Chapter 6
Six
T he long bridge to the center of the lake was made of worn hardwood, smoothed by decades of use. I didn’t recognize the tree it came from, but the railings had dark knots in them, and the bridge itself was slightly curved in the middle, as though everyone who crossed it used the exact center—too nervous to get near the side.
Curious why, I moved to the edge, glancing over. The water reflected the bright morning sun, moving choppily despite the winds being no more than a slight breeze. I saw a hint of scales, but the flash of silver might have been merely a reflection.
“Is it true that in the north, magic lets you speak with animals?” Velethuil asked.
He had stopped when I did, his eyes fixed on Terror on my shoulder. The bird had gone still, fluffing its feathers to look larger, as though it sensed a threat in the water. Or perhaps the threat was from the air mage still looking at me curiously.
Velethuil’s expression was so open, his smile so mild that I was reminded of the most pleasant spring day, when the sun shone and the air moved just enough to keep it cool but not enough to be an annoyance.
“Some do,” I said. “Is it true that in Ristorium, even babes of only a few days know how to fly?”
He laughed, the sound as beautiful as wind chimes. “Some do. Shall we?”
With one last glance at the water, I strode down the pier to the pavilion. The space was larger up close, spreading as wide as my full set of rooms in Turtle House.
A massive table took up the center of the space, filled with enough food to feed the entire Silver City for a week. Fruits of all colors were cut in decorative shapes in the middle, creating a menagerie of sweets. Sweetbreads formed a mountain on one side, and platters of meats and cheeses took up the other. An enormous wheel of cheese lay propped up, so large it looked like it could have been one of the wheels on the carriage we’d arrived in.
Servants in yellow moved between couches and pillows arrayed for sitting, refilling glasses and offering platters of different delicacies. Automatically, I counted the people in attendance and came up with a number in the mid-sixties. Closer to seventy when I counted the group balancing right on the edge of the deck, about to fall into the water.
A girl shrieked and spun her arms, her long, flowing dress getting damp from the water. “Save me!”
One of the other men pushed her toward the water at the same time as someone grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the way. A massive sea creature jumped out of the water, snapping its jaws at where she had been. She screamed, pushing at the man who’d nearly killed her.
A flock of beautifully dressed women collected around her, cooing and reassuring her. They whisked her away as the man angrily threw his goblet into the water.
“What was that creature?” I asked.
“A sea serpent,” Velethuil said. “I thought they were from the north.”
Tilting my head, I considered what I’d seen. “Sea serpents are large, nearly as long as whales. That might have been an adolescent, but there isn’t enough room or food in the lake for sea serpents.”
“The palace drags one or two out of the water each year to kill and eat.” Velethuil made a face. “Messy business, but the meat is worth it. Quite delicious.”
In the north, we wouldn’t know. We didn’t eat sea serpents because the sea serpents ate our dead, carrying their souls into the afterlife in the far north.
I turned away. I was not here to rescue sea serpents . I was not here to save them, even if what was being done to them was sacrilege. Forcing my eyes back to the party, I tried to find my host, General Kacha.
On the opposite side of the party from the absolutely suicidal partygoers trying their hand at murder via sea serpent, three women adorned only in gold chains danced around a man in a chair, teasing at his skin with silk scarves and their own flesh until his cock leaked come. Then one leaned forward and slapped his face hard enough that I winced at the sound. His mouth fell open, eyes glassy as he looked up at her. The crowd seated around them hooted and laughed.
Annoyed, Terror flapped his wings, flying up to land in the rafters.
I heard a roar like a bear and jerked my head to the side to see two servants in yellow struggling as they held fast to two chains, a collared lion kept between them only by the tension of the chains. If either of them released their end, if they even loosened their grips, they would be killed. Spectators shouted between themselves, calling out numbers I recognized as bets on which servant would get attacked first.
The laughter reached a crescendo. The servant on the left was a young boy, likely no older than fifteen, his body all awkward limbs and a face that didn’t quite fit his size yet. He flinched, his grip slackening just enough that the chain could slide through his fingers, and the lion turned on him. The other couldn’t hold the chain when the lion spun on the boy, dragging itself free. The fifteen-year-old’s eyes went round, and he raised both hands as though he could ward off a lion with nothing more than his palms.
I was moving, my hand going to my waist, but all of my weapons were back at my quarters, even the ceremonial ones that were more decorative than functional. Grabbing a spare fork off the tray of a passing waiter, I held it tight against my wrist, ready to attack.
A burst of light so bright it left a glowing afterimage in my eyes snapped across the party. The loud snap was almost an afterthought, shattering one of the bowls of fruit nearby and sending round apples rolling across the floor. A half dozen people dropped to the ground, screaming.
I skidded to a stop, my boot barely touching the lion. Smoke rose from its mouth. One of its eyes had charred black, the lightning cauterizing the wound it made. The lion was dead.
Turning to the servant, I asked, “Are you alright?”
He had fallen to the floor, scrabbling backward on his elbows and heels, and when he looked up at me, I saw pure terror. Footsteps sounded loud across the floor, and a man wearing a longer version of the coat typical in the Imperium moved through the crowd, people parting before him without complaint.
White electricity still played between his fingers, and he looked over at me and the fallen servant before turning back to his kill. His expression was cold, nearly contemptuous. His eyes dragged over the lion, then again to the trembling servant.
“You let it loose,” the man said, his voice silky.
“My lord,” the servant stuttered to a stop, staring at the dead lion. “My lord, I didn’t mean to.”
“I had my money on you,” the man said quietly. “I thought you’d hold fast. Now. I’m missing out on my entertainment and my money.”
The electro mage heaved a sigh, reaching down to pick up one of the false apples that had rolled to touch his boot. He considered the red fruit, streaked with green. When he held it out, the servant trembled, taking it. The electro mage gestured to the top of his head.
The servant sat up on his knees and carefully raised the fruit, balancing it on top of his head. He shut his eyes, and the electro mage raised his hand, golden bracelets clinking together. The party went eerily quiet, and I had the feeling of a pack of carrion eaters about to descend on unsuspecting prey.
Electricity snapped, and I forced myself up to my feet. I had to save the boy, but I couldn’t outrun a lion, and I most definitely couldn’t outrun lightning.
The bolt snapped the distance instantly, and the apple exploded on top of the servant’s head. He visibly bit his lip, trembling, covered in sticky syrup from the boiled fruit. His breath came unevenly, and then he formed a triangle with his fingers and prostrated himself on the ground.
The electro mage stepped closer, until his boot nudged the boy’s cheek. “Come to my quarters later. I still desire entertainment.”
Then, he turned and smiled at me, and I got my first look at him head-on. He had an echo of Tallu’s coloring, but his skin was powdered gold so that even in the light reflected off the water, he looked like a precious gem. He wore typical imperial clothing: a well-fitted shirt, laced at the neck, darker pants, and a jacket that matched, although the hem of his trailed the ground almost as though he was mimicking emperor’s robes. The stitching on the jacket declared him a member of House Sotonam, although there was a separate pattern along the cuffs that I didn’t recognize.
His smirk stretched over his face. “Prince Airón of the Northern Kingdom, an absolute pleasure to meet you. Prince Rute. I suppose I have you to thank for handing me the empire.”
“What?” I asked, frowning. He must be a member of House Sotonam, but why would he be ranked a prince while his patriarch was a count? And how had I handed him the empire?
Lord Fuyii hadn’t unpacked any of that for us and I cursed his inadequacy again. If he’d been half as competent as he’d pretended to be, I wouldn’t be in this mess. Still, I wasn’t about to show my confusion to this man. It would be like showing my stomach to a wolf. I wouldn’t survive the encounter.
Velethuil stepped forward, his smile brittle as he looked between us. As his eyes darted, his smile widened to genuine interest. I was reminded of a raven watching two wolves fight over a carcass. It knew that while the wolves were distracted, it could steal its own portion.
Speaking of, there was a flash of dark feathers, and Terror floated down from the rafters, clinging tightly to my shoulder. He stared at the gaping crowd around us. Even Velethuil seemed startled, although he covered it quickly.
“Prince Rute,” Velethuil said, his voice as light as air. “I brought Prince Airón here to introduce him to General Kacha. He wanted to ask how I came to live here in the Imperium, so far from my own home.”
Rute snorted, and in that pinched look, I saw some of Lord Sotonam. He shook his head, sighing. “No need for dramatics, Velethuil! I’ve no plans to harm the man who is behind my own ascension. Come, Kacha is holding court.”
The crowd parted around him like leather giving way for a sharp blade. Rute barely seemed to notice. How was he a child of House Sotonam? The groveling man from last night who’d been desperate for the merest hint of scandal from me never would have parted a crowd like that. He’d have skittered around the edges like a rat searching for scraps of gossip he could use.
“You are Tallu’s heir?” I asked.
“Permanently now. To go from untitled to a prince overnight was enough, but now that Tallu will remain childless with you as his spouse…” Rute turned to me, his smile all sharp edges. “I owe you a deep debt. Let me know if I can ever repay it.”
With that, Rute offered me an exaggerated low bow, his fingers forming a triangle that felt sarcastic rather than genuine. He spun off into the crowd, and I saw too many people staring after him in awe.
“Prince Airón?” Velethuil gestured in the direction we’d been moving toward.
We approached a large table, set for a dozen people, yet only one man sat at the head. The rest of the crowd swirled around him, attentive and seeking his attention yet uninvited. When he looked up, his eyes swept over us, skimming Velethuil like he was furniture before settling on me.
He was heavyset, his girth speaking more to muscles than flab, and his dress uniform denoted his rank as general . The general waved us closer. An aide stood just behind him, his hands clasped behind his back, his uniform marking him as a commander.
“Velethuil! Who’s this with you?”
“General Kacha.” Velethuil bowed low, again using the Ristorium preference for fists touching. “Prince Airón and I were taking a tour of the grounds when we saw you. He had just asked me how I ended up in the Imperium.”
“Now, that is a story,” General Kacha said. He leaned forward on his hands, pushing himself up to standing. He waited until Velethuil gestured to me, his hand open.
“General, may I present Prince Airón, the intended consort of Emperor Tallu.” Velethuil half bowed, his hand sweeping between us, and I tried not to frown as I struggled with the meaning of the motion.
Who was he offering respect to? Me or General Kacha?
General Kacha bowed, as low as one would to be respectful but not quite low enough to be an indicator that I was senior to him in any way. I wished more than anything Eona? was here. She would know whether that in itself was a sign of disrespect, or respect given that he was senior in age and a general in the military and I was only a northern barbarian prince.
On my shoulder, Terror chortled. “Can you even bow with me on your shoulder? Oh, what will they say if you don’t bow?”
Belatedly, I lowered myself, giving him the same level of respect as he’d given me. Terror shrieked unhappily at the motion and flapped his wings, keeping himself upright with a vicious tightening of his claws. The poor jacket likely wouldn’t survive the affront.
Straightening, I saw General Kacha eyeing Terror with narrowed eyes before he pulled his gaze back to me. “Is that a pet? No one spoke of you having it yesterday at court.”
His jovial tone sparked a giggle of laughter that danced through the crowd.
“No, I didn’t have it at court yesterday. I hear only the Ariphadi Court bring wild animals inside. And I am short an elephant or a tiger.” I smiled, friendly—I must be friendly so that I could know what was going on. I was friendly and harmless and possibly a fool. They had to believe all of that so they wouldn’t see me for what I was.
“You know, on the southern war front, that’s terribly true. I’ve no idea about their court—politics bore me—but the Ariphadi goblins ride monstrous wild animals. I spent nearly a decade in the south before going to the northern border,” General Kacha said.
“Really?” Keep him talking. It was impossible to make a plan without knowing the intricacies of the politics. I could do this. If I could figure out how to murder Tallu surrounded by his Dogs, I could learn to navigate these dangerous waters. “How was it in the south?”
General Kacha’s grin spread wide, and he sat back down on his chair, gesturing me to sit next to him. “Well, it’s hot. Always hot, and the further into the Ariphadeus desert you get, the sandier it gets. Ruins anything that runs on gears or metal. We have to travel by foot after the tanks stop rolling. No wonder only monsters like the goblins can live down there.”
Luckily for me, General Kacha was able to make his own conversation, requiring nothing from me other than a few inquiring sounds. The south sounded brutal and not suited to the mechanical weapons of war that the Imperium preferred.
As he spoke, I watched the rest of the party, hyperaware of how I was being observed. The painted faces and side conversations as they eyed me like one of the morsels of meat on the table. How would they consume me? Would I taste good when they did, or would I go down sour?
“Of course, now all that is General Bemishu’s territory. Glad to be rid of it. You know, half of one of my battalions died of starvation when we left our supply train because of a centipede attack. The creatures are nearly fifteen feet long and will poison you before killing you. No, the northern front has been much better to me, even if I was too young for our battles against your own formidable kingdom.” General Kacha laughed, although the spark in his eyes gleamed as though he was eager for the challenge.
He presented the front of a careless imperial, too fat and too comfortable for war, but that look in his eye gave me pause. My father would have warned me from underestimating an imperial general.
“Formidable indeed!” Rute approached again, smiling fondly at General Kacha. “You easily would have won against King Rimáu, General.”
“Our methods of war have improved greatly in the twenty years since the war against the Northern Kingdom,” Kacha said. He waved a hand at Rute, and the prince sat down on his other side, his smile just as sharp as a knife.
Looking between them, I wondered which was the more powerful, which of them controlled the other. Kacha’s hand gesture seemed to indicate Rute was underneath his sway, but how did a general control the imperial heir?
“Twenty-three years,” I corrected. “You think the north hasn’t kept pace?”
Kacha threw back his head, laughing. “Rute, have you met Prince Airón? Our emperor’s future consort.”
“We just met.” Rute smiled charmingly, as though I could ever forget how easily he’d threatened a servant’s life. “Your complexion is so unique. It’s no wonder the emperor fell in love at first sight. It’s so delightful to see someone unpainted.”
“Yes,” I said. “In the north, we spend our time on other things.”
“Like what?” Rute leaned forward, and General Kacha waved at a tray of food just slightly beyond his reach. The man behind him leapt forward, bringing the plate to him, then holding it as Kacha selected a morsel.
“Hunting. Building. My—” At the last second, I choked off the word mother’s . “ — father’s court was quite small by your standards.” I gestured. “Fewer people than are gathered here.”
“Really!” Rute shook his head. “How shocking. I don’t know what I would do if my court was so small?”
The titter that flowed through the crowd was audible, and Terror fluffed his wings. Then, he pushed off my shoulder, floating to the far side of the party.
“Your court?” Gather information, get the lay of the land. Rute was so confident. How did Emperor Tallu feel about his heir already planning his own ascension?
I watched the smile spread across Rute’s face. “I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, I suppose. That was Empress Koque’s problem.”
Another titter went through the crowd, and Rute licked his lips and grinned. He was mocking me in some way, but I didn’t have any of the context to understand why.
“You must let me in on the joke,” I said. “It will help me improve my Imperial.”
“It’s in poor taste.” There was that smile again that would make even the great northern bear reconsider her position on humans. I searched his eyes, but they were narrowed, showing none of his feelings beneath. “Such a pity that she had to die. If only Empress Koque hadn’t had the temerity to have a son who might threaten Tallu’s position, I’m sure she might have survived Emperor Millu’s shocking illness and death. Why?—”
“Rute,” General Kacha said. He lifted his hand and twisted his thumb and forefinger abruptly.
“I simply thought that he should know what his betrothed will do—” Whatever Rute thought I should know was interrupted by the arrival of two women, both identical at first glance, down to the rose-gold color of their paint and the application of their powder to narrow their faces and widen their eyes.
“Is this him? Oh, what a delight. I’m Topi Bemishu, and this is Pito Bemishu.” They sat on either side of Rute, and although Topi draped her arm over his shoulders in a familiar way, the interruption had clearly been directed by General Kacha. It hadn’t even been subtle.
“This is Prince Airón,” General Kacha said.
“What a delight! Are you taking him on as well?” Pito covered her mouth with a delicate hand. “General Kacha, you are too generous! First, the air mage, and now, the northern prince!”
“It is practically a community service, given that he will be marrying our emperor!” Topi chirped.
“What does she mean, ‘first the air mage’?” I watched General Kacha’s face. His round cheeks were shined to silver with powders.
“I almost forgot you wanted that story!” General Kacha’s voice rose over the crowd, and I watched who turned immediately and who waited a moment. The party seemed equally split between those who wanted to curry General Kacha’s favor like dogs desperate for the last scraps of cooked meat on the bone and those who he was trying to win over with the party. “Velethuil!”
The air mage had been circling through the party, keeping close enough to his patron that I imagined he’d been able to hear most of what had been said. At the same time, he’d jumped between groups, leading a few besotted courtiers with him like a mother duck trailed by her ducklings. If General Kacha had used his seated position to demand people attend on him, Velethuil had used his gregarious nature to draw people along in his wake, two different ways of proving power.
“Yes, General?” The air mage came close, finding a spot on my other side. His followers managed to grab cushions and lie behind him, their eyes fixed on him.
Rute looked unhappy, his congenial grin slipping as he stared at the air mage. Then, he fixed his eyes back on General Kacha.
“This must have been nearly thirteen years ago,” Kacha said. “What was it, Velethuil?”
“Around that,” Velethuil agreed.
“It was after we’d broken the back of the Blood Mages, managed to exterminate the last of them, and had made our way north to Ristorium. Are you familiar with the territory?” General Kacha looked at me, his dark eyes sharp and his smile sharper.
“No,” I said. “The Inner Passage separates us.”
“Yes, yes, and I suppose you’ve only been aware since it went to flames. Well, we’d driven most of the Ristos as north as we could. Our scouts reported those who couldn’t fly to their islands were throwing themselves off the cliffs. Sad business—we’d always said that as long as they agreed to come under our rule like the other conquered territories, we’d take care of them.” General Kacha got a distant look in his eye, and I didn’t dare look away. He had the expression of one who’d eaten one sour grape in a bunch of sweet ones. A single regret after all that delight.
Velethuil shifted and glanced at him. His expression was as blank as the table’s. He might as well have been listening to a story about someone else, about someone else’s people throwing themselves into a freezing northern sea in order to escape the horrors of what Imperial subjugation entailed.
“Well.” General Kacha shook his head. “You can’t save all barbarians from themselves, I suppose. We’d cornered the last of them. Their air mages were too busy ferrying citizens up to the islands—they float, you know? Nearly at cloud level—which left no one to fight our ground forces. Except this man!”
He laughed, slapping his hand on the table and raising his finger to point at Velethuil.
“He sent two whole companies straight into the ocean! Took a tank and launched it back to us with a gust of wind.” General Kacha shook his head. “It was only luck we knocked him out. When he woke, he tried to escape again, but at that point, we’d won. There was nowhere to escape to.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Surely you could still have flown.”
Velethuil’s lips tightened. “No. I couldn’t. If I’d thrown myself into the air, I’d have crashed into the sea like the three battalions I sent to the bottom of the sea.”
I looked between them, and General Kacha’s smile only widened. “The Imperium wouldn’t last long if we didn’t have a way of subduing forbidden magic. Velethuil had been neutered. He wanted to die, but I said, why give up your life because you don’t have your magic? I have no electro magic, and yet I live a full life! I brought him back to the capital, civilized him, and now, he is a loyal supporter of the Imperium! He’s given us quite the information on Ristorium and even the Krustau. They’re next, you know. Once the imperial expansion is back on with your help.”
“What do you mean back on?” I asked, frowning. “We get no news of anything south of Dragon’s Rest Mountains.”
“It’s been on pause while…” He trailed off, eyes wide.
I glanced back and saw another man had come across one of the bridges. His outfit was a deep black, although the stitching in gold on his jacket indicated he was part of the military. His face was unpainted, but his skin was a pale gold, luminous even without makeup.
He began speaking quietly with someone at the edge of the party, and General Kacha cleared his throat. “Well. We were supposed to continue this year, but with the wedding, Emperor Tallu has declared that we cannot start again until after his marriage ceremony.”
I felt my skin flush, my nerve endings light up. This was why I was here. This was why General Kacha wanted me under his thumb.
I was the key to imperial expansion, the war that would conquer the continent. Until I married the emperor, the war that had subjugated and slaughtered three nations was off.
“Well, certainly puts a lot of pressure on you, doesn’t it?” Rute said cheerfully. He shook his head playfully, mock frowning at General Kacha in consideration. “Prince Airón, you must think of what wedding present to demand of General Kacha in exchange for restarting his precious military conquest. General Saxu, too.”
He raised a hand, indicating the man dressed in black at the edge of the crowd.
“Oh, no,” General Saxu said. “You know I have no care for politics. I’m glad to have the rest. My soldiers needed it, and it left me here, where I was most needed when His Imperial Majesty ascended. I’m an old soldier, loyal only to the imperial vision. I will be loyal if the imperial expansion starts tomorrow or if it has ended forever.”
“You are too modest, Saxu,” General Kacha said. “Far too modest.”
“I leave the immodesty to you, Kacha,” Saxu said, his smile grim. “Either way, Lord Sotonam has sent me and every other servant he can find in search of Prince Airón. The emperor desires his presence.”