HER AUNT WAS reading through a paper on her desk.
Her glasses were sitting on the bridge of her nose, defying gravity with ever second they chose not to fall off. Khethiwe could swear they were held there by sheer force of will.
Auntie was livid. Frustrated, annoyed, disappointed. Auntie was all the things she shouldn't be.
Khethiwe could tell. Not because her aunt hadn't said a word since she'd said 'Come in'. Not because her aunt had not so much as glanced at her after she had seen who it was. Not even because of the shortly worded missive Khethiwe had found in her hut: 'Come see me'.
Khethiwe could tell because of the twitch in her auntie's nose. A slight wrinkle which promulgated her emotional state. Her nose had twitched when she looked up and saw Khethiwe. And in the time while Khethiwe was sitting at her desk, her nose had twitched twice more. Auntie was thinking. Thinking hard thoughts, painful thoughts. Devising the worst possible torture to threaten Khethiwe with.
It was unnecessary. Her aunt probably already had her best threats prepared before she had called for Khethiwe. Unnecessary threats, because nothing scared Khethiwe quite like that twitch.
She recalled her time cowering in Eli's room.
Sharta! You losvet idiot. Idiot! Idiot. Sharta.
She should have just jumped up and taken a running strike at his neck. It hadn't been that scary. She hadn't been that scared. She hadn't been half as scared as she was now.
Her body thrummed in anticipation.
What horrors did the near future hold for her?
"Khethiwe." She was about to find out. "It has been almost a black moon since I gave you your orders. Have you encountered challenges?"
Her auntie sounded every bit the concerned and congenial boss. Her posture was as relaxed as it ever was, her hands folded in front of her. She raised one hand to take her glasses from her face and set them on the table.
"Yes, Wise Sister. It seems that the Black Sun is impervious to poison. I have tried various concoctions on him with little to no effect. I have decided a more direct approach is necessary."
Her aunt made a soft noise of disapproval. "You have always been too reliant on your little poisons. You have other tools at your disposal. I'm sure you know well enough to make use of them."
"Yes, Wise Sister," Khethiwe said.
"But you have had many sunsets to come to this decision. Why haven't you executed your target yet? I communicated the urgency of this matter to you."
"I had been giving the poisons time to work. I realize the error of my ways. I will take care to fulfill my duties as soon as possible."
"See to it you do," there was a threat beneath those words. "You have been serving the Black Sun often since we last spoke?"
"Yes, Wise Sister."
"Yes. And you haven't had the opportunity, never once, to accomplish your goals."
"I chose not to use that time for the sake of discretion, Wise Sister. I wouldn't want to compromise my position in the Seat."
"Ah," her aunt said. Irritation was quickly becoming visible through the tension in her shoulders. "Your position in the Seat. Consider it expendable. You are in the unique position to access the Black Sun every day. That is what matters. Once you have completed this mission, you will be reassigned. It is too risky for you to stay there any longer."
"Reassigned, Wise Sister?"
"Where to depends entirely on your performance on this mission. Remember, Khethiwe, you are from a long line of mensh who have set their own lives on the line to perform their sacred duty to the people of Kolini. You are of the Order. Your life is to serve."
YOU ARE READING
Secrets of Kolini
Fantasy"Let me be clear. I never willingly discuss this. And the few people to whom I have had to are as twisted and wretched as I was back then; As blinded by their own light. They cannot see the light from outside. I want no part in this, but it is far...
