Page 18

Nine

L erolian poked his head in.

Now that I wasn’t screaming hysterically at the man walking through the door , I realized he wasn’t much older than us. The ragged clothes and shaggy hair aged him, but he was probably under thirty.

“Are you both decent? The servants are arguing about whether you were having a second round. The Dogs are lurking. They worry that something is amiss.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Because you were yammering on about ‘guards’ and all that.”

“Anything else?” I asked. “Any of the Dogs acting particularly suspicious?”

Lerolian shrugged. “They’re always suspicious. They’re paranoid and armed to the teeth.”

“Well, they have reason to be.” I frowned between Tallu and Lerolian.

“Given what happened to their last charge. Lose one emperor, and suddenly, your whole life’s purpose is lost. How do you keep going when you’ve failed at the one task you were set to?

That sort of thing leads men to do dramatic things, like…

take up poetry and join a monastic order. No offense.”

Lerolian laughed. “I like him. But hasn’t Tallu told you what happened to the Dogs that were with his father?”

“No,” I said, turning to Tallu.

“They killed themselves. Their bodies have been entombed with his.” Tallu looked away.

“That’s brutal. In the north, even wolves who can no longer go on hunts at least get to retire to a household that enjoys pampering them.” I stared at the door, my stomach twisting. “How am I supposed to behave normally now that I know about the blood mages?”

How was I supposed to walk around acting as though I didn’t see them, didn’t see men who were thirteen years dead?

“There are only ten of you left?” I asked him. “Will I see others?”

“Perhaps. There are enough of us to still finish this work. More than ten, maybe a dozen left,” Lerolian said. He frowned. “You will see them when they feel ready. Many of us have become used to the solitude of this existence. You change things.”

“I am sorry,” Tallu said. He reached out, hand hesitating before it touched mine. I grabbed hold of his palm, relaxing at the feel of his very real flesh and blood.

“Why am I seeing you?” I asked Lerolian. “When no one else can?”

“I don’t know.” Lerolian frowned. “I’ll have to meditate on it to see if an answer is forthcoming. I can’t think of any reason why you’d be able to see me.”

“Well, Mother always said I was special. She meant it in the murder-an-emperor way, but I suppose it applies here.” I squeezed Tallu’s fingers.

Tallu opened the door again, and this time, I watched closely. The charge of lightning seemed to come straight out of his skin, peeling off like a layer of flesh. It sparked so bright, I winced away.

“Don’t look at it directly,” he said quietly. “You’ll burn your eyes.”

Instead, I looked at the machinery of the door, the places where the lightning touched and the gears ground into motion. It was brilliant, more complicated than anything I’d ever seen. The locks sealed four spots on the door, four bolts making sure nothing could get inside.

When the door opened, I could practically feel the whispers in the hallway. I reached out, pushing open the door. What looked like every servant in the emperor’s quarters crowded into the hallway. Some balanced large buckets of water, while others held trays of food, and not a single eye met mine.

“His Imperial Majesty is ready to start his day.” Just to make it clear, I smirked and wiped at the corner of my mouth with my thumb.

The nearest servant flushed, and I stepped back. Tallu gave me a narrow-eyed look, but I smirked right back at him. Better to feed the rumor mill that we were happily enjoying our marital relations rather than having them ask why the consort was screaming for guards first thing in the morning.

Servants swarmed inside, pouring water into basins and washing us clean, no comment on the come dried to our stomachs, the stale scent of sex from the night before still lingering in the air.

Servants dressed me in fresh clothes, and with each layer, I felt further away from the man I’d been last night, the one hungry not for sex but for Tallu .

The Dogs were back, stationed around the room, silent behind their masks. Yet, even without voices, I could tell which was Sagam, which was Asahi. The other two were mysteries.

How many Dogs were there? Was it all of them that Tallu didn’t trust? Or a few that he did?

Another thing to ask Tallu about. I’d learned his deepest secrets, and he knew most of mine. So why did I feel further away from him now? Was it just putting on my own mask? Putting on a show for everyone else that hid the very real intimacy we’d shared?

Each layer of cloth was like a mask for me, but as soon as the first servant had entered the room, Tallu was a different person.

He was no longer the man who had once been a terrified thirteen-year-old boy.

Now, he was the Emperor of the Southern Imperium.

His expression was mild, almost annoyed, when I bowed my goodbye.

He nodded at me formally and looked away as though entirely dismissing me from his thoughts.

Asahi came with me as I left the room and again passed so close to Sagam that they brushed hands. All I saw was a flash of white, but it was enough.

Lucky for me, Asahi didn’t try to say anything on our way back to Turtle House. My mind whirled with plans. What seemed like forever ago, Tallu had said he wished I trusted him, and I wondered if this was what trust felt like. Did it feel like this warm blossom in my chest?

Inside Turtle House, I turned as Asahi shut the door, pretending to stumble and bumping into him, my hand slipping into the pocket I had seen him hide whatever Sagam had given him.

He caught me around the shoulders, his eyes going wide behind his mask, and I palmed the piece of paper, tucking it up my sleeve, the lacing pressing it tightly against my wrist.

“I guess I’m still recovering from this morning. Still dizzy after all that… excitement.” I laughed as I straightened. Shaking my head, I said, “I think perhaps it’s best I lie down for a few hours. I would prefer not to be bothered until I come out.”

Asahi was still frowning at me.

Nohe and Piivu stood nearby, the steward glancing over my outfit critically. She asked, “Should I fetch the Minister of Medicine?”

“Well, if he gets here and demands I don’t repeat last night or this morning’s experience, then I’m going to question his medical credentials.” I grinned, then remembered to make the flat-palmed gesture that turned my next words into an order. “I’ll take breakfast and another nap.”

“Of course.” Nohe bowed, rushing to my bedroom door and holding it open for me.

I stepped inside, watching her close it before I grabbed the piece of paper I had stolen, but I had tucked it too far in.

As I loosened the ties of my sleeve, Terror squawked from the window. “I have the information you wanted.”

I blinked but walked over to Terror, offering my arm. He hopped from the windowsill onto me, climbing up to my shoulder.

“Food?” he asked hopefully.

“Information?” I asked, mimicking his tone.

He grumbled, his voice scratchy. Then he fluffed his feathers.

“The minister—the one who came to see you when you were injured. He has been busy.” Terror paused, cocking his head, and the feathers brushed against my cheek.

I waited, and Terror waited, and finally, I said, “What do you mean?”

“Food!” Terror said, more grumpily.

“Information first. All of the information.” I reached up, scratching at the feathers on his breast. They were silky under my fingers, softer than I expected, given Terror’s mercenary nature.

“First, he saw the woman. The woman you were talking to in the garden.” Terror leaned forward, pressing himself into my touch as I stroked him.

“I talked to a lot of women in the garden. Can you be more specific?” I moved my fingers away, and he snapped at my hand. I flicked at him, withdrawing my touch.

“The one with the mouth like red fruit.” Terror considered. “When she speaks, every word seems like a lie.”

“Lady Dalimu,” I said immediately. “So, she stayed the whole night?”

Terror chuckled, the clucking sound vibrating down to his talons on my shoulder.

“She didn’t stay the night. I don’t know how long, but not even until the guards started their first evening rounds.

She left, and I was about to leave, too, except the tree outside his rooms had pale nuts that were very nearly ripe.

Then, another woman came to visit him.” Terror said the last like the winning card it was.

“What woman?” I asked.

“One of the ones who looks like the other.” Terror croaked. “You can’t keep them apart; why should I be able to?”

“You mean one of the women from court?” I asked, frowning, remembering the sea of metal statues from my first day in court. Everyone looked the same, down to the gleam of their skin.

“No! One of the women who looks like the other !” Grumpily, Terror pecked at my ear, and I pushed him off my shoulder. He flapped back to the window, blinking at me with his nearly black eyes.

“One of the ones who looks like the other… You mean the twins. The Bemishu twins.” I stared out the window behind Terror, considering. “How long did she stay?”

“Keeping time costs extra,” Terror said. “She stayed until I was done eating. Then she left.”

Well. After yesterday, it made sense. Lady Dalimu had forcefully proven that she didn’t care what the twins thought of her. She didn’t even care that she was supposed to be beneath them in the pecking order.

Distracted, I walked to the table that always seemed to have food ready for me. I picked up a bowl of fruit and held it out for Terror at the window as I considered the garden beyond him. He began eating, raising his head to swallow the larger pieces.