I smiled at them, friendly. My heart was pounding in my chest.A dragon egg. Tallu had given me the dragon egg back. He hadn’t asked once about how his leg had magically healed.
I fixed my eyes on Chaliko’s daughter. Holding out my hand, I said, “Approach.”
She stepped forward, offering the box with a low bow. I took it from her, opening it to reveal a gnarled root on a velvet cloth.
Frowning, I took it out, turning it in my hand. I looked at Tallu, but his expression was unmoved, as blank as a statue.
He’d given me my dragon egg.
“What—” I swallowed, wrenching my attention back to the woman and trying again. “—what is it?”
“The elves of Tavornai worship the elder trees. When the Imperium conquered Tavornai, the elves said none of the trees survived the fires. However, in Your Imperial Majesty’s grace, you allowed us to live among them, and we gained their trust. This is a root from the last surviving elder tree.” Lord Chaliko straightened his shoulders, pushing up from his kneeling position to stand. “As a show of loyalty, the Chaliko family would happily sacrifice all of our lives to burn that last tree.”
Carefully, I placed the knotted root back into the box. “You must have sacrificed greatly to even bring us evidence of the tree’s existence.”
“Yes. Two of my sons died in the attempt.” Lord Chaliko bowed, and I could see a glimmer in the corner of his eyes. Two children dead, and he was willing to sacrifice the rest to return to the Imperium.
“This is a great gift indeed.” I put the box to the side.
Tallu finally looked over, his eyes fixed on Lord Chaliko. “The Imperium accepts your gift.”
Somehow, the formal phrase, which Tallu had already uttered twenty times that morning, sounded like a threat coming from his lips. Chaliko took the words like a physical blow, stepping backward. His son caught his shoulder, nudging him back into a bow, and then all three returned to their table, heads low.
Tallu had returned my dragon egg. Adragon eggthat could end his reign.
The Minister of Medicine, Dr. Jafopo, approached, a young woman standing at his shoulder. She wore the colors of another house, the house of one of the banished council members. On her jacket, her title was stitchedLady Dalimu, although it was crossed with a dark line, indicating that she was a widow.
“Your Imperial Majesty, Consort Airón. The Dalimu family offers our blessings on your marriage. Please accept this small token of our gratitude.” She bowed again, holding out a long wooden box and stepping forward to offer it.
I accepted the box, opening the lid to reveal a dagger made entirely of diamond. When I held it up to the light, rainbows glimmered on the blade. Tallu didn’t move his head, glancing at it out of the corner of his eyes.
“It is beautiful. Where did you acquire it?” I asked, curious. The Chaliko family had gotten their root from the elder tree with blood and sacrifice. From what I had learned through gossip, the Dalimu patriarch had been executed, their family stripped of everything of value and sent to live in the wilds of what had oncebeen Forsaith. All that was left there was burned wreckage, an entire country reduced to ash.
“My family owed the Dalimus a debt. We were happy to repay it in the form of a wedding gift,” Dr. Jafopo said. He looked between us, then bowed formally, fingers shaped into a triangle above his forehead. The Dalimu matriarch did the same.
“The Imperium accepts your gift,” Tallu said.
“Thank you, Emperor Tallu.” Lady Dalimu bowed again, backing away. When she returned to her table, I saw she only had two women with her.
The Dalimus had been severely punished for the patriarch’s decision to steal the taxes collected in his role of governor of the conquered portions of Ristorium and use them for himself rather than turn them over to the emperor. When the peasants had complained at being worked to death to feed his greed, he’d slaughtered them.
As far as I could tell, it wasn’t the slaughtering of civilians that the Imperium had a problem with. No, Tallu’s father, Emperor Millu, had taken issue with stealing from the Imperium—stealing fromhim.
I watched as Jafopo passed behind the Dalimu matriarch. It wasn’t my imagination that his hand trailed over her shoulder before he returned to his seat. Ah. I hadn’t spent so many winters cooped up in the Silver City, watching as couples broke up and reformed in different combinations to not see when someone was showing interest in someone else.
By my guess, in a few weeks, the Minister of Medicine was going to request permission to bring back Lady Dalimu as his wife. Interesting.
The rest of the afternoon passed much the same, various parties providing gifts and promises of fidelity, small hints of the true loyalties and alliances in Tallu’s court. As lunch was cleared away, the servants preparing to bring out dinner, General Kachastood, clapping his hands twice. “Emperor Tallu, Prince Airón, the other generals and I have prepared a different sort of gift for you.”
He gestured, and servants quickly opened double doors in the back of the room. Tallu’s expression remained the same, unmoved, but I was sure I saw a slight tightening in the corners of his eyes. He wasn’t happy.
“Allow us to present it, Your Imperial Majesty.” General Kacha’s expression was joyful, and I glanced across the room to where General Saxu slowly stood, hands clasped behind his back. He looked at Tallu, nodding his head down slightly.
Finally, Tallu stood, resting his fingertips on the table as he pushed himself up. His sleeve brushed mine, and my skin heated as though he was drawing the pad of his finger up my arm.
When Tallu looked down at me, I met his gaze, trying not to blink, not to give anything away. I wasn’t sure if I imagined the hint of a smile in his eyes before he offered his arm again, parallel to the floor. Slowly, I took it, letting him guide me.
“We will see this gift.”
