Not even the warst waters could wipe away the invisible stain clinging to my skin.
I’d been in the hot bath for an hour, and I still felt soiled. I continued to hear the screams where only splashing waves broke the silence, and I stared into the emptiness ahead without a thought crossing my mind.
Necahual’s arms coiled around my neck from behind. I sensed her bosom rubbing against my back. It should have been a comforting gesture, but I instead struggled with the urge to stare at her veins pulsating with my blood. The thirst pushed to empty them, and resisting its vile call was exhausting.
“What did she do to you this ti?” Necahual asked . My favorite concubine knew well. I only called her alone to my side when I required a confidant’s comfort.
I took a deep breath and inhaled the burning stream. “She made watch.”
Necahual pondered my words. She likely had a good idea of what I’d seen from the way I’d avoided responding to her amorous attention so far, but she still required confirmation. “Watch what?”
“What her sister planned to do to you.”
Necahual’s arms tensed up around my neck. I rembered how she cried in horror and pleaded with to save her when Yoloxochitl threatened to send her to the frontlines as a ‘comfort woman’ for soldiers. She would have ended up like one of these poor Sapa captives had I not spoken up on her behalf.
I’d managed to save Necahual back then, if I could call ‘saving’ turning her into my personal slave, but I couldn’t repeat that miracle tonight; and it shad . The deep sting of failure smothered my wrath with bitter powerlessness.
“Look at ,” Necahual said sharply, and she insisted a bit more sternly when I failed to respond. “Look at , Iztac.”
I turned in the bath. My concubine took my shoulders into her hands and pulled to the edge of the bath, her face facing mine. She seed wiser and more graceful each ti I looked at her.
“I assu that Sugey told you that she would kill any woman you failed to sire a child upon, or worse,” Necahual guessed, with my silence confirming her suspicions. “So what?”
My lips twisted into a scowl. “So what?”
“Why whip yourself for sothing you were planning to do anyway?” Necahual scoffed. “I’ve seen the way you looked at Lahun, Tenoch, and all the others. You lay with us because you can, not because you’re forced to.”
“But is the reverse true?” I put a hand on her throat and applied the slightest bit of pressure. She did not resist . “No god nor man will co to rescue a woman should I decide to take her for myself. Can you call that consent? Don’t you see where this can lead?”
“You won’t force yourself on a woman,” Necahual replied with utter confidence. “You will always seek to earn her affection first.”
“And why is that?”
“Because power is only half the reason why you lay with a woman.” Necahual snorted in amusent. “The other half is because the cursed child within you craves the feeling of being loved. Of being desired.”
Her words never failed to hit harder than any slap, because they always struck a chord deep within my soul. I clenched my teeth and tried to find a counterargunt, but I couldn’t focus while struggling not to take a look at Necahual’s neck.
Was this how Eztli suffered each day? Resisting the urge to see her loved ones as als rather than people? If so, then she had lived in agony since Yoloxochitl turned her into a vampire. I admired her willpower as much as I pitied her.
Necahual looked at . She had seen her daughter’s looks of hunger often enough to recognize mine. A wiser woman would have pulled back for her own sake… yet she instead set her wet hair behind her back and bared her throat to .
She was offering herself to .
My tongue clicked in my mouth. “I can’t… I’m not sure I can stop myself if I do it.”
She scoffed at my words. “I’ve fed my daughter.”
“Not like this."
“Would you rather bite my breast?” Necahual shrugged her shoulders. “I have faith you will control yourself, because you are strong. So stop doubting yourself and take what is yours.”
Her stern sincerity always managed to touch . Her hands grabbed my cheeks and gently guided my lips to her bare neck. A shiver of pleasure ran down my spine the mont I touched her skin, and a fierce hunger seized . My teeth sank into her flesh deep enough to draw that sweet blood of her. Necahual didn’t show pain, nor even whimper; in fact, the bite seed to arouse her. Her left hand moved to the back of my head to draw deeper while the other pressed against my back.
Her blood was thicker than what Sugey served and far sweeter than the Kharisiris’. It tasted of love and lust rather than fear and pain, and carried the gentle warmth of sunlight. Where other drinks only heightened my hunger, this one brought a asure of satiety.
I’d been afraid of losing control and harming her, but I drank my fill far quicker than I expected. I pulled back and continued to kiss her with my lips rather than my teeth, my arms coiling around her ass to pull her up. Necahual answered my lust with moans. The taste of her warm flesh only aroused further.
Nonetheless, I ended up frowning upon sensing resistance on Necahual’s waist. I glanced below to notice a thin scar that wasn’t there before, my jaw tightening into a scowl.
“Anaye?” I guessed in a flash of anger.
“This is nothing.” Necahual waved my worries away. “She won’t bother Atziri.”
“Did she try–”
“She tried to frighten , yes.” Necahual’s smirk carried a cruel edge. “I sharply disciplined her in response. She will behave.”
The confident way my favorite witch said those words excited , but the fact that this skinwalker dared to raise a hand at her at all filled with anger. My mind was made up.
“Tomorrow,” I whispered in my favorite’s ear.
Her eyes widened slightly. “Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow.” I wanted Sugey to suffer and weep, no matter the cost. I wanted her mad dream to die with a whimper, I wanted Anaye gone, and more than that, I wanted Eztli back. “Co what may.”
Necahual answered my words with a thin smile and then a kiss. I still had her blood on my lips, which we shared together.
Necahual adjusted her position to let my manhood slip within her, and I soon began pushing her against the bath’s edge. Waves of pleasure coursed through my body as I pounded and slamd and kissed and seized and bit. She offered herself to wholly, without doubt or reservation; and within her arms, I found the power and comfort I craved.
“I love you,” I ended up blurting out in the throes of passion.
“I know,” Necahual replied with utter confidence.
She knew she owned .
Our heart-fires lded into seidr’s burning embrace, our union shining brighter than ever. I shared with her my plan for Chindi, showed her spells in the hope that she could emulate them, and delved deeper into distant visions. I saw flashes of Mother speaking with Ayar Manco while his pet condor perched on his shoulder like a tutor, followed by a glimpse of Eztli cradling herself in a cold bed in my palace’s cold bedroom. Her eyes closed in silent sorrow and loneliness from which I hoped to free her from soon.
I uncoiled from Necahual once we returned to reality, the waves of the bath slowly splashing on my back. We both exhaled and rested afterwards in silent satisfaction.
“Thank you,” I told her as I sat back into the bath, her head resting on my shoulder. “I needed this.”
“I could see that.” Necahual gently caressed my cheek. “What next? I am in the mood for music after all this shaking today.”
I sighed. “I promised Zyanya I would spend ti with her.”
“Then invite her to join us for a performance,” Necahual replied sharply. “Remind her that she is your second choice, and not yet worthy of asking requests of you. Nothing motivates people quicker than a need to prove themselves.”
My beloved witch was crueler than I could ever hope to be.
—----
I indulged Necahual and spent the evening listening to musicians in her and Zyanya’s company.
I caught a glimpse of the latter’s quiet frustration when she realized I summoned her after already spending so ti with my favorite. I showed her that she had proved useful enough to warrant my company, but not my full attention.
Nonetheless, Sugey had been correct about one thing: the idea of Tlaxcala touching her was growing more and more unbearable. Hence I seized Zyanya with renewed ardor, and I had the intuition our latest coupling would be the decisive one.
My thirst was gone too, at least for the ti. I couldn’t tell whether it was because Necahual freely gave her own blood to instead of it being taken by force or because it carried the strength of sunlight, but I welcod this brief respite.
Did my self-esteem affect my thirst as well? Did the curse beco stronger the more I perceived it as such? Did it lessen when Necahual turned her blood into a gift rather than a tribute? The idea wouldn’t leave my head.
I hoped I had more control over myself than the eyes of others.
I closed my eyes in the darkest night with Necahual snoring on one side and Zyanya on the other, yet my mind failed to find slumber. Neither the war nor physical exercise had managed to lull to sleep. My unnatural vitality hindered once again.
“Sleep,” I uttered the Word under the cover of a Veil in an attempt to force myself to slumber. I failed. My power could cow the sky into obedience, but it couldn’t affect . Attempting to copy Mother’s sleeping spell by channeling a lullaby through my Ihiyotl breath yielded no results either. I exhaled a dark miasma that was more potent than the Sapa priests’ feeble sorcery and inhaled it back with no issue.
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My power had grown beyond myself.
No matter. There were other ways to put this night to use.
I closed my eyes and focused on the Legion’s bond that connected to my predecessors and their skulls spread across my empire. My mind brushed against their gestalt spirit and imdiately sensed Father’s presence within the conglorate of souls. He watched over like a benevolent spirit, and while he was a single soul among hundreds, he had shown enough pull to oppose the First Emperor’s influence.
One man’s voice could cut through a god’s whispers through love alone, and that softened my heart of stone.
Father’s spirit reached out to in response to my probing. I couldn’t yet directly communicate with thoughts alone for fear of being overwheld by a flood of foreign mories, but I sensed his warmth touching my soul like gentle waves. I sensed no condemnation nor reproach, even though I had only shown him war, blood, and death lately. Father answered my doubts with gentle comfort and unconditional support.
He knew I was trying, and he still had faith that I would pull through.
It gave hope.
I projected my mind into the hidden skull I’d left in Eztli’s room and oversaw the now deserted herbal laboratory she shared with Necahual. I waited so ti for my consort to visit it, which she did. I uneasily watched her feed flowers with her blood the sa way Yoloxochitl used to. Eztli didn’t even seem to realize the bitter irony of her action; going through her predecessor’s had beco routine.
We were running out of ti.
I had managed to channel Bonecraft through my skulls back in Tlalocan and succeeded in doing so in the waking world. More than that, my magic called out to , demanding that I push my limits ever further. A part of my soul wished to answer Sugey’s abuse with a display of authority over reality itself, the sa way it compelled to summon the rain in Zachilaa.
I couldn’t afford such a display within my palace’s heart, but denying my sorcery would only lead to it boiling up like Smoke Mountain’s lava and blowing up in my face. I had to do sothing.
I am legion, I thought as I channeled Bonecraft through the Legion skull. I’d confird I could reshape my bones now after obtaining Tlaloc’s embers. I’d grown more acutely aware of my sorcery now that my spirit projected itself into such a small vessel. This is my bone. This is .
If I could channel Bonecraft through my skulls from a distance, could it also work with more advanced spells?
I channeled magic through the Legion skull, and my magic rewarded my inquisitiveness with a rush of power. I whipped up lies into being, casting a Veil that darkened the shadows surrounding . I sensed eyes observing Eztli from within the walls, none of them aware that my spirit lurked nearby. This Veil spell was the subtlest and weakest illusion I’d ever cast, yet the re fact that I could cast it at all was an achievent in itself.
I could channel so of my spells through the Legion’s skulls, at least when I possessed one directly.
I already had the feeling that I could do that when I managed to use Bonecraft on my bones from afar, but to feel the power flowing through my soul and bones filled with giddiness. I now had the ability to sabotage the Nightlords from afar through sorcery, to spread my consciousness and influence across the land one skull at a ti.
Would this increase in potency expand to the Ride spell too? Could I cast spells through the hands and mouths of others? It felt good to have prospects again after what Sugey put and so many innocents through.
I nevertheless had to focus on my task. My magic shifted the fabric of the Veil I’d whipped into existence until it touched Eztli, creating words spoken without lungs and only audible to those enveloped within my spell’s range.
“Tomorrow night,” I whispered through the Veil to her ears alone. “Nightfall.”
Eztli’s spine stiffened and she peeked over her shoulder. Her crimson gaze swiftly spotted the tiny skull tucked in a corner of her shelf. She stared at it for a mont, and I caught a brief nod before she pretended to focus back on her gardening. I could have sworn I saw her smile at the edge of her lips; a most pleasant sight whose joy I shared.
The ssage was passed on and the die cast. So many stars would align tomorrow, one way or another.
With the Underworld’s doors closed to tonight, I used Spiritual Manifestation to free my Tonalli from my earthly body. My spirit arose from my heart under the cover of an invisibility Veil, flying unseen through my roving palace’s walls. My intent was to fly away from my camp and oversee the battlefield in preparation for tomorrow’s eting with Ayar Manco.
I only made it to the window before I had to pull back.
I sensed invisible barriers surrounding my roving palace; moats of vile magic caked with blood and murder. I heard the quiet wail of souls trapped on the threshold between this world and the next. A spirit-shield crafted with exquisite tornt protected my prison, and I sensed further layers beyond.
I thought Sugey’s monstrous predations only ant to motivate her n to further bloodshed, but I’d forgotten that the Bird of War remained a cold-hearted and practical general; such warlords did not waste any resources. There was power to be found in sacrifice, whether consensual or not, and the malice of the dead endured beyond their final breaths.
The very Sapa warriors who fought to protect their land in life were now bound to protect their enemies in death.
No wonder Sugey felt so confident that the Sapa couldn’t do anything to her. She had shielded our camp behind so many layers of magical barriers that I doubted even Mother could slip through them undetected. I wondered if Inkarri used as his earthquake magic’s epicenter because these protections prevented him from striking at my army directly.
These barriers were unfortunately akin to a spider’s web; touching a strand would alert the crafter that sothing was wrong. Unlike the palace’s wards, which allowed an emperor through, these spells wouldn’t let through easily. My magic had grown too strong and my essence too heavy with divinity for subtlety. My mood worsened as I watched the night sky from a window.
For the first ti in a very long while, I’d been denied the right to fly.
I couldn’t even visit the Underworld to find respite there. The Third Layer’s horrors matched and even trumped the Nightlords’ relentless brutality in their depravity, but I could at least wield my sorcery to its fullest extent there. I could be myself, truly and wholly, without compromise; and that small pleasure was now denied to .
The best I could do for now was to observe the world through skulls like my predecessors; sothing which they’d likely grown bored with a long ti ago. Even if I could cast spells through them, I couldn’t afford the risk of letting the Nightlords notice that I could spread my influence through them yet. I required more practice first.
All this power at my fingertip, and I still couldn’t exercise it as I wished to.
I spent a good hour or so trying to find out a flaw in Sugey’s magical protections, and failed utterly. My soul returned to my sleeping body in a worse mood than I left it. I now understood how caged birds felt when they were denied the right to fly away.
I needed a breath of fresh air, so I pretended to wake up and exited the imperial bed. Necahual and Zyanya at least slept soundly. I envied them for that small pleasure as I left for my roving palace’s balcony. I walked there under the moon’s pale glow and faced the wind brushing on my skin. The night was eerily silent, the screams and weeping silenced with utter brutality.
The silence provided no comfort.
I was trying to clear my thoughts when I sensed movent near . I peeked over my shoulder to see a figure whose golden skin glimred in the faint moonlight.
“Your Majesty,” Aclla greeted with a bow. She ca to dressed in a skirt reaching out to her ankles and bound by a braided waistband. “My apologies for startling you. I believed you to be asleep.”
“You did not startle , Aclla,” I replied calmly. I imdiately had a strange feeling about her, though I couldn’t put a finger on it. Sothing about her posture seed tenser than usual. Did she learn what her fellow Sapa won went through? “Did you co to clear your mind too?”
“In a way.” Aclla calmly walked up to the balcony and joined along the arm rail. She stared at the night sky. “I ca to pray.”
To report to your hidden masters, you an? “Not to our gods, I’d assu.”
Aclla smiled sweetly, though I could tell she forced herself to. “I have begun to offer prayers to Yohuachanca’s goddesses, but Mama Killa always favored ; thus I must honor her first.”
“Mama Killa?” The na didn’t ring a bell, though I knew the word ‘Mama’ referred to mothers in the Sapa language. “Is this a moon goddess of so kind?”
“Indeed,” Aclla confird, her golden hands joining together. “Mama Killa is the mother of mankind, wife to the sun, and protector of won. She watches over us all from her realm in the sky.”
Your teachers mislead you, Aclla. There is no goddess on the moon, and no one upstairs gazes upon us with kindness. I’d heard from Queen Mictecacihuatl that the god Tecciztecatl had turned into the moon after failing to beco a sun, and if he had any interest in protecting won, he would have intervened to save her countryn from being raped and murdered.
“You should pray to a god who will answer your prayers,” I said with so bitterness.
“And which god would that be, Your Majesty?” Aclla gave a pointed look. “Yours only accept blood, and I have little to give.”
Her comnt sounded innocent enough, but I could sense a slight undercurrent of disdain beneath each and every word. It was a diplomat’s art to make dripping venom sound sweeter than honey.
I almost opened my mouth to lie and praise the Nightlords, but I couldn’t find it in myself the strength to flatter Sugey after what she did. Every fiber of my being refused to play along this ti.
Another idea ca to mind instead; half a taunt and half a statent.
“Cizin,” I replied while suppressing a smile. “You should pray to Cizin.”
“Cizin?” Aclla frowned at . “I do not know this god.”
“He is the Fear of the Gods, he who arises from the Underworld to bring the heavens’ wrath on those who commit evil.” A fate that would hopefully befall the Nightlords soon enough. “I pray to him now and then.”
“A god of justice and revenge.” Aclla chuckled lightly. “A deity worth following then.”
I knew that she only spoke those words to indulge , but they struck a chord in all the sa. My eyes widened slightly as an idea crossed my mind, bold and fantastical.
It was right in front of all along, I thought, a chill traveling down my spine the more I considered this new possibility. I focused on the wrong na!
I had tried my best to shed my image as a warmongering emperor and show rcy to my enemies in order to ta the evil within , but those efforts were dood from the start. Iztac Ce Ehecatl would always inspire fear and loathing so long as the Nightlords forced to partake in their atrocities. That na would never shed those chains.
But Cizin?
Cizin could beco a god worth worshiping. This cursed na I’d been crowned with could go on to inspire hope that the likes of the Nightlords would eventually face justice for their cri, that the gods often answered prayers for relief, and that soone upstairs cared. I could turn this mark of sha into one of pride and take my destiny into my own hands.
More than that, I could bring people the sa comfort Father gave in my darkest tis: hope.
How should I proceed? My burgeoning divinity relied on the perception of others, and the na of Iztac Ce Ehecatl carried great weight across the land. For Cizin to overshadow it would require great and epic feats. I need grandiose spectacles the likes of which will awe thousands.
I needed miracles.
A Word of mine had summoned the rain, and I could cast spells in the waking world without alerting the Nightlords to my true nature through my Legion of skulls. So many options suddenly opened to .
“If I may ask,” Aclla said, her voice drawing out of my thoughts. “Whose death is Your Majesty praying for?”
I realized I hadn’t spoken in a while and that Aclla had been observing since. That strange intuition that sothing wasn’t quite right returned again. I forced myself to focus on her again and to pay close attention.
“Why the question?” I asked back.
“One does not pray to a god of justice and revenge for a fertile harvest or peace,” Aclla pointed out. “I am rely curious who earned a Godspeaker’s ire.”
A naked lie. This was no re curiosity. Aclla—or her master, whoever they truly were—wished to learn which string to pull. I still hadn’t entirely figured out which side she served.
Mother said that Manco was chosen ahead of his brother because the Mallquis deed him more malleable. Aclla’s behavior made a lot more sense if Cachi resented his empire’s puppetmasters as much as I resented mine, or at least sought to both ruin his brother and secure his own ascendency. However, this remained re speculation until I could set up a eting with Cachi and et the man directly. Aclla could put us in contact, but I suspected her master wouldn’t show up unless he was convinced that we shared the sa goals. Neither party trusted the other to provide accurate information, so we could only work on assumptions.
Hinting that I wished to destroy the Nightlords might help secure an alliance with their enemies… but I had no guarantee that Cachi was among their numbers. He could be hoping to betray his brother and the Mallquis to secure his own fief for all I knew, the sa way Chikal saved her city by betraying its sister Balam. I was walking on eggshells.
I decided to err on the side of caution.
“Enemies which are beyond my reach for now,” I replied evasively. “Perhaps I will tell you more once we grow closer.”
Aclla nodded slowly in quiet acceptance, and I imdiately knew I had failed a test of so kind. She showed no outward change in expression, but her body language subtly shifted like that of a warrior preparing themselves for battle.
“I cannot say that I can bring a god’s wrath upon Your Majesty’s enemies…” Aclla’s hand rested against mine on the arm rail. “But I would like to grow closer to you, if you will allow .”
Her skin was warm, but I recognized the tension in her fingers. I’d felt it in my bones so many tis whenever I plotted a bold plan whose failure would carry heavy consequences. Aclla had been very subtle so far, sticking to observation for days on end. This unsubtle attempt at seduction was too quick, too bold, and too clumsy to be natural.
She had received an order of so kind, one she resented or feared going through with. I had a pretty good idea what kind.
Aclla was going to try and take my life.
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