“The book on engineering in the ancient peri world was fascinating. The tunnel system might help us when we find the vault, as the book I found discussed that it was quite complex. And there were some details about a portion of the vault being underwater, which has an added challenge,” I said, my voice monotone as I spooned more black chickpeas onto my plate.
The Viceroy leaned back in his chair, a frown creasing his brow as he tried to follow my words.
When he didn’t respond, I continued. “In order to prepare ourselves, it’s probably a good idea to research the vault system as much as possible.”
“In preparation for Azari’s wonderful traps,” Kiyan said with a humorless smile, not looking at either of us, filling his own food onto his plate.
That cleared the confusion on the Viceroy’s face. A sly smile curled his lips. “The River Court should know all about Azari’s traps. They were after all, defeated by them.”
Kiyan stabbed his roasted river crocodile so hard I thought his plate would crack in half.
“I’ve heard there might be an alarming number of death traps that await us. Queen Azari was from the Court of Vultures, after all.” The Viceroy chuckled at his own joke, though I wasn’t entirely sure of the context.
I had dug up and studied ancient fae relics, but I didn’t understand the social hierarchy and inter Court relationships, at least not yet. Nor did I know why Kiyan suddenly looked like he wanted to overturn the table over.
Traps in fae vaults were nothing I hadn’t survived before. The memory of the pit filled with spikes from the previous vault entered my mind, and a shudder ran through me.
“Cold?” The Viceroy asked, but his voice held no concern, instead it was like he were asking the question because he was fascinated with a human feeling anything at all.
“More like dread,” I said, thinking about how close I’d come to dying alone in a pit where no one would ever find me.
“Scholars aren’t meant to be adventurers.” He gave me a thin smile, his eyes cold. He and Kiyan both had dark eyes, but where Kiyan’s reminded me of tree bark, or freshly dug earth, the Viceroy’s were like an endless black pit.
I wondered if the Viceroy had ever felt anything like dread or fear. I wondered if he had any feelings at all.
He was handsome, but I still remembered the brightness in his expression when he threatened to torture me, the delight in his face as he spoke of it.
He did have feelings, just the wrong ones for the wrong reasons.
My gaze slid back to Kiyan, who had begun skewering his meal roughly, the most emotion I’d seen from him since he’d seen Queen Azari’s haath phool on my wrist.
“But some might say scholars are in the best position to find lost relics,” the Viceroy continued. “They often know how to retrieve them and have access to the research needed to both find them and avoid vault traps.”
“That’s because most of the relics aren’t lost,” I said, turning my attention back to the Viceroy. Kiyan had stopped cutting his meat and angled his head towards me, as if to hear better.
The Viceroy narrowed his eyes, his mouth flattening. “What do you mean by that?”
“Scholars are meant to be the protectors of history. Ensuring that they stay safe,” I continued, measuring my words. “Most of the relics aren’t meant to be found. They are hidden deliberately. They are part of the vaults and burial grounds of ancient ancestors, and it’s our job to keep them where they’re meant to be.”
And why I had to rebury as many as I could to stop the Citadel from taking them.
A lot of scholars at the Citadel had similar thoughts to me—it was difficult to pour so much time and effort into studying ancient fae vaults that were just going to be torn apart by the Empire.
But I forgot who I was talking to this time.
Kiyan lifted his head and stared at me. The Viceroy looked more than amused—his smile had turned sharp like a blade.
“And you think they should stay hidden?”
My chest tightened with dread as I realized I had spoken too freely.
“Don’t tell me you are sympathetic to the rebel cause?” His eyes held a hardness that had me shifting in my seat. My problem was, I had no idea what the rebel causewas. But after what I had seen of the Viceroy, I sympathized with them more than not.
“No.,” I answered truthfully. “First and foremost, I’m interested in studying these ancient objects. But I understand why they are hidden and protected.”
The Viceroy scoffed. “The rebelswantto keep them hidden. They know that revealing them will mean they stand no chance against our power. That they won’t be able to withstandmeafter I find it.” The Viceroy’s eyes took on an unholy glint. “And that with it, I will be able to find their protected fortress, their protected royal family, and destroy them all.”
An unsettled sense of foreboding washed over me. I was starting to realize that I actually didn’t know the power Queen Azari’s crown had. The only thing I had thought about was taking down the wall and bringing magic back to the human world, but it sounded as if it did much more than that.
