Page 25 of Shadow Throne King
Topi sucked her teeth, then said, “Here.”
She held out her hand, and I handed over the small container of powder. Quickly, she covered my face in the stuff, then brushed a finger over both of my eyebrows. Snapping the container closed, she handed it back to me, but she wasn’t looking at me. Instead, her eyes dropped away from where Tallu glared at her fiercely.
Tallu grabbed the back of my hood, pulling it over my head, then drew his own up, and I tried to hide the smile I knew bloomed on my face. Tallu’s jealousy shouldn’t be amusing, but I couldn’t help being warmed by it.
“What do you think?” I asked in a low voice, my words for Tallu alone. “Do you think we’ll find one of our other enemies strung up here, waiting for rescue? How about General Maki, since he’s the one we want the most?”
“He may not look it, but Maki has heft to him,” Tallu answered, his lips pulling back into a smile. “They would be hard-pressed to find a branch strong enough to carry his weight.”
The Kennelmaster assigned Coyome to guard Topi, and Sagam and Asahi were waiting outside for me and Tallu as soon as we stepped down. I was still concerned with Asahi’s condition, but Sagam had admitted Asahi was resting during the day, sleeping nearly every moment he was in the cart, and he looked better for it. I could still see some evidence of pain, but he moved fluidly and was nearly back to himself.
The Kennelmaster spoke with the innkeeper, and he gave the man a couple of silver coins. The innkeeper bowed, low enough to be a sign of respect, before he gestured the Kennelmaster inside.
We were given a private room, large enough for all nine of us who weren’t staying with the horses. There wasn’t quite enough seating, but the innkeeper brought in a few extra chairs, helped by a serving girl, who then immediately returned with a tea tray and some snacks.
She bowed, keeping her eyes low. I was so used to servants bowing with their fingers forming a triangle that the more common show of respect was disconcerting. I glanced at Tallu, but he still had his hood up, his back rigidly straight as he looked out the window into an inner courtyard.
“Our noon meal will be ready soon,” she said, her voice slightly nervous. I turned back to her quickly and saw her glance around the room, her eyes fixing on Topi, where she sat, both hands clenched on the arms of her chair, Coyome looming behind her. The cut from where she’d been hit with a rock had scabbed over, but the flesh around it was red and hinted at infection. “We have baths, and rooms for sleeping…”
Brave girl, I thought, trying to get Topi alone, away from the room full of men who looked considerably more dangerous now that we had been a week in the woods. No wonder she was concerned for Topi’s safety.
The Kennelmaster saw it, too, and shook his head, opening his mouth to answer no, but Tallu’s voice cut through the room.
His back was still to the door and the girl, and I couldn’t see his eyes, or his face, or whatever expression was on it, but when he spoke, it was with a ring of authority that made the Kennelmaster’s mouth twitch unhappily. It was impossible to hear the way Tallu spoke and not realize that this was a man one obeyed.
“After the meal, we will all need baths. Have them prepared.” Tallu turned, and the servant gaped at him. He exuded a presence that even so many days on the road couldn’t hide. “The girl, too. She’s a traitor to the Imperium, and we are returningher back to the capital city so that the emperor himself might decide what to do with her.”
This time, when the servant looked at Topi, her expression was guarded. Tallu had offered no proof, and yet his authority alone was enough to make the girl switch her allegiance.
She bowed lower, and I saw her fingers twitch, as though trying to decide if she should form a triangle, before she left.
“I thought we were trying not to draw attention to ourselves,” I said in a low voice.
There was a hiss next to me, and Asahi said, “Thatis impossible.”
His words were almost a sneer, but when I turned to look at him, his face was placid, no expression of disdain on it. Next to him, Sagam was unmoved, and I wondered if I had misheard, or, worse, I was beginning to hear things.
Perhaps it was one of the ghosts Tallu worried would attach themselves to Hallu. It had been over a week since anyone had attacked me, and I had assumed a head wound would have healed itself by now.
Tallu turned back to the window, children’s laughter coming in from the open pane. Crossing to his side, I watched two children dressed in servants’ clothing take handfuls of water from the pond, throwing them at each other.
In the tree above them, three ravens observed the scene, Ratcatcher bouncing on his branch as their play caused the small fish in the pond to speed across the water. He dove down but was unable to catch any, returning to the branch with a wet beak, shaking his head to rid himself of water.
I heard Sagam speaking quietly with two of the other Dogs, the clink of porcelain. Coyome said, “It’s safe.”
Sagam came abreast of Tallu, standing on his other side, a cup of tea carefully held in his hands. “No poison.”
Tallu glanced at him, face impassive, then took the cup and drank nearly the whole thing. I watched him with concern. He hadn’t been eating much.
I had assumed it was just the road, the food not what he was used to. But in the reflected light from the courtyard, I could see the beginnings of a gaunt hollowness in his cheeks.
When the servant brought back a meal, Sagam tasted everything on Tallu’s plate before presenting it to him. Still, Tallu picked at the food, only taking larger bites when he caught me staring at him.
“Picky eater,” Asahi muttered, but when I turned to him sharply, no one else seemed to have taken notice of his words. It was as though he hadn’t spoken.
“Did you say something?” I asked him. Asahi blinked just once, his frown creasing his forehead. His eyes were a clear brown, and he glanced at Tallu beside me before returning his gaze to me.
“I said nothing, Your—” Asahi cut himself off before he could finish the title.