Chapter 24
Talon
Finding Zara nearly drowned kept replaying through my mind, making it impossible to sleep.
I was tortured with remembered images of her lying naked beside the hot springs, dripping wet and struggling to breathe.
I could still feel her body pressed against mine, arms wrapped around me.
It had set off a war within me. One part wanted to hold her close while the other wanted to hunt Lord Heron down and slit his throat.
He may not have directly attacked the First Daughter, but it was no coincidence that he had sent Lady Corvina and Lady Starling to the hot springs with Zara.
Somehow, it connected to Ozul. And if the creature could possess someone with shadow magic, then no one was safe from its malevolent powers.
The only question was why it had thus far not staged a bigger attack. What kept it in the west wing?
I never should have left. If I had still been here, I would have kept them from even getting close to her.
But after hearing the First Daughter’s accusation that my own Eagle Riders had been preying on civilians and allowing their eagles to eat the horses, I had to investigate.
What I found out finally made everything that happened with Captain Suna make sense.
Captain Suna and the others hadn’t abandoned their post to go hunting that day.
They were terrorizing civilians and their horses, deep in enemy territory—for sport.
Those loyal to Lieutenant Callum were the ones who showed me the documents he had been collecting, including eyewitness statements. He had planned to present it all to me, but then his outpost was ambushed, and he was killed.
First Daughter Zara, though, unknowingly avenged those fallen civilians and horses when her wind power destroyed Captain Suna and her squad.
Still, my mission was badly timed. Although Baz had come to Zara’s rescue as soon as he realized she had been attacked, it was still almost too late. I wouldn’t have allowed Lady Corvina and Lady Starling to join her—not when they were so closely aligned with Lord Heron.
The morning after the attack, I went to see Altair. There was a time when he would have told me everything, but he had withdrawn so much this past year that it felt like I barely knew him anymore. I found him sitting before a roaring fire, dark circles beneath his eyes.
“Majesty,” I said with a bow, “you exiled Lady Corvina and Lady Starling in response to the attack on the First Daughter, but I have reason to believe Lord Heron was involved, too. I would like your permission to interrogate him and reprimand him as I see fit.” And maybe if I went a little too strong on the interrogation and removed him from the equation, then it would be one less threat to the First Daughter and this empire.
“Lord Heron is my father’s oldest adviser,” Altair said. “His knowledge of the empire is invaluable.”
“He has threatened your future wife.”
“Lord Heron didn’t attack Zara. Lady Corvina and Lady Starling did, and they have been dealt with.”
My hands tightened into fists at my sides as anger rippled through me. “He locked Zara away in her room the first night she was here.”
Altair waved his hand flippantly. “That was in response to her use of wind power in my throne room.”
“I believe he is in league with that creature,” I said, and a silence fell over us both.
“I’m only going to say this once,” Altair said quietly. “Ozul is bound to me, not Lord Heron.”
It felt like a cold blade had touched the skin of my back. “Are you saying that you ordered the attack on Zara?”
“No,” he protested so vehemently that I relaxed—marginally. “Ozul often has…requests…that I refuse. But unless he accompanies me, he stays in the west wing. That was part of our agreement.”
I scrutinized his face, looking for any telltale signs of lying. It seemed unlikely that such a creature would obey my cousin and remain in the west wing until called forth like a dog. “Are you sure he never leaves his area of the palace without your knowledge?”
“Talon, this was an instance of extreme jealousy on the part of those women leading to an attack on the future empress. They have been dealt with accordingly. As for the shadows Future Empress Zara claims to have seen, I believe it to be due to her brush with death.”
“Right,” I said skeptically, “I, too, have hallucinated shadows when I nearly died in battle.”
He looked unperturbed. “You are a seasoned veteran of war. Even brushes with death wouldn’t terrify you like they would someone like the future empress.”
“You don’t even know her!” I snapped. “How would you know what would scare her or not? And there are shadows in this palace, Altair, I’ve seen them.”
Altair stilled, something unreadable flashing across his face. “You overstep, Commander Talon.”
I let out a frustrated breath. “You asked me to guard First Daughter Zara, and then she was attacked. I just want to know how much danger she’s in. As your cousin, I’m asking for the truth. Is she in danger from that creature?”
“No,” he said, but I watched his throat spasm as he swallowed hard.
“Altair, please. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on. What keeps Ozul in the west wing?”
Altair let out a sharp breath and ran his hand through his hair. “He is starved for souls right now and physically weak. He was drawn to Zara’s power when he first saw her, but I won’t let him have it.”
I stared at him in disbelief. Souls. It truly was the Devourer of souls. And the creature wanted Zara. I thought again of her clinging to me, naked and vulnerable. “Why First Daughter Zara? Why her power?”
Altair shifted uncomfortably, and for a moment, he seemed like he would refuse to answer me. Finally, he said, “Souls with magic are more powerful and thus give him more strength. First Daughter Zara’s wind magic is superior to any other earth magic we’ve encountered.”
My whole body went rigid as I fought off the rising need to take immediate action against the enemy Altair allowed in our midst. I unclenched my teeth and tried to reason with my cousin.
“From the very beginning, Ozul has posed a threat to us all. You are tempting fate by keeping such a monster locked up. It’s only a matter of time before it escapes.
Tell me how to remove it from the palace, and I will respond with force. ”
“I cannot give that order. I will need Ozul’s magic to expand this empire.”
“The entire continent of Zephyrus is under your rule now. Four nations: the Semalians of the coast, the Nazcas of the Black Forest, the Angorans of the mountains, and now, the Children of Earth. What more is there?”
A glint appeared in Altair’s eyes. “The world beyond Zephyrus.”
I’d hoped his talk of conquest was bluster, but the glint in his eyes told me he meant every word.
“We just ended a war, and you seek another? Besides, conquering other countries takes a tremendous amount of resources, which have been depleted by the last war. We’d have to travel by ship.
The number of infantries it would take would be enormous. ”
“I need only bring Ozul to their shores,” he said darkly.
My knuckles turned white from clenching my fists so hard. Not just because we had all thought the war was over and we could finally have peace, but because the thought of unleashing that creature on an unsuspecting country chilled my blood.
“You risk not only your future empress’s life with this creature,” I said firmly, “but also the peace treaty that finally freed us all from this never-ending war. Did you consider, too, that if that creature has no care for the woman you are supposed to marry, that it may not care for you, either? What’s to keep it from killing us all? ” I demanded.
“I told you before that the future empress is not in danger, and that Ozul wasn’t responsible for the attack. That’s all you need to know.”
“Altair,” I began, but he held up his hand.
“You’re dismissed, Commander.”
My fingers twitched at my sides as I struggled against the desire to slam my hand on his desk, to make him listen. He wasn’t telling me the truth, and I had the sense that he was playing with things beyond his control.
I looked at my cousin’s face, so gaunt and shadowed now, and I thought of the way he was as a child, fat cheeked and bright-eyed.
His eyes had lost their brightness over time, the result of constant abuse and belittling by his father.
But ever since his father’s death and the discovery of Ozul, Altair had looked haunted, slowly wasting away with the desperate need to prove he was a better emperor than his dead father.
As I left Altair’s rooms, I reached out to Neo mentally, who had quietly eavesdropped on our conversation. Did you catch all of that?
Yes, Neo said with a somber tone. Just when we thought the war was finally over.
I don’t think these are truly Altair’s goals. I think they are Ozul’s and Lord Heron’s. He is being manipulated into giving up this time of peace.
It’s dangerous to abide by a demon’s goals, Neo said. Ozul doesn’t care about Altair or this empire—only itself.
And we’ll be caught in the middle, I said, clenching my teeth at the thought of flying to distant lands to conquer them.
If he will not listen to you, then perhaps he’ll listen to his future mate, Neo said thoughtfully.
I bristled at the thought of that. Altair already admitted that Ozul desires Zara’s power. I don’t want her anywhere near that creature.
You care for her, Neo said, searching through my mind. You wish she were your mate, he added, surprise in his tone.
I couldn’t deny any of it, because he could see my true thoughts and feelings before I blocked him out. It doesn’t matter how I feel for her. She is promised to the emperor.
An emperor who is rapidly losing his way—and is taking us all with him.
I will do all I can to protect her, I promised myself and Neo. But already I could feel the distance between Altair and me growing like a chasm.