Page 45

“What is it?” Miksha worried her hands together, the movement strangely vulnerable.

“If you can heal an air mage who has had his magic removed, we can send you and your husband to the Northern Kingdom. You wouldn’t have to live in hiding.” I watched her eyes, watched them widen and then narrow as she considered.

“Why?” Her hands stilled, as though she had already worked through the possibilities, already taken in the opportunity fully.

And there were plenty of reasons why, plenty of reasons why we needed Velethuil out of court, why we needed to weaken General Kacha’s position.

Without his magic, Velethuil could not get the small boat over Dragon’s Rest Mountains, and I could not risk Lady Dalimu remaining in court, within grasp of whatever imperial general wanted to use her mind for their war machines. But there was also another reason.

“Because it is too dangerous for you to stay here. Because Lerolian said you wanted peace.” I leaned even closer, knowing the truth in my heart. “Because you saved Tallu, and I want to reward that kindness.”

Miksha looked away, then let out a long sigh.

She rubbed at her forehead for a moment, and her hood fell back just enough to reveal that she had dyed her silver hair brown for the visit to the market, a hint of an elfin ear peeking out.

When she looked up at me, her lips had firmed.

Before she could say anything, the curtain drew back, Toji pushing his way through.

I could see the anger in his shoulders, the tension in his neck. He was furious at me, even as his words attempted respect.

“Your Highness. It is dangerous to…” He turned his head, glancing at Miksha, and his eyes went wide. He’d noticed her ears, exposed when she pushed off her hood.

“What is going on here?” Toji growled, putting his hand on his blade.

When he looked between us, something in his narrow-eyed gaze told me what he suspected wasn’t far off from the truth: the emperor’s foreign prince was meeting with a blood mage and planning the downfall of the Imperium.

Honestly, whatever he guessed was happening was probably tamer than what we were doing.

Miksha ducked her head, pulling the hood of her cloak back on.

Toji’s hand on his hilt was steady, and his thumb flicked the blade open. That was enough for me. He wouldn’t have enough room to draw the blade if I was closer, so I lunged, reaching for the dagger in my waistband.

Without hesitation, I drew the blade underhanded, my palm upward. The motion was uncomfortable, the opposite of how I usually held a blade, because it opened toward me rather than away. But that was what I needed.

The act of drawing it swept the sharp edge of the blade across Toji’s neck.

It was so honed that it parted his skin easily, the skin and tissue barely offering any resistance against my strike, leaving the scream of “traitor” a gurgled sound where his voice box used to be.

I slashed the blade down from the opposite angle, crossing his neck.

It was fast. Anything else would have been torture.

Toji fell to his knees, the hand on his blade going slack as he blinked up at both of us, mouth working, red blood dripping down his gray shirt. Panting, I focused on him, waiting to see if he would gain a second wind, if he was going to attack.

He fell forward, face-planting on the hard-packed dirt. Turning, I expected to see Miksha terrified, but instead, she looked stoic, face unmoving.

“You killed one of the Emperor’s Dogs.” She nudged him with her foot, and his body jostled, but he made no move. “You could have exposed me instead.”

“No.” I knelt, wiping my blade on the sleeve of Toji’s shirt. “I couldn’t.”

“You know Lerolian.” When she turned to me, her eyes were pink, not the full red haze she had used when healing Tallu. Blinking, she reached for me but dropped her hand before making contact with my face. “So, that’s part of the curse.”

“You knew Tallu was cursed?” My question was stupid. Of course she had known. She had told me herself that she could heal him from his injuries, but she could not save him from his fate. “I thought you couldn’t see the ghosts.”

She shook her head. “You tied your soul to his. Now, you share his fate. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head, raising my hand to wave her off, before remembering, yet again, exactly how rude the motion was. “What do we do about him?”

Part of me wondered if I should feel something else.

I had killed a man. Yes, he had been about to attack me and Miksha, but I had killed him before he did.

He was no emperor of the Southern Imperium.

He was only guilty of protecting the man he had sworn his life to protect.

He thought I was plotting against Tallu.

Or maybe that was too generous of an assessment. Maybe he had been waiting for an excuse. Maybe, even if I hadn’t met alone with Miksha, I still would not have made it back to the Imperial Palace.

I knelt down next to Toji, aware that whatever happened next, the plan Tallu and I had so carefully begun to orchestrate was now just as dead as the Emperor’s Dog.

“We need to strip him. Then you can take him into the forest. He might be found, but without the garb of a Dog, it’s unlikely anyone will make the connection.” I rubbed my eyes with my fingers.

“Can we still go to the Northern Kingdom?” Miksha asked.

I sighed. Lerolian hadn’t been wrong. It would be nearly impossible to get any of these people out of the Imperium over land, and taking a boat up the coast would be even more conspicuous.

The airship was the only way. “Maybe. There are a lot of moving pieces to this plan. Getting you and Liku out of the Imperium is contingent on your healing the air mage Velethuil.”

“And with your Dog dead, you aren’t sure you’re going to be able to get us into the palace,” Miksha said, cutting to the heart of the issue.

“If I say he ran off or was attacked, the Emperor’s Dogs will be on high alert.

The palace guards will be on high alert.

So much of our plan was based on the level of security we are familiar with.

” I glared down at Toji. If only he hadn’t come back right at that moment.

If only he hadn’t seen me conspiring with Miksha and known it for exactly what it was: a plot to take down the Imperium.

“If he lives, there will be less suspicion.” Miksha knelt next to me, then sat on the ground, crossing her legs. She rested her chin on the palm of her hand, her fingers drumming a pattern against her cheekbone.

“I’m aware that this whole situation is a bit of a shock to everyone involved.

Him, mostly.” I gestured with my palm to Toji’s body.

“And I know most people seem to think that us northerners have our heads filled with ice and little else. But even a northerner with snow in his head can see that this man is dead.”

“He doesn’t have to be.” Miksha closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they were bloodred, so dark I could barely see her pupils. Her hand extended, and blood rose out of the dry, parched earth. Circling in the air, it became a sphere of pulsing life.

Toji sat up, and I was so startled I almost stabbed him again. His body moved awkwardly, arms floppy as he pushed himself into a seated position identical to Miksha’s. The blood rose from his clothes and skin, joining the sphere of it floating in the air.

Miksha held out her hand, and the sphere rested on her palm, somehow not popping, not soaking her in a Dog’s blood. Instead, it pulsed, throbbing in time to an invisible heart. She held out her hand, pressing the tips of her fingers against Toji’s neck.

The blood rolled off her hand and was absorbed back into his body, closing up the crossed wounds I’d made with my knife.

“Take off your mask,” Miksha commanded.

Toji lifted both hands, removing his mask. Under it, his skin was a gray green, devoid of the gleam I was used to seeing in imperial skin. His eyes were white, filmed over with death.

“You will give no evidence of what has occurred here. You are going to follow Prince Airón back to the palace and do your duties for the day.” Miksha’s voice was resonant, vibrating the blood under my skin.

Toji bowed his head in acknowledgment, straightening and staring those dead eyes back at her.

“Tonight, you are going to lie down in your bed, and your heart will stop and you will die, and when the One Dragon takes your soul to its next life, you will be more generous and kind.” Miksha waited three long heartbeats, then pulled her hand back.

Toji’s skin brightened, gleaming with life. His eyes browned, the haze of death fading. He blinked around but said nothing, bending and picking up his mask, snapping it back into place.

Then he stood, retreating through the curtain without a word.

I stared after him. “Will it work?”

Miksha looked at me, one of her eyebrows raised. “If you talked to Lerolian, then you know who I am. You know what I can do.”

“You know, even in death, Lerolian seems to want to keep as many of the blood mages’ secrets as he can. You would think dying would have loosened his lips, but that man is a clam when it comes to information.” My joke fell flat, Miksha looking down.

“I need to speak to Liku. If we decide to do this, I will say it into the air, and Lerolian or one of the others can tell you my decision.” She looked up at me, her gaze fierce. “Even in death, we are dangerous. Do not think of betraying Liku.”

I noticed that she was protective of her husband, and I imagined what I would say in her place, were Tallu threatened by someone I could face.

“This may be a hard decision, but you have a week and a half, eleven days. Less than that, as this is not a task we can leave until the last moment to arrange. Make your decision as quickly as you can.” She nodded, her eyes serious, and I tried to lighten the mood.

“You know, you’re strangely fine with the idea of your fellow monks watching you when you can’t see them.

I can see them, and it still makes me uncomfortable. ”

“In the monastery, we had no privacy. Even in prayer, our hearts beat as one.” Miksha stood, checking that her hood was all the way up before stepping out.

Liku and Yara were discussing one of the mushrooms displayed.

They both glanced up at us, but my eyes went straight to Toji, who stood at attention, one hand on his sword as he scanned the street.

It was now empty of people except for the merchants, the crowd far enough away that I couldn’t even hear the rumble of their voices.

“She said they will search for the truffle I remember from home, but she showed me their wares, and I don’t have much hope.

” I shook my head, dusting off one of my shoulders in the imperial way that signified deep disappointment.

“I am satisfied with the plan for a one-month celebration. I would like to return to the palace now.”

Toji strode ahead of us, and Yara kept pace with me as we crossed the market, returning to our carriage.

The electro mage in charge of it tried to awkwardly hide the plate of food he’d bought from a vendor while waiting, dropping it by accident.

His face fell, but he quickly rallied, rushing to open the door for me.

When I settled inside, I closed my eyes, praying to the great northern bear that no one would notice Toji was silent like the death that hung over his shoulders.

“I’m sorry that you weren’t able to find what you were looking for,” Yara said.

I blinked open my eyes, smiling at her. “As am I. But I was glad to speak with the people. I feel I have made a connection with them.”

Yara nodded slowly, her brows pulled together uncertainly. I waved her off.

My mind returned to Toji, dead and alive at the same time. If this was what General Maki was doing, we needed to make sure he was stopped. We needed to make sure they were all stopped.

The carriage jerked into motion, and I let my eyes close again.