Chapter 19 #3
“It is done,” Tallu agreed. “I am emperor, and you must know that I cannot let Hallu remain here. If the Shadow King offers Hallu to Kacha or Bemishu in exchange for an alliance…”
“So you would kill him?” Koque whispered.
“Never,” Tallu said sharply. “Never. He is my brother, and I am taking him as such. He cannot remain here as a political pawn of empires. He is my brother, and I will protect him as best as I am able. He is not protected here, even you can admit that.”
“No.” Koque glanced at Vostop, her smile sad. “No, he is not safe here. I do not believe anyone is.”
“Will you come with me?” Tallu asked. “I take him because he is family, not because he is my heir. But you also are my family.”
Koque looked away from Vostop. She glanced at me briefly before turning her eyes to Tallu. “I was not merely speaking for King Inor’s ears when I said you now have a consort. It is not my place to confuse the court.”
“Trust me, Empress, no one in the Mountainside Palace would possibly confuse us. They all say that I am clearly the more attractive of the two of us.” I grinned, and she hid her laugh behind her hand.
“In all honesty, I would love a more experienced mentor to support me. The ladies of court have nearly eaten me alive.”
Koque’s smile creased the corners of her eyes, and she nodded. “And I cannot let you take my son without coming with him.”
“It is settled, then,” Vostop said, some of the tension easing off his shoulders. “We must leave at once. My men will come with us. We’ll go to Prince Hallu at once.”
“He is not with you?” Tallu asked, two lines creasing his brow. “I thought you said he was ill.”
“The king insists on keeping him in the healing caves,” Vostop said. “He is worried about the prince’s health.”
“He worries that his prize will be worthless dead,” I said. “Is it that bad?”
“I see my son only when I beg,” Koque admitted. “King Inor does not let me near him. He said that my love for him is what weakens my son.”
Tallu’s lips twitched just slightly, and on anyone else, it would have been a flinch.
It was an echo of what Tallu told me his own father had said to him, and I didn’t hesitate before taking his hand.
He did flinch then but turned, his eyes wide when he looked at me.
I tried to smile at him, but his own expression was so lost that I felt it slip away.
“Let us go get him.” I spoke to Tallu, as though I could save the child he had been by rescuing Hallu.
No one can save him, a dark voice said inside me. He has been cursed by the blood monks.
Vostop straightened. “We will have to go carefully. When we cross shadow stones, we must be silent.”
He looked at each of us, his expression grim. Then he took a breath and reached down, holding out his hand for Koque. She let him take hers, her pale moonstone skin gleaming like one of the precious stones he mined with his scarred hands.
As she stood, he drew her knuckles to his lips, pressing a kiss to the delicate skin.
“It is nearly done,” he said, eyes closed.
She reached out with her other hand, caressing the curls of his hair, the expression on her face lost. “I have killed the emperor and am returning to court with my Krustavian lover. It has only just begun.”
Vostop led us back into the tunnel. His men were arrayed around him, still staring out into the dark, their hands on heavy swords and weighted cudgels, ready for an attack.
The creatures that had surprised us the night before had been so horrible and fast that I hadn’t really had a chance to look at them.
Long fangs and longer talons, legs that could push a creature upright, even as they ran on four feet to gain momentum.
We moved silently through the tunnel, no one breathing a word. The guards in front turned and turned again, until the air grew thin. We were too far from the entrance. I glanced at Tallu, but he maintained his stoic expression.
If he was experiencing any pain, if the curse was hurting him, he wasn’t about to show it to Vostop or his men.
Around the next bend, we were hit by what felt like a gust of cold air. I looked up and saw piping, a small fan rotating at the opening. It squeaked, the loudest sound around us.
We continued to climb, and I wasn’t sure how far up we went, but the rocks changed, beginning to glow.
One by one, the dwarves put out their lanterns, and by the time we approached the entrance to a large cavern, the sound of water echoing in the tunnel, we were walking by the light of the luminescent rocks alone.
Koque raised her hand, and the rest of us stilled. She gestured, the motion unintelligible to me, but Tallu seemed to understand immediately. He pressed me against the wall, an inversion of our earlier position; this time, it was his arm trapping me against the stone.
The dwarves seemed to fade into the rocks, crouching down and becoming nothing more than large stones on the ground. Ahead, shadows shifted as someone moved across the entryway to the cavern.
Koque approached, her spine straightening, her chin drawing back. Standing at the entrance, she said, “I have come to see my son.”
“It is very late, my lady. He is resting.” The voice was imperial, speaking with the clarity of someone who had spent too long at court.
“It was not a request,” Koque said, her tone steely.
“And yet, I am refusing it, Empress.” The guard stepped forward, and my chest seized. Pito Bemishu looked dully at Koque.
Her twin sister, Topi, had darkened over the two weeks we spent on the road and however long she had been let loose in the Imperium before that. In contrast, Pito had paled, her luminescent skin losing its gleam, becoming soft and pale as a flavorless mushroom.
Her eyes were half-lidded when she said, “You may come back another time.”
“I will see my son now.” Koque’s clipped words were those of an empress, her tone nearly identical to Tallu’s when he was being denied. It said I am above you, and you dare to try to thwart me? Your head will decorate my wall.
I heard the movement before I saw it, and Na? squeaked in my pocket when I shoved away from Tallu’s hand, drawing my blade.