Contents
Chapter Thirty-One
Overview
Neema and Cain confront Princess Yasila, who admits binding Neema and meeting Gaida before informing Vabras. Neema deduces Bersun ordered Gaida’s covert death, later sabotaged by a second party staging the body, forcing a public inquiry. Alibis shield Yasila and Vabras; Neema’s trust in Bersun collapses.
Summary
Neema and Cain enter Princess Yasila’s sealed imperial suite; Cain immediately provokes a playful yet precise Dragonstyle bout with Yasila before Neema asserts authority with an imperial pass. Yasila seats herself like a monarch, signaling lineage and dominance. Amid books and barbs, Cain accuses her of killing Gaida; Yasila denies it and claims an alibi.
Yasila explains her view that “every spell casts a shadow,” then admits she briefly bound Neema at the opening ceremony out of fury over Yanara’s fate. The confession rattles Neema. After a tense pause broken by an elderly servant’s glacial service, Yasila reveals Gaida sought her on the balcony, claiming evidence against the emperor. Yasila says she refused to join Gaida and, after Neema mentioned seeing them together, immediately confessed the meeting to Vabras—establishing mutual alibis for the night.
Neema connects this to a dais exchange between Vabras and the emperor and realizes Bersun likely preauthorized silencing Gaida quietly. She and Cain reconstruct the crime: Gaida was meant to die in her sleep of “natural causes,” but a second actor staged the body with the famed dagger, forcing a public murder inquiry. Hence, Bersun’s fury stemmed from the botched cover, not the death itself.
Cain rejects the notion that a Fox killed Gaida; Yasila maintains her alibi with Vabras. Neema despairs, recognizing she gave Vabras the only proof of drugging—and her own innocence—making herself easy to scapegoat. She questions her years of loyalty to Bersun and wonders if Gaida found a secret from his past at Anat-garra.
Pressed about the Festival Eve Dragonscale poisoning, Yasila is genuinely surprised and momentarily hopes the exiled Yana might be alive, then dismisses the thought and pointedly wishes the Dragons want Neema dead. The interview ends with Yasila refusing to inform the Hounds, promising instead to “wait upon the shore” for the waves to take Neema and Cain.
Who Appears
- Neema KraaRaven investigator; asserts authority, is bound revelation’s victim, deduces Bersun’s covert order, reels at betrayed trust.
- Princess Yasila MajanFormidable Dragonstyle fighter; admits binding Neema, met Gaida, informed Vabras; claims alibi and issues veiled threats.
- Cain BallariFox contender; provokes Yasila to talk, denies Fox involvement in killing, helps reconstruct dual-perpetrator scenario.
- Emperor Bersun (Old Bear)Offstage; implied to have ordered Gaida’s discreet death, anger explained by botched staging; Neema’s faith collapses.
- VabrasHigh Commander; receives Yasila’s confession, shares alibi with her, likely managed the cover, holds Neema’s evidence.
- Gaida RackMurdered contender; met Yasila to accuse the emperor; meant to die quietly, later staged as a public murder.
- NisthalaYasila’s hidden, ailing daughter; unseen scholar of ancient history, a focus of Yasila’s protectiveness.
- YanaExiled woman from eight years ago; briefly suspected by Yasila in Dragonscale poisoning, hope swiftly dismissed.
- Brother LanrikAbbot at Anat-garra; potential source of Bersun’s past secret that Gaida may have uncovered.