Page 61 of Shadow Throne King
“What did youdoto him?” Lerolian’s voice was agonized, and he started forward, but then his eyes went wide.
It was as if his whole body was being stretched, as though he was being painted and the artist had let his brush streak across the canvas. He turned, taking several steps back, and the effect lessened.
The Shadow King twitched, his voice rising in Krustavian as he answered Tallu, or, no… He seemed to be speaking to the side again, almost as though he was answering questions that we hadn’t asked.
Tallu breathed in, bright snaps of lightning sparking in the air around him. I took a step forward, but I turned when I heard Sagam’s voice say, “What are youdoing?”
Asahi was staring off into the darkness, and he reached for his mask, loosening the clasps and pulling it free from his face.
When it came off, I wasn’t sure what I expected underneath, but his mouth was moving, murmuring as he stared out into the empty room. Sagam took one step over, elbowing him hard, and Asahi startled, shaking his head and turning to stare at him.
“What are you doing?” Sagam repeated.
Asahi shook his head again and looked down, frowning at the mask in his hand. I turned away. Sagam had control of the situation. I didn’t have time to worry about Asahi and his strange behavior.
Tallu had gone cold, his entire expression frozen in a rictus of fury as electricity still popped in the air around him. I had only ever seen him this angry once, when Chiti Bechi had touched me.
Lerolian had stepped back, nearly to the door. “I will tell the others to stay away.”
His face was marked with deep sorrow, his lips pulled down and eyes straying to the throne. I felt for him, trying to imagine what it would be like to lose a companion, one of the few that remained after losing everything else.
“What voices? What lights?” I asked sharply. “King Inor, you speak in riddles. Are you sure you are well?”
The question was so rude, so provoking, that both Inor and Tallu turned to me. The former jerked his head, waving over his ear. But I had been paying attention. It was not Tallu’s ghosts that he heard.
Was he haunted as Tallu was? Was there some Krustavian ghost whispering in his ear who had little interest in his well-being?
It reminded me again of Tallu’s secret terror—what if the ghosts were also haunting his brother? And what if, unlike those who surrounded Tallu, they had no stake in his sanity?
“King Inor?” I pressed. “You spoke of lights and voices and taking them away from Tallu. What were you speaking of?”
“I—” Inor focused on me, his eyes narrowing, the expression wrinkling his face. Without the brilliant throne behind him, darkening his skin, I could tell that he wore gold paint the way that our guide had worn blue. It stained his features, making them flash into the shape of a snarling badger as he glared at me. “Little prince, you seek to play in this game of kings and emperors? I would not advise you to join in the play. There’s far too much at stake, and you could lose too much for it to be worth it.”
Inor’s words held weight, as though I was finally speaking to the head of the Badger Guild rather than a petulant man on a throne.
“You show us power beyond that of the stone mages. I’ve never heard of the mage who can pull light from the air—even the air mages claim no such powers. And yet, His Imperial Majesty did not question yourpowers, nor your abilities. His Imperial Majesty merely asked for evidence that his brother still lives.” The room had finally quieted. Next to me, Tallu had control of himself, and I heard a slip of leather and a soft sound of metal as Asahi put his mask back on. “Does Prince Hallu live?”
“Yes, he does.” Inor dipped his head, the markings on his face starting to glow in the dim light. “Hallu lives, and he is mine. He is your heir, and he will inherit the throne.”
“Until you produce him,” Tallu said, sounding more like the emperor he had been raised to be, “he is as he was before we received your message. The dead brother whowasmy heir.”
“We argue in circles. I have him, and with him, I will have your throne.” Inor shifted, and I could hear voices in his movement, a click of something snapping together, the snap of something slithering together. I heard a chorus of words, a chittering of them in unison, a sound like something horrible crawling out of the dark.
I knew that sound. I knew what creatures from Krustau might make them. I frowned at Tallu. Did he hear it as well?
But Tallu had become the Emperor of the Southern Imperium, his shoulders back, his face impassive except for the slightest smile at his lips, as though the king of the Shadow Throne were beneath him.
“I see we have wasted our time. You do not have my brother. You have nothing that I need.” Tallu raised his chin and shook his head once. “There will be no more imperial messengers for you to decapitate.”
“No!” This time, the chittering voices chorused with King Inor, and I searched the room for any evidence of the insects Asahi and I had fought. I didn’t see any, but the room was full of shifting shadows, and it was nearly impossible for me to tell what was real and what was a trick of the light.
King Inor stood, the throne behind him beginning to glow, lighting him from behind so that he himself became nothing more than a dark outline. “I am theShadow King. Iam! You willlistento me, or I will unleash much worse against your kingdom.”
“There is nothing Krustau could do that would hurt my empire,” Tallu purred coldly. “When we took the Lakeshore Palace and the land around it from you, we thought we had taught the dwarves their place. I see we were wrong.”
Backlit, it was difficult to see the king’s face, but Inor’s eyes glowed red, and when he opened his mouth, I thought I saw more teeth than any man should have. “You have no idea what Krustau is capable of. You are a child. I gave you your throne, andIwill take it away if I so desire.”
“You admit to killing my father, Emperor Millu?” Tallu asked. He arched a single eyebrow, his lip curling back in amusement. “How… inhospitable, King Inor.”