Page 26

Thirteen

T here was nothing to say after that, though his words swirled relentlessly in my head.

Finally, I managed, “But I thought you wanted me to kill someone else.”

“Yes. It won’t be easy, taking down the entire Southern Imperium, but we can destabilize it before making the killing blow.” Tallu stood, turning away from me, beginning to change into his sleeping garments. I stared at the dragon tattoo again, watching as it twisted with his movements.

It wasn’t so different from what I had decided in the cave when I realized I had to kill Rute before killing Tallu. In fact, it was identical to what I had done. That didn’t change the fact that now, for some reason, it felt horrific.

I turned away, clearing my throat and shaking my head. “I won’t.”

“You must,” Tallu said.

“I won’t ,” I said. Tallu let it stand, but I could feel the argument he wanted to make.

As I began undressing, I took out the small box with the dragon egg inside and checked it as I always did.

The cracks were glowing, as though molten gold was seeping from where the egg had broken. I turned it between my fingers, frowning.

“Is something wrong?” Tallu asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never hatched a dragon egg before.” I ran my thumb along the cracks, but I couldn’t tell if the color meant the dragon inside was rotting or if it was getting ready to hatch.

Uneasily, I placed it next to my side of the bed on the small cushion of velvet that had appeared one day. Tallu said nothing, observing the egg from his position across the room.

I stripped off my clothing, my fingers fumbling with the buttons as Tallu’s words echoed inside my head, circling around and around.

“I didn’t know I was going to do that,” Tallu said finally.

I turned to him, both eyebrows going up. “You didn’t know you were going to do what?”

“With Bechi. I saw him touching you, and I thought… Well, you know.” Tallu turned away, pulling back the covers and sliding underneath. He turned his head into the pillow.

I stared at him, the line of his shoulder and the way his arm curled around his own stomach as though he had to protect himself.

I slid into bed next to him, moving so that we were back to back.

I woke to a dead blood mage staring straight into my face. Lerolian smirked at me when I let out a soft yelp.

“How exactly were you planning on killing Tallu?” he asked. “You definitely lack any sort of subtlety or tact.”

“Subtlety isn’t necessary to slice through someone’s throat.” I stretched, my arms reaching out for Tallu’s side of the bed, only to find it empty.

I didn’t like talking about how I would kill Tallu.

My stomach twisted at the memories of all the plans I had made with Yor?mu, all the information I had gathered from our tutor, Lord Fuyii.

He thought he had been bragging about the strength and might of the Imperium, about the beauty and majesty of the Mountainside Palace.

Instead, I had used it to come up with a hundred different ways to kill the emperor.

“No.” Lerolian narrowed his eyes at me, considering. “But subtlety does help . He’s up!”

I winced back from the shout, and Tallu came through the drapery covering the doorway to the secret room. He was still in his nightclothes, the loose shirt revealing his collarbones, his pants suggesting that at any moment, the waistband might fall down.

“Lerolian was informing me what happened after dinner. Each of the generals is trying to solidify his base of power. However, with many of the ex-members of the Emperor’s Council back in the capital, courtiers and important citizens aren’t sure where their loyalties should lie.

” He smiled at me, shaking his head again.

“Apparently, what happened to Bechi made enough people nervous that it’s changed the balance of things. ”

“I can’t take full credit for that. You were the one who almost twisted his husband’s arm off.” But I was smiling, too. It was still strange that we were in this together. Strange and wonderful.

I blinked. Where had that thought come from?

“Has General Bemishu tried to see Bechi?” I looked between Tallu and Lerolian, not sure who would have an answer.

“I haven’t opened the door yet, so I don’t know.” Tallu gestured to the enormous metal door that kept him safe at night and allowed us enough privacy to plan the destruction of his own empire.

“No. None of us has seen anything. All he seems to be doing is talking to his own commanders and General Saxu’s staff.” Lerolian frowned. “He hasn’t even seen any of his own loyalists.”

“And his daughters? Have they been to see him?” I frowned when Lerolian shook his head. “Even if they are loyal to General Kacha, you would think he would want to know what General Bemishu was up to.”

“General Bemishu is a simple man,” Tallu said. “Both he and General Maki seem to simply want the opportunity to fulfill what they see as their mission.”

“Speaking of. Your staff has been receiving boxes of documents all morning, and there is a very eager scribe waiting to be seen.” Lerolian grinned. “The commanders are waiting for their military lesson.”

“What are you going to do?” Tallu asked.

“Well, first, I’m going to have your staff dress me. Then I was thinking breakfast. And after that, I’m going to show the Imperium a few of the tricks we northerners have up our sleeves.” I glanced at the door again, swallowing and feeling the pit in my stomach grow.

“Be careful. These men are much better fighters than the ones Kacha used for his show at our wedding.” Tallu’s eyes were dark, the reddish tint nearly invisible. He raised his hand before dropping it back to his side.

“I’ll watch over this scribe,” Lerolian said. “I like the look of her. She accidentally ate a raw egg for breakfast while reading over her notes. Shell and all.”

“A whole raw egg?” I asked. “How? Did she get yolk everywhere?”

“She thought it was cooked through. From her expression, she was too embarrassed to reveal the error, so she just swallowed it,” Lerolian grinned. “No idea how I missed her before this.”

“Thank you. I will be at ease to know you are keeping an eye on her while we are unavailable.” Tallu took a breath, closing his eyes before opening them, the mask of the Emperor of the Southern Imperium on his face.

Then he walked over to the door, placing his palm on the mechanism that unlocked it, and pushed a pulse of electricity into the metal.

As usual, as soon as he opened it, servants and Dogs rushed into the room. The pit in my stomach became a chasm as I realized that I hadn’t hidden the dragon egg. It was still next to the bed.

I turned to the bedside table, but the egg and cushion were both gone.

Blinking, I looked over at Tallu. Servants had already stripped him and were carefully dressing him in the day’s clothing.

Still, he caught my eyes as one of the servants fussed with the fastening of his pants, carefully tucking the shirt into the waistband. He tilted his head just slightly toward the back room.

Had he hidden it for me? It made sense. I was going to be fighting some of the Imperium’s best today. The egg had barely survived the encounter with assassins; it might not survive the training later today.

I tried to relax but found it impossible, too busy wondering about everything that could go wrong now.

Tallu’s servants dressed me, and in my distraction, I was making their job more difficult. It took me a few minutes to even realize I wasn’t in my usual clothes.

Holding up an arm, I raised my eyebrows. “I don’t have any sleeves.”

“Nohe suggested that we might dress you in training clothes, though we have your normal clothes as well. Would you prefer…” The servant trailed off, clearly uncomfortable, and I shook my head.

“Nohe’s suggestion was good. Thank you for being so considerate. I suppose she heard about it from one of the other servants.” Everyone knew we were going to be practicing this morning. How many would try and sneak in to see the matchups?

“My training grounds are private,” Tallu said.

I blinked at him, feeling a slight warmth in my chest. It was almost uncanny that he had known exactly what I was afraid of. If I was beginning to be able to read him, it appeared that he had already become fluent in me.

Tallu and I ate breakfast in the dining room that overlooked a wide grassy space, with high walls closing it off from the rest of the palace. He gestured to it as we waited for a servant next to our table to finish preparing the omelets.

“The walls prevent anyone from seeing what’s going on inside. My grandfather had it built so that emperors might train without the entire court knowing the extent of our skills.” He looked over at me. “Are you sure you’re feeling well enough for this?”

It was an out, the option to not do this foolish thing. The option to not betray my own people. I shook my head, unable to take the escape he offered me.

Part of me had always wondered what the war was like. What it meant to fight an imperial soldier. My entire life had been shaped by the war, yet I had no idea what these men could do. Not really.

Yor?mu had done her best to show me, but she was no electro mage, and there was a difference between her training and the training these commanders had received.

“No. I look forward to the experience.” I glanced down again. There were already men assembled in the grassy courtyard, dressed in outfits similar to mine, with their ranks stitched from shoulder to waistband.

Let them wait.

Tallu accompanied me down to the training field, servants rushing to bring out a suitable chair for him, putting up a small tent within minutes to protect him from the sun already cresting the walls of the training ground.

The soft grass gave under my feet. It was entirely smooth and level, although I could see slight discolorations on the walls where errant lightning had hit.

Ten men waited. The stitching on their clothes indicated who their superior was, and their rank was uniformly commander.