“How are you planning to keep your promise to the boy?” Iradîo asked.
I tightened my lips before shaking my head. “The same as before. If I confront Spider, I will be able to free both of them.”
“Airón,” Iradîo didn’t look around the hallway, both of usknew that would look even more suspicious, “animalia were not the prey you were trained to hunt.”
“No,” I agreed. “But can we not both learn to be different people?”
Iradîo looked over at me sharply. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that your life has been changed just as much as mine or Eonaî’s. It cannot be easy for any of us.”
For a moment, Iradîo was silent, her jaw clenched. Under her imperial makeup, she paled. “You can get back to your room yourself, I trust.”
When she turned away, I didn’t try to follow her.
If I had thoughtpreparations to leave the Mountainside Palace disguised as merchants were intense, I had been ignorant of what it took to move the emperor’s household across the Imperium. Tallu and I were relegated to staying in one place so all the servants that needed our input could ask our opinions.
The ministers each came to meet with Tallu, together and individually, each professing their loyalty, their devotion to House Atobe. The blood monks kept their eyes on them, but it was harder now with four instead of dozens of ghosts. The courtiers who had come to the Lakeshore Palace seemed to draw Tallu’s suspicion more than the ministers who were little more than lapdogs given titles and expensive stitching.
“They have the least reason to be here,” Tallu said in his quarters, after we had dismissed the servants and guards. “They should have fled to their holdings. If they aren’t there, I suspect it is because something is keeping them away.”
“You think they’re looking to borrow some of your power?” I paced the room, feeling caged until Tallu grabbed hold of my hand when I passed him, drawing me down on the couch. I went unhappilyand accepted the bites of food he offered from a tray of delicate desserts.
“They might be trying to borrow my gratitude with this display of loyalty.” Tallu offered over a small ball of chocolate that split open in my mouth, a fruit syrup spilling over my tongue.
“And the military force to go along with your ‘gratitude.’” Putting my hand on top of his, I pulled away and drew one of my daggers from its sheath, beginning to clean it and checking the sharpness of the blade. “I think it would be worth it to see who has taken their territory or who they fear. Someone will need to lead the pieces of the Imperium we leave behind.”
“We do not have the luxury of choosing who claims the scraps of the Imperium once Bemishu and Kacha divide it between them,” Tallu said, pragmatically. He picked up another delicacy, a candied fig covered in flakes of nuts.
“But, could we not tip the scales in favor of those we think best able to survive?” I asked. “If they are able to maintain power on their own, then they are potentially able to go against Kacha and Bemishu, if not overtly, at least to the benefit of their citizens.”
“The lords and ministers here do not feel safe in their own territory. Otherwise they would be there, rather than trying to manipulate me into backing their rule.” Tallu took another fig, squeezing it between his fingers, then putting it into his mouth, sucking on his fingers to get all the sugar off them.
I held the dagger in my hand, checking the balance before setting it aside and taking out another. “Are any of those here worthy of your support?”
Tallu considered. His eyes moved as though he was on his throne and observing the court around him. “The only members of my court who I might think to callgoodhave long since fled. What do you propose? We could trap them here; I could order my guards to kill them and say that I had found a traitor among them.”
It was a cold response, but then again, Tallu had been a boywhen he had first begun dealing death to the monsters in his father’s court.
Under my hand, the blade was reassuringly solid. It was one made of pure steel, the sort of weapon that could kill a Krustavian as well as an imperial. I had embedded it in one of Maki’s human experiments and watched him explode.
“There is another option. Just as there is with the issue of the Kennelmaster.” I considered my reflection in the blade before spinning it twice and resheathing it. The next dagger I drew had a carved handle, delicate northern animals lovingly engraved on the hardwood. Eonaî had spent a summer working on it before giving it to me as a present.
“Your skills are valuable to me.” A sidelong glance showed me that Tallu’s eyes were as fierce as a hunting hawk. “Do not mistake me. If I thought it worth it, I would let you have the run of them. But subtlety is more valuable here. Unless you would prefer to let all of your blades loose and stain the Krustavian stone red with imperial blood. If that is what you want, you know I can deny you nothing.”
I snorted, knowing that what he said was both a joke and truth at the same time. But I didn’t want that, and I could see how much more effective Tallu’s campaign of rumor and secrets had been. My blades would only unite the Imperium against Tallu. But there were other options.
“What would you do, husband?” I asked, setting my daggers aside.
Tallu grinned, picking up a small morsel of fried fatty meat wrapped around a sweet date. “I think our trip to Tavornai should return many of ourloyalcourtiers to their provincial seats.”
Tavornai sat to the southwest,in a swamp that was nearly as large as the entirety of Krustau. The fastest route to what had once been the elven nation would take us straight through the Imperial Capital. But as that would mean walking straight into Kacha and Bemishu’s control, the two alternate routes were south, along the Ariphadeus desert, or north, closer to the Blood Mountains.
The Ariphadeus was shorter, but would add the danger of any goblin tribes, and north would add the reassurance of being able to pass through most of the remaining courtiers’ provinces.
“It is our deepest desire to have all of our favored courtiers safely back in their seats, best able to defend our empire,” Tallu said to the gathered audience of nobles.
The chill that passed through the large room he’d been using as a throne room was palpable. From the back of the room, the Kennelmaster watched, and I saw his eyes catch on lords who seemed particularly afraid of Tallu’s pronouncement. In a few days we would begin our journey.
