An Elusive Shadow

Angro's POV

Amari’s eyes were filled with sadness and a hint of disappointment. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to convince her of what had driven me to act in favor of the eteri.

“Why did you risk yourself like that for her? Who is that young woman for whom you’ve exposed your life and, in turn, mine?”

I waited until the assembly house was empty to answer.

“Do you know what Omawit would have done to that girl if your father had decided she was a slave?”

“I don’t even want to imagine,” Amari responded, crossing her arms in front of her chest, “but that’s her problem, not yours, or mine. Did you even stop to think about what will happen to you if, for some reason, it turns out she’s not what you claimed she was? And what will happen to me after that?” Amari clenched her fist against her chest. “It will be much worse than the fate that awaited that stranger.”

I pursed my lips and realized where I could steer the conversation to hide that strange feeling that had driven me to stand up for Shaira, even at the cost of my own life.

“I felt compelled to speak on behalf of that young woman because what I said is true, and it wasn’t fair for her to be enslaved just because your brother believed she was a star traveler, an enemy of our people.”

“So, you know her? From where?” Amari asked. “Why do you know an eteri raised by people of our tribe?”

I lowered my gaze, then lifted it, projecting it toward the ceiling of the house, as if the answer I needed was floating in the air above us.

“I only saw her for the first time not long ago,” I began to spin a story that had started to form in my mind back during the interrogation. “It was during one of the explorations. The young woman was lost, and I helped her, that’s all. Now she’s appeared again, probably because she didn’t follow my advice to go back home.”

Amari’s eyes narrowed into thin slits as she looked at me suspiciously, trying to determine if I was telling her the truth. It pained me to lie to her; I had never had to do so in the five moons since her father had formalized our engagement and named me his successor, but this was different. Shaira’s life was in danger, and after what I had done, so was mine. Beyond the walls of the house, outside, there must have been ears listening to us.

“Do you swear to me that it’s nothing more than that, Angro? That you have nothing to do with that eteri beyond what you’ve told me?”

I raised my fist, placed it against my chest, and swore that it was so. I did so without remorse because, in a way, what I was swearing was true: I had no relationship with Shaira beyond having encountered her during one of my explorations.

“Fine, I believe you, and I understand,” Amari said with a slight smile. “Sometimes I think you have too noble a heart that gets you into these kinds of problems, but I also like that you have it and that it’s kind, unlike my brother’s, which has turned dark, and that’s why my father didn’t choose him as his successor.”

I heard someone running away from one of the edges of the house. Without a doubt, Omawit had stayed behind to listen in, hidden, and my fiancée’s words had repelled him like the spell of a powerful shaman driving away a demon.

“The investigation your father ordered will begin,” I said to Amari as she approached and embraced me. “I will have to answer questions, similar to the ones you’ve asked me, and it’s very likely that I will have to see that girl again, so I ask for your understanding and that it doesn’t upset you.”

Amari lifted her face and once again locked her eyes on mine. They had the shine of the night sky when the two golden moons are full.

“I’ll understand, my love. Just promise me you won’t get yourself into more trouble because of this.”

“I promise,” I said solemnly, though not with the weight of an oath, as I couldn’t take that vow knowing that, because of my hasty words, I was already embroiled in a very big problem.

I kissed Amari and felt the warmth of her body against my bare chest. I desired her, and I would have taken her right there if it weren’t for the place we were in and because she had to keep her body pure until after our wedding.

“All right, love. I’ll return to my duties,” Amari said in farewell. “Remember not to be late tonight for the banquet my father has prepared for the delegates from the sagori chief.”

“I’ll remember, and I won’t be late, darling. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

I watched Amari leave, and my heart was filled with the bitterness of one who fears they are about to hurt a tender and innocent soul.

What was happening?

Why had I involved myself in such a way for a foreigner I had barely seen and whose name was the only thing I knew about her?

Her clothes, or what remained of them, as Omawit had said, were military. Most likely, she was connected to the bird we had seen fall and for which we had gone exploring, though we hadn’t found it, although the search would resume the next day, which worried me because there, in the fallen bird, there might be evidence of who Shaira really was. I had to do something that very night and find the ship before it was too late. Perhaps I would need Shaira’s help to do so, which meant I had to get her out of the Tahuri, at least long enough for us to locate the bird.

With those thoughts swirling in my head, and while pondering how I could get Shaira out of the Tahuri, I walked toward Zania’s house, as I would also need her help to carry out the search for the fallen bird. But when I arrived, I didn’t find her. I saw that her house had been recently ransacked, and as I turned my gaze in search of the intruder, my eyes collided with the unmistakable figure of Omawit, who was slipping away at that very moment, like a shadow.

“Stop!” I shouted angrily, but Omawit wasn’t one to enjoy being confronted in public.

I deduced where he was headed and followed him, determined to confront him.