Chapter 4
Four
“Ah, yes, our old friend, the directive ‘don’t die.’” I tried for a smile and ended up shaking my head.
“We must leave tomorrow? Less than a day is a short amount of time to bring the Kennelmaster to our side.” I slouched back in my chair, dislodging the dragon.
She hissed, using her tiny feet to crawl along the back of the chair, pawing at my hair unhappily, pulling loose some of the strands from Nuti’s arrangement.
“I cannot shake the feeling that despite his claims of loyalty, money is the easiest way to guarantee he keeps the oath he swore. Pay him like a courtesan from the flower district. He’ll probably be about as loyal as one, too. ”
“Even a courtesan from the flower district would be embarrassed by how easily he’s offering his price. We’re going to keep him close.” Tallu’s voice had an air of finality to it.
“What are you thinking?” I watched his face. Was he paler than normal? Was that stiffness due to more than his usual precision?
“We’re going to the Lakeshore Palace,” Tallu said. “But we can’t risk leaving the capital unguarded. We’ll have to leave behind Saxu, his men, any servant whose absence would give away our own.”
I began to understand immediately. “You want to go with a small group to the Lakeshore Palace and then on to Krustau. Why? What’s changed since this morning?”
“We just need to get my brother.” Tallu leaned forward, pinching his forefinger and thumb against the bridge of his nose, and the movement was so shocking that I hesitated.
Tallu so rarely showed weakness that when I saw it, I was reminded again how young he was. How young we both were for the game of toppling an empire. Leaning forward, I put my hands on his knees, clasping them, trying to bring him back to me.
Tallu’s breath was coming unevenly, and I searched his face—his eyes were squeezed closed, his lips were pressed tight—trying to see if he was about to start crying.
“Tallu?” I asked, still hesitant.
“I cannot leave him there. Not if he and I are the same at all. Not if he actually is my father’s son. And if he bore Krustavian blood instead of my father’s, the Shadow King wouldn’t be playing this game of putting him on the imperial throne.” He spoke with his eyes closed.
“You once believed he had Krustavian blood?” And I felt foolish even saying it, my mind flashing to Empress Koque’s letters, written in Krustavian and hidden in a secret compartment in her desk.
I’d been unable to translate them, and with everything else happening, they had seemed so unimportant.
“Because Empress Koque was bedding the Krustavian ambassador.”
“Yes.” Tallu nodded, his brows twitching.
“He might be dead,” I said, feeling the words painfully. “There is that chance that the Shadow King has no one in his grasp.”
“King Inor is no fool. If Hallu were dead or wasn’t my father’s son, he wouldn’t risk this gambit.
I thought… I suppose I hoped that the Shadow King was bluffing.
His last note made it clear he is not.” Tallu twitched his head, eyes still screwed shut.
“If my brother is of our line, he would also share the curse the blood mages placed on the heirs of House Atobe. I cannot let him stay there, in the dark, seeing ghosts.”
“But all the blood mages are bound to you,” I said. “You and Lerolian have both said that if they go too far they fade.”
“Yes,” Tallu paused, hesitating. “But the heirs of House Atobe are cursed to bear the guilt of the Imperium’s crimes.
With no blood monks left to carry out that judgment, I worry that some other restless spirits will take their place.
The burned villagers from Forsaith. The Ristorium children driven into the sea.
If some other spirits attach theirs to Hallu as the monks attached theirs to me, Hallu might see them and lose his own sanity.
Can you imagine seeing such terrors as a child, still small enough to be held in your mother’s arms? What would it turn you into?”
“What does Lerolian believe?” I asked slowly. “Does he think that it is possible Hallu will see all those horrors?”
“Lerolian will not answer, which is an answer in itself,” Tallu said.
“He hopes it is not possible, but he cannot reassure me. His curse was strong, his anger so fierce it has lasted all this time still. I thought the worst of the spirits was the blood mages, but what if an even more vengeful spirit lingered in the mortal realm, just for the chance at revenge on House Atobe?”
I gasped at the image. “We must go get him.”
There wasn’t even a question, just the knowledge it needed to be done.
“Yes,” Tallu exhaled sharply. He dropped his hands away from his face and put them on mine. He clenched his fingers so tightly I could feel the creak in his bones. “You and me. I cannot do this without you.”
“You cannot do much without me, I think,” I said. “Why I’m shocked every morning that I see you dressed and not having tripped on your own feet getting out of bed.”
“With you,” Tallu said, staring at me, “I can crush an empire.”
“Well, how could I say no to an invitation like that?” I teased. “‘With you, I can crush an empire. Now, come with me to a very deadly encounter with dwarves on their own territory, one which neither of us knows well enough to survive.’”
“Would it help if I added a ‘please’?” Tallu’s smile was wan. He sighed.
After a moment, he pulled back, standing and striding to the door. He opened it, gesturing with his hand to summon his Dogs back.
“I wish to speak to the Kennelmaster, General Saxu, the steward of the Imperial Palace, and the steward of my quarters.” With his back to me, I couldn’t see the expression on his face, but I recognized the tone: imperious, demanding, every inch the emperor.
One of the Dogs slid away, while the other three came into the room, positioning themselves best to protect him.
I straightened, trying to keep my eyes on all three of them.
At least some of the Dogs must have suspected Boro’s intentions.
And I wasn’t about to risk Tallu’s neck on the chance one of those sympathizers was here.
As we waited, a blood mage I didn’t know by name slipped into the room, lingering next to one of the Dogs.
The Dog seemed unaware of his companion, and the blood mage didn’t try to speak with either me or Tallu.
How many of the Dogs, like the Kennelmaster, suspected Tallu could see more than was physically there?
All four summoned men arrived just in time for a servant to bring in another tray of food. Terror watched with interest from a fresh perch at the top of a curtain rod. The dragonet curled up to sleep on my shoulder, her breathing evening out.
“Prince Airón and I leave for the Lakeshore Palace tomorrow. We will require the supplies and horses necessary for the journey.” Tallu sat in his chair, his elbows resting on the leather upholstered arms, fingers touching each other just in front of his mouth.
The gold rings he wore reflected back the sunlight, but no one shielded his eyes.
“Your Imperial Majesty.” The steward of his quarters began, then paled and swallowed heavily when Tallu’s full attention swung to him.
“I would not… I would not seek to change your decision, but in order to properly prepare for your journey and to ready the servants that will accompany you, we must have more time. On this short notice, we will not be able to—”
“You misunderstand.” The steward flinched when Tallu interrupted him, clearly expecting those to be his last words.
But Tallu continued, silkily. “Just Prince Airón and I will be going. We will be traveling, in secret, to the Lakeshore Palace. We will be two wandering merchants. We need nothing other than the supplies to maintain the ruse.”
“Your Imperial Majesty, it is not safe,” General Saxu said. “Let me at least send men with you. A small contingent led by Commander Rede. They can make sure you reach the Lakeshore Palace unharmed.”
“Are you suggesting I am not safe within my own empire? Or that I cannot keep myself safe in my own empire?” Tallu’s voice was slow and amused. “It has been some time, General Saxu, but you know my experience in war.”
“My men, then,” the Kennelmaster said. “If you won’t take soldiers. My men can show you how to blend in with your citizens. They can act as protection and guide.”
“As Boro did?” Tallu asked, mildly.
The Kennelmaster didn’t flinch, and I was impressed even as I seethed. “They can keep you safe, as they have promised to do. They have promised with their lives, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“They have,” Tallu agreed. “We will take a few Dogs with us. You will lead them.”
For a moment, the Kennelmaster looked as though he were going to argue, but in the end, he bowed, his fingers forming a triangle.
“I know that the other generals would see taking the capital as a way to win the war. Taking it and keeping it would give them an advantage that the others would have to acknowledge. We must keep our army here. We must not lose the palace or the capital. General Saxu, I rely on you to lead the army here in my absence,” Tallu said to the high general.
Saxu bowed, fingers triangling over his forehead.
Tallu turned to the stewards. “I leave you in charge of hiding our absence. We may be several weeks, and the longer we can maintain the illusion that Prince Airón and I are still in the palace, the safer everyone who resides in it will be. It is only with you that I trust this information. If it should leak, we all know who was in this room.”
Both the stewards bowed, as if Tallu’s words were an endorsement of their discretion rather than a threat of violent end.
Saxu finally straightened, and from the way his eyes searched my face, his jaw still clenched, I had the feeling the only reason he wasn’t speaking was that he had perhaps bitten his own tongue half off trying not to tell the emperor the wrongness of his decision.