Page 55

Twenty-Six

I went through the door first, checking for guards before gesturing them past me.

My dark clothes were musty-smelling because they’d never properly dried after my fight with Rute, but I needed the concealment more than I cared about the odor.

With them on and my face wrapped in a dark scarf, I wasn’t recognizable.

When no guards jumped out, ready to take out assassins and stray blood mages as though they were the heroes of an epic story where they died at the end, I gestured Liku and Miksha through. We took shelter in the chapel again and frowned down at the ground. Getting in would need electro magic.

“Do you mind?” I asked Liku.

He nodded, bending and pressing his hands to the floor, the snap of electricity opening the door with a grinding sound. I hesitated at the top of the stairs. “You two first.”

Liku stepped in front of Miksha, and I let him go down first, following behind them.

The difference between the air above and below was stark.

Even wearing long sleeves, I could feel the cold, feel the echo of damp somewhere in the earth.

The tunnels were made from a mix of hewn stone and masonry, the feel of the stones in the walls different enough to make me wonder if the tunnels had been expanded over time.

Above us, the doorway ground closed, shutting us in the dark. Liku’s light was pale against the inky blackness of the underground. Something in my chest shivered. Without Tallu or Asahi here, the darkness seemed more encompassing. I could get lost and never find my way out.

“Which way?” Liku asked.

Frowning, I considered both directions. We could go deeper into the tunnels, and they could hide there. I could bring them food. It would certainly be safer. Hiding them within Turtle House was asking for trouble.

When I squinted into the darkness away from the familiar route I knew, I saw light, and then Tallu’s voice called out.

“This way.”

“Tallu?” I asked, feeling stupid.

At the footsteps coming down the hallway, Liku tensed, raising his fists, but I held up a hand. I knew that stride; I recognized the figure coming toward us. “Tallu.”

When he reached us, distant electro lights reflected off his face. Lines of tension furrowed his brow, and he reached toward me, cupping my face between his hands.

“Are you all right?”

I shook my head. “No. These clothes offend my nose. I will need days to bathe off the stench of mildew.”

He glanced at Liku and Miksha, then bowed.

Liku went pale, his mouth falling open. Miksha’s eyes were so wide that they could have replaced the full moon.

“Emperor Tallu,” Liku said. He looked between us, and I could see the hesitation, one hand fisting, even as he started to bow before pulling short.

“This way. There’s food and enough water to clean yourselves.” Tallu turned, showing his back to a man who might have been his enemy. He strode down the corridor, and Liku took Miksha’s hand, following him. I took the rear, Lerolian walking beside me.

“He’s not going to hurt them,” I said to Lerolian.

The look Lerolian sent me was so striking that I was sure he actually wielded electro magic. “Of course he won’t.”

“Then what are you worried about now?” It was my turn to sound peeved. I was so tired at this point that it was completely possible this entire event was a hallucination.

I rolled my shoulders, feeling the stiff ache that would be there in the morning.

I hadn’t been this tense when I’d had to kill the emperor because the aftermath of that was going to be short and bloody.

It had been a foregone conclusion that I was going to die.

All this politicking and maneuvering was much harder work.

“Both of them must survive to escape again,” Lerolian said. “This is the most dangerous part of their mission.”

“I know.” I thought of my impossible promise. “I know .”

We came on a room lit brightly with electro lights. Velethuil sat nested in pillows that smelled musty even from the doorway. He stood when we entered, and I saw bruising on the side of his face, a red mark around his neck as though he had been very close to hanging.

“Well. Now, isn’t this unexpected?” He smiled sweetly, bowing low, his fists touching as he introduced himself. “Velethuil, the air mage.”

“Miksha, the blood monk.” She nodded her head.

Velethuil blinked. “It’s been a great many years since I’ve heard anyone call themselves that. I thought all of you died when the last monastery burned.”

“Perhaps I should have.” Miksha stumbled, her exhaustion painfully obvious in the bright lights. Her skin was waxy pale, and dark circles hung under her eyes. Liku nudged her toward the pillows that Velethuil had abandoned, and she collapsed onto them.

Velethuil frowned at her, then turned back to Tallu. “Not that I don’t appreciate being kidnapped from the dungeon, but why has Your Imperial Majesty brought me here? Without your guard?”

Tallu looked at me, and I let out a puff of air, then found a seat on a nearby stool. As soon as I settled, I felt the anxiety my body hadn’t let me feel before. My knee jumped, and I clasped my hands tightly so I wouldn’t start nervously playing with the ends of my hair.

“Emperor Tallu and I would like Miksha and her husband to go with you to the Northern Kingdom.”

Velethuil blinked, his mouth falling open. Then something dark passed over his face, and he looked down, clenching his hands.

“If you want us to go north, send us north. You are emperor and imperial consort. The two of you have the power to charter a ship and take us north. This feels as though you are setting us up for something.” Velethuil glared before schooling his expression.

“It is not the kindness I have offered you.”

“It’s complicated. We can’t risk any of you traveling north over land or sea. You’ll need your air magic.” I wondered how much of the plan to reveal, aware that every word was thorny and complicated and needed more explanation than I could offer.

“While I hate to disappoint His Imperial Majesty, and I understand my uselessness puts me in great danger, I no longer have the ability to use air magic.” Velethuil slid his hand through the air, as though sweeping aside a mote of dust. He grimaced. “You see?”

“Miksha will heal you,” I said. “Our plan is for one more to join your party, and then all four of you can head to the Silver City together.”

“Who is the fourth member of our party of outcasts?” Velethuil looked between us, and then his eyebrows went up.

“You? That makes sense. His Imperial Majesty clearly cares for you, and with this latest assassination attempt, your safety is not in the Southern Imperium. It would also explain why you want to be secretive about the traveling arrangements.”

“Not me,” I said. “We’ll explain more after we guarantee her compliance.”

Because if I had to kidnap Lady Dalimu, wrap her in a carpet, and force them to take her on the back of a donkey, I would.

“Fine.” Velethuil tilted his head at Miksha. “You can heal me?”

Miksha frowned. “You’ve had your magic removed by a blood mage?”

“By an electro mage,” Velethuil said. “It was many years ago. I am not sure that anyone could recover my magic for me. The wound must have long since healed over.”

“Let me see.” Miksha reached out and gestured for Velethuil to sit across from her.

The pillows were decorated beautifully, hand stitched in imperial purple, although when Velethuil knelt, settling back on one, a plume of dust rose in the air. Both he and Miksha flinched into sneezes.

With an annoyed grumble, Lerolian stalked into the room, pacing back and forth behind Miksha as she reached out, closing her eyes and opening them bloodred.

It was a startling transformation, but I kept my seat, Tallu reaching out and brushing his hand up my shoulder to rub his thumb over the exposed skin at the base of my neck.

I looked up at him, suddenly aware that he had seen the reverse before.

He’d watched a blood mage twist their powers and steal the magic of an electro mage.

“Are you all right?” I murmured.

He jerked, squeezing my shoulder so tightly it was almost painful. Then he grimaced. “Fine.”

I narrowed my eyes, sure it was a lie, but not one I could call him on. He looked away, focusing back on Miksha and Velethuil. My heart hurt for him again, so unable to understand affection. The closest he’d ever come had been from the ghost of a man whom his country had murdered.

Miksha blew out a long breath. “I will need to make the wound again to heal it. You will bleed. Do you accept the sacrifice of your own blood and pain to achieve your preferred result?”

Velethuil looked down, his tongue licking along his bottom lip before he looked up, his eyes just as fierce as hers, even if they were green instead of deep red. His shoulders firmed into a straight, strong line even as his hands fisted his clothing, filthy from the imperial prisons.

“I would sacrifice my life to have my magic back.” His jaw clenched. He turned, looking at Tallu, glaring at the emperor who could end his life with a word. “Assuming you deal fairly.”

“I want you healed and in the Northern Kingdom. I give you my word that any plans I have beyond that are not to hurt you.” Tallu’s words were firm, his eyes fixed on Velethuil, and part of me wondered how he could mean them so genuinely, how nothing in them was a lie when none had dealt fairly with him.

We had plans within plans; we were using these prisoners even as we were saving their lives.

Velethuil seemed to realize it, too, but turned back to Miksha. “If you are able, I will take the healing.”

She nodded, eyes still bloodred. With both hands extended, she gestured him forward until he put his head between her palms, her hands hovering just outside his ears. Lerolian closed his eyes as though he could help her with her magic, even so long dead.

“Try to hold still,” she instructed.