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Twenty

T allu stared at me, and I could tell he was trying not to be insulting when he asked, “You can make a bomb?”

“I’m a trained imperial assassin; I know how to make poisons, I know how to wield every kind of weapon, I know how to kill you with a dinner spoon. I can make a bomb.” I tapped my chest, grinning like I’d done more than memorize the plans to make a bomb. It couldn’t be that hard, could it?

A hint of cold crept up the back of my spine, settling at the base of my neck, and the ice dragon nudged open the door, giving me an equally doubtful look.

It matched Tallu’s expression so exactly that I looked between them, sure this was one of those nightmares that ended up with Tallu melting like an icicle in spring.

Tallu walked over to the dragon, and I could see the hesitancy in his gait, even though he was doing his best to project confidence. He drew back the curtain, and the dragon came out. It was now just slightly larger than a wolf pup.

The creature was definitely growing, and when it looked at me, its dark eyes changed colors, like one of the opals in mother’s formal crown. It opened its mouth, a long tongue slipping out, and I knew what it wanted before I even felt the push of hunger in my own stomach.

There was still some food left from dinner, so I offered it over, placing a dish on the floor and watching as the dragon consumed braised pork and vegetables in a dark brown sauce.

“We can put the bomb on the ship, but we’ll need details.

We need to know where to put it that it won’t be found, and we need to devise a timer so that it goes off only as the ship comes into view of the Mountainside Palace.

” I rubbed my eyes. “And when it’s not over the Imperial Capital.

Instead of sending her in the large ship, we can send Lady Dalimu and Velethuil and anyone else in the smaller ship. ”

Now that I was laying it out, perhaps it was simply easier to blow it up when it was still at Sunrise Estate.

“If I, as emperor, see the ship and it works, I would have to approve the creation of more. Anything other than approval would lead to questions about my loyalty. And then I would be arrested, or the generals would be able to make the case that my power should be taken away.” Tallu cautiously approached the dragon as it ate, reaching out before looking at me.

I shrugged. I only had the vaguest idea of what the dragon wanted beyond food and cold, and it got plenty of both. Tallu ran his hand over the dragon’s neck, and I felt it like a physical touch, the press of his warm hand, the shiver of it over sensitive scales.

“So you’re saying we can’t go to Sunrise Estate, see it, and demand that General Bemishu destroy it?” I looked out the window. “What if we change the location of our celebration?”

Tallu frowned, but not in disapproval. I could see the thoughts working their way through his brain. “If we have the celebration somewhere more rural, away from the city, then we don’t need to calculate the explosion exactly as long as it happens within sight.”

“We wouldn’t need to worry about civilian casualties,” I confirmed. “Or even how large an explosion it would be.”

“Heron Lake to the north,” Tallu said. He looked in that direction, squinting as though staring through the walls.

“There is an imperial property on the lakeshore. We can say that we want to use it in order to include more citizens in the celebration. Our wedding ceremony was private, but we can make the one-month celebration open to the public.”

“More people to see the new ship go boom. I doubt the citizens will be very happy if, after they watch it explode, their emperor tries to build more flying deathtraps.” My skin was cooling, the excitement from the mission finally wearing off.

I shivered. Tallu was still stroking the dragon; his fingers had found the crest at the back of its neck, and the dragon actually leaned back, arching its neck to give him more access.

“Yes. It might even end Bemishu’s career, given that he kept the project secret from me and then nearly killed me with it.” Tallu looked up again, shaking his head. “I hope your mother knows what a gift she gave me.”

I didn’t say anything. My mother’s anger would melt the entire Silver City if she knew I was helping the emperor of the Southern Imperium. Hopefully, receiving the airship and the designer would make up for it.

“We need to sleep.” I rubbed my hands over my face. “There are too many people we need to get in line, and our one-month celebration is just over a week away.”

I scrubbed at my eyes again. Suddenly, I didn’t feel the ghost of Tallu’s touch through my bond with the dragon; I felt them on my skin. His warm hands moved up my neck, rubbing at a spot of tension just below where my skull met the back of my neck.

It was a kill spot. If he struck it hard enough, he would kill me.

Tallu rubbed gently, until the muscle couldn’t help but relax. His hands were skilled and strong. When my head nodded forward, he put a hand on my shoulder.

“This will all wait for the morning.”

Only in the morning, we had new problems.

“I cannot let you talk to them.” Lerolian crossed his arms, glaring at me.

I groaned, sitting up in bed, the sheet pooling around my waist. “Miksha and Liku?”

“They are living their lives happily. And I know that doesn’t mean anything to you because you were raised to be a weapon”—he turned away from me to look at Tallu—“and you were raised to be a genocidal monster, but in the Blood Mountains, we honored choice. I once knew the most talented blood mage of our generation. She left the monastery, claiming the Way of the Heart was too restrictive for her and she just wanted to live a simple life. She wanted a farm and children. We let her go. We let her have the peace she wanted. Even when the Imperium came, none of us tried to find her. Because that is how blood mages respect each other. We acknowledge that each of us has a choice.”

“Miksha isn’t making a choice. She and Liku are living here because they don’t have any choice.

If they had a choice, would they live in the mountains, all by themselves, with the threat of death if anyone found out what she was?

Or would they choose to live in a city like the Silver City where they could be public about who they are?

” I slid out of bed, pulling on a robe that one of the servants had left for me the night before.

“Miksha was the mage you speak of,” Tallu said.

“She did not choose to live simply. She chose to save the magic of an imperial soldier and follow him back to his homeland so that no one would grow suspicious of him. But you cannot tell me her dream, her choice, was to live in a small hut in the middle of the forest surrounded by her enemies. Old friend, none of that is simple. None of that is peaceful.”

Lerolian said stridently, “You cannot demand that she help you?—”

“I’m not demanding . I’m giving her the opportunity?—”

“You’re giving her the opportunity, but your entire plan falls apart if she says no.” Lerolian’s words were firm, and, worse, they were true. “Lady Dalimu does not make it north without that airship. She would be caught and killed or caught and interrogated, and your deception would come undone.”

My shoulders slumped. It was true and terrible at the same time. But I had one more argument to make, turning Lerolian’s words against him.

“At least let her have a choice. She can say no,” I said, even though I knew she wouldn’t. She couldn’t, not the woman who had exposed her own secret to save an emperor whose people had killed all her own. “Let her have a choice.”

For a moment, Lerolian’s expression looked dark, as though he was every old story about blood mages, as though he was about to use a drop of my blood to tear my soul from my body. Then he turned, shaking his head. He exhaled a long breath before looking back at us.

“Fine.” Lerolian dipped his chin.

“Can you make her the offer?” I asked him.

“I will not,” Lerolian said sharply. “I cannot.”

Blowing out a breath, I looked out the window. “Then tonight, I will sneak out again and go to the mountain.”

Through gritted teeth, Lerolian managed, “You don’t need to go all the way to the mountain to get a message to her.

They’re running a stall in the city market tomorrow.

I listened long enough to hear them talk about selling the mushrooms and tubers they find in the forest. They were discussing how the truffles they found should bring a profit. ”

Visiting a market stall, were I anyone else in the palace, would have been a great way to clandestinely meet with a blood mage and her husband. Unfortunately, I was both recognizable and followed around by an Emperor’s Dog.

In the morning, I realized that the Dog in question was not Asahi. Which meant Tallu and I had to come up with an even more complicated plan.

After breakfast, Tallu called a meeting with the steward of his quarters, the steward of the entire Imperial Palace, the head of the servants, and the head cook.

The throne room seemed massive when it was missing all of the courtiers.

I sat beside Tallu, wondering again at how he was able to robe himself in the expression of emperor.

It was a mask for him as much as his Dogs’ had theirs.

His teal shirt complemented his purple robe, the strips of fabric at his waist emphasizing the muscle underneath.

On his hands, he wore silver rings at the knuckles and copper just below his fingertips.

Without his paints and powders, he looked like a painting of an ancient god come to life.

No, not a god, but the mortal whose beauty tempted that god from their heavenly bower.

“We have decided to change the location of our one-month celebration.” Tallu glanced over the assembled servants, but none of them had any reaction. “We wish to have it at the imperial property along Heron Lake.”