“I know that you knew what you were doing. But I do not likethat you had to do it alone.” Tallu settled on the perfectly made bed, pointedly looking at the bowl of soup.
I began to eat, the warm liquid moving down my throat and chasing away the last of the cold in my stomach. I breathed in the salty scent of the broth, the delicious undertones of fish and spices. My stomach rolled over in hunger and I lifted the bowl to my lips, swallowing it down in large gulps, barely pausing to chew the flaky fish.
When I was done, I drank the tea more slowly, savoring the spicy aftertaste that complemented the fish.
“What will we do when we get to Tavornai?” I asked. I could feel the ship moving, the rocking motion indicating swift passage down the river. Soon we would reach the area that I had cleared. I could only hope that Kacha hadn’t discovered a new mine, and a new way to loosen the dangerous electro stone from its home.
“You want to find Spider.” Tallu reached out, his fingers finding my braids. Carefully he loosened one of the fastenings, gently pulling the strands free before moving on to the next.
After he had loosened all of them, he drew me closer and I scooted the chair until it was positioned between his legs. He took the comb from my bedside table and pulled it through my hair. I tried not to wince when he hit tangles in the strands still wet from the river.
I could feel his fingers working carefully, plaiting my hair as gently as any loving northern spouse. He didn’t speak as he worked, and I closed my eyes, forcing myself to stay still and not give in to my desire to get up and rest my weight against his chest.
“Where did you learn that?” I asked as he began working on the last braid.
“I can have my secrets,” he said.
“Iradîo taught you?” I asked, not able to hide my surprise.
“It cost me something, too,” Tallu said.
“Not money.” I frowned, wondering what Iradîo would have charged him, what he possibly could have paid her.
“No, not money.” Tallu fastened the last braid, and I couldn’t resist anymore. I stood from the chair and crouched on top of his thighs on the bed, leaning against him and letting him wrap his arms around my back. We stayed like that, Tallu stroking his thumb over the back of my neck, until I felt like I could breathe.
There was a knock at the door, and Tallu tightened his arms around me. I laughed, pressing kisses to his sharp jaw, brushing my lips against the delicate flesh at his temple.
“Yes?” I said.
“We’re passing through the delta. We are about to set off the explosives.” Commander Rede hesitated. “General Saxu wondered if Your Imperial Majesty will be joining us.”
Tallu nearly growled, standing with me still in his arms. I wriggled free, sliding down until my feet touched the ground. “We’ll be there in a moment.”
I found a pair of boots and stepped into them, watching as Tallu draped his still damp robe over his shoulders. When we stepped out into the hall, it was nearly empty, only Gotuye and one of Saxu’s men guarding us.
Commander Rede stood a polite distance away, bowing when he saw us. He gestured for us to precede him up to the deck.
The sky stretched above me, an unending field of stars not bounded by forest or mountains. Even the shoreline, still so close, seemed impossibly small compared to the vastness of sea and sky.
We were on open water. I hadn’t been to the sea since Eonaî and I had arrived in the Imperium, my last view of the ocean I had known since birth disappearing as our carriage had taken us deep into the Imperium, all the way to the capital.
The explosives expert was talking excitedly with General Saxu, and Commander Rede guided us over to him.
“Your Imperial Majesty,” he said, bowing, his fingers forming a triangle. “I’m sorry, but the best solution I could come up with was to use some of the electro stone we recovered.”
I squinted toward the shore. We were long past the point of the trap. “How will it be set off?”
“That’s an excellent question, Your Highness. I put it on a timer. The other option was to attach the trigger to the final ship, but my fear was that, in doing that, I might miscalculate and the ship might be damaged.” The explosives expert widened his hands. “I will stage two large explosions, one on either side of a net. Inside the net are the pieces of wood from the boats that blew up earlier, along with the letters that Your Highness and Lady Iradîo wrote.”
“You are sure it will work?” Tallu frowned toward the shore. “When is it supposed to go off?”
The soldier nodded his head, doing a half bow before saying, “It should go off any moment now.”
We stepped toward the railing, Iradîo joining us and Naî hopping up on it.
“Would you like me to go set it off?” Naî asked. “Or perhaps find Kacha’s men hiding in the forest?”
She looked so fierce, the growl in her voice so pronounced, that I knew she meant the men wouldn’t survive the experience.
