We continued across the garden until we reached a final flight of wide, curving steps that led to the arched entryway to the palace. A figure stood at the top of the stairs, watching us approach. An iylvahn in brilliant white robes, the pendant of a sun hanging from a large gold chain around his neck. He bowedto me as we reached the top, and our two guides fell into a perfect flank beside him.
“Welcome, Fateless.” Straightening, the iylvahn smiled at me, though it didn’t quite reach his pale blue eyes. “I am High Chancellor Llorek, the voice of the queen, and it is an honor to greet you and your companions in the Palace of the Sun.”
“Thank you,” I said cautiously, with a quick glance at my friends. Halek stood calmly at my side, his smile and casual posture completely at ease. Kysa, however, did not smile.
“The queen once again offers her apologies for the creature you encountered in the Maze,” Llorek went on, unruffled by the thinly veiled distrust coming from the insect rider. “Normally, the menagerie keep to the deepest parts of the labyrinth and are never encountered by those traveling legally to Irrikah. That it had to be destroyed is regrettable—it was the only one of its kind—but the well-being of the Fateless and her companions is far more important. I trust there were no further mishaps on the way to the palace?” he asked, turning to the iylvahn who had brought us here.
“No, Chancellor,” one of our guides answered.
“Excellent.” The chancellor nodded, then gazed back at us with a slight frown. “But was there not one more?” he wondered. “What of the kahjai who accompanied the Fateless this far?”
“Kahjai Raithe has returned to the conclave, Chancellor,” the second iylvahn replied. “His mission was to deliver the Fateless safely to Irrikah, and now he awaits further orders from the queen.”
The lump in my stomach grew. The way they spoke of him...It was like he was a tool or a weapon, not a person. Was this how the kahjai were viewed by their own people? As soulless assassins? I wished Raithe was here so I could ask him, but then again, that was probably yet another thing he wouldn’t tell me.
“I see. Well then, Fateless, I am to inform you that you have an audience with the queen on the morrow,” the chancellor went on, glancing at me again. “Until that time, allow us to show you to your accommodations. You and your companions will be honored guests within the palace. All we ask is that you heed the guards if they tell you certain areas are restricted. You will, of course, have full access to the city. Should you wish to explore Irrikah, we can provide you with competent guides that will take you wherever you wish to go. As for your... mounts...” He eyed the rock beetles with perfectly polite interest. “We have stables on the palace grounds that should suffice. Provided rock beetles do not mind keeping company with wall runners.”
“Wall runners?”
“A lizard species that our scouts use to patrol the Maze.”
“Oh.” I remembered the two iylvahn appearing in front of Raithe, seeming to materialize from nothing. “I think they should be all right. Kysa?”
The insect rider gave a stiff nod. “As long as they have adequate room and do not feel boxed in,” she replied. “Then they might start eating their stalls.”
The chancellor’s brow tightened, before he gave a pleased nod. “Very good,” he replied. “We can, of course, get them settled for you—our stable hands are adept at caring for different mounts.”
“No,” Kysa said immediately. “It is against our code. No onebut the warriors of the Scarab Clan may handle our rock beetles. Fateless...” She fixed me with a steely gaze. “Go on without me. I will take care of Ratuk tonight.”
“Are you sure, Kysa?”
She nodded. “I do not like leaving you with these people, but the kahjai is not here, and your audience with the queen is tomorrow. I will not have anyone touching the rock beetles but us. If you need me, I will not be far. Do not hesitate to call if anything seems amiss.” Her dark eyes went cold. “And if you see the kahjai, tell him he had best keep his distance, from all of us, if he knows what is good for him.”
Throughout this exchange, the chancellor waited patiently, a fixed smile on his face. As Kysa and our rock beetles walked away with the two guides, he turned to me once more and gestured through the palace doors. “This way, then, Fateless. We will get you settled in.”
I tried not to stare as we made our way through the grand hallways and beneath the soaring arches of the Deathless queen’s palace. I had lived on the streets of Kovass my whole life. I had never been to the king’s palace on the hill, or even inside the palace district. When I was sent into the undercity to collect the soulstone for the ma’jhet, I had seen the ancient, crumbling palace of the Deathless King. Even in ruins, it had been awe-inspiring, built to impress as well as intimidate. It did its job well—both Halek and I had been uneasy in its looming shadow—but the palace of the Deathless queen, in all its unbroken, elegant glory, was on another level entirely. The walls were of melded white stone, without cracks or mortar, as if shaped by a potter’sskillful fingers. They looped and curled in ways solid rock was never meant to move. Trees and vines grew seamlessly throughout the palace, snaking around pillars or draped over archways. But they never looked wild or tangled; even the trees appeared to have been groomed to spiral and bend in the most pleasing way possible. Fountains and small pools of water continuously trickled, splashed, and misted into the air, creating rainbows of light that danced along the ceilings. The air was alive with the sounds of rippling water, rustling leaves, even the melody of birdsong.
“These will be your quarters, Fateless,” the chancellor said, stopping at a tall white door trimmed in gold. “The throne room is right down the corridor from here. There will be someone to escort you to your audience tomorrow morning, so do not worry about finding it on your own.”
I blinked at the looming doorway. “Is this for all of us?”
“No.” The chancellor gestured at a pair of identical doors on the other side of the hall. “The Fatechaser and insect rider have their own quarters, in rooms mirroring your own. Do not worry, they will be close. Now, if you will excuse me...” He stepped back with a short bow. “I know you have had a long journey. Please make yourselves comfortable, and welcome to the Palace of the Sun.”
He strode away, robe and footsteps shushing over the smooth stone floors, leaving me and Halek standing alone in the grand corridor.
“Well.” Halek made a show of gazing around. “Not the grandest place I’ve ever stayed in, but... No, no, scratch that.”He shook his head. “Thisisthe grandest place I have ever stayed in, and I’ve been to the Golden Citadel on the River of Silk and Spice. Or is it the River of Silken Spice? I can never remember. Regardless...” He scratched his temple and gave me a wry grin. “I know this is the palace of a Deathless, and they’re supposed to be terrible and scary, but look around, Sparrow! Have you ever seen anything so magnificent? I’ve had to keep myself from poking every flower and curling vine we passed beneath, just to make sure they were real.”
“I know,” I said. “And itismagnificent.” There was no question about that. If this had been anywhere else, Sparrow the thief would be hard-pressed not to take note of every shiny object or glittering bauble she saw. Things that would not be missed. Valuables that could be easily pocketed. But now I was almost terrified to even have such thoughts cross my mind, lest the queen somehow know what I was thinking.
“This is still the home of a Deathless, Halek,” I warned. “It’s just like the palace we saw beneath Kovass, only this queen has been alive for who knows how long.” I wondered how old she truly was; if she was one of the original thirteen Deathless, it would be thousands of years.
“Raithe didn’t ever tell us she was Deathless,” I went on, anger and pain burning through me. “None of the other kingdoms know a Deathless has existed all this time. What secrets is she hiding? What would people think if they knew that a Deathless was still alive?”
“Sparrow.” Halek paused, then sighed, as if he was about tosay something he really didn’t want to. Or something I didn’t want to hear. “Do you ever wonder if that’s the reason he didn’t tell us?”
I blinked at him. “What do you mean?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, then shrugged. “Whatdoyou think would happen if people knew that a Deathless lived here?” Halek asked. “Or were aware of what exists at the center of the Maze?” He turned, gesturing at the elegant hallway, the beautiful flowers, the vines and tapestries draping the walls. “All this beauty,” he murmured. “All this wealth. I could see entire kingdoms going to war with the iylvahn, because they want what they have. And the queen might be powerful enough to wipe them all out, but that could very well destroy the city and everything she’s built here.”
