“You were ordered not to come here again until I called for you.”
An angry Jaycina sharply admonishes Judiah, who is breathless from his quick jog from the cove to the Palace. But he carelessly ignores her disapproval.
“Yes, High Priestess. I know. But this could not wait. I have most urgent news.”
With an impatient wave of her hand, she gives him an opening. “Get on with it, then.”
Judiah"s news is blunt and without embellishment. “Ishtar is dead.”
“What?” Jaycina"s movement from sitting to standing is so swift and powerful that she nearly tips over her weighty, elaborately carved imperial chair. “You bungling i***t!”
“It"s not my doing,” Judiah defends himself. “He had a seizure right before my eyes. His heart gave out. He died almost instantly.”
“Do you realize what this means?”
