Page 13

Seven

“ A blood mage?” I blinked, my mouth opening and closing once before I shook my head. “Some survived?”

I desperately tried not to think about the woman in the forest or her electro mage husband, who looked as though he would rather die than let Tallu find out about her.

“No.” Tallu’s face went haunted for a moment. Then he shook his head. “None survived.”

Tallu looked past my shoulder, as though there was someone there, and I turned to look, but it was just empty air. His eyes tracked nothing, and I had a horrible realization. “Were you there when the blood mages were killed?”

“I was thirteen when we took the Blood Mountains. It was not my first campaign, and it wasn’t my last.” Tallu shook his head. “Their deaths haunt me.”

The turn of phrase was almost poetic, and I hesitated before saying delicately, “You were a boy. It’s normal, I think, that you’d remember their deaths.”

Tallu inhaled, his eyes hardening. “Either way, the person you describe was wearing something typical to the Blood Mountains.”

Even though she had been poor, Miksha had been wearing traditional imperial garb suitable for peasants. The long tunic, cinched at the waist, pants that tightened from the knee down. Her hair hadn’t been matted like the man’s.

“How is it possible that a blood mage survived the purge, made his way down south without being seen, and then snuck into the Imperial Palace, and not a single guard noticed? None of your Dogs noticed?”

“That is a good question.” Tallu looked to the side, his eyes sliding away from me.

“What if it’s just someone dressing like a blood mage?

” I considered the options: maybe one of the generals was trying to make Tallu’s personal guard look incompetent, or maybe dressing Krustavian prisoners up like northern warriors hadn’t satisfied General Kacha, and he’d turned to a threat no one could ignore.

Or what if?—

“The Chaliko family. Emperor Millu banished them for harboring blood mages, didn’t he?” The innocent Lady Chaliko, looking up at me through her lashes, the desperate hope on her face that I would bring her family back to the Imperium.

“He did.” Tallu’s lips tightened. “One of the other councilors found out and alerted my father in an attempt to save his own neck. It didn’t work as he had hoped.”

“Lord Sotonam said that you were the one who exposed all the members of the Emperor’s Council as traitors to the Imperium.

” I felt foolish even saying it. I wouldn’t have believed Lord Fuyii if he had said something similar, so why should I believe another man scrabbling for power that he didn’t deserve?

“Most of them,” Tallu said. “But not Lord Chaliko.”

“Do you think the Chaliko family still harbors some? Is this their revenge?”

“No. All the blood mages have been killed.” Tallu’s voice was so hard, so final, that I choked on the knowledge of the blood mage hiding in the forest. I couldn’t reveal her, not when his eyes spoke of murder and the death of entire nations.

“So why do you think it was one?” I pressed.

We fell into silence, and I leaned forward, trying to read something in the still expression on Tallu’s face, the painfully blank way he considered the empty air.

“You sympathized with them—the blood mages.” It was a guess, but accurate by the way that Tallu startled and turned to face me, eyes wide.

“There are many people that the Imperium has wronged with whom I sympathize.” Tallu’s mouth flattened. “We starved an entire country for the offense of standing up for their own independence.”

“Forsaith.” I leaned back, remembering the scars on Lady Dalimu’s hands. “Lady Dalimu was set the task of revitalizing some land there. Is it even possible?”

“No. It’s not. But my father couldn’t very well kill her.” Tallu stood and walked to the far side of the room, pouring a glass full of dark liquid. It smelled rich and scented like spice. Raising his chin, he took a long drink, his throat working.

“Why not?” I frowned. “He killed the rest of House Dalimu.”

“Lady Dalimu was sister to Empress Koque. My father was many things. He was heartless for sure, but… I must believe he bore some affection for his wife.” Tallu set the glass down, the thick base of the cup making a clicking sound against the table.

He poured himself another glass, and I stood, crossing the room so that I could stand beside him and look at his profile instead of his muscled back.

Tallu stared at the liquid in the cup.

“And, by extension, he also bore you some affection?” I asked quietly.

It was impossible for me to think that a man as monstrous as Emperor Millu had loved anyone. It was impossible to believe that the man I had been trained to kill had any redeeming qualities.

But he had also been Tallu’s father.

When Tallu didn’t answer, I followed his gaze to the cup, to the delicate porcelain and the flowers decorating the rim.

Turning the new information around in my head, I wasn’t sure where it fit or even if it mattered at all.

“Lady Dalimu was sister to the empress? Why was she exiled at all? Why not just find her a nice estate to live out the rest of her life on? Or a nunnery? Those are popular for unwanted women.”

“People still remembered that Lady Dalimu and Empress Koque’s father had been a traitor.

Then to have Lord Dalimu also turn out to be one?

Lady Dalimu might escape his fate, but she could not stay in the Imperium without people beginning to ask what sway Empress Koque had over my father to make such a thing happen.

What she knew that kept him doing her bidding.

” Tallu took another glass and poured it full, offering it over to me.

“What magic she had over his decisions.”

Our fingers brushed, and I felt a spark, as though his fingers were still electrified.

Tallu murmured, “As they now say, I am enchanted by you.”

“I haven’t been in court long enough to learn anything from you. Much less from anyone else.” I brought the cup to my lips, the cool glass not doing anything to settle my nerves.

The alcohol was sweet, almost too sweet, except where herbs had cut it, giving it a sharp flavor that helped it go down easily.

I watched Tallu as he took his full glass and returned to the couches.

He settled on one, looking around before pushing off his shoes and socks and letting his bare feet touch the cushion.

It was impossible. I couldn’t bear the sight of it, the sight of his skin. How many people had seen his feet? His servants, obviously. The Emperor’s Dogs. But who else? What lover had he shown this intimate, uncontrolled side of himself to?

I sat across from him, clutching the glass in both hands so I wouldn’t give in to the urge to run my fingers over his delicate skin.

“How did you go from leading the murder of nations to wanting to see your own empire fall?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of my sense.

Tallu’s face hardened even further, his expression going flat. He took a long swallow of his drink and then stood abruptly.

“We should go to sleep. We were up all night, and you were busy today.” Somehow, he made it sound like an accusation.

I bristled, baring my teeth before throwing back the alcohol, the burn of it heating my throat and stomach. Before I could say anything, he moved toward the bed, shedding his clothes and tossing them to the side without care.

The burn in my stomach suddenly shifted meaning when I saw his exposed chest, his shoulders so broad even without any of his jackets or shirts. A dragon tattoo spiraled down his arm. The sight of his skin reminded me of running my hands over him on our wedding night, of the hunger he’d had for me.

I had not been able to truly enjoy the art of his body then. I didn’t dare lower my eyes and look at his legs, the length of them.

It had been one thing to see his nearly dead body in Miksha’s cabin, but to see him now, strong and tall and alive…

Fixing my eyes on the dip of his collarbones at the base of his throat, I wondered what would happen if I employed all the techniques that my sister had been taught. Would he tell me the true reason for his desire to destroy his empire?

Tallu bent, tugging up loose sleep pants, and before he could pull on his nightshirt, I stepped forward. I pressed a palm on his chest, resisting the urge to flinch, to back away from my own desires.

Tallu’s nostrils flared, his eyes going wide. He stared at me, then looked away. Inconceivable. How was it possible that he was even more shy about this than me?

I swallowed, my throat dry, breath coming quick, before I came so close that our chests were nearly touching, raising my chin and looking him straight in the eye. He took a half step back, and I followed him, all the way to the edge of the bed.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice gravelly and rough, so at odds with the appearance he always put forward that I couldn’t help the smirk curving my face.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” I asked quietly.

“This is unnecessary,” Tallu said. “We don’t have to do this.”

I understood that better than him. I grasped the risks involved, the challenge that we were both now facing.

But more than that, I had to know. Why. The endless why of it bothered me, making me wonder what else I had been wrong about in his court—maybe even in life.

Why was Tallu doing this? Why risk the throne he had inherited and clearly maneuvered for? Why destroy his family’s legacy?

Why did his eyes get that look of fear and horror and resignation when he spoke about blood mages?

“We don’t have to,” I agreed. I traced a finger over his collarbone, down the line of tattoo that decorated his arm.

“Do you want this?” His question was intense, a sharp demand that raised my eyebrows but made something in me shiver. “Why would you possibly want something with me? Unless you propose to try murdering me again after the deed?”