Steeling myself to face the Ikma, I paused at the entrance to her bedchamber and inhaled, the odor of illness wafting through the doorway. The injector lay on a compress beside the other potions the maikshel had deemed necessary for her treatment. Was the antidote already working within my body? What iteration of the Ikma Scabmal Kama would return upon her healing? The mad one with fiery dreams and raging temper, or the milder Queen feigning interest in mending her past sins and working for the greater good of Theraxl?
Glancing down the hall, I imagined what errands might pull me away from delivering the Kama’s medicines. Harsh gurgled coughing pierced the silence. The Kama thought me a traitor, had accused me more than once. Mayhap she deserved to die. But I was no executioner. Let the Tribunal cast final judgment upon the Ancient One.
Striding into her room, I remained emotionless as I approached her bedside and met her hard stare.
“The head maikshe requested I deliver your medicines,” I said, dipping my head and placing the basket at her bedside table.
The Ikma narrowed her eyes at me, her white-knuckled grip clenched over a blood-spotted kerchief. “Come you to murder me in my sleep? Poison me with draughts?” She eyed the contents of the basket and pulled out the injector. “What will this do? Seize my muscles until they contract and freeze?” She threw it across her room, and it clattered to the floor, rolling under her dressing table. “And this one?” She seized the tiny cup with a lozenge in it. “Cause me to vomit my entrails?” She crushed it between two fingers. “I thought you had done with me. Why come you to my chamber now? You haven’t the stomach to abandon your Queen—nor to witness her death. Leave me to it.”
“All I did I did at your behest,” I uttered. “You wanted Naraxthel. I invited him to the dais. You wanted the quest; I did not stand in your way though you ignored the ceremonies. Where were the lily flower wreaths and the songs? You wanted hunters in your bed, and I summoned them. You demanded I seek the Answer Dream, and I did it.
“Your madness consumed you until you were a pathetic husk of your former power and glory, and yet I bathed your face and hands with my tears. I bade the maikshel to keep trying to heal you. And what did you do in return? Berated and insulted me. Cast me from your chambers. Flogged the servants and killed that hunter. You, my Queen, are become nonsensical. I have done with you!”
Her childish behavior combined with her hasty command relieved me of my duty, and I stood at her bedside, my shoulders straight and head held high. “You accuse me only of things you yourself are capable of. I never allowed myself to see it until this hour, but I am not like you. Deception makes me ill. Causing harm to those I love is anathema to me. You command me to leave you to your death; watch me, Sister, as I bid you good day and obey your last command.”
Another fit of coughing sprung from her wasting body, but I turned on my heel and exited the room, leaving my Sister-Queen—and my dam—behind me.
It was time for me to grow into the woman I could become, and I would start by calling a Tribunal. If the Ikma died before it could be held, that was not due to my neglect.