“So, you’ve met my cousin.” Tallu didn’t sound surprised. “I thought he might be more discreet, but I suppose he thinks now he doesn’t have to be.”
There was a hint of something under the words, as though Tallu was planning something and hadn’t quite put it to words yet. The cave was so dark I couldn’t see anything, only feel the press of Tallu against me, the heavy way he was breathing as though every gasp was painful.
“Why hasn’t he had an ‘accident’? Surely he could slip and fall and cut off his head.” I clicked my teeth. “Or a poison could make its way to his morning breakfast. If he’s such trouble.”
Tallu made one of those gasping sounds that now resembled macabre laughter. “You will not believe this, but he is the best of the options.”
I exhaled. “Because he’s your closest cousin? There aren’t any by-blows wandering around? No bastards that you can help to the right side of the blanket?”
“No, all of the emperors have been careful to kill anyone who could challenge their position. That’s the trouble with getting rid of the dragons. If blood is all that determines who inherits, well,anyonewho has blood could claim the throne. It’s normally the first act of an emperor: kill his siblings and any of their children.” Tallu wheezed again.
My body was going numb, and I was too tired to be any less blunt. “Is that what happened to your father and brother?”
The silence stretched, and when Tallu spoke, it was quiet, almost inaudible over the water. “Someone poisoned them. Someone made sure that my father, his wife, and my infant brother were far enough from the Capital that there was no hope for them. That even if the emperor himself begged, no one could save them. Their deaths were without mercy, without even a hint of humanity.” Tallu’s voice was soft in the dark, and I shivered, but not from cold. “I hope whoever is whispering such rumors in your ears remembers that my father died choking on his own blood.”
“Perhaps someone should inform your cousin about that,” I finally said.
“I’m not surprised he suggested such a thing to you,” Tallu said. “In the family tree, Ruteismy closest cousin, but I would have chosen him even if he wasn’t. If I hadn’t selected him, the situation would have been worse.”
“Why?” I asked. The sparkles of light in my vision were coming in and out of focus. “If he’s such a sadist, what are the rest of your cousins? Into necrophilia? Do they drink the blood of infants? Sleep on the bones of their enemies?”
“If I hadn’t chosen him, Rute would have killed all of them until he was my only option. Or…hemight not have killed them, but it would have happened on his behalf.” Tallu sounded tired. “If Rute dies, then the cousins will fight among each other. They will devolve into backstabbing.”
“But they aren’t House Atobe,” I said. “What will the empire be if one of your house isn’t the emperor?”
The river splashed against the small piece of land we were sitting on, and suddenly, I saw a way through. If Rute died andthenTallu died, the chaos we needed would happen. Everyone would think the empire was up for grabs. Tallu’s mother’s nieces and nephews weren’t House Atobe, and that meant anyone loyal to the old council might try to put one of them on the throne. At least the old council had the benefit of experience, while Tallu’s cousins just had the pride of birth.
“As long as Rute lives, it is not an issue,” Tallu said finally. “He has the support he needs should the worst happen to me.”
“No one would challenge him,” I said, but it was more to myself.
I couldn’t let Tallu die now, I couldn’t. I needed to make sure there were enough challenges to the throne that whoever wanted to sit upon it would not find it a smooth transition of power. The Imperium needed to eat itself alive.
My chest hurt, a bruise on my rib cage spreading until it felt like my heart clenched, my lungs refusing to expand.
I had to keep Tallu alive long enough that his death meant the death of the Empire. How impossible was it that I had spent my entire life training to kill this man, and now that it was within my grasp, I needed to keep him alive?
Swearing, I stood. Drying my hands off as best I could, I began feeling around, searching for a way out.
“Can you climb?” I asked. “We need to get out of here to make sure that the right man sits on the Imperium’s throne.”
“Climbing might be hard. The first attacker sliced through my leg. The water numbed it; I might be able to use it now.” I heard Tallu push up onto his hands and knees, then stand with a groan.
That tremble on the island… how wrong I had been. That wasn’t his first kill—that had been an injury that would take a lesser man to his knees.
Next to me, silent in the darkness, threat seeped from every part of him. He was angry, his fury a living thing that kept him upright. Someone had insulted him by attempting to kill him. It didn’t bode well for relations with Krustau.
Finally, my hands found some grips, and I pulled myself up until I found a narrow strip of flat ground carved into the cavern wall just above the river. Who knew how long it would go, but it was better than hoping the river took us somewhere safe.
Without complaint, Tallu followed me, and we made our way in the darkness, my hand on the wall, my feet testing each step before I put my foot down. At first, I was sure the glimmers of light were more evidence of head injury. Shaking my head, I waited for my vision to clear, but the lights were still there. Only when we finally reached a gap between the rocks did I believe what my eyes were telling me.
We had found a way out.
Ten
Squeezing through the narrow gap was difficult but not impossible, and once I had my head and shoulders through, the rest was just wiggling hard enough to make it.
Outside felt like an entirely different world. The cavern had been so cold it had seeped into my bones, and now, the rest of the world made my skin twitch and tremble, the heat almost too much. I glared at the setting sun, turning to look, trying to get oriented.
