Page 20 of Shadow Throne King
“I came on my own,” she lied. The careful woman of court was long gone. All that was left now was a desperate half of a soul, and I vividly recognized that feeling. I had been the same when Eonaî left, wondering who I was without the person that made me myself.
“Who has Pito?” I asked.
Topi’s jaw set, and she closed her eyes. “I’m tired.”
Tallu’s lips pulled, his forehead creasing in a frown. “You might get away from answering now, but youwillanswer. Airón did not purchase you from your death out of pity.”
Her eyes flew open, fixing on mine, but I let myself be as cold as a northern night. Even if she didn’t tell us what we wanted, we couldn’t let her go, not when she could run back to whoever had sent her, telling a story of the emperor traveling with minimal guards through the Imperium.
She looked away, her fingers going white at the knuckles where she held the rag tight to her head. Coyome slid forward, suddenly inside her space, and she jerked back, but there was nowhere to move, a box pressed against one side and the wall at her back. He plucked the rag from her fingers and pulled a waterskin from his waist. Opening the waterskin, he wet the cloth and began gently wiping her face.
“Foolish girl,” the Kennelmaster said, drawing her attention. She turned toward him, glancing at Coyome every few seconds. “You do not start by convincing the overseer. That man will only lose if he switches his allegiance. Bemishu or Kacha couldn’t trust him if he did change his colors. They would have him killed and put their own men in his position, and he knows it, too.” Coyome cupped her chin to keep Topi from moving. The Kennelmaster continued, “You start with the other men. You start working for the mine or take up as a barmaid. You listen to their problems andthenaskthemwhat they would do different. How the problems could be fixed with the promise in place. Oh thepromise, how could we possibly know what some old woman four emperors ago meant?Thatis how you take down the emperor. The Imperium does not have enough gold to turn a man like the overseer. He knows his fate is tied as closely to Emperor Tallu’s as my Dogs’.”
“We do not need to look for the traitor generals when we have you among us,” I observed.
The Kennelmaster snorted, turning to look out the front of the wagon. Coyome finished cleaning Topi’s face and thenreached into his pack for a small strip of clean bandage. As he wrapped it over her forehead, he said, “It will scar.”
“Thank you,” Topi said, looking away from him. I couldn’t see his expression, but he pulled back and settled into his position near the rear of the wagon, looking out for any hint of threats.
With a glance at Tallu, the Kennelmaster said, “My fate is as tied to Your Imperial Majesty’s as the overseer’s. You are known for your spies, and for a great many years now, there have been rumors about my Dogs. If I joined ranks with Bemishu or Kacha, it would not matter what information I gave them or what truths I told. They would assume whatever my men saw at their camps would be whispered straight into your ears.”
He looked at Tallu pointedly, his words still echoing in my ears.The whispers he hears… The three of us knew the Kennelmaster wasn’t feeding Tallu his information, but to the rest of the world, that was the only explanation that made sense.
Bandaged, Topi looked even less like herself. One of her eyes was beginning to swell shut, the opposite cheek fading a deep purple. She closed her eyes again, leaning back against the wall of the cart.
“I’ll make a Dog of you yet,” the Kennelmaster said to Topi with what sounded very nearly like fondness. He returned to his seat.
Neither Tallu nor I looked at the three blood mages around the cart, one nearly sitting atop the Dog at the back. We traveled for just long enough that my stomach began to growl, the promised food at the inn having been lost to rescuing Topi.
I could feel Tallu’s thigh against mine. The backs of our hands touched, and I needed to feel him. The lack of privacy was beginning to wear on me, and I wasn’t sure when we’d have it again. Slowly, I moved my hand so that my pinkie curled around his.
Tallu went rigid for a split second before he breathed out softly, his finger twitching on mine. I closed my eyes, concentrating and trying to give him everything I felt in that touch. The cart jostled us against each other, our shoulders pressed together. Tallu remained there.
I could feel everything he couldn’t say in the way he let himself touch me. After enough time had passed that we had left the mining town far behind, the driver pulled the cart off the main road, finding a small clearing in between trees. We got out into the dense forest that covered most of the land between the capital and the Lakeshore Palace.
The broad leaves were wider than my palm, a rich green color. Under the expanse of trees, the air was cooler, and the Dogs didn’t even need to speak with each other before settling into their tasks. Three unhitched and unsaddled the horses, two walking the animals in slow circles to cool them down while another took the horses one by one to a nearby stream.
Coyome and another Dog took out a table and chairs, setting them up and making it clear, even without words, where Tallu was supposed to sit. I slouched into the chair next to him. Topi had fallen asleep on the journey, and none of us woke her, as someone else set out a small meal of dried fruit and nuts, a couple of loaves of hearty bread completing the meal.
The Kennelmaster took the seat across from me. I didn’t say anything but did finally take the dragon out of my bag. She squinted unhappily, curling around my wrist and digging her small claws into my forearm as she tried to find a comfortable place to rest. How she’d been able to sleep curled on a pile of money was beyond me.
“You brought the creature?” the Kennelmaster asked, although he didn’t seem surprised.
“If she had remained at the palace, eventually someone would have noticed that I was not there to try to mitigate some of her selfish tendencies,” I said.
Snorting slightly, the Kennelmaster nodded his head. None of the Dogs seemed to react to the dragon, and I wondered how much familiarity it took to become that used to a creature of legend.
The conversation turned to the journey as the three Dogs working the horses gave them each a feedbag and began brushing them down, covering them with blankets to keep the chill off them. Watching all the work that went into the horses, I wished for Spoiled Brat, my father’s borealis wolf. Wolves served most of the same functions as horses—we rode them on hunts, and they could be loaded down with a kill or even drag a sled with supplies across the ice, and they needed far less coddling.
“We had planned to stop at one of my Dogs’ safe houses,” the Kennelmaster said. “But we likely won’t make it now.”
I refused to feel guilty or give him any reaction. I didn’t even adjust myself in the awkward wooden chair, designed to fold flat. It felt unsteady, but I couldn’t give him the satisfaction of shifting.
“We’ll overnight in the forest,” Tallu said. “And the night after?”
“If we make good time, we’ll be able to stay in one of the abandoned logging cabins my people use when traveling.” The Kennelmaster gestured, and one of the Dogs brought out a map. He stabbed his finger at a point further along the road we were on.
I took some of the dried fruit and offered it to the dragon, who took a bite before grabbing hold with both hands, her sharp teeth snapping it up neatly.