Page 80 of Shadow Throne King

There were more protests, but Tallu was emperor, and his words held the inevitability of fate.

When their shuffling footsteps faded down the tunnel, I turned to Tallu.

“Are you sure that was wise?” I whispered.

I wasn’t really questioning him, more staring down the darkness of the tunnel ahead, realizing that now it was simply the two of us against the entire nation of Krustau. Tallu turned to me.

In the lamplight, his expression was drawn and pained. “What? You do not think we can take on a few dwarves?”

“I can take on as many dwarves as you want. It’s your stepmother that I fear. That woman’s fangs are sharper than a sea serpent’s and her venom even more poisonous.” I picked up the remaining lamp, glad it was electric and hadn’t extinguished during the fight. Raising the light, I checked the path we needed to travel but saw nothing but dirt. Because I had the light, I started down the tunnel with Tallu trailing behind me, dancing shadows and a pair of blood monks ahead of us.

“She’s not so bad.” But Tallu was smiling, the expression lifting some of the exhaustion and pain from his face. “Truly, you do not think a sea serpent is worse?”

“I think an entire pack of sea serpents would take one look at her and turn tail. The ancient animalia Sea Serpent would hand over its treasure at a single arched eyebrow on her face.” I would have gone further, but the air was becoming increasingly humid, and the tunnel curved up: we were reaching the end of it.

Ahead, Lerolian called out. “We are clear of the lake. The mountains begin.”

For a second, despite the banter and the pretended bravery, I considered turning around and leading Tallu back down the tunnel to follow Asahi and the Kennelmaster. I would drag him all the way back to the Mountainside Palace, push him into bed, and curl around him. Then we would never leave, live our lives in luxury, enjoying the benefits of being the emperor and his consort.

But then the Imperium wouldn’t crumble. And then both of us would spend the rest of our lives knowing that we had broken promises, that we had failed to rid the world of an evil when it had been in our power to try.

I couldn’t let that happen. I had trained too hard and Tallu had sacrificed too much for us to let the Imperium stand.

I could tell the moment we stepped out from under the lake and into the mountains. The air chilled, my breath steaming. The tunnel we had been passing through had been a mix of silty dirt and hard stone, but now, it was solid rock, carved as though an artisan had made a hole and then spent a thousand years rubbing at it with a soft cloth until the walls gleamed.

The blood monks ahead shouted now that they didn’t have to worry about Tallu and me reacting to their voices and giving away their presence to the Kennelmaster and the Dogs.

“We’ve found a room with bodies,” one of them called back.

We followed the blood monks into a cave off the main tunnel.

Part of me had thought that seeing Maki’s workshop was the worst of it. Corpses hung up on walls, the atrocities done to them clear. Nothing could be worse than that.

I was wrong.

The room was littered with corpses, piled high with them. Despite the chill of the air, they were in various states of decomposition. Some had been hacked to pieces, others had their organs strewn across the ground. A single flickering lamp in the corner lit the entire room.

I didn’t say anything. What was there to say?

“These are the men Maki left behind at the outpost,” Tallu said.

I jerked my head sharply toward him, frowning. “What?”

“All that bloodshed and here are the bodies.” He frowned, lips pulling down.

“But Topi said…” I frowned. No, she had told us how many men were with him, and if Quuri was to be trusted, only a fraction of those came with Maki to the Lakeshore Palace. He left behind nearly all of his men at the outpost.

“Most of these men bear the tattoos of the military.” Tallu crouched next to the closest body, pointing with his finger, and I stepped closer, lowering the lantern.

A tattoo, similar to the one that Liku had on his arm, circled the man’s bicep. “This labels him as one of Maki’s men. Based on the age of the ink, he had been with the general for over a decade.”

With the bodies in states of undress or torn to pieces, it was impossible to tell how many men were here.

“So he leaves most of his men at the outpost with the promise that, once he gains access to the Lakeshore Palace, he’ll return with food. Only a small party can come with him, because no one in the Lakeshore Palace would be fool enough to open the gatesif he showed up with an army—especially a starving army that wishes to overthrow the emperor.” I looked around the room. “But he needs bodies for his work. And he needs to be certain that none of these men will show up at the Lakeshore Palace, giving away the fact that he does not have the support of His Imperial Majesty.”

Tallu was nodding. “And then he begins using the messengers I sent to speak with the king of Krustau. To show his loyalty to the Shadow King, he tells him about the men hiding at the fort. He might have even said they wereyourmen.”

I was seeing it so clearly. Maki had set up each piece like a gamemaster.