Chapter 2 #3
“I worry that their fear of me is wearing off. Perhaps I should have let the Kennelmaster torture a few when Coyome died from poison.” But the joke felt sour.
I wondered if they could not reject Tallu, so instead they took their helplessness out on me.
A northerner would be too much a fool to understand when he was being insulted, after all.
Servants moved out of our way as we walked the hall, their bows turning them into invisible statues. I tried to fix all of them in my memory, tried to keep track of who should be here and who looked strange, but felt their faces slipping through my tired mind.
Finally, we reached Tallu’s rooms, and I waited for the guards outside them to open the doors, unsurprised to see both Sagam and Asahi already inside, eyes moving across the room as though an assassin was about to jump free of the stone carved walls.
With four Krustavians in the palace, perhaps one was.
“Did you get a chance to bathe?” I asked them.
“When our relief arrives,” Sagam answered.
“Well, try to stand downwind of the Shadow King when he meets with Tallu.” I watched as Tallu’s servants circled him, adjusting the fall of his clothes, the ties on his robe. “We’ll have enough problems meeting with King Vostop without adding offending his sense of smell.”
“We will keep that in mind.” Sagam nodded his head in a half bow that both indicated his agreement and hid his amusement.
Asahi had turned to examine Irad?o, his narrowed eyes catching on the wolf’s claw she wore openly at her waist. With so few Dogs, it had been convenient to present Irad?o as a replacement guard.
My own personal defender, sent by the King of the Northern Kingdom to protect his son, an insurance that I would survive long enough to make sure no war broke out between north and south.
But both Sagam and Asahi had seen me fight and knew better than nearly anyone else what violence I was capable of, and how little I needed a guardian.
Finally, Tallu’s servants stepped back. He still wore his father’s colors, but had stopped looking so stiff in them, as though time had mellowed that first, horrified moment when he had looked in the mirror and seen his murdered father staring back at him.
The servants presented him with his crown, and Tallu bowed his head to accept it onto his brow, the gold lighting up his bronze skin.
“You look like a different man, my lord.” I caught Tallu’s eyes in the mirror and his mouth stayed a flat line, but his cheek twitched slightly, as though he was holding in a smile.
“You as well, husband,” he said. His eyes narrowed on my hair, and I raised a hand to it, brushing my fingers over the complicated braids. Tallu turned, his eyes fixing on Irad?o at the window, who was watching some birds in a nearby tree. She didn’t look up at his attention.
His jaw clenched, but I came closer. “Perhaps instead of jealousy, you could ask for a lesson. I did tell you that it was the spouse’s job to perform such duties. It is not my fault your hair is too short to take a braid.”
I raised a hand and brushed my fingers through his locks. At my touch, a few curls fell over his golden crown, the dark coils making the gold shine brighter. His hair was still slightly damp, and I felt each strand under my fingertip.
The tension at the corners of his eyes faded when he looked at me, and I tried to take comfort in that, even as I felt helpless anger at the curse that would take him from me if I didn’t prevent it.
The blood monks had cursed all the heirs of House Atobe to bear the weight of the Imperium’s sins, and in the end such a load would kill them: Tallu and Hallu alike.
“Have you told Empress Koque or King Vostop when we wish to see them?” I asked. It was a safer question to ask in public than what do you plan to say to him and what are we going to do?
“No. I thought to invite them to the audience chamber when we are ready.” Tallu covered my hand with his, drawing my fingers down and pressing a soft kiss to the tips.
“Let us go be ready, then.” I started to pull away, but Tallu held fast and tugged me close.
“I ordered food first. Unless three days of dried meat and stale crackers is a northern delicacy and you have been satisfied with the fare provided?” The twitch in his cheek was the only sign of his amusement.
“Oh, no, did I forget to tell you that it’s a courtship ritual?” I asked. “In fact, if you truly wish to seduce me, you must eat only preserved meat for a month, and hardtack for two.”
“I feel as though that is a good way to lose my teeth before my dotage.” Tallu’s eyes crinkled, and I exhaled a breath.
The door opened quietly, and three kitchen servants brought in dishes of food.
Under the watchful eyes of the Dogs, each took bites of the dishes they’d brought as they had all begun to do after our first night, when someone had tried to poison Tallu.
When the food was declared safe, we began to eat and at the first explosion of berry juice on my tongue, I realized I was ravenous.
By the time I’d eaten two plates, my hunger finally started to abate, my stomach grumbling unhappily at the stretch of food. It also helped clear some of the fog I’d been experiencing since we’d returned. My mind sharpened on a few key details.
The Kennelmaster had once claimed to have spies everywhere, even inside the Lakeshore Palace. With spies throughout the empire, why had we had no forewarning about Bemishu and Kacha’s attack?
Even after the attack, why did we not have some news about what was going on in the capital? Why did none of his spies come with the information about Bemishu taking over lumber yards, or Kacha setting fire to the Mountainside Palace?
Or had they alerted the Kennelmaster, and he was holding that information close in the hopes that he could barter it for Tallu’s favor? Or was he already working against Tallu?
My mind spun and Tallu seemed to notice my distraction. I shook my head. “Irad?o tells me I spoil my pet birds.”
“I cannot say. I have not had any pets,” Tallu said. “They seem very devoted to you.”
“I do not think any pet could be as devoted as a wolf,” I said. “Birds will love whoever feeds them, while a wolf cares for its pack.”
“Is that so?” Tallu’s confusion was only partly feigned and I sat back. This was a conversation I wasn’t sure we could have only in metaphor. We needed to wait until we were alone.
“Should we summon King Vostop?” I asked. “I am worried over our Krustavian neighbors.”
“Let us do so. I’m sure we have much to discuss with the new Shadow King.” Tallu stood and offered over his arm. When I took it, servants opened the doors, and we walked toward the audience chamber.