When he lay back on the hay, I wished that I had enough of Eonaî’s training to curl up against him, but instead, I held myself stiffly, unsure if I could lean against him, unsure what the kiss meant to him and why exactly it meant so much to me.
The light around us grew brighter, and over the edge of the cart, I saw more houses—shacks, really. They clumped together until we were driving down what might be called a street.
Liku pulled to a stop and looked over his shoulder. “How close do you want to get to the palace?”
Tallu sat up, looking around. “Head that way. Stop before you reach the palace.”
Liku tugged on the reins again, and the mule plodded in a slightly different direction. After a long stretch of time, Liku stopped again.
We were in a small grove of trees, the path rocky and unkept. Through the trunks, I could see the lights high up on the palace walls. Would we need to avoid guards? How often did they patrol?
Tallu stood, hopping out of the cart with more grace than I managed. He came around to the front of the cart, nodding his head at Liku.
The soldier jumped down, dropping to his knees and pressing his forehead to the ground.
“I will send recompense for your service,” Tallu said.
“No need, Your Imperial Majesty. It is a pleasure to serve the Imperium.” Liku kept his face down, shadowed in the light from his lamp.
“It was a service, nonetheless.” Tallu frowned. “Compensation is deserved. What is your name?”
“I already gave him compensation,” I said.
Tallu turned to stare at me, frowning. “What?”
“My mother gave me a purse before I left. We weren’t sure what money we would need, if Eonaî might need new clothing. I gave it to him.” I willed myself to look honest. And, in a sense, Ihadgiven Liku payment. I had lied about his wife, and as far as Tallu knew, there was no woman in the forest practicing forbidden magic.
“It was more than enough,” Liku said, his voice thick. He coughed, clearing his throat.
“Very well. We are grateful for your service.” Tallu nodded his head, and Liku pressed himself further into the ground, his fingers twitching into a triangle.
Tallu gestured me forward with a nod of his head, and we stalked through the trees, hiding ourselves in the foliage until we heard the creak of springs and the snap of leather, Liku’s light bouncing as he made his way out of the trees. When the sound of his cart was long gone, Tallu stepped closer to the edge of the trees where the palace walls were visible.
He looked up, waiting for something, and when I inhaled to ask what, he raised his hand. I quieted just as light moved along the top of the wall, a different shade than the light on the lamps set into the stone. Two guards chatted quietly, their voices growing distant as they passed by.
As soon as they passed us, Tallu crossed the gap between trees and wall, touching his hand to the stones.
A spark of electricity danced from his palm, so bright in the evening light that it left an afterimage on my eyes. The wall opened without a betraying sound, and we stepped through.
The grounds were silent, and Tallu led me forward, both of us walking as quietly as we could. He cut left when we saw lights coming toward us, the guards holding their lamps up as they searched.
Tallu pulled me into a chapel, a stone dragon presiding over it, holding a flame in one paw and a lightning bolt in the other. Before I could ask what we were doing—if we were going to hide from his guards the entire way back to his rooms—Tallu pressed both hands to the floor. Another bolt of electricity sparked from his palms to the ground, and the floor underneath us twisted, opening into a set of spiraling stairs.
When I inhaled sharply, my questions nearly spilling out, Tallu shot me a look, holding up his hand. I followed him when he walked into the darkness, reminded of our visit to the soothsayer. How many hours had it been since we’d walked together into a dragon’s mouth? We had left mid-morning, and now, it was the in-between time of night after midnight but before dawn. Perhaps closer to the latter than the former.
At the bottom of the stairs, we were in a labyrinth of underground tunnels, the lights here already bright with electricity.
“Only the Emperor’s Dogs know the full extent of these tunnels,” Tallu said. “We should be safe here.”
“Unless your Dogs are in on it,” I said.
“If the Emperor’s Dogs have been compromised, then we have no hope.” Tallu’s voice was flat, and he looked to the side, as though listening for something. His shoulders relaxed. “This way.”
“What did you hear?” I asked sharply, following him down the tunnel.
“Nothing. It was—nothing.” He was lying, but I wasn’t sure what even to ask.
Instead, I said, “Who do you think it was? The men in the temple were from Krustau. Do any of your enemies have ties to them?”
