Menkhef doesn’t cross this continent alone, and none of the people he crosses it with are simply along for the ride.
She charges for risk and keeps a ledger of what she’s owed. For years she has refused to call what happened to her brother in the south what it actually was.
He was exiled for refusing an order he still isn’t certain he was right to refuse. He says little and prepares for everything. His loyalty shows up in the things he does before anyone asks him to.
The book’s antagonist only in the sense that he stands opposed — not in the sense that he’s wrong about everything. His sermons are the kind that get a nod before you’ve noticed what you agreed to.
Precise, unhurried, and dangerous in the specific way of someone who is right about almost everything. She knows exactly what she administers and exactly what it costs. She tells you anyway.
Dry and tired, funny the way people get after reading every translation of the Book of the Dead and finding none of them comforting enough. His council has kept its own secrets for forty years.
No one’s idea of a woman waiting quietly for news. She can argue the north’s theology as competently as any priest. She’s about to be given a reason to stop wanting to.
Khahor’s death, Nebamun’s ending, Letheia’s reasons for defecting, and Merit’s connection to the twist. All spoilers.