Page 40 of Shadow Throne King
“Proceed,” Tallu ordered. His back straightened, his neck lengthening, and even though there was no gold at his brow, he still looked as though he wore a crown.
The cart jerked as we started forward, the wheels bumping as they rose onto the drawbridge. Through the slats in the cart, I stared out at the moat, seeing a thrash in the water.
“Sea serpents?” I asked.
Tallu looked at me out of the corner of his eye, lowering his chin just once. Well, the hungry beasts would take care of anyone who thought to cross the water by swimming or rowing.
The cart pulled to a stop inside the walls, the rest of our caravan behind us. Two Dogs came close, opening the back of the cart.
They had done it several times a day for the past two weeks, but somehow, this felt ceremonial rather than functional. They bowed as Tallu descended.
When I had first arrived at the Mountainside Palace, every servant in the palace had appeared to greet me and Eonaî. Now, I saw every servant in the Lakeshore Palace fall to their knees and prostrate themselves on the ground, their foreheads pressed to the stone pavers.
It was late to realize that even in that moment, Tallu had been giving me the respect he thought I deserved. The respect of an emperor.
Tallu looked over the crowd, his chin raised, shoulders back. Everything about him was cold, as though the ice I had held in my hands earlier had been placed into his heart. One of the servants stood, keeping her body nearly folded in half, her fingers forming a triangle above her forehead.
“Dragon Chosen Emperor Tallu, Your Imperial Majesty, we are honored by your presence. We have prepared the imperial rooms.” Her left hand gestured wide, toward the open doors of the building closest to us.
Tallu nodded, turning to walk into the palace, his Dogs immediately behind him. I followed a step behind, and the servant who had greeted Tallu took up a position just behind me.
The halls were quiet as we passed through them, every servant outside, honoring their master. As we continued our walk, I heard the whisper of feet in the corridors in between walls as servants rushed back into position.
“You must be Prince Airón,” the servant said, bowing halfway, fingers forming a triangle. She stood, gesturing to her chest before spreading her fingers wide in front of it. It was a greeting from a servant to a beloved master. “We are honored by your presence. We were delighted to learn of your marriage to the emperor. I am Quuri, steward of the Lakeshore Palace. Please feel free to call on me if there is anything you need or desire.”
“I will rely on you,” I said politely, my eyes examining the details of the palace. The architecture here was far different from the Mountainside Palace.
Instead of gorgeous columns and open, airy spaces that faded into darkness, the walls were thick stone, heavily decorated with detailed carvings. A statue of a dwarf stood near one of the doorways we passed, his hands touching the ceiling, appearing to hold it up.
“This is very different than the Mountainside Palace,” I noted.
“Yes.” The servant followed my gaze to one of the carvings on the wall, showing a rock dragon, its jaws open wide, exploding lava from the top of the mountain. “In the time of Emperor Rellu, the Lakeshore Palace belonged to the dwarven king. Dragon Blessed Emperor Rellu took it from the Krustavian dwarves, forcing them back into their mountains.” Quuri nodded at another statue, similar to the one we had just seen, but missing its head, cracked down the center by some long-ago battle. “It is one reason that every servant in the Lakeshore Palace is trained as a warrior first. We understand our legacy is that of the soldiers who first took the Lakeshore Palace for the Imperium.”
I glanced at Quuri again out of the corner of my eye. She carried herself like a servant, but that was as much trainingas my own disguise had been. Ahead, we finally reached our destination.
Two servants dressed in yellow held open massive doors, almost as large as those to the building itself. They bowed as Tallu approached, their fingers triangled, their position showing their great respect.
“We have prepared a bath for you, Emperor Tallu.” Quuri nodded her head, her body inclined just slightly, not quite stooping into another bow. “Do you require anything else?”
“My father’s old clothing,” Tallu said. “And his crown. Tomorrow, I visit the King of the Shadow Throne.”
Ten
Tallu’s words were like an explosion, setting every servant into motion, a complicated dance that bore him from the entryway to the emperor’s quarters further inside. I followed him, watching as he was efficiently stripped and led to the bath in the back of his quarters.
His bare flesh was exposed, the long, dangerous line of his tattooed dragon shifting down his arm, and all the servants reacted as though his nakedness was a normal thing. He didn’t even look at me, no glance over his shoulder, and this was how he fit back into his role as emperor. I was no longer his partner, but his consort, an owned item, ready to be dismissed or summoned whenhedesired.
As he was led around a corner to the promised bath, I caught the slightest glance, his eyes catching hold of mine for just a moment, long enough to reassure me. No. We might be play-acting at the same roles Millu and Koque had occupied, but that was all it was. Tallu’s heart beat with my name the same way mine did with his.
Then Tallu was gone. I took a step forward, but Quuri made a swift gesture that caught my attention. With polite motions, she led me out of Tallu’s quarters and down the hall. We passedKrustavian words carved above the lintels, which were made of a dark, shining stone I didn’t recognize, before Quuri finally opened a door on the far side of the building.
“These are the empress’s rooms,” Quuri said. Everything else remained unspoken, the implicit understanding that I was subject to the emperor’s whims, that I had no ownership of his time to match his control over mine.
When I walked in, I wasn’t surprised to see that they were smaller and more ornately decorated than Tallu’s quarters.
The empress had lived in luxury at the Mountainside Palace, and the evidence there showed that her taste had been exquisite. It was no surprise to me that the same applied here.
The doors opened into a sitting room, couches and chairs arrayed gracefully, large tapestries hanging on the walls to cover the Krustavian embellishments. A balcony looked out over the gardens.