Page 54

The click of the door opening made me drop my hands, frowning as I saw who entered.

The Kennelmaster was a larger man, and I recognized old wounds from the way he moved.

A way he favored his right leg, the slightest crookedness in his fingers spoke of injuries he’d sustained when serving as a Dog earlier in life.

“Prince Airón,” he said, bowing low but without a triangle of fingers.

“Kennelmaster,” I said. “I didn’t ask to speak with you.”

“No, no, but I was in court today and came to pay my respects.” His smile changed his face, the tilt of it leaving him looking softer, although the narrow assessment in his gaze belied the appearance.

“After the attack last night, I am grateful for any show of support,” I said slowly, feeling out the shape of this meeting. I wasn’t sure why the head of the Dogs had chosen this moment to speak with me or why he wanted to talk to me rather than Tallu or one of the ministers.

“I was grateful to hear you survived unscathed,” the Kennelmaster said. “I’m sure good training on the part of our Dogs was crucial.”

“You have very devoted men,” I agreed.

“I do. The Dogs are only a small part of those under the Kennel’s roof. Did you know that?” The Kennelmaster clasped his hands behind his back, making no move to sit.

“I did not. Your order is very mysterious. Even to one in House Atobe.” Which was painfully true. Their oaths were known, but their training, the way Dogs were chosen, more mystery than known fact.

“Yes, there are many Dogs I use. Only a very few are bred well enough to serve the emperor as his personal Dogs.” The Kennelmaster raised a hand to gesture at Asahi. “Despite his birth, Asahi is one of the best men I’ve had the pleasure of training.”

I glanced at Asahi, but his eyes were blank, giving me nothing of his feelings on the way the Kennelmaster spoke of him. “And what duties do the others in your care perform if they don’t make their way into the Emperor’s Dogs?”

“There are many places in the empire where having a shadow who is loyal to House Atobe matters. Emperor Millu understood that corruption and disloyalty could extend throughout the Imperium.” The Kennelmaster spread his hands to the sides as though covering the whole of the Imperium.

“Now, especially, one must listen to what the shadows hear.”

His words were weighted, and I slowly nodded. “I will take it into consideration.”

“Please do. Congratulations again, from one shadow to another.” He bowed again, and I watched him go, something uncomfortable pitting in my stomach.

“Is he a threat?” I asked Asahi.

“He is loyal to House Atobe,” Asahi said, which didn’t reassure me.

“I don’t suppose there’s a secret exit out of here?” I asked.

“There is,” he said, leading me to the far wall. We went down the stairs, into the tunnels beneath the palace, and exited inside Turtle House.

Nohe had tea ready, and a servant drew a bath for me. I fell asleep in the tub, worried, my mind turning over the tasks we needed to accomplish. So, Bemishu was continuing with the ruse that Bechi had designed the airship.

Why was he sticking with Bechi when the man was in prison? Surely, he could claim Lady Dalimu had designed it. She wasn’t in prison, despite the guards watching her and the other returned councilors. Technically, the councilors and their heirs were the honored guests of our celebrations.

Was he so loyal to Bechi? Or did Bechi have something on him that we hadn’t found yet?

“They made a decision.” Lerolian’s voice startled me so badly that I splashed a wave of water out of the tub. Piivu, still in the room with me, let out a yelp. He had nearly been napping himself, his eyes half-lidded.

“Your Highness!” He rushed for towels, mopping up the mess. “Are you well?”

“I’m fine,” I said, shaking my head. “I think last night’s excitement has got the better of me. If I don’t have anything else on the schedule, I would like to sleep.”

“I had heard that last night you were there when the emperor discovered General Maki and General Kacha’s disloyalty.” Piivu helped me out of the bath, drying me off and wrapping me in a warm robe made from such silken material I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to take it off.

I appreciated Piivu’s discretion. “Yes.”

“They say His Imperial Majesty appreciates your counsel.” Piivu’s words were so delicate, so careful, that I could hear everything underneath them. He wanted to make sure that I could rescue his sister. That I had not lost any leverage I had with Tallu.

I regarded Piivu. “You were Empress Koque’s brother.”

Piivu nodded slowly, his eyes catching mine before looking away, unsure where I was going with this. His fingers trembled as he folded the towel, each edge lining up neatly, pulling it tightly against his stomach, although I could see it was damp.

“You’re scaring the boy,” Lerolian said from his position halfway through the door. I could see his torso, his head, but the rest of him was invisible, on the other side of the thick wooden door.

“How much sway did the empress have over Emperor Millu?” I watched his face, noting the twitch in his cheek.

“Some,” Piivu said.

“Some.” I considered. “But she used it carefully? On things that were important to her. Because she knew my sister was coming, and when my sister arrived, Eona? would be empress, and your sister would be the royal consort?”

“My sister always knew her own future.” Piivu’s fingers twisted a loose thread, snapping it cleanly away from the towel.

“And you want to see if I’m going to be as careful with His Imperial Majesty as your sister was with Emperor Millu?

” I asked. The air was still thick with steam from the bath and the scents of the oil that Piivu had put in.

It was floral, a feminine scent, and I wondered if it was habit from attending his sister.

“I made you a promise. I made her a promise, too. I will speak on her behalf with the emperor.”

Piivu’s eyes were wet when they locked with mine, and he trembled slightly before straightening his spine, swallowing down his emotions. He opened the door, ushering me to my bedroom. The Dog that had relieved Asahi stood in the main room, glancing at us once before returning to his duty as sentry.

We passed by Lerolian in the hallway, the ghost looking at me with narrowed eyes, his arms crossed over his chest. He let out a heavy sigh that felt more judgmental than any word he could have said. Piivu dressed me carefully in soft clothes appropriate for rest.

“I’ll wake you before dinner.” Piivu rushed out, taking the damp robe with him. When I heard his footsteps moving down the hall, I turned to the blood mage who had passed through the wall, coming inside my room. “What is it?”

“Miksha and Liku have agreed to your plan,” he said shortly. “They are on their way to the palace as we speak. They plan to be at the place on the wall where Liku left you last by nightfall.”

“Thank the great northern bear.” I blew out a breath, considering the implications. Perhaps things were going my way. “We will need to decide where we can hide them until they can escape with Velethuil. And I still haven’t convinced Lady Dalimu to our side.”

I blew out a breath. We had eight days. Eight days until the one-month celebration, and then the airship would be gone, the generals in chaos, and Tallu and I could— My mind froze on the last. We could what? What did our own ending look like here?

“This is the most dangerous place in the Imperium for them to be. And you don’t even have everything aligned?

” Lerolian took two steps until he was in front of me, hands clenched at his sides.

His teeth were white, although I could see blood darkening the spaces between them. “ You put her in danger.”

Looking out the window at the late-morning light, I said, “They’ll have to wait until evening. They must know that anyway.”

Lerolian was looking at me with narrowed eyes, his expression dark. “You did this to them.”

Around him, shadows darkened, a soft wind blowing his hair out of his face, whipping the clothes he wore.

“I offered them a way out. She could have ignored us in the forest and let Tallu die. She didn’t have to reveal herself.”

“And you repaid her kindness by asking her to put herself in the most danger she’s been in since the war.” Lerolian’s lips peeled back from his teeth. “I have spent years, years , working with Tallu to destroy this empire, and you have managed to get possibly the last blood mage killed.”

“Lerolian.” I paused on his name, tasting it on my tongue. “She is not dead. Why can you not see that we are in this together?”

“We are not in this together,” Lerolian snapped. “You are a pawn that Tallu is using. And when he is done with you, he will leave you behind.”

We were in complete darkness now, everything gone except for Lerolian and me, the threat hanging between us. He could leave me in this darkness forever.

“You are afraid that because I’m here, he will leave you behind.

” I put each word down carefully, making them distinct, clear enough that even through his anger, Lerolian would have to hear them.

“He will not. I will not. Tallu can no more forget you than he can forget the breath in his lungs. You gave him life. You gave him purpose. Let that be enough. You are dead. You cannot love him as I do.”

“So, what, you’ve spent a few nights in bed together, and you think he loves you?” Lerolian’s words were venom, but I had already thought them myself, and I knew the truth.

“Anything he feels for me is between us. Just as the friendship between you two is yours.” If I took another step, I would walk through Lerolian.

“But he was a child that you manipulated. And maybe you’ve grown to feel affection for him.

And maybe you feel guilty or responsible.

But this is not the way to show it. You are better than this. ”

The room blazed into light around me, the tree outside my window moving from the weight of the small birds that feasted on the seeds from the flowers.

“Tallu is like a brother to me. But Miksha is the last of us. Certainly the last of us that I will ever see. She cannot die at the hands of these imperials.” Lerolian was staring out at the birds, his hands loose. He brought one up, to rub one of the open wounds where a sword had run him through.

“I won’t let her,” I said. “She did me a kindness twice over. But I will need your help.”

At dinner, Tallu informed me that they had found Velethuil, and because of his closeness with General Kacha, Tallu was keeping him imprisoned.

Because of the servants and the Dogs, I had to read between the lines of what he was saying. Keeping Velethuil in prison was the only way to keep him out of anyone else’s hands. It was the only way for us to know exactly where he was. I wondered where he had been found.

After dinner, Tallu invited me back to his bed chambers, but I raised a hand to my temple.

“I have such a headache, husband. Forgive me, but I will return to Turtle House.” I glanced at where Lerolian was glowering in the corner.

“He has to go get Miksha from the forest,” Lerolian said, his tone annoyed. “I’ll let you know if anything interesting happens. Or if he gets killed.”

“Of course. I hope you find some comfort. There are many places of sanctuary inside the palace, should you need any. Old prayer chapels, forgotten buildings.” Tallu frowned.

“I know many of the foreigners found comfort in them. Velethuil was quite fond of some of the old practice grounds. He used them to remind himself how to perform his arts.”

I bowed, then stepped forward, bringing Tallu’s fingers to my lips. His breath caught, and when I looked up, I could see the concern in his gaze. “I will see you tomorrow, husband.”

Tallu nodded his head, and when I released his hand, I could feel the heat of it against my palm. Why was it so easy to admit my feelings about Tallu to other people and so hard for me to say it directly to the man himself?

At Turtle House, I went to bed immediately and waited only long enough to make sure that I had my privacy before picking up a medium side table that usually held snacks for the ravens and placing it in front of the door.

Then I turned to Lerolian. He was attempting to pick dirt from under one of his nails but looked up immediately.

“How do I get to them?”

I got to them over a roof, then by sneaking along the wall until we reached a chapel. I recognized it as the building Tallu and I had used to enter the tunnels after the attack at the Dragon Temple. I took a moment, bowing low to the statues, my fingers forming a triangle above my forehead.

It never hurt to have a dragon spirit on your side.

I would have asked the great northern bear for help, but subtlety was not her domain. After checking for guards, I crept to the wall and examined it. The ivy clung tightly, but I could see the outline of the shape where Tallu and I had crept in. Now, how to get it open.

There would have to be a loose stone or a latch or some other ridiculous mechanism to open it. Carefully, I pressed a hand along the wall, waiting for the give I knew was coming.

“It’s there,” Lerolian said finally, his tone annoyed.

He gestured to where a cluster of flowers grew on the wall, their shimmering petals catching the moonlight.

I frowned, pressing my palm through them.

There was a latch, and I had to pull at it with my fingers, nearly breaking a nail before it came loose.

The door swung open, and I stepped through, squinting into the darkness.

Further down the path, an electro lamp flickered on, and I shaded my eyes against the sudden light.

“Is it them?” I whispered to Lerolian.

“Yes.” His face was shadowed, his eyes lost to darkness.

I waved a hand and heard two sets of footsteps approaching, one heavier than the other. Out of habit, my hand dropped down to my blade, but I didn’t need it.

Miksha came into view, her face drawn and pale. She frowned at me, her expression tense. “You can keep us safe?”

“I promise.” The words couldn’t be a lie. I wouldn’t let them be. “Come on, this way.”