, I had little doubt. ¡°This will hurt,¡± I warned her still. ¡°Knowing this is one thing, understanding it is another.¡±

    ¡°All gods demand a toll of pain for life and favor,¡± Lahun replied calmly and fearlessly. ¡°I will pay Your Majesty¡¯s price.¡±

    ¡°I am not a god.¡± <em>Yet</em>. ¡°But very well. Undress yourself.¡±

    Lahun obeyed without hesitation, her robes slipping off her smooth skin and ending up in a pile in a nearby corner of the room. She knelt and looked up to me as naked as the day she was born. She did not blink when I summoned the dark talons of the Doll spell. Unlike Necahual before her, she showed no apprehension nor fear.

    She already knew she would live through this.

    ¡°Did you foresee this moment?¡± I asked her out of curiosity. ¡°Was this written?¡±

    ¡°It was fated since the moment I epted Your Majesty¡¯s offer,¡± Lahun replied calmly. ¡°Come what may.¡±

    I had been a bit hesitant to take a new witch under my wing after learning of the Nightlords¡¯ potential true nature, but Lahun¡¯s dignity swept away all of my doubts. She would serve me wonderfully.

    I gave her a nod of respect, then sliced off her limbs.

    loc¡¯s gift had increased my Doll spell¡¯s strength and speed to the point that their talons struck like lightning. I channeled the ze through their burning ws, cauterizing wounds in an instant. Lahun bit her tongue to swallow a scream of fear and surprise which my Veil would have smothered anyway. Her face went pale and her eyes filled with tears of agony.

    I gently grabbed her in my arms andid her limbless body on her back across the carpet, surrounded by her severed body parts. Having already gone through the ritual once with Necahual, I was simply going through the motions. I did not relish her pain, but I epted it nheless.

    I switched her severed limbs, pressing her arms against the thighs and her legs against the shoulders, then bit my palm and blessed the stumps with my shining blood. Fire rained down my hand the same way loc¡¯s fury once burned the world from the heavens above. Lahun wriggled and writhed in pain as my searing fluids bound her severed flesh back in an unholy parody of wings and talons.

    I immediately noticed changespared to Necahual¡¯s own ritual. My blood did more than bind the disparate body parts together; it crawled its way into Lahun¡¯s veins and caused them to glow as it traveled through them. It flowed and coursed like water entering a weing riverbed, or seeds putting down roots in fertile soil.

    I would expect the experience to be painful, for few appreciated fire in their veins. A look at Lahun¡¯s face convinced me otherwise. Her scowl of intense pain had transformed into a daze of rapturous pleasure. It briefly reminded me of the expression victims of the vampire kiss boasted on their faces after a feeding. I supposed both experiences weren¡¯t too far apart.

    I ced my bleeding palm against Lahun¡¯s chest, her skin burning and fuming at my touch. It drew a cry of pleasure out of my concubine. My owl-totem stirred within my soul as its talons eagerly closed in on a new ve¡¯s spirit.

    ¡°Lahun of Chm,¡± I dered. ¡°I am catecolotl, the owl-fiend of disaster. I hold your life within my very hands, and now I demand your soul.¡±

    I sensed her Teyolia and Tonalli answering my call. My fingers sank into her soft flesh and slipped through her ribs until I could sense her beating heart thundering beneath my palm.

    ¡°I shall im your name and soul for myself, so that you may serve and worship me for all eternity,¡± I told Lahun. ¡°In exchange, I shall grant you the power you crave. I shall bestow upon you the spark of true magic and pleasures forbidden to all mortals. I shall make you a Mometzcopinque, a ve-wife, and seer to the rising god.¡±

    I leaned over her, one hand grasping her heart, the other caressing her face.

    ¡°Will you be mine?¡± I asked, my breath on her lips. ¡°Will you gaze into the abyss of magic with me until death do us part?¡±

    ¡°<em>Yes</em>,¡± Lahun whispered through the daze of pleasure and pain. ¡°I shall serve you forevermore¡­ Your Majesty.¡±

    The pact was sealed, and her soul belonged to me.

    My Teyolia flowed into her own, filling her heart with my malice and grandeur. I bound her spirit to mine in a kinship deeper than family and stronger than love. A leash of magic joined us in a union of power.

    My strength became her own and reshaped her body in the same way it had transformed Necahual. Her shoulder-legs unfolded into ebon wings and her thigh-arms into owlish talons. However, where Necahual had sharpened as inner ferocity became manifest, Lahun underwent a subtler change. Her eyes grew more focused, her curiosity shining through, while other traits became more aquiline and almost wiser.

    I swiftly realized that the Mometzcopinque ritual either brought a person¡¯s self to the forefront or reflected part of my own thoughts. Necahual had been an echo of my savagery, wild and untamed; while Lahun¡¯s transformation showcased our shared inquisitiveness.

    Moreover, I barely noticed my own strength diminishing; either Lahun took much less than Necahual, which I doubted, or the well of power I could draw upon had simply grown deep indeed since I absorbed a second set of embers.

    I strongly leaned towards thetter. The Nightlords had siphoned away from their malevolent sire for over six centuries, and he still surpassed all of them in might. Infusing a Mometzcopinque would have tremendously diminished me when the waters of my soul were no more than a pond, but now that it was ake it didn¡¯t make as big of a difference.

    Whatever the case, I now owned Lahun¡¯s flesh and soul. I could see it in her gaze when I removed my hand from her chest and watched her wounds heal in an instant; the awareness of the unbreakable bond of servitude between us and the understanding that there would be no backing down.

    However, I didn¡¯t detect doubt or remorse in Lahun. Quite the contrary. When she raised her wings and watched fire and lightning course through her new feathers, she knew that she had made the right choice.

    ¡°This is¡­ <em>exhrating¡­</em>¡± I heard her mutter to herself, her breath short and yet so heavy. ¡°So this is the power that was bestowed upon Lady Necahual.¡±

    ¡°Yours are my fire and lightning, and I granted you wings to fly with,¡± I said. ¡°My power is yours to wield as you see fit, and your life is mine to dispose of as I wish.¡±

    ¡°I understand,¡± she replied with an obedient nod. ¡°Your Majesty was true to his word, and so I will serve him.¡±

    I studied her face for a moment with the Gaze and saw no lie. Lahun was a creature of honor in a way, who respected thews of fate and the gods. She had sworn an oath and would live by its ts.

    ¡°My Necahual is your eldest and my favorite among your new sisterhood,¡± I warned Lahun. ¡°Should she ask anything of you, I expect you to fulfill her demands.¡±

    I epted her loyalty and prepared to rise up when her talons grabbed my shoulders.

    ¡°If I may make a request to Your Majesty¡­¡± Lahun¡¯s legs spread open to wee me. ¡°Now that my eyes are open, I must <em>see</em>.¡±

    A smile stretched on my lips as my hands grabbed her waist and undid my robes. When she asked so nicely, how could I deny her a glimpse of magic?

    I took Lahun on the carpet, skipping through preliminaries and moving straight towards the meat of our union. The fact that my blood coursed through both of our veins eased up the Seidr ritual, as did the bond between our souls. We were parts reunited into an almighty whole.

    The visions came easily; sights of a ruined temple filled with sand and ashes where stood a ring-shaped doorway of spiraling bones and wood enclosing on swirling winds. I recognized the Gate of the Twin-Breaths.

    The memory grew more vivid, and I saw a shadow standing in front of it; a familiar witch with ebon wings and eyes of ice.

    Mother.

    Of course she would have visited this ce and kept that information from me. She hoarded secrets and whatever that could give her an advantage.

    If she had studied the gate¡­ did she also figure out its key?

    The vision ended before I could wonder further, with my soul returning to my body as I spilled my seed on Lahun¡¯s thighs. I heard her gasp beneath me as faint smoke arose from between her legs.

    ¡°Your Majesty¡­¡± she looked into my eyes with unbound curiosity. ¡°What was that ce?¡±

    I briefly wondered about keeping her in the dark and pondered my options. The less she knew, the less she might spill if interrogated¡­ but on the other hand, her life and soul were now tied to mine. Lahun had no choice but to fight at my side against the Nightlords if she hoped to survive.

    Moreover, she had a keen intellect, a natural talent for the ult arts, and a certain amount of honor which I respected. I figured we would be better served if I pointed her curiosity and wisdom in the right direction. I should encourage her to search for knowledge that would serve my needs in exchange for greater rewards.

    ¡°That is the door to Lord Quetzacoatl¡¯s realm,¡± I replied.

    Lahun¡¯s eyes widened in astonishment. ¡°The feathered serpent himself?¡±

    ¡°I am due to visit him so that he might bestow his favor upon me, but a divinity does not allow even a Godspeaker in his presence without trials.¡± I avoided mentioning the Underworld or the context of the trial itself¡ªno one knew that the dead suns lingered underground, and most believed that the gods simply resided in the heavens above. ¡°This gate is locked, and I must find its key to secure my audience.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t tell her more to avoid the Nightlords learning of dangerous information, but that morsel of information was enough. The mere fact that I spoke so casually about earning an audience with a creator god already earned me Lahun¡¯s respect and fascination.

    ¡°I see¡­¡± Lahun pondered my words for a moment. ¡°The feathered serpent is an ancient deity, with a wealth of lore to his name; some of it contained within these very archives. If Your Majesty wishes, I can research it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you shall,¡± I replied. ¡°Only a Godspeaker can be allowed in a god¡¯s presence, but the favor Quetzalcoatl will bestow upon me shall spill over to you too.¡±

    Lahun met my eyes and nodded in sincere gratitude. ¡°Your Majesty already blessed me more than I could ever imagine.¡±

    I had given her a glimpse of the world¡¯s true secrets, and she would never stop working to learn more. She would serve me so long as I kept her <em>hungry</em>.

    Another thought upied my mind as I pulled away from her though. All the signs and visions pointed in the same direction, which I could no longer ignore or dy.

    I needed to meet with my wench of a mother again.

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