Chapter 4
Four
Dinner was an awkward affair. Vostop, Commander Rede, and I managed to limp toward a conversation, discussing, alternately, the weather, the hunting, how far into the mountain range the dwarves would have to travel to find another mountain that could sustain them, how many of the mountains were occupied by existing villages, and how many could be made habitable.
I almost envied the new king the straightforwardness of his task.
Many of the mountains in Krustau already had small villages.
Nothing as large as Mountain Thrown City had been, but there were farms scattered throughout the range and several mountains that it would take only a few months to dig homes into.
Topi and Pito Bemishu added little to the conversation, but their interjections were a welcome relief to Tallu and Koque’s pointed silence.
The twins had kept quiet so far, and I had watched them training with the Kennelmaster.
They would never be as lethal as the Emperor’s Dogs who guarded Tallu, but he rounded out their self-taught education in information-gathering and spycraft.
After dinner, I approached Empress Koque. Commander Rede eyed us but stood to speak with Tallu now that he had the possibility of a private conversation.
“Empress,” I said quietly. “With the approach of Saxu and his men, I hoped to ask for some advice.”
Her lips pinched, just slightly, but I had been in the Imperium long enough to watch for such tells that were there and then gone again too quickly.
“I am more than happy to advise you, Consort Airón, however I must check on my son.” She bowed to me, low enough to be respectful, but not low enough to indicate a difference in our position.
When she turned, I took two steps so that we were walking alongside each other, the stone floors echoing our footsteps as we approached the quarters that she and Prince Hallu had taken over. “Is the prince well, empress?”
“He is young and recovering from a terrible ordeal.” Koque’s back was so straight that it could have been one of the pillars holding up the ceiling.
As we walked past servants, they bowed low.
I tried to measure if they bowed lower when I walked with her than when I walked by myself, but we passed them too quickly and I did not quite have the eye for such a minute distinction yet.
“We saw doctors with General Saxu’s men. I am sure that Emperor Tallu would be more than happy to order them to attend on your son.” Keeping pace with her, I noticed when she slowed, almost as though she didn’t want to reach her own quarters.
“The emperor is generous,” Koque said. “I’m sure it’s not necessary.”
The words were almost a challenge: would I insist on it? Would Tallu?
I inhaled, about to ask her why she had no interest in marrying the man she so clearly loved, but we passed another set of servants, and I bit my tongue.
“As one who appreciated my mother’s attention, I admire your devotion to Prince Hallu.
” I kept my words low, watching as we slowed even further.
She did not want me coming into her quarters, seeing the prince.
“With your leave, I would ask for some time tomorrow. Despite all that has happened, I am still new to this position. I favor your advice over any other counselor’s, whose interests might not align with mine or Tallu’s. ”
Koque nodded, bowing lower than she had before, more than a sign of respect, a sign of relief that I would not insist on seeing the prince. The doors to her quarters had been closed, a single servant standing in front of them.
I recognized her as the bath maid whose tongue had been removed. When she saw Koque, she bowed low, her fingers forming a triangle. Turning, still bowed, she opened the door just enough for Koque to slip in and then pulled it shut behind her.
Quuri hadn’t said anything, so the servants were circling around Koque, their loyalty to her still clear despite everything.
The servant straightened, her eyes finding me, and I wanted to read something in them, read some hidden message, but I had no idea what she might be trying to tell me. She bowed to me, her fingers forming a triangle, and I nodded, turning away and heading back to Tallu’s quarters.
He was already ensconced in his sitting area, stretched out on one of the couches, nursing a glass of something. Coming close, I plucked it from his fingers and sniffed it.
“Fruit juice?” I asked, handing it back, our hands stroking each other.
Walking to the sideboard, I poured myself my own glass out of the carafe, the bright orange liquid spilling into the cup. I turned and leaned against the sideboard, watching Tallu.
The servants in the room stayed at the periphery of the room, one holding a folded blanket, the other staring off at the wall as though it held the answers he needed. The Kennelmaster and Gotuye were dark ghosts, watching entrances, exits, and servants with equal suspicion.
I let my eyes slide around the room, barely lingering on our audience. There was no way we could have a conversation with them present, but I had no power to order the emperor’s servants out of his own rooms.
Tallu’s russet eyes were fixed on me, his mouth pulled in a straight line. “Leave us.”
The servants in his quarters fled quickly, used to our requests for privacy. How different it must have been under Emperor Millu, who demanded their attendance except when he entered the room beneath the palace where he performed his depraved desires on unwilling girls.
“Would you like us to leave, too, Emperor Tallu?” the Kennelmaster asked.
“I require some privacy with my beloved.” Tallu didn’t look away from me.
I glanced at the Kennelmaster, catching his eyes and smirking. “Don’t worry, we’ll call you back before we take our postcoital nap.”
The Kennelmaster and Gotuye bowed without triangling their fingers.
Before they left, Gotuye did a sweep of Tallu’s rooms. The Kennelmaster stood by the door, ostensibly guarding it, but I could hear the wheeze as he breathed, the way he held his body still on the left side, as though trying not to further injure himself.
“Are you well, Kennelmaster?” I asked, watching him.
He dipped his head, shadows covering the front of his mask. “We traveled hard for three days.”
“We did,” I agreed. “It would be strange for anyone to be fully recovered, yet I wonder…”
I didn’t finish my thought as Gotuye came back into the sitting room. He nodded. The rooms were clear.
“Well, that’s settled,” the Kennelmaster said. “Be careful not to open the windows. With so many Krustavians in the palace, we must not give them any chance to harm Your Imperial Majesty.”
“We appreciate your care for us,” Tallu said.
The Kennelmaster and Gotuye left silently. I waited until the door had been shut for some minutes, finishing my drink and pouring myself another glass while Tallu watched, licking his lips when our eyes met.
“Can they hear us?” I asked.
“The door is thick. The walls stone. I believe as long as we keep ourselves quiet, they can’t.” Tallu’s words were an amused promise, as though he was imagining all the different things we could do that would raise our voices.
I smirked at him, lifting my glass to my mouth again and drinking deep, feeling the sweet juice in my throat and wishing I could lick it from his mouth.
Tallu’s eyes flared, but he inhaled deeply. “What did you wish to talk about?”
His voice was low, not quite a murmur, so even someone with their ear pressed to the door would be hard-pressed to hear more than a rumble of sound.
“We need to discuss what we are going to do about the Kennelmaster,” I said. “His health is getting worse. And either he’s keeping information from you on purpose or his network of spies is fracturing. We should have known about the fall of the capital before Saxu arrived.”
“If I try to displace him, I can’t guarantee that he won’t turn on me,” Tallu said.
I stared at him, and he stared back, eyebrow going up before he dropped his chin, considering the glass in his hand. He could guarantee it, if he asked for my services. And even if the reasons I had given Irad?o were still valid, her arguments for assassination were more so.
“It is something we should consider,” he agreed. “Do you think we are that pressed for time?”
“I think we need to understand what is going on in the rest of the Imperium. And if the Kennelmaster can’t provide us with that information…” I raised my eyebrow again.
“I will ask him to choose a successor.” Tallu drank the last of his juice, and I crossed the room, bringing the carafe to him and pouring him another glass. I placed the carafe on the low table in front of him and then crouched at his feet, my hands pressed into his knees, looking up into his face.
“Do not let him choose his own successor. You must choose for him. Sagam or Asahi. I do not know Gotuye enough to trust him and any other Dog the Kennelmaster brings in might put you in even more danger.”
“He will not like that,” Tallu pointed out reasonably. He rested a hand on top of one of mine, the metal from his rings pressing into my skin as he gripped my hand.
“He will like the alternative even less,” I said. I rose to my knees, finally unable to resist the temptation and kissed him hard, tasting juice and sweetness on his lips.
He released my hand, grabbing hold of my braids tight and twisting his fingers in the plaited hair.
“Was that all?” Tallu asked, the corners of his lips going up, his grin sharp and fierce.
“What did Koque say?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He dropped his hand from my hair, his frown tightening his brows. “I asked her directly if it was what she wanted, and she could give me no answer.”
“She refused to even speak to me about it.” I leaned back on my heels, still resting my hands on his thighs. Tallu frowned slightly, eyes going distant as he considered the situation.