Chapter 23
Zara
That night, Emperor Altair came to my door looking haunted. His eyes were shadowed, his eyebrows drawn low, and his mouth was a tight line.
“Future Empress,” he said. “Baz and Talon informed me of the attack on you. Are you all right? Do you need me to send for the healer?”
I shook my head. “That won’t be necessary. There wasn’t any lasting damage.”
“I’m relieved to hear it. Then, if you’re up for it, will you come with me? I’d like to speak with you.”
I glanced at the unfamiliar guard outside my room, frowning. I didn’t have any reason to be wary of going somewhere alone with Altair, but it was hard not to feel a little uneasy after nearly being killed earlier that day. Still, I couldn’t hide in my room forever.
“Of course,” I said, hiding my apprehension behind a smile.
He led me down the hallway, lined with enormous portraits of regally dressed men and women. Flames flickered in sconces over each painting, making it seem like their eyes followed us as we walked.
We continued in silence that was growing more awkward by the second, until Altair glanced at me and said, “I wanted to show you a part of the palace that has always been my refuge. I used to spend as much time as possible here as a child.”
The tension in me relaxed just a tad. “Did you grow up in the palace? You’ve never lived anywhere else?”
“I’ve been here my whole life,” he said with a little backward glance at me, “except for the time a year ago that my eagle, Sky, and I visited Talon and his mother in the foothills.”
“Talon didn’t grow up here, then?”
He shook his head. “No. He was lucky. He only came for brief visits—a few weeks here and there—but he never had to live here.”
I stole a glance at his expression, but he kept it masked. I thought of what he had said before about his father letting him dangle from an eagle’s talons despite his fear of heights. No wonder he said Talon was lucky. Why did his mother allow him to be treated that way?
“What about your mother? Did she enjoy palace life?”
He glanced back at me once. “My mother died giving birth to me,” he said.
I froze midstep. To be raised without a mother was unimaginable for our people. To us, our mothers were everything, the heart of our people.
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” I said.
“You sound like you actually are,” he commented with some surprise.
“I really am. I can’t imagine being raised without a mother, especially when your father was…” I trailed off as he came to a stop in front of an open archway.
“My father was what?” he asked, eyebrows raised.
A tyrant. A murderer. Cruel. Sadistic. “He didn’t seem to be the most loving man.”
Altair laughed, but it was without humor. “That’s an understatement. What was your father like?”
“I’ve never met him,” I said, and he gave me a look that was equal parts disbelief and envy. “Queens may take any number of suitors, and I’m not sure my mother knows exactly who sired me.”
I thought of the conversation I had with Ama before I left. How she refused to tell me more about my sire or even entertain the idea of finding him. Talon had arrived soon after with the peace treaty, and we hadn’t had time to talk about it again.
“I can’t even imagine what my life would have been like without my father,” he said, interrupting my disturbing thoughts, but it wasn’t with a sweet, nostalgic tone. He seemed to ponder it with longing. “But here we are. The place I wanted to show you.”
He held out his arm for me to go through the archway.
The moment I entered, I stood motionless as I took in the beauty surrounding me.
We must have been at the center of the palace, for there was no ceiling, only open sky.
There were enormous trees, and flowers with a riot of color—pinks, purples, even blues.
A white bridge crossed over a mountain stream, and there were banks of green grass.
The wind came and greeted me like a friend as a warm breeze enveloped me.
“This is incredible,” I said. “You can almost pretend we aren’t at the palace anymore.”
Altair smiled, and this time, the expression reached his eyes. “That’s why it has always been my favorite place.”
Our gazes caught and held for a moment—he was truly beautiful when he smiled.
He turned back to the stream. “The palace can be a dangerous place, especially for outsiders, but I honestly thought you would be well protected by the guards. Lady Corvina and Lady Starling are being stripped of their titles and exiled from the palace.”
I widened my eyes at him. For the two of them, as much as they spoke of their high status, that would likely be a fate worse than death.
“I didn’t think they were capable of such violence,” he added. “But I will not tolerate any attacks on my future wife.”
Talon most likely already told him what I had witnessed, but I still wanted to see his reaction. “I’m not sure it was entirely their fault. Before they tried to drown me, I saw shadows pour into them.”
He glanced at me, expression unreadable. “And what do you think the shadows were from?”
“I think it had something to do with that creature I saw the first day in your throne room. The one Talon calls the Devourer.”
“That’s impossible,” he said dismissively. “Ozul never leaves the west wing. No, though it embarrasses me to admit it, those women wanted to kill you just to try and take your place.”
“Then how do you explain the shadows I saw? The way their eyes turned black?”
His expression softened with sympathy. “By all accounts, you had a near-death experience. It’s hard to trust your memory after such a traumatic event.”
He delivered this line so smoothly I almost believed him. But I knew better. I knew what I had seen.
He had obviously decided to deny the Devourer’s role in the attack on me, but I wanted answers about the creature. “Emperor Altair, in only three weeks, we will marry. I think I deserve the truth from my future husband. Who—or what—is Ozul?” I pressed.
After searching my face for a moment, he said, “A powerful sorcerer. Your people were gifted with magic, but mine have none. The war would have stretched on forever had I not evened the field.”
I gaped at him. “Evened the field? Your Eagle Riders massacred our warriors easily. We were only successful with magic against your infantry.”
“Yes, but our resources aren’t infinite. It costs a fortune to maintain an army. Now your people’s land and resources fall under Zephyrian rule.”
I gave him a sharp look. “I thought it was just a tax.”
“For now. Until we have need of more. The Children of Earth are now part of the Zephyrian Empire, and we rule the entire continent of Zephyrus.”
“The treaty never said—”
“The queens understand this, believe me. It’s better to be with us than against us.”
I felt like we had been outmaneuvered on a chessboard we couldn’t see. “It sounds like you’ve got everything you wanted, then. Why not send the sorcerer away?”
He looked at me, and his eyes burned with ambition. “My father was never able to expand the empire beyond this continent, but I will.”
I froze, barely able to get the words out to form a response. “And you need the sorcerer to do that?”
“It takes untold power and resources to expand an empire,” he said, not quite answering my question.
His goals made my blood run cold. In my mind, I saw years of war in front of me.
What would it mean for my people? Would they be forced to fight alongside the Zephyrians now that we belonged to their empire?
Altair spoke of traveling to distant countries and conquering them as he had done here.
This was the man I was supposed to marry and produce an heir with, but the thought sickened me.
How could I stand beside him and watch that happen?
“And what does the sorcerer want in return for helping you expand your empire?”
He seemed to retreat into himself. “That’s none of your concern.” Before I could say anything else, he changed the subject. “I should have brought you here sooner. I know more than anyone else how the palace can seem like a prison.”
His words made me think of what Lady Corvina and Lady Starling had said about an empress not being able to travel. “Are you required to remain in the palace at all times?” Would we be forbidden to travel because of some rigid Zephyrian law?
He shook his head. “I can leave for short periods of time, though it’s like any other throne. It shouldn’t be left unattended for long.”
I turned that over in my mind. I wondered if that included traveling to distant countries to conquer them—or would he just send his Eagle Riders and remain safely hidden away in the palace?
“I was told that the empress couldn’t leave the palace or surrounding area,” I said, “but I can promise you I won’t do well under lock and key.
If it came to that, the treaty between us would be null and void. ”
He watched me for a moment before nodding. “I remember what it was like to be kept here against my will. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone else. You may travel by my side when I venture beyond this continent.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted any part of that, but at least he wasn’t saying I would be locked away in the palace.
Maybe I could get closer to him and change his mind about the need for conquering other countries.
I nearly scoffed out loud at myself. If I had even half of Ama’s abilities, then I might have a chance of influencing the emperor.
As it was, I’d be lucky if Lord Heron didn’t convince him to lock me in my room.
“Have you ever been to the Equnox Plains?” I asked in an effort to engage with him again. Ama would know exactly what to say to draw him out, but I was a poor substitute.
“Not in a very long time.”
“We could go together. My family would like to meet you,” I said, and his eyes widened a bit, like he couldn’t believe someone would want to meet him.
“I would like that,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. “My father always said I was too cowardly to travel much farther than Naharu, so I had tried to make peace with the thought of only seeing these far-off places on a map. Everything changed when he died, though.”
I was still reeling from how casually he spoke of his father’s cruel words and for a moment I only stared at him.
“I’ve never traveled beyond my homeland, but I would like to see the other continents one day.
I’ve never considered people who don’t like to travel cowards!
I understand, actually, because the idea of traveling by ship makes me nervous. ”
“And I’ve never wanted to fly, but perhaps one day we can do both.”
I gave him a gentle smile, a natural response to the sorrow that radiated from his eyes. “Your father was wrong about you, you know. It takes more courage to form a treaty than it does to continue a war.”
A veil fell over his face, and he retreated into himself.
My smile slipped from my face. What had I said to upset him?
“My father is never wrong.”
He shifted from foot to foot and then took a few steps before stopping again, as though barely restraining himself from pacing in agitation.
“I must go,” he said, and I looked at him in surprise. Before I could reply, he added, “You can stay here as long as you’d like.”
He strode away, shadows on his face.
I sat down in the grass, the energy draining from me all at once. I’d never missed Ama so much in my life.