Page 94 of Shadow Throne King
One of the monks had gone with Hallu, leaving the rest with us. Three dead and three living against Centipede.
Tallu turned to follow, but I put a hand on his arm, sharing a look with Iradîo over my shoulder. Tallu would walk in the middle with us on either side. Her brows twitched, but soon, we’d boxed him in.
We passed more of the black stones, embedded in the wall, framing doorways, sitting in the ceiling like enormous mirrors reflecting us back on ourselves. Each time we passed, I could feel the whispers grow in volume, turning from murmurs to shouts, echoing inside my skull.
Using the black stones, I could sense a tunnel parallel to ours. Two guards walked, their heavy weapons resting against their shoulders. They did not speak; they did not falter. Their minds were as blank as fresh-fallen snow.
When I opened my eyes, Tallu was next to me, his hand on the back of my neck, his russet eyes wide. He narrowed them instantly, and I shook my head. I might be able to listen in on Centipede, but that didn’t mean we could be careless.
Gesturing ahead, I led us forward, hesitating at a juncture. I could feel the guards approaching. With a few rushed steps, I got us across the intersection and tucked into the mouth of a cavern just as the guards passed. Tallu squeezed my shoulder. When I looked over at Iradîo, she was giving me a strange look, Naî her mirror image on her shoulder.
Shaking my head, I closed my eyes again, feeling Centipede’s whispers in my mind:I can burn down his empire so that he can be free, just let me in, little prince. Let me in.
What had the creature promised Asahi to make him turn on us and let Centipede take over? Or had it found the fear it needed already in Asahi’s mind, the fear that something would tear him and his love apart? That he or Sagam would die before they had ever truly lived?
In the dark above us, I could feel footsteps and murmurs, echoes through the black rock, voices that whispered of missing guild members. I couldn’t speak Krustavian, but their words echoed in my ears as though spoken in Northern.
“Do you think he would really?—”
“There are ears everywhere, don’t?—”
“I couldn’t bear to?—”
I could hear the snuffle of badger noses, the scrape of their claws as they walked through their own tunnels, their minds worried about their kin who had disappeared in Centipede’s greed.
Guards ahead, but if we walked slowly enough, we would avoid them. And deeper, deeper in the mine, the whisper of something else, something that had snapped and eaten at Centipede, and the One Dragon might have dropped a mountainon him to trap the animalia, but she had trapped himwithsomething. And that thing washungry.
Tallu’s fingers pinched my shoulder, gripping so hard that it nearly bruised. His fingers moved from my shoulder to my jaw. He turned my face in his hand, frowning as he squinted, seeing something in my eyes that made his eyebrows twitch, his mouth open slightly.
But we couldn’t risk our voices in the tunnels. Even though all I wanted was to hear his voice, the throaty rumble that sent shivers up my spine and made every nerve come alive as though I had frozen in the snow and he was the fire bringing me back, I knew that I couldn’t risk his life for that need.
He tilted his head, his question so clear in the dim light from the rocks that it was nearly as loud as Centipede’s voice in my head. I shook my head in response. I would be fine.
His frown deepened, his brows pulled together sharply, and he pinched my chin between his fingers. I made a face, and he pinched harder, pulling me closer, his lips brushing against my ear, the warmth of his breath enough to make me lose all sense as well as the focus that Yorîmu had drilled into me.
He pressed a soft kiss to my temple, and I shut my eyes, my entire world focused on his lips, on his breath. I exhaled. Pulling back, he looked at me again, and I nodded. I was focused. I was alight with it.
I led us through the dark, avoiding the guards I’d heard, ignoring Centipede’s whispers, his promises. I had seen the threads of fate that bound Prince Hallu. Centipede lied and lied and lied, promising he could free Tallu. He could not free either heir of House Atobe; only Spider from her web in Tavornai could do that.
The blood monks warned us of a group of miners in the halls, and we waited, frozen in the corner of a cavern, for them to pass. I stayed perched on the balls of my feet, ready to moveif I had to kill them all.Their bones are made from the rocks of mountains, I reminded myself. I could not risk chipping my blade. I would have to be careful, swift, and precise.
They passed us by, their footsteps loud compared to ours. When they talked to each other, I couldn’t understand them, and I felt uncertainty creep into my gut. I’d understood what they said when I was listening through the black rock, meaning at least one of Centipede’s promises had been true.
We moved through the tunnels, our feet whisper-soft, and the thrum in my bones led us back toward the throne room.
We stopped in the doorway of the room where we had shared tea and food with Koque. I nudged both of them inside, aware that Koque’s harsh speech the day before indicated there was black rock somewhere in this room. Once inside, I pointed at the chairs, indicating they should stay behind.
Tallu’s answering glare was fierce and sharp. He shook his head once.
I pointed to myself, tapping my own chest before drawing a sharp blade.
He continued to try to roast me to a crisp with his eyes alone, so I leaned forward, pushing onto my toes to whisper into his ear.
“Let me be your assassin.” I dropped back onto my soles and Tallu looked struck, his eyes searching my face before he closed them.
Finally he nodded, and I exhaled, the pain in my chest easing. He’d be safe away from Centipede inside the Shadow King and Inor with Iradîo to guard him.
Closing my eyes, I let myself remember all the steps we had taken between this room and the throne room. The whispers in the back of my mind and the pull in my bones told me that was where I would find King Inor, but the images I had of the room were confused, broken.