Page 6

From somewhere within the apartment, a clock ticked away the seconds as Taly began to wait.

It didn’t take long for the door to open, and metal clanked as something large and heavy lumbered past.

Mechanica armor,Taly thought, pressing her back flat against the wall. It had to be. She couldn’t think of anything else that would sound that large or that heavy.

The armored suit moved farther into the apartment, but Taly didn’t move. She didn’t even dare breathe as she listened for its footsteps.

Stone grated, and she knew it had found the open terrace doors and clipped wires. The cloth rope had been left in plain sight, and when those heavy, lumbering footsteps reversed, rushing from room to room and back through the front door, Taly knew that her warden now believed her to be somewhere else in the palace. Maybe even splattered on the ground.

And since there was no reason to lock an unoccupied cage… Taly allowed herself a smile when she peeked from behind the curtain to find that the front door had been left wide open.

She didn’t give herself time to revel in her victory as she half-ran, half-leapt down the spiraling steps, careening round and round until she hit the landing below.

Another hallway—lit with windows that spanned all of one side. She gave it a passing glance as she turned and—

Two hulking metal creatures spanned the length of the hallway, and Taly whirled only to find two more blocking her path.

A rough metal hand clamped down on her shoulder, and Taly yelped, twisting and pulling the shears from her boot in one fluid move—

Only to realize that this “weapon” would do very little against the thing that towered over her.

Against any of those now crowding around her.

At 10 feet tall, the Mechanica suits were bulky yet polished, and under any other circumstance, Taly would’ve thought them beautiful. Each piece of gold plate was inlaid withwhorls of glistening blue, and the helms were decorated with metal horns twisted with silver.

But as they slowly advanced, caging her in, all she could see was the deadly blades on those horns and the cannons set into the gauntlets as they flashed red and white.

“I’m glad I set guards,” said a surprisingly light female voice. “Her Majesty warned me that you were slippery.”

Taly retreated a step, uselessly adjusting her grip on the shears as her back hit the wall.

“My Lady,” that voice said again. The center one, though Taly couldn’t be certain. The helms covered their faces. “I apologize for my tardiness. We did not know when you would wake.”

When Taly didn’t answer, just continued to grip those scissors like a lifeline, the center one stepped forward, metal clanking. “My Lady—”

“Stop calling me that!” Taly snapped. They were toying with her. She was sure of it. “Whatever it is you’re here to do, just get on with it. Stop stalling.” Her voice cracked.

The Mechanica tilted its strange, metal head, glancing at the others as it said, “As you wish,Madam.” Like it was the form of address that was the issue here, and they had all just committed some grievous sin.

It took a step, then another, each one scraping harshly against the polished marble floor.

“Shit.” Taly held the scissors out in front of her. Her hands began to shake.

A metal arm extended, and she braced herself for what was sure to be a murderous blow…

That never came.

Taly opened one eye, only then realizing that she had closed them. Still clutching her scissors,she could do nothing but gape as the group of Mechanica awkwardly bent at the waist and…bowed.

“The Queen respectfully requests your presence at tea,” the woman in the center suit stated tersely.

Taly blinked. “What?”

“Tea, Madam,” the woman repeated. A brief pause, and then the center suit shuddered. The pieces of armor clanked together loudly as it rose, the other armored suits quickly following. “Her Imperial Majesty has requested your presence at tea.”

Taly was suddenly glad for the wall at her back, howrealit felt when everything else was spinning out of control. A private audience with the Time Queen was the absolute last thing she wanted in this place that made no Shards-forsaken sense. This was the woman responsible for the Schism. A Genesis Lord. A High Lady. No sane, rational person would agree to this, and even though her grip on reality was starting to feel dangerously tenuous, she still considered herself to be both saneandrational.

“T-tell the Queen that I decline,” Taly said, mustering that politeness Sarina had worked so hard to instill in her. “Respectfully.”