“In the days before the Imperium. In the days when kings were chosen by dragons and not by blood, this was where they nested. This was where the One Dragon settled, laying her eggs.” The soothsayer splashed her hands in the water, and some of the liquid splattered onto our clothes. I jerked back, but Tallu remained unmoving, his frown deepening the lines between his brows.
“Right here! Right here is where they nested. And right here is where King Wollu became the first emperor by crushing every last egg that remained. Right here is where the One Dragon came back to find her brood destroyed. Right here is where the One Dragon died at the emperor’s hand.” The soothsayer stared at me, her eyes glowing brighter and brighter until I had to wince away from the light. “It is dangerous to be a dragon in the Imperium.”
“It is,” Tallu said. “But neither of us are dragons. Our wedding should be scheduled for the new year, should it not?”
The soothsayer didn’t even look at him, repeating, “It isdangerousto be a dragon in the Imperium.”
“Or perhaps even next spring, to gain the benefit of the flowers and the hope that comes with the changing season,” Tallu continued.
My heart pounded in my chest. She had to know about the dragon egg. But why wasn’t she telling Tallu? Did her order still maintain loyalty to dragons, even in the Imperium, which made their existence illegal?
“Or perhaps a full year, to give Prince Airón a chance to adapt to court lifestyle, to learn all of our ways.” Tallu’s voice was even. He was offering merely suggestions, but in them, I could hear a warning.
“Perhaps. Perhaps a full year. Perhaps the six months until the new year. Perhaps a full cycle of the moon.” The soothsayer drew her fingers through the liquid, bringing them up to her lips and sucking the water from her fingertips. “No. You shall be married on the full moon, the coming full moon.”
“That is less than two weeks away.” Tallu shook his head. “The bones are telling you something else.”
His voice was forceful, insistent, and I realized in quick succession why we were here. Tallu was going to use the soothsayer as an excuse as to why our marriage would be delayed. The soothsayer was going to say we couldn’t be married for a year. But why?
I didn’t have enough pieces, even though I had a few fragments. The war was off until our marriage. Tallu had specifically requestedmeinstead of my sister, even though logically, he would need an heir unless he wanted Rute to inherit.
Was he using me to postpone the war? Or was he postponing our wedding so that a consort of his—afemaleconsort—would have time to get with child, thus giving him the royal heir he needed to secure his own position?
“Even your great-grandfather could not tell us what the bones said.” The soothsayer’s voice grew so loud that it echoed in the chamber. Around us, the bones in the walls moved. They spoke with her, an unsettling reality of skulls opening and closing their mouths in time with her words.
Impossible. It was impossible. The water or the air must be some sort of drug.
“It is too close to the full moon to properly prepare a ceremony.” Tallu stood, towering over the old woman.
“Do notdareto tell me what the bones say. Your line killed them, killed all of the dragons. And all we have left is a scrap of their magic.” The soothsayer stood, cupping more water in her hands. It dripped through the gaps between her fingers. “Would you try it,PrinceTallu turned Emperor with his father’s murder? Will you drink it and see what I see?”
Tallu stiffened, then shook his head. “We will marry at the full moon.”
The soothsayer nodded, then collapsed down on her low stone seat. She swayed for a second before tilting over. I jerked forward, catching her head before it hit the water in front of her. For a moment, the only sound was Tallu’s harsh breathing, and I carefully adjusted my grip to settle the soothsayer on solid ground.
Her eyes were closed, face relaxed. She began to snore. Slowly, I eased my hands away when I was sure she wasn’t going to roll into the water. My hands came away covered in the glowing substance. I ineffectively wiped it on my coat, doing nothing more than smearing it over the fabric without removing it from my skin.
“If we had had this liquid in the north, my sister’s pranks would have been considerably worse. I cannot imagine what she could have done with it.” I looked up, but Tallu had turned his back, staring at one of the dragon skeletons embedded in the wall.
“You are emperor,” I said, feeling as though I was reminding him of something he already knew. “You are not bound to whatever this old woman says.”
If he wanted to run out the clock, I was happy to have the extra time to foment rebellion in his kingdom. I tried not to imagine him with a consort, him with a woman whose skin gleamed like silver or pearl. Him, holding a son who looked identical to him.
It would be foolish to feel anything about that.
“She isn’t wrong. My great-grandfather crushed the last of the One Dragon’s eggs here. He slew her when she came to check on the clutch of eggs. And when he tried to kill off the last soothsayer, guarded by her monks, he couldn’t. He drank the water and saw that if he killed the soothsayer or the monks, the Imperium would fall.” Tallu bent low, cupping some of the liquid in his hand, considering it. “We marry in two weeks.”
Nine
Tallu turned, leaving the unconscious soothsayer behind, and I scrambled up, following him into the narrow staircase, my eyes slowly adjusting to darkness again.
At least my hands still glowed, my clothing spattered with the bioluminescent liquid. Ahead of me, Tallu was only visible by the hand covered in the liquid and his long emperor’s robe, the hem soaked in glowing blue.
The noise from the river rose until it roared so loud that I couldn’t hear Tallu, even though I could see his mouth moving. Annoyed, I stepped close, shouting, “What?”
“You should cross first,” Tallu said.
I frowned at the long stretch of darkness. “You know, pushing me off a bridge is a foolish way to begin hostilities with the north again. My mother doesn’t care for my mouthy nature. She would likely send you a gift in gratitude.”
