Page 16 of Shadow Throne King

The words were so weighted and heavy that I nearly sidestepped them to avoid answering, but that would be childish. Instead, I nodded. “They say the One Dragon spoke to many.”

The myths of the One Dragon were so common: the One Dragon had taught blood mages their magic; the One Dragon had taught people the names of the stars and then fixed them in the sky so that they could always find their way home; the One Dragon had whispered in the dark and taught the Krustavians how to build fires.

I flipped the bag closed, then drew up my hood. Nohe led the way through Turtle House. Everyone was asleep, although how Nohe and Homisu had kept preparations quiet was beyond me. The shuttered windows let in pale streaks of moonlight.

Outside, the darkness was all-encompassing. The east didn’t even show a hint of sunrise, dawn more than an hour away. I tilted my head. Nohe turned a small lantern in her hand, revealing a dim electric glow. I heard the flap of wings and looked up. Three ravens circled above us, ready to follow.

“I will not ask to go with you,” Nohe said quietly, her voice swallowed by the darkness. No guards patrolled, likely necessary to prevent any of them from accidentally seeing us leave. “My absence from the palace would raise questions that cannot be answered. But, please, take care of yourself. Homisu lost his mistress once. Can you promise us that you will not die there as Empress Koque did?”

I shook my head, my feet crunching over the small rocks along the path. “I can’t promise anything.”

Nohe nodded. “No. My family is from the region just north of the border with Krustau. We were always taught not to go intothe hills, let alone mountains beyond. Their land is cursed and will swallow you whole.”

“Nohe.” I exhaled a long breath. “I?—”

A soft whistle in the darkness cut me off. We had followed a path around the emperor’s quarters, ending in the forest just behind it. The jangle of harnesses and faint whispers were the only other sounds. I nodded at her.

In the electric light she held, she looked pale, the natural gleam of her skin flattened out. She bowed to me, making half of a triangle with her free hand.

Heading toward the horses, I heard the flap of wings in the trees and a soft murmur of sound. Shadows moved around me, and it was nearly impossible for me to tell if they were Dogs or the ghosts of blood monks. Then I was in front of Tallu, his expression grim in the uneven light from lanterns. He raised a gloved hand, his thumb brushing over my cheekbone.

I shivered at his touch. The supple leather gloves felt nothing like his own warm flesh, but I could still feel the thrum ofTalluin his touch. It was as though he was a tide drawing me along with him. No matter how fiercely I swam in the opposite direction, I would always go with him.

The light made his expression look like a frown, but before he could say anything, I put my hand over his, gripping the leather glove tightly. I tugged him toward the wagon we would be taking on the journey.

The Kennelmaster had acquired two large carts and teams of four horses to pull each. The carts had enough room that both Tallu and I could lie head to foot and just barely touch the front and back.

Both were covered by a wooden structure that would give us shade and privacy. Two of the Dogs would ride on horseback beside the carriages, and they stood in the darkness, stroking the muzzles of their mounts. They had removed their masks, andtheir bare faces looked strange in the lamplight. I did not see the familiar features of Sagam or Asahi, but they must have been present given Tallu’s explicit order.

I pulled myself into the first cart, finding seating pillows scattered between boxes. Ostensibly, the boxes contained the goods we were trading on the other side of the Imperium, but in reality, they were all of our luggage and the food and water we would need for the journey.

In a fight, wooden boxes filled with heavy things would also make something good to hide behind. There were already three blood monks sitting atop boxes inside the cart, and I had seen more in the shadows outside. Tallu followed behind me, not glancing at the mages, and sat across. Without light, it was impossible to read his expression, and I forced myself to be calm, to breathe slowly, in and out, in the cold night air.

I extended my leg, letting it lean against his, feeling the warmth of him through his pants. I could feel his thick muscles, the tense way he held himself. In the dark, unable to see him, I pushed my leg harder against his and felt him press back. We were in this together.

“Ready,” came a shout from the cart behind us.

Two Dogs leapt into the cart: the Kennelmaster and another I didn’t recognize without his mask. The one I didn’t know made his way through the cart, stepping over my sprawled leg. The Kennelmaster turned, slapping his hand against the wooden roof of the cart. He sat, facing backward, while the other took a position toward the front, just behind the driver.

There was the sound of metal ringing as the two Dogs outside mounted, and then the cart jerked. We were on our way.

I waited until we had passed outside of the gates of the Imperial Palace and the sun had crested the horizon, to move my leg. It was nearly asleep when I pulled it away from Tallu’s warmth.

“Why couldn’t we have all taken horses?” Gesturing to the boxes around us, I raised an eyebrow. “Not that this isn’t travel worthy of an emperor, but surely horses would have been faster.”

I had been asking Tallu and expected him to answer, but instead, the Kennelmaster, sitting in the back of the cart, turned his head. With more light, I could see his amused smirk.

“Twelve men traveling on horseback? All armed and not wearing the uniforms of His Imperial Majesty?” The Kennelmaster chuckled. “If we weren’t killed our first night for being bandits, then Kacha or any other general paying attention would know exactly where His Imperial Majesty was.”

Tallu’s lips had gone flat, and he narrowed his eyes at the Kennelmaster. But, when he opened his mouth, he agreed. “Pretending to be merchants will invite curiosity but not raise suspicion. Even though travel will be slower than if we took horses.”

“But most of you can use electro magic. Why not take a carriage that runs on it so that we don’t have to rest the animals?” We had been traveling long enough that we would soon need to stop for breakfast and to make sure that the horses were fed and watered, to guarantee we were not going to kill them on our first night on the road.

“In the capital, you see electro magic more than you do in the rest of the Imperium.” The Kennelmaster’s smile twisted his lip, and he turned to Tallu. “Do you want to tell him why?”

I frowned at the pointed tone, but the Kennelmaster turned away, looking out the back again, even though the only other person we had seen was a farmer starting his work early in his field.

“In the countryside, any child born with electro magic is conscripted into the military. And if they aren’t fit for the military, their power is far too valuable to waste. There are jobsin the capital for anyone with electro magic that pay more than enough to sustain their family back at their village. If they do not go into the military, they are often sold to someone in the city.” Tallu kept hold of my eyes, fury leaking into his russet gaze. There was no one who hated the Imperium more than Tallu himself.