“You can’t ask her through your bond if she’s all right?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “She’s too far away. I would rather see for myself that she’s comfortable.”
He looked for a moment like he wanted to argue, but he wisely reconsidered it. “I will take you to her.”
The sleeping palace was quiet as I followed Commander Talon through the halls, which were pointlessly labyrinthine. We went down when I thought we should go up, left when I thought we should go right, until I was so thoroughly confused that a little tremor of unease ran through me. It would be difficult to navigate this place without a guide and far too easy to get lost.
“That thing I saw in the throne room—the reason Shazeera panicked—what was it? I know it wasn’t human. I could tell from Shazeera’s perception of it.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, like this was the last thing he wanted to talk about. “The emperor calls it Ozul.”
“That doesn’t tell me what it is, though.”
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “My people have folklore about a creature called the Devourer. A being that moves in the shadows and devours souls, leaving only walking corpses behind.”
My eyes darted to the thick shadows of the halls around us as a cold chill crept over me. I remembered Ama’s strange warning to me about dark creatures. But then, she thought I would be safe here. It seemed like the opposite was true.
“And that’s what Ozul is? This creature from folklore?”
“It’s what I suspect but haven’t confirmed,” he said.
I thought about how Mariyah had said that Ama and Queen Jazela had told her someone had used magic to scry our exact location. How we had to flee, and then almost immediately, we were attacked by Commander Talon. I stopped, and Talon turned to me questioningly. “This Ozul is the reason you found us? He used magic to find our camp once the wards were down.”
“Yes, it was the first time we were able to successfully find the Queen of All Queens’ location. Emperor Altair believed her capture would force a one-sided agreement entirely in our favor.”
I let out a soft snort. I was pretty sure that’s exactly what they got from the current treaty.
We continued down yet another hall, and I asked, “So Ozul has the power to scry, and he may eat souls and leave behind walking corpses—but you have no proof of that, right?” When he hesitated, I glanced at him sharply.
“I don’t know yet.”
“Yet?”
“There are some disappearances that I intend to look into.”
The earlier chill deepened, sinking beneath my skin. I wrapped my arms around my body while I turned his words over in my head. The shadowy being that I had seen through Shazeera’s eyes had the power to overcome Ama’s earth magic. Consuming souls for energy was obviously a very dark magic, one that my people were unfamiliar with, though we had stories, too, warning us of the danger of delving into things better left alone. Just what kind of monster had the emperor brought into the palace?
When at last we made it out into fresh air, I had to stand for a moment and bask in it, letting the wind tug playfully at my hair to cleanse away the fear that clung to me like oil. Somehow, the path we’d followed out of the palace had led directly out into the valley, though I could have sworn we’d spent the last ten minutesclimbing to the very top of the mountain. The mountains surrounded us, looming darkly in the moonlight, their tops just seeming to brush the sky. Before us was a wide expanse of pasture, and though it was too dark to see properly, I could tell by the fresh smell that the grass was thick and verdant. Sheep bleated in the distance, and the sound relaxed something inside me. The scene was far more picturesque than I’d expected to find.
Commander Talon continued out into the pasture, and I let out my breath in relief when a familiar blood bay mare immediately came toward us. Beside her was a slip of a woman with shiny black hair and a guarded expression. She wore the dusky gold leather armor that I had come to recognize as belonging to the Eagle Riders. First Talon had been assigned to guard me, and now another Eagle Rider watched over Shazeera. Were the emperor’s guards not to be trusted?
I heard you coming,Shazeera said, still sounding exhausted.
I just had to see for myself that you were all right,I told her.I’m not sure who I can trust here, but I’m glad Talon kept his word to me, at least.
“First Daughter Zara,” Talon said, “this is Lieutenant Zamir, who volunteered for the first watch of guard duty for Shazeera.”
The lieutenant bowed deeply. “At your service, Majesty.”
“Thank you,” I replied with a smile before turning to Talon. “Did you arrange for an Eagle Rider to guard Shazeera?”
“Yes, I wanted to be sure she was well taken care of.”
I furrowed my brows at him. “Because you don’t trust the emperor’s guards?”
“Because I trust my own Eagle Riders more,” he said smoothly.
I don’t trust any of them,Shazeera said,but at least she’s quiet and hasn’t brought her eagle to the pasture. Are you staying safe? No other encounters with demonic shadows?
