Page 22

Eleven

T he party should have been over, but instead, it just relocated, the number of observers growing as Tallu led us all back to the throne room. His hand was still tight on mine, and he nearly dragged me with him. I could feel tension in every line of his body.

When we reached the throne room, it took my eyes a moment to adjust, the low light still strange, but everyone else seemed to find their own place, the room filling to capacity as Tallu took his throne.

I sat next to him, my chair carved from soft wood, the decorations on the backrest showing a scene from the Northern Ocean: two icebergs about to collide, the ocean waves dancing beneath in anticipation.

The arms had been shaped like two curling sea serpents, their mouths open, sharp teeth ready to rend flesh.

I stroked my fingers over the head of the one on the right.

“What was that?” I murmured through my teeth, my lips not even moving, the words no more than a breath. I wasn’t sure how much the Dogs could hear, but I didn’t think any emperor would have designed the room to share secrets with his Dogs.

“I saw him touching you,” Tallu said as though that was an answer, as though it made any sense at all. “I am sorry if you wanted to take him as a lover.”

I huffed an annoyed laugh. “No. I had no desire to take him for a lover . At least this way, we’ll be able to search Bechi’s home and discover if he’s the person we’re looking for.”

“Search his home?” Tallu stared at me.

“Why else would I talk to a man like him? He’s a shark dressed in human skin, and I trust the shark considerably more not to bite off my cock,” I said. “Come now, husband. You said you wanted me to find your inventor. Chiti was only a way inside the Bechi home.”

Tallu stared at me, his eyes going narrow before widening. He swallowed and then wet his lips. “You are the greatest gift I have ever received.”

I laughed, the sound causing heads to turn toward us, but before I had to explain, the ground beneath us began to vibrate.

How many soldiers had gone after Bechi? And why were they back so soon?

A servant dressed in yellow threw open the doors to the throne room. He bowed low, fingers forming a triangle above his head.

“General Bemishu is here,” he gasped.

“Well,” I said.

Tallu stood, the room still vibrating under our feet, the entire palace shaking. Four Emperor’s Dogs surrounded him, swords drawn. He didn’t even glance at me, his entire expression closed off.

“Did he bring the Ariphadi desert storms with him?” I muttered. Still, I followed Tallu out, the doors thrown open by servants who bowed low. We exited the double doors into the courtyard, then followed a path all the way to a bigger courtyard where the road from the Imperial City ended.

My first day here, almost every servant in the palace had been in attendance. Now, the space was empty except for a rush of courtiers and a few gawking servants in their yellow garb.

At first, there was nothing but the vibration, the trees of the surrounding garden shaking as something brushed by them.

Then, the elephant came into view.

No one in the north could have imagined such a thing, even with Lord Fuyii’s stories. It was one thing to see a whale in the ocean, but to imagine such a thing could exist on land …

The elephant was colossal, its head reaching the second story of the palace buildings. Two tusks grew from its mouth, and three eyes blinked on each side of its head. Its massive trunk swung with a force that could destroy an entire wall.

Its saddle was large enough for ten or twenty men, the flat of it extending beyond even the substantial width of the elephant’s back.

Sitting on the crown of the elephant’s head, a man wearing an imperial uniform tugged hard on a bridle, bringing the elephant to a stop.

At another sharp tug, the elephant lifted its trunk and trumpeted, the sound like the scream of a thousand sea serpents.

Half of the courtiers covered their ears. Tallu’s expression didn’t change, but he turned his head just enough to glance at me. I struggled to read his eyes, the rest of his face blank.

“Did you expect this?” I murmured. Still, I noticed courtiers glancing at the two of us, whispered conversations that had nothing to do with the monster one of the Imperium’s five generals had just walked into the palace.

“Yes. He sent word this morning that he wanted to greet me personally.” Tallu might as well have been commenting on the stitching on my jacket or what we were having for dinner.

Still, now that I knew him better, I could feel the tension, the way he held his entire body so straight that even one of the hammers from the Krustavian blacksmiths couldn’t have bent his spine.

“Well, he certainly knows how to inform the other generals of his intentions.” I squinted as one of the men on the saddle threw down a ladder, and the men on the elephant’s back began climbing down.

“And what do you think his intentions are?” Tallu turned his head more fully toward me, and I felt his eyes on me, a firm pressure, almost as though he was holding my hand again.

“Husband, what would we do if that elephant attacked?” I kept my question hypothetical, but this was one elephant and the twins had said their father was bringing several to the capital.

Tallu looked to the side, nodding his head just slightly, and one of the Emperor’s Dogs disappeared inside the palace. Before the men had finished dismounting the elephant, a flood of imperial soldiers filed out, keeping close to the palace, although a dozen of them formed up behind Tallu.

General Saxu strode out of the palace, hands clasped behind his back.

With him were four of his commanders, each dressed impeccably, their hair pulled severely out of their faces.

General Kacha wasn’t far behind, his glower visible as soon as he came through the doors.

He didn’t have soldiers but was followed by an entourage of courtiers, including the Bemishu twins.

They must have left the throne room in order to make sure General Kacha saw the arrival. General Kacha glanced at Saxu, who bowed his head thoughtfully before approaching Tallu.

“Emperor Tallu.” Saxu bowed low, hands forming a triangle above his forehead.

He didn’t say anything else, his body doubled over until Tallu turned to look at him.

“General Bemishu has informed us that the animal is safe. You are far more informed about fighting the creatures than I. Do you agree?” Tallu raised his eyebrow, sunlight gleaming off his unpowdered skin.

I was struck again by his beauty. He looked less and less like a statue each time I saw him.

Still, I wondered if I was reading emotions onto unfeeling stone, like the mythological artisan who had fallen in love with the ice statue he’d carved and mistaken the melting ice for tears.

“The tribes of the Ariphadeus use them to fight, and they have learned how to control them. If General Bemishu has learned their ways, it is entirely possible the creature is safe.” General Saxu straightened, his dark eyes looking over the creature.

“Still, I would advise against keeping it in the palace.”

“I will take your advice.” Tallu looked up, his crown glinting in the sun, nearly blinding me. I looked away.

The men finally finished dismounting and approached in formation, the one in front wearing a general’s insignia on his uniform. When they reached Tallu, all of them bowed formally, fingers triangled above their heads until Tallu spoke.

“General Bemishu. You bring us quite a gift.” Tallu’s voice was mild. Bemishu might as well have brought him one of the vases the Ariphadi tribes were famous for instead of the most massive creature I had seen outside of the ocean.

“All in honor of you, Emperor Tallu, and the throne of the Imperium.” Bemishu rose, gesturing with one hand. “We captured five from one of the tribes.”

Tallu turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised, and with it the silent question when . When had Bemishu captured the creature? Before Tallu declared a pause on imperial expansion or after?

In answer, Bemishu looked at Tallu, staring his emperor dead in the eye. “We captured them before word came of the pause in campaigning. However, it has taken these many months for us to learn to fully control the creatures.”

“Is that so?” Tallu asked. “And how is that accomplished?”

“We captured many goblins with the creatures. Although we were forced to kill those who continued aggressions toward us, we did find enough who were willing to change their allegiance after some convincing.” Bemishu laughed, throwing his head back.

When he did, I realized his skin was not simply pale but completely devoid of the gleam common in imperial skin tone. Bemishu was foreign. Or at least partially foreign. And based on the color and the shape of his face, he was partially from the Ariphadeus desert or maybe even Tavornai.

I glanced at the Bemishu twins, but the only resemblance they bore to their father was the color of their skin. They had the imperial gleam, and their faces must resemble their mother’s. If they hadn’t shared a last name, I never would have known they were related.

“And by convincing, you mean torture?” I asked.

Bemishu turned to me with a glare, his eyes so sharp that if they had been blades, I would have already been dead. I smiled at him, all teeth, letting my eyes crinkle as though I had been making a joke.

“You must be Consort Airón,” Bemishu said. “Are you questioning my methods?”

“No. It is simply that in the north, we know exactly how much good torture does. Or, rather, how little good it does. You have tortured a man into submission and now give him reins over that terrible beast in front of your emperor. What is to stop him from using the creature under his control to crush the empire under its literal foot?” I pointed up at the man still holding the leads to the elephant.