The Emperor's Betrothed Consort

Eight

W e were deep in the mountains, and someone had carved the head of a dragon into the mountainside, shaping its eyes from dark stone that glimmered in the sunlight, its scales delicately painted with blue and silver that contrasted the green forest around it. The mouth was open, so large that Tallu’s head didn’t even brush the stalactites hanging like sharp fangs from the entrance to the cavern.

Turning around, I saw the spread of the Capital City below us in a valley between the mountains. Buildings and houses spread up into the crevices of low hills like water in reverse. On our journey from the north, I had only seen a glance of the city when our carriage had stopped briefly to give the electro mages a chance to rest.

Our route had taken us away from the city, up into the mountains behind the palace. From the ground, nothing quite gave the scale of the city. The Mountainside Palace looked like a second city from above, and I saw what Velethuil meant about it being a reflection of the Imperium. Staring down at it, it was a map of the Imperium in buildings and gardens.