#teyah

teyah, the decluded, the desperate, the king-killer

she won’t beg for her life, she can’t find the words to demand them let her son live. she can’t even remember where he is as they take her hands shackled in chains to lead her away from the blood-soaked dais and kamau, their new queen mother, smiles triumphantly.

“i’m scared,” she whispered into the empty space before her. she could taste the salt in her tears, feel the feather-light brush of a hand on her cheek and the aching tenderness in the gesture. the way pyli used to run his fingers across her freckles when he was a child.

“it’s okay,” he whispered to her. “i waited for you.”

her hand reached up and her fingers brushed his.

those false prophets - an introduction

on the thirty-second anniversary of king haul the third's reign, a terrible tragedy takes place. his assassination, plotted and performed by teyah, his second wife.

in the aftermath of his assassination, teyah is imprisoned, forced to watch the woman she had competed against place her son, haul the fourth, upon the throne.

but kamau, their new queen mother, will not leave any loose ends. she sends evan sekhmet to find pyli and bring him to justice by any means possible, as long as her place as queen mother will not be questioned.

haul the fourth has other plans. his father's favourite general,cassius pollux, currently disgraced by his assassination, is sent after pyli under orders to bring him back alive for a true trial, and it is only when cassius pollux meets evan along the way, that they realise how many conspiracies have been plotted to get rid of their king.

they were the three most influential women towards the end of haul the third’s reign. perhaps they were more powerful than the king himself in the months leading up to his death. kamau had his ear, convincing the king to forgo many of the guards at the celebrations of his anniversary. teyah had his eye, for whispers of her ambition had already begun circulating the royal family. and evan had the power of the priesthood, a religious powerhouse that had already began to rebuild the country in their image as the king’s health and power deteriorated.

if all three women had put their sons aside, they could have ruled the country as the first matriarchal alliance between nobility, the harem, and the priesthood.