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From atop the table, I looked down at him. He was an imperial, like everyone else in the room, his expression fixed as he tried to push down his terror. His makeup smeared across his face, painting his wife’s hair gold where he had pressed his face into it.

I glanced back at Tallu, waiting for his decision. Koque was already at his side, bending down to whisper in his ear. He kept his eyes fixed on me as he listened, his russet gaze warm.

Finally, he gestured with his fingers for me to return to him. I looked down at Lord Mutali one last time. No matter that his wife had said he was a good man, or that he had been trying to make peace with the goblins. He had still kept slaves.

Then again, the Chaliko family had still run an elf school. Lady Dalimu had still built war machines. I had still killed half an army. Perhaps none of our hands were clean.

I jumped off the table, walking through the puddles of blood until I was back at Tallu’s side. Wiping them on the back of Pehine’s shirt, I sheathed my knives. Tallu picked up his napkin, and reached out for my hand, cleaning the blood from my fingers.

“Your Imperial Majesty, what are your orders?” General Saxu asked.

Several of his men were guarding the exit, and two more were guarding Lord Mutali. The rest were spread throughout the room, eyeing the ladies and the rest of Lord Pehine’s important guests.

“We should expect Lord Pehine’s men to return with Ariphadi slaves within the next few days. Shut the gates and prepare for battle. Release the slaves and bring them to me.” Tallu looked over the imperials in the room. “The ladies may be locked in the slave pens. It is more generous than they deserve for acting against their emperor.”

“Your Imperial Majesty.” Lord Mutali bowed low, his eyes fixed on the floor, his fingers forming a triangle above his head. His wife was only a half-second behind him. “I would not ask for mercy on my behalf. I understand that I must bear punishment for not trying to kill Lord Pehine myself. However, my wife is blameless. She did her imperial duty and followed the poor lead of her husband. I beg mercy from you.”

Tallu watched them for a few moments. Behind his right shoulder, Empress Koque stood completely still, her hands clasped in front of her, her expression unreadable.

“Empress Koque assures me that you and your wife have only ever been loyal to me. Come, join me for a meal.” Tallu gestured to the seats next to him, and servants hurried forward, clearing the scattered food and ruined plates.

Saxu’s men rushed to fulfill his orders, herding all of the ladies out of the room and removing the dead bodies. Servants tried to soak up the blood, but there was so much of it.

Trembling, a pair of goblins from the kitchen brought out the first course, portioning out Tallu’s food first before the rest of us. One of Tallu’s Dogs tried the food, taking it directly from his plate. When the man survived, we began to eat.

No one spoke, Lord Mutali staring straight ahead. Every few moments, I could see him start to turn, start to look at where one of the other lords had been sitting, but then he forced his gaze back.

“Empress Koque tells me you took mistresses from the goblin tribes,” Tallu said.

“I… did,” Lord Mutali said. He glanced at his wife, and she raised her eyebrows, communicating something not in the imperial style of wordless gestures, but in the manner of intimacy between man and wife. “Lord Pehine killed them.”

Mutali swallowed, tightening his hand on his fork for a moment before loosening his grip.

“Do their families, their tribes, blame you for their deaths?” Tallu asked.

“I cannot be certain. We were escorted here quite soon after their deaths. But their bodies were left in the courtyard on the ground and not given the respect that goblins believe they deserve in death.” Mutali looked down, the pain in his expression very real.

“I would like to speak with the goblin tribes,” Tallu said. “While Bemishu rages through the desert, they will be our allies in defeating him.”

General Saxu turned, his expression assessing, although he said nothing in words. Instead, he continued issuing orders to his men, readying them for attack.

“I would not attempt to speak on the goblins’ behalf, but I know they will have a hard time trusting or believing that the emperor’s desires could overlap with theirs. I have no reason to doubt Your Imperial Majesty’s honesty,” Lord Mutali hastened to add. “But they have been at war with us for a great many years. Nearly as long as there has been an Imperium.”

“I know it was Emperor Wollu’s greatest wish to conquer the Ariphadeus.” Tallu frowned briefly, his eyes going slightly unfocused. He turned to me, and I could see in his gaze that there was something he wanted to talk about, but he wasn’t willing to do so in front of so many people. “Lord Mutali, you will set up a meeting between us and any goblin-tribe contacts you have.”

The order was spoken casually, as though he couldn’t imagine anyone arguing against him. Lord Mutali seemed to take it for what it truly was: a stay of execution for only as long as he could provide what Tallu needed.

A more foolish man would have prolonged the time it took to fulfill Tallu’s request. He would have desperately grasped at more reasons to avoid Tallu’s request and lengthen his own life as though it would do anything more than annoy the emperor.

Mutali was not a foolish man.

“If speed is what Your Imperial Majesty requests, then I ask permission to go speak with one of my servants. He is from the tribes and he will be able to get word to them quickly if he is allowed to leave the estate.” Lord Mutali ended on a slight bow, the gesture of his hands and head turning the statement into a desperate plea.

“You have my leave,” Tallu said. “Bring him here before you send him out.”

Standing from his chair, Lord Mutali bowed again, giving the motion time and attention, clearly attempting to make it perfect. When he stood, he walked toward the doors, hesitating only a moment at General Saxu’s men. One of them opened the door for him, and he strode through.

When he was gone, Koque asked, “Are you truly planning to pursue Bemishu into the Ariphadeus? Now that we control all of the estates along the border, he will have nowhere to go when he comes back.”