Page 21 of Shadow Throne King
“I thought most of the forest had been logged,” I said, gesturing to the trees around us. “For the war machines.”
“This has been replanted,” Tallu said. “By my grandfather. It is scheduled to be logged again in my lifetime. And I will replant it again so that it can be logged again.”
“How circular,” I said. “And how thoughtful of your grandfather.”
Tallu shook his head. “They nearly ran out of forest under Emperor Rellu. He was desperate, not thoughtful. He first planted a fast-growing tree from Ristorium, but they were terrible for wood. They split and bend at the slightest pressure. He conquered Tavornai partially because he needed the lumber.”
“And he got it, along with elven slaves to work the mines. What a brilliant man to see a solution that managed to solve both problems at once.” I tried to keep my words free of sarcasm, but by Lerolian’s snort, I didn’t manage it.
“The slaves came later, under my father,” Tallu said.
It was even still hard for me to stomach the idea that my sister would have bed such a man. Eonaî had known who Emperor Millu was, she had known what it would be to seduce him while making it seem his own idea. But I was ever grateful his death prevented him from ever touching her.
We rested for an hour, and when the Dogs declared the horses ready, they were resaddled and harnessed. The sway of the cart managed to lull me to sleep, and I woke only when we stopped.
“For the night,” the Kennelmaster said. “If we keep going after dark, there’s too much of a chance a horse will get injured and lame itself.”
The Dogs set up tents. Two would sleep in each cart, the rest in a large tent, while Tallu and I were given a private tent. We didn’t risk a fire, in case some curious bandit came looking. Topi was given a place in the Dogs’ tent, and with two sentries monitoring the camp at large and another two Dogs outside theemperor’s tent, there was little chance of her escaping into the night.
Sagam and Asahi were going to take the first shift guarding the emperor, and I let my eyebrows twitch up at Sagam with a significant glance at Asahi, but Sagam shook his head. Whatever pain or effects were lingering from his poisoning, Asahi had no plans on giving up his position as my personal guard.
The soft noises of leaves and branches being stirred by a breeze and animals calling in the distance were so different from the palace’s murmurs and innuendoes. We could hear the shifting bodies and low conversation in the next tent, and when I opened my mouth to speak, Tallu held up a hand, the soft light from an electric lamp shadowing his face.
There was no privacy here, and my whole body itched with it. I nodded in understanding. The dragon had taken her own pillow in the corner, and I let Tallu draw me down to the small bed. I had my own cot, and this one was clearly not intended for sharing, but Tallu moved as far back as he could, and I let him take me into his arms.
When my back was pressed against his chest and his head was next to mine on the pillow, he whispered, “We will have to be careful. The Kennelmaster can hint at what he knows, but he won’t say anything until he is sure we plan to act against him. These menshouldbe loyal to me, but we have already seen what happened when one of the Dogs suspectedyou. If I give them reason to doubt me…”
He didn’t need to finish. I had already considered that as an option for assassination back when I first wanted to kill Tallu. The men most loyal to him were also the ones with the closest access to him.
I nodded. “What is the plan?”
“We need to know what Topi knows, why she’s here. As close as she was to death, it is too convenient she was at the first stopon our journey.” Tallu’s words tickled my ear, and even though I knew the importance of what he was implying, I couldn’t help but wish we were whispering something else in the dark.
My hips jerked back, and he pressed forward, his hard length fitting snugly between my ass cheeks. His breath was hot on my neck, his tongue tracing up from my shoulder to my earlobe, nipping it.
I breathed out, a pant of air.
“Not yet,” Tallu whispered. “I don’t want anyone else to have any part of you. I don’t want them to know what you sound like when you want me. What I can make you do when you come.”
He pulled back, still touching me, but just enough for me to know he was serious. I whined before biting down on the sound. I barely breathed the words, “Fine.Dragon Chosen Emperor. I will yield. For now.”
Tallu’s laughter rumbled against my back, and I shivered in delight. He pressed one last kiss to my neck and pulled me tight. Reaching over me, he extinguished the lamp.
After the nap in the cart and the lack of any physical exertion all day, I assumed I would be awake until dawn and then repeat the whole experience the next day. Instead, I fell soundly asleep, the weight of Tallu’s body against mine sending me into a dreamless slumber.
I woke to darkness, the stillness unnatural. Outside, I heard no noises. Asahi leaned close to Sagam to speak, but his mouth didn’t move, his eyes frozen open. The tent was gone—or, no, not gone, but made of paper-thin ice, as clear as glass.
Abruptly, I sat up. Tallu’s arm fell limply off me, and I turned to him, trying to shake him awake, but he was frozen as well, his body still, unbreathing.
“Tallu!” My shout was panicked, desperate. He still didn’t move. I shook him so hard his head jerked back and forth, but his chest didn’t rise.
Scrambling out of the bed, I looked for any cause. What could have caused this? The dragon’s bed was empty. A line of silver frost led from her bed out into the forest.
Grabbing my jacket, I pulled it on over my nightclothes. Shoving my feet into my boots, I took off at a run, the low forest brush and ground cover dragging at my clothes as I followed a dragon into the forest.
Six
The path of frost took me past unnaturally still trees. The massive leaves now had veins of frost: the white stitching through the green, a patchwork of winter in the middle of spring. They looked impossible, as though they weren’t trees at all, merely decorations by someone who had no idea what winter actually looked like.