“Yes. Twenty years ago, even five years ago, the Imperial Council held considerable sway, each controlling their own territory within the empire. I imagine that’s what Lord Fuyii taught you.” I turned to look and saw General Saxu examining me, his dark eyes still crinkling in the corner from a smile not quite on his lips.
I nodded in acknowledgment. “He was my mentor—our mentor. My sister always knew she was going to come here and marry the emperor. She wanted to make sure she had an idea of what she was stepping into.”
“I would expect nothing less from the daughter of Queen Opûla. But Lord Fuyii’s information is far out of date. He might have told you how he was banished from the Emperor’s Council. From the Imperium, in fact, for the crime of treason. However, he was only the first. One by one, Prince Tallu revealed the entire council to be corrupt.” General Saxu stopped, and I turned to look at him. His expression was mild, face clear of emotion, but I saw the slightest hint of something in his eyes. If I had to name it, it might be pride or even joy. “Lord Fuyii should consider his punishment light. He was merely banished. The rest were… well, some executed. Most stripped of their rank, position, land, their entire lives, then sent to live out the rest of their short days in the middle of the conquered territories among a population that has no love for them. Emperor Tallu rid himself of the last of them since becoming emperor.”
“Single-handedly, Emperor Tallu got rid of the Imperial Council?” I murmured. Knowing the gossip and hearing it in plain terms were so different. This changed so many things. When the Imperial Council was based here, in the capital, the emperor’s assassination would have led to immediate bloodshed, immediate chaos that would have spilled out into the rest of the empire.
“Emperor Tallu had his father’s full support.” General Saxu began to walk, his hands clasped behind his back. “Dragon Blessed Emperor Millu knew what a rarity it was to find such an honest dealer in court. He treasured his son’s guidance, even when it cost him greatly in politics.”
“Emperor Tallu had no concerns that his father would replace him as heir?” I frowned as we walked. General Saxu’s image of Tallu was at odds with the viper that Lord Fuyii and Lord Sotonam presented. It was at odds with what Prince Rute had implied when he’d suggested that Tallu had killed his own father and the child who might have replaced him as heir.
“No, no. Prince Rute and his cousins might have fought for the position if Emperor Millu had wavered on his son, but he didn’t.” General Saxu reached out to a green tree, his fingers finding a single pink flower blooming. “Empress Koque, Millu’s second wife, bore him a son, but only a fool would think that an infant prince might be a better heir than a fully grown one.”
I watched his dark eyes, the smile gone from his face. He seemed intent on presenting the royal family as united, Tallu’s rule as inevitable. Why?
“Prince Airón!” Lord Sotonam hastened down the path in front of us, a sheen on his face due to sweat rather than makeup. “Where have you been?”
“Exploring the grounds. I informed the staff at Turtle House.” I gestured to General Saxu. “General Saxu was kind enough to guide me back.”
Lord Sotonam looked at the other man and wet his lips, eyes widening just slightly. “Thank you for the service, High General.”
He bowed low, lower than he had with me, and triangled his fingers. I reconsidered Saxu. The man’s face was still a neutral mask, showing no emotion as he accepted Lord Sotonam’s bow.
HighGeneral. Which turned General Kacha’s words from a teasing ribbing to nearly a challenge. And it made me wonder again why the most powerful military commander in the Imperium was pressing so hard for me to see the royal family as united—strong, with one generation passing to the next, of the same mind.
If what General Saxu said was true, then I couldn’t kill the emperor. Not yet. Tallu had sent everyone who would claw and grapple for the throne into hiding. He’d disbanded the Emperor’s Council and left himself as the sole power. I needed to stoke the fires of resentment. I needed to make sure there were enough who would see his death as an opportunity theyhadto seize.
Prince Rute had implied he was next in line for the throne, but General Saxu had saidhis cousins. I couldn’t let someone like General Kacha immediately take charge at the emperor’s death via Prince Rute. Before killing Tallu, I couldn’t take the risk that the Imperium would survive.
Or, worse, survive with someone as ruthless and cruel as Prince Rute on the throne.
“Thank you for the escort, General Saxu.” I nodded and let Lord Sotonam lead me away.
“The emperor has been asking for you.” Sotonam wiped at his forehead with his sleeve, smearing a long line of silver powder on his pale sleeve.
“Why?” I asked.
“It is not my place to question the emperor,” Sotonam said, eyes wide. His expression turned mulish before he pulled it under control. “Prince Airón.”
I regarded Lord Sotonam, comparing the structure of his face with Prince Rute’s. I could see the familial resemblance and wondered again how Rute was more powerful than the patriarch of his house. He’drecentlycome into the title, he said.
Outside Turtle House, two men stood absolutely still. On first glance, their dark gray clothes looked like what monks might wear, but the metallic masks on their faces made it clear who they were.
“I found him,” Lord Sotonam said quickly. “As requested.”
Neither of the men acknowledged him, and one turned his head to me.
“This way, Prince Airón.” His build was almost identical to his peers, but I recognized the voice.
“Sagam?” The questions I wanted to ask clawed inside my throat.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
His head made the slightest tilt, not quite a nod but more an acknowledgment. I followed the two of them through a different door into the same building where I had met His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Tallu. After the bright light outside, the interior was even darker, and the only things illuminated were the massive tapestries, which stretched from floor to ceiling.
“My sister’s ship—” I glanced at Sagam, trying to read his expression. “Did it leave safely? No one has told me anything.”
“It sailed safely. I stayed until it departed harbor.” Sagam led me through another door, the other Emperor’s Dog following behind. I tried not to feel my hackles rise, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end as though I had a borealis wolf at my back.
