“The rumor is that Joon left Qali,” he says.
Zahara was being truthful. Or they are spreading the same lie—but to what end? “And where did he go?”
He blinks. “I don’t know. I swear and I vow it!”
He’s telling the truth.
“All right then. How do I get an audience with Quilimar?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “It’s not possible.”
I sigh and stare meaningfully at my dagger. I butchered three people with it today and yet it’s clean—amazing how the most gruesome acts wash right off steel.
“It’s impossible!” he insists. “No one has gotten an audience with the queen since the assassination failed. She must have used the ring, though, because the assassin’s shirt was solid gold during the piteua. The only person she meets with now is Vikal.”
He’s being truthful, and the answer is angering me more. Vikal being the only way in is not great. The general is as competent as she is clever, not to mention that she’s in love with Quilimar. She won’t let people like us get within a hundred yards of the throne.
“Vikal is still meeting with petitioners?” I ask.
“Not since the attempt. But there is the Banquet of the Sky King tomorrow. She will be there. Quilimar is supposed to be there, too, though I doubt she will attend.”
That’s right. Khitan celebrates the arrival of the monsoons as a gift from the Sky King. In Yusan, we say Sun King. Same shit. The gods abandoned Gaya long ago.
“What else?” I ask.
“Nothing else.”
I silently stare at Zeolin. He’s back to playing dumb, and he needn’t try this hard.
His eyes dart all around. “There… It’s nothing.”
I spin my blade again. “You know, a less patient man would’ve taken your head clean off by now. Do you think your body would still run around like a chicken? I think it would. At any rate, it would be amusing to find out…”
“There’s a rumor that Count Seok is in Khitan!” He says it so eagerly he spits. A glob of saliva lands on his fine shirt.
I nearly raise my eyebrows. Nearly. I never show my surprise when talking to sources, but thatisinteresting. If the southern count is here, he likely doesn’t know that Tiyung is in Idle Prison. Or he does, and that is why he is here. Either way, I can’t let Sora find out. She’ll lose focus. We’ll deal with Seok later.
“Why?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I thought he fled the realm when the eastern count died before the celebration. He arrived a few days ago.”
It’s possible. He might’ve seen the writing on the wall. I would think Seok was involved in Joon’s plot, but he wouldn’t have put his only heir in harm’s way.
I decide to change subjects.
“Have you ever heard of Oosant?” I ask.
His brow wrinkles. “You know I have—it’s a city in the old borderlands.”
“The very one.”
“What about it?” he asks.
I study him for a moment. He doesn’t know. A million mun of illegal drugs in a shitty warehouse, and no one has heard about it. My gut is telling me that the drugs are somehow tied to all of this, but I haven’t found the right source yet. I switch gears and ask my final question.
“What do you know about the Temple of Knowledge?” I don’t expect miracles, but he may have heard something about accessing the temple.
He looks to the side and then shakes his head. “No one knows who killed him.”
