This time she couldn’t forget, couldn’t wall it away and pretend that day had never happened. His burning eyes, her screams and pleading, the pain and tears, remained stark and plain. Her humiliation and violation lived, raw and exposed, like a quivering muscle stripped of its protective skin.
Both of them. Why both of them?
She found herself crouched on a sandy mud, aware of the weight of water pressing down. Aware she was still in the Underworld, safe within the dark warrens, protected by the depths. And she finally understood why some souls sought refuge here both before and after death. They could return to the womb, away from trouble and violence, safe from abuse and betrayal.
Piasa, Horned Serpent, and Snapping Turtle were regarding her with otherworldly gazes. They knew, had relived the memory with her, felt the disbelief, confusion, and shock.
Piasa’s hollow voice reverberated inside her. “You know why he wants you. You can feel his hunger. The dispossessed voices that whisper to and stroke his twisted souls have convinced him that he must have anything forbidden.” He paused. “As you were forbidden, Lady of Cahokia. He has had his taste, fleeting and self-destructive as it was. He convinced himself that, despite his love, he could sacrifice you for a greater gain. But your escape has only increased his desire to possess you no matter the cost.”
“Don’t send me back,” she whispered, squeezing tears from between her tightly pressed eyelids. “Let my souls stay here in the darkness. Let them drift with the currents. I won’t be any trouble.”
Horned Serpent hissed in frustration. “Do you know why we care? It’s not about you, or what they did to you. Your exalted Four Winds souls have no value here. Are you so completely preoccupied with yourself that you fail to understand the real threat? What this abomination intends to attempt? The Morning Star’s latest resurrection only whetted his appetite and obsession. Do you understand the ramifications if he should succeed?”
She blinked, shaking her head, unable to …
Piasa reached out, his taloned feet catching her by the throat. Panic-stricken, terrified, she looked into black pupils surrounded by a sea of burning yellow. Her gaze was drawn down into an endless midnight. And there, in the stygian darkness, she finally saw.
The scream was trapped in her throat by Piasa’s crushing grip.
“Now do you understand?” Piasa’s voice boomed through her.
As she writhed in his crushing grip, she nodded, her head exploding with pain.
“Then you know what you must do.” Piasa released his hold, letting her drop to the soft mud. “I know what this will cost you, Lady of Cahokia. By possessing me, he will completely own you. Either you will save yourself, and our world, or he will destroy you in ways too horrible to contemplate.”
“How do I defeat him?”
“By surrendering yourself to him.”
“I can’t.” She placed a hand to her wounded throat, glancing up at Horned Serpent, and then Snapping Turtle, knowing they didn’t believe she had either the courage or will. When she shot a frightened glance at Piasa, she could see the beast’s own growing skepticism.
Like voices inside her, she could hear their thoughts: Weak. Pampered. Despicable. Spoiled. Pitiful.
What was it the Red Wing had said? Anger was a better weapon in the Underworld than fear?
“I am Night Shadow Star,” she gritted through her teeth. “Of the Four Winds Clan, daughter of the Tonka’tzi. I have unfinished business.”
“Then finish it!” Piasa’s whiskers trembled, and his ear flicked. “I will help you when and if I can. There is a way.…”
* * *
After the Keeper’s household finished supper, Seven Skull Shield sidled up to Smooth Pebble. The berdache had her hair up in a gray bun, the muscles in her arms flexing as she scraped one of the boiling pots and threw food remains into the fire as an offering to the Spirits. Dogs were licking the plates, cleaning up scraps. The fire crackled and spit sparks toward the palace great-room ceiling.
“Where did the Keeper disappear to?”
“She wants time to herself. Leave her alone.” Then Smooth Pebble relented, her lined face tensing. “I’m worried. I’ve never seen her like this. What happened up there in the Council House?”
“It takes something out of a person to realize they’ve been betrayed by friends they trusted. Though why she’d put any faith in that Deer Clan chief after what Chunkey Boy did to him?” He shrugged. “I thought she was supposed to be so smart about these things.”
“She thought Chunkey Boy had made amends before he became the Morning Star. Even if he hadn’t, when the Morning Star took his body, Chunkey Boy ceased to be. Nothing was left to hate. Since then, they’d worked to earn her trust.”