Page 36

Piivu poured us both tea and served me some of the delicacies on hand.

He was standing perpendicular to Lady Dalimu, and even at opposite angles, I could see the same nose, the same color in their eyebrows, although Lady Dalimu’s black hair had brown highlights from so long in the sun.

Even the gleam of their skin was similar, a pearl sheen that came from the same family.

Piivu and Lady Dalimu were siblings.

Following my eyes, I saw Lady Dalimu frown when she glanced at Piivu. He said nothing, but his hands trembled before he clasped them behind him.

“Lady Dalimu,” I repeated. “Would you tell me of your time in Forsaith?”

Her eyes widened, and she stared at me before reaching for her tea and sipping. The cup clicked when she placed it back down on the small plate. “I would be happy to, Your Highness, but why?”

“In the north, we have a practice of reintegrating those who have wronged our clans back into society,” I lied.

“From what I have seen from you, you would be a perfect candidate for such an opportunity. However, the Imperium has much stricter ideas of consequences, and I would like to present your case as best I can to my husband.”

Lady Dalimu stared at me, but I had been taught to blend with shadows. I might not be as good as Tallu, but I was still capable of hiding my feelings.

“When we first arrived, we were struck by how barren the land was. Is. Forsaith had once been orchards and farms. They said half the food eaten in Krustau and Ristorium was grown there. Now, you can travel for days in any direction and not see a single green leaf.” She watched my face carefully, and I wondered how true that was and how much was what she wanted me to hear. Perhaps I had baited my trap too well.

“Are the remaining members of House Dalimu the only people living there?” I asked.

“No.” She shook her head. “There are some men and women who travel through it. Mostly criminals trying to escape Krustavian laws. Some citizens of Ristorium who swam the channel when the rest fled to the floating islands. But it is hard to make community with criminals and people who think we should be burned alive for what the Southern Imperium has done.”

“How do you survive such barren landscape?” I asked.

“We have cultivated some crops that can survive the poisoned soil. Tubers and nuts that need nearly nothing more than space to let their roots spread.” She shook her head. “At first, we built our houses from charred trees, and we would wake to find walls turned to ash in the night.”

“And now?” I asked.

“We’ve scavenged rocks and bricks from the walls of old farms. If you travel far enough, there are some building materials that didn’t burn.” She picked at one of the pastries, pulling it apart, the delicate golden flakes sticking to her fingertips.

Piivu stood to the side, his expression not hidden nearly as well as hers, and I could tell that he was in agony.

“I thought some of the Imperium’s military was still stationed there,” I said vaguely. I picked up my own food, taking a large bite. Using my chewing to hide any hint of a lie, I said, “I was sure I heard Bemishu’s forces were there.”

“No.” Lady Dalimu shook her head. “No, we haven’t seen any of the Imperium’s military since we were abandoned in Forsaith.”

A lie. A cleverly concealed one, and had I not known about the shipments, I might have missed the way that she blinked too quickly before saying anything.

“Perhaps they traveled to a part of the country unknown to us? Or used the southern pass to move from Forsaith and attack Krustau.” Her suggestions were reasonable but also specific. She’d already thought about how to explain military convoys traveling to Forsaith.

“Of course,” I agreed. “I’ll ask Bemishu myself. These papers are so confusing. I feel the weight of the emperor’s trust that I will be able to make sure his forces are being well supplied and none of the vendors are cheating the Imperium as Bechi was.”

“Bechi is a fool and a greedy one at that,” Lady Dalimu said.

“He cared more about money than real creativity. He stole most of his designs from his own workers and passed them off as his own. When his best engineers left him, he had no one to steal from, which is why his creations have floundered in recent years. It’s no surprise that he sent his husband to seduce Your Highness.

He likely thought that would keep any attention off his work for a few more years. ”

“You don’t believe he and General Bemishu were in league together?” I asked.

“No, Bemishu is too focused on the desert to care for politics. He pays so little attention to anything besides the sand and the tribes that he likely wouldn’t notice if you arrested every citizen in the Imperial Capital.

” She shook her head, but there was a hint of annoyed fondness in her expression.

“You know him well?” I asked.

“No,” she said immediately. “Not at all.”

“That’s right,” I said. “You and the Minister of Medicine…”

She took my bait and told me about their growing affection and how she hoped it would blossom into a marriage. “If the emperor allows me leave to stay in court, of course.”

“He must send you gifts, then? Perhaps some supplies to help tide you over?” I watched her face.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It is illegal, of course, to offer any aid to those in exile.”

“Of course,” I said.

I had an idea of what was happening, and I needed to speak with Tallu before I knew for certain. As Lady Dalimu efficiently steered the conversation to less dangerous topics, I turned the information over in my head.

Unless there was some secret contingent of Bemishu’s forces housed two whole countries away from where General Bemishu wanted to fight, he was sending supplies into Forsaith.

Lady Dalimu was either lying about what she knew or, more likely, lying about where the supplies were going. They were going to her.

It was impossible to feed so many people on just tubers and nuts. Not for the years the surviving members of House Dalimu had been surviving in the ruined land. But if Bemishu was supplying them, then surely we had our answer about who was the creator of the airship.

The bird had given her away, the complexity of the gearwork, the delicacy of the crafting.

But a toy bird and a toy ship were much different than a full-sized ship.

Had she created a real airship? How, when Forsaith had no real wood to speak of and the missing supply convoys hadn’t had any lumber in them?

I was still pondering when we finished and I went back to Turtle House. I needed to sleep. I needed to ready myself for the evening, but Lady Dalimu had suddenly gotten so much more complicated.

A servant opened the doors to the main sitting room, and I glanced at him. How many servants did I see a day, to the point where they had become nearly invisible?

“I would like to see Piivu,” I told the servant, who blinked, jerking his head down into a nod nervously.

“Of course, Your Highness.” He waited until I passed him before striding away quickly.

I took a seat on one of the low-backed couches, facing a blank wall. Ratcatcher swooped in from an open window, landing on my shoulder and nuzzling the side of my face.

“Hello, you,” I said absently.

“The red-mouthed woman went to the doctor. And then he immediately went to the ones who look like each other.” Ratcatcher tapped his beak against the side of my neck but made no mention of payment. Even the birds knew we were coming to some sort of head.

So. Neither Lady Dalimu nor the Bemishu twins had pinned their hopes on Dr. Jafopo. Instead, he was happy to be used as a courier, carrying information from one to the other under the cover of an affair none of the ladies had an interest in.

Perhaps he didn’t even know? Perhaps he thought he was engaged in some clandestine romance, and both of his lovers favored him better when he told what the others had said?

It didn’t matter. What was important was that the Bemishu twins didn’t hate Lady Dalimu.

If they were passing information in such a subtle way, either the twins were still in league with their father, or Lady Dalimu was giving them information about him so that they might pass it on to General Kacha.

I rubbed my temple absently. I needed to talk to Tallu. First, I would get information from Piivu. But Tallu understood the political landscape better than I ever would with my mere month and a half in court.

The door opened, and Piivu entered, eyes wide. He bowed immediately, fingers forming a triangle above his forehead. Waiting in his bowed position, he said, “They said you wanted to see me, Your Highness?”

“I did.” I reached up, brushing my fingers over Ratcatcher’s breast. The bird leaned forward. “Your sister, the one who made you the toy bird. She’s brilliant.”

Piivu straightened, his mouth stretching into a smile. “She is. I was only a babe when she was married, but she would always send me gifts like that. Once, she sent a toy horse I could actually ride as a child.”

I nodded. “I imagine she sent far fewer gifts once she was exiled to Forsaith.”

Piivu went pale, his shining pearl skin turning nearly ashen, losing all color and becoming as matte as lead.

“Please, sir, Your Highness. She is a good person. When my father… When it was revealed that my father was conspiring against the empire, she was the one who got me the position in the emperor’s household.

And we are loyal citizens of the empire.

We are loyal . I know some servants sell information, but I don’t.

I know what an honor it is to work for the emperor’s household. ”

“I was told that this is my household. I’m a consort, master of my own household, subservient only to the emperor himself.” It wasn’t quite a threat, but Piivu dropped to his knees anyway, pressing his forehead to the ground.

“Please, Your Highness, were you serious about offering my sister a place back in the Imperium?” Piivu was panting, and he turned his head so that he might look up out of the corner of his eye. “Or have I ruined her chance by not informing you of our connection?”

“You haven’t ruined her chance,” I said slowly. “But I am not sure she needs my help. She already has a connection with General Bemishu. Surely the deal that they have struck is similar to the one I might offer.”

Cautiously, Piivu sat back, although he didn’t rise to his feet. “I don’t know what you?—”

“I know that you caught her outside the Minister of Medicine’s quarters. Where she was going to exchange information with the general’s daughters. They have struck a deal.” I wasn’t sure about any of this, but by the crumpled expression on Piivu’s face, some part of it at least was the truth.

“I don’t think she can rely on it. She doesn’t think she can rely on it.” Piivu’s cheek twitched, and he brought a hand to cover it, pressing hard and gasping softly, forcing himself not to cry.

“Because she isn’t sure that the airship will work?” I said.

Piivu’s head snapped up. He stared at me, mouth open. “She said the airship was a secret. She asked for my help to see if there was a way to prolong the ceremony that will occur on the new moon after your wedding.”

“Why does she want a delay?” I asked.

“The ship. It works, it’s so brilliant, she showed me her models.

But General Bemishu wants it to fly higher than it’s currently able.

She said it doesn’t have… lift? It isn’t able to fly up over mountains or up to the floating islands.

” Piivu wrung his hands together. “She isn’t sure how to get the wind?

The airflow? Something of the like. She’ll solve it, she always does, but she just needs time, Your Highness. ”

I nodded.

“Please, Your Highness. My sister is good and kind. Please. Allow her to leave Forsaith.” Piivu pressed himself back onto the ground, and I felt something like pity for him.

What would I do if someone had banished Eona??

Well, for starters, I never would have stayed in the household of the one who had sent her to live in a barren wasteland. I would have gone to her, taken her to some other nation where her brilliance might overshadow her original nationality.

A tendril of an idea began to form in my head, but I couldn’t quite put words to it yet.

“Your sister is brilliant, and she clearly loves you very much.” I thought of the bird, the clockwork elegance of it.

Lady Dalimu had carved each feather, given it shining black eyes, taken the time to make it when the success or failure of her airship must have been breathing down her neck. “What is her name? Her given name?”

“Seka. Seka Zami.” Piivu raised his head, and whatever he saw on my face made his own relax in joy. “You will give her a place in the Imperium?”

“She will not be in Forsaith for much longer.” We couldn’t afford for her to be in Forsaith any longer. Not with her brilliance and the possibility that someone else might discover exactly what her brilliance could do.

Piivu leapt to his feet, bowing, and I dismissed him, absently rubbing my thumb over one of the knives I had stashed against my thigh.

Before I could make any move to find Tallu, a servant came into the room, holding a tray with a small card on it. I picked it up, examining it. The Bemishu twins were here to see me.

I considered the thick paper, the card stock showing their position and wealth. Glancing at the servant, I nodded. “I will see them.”

Less than a minute later, Nohe opened the door, bowing both of the women in. “Topi and Pito Bemishu,” she announced.

“Did we have an appointment today?” I asked, blinking innocently.

“No, no.” Topi bowed first, her hands forming a triangle, and her sister followed her, creating nearly a mirror image.

“But we couldn’t stay away a minute longer,” Pito said. “We felt we needed to alert Your Highness immediately. There is a plot against you.”