Chapter 16 #2
“I don’t understand it either.” I hesitated, wanting so badly to speak of the voice I heard in lieu of Asahi’s own.
The nastiness it spewed. But what if that was my madness, like hearing the voice in the dark that even Tallu could not?
I had to tell him, and the fact that we were sharing a saddle, galloping hard and so noisy I could barely hear the pounding hooves of Asahi and Sagam’s mount, meant that we finally had adequate privacy for me to do so.
“I hear his voice in my head also. I worry that either the poison drew me to madness, or it is letting me hear his innermost thoughts, and they are not kind to me. To us.”
Tallu squeezed my hand, and I saw his head turn toward the horse Asahi and Sagam were on up ahead. “We must watch him carefully.”
“You are not afraid it is merely the insect’s bites poisoning my mind against my own allies?” I asked.
“It is not your behavior that has changed,” Tallu pointed out.
We turned to navigate a bend on the path, the trees opening to reveal the wide plain that had been cleared around the Lakeshore Palace. Up ahead, there was a shout as the guards saw us.
Our horse followed Sagam and Asahi’s, and I let my eyes drift over the ground.
It glowed. At first, I thought I was seeing things.
But even after several blinks, the path around us was littered with rocks clearly from the Krustavian mountains.
Just like the ones that had led our way through the caves, these stones guided us straight to the drawbridge.
On top of the palace wall, I heard a croak in the darkness. Terror turned his head, his profile visible in the electric light held by one of the archers on the wall.
As we got closer, I could hear the raven’s grumbling. But every time I tried to understand what he was saying, the words fell away, like water through my fingers.
The drawbridge lowered as we approached, and our horses crossed it, heads drooping from exhaustion. As soon as we were over the bridge, the guards yelled to lift it, and the shriek of metal and stone cogs grinding together filled the courtyard as they raised the bridge.
Stable hands came for the horses, and they winced at the lamed mount. Quuri and the Kennelmaster stood in the center of the courtyard. She directed a phalanx of servants, and soon we had water and warm cloaks.
“Did you get what you needed?” the Kennelmaster asked.
Tallu’s lips thinned, but he didn’t nod or shake his head. Instead, he said, “We believe there is a route from Maki’s workshop to Mountain Thrown City. We need the door to Maki’s workshop guarded.”
“I already have a man on it,” the Kennelmaster said.
“Send two or three more. We were guarding it against anyone trying to look inside. We need to make sure nothing comes out of it.” Tallu waited until the Kennelmaster nodded, then allowed himself to be swept up by his servants, taken back to his room, where they assured him the bath was ready.
As the chaos of movement around us subsided, the Kennelmaster looked at me out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t have to ask.
“We didn’t see the prince. But we know he is there.”
“Even if we arm every servant in the Lakeshore Palace, we will not have enough to fight against the armies of Krustau,” the Kennelmaster said carefully.
“Tallu does not want to fight the armies of Krustau. He wants his brother back.” Even to me, the difference was minimal.
“Your servants look eager to clean the stench of dwarven caverns from you.” The Kennelmaster nodded at where the servants assigned to me lingered nearby, just out of earshot. “Quuri had to hire more men, given how many are now in the dungeons for their association with General Maki.”
I looked at him sharply. “Are you worried?”
He smirked at me. “I am always worried. But now, I worry that His Imperial Majesty risks more than he can bear to lose on this venture.”
He gave me a respectful bow and walked away, fading into the shadows as well as his reputation said. I frowned, looking after him. As he walked past the gate, Lerolian and some of the other blood monks came through.
None of them looked happy, and I raised both eyebrows in question. The other blood monks walked off, their expressions grim.
“The others had a long discussion of what we should do, given Krustau’s power.
If they have the power to remove us from this world—not by our own choice, but by force—we are not sure we should help Tallu if he attempts to go back.
” Lerolian looked down at his hands. “We understand that Tallu is concerned about the curse, but… After all this time, I thought I would have been used to the idea of my death, and I find I am not.”
I looked down at my hands, pretending to fuss with the buttons on my jacket as I asked, “So you will not help us find him if we return to the Krustavian palace? Did you see Hallu at all?”
“I will not cross my brothers.” Lerolian’s words were careful. “None of us saw him.”
Which led to a whole new host of questions.
Lerolian had said they would not help us if we wanted to return.
It risked their lives, and I couldn’t blame him for that though they were already dead.
But that made me wonder if his claim to have not seen Prince Hallu was genuine or if he was covering up for them.
“I understand.” And I did. I understood, even if I didn’t like it.
I finished pretending to straighten my clothes and allowed my servants to tactfully guide me into the palace. As we walked through to my rooms, I became even more aware of the dark stone throughout. It was the same type of stone that Inor’s Shadow Throne was made of.
The prevalence of it made me feel as though the Shadow King was following us.
Even though we had escaped him with our lives, we could not be free of him, not as long as we were here, in the palace that used to belong to Krustau.
Tapestries could cover, but not change, the carved stone of this place.
One of the doors was surrounded by a paneling made of the dark stone, and I walked over, raising my hand to touch it.
It was warm, nearly the same temperature as my skin, and I felt a slight vibration in it, although I wasn’t sure how much of that was my own exhaustion making me see and feel things that weren’t real.
How old was King Inor? Had he been alive when the palace had been taken? When the borders of Krustau had given way to the Imperium’s greed?
Turning back, two of the servants were already bowing, both using a sweeping gesture to indicate the direction I was supposed to walk.
Their faces were to the floor, and I knew they wondered if I had literally forgotten the route back to my rooms, or if they were just trying to be patient for the strange northern prince.
After a few hours with the Krustavians, the subtlety of the Imperial court hit me all over again.
I remembered the barbed words that Empress Koque and Tallu had parried back and forth, as though neither was hurt by the implications of the other, or rather, their injuries must never be acknowledged.
I followed the servants’ motions back to my rooms, finding myself undressed with the efficiency of a nanny used to stripping unruly toddlers of their mud-stained clothes.
The bath maid gently herded me into the bath in my room.
Relaxing into the water, I could feel her presence at the door, quiet and ready. For a moment, I let the warm water absorb into my skin, all the way down to my bones. It felt luxurious to have a private bath.
Even at Turtle House, anytime I wanted to bathe, a tub had to be physically brought in, filled by servants rushing from fire to tub. If I moved to the empress’s quarters, none of that labor would be necessary; the rooms had a built-in private bath, with piping that brought the water directly in.
I was considering the logistics but heard the slightest whisper of movement. Letting my eyes crack open, I saw the bath maid shifting on her feet, her eyes fixed on the ground.
“Was it really mercy that lost you your tongue?” I murmured. “Quuri tells me that the other option was death, and she desperately wanted to save your life.”
The maid looked down, and I was angry all over again that I had never bothered to ask Quuri the woman’s name. It wasn’t as though the maid could tell me herself. She turned, finally, toward the door.
But it was closed, and my words had been quiet enough to keep them here, in the intimate space between us. She swallowed, then looked back, meeting my eyes. She shook her head.
“You helped Empress Koque escape?” I whispered the words.
She nodded slowly.
“How many others did?” I watched her face, unsurprised when her eyes went wide. “His Imperial Majesty will not punish you. I will not tell him where I got the information from.”
Slowly, her hand spread, gesturing widely. I tried to interpret it.
“The whole palace?” At my suggestion, she shook her head, and I tried again. “All of the servants who worked for Empress Koque?”
She slowly nodded.
“Quuri?”
She nodded again.
And who had been killed? Quuri had said the servants responsible for poisoning Millu, but who else?
Her eyes were wide as she stared at me. I thought that, having lost her tongue, she would never be able to find another position. If she could find one, there was little chance it would be somewhere as honorable as the Imperial Palace.
“Koque lives. She seemed well. Vostop cares for her greatly.” I watched as the maid’s face crumbled, both hands coming up to cover her eyes. She cried silently. “I believe she is happy with her choice.”
The maid nodded, and I finished my bath in silence, letting myself be dressed and tucked into bed. I would go to Tallu as soon as the castle calmed, as soon as there were no servants to block my way.