Page 24 of Shadow Throne King
She stood, leading the way back through the forest. I followed the moonlit fall of her hair, still staring at my palm, until there wasn’t a single snowflake left.
When we passed the frozen owl, I hesitated. If I could learn ice magic, could I relearn animal speak?
Naî grabbed hold of my hand, pulling me back to the campsite, shoving me between Asahi and Sagam’s frozen forms and back into my tent.
I stared down at Tallu, feeling the impossibility of what we needed to do, needing desperately to tell him what I had just done. Tallu drew in a breath, the arm that had been wrapped around me pulling close against him. He blinked his eyes open, a frown already forming on his face until he looked up and saw me.
His mouth formed my name, but he didn’t give voice. We would have to wait. I toed off my shoes, crawling back onto the cot with him, and let him draw me close.
He didn’t even whisper a question about the chill on my skin, and I looked over to see Naî back in her dragon form, curled on her pillow, eyes already closed.
Squeezing Tallu’s hand, I let myself begin to hope.
The next fewdays were much the same. The forest was thick, and now I knew why all the trees were the same height, why their uniformity was so tragic. Topi refused to talk about who had sent her, why they’d done so, and what her goal was.
The first morning meal, she’d sat apart from everyone, raising her chin, and refusing the tacit offer of a seat near us, only taking food when the Kennelmaster crouched, placing a plate of gruel in front of her.
“That’ll be the last dish I bring you,my lady,” the Kennelmaster said. “Only the Dragon Chosen Emperor gets his food served to him. Is that clear?”
Topi grabbed at the food as soon as his back was turned, fisting the spoon and eating the gruel so fast that I could practically see the stretch of hungry days in her past. She watched the Dogs with the sort of fear bred from living so long in court. In the palace, they were shadows, but now they were walking in broad daylight, and it only made them more terrifying.
The Kennelmaster kept us at a quick pace. It was two weeks from the Mountainside Palace to the Lakeshore Palace, and the Kennelmaster clearly intended to shave a few days off the journey. We stayed at remote cabins and in abandoned logging housing.
Despite the lack of masks, the Dogs were no louder than they were in the palace, and in the endless stretch of forest, it was even stranger, as though we were traveling with living ghosts in addition to the literal ones only Tallu and I could see. Topiseemed to feel it as well, her body tensing whenever she felt a Dog near her.
“You know, you don’t have to be afraid,” I said as the cart swayed and Tallu sat with his shoulders back and his eyes closed. Without the flock of servants to ready him each morning, something about him was untouchable. After so many days on the road, he should have looked as haggard as the rest of us, but he looked pristine.
I took some credit, grateful that Eonaî had badgered me into helping her get dressed enough times that I recognized how to put on most imperial clothes.
For a moment, Topi looked at me as though I were particularly stupid.
“I don’t have to be afraid of you?” She turned her head, and her profile was illuminated by the bright afternoon light. She shook her head. “No. Of course I don’t have to be afraid of some northern barbarian—” She broke off. Tallu’s eyes were wide open, and the expression on his face wasmurderous. “I am not afraid of the northernprince. I don’t have to be. I have more than enough fear of his husband.”
“Don’t let her goad you,” Lerolian said. He was lying on top of one of the boxes, his leg propped up, his eyes closed. “She’s trying to get under your skin, and she’s being very successful at it.”
“I don’t believe youareafraid of me,” Tallu said, his voice low. “I don’t believe you’re afraid of me because you are too afraid of what he will do to your sister if you fail. Which”—Tallu leaned back, and he wasn’t wearing his golden rings or his golden crown, but there it was, a ghost of an echo on his forehead—“you already have.”
“No.” Topi shook her head. She had gone pale, her lips tight.
“She’s terrified,” Lerolian said conversationally. “She spends every night crying herself to sleep.”
“We could help you,” I suggested. “Who else is going to? You’re stuck with us. And I’m pretty sure there’s a wonderful dungeon in store for you at the Lakeshore Palace. You aren’t escaping from us. Why don’t you try and make the best of it?”
Topi bared her teeth. “And let another person use me for their end goals? I believe I’ll pass, Your Highness.”
“Suit yourself. Bemishu must be grateful for such a loyal daughter.” I took a stab at who might have her loyalty.
She looked at me sharply, but from the slight smile on her face, I knew she could tell I was only guessing.
I thoughtthe forest would go on forever, but suddenly, we were out of it, free. An empty span of logged trees spread out in front of us, acres of stumps only broken up by a town in the distance.
After so many days on the road, the idea of staying somewhere with baths and food that hadn’t been cooked over a campfire was so appealing that I worried the town itself might be a mirage. But the Dog serving as our driver directed the horses toward the buildings, unerringly finding an inn just off the road.
It was a long, flat building, the outside decorated with wooden pillars and well-manicured plants. A small stream wound its way next to the inn, a few waterfowl flying off as our horses approached.
I wondered if we would be able to stay the night. Naî had been keeping me up almost every night practicing the meager skills I had learned. So far, I was able to make a handful of snow, but unless I intended to take down any of our numerous enemies with a single snowball, that was of very little use to me.
As the driver spoke with a stable hand, I reached into my bag, past the sleeping Naî, to find the jar of powder Homisu had given me. I dusted my face, hoping it was enough.