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“Would be the first and last thing you did. And anyone who still approves of the monarchy will turn against it. Especially without proof.”
“Is it that bad?” I asked, despite having heard the shouts and whispers on the streets.
“If you read my reports, you would not need to ask.” He gestured to the pile of correspondence on my desk. “They are burningeffigies of your father on the streets, city guards are disappearing while on patrol. We have doubled the squad sizes but that means they can cover even less of the city. The first clans have arrived for the Day of the Dead festival, but they are refusing to enter the city.”
“The clans have arrived?” How had I missed this? “Has anyone spoken to them? My mother?” Some of the clans were matriarchal and preferred to deal with women.
Von Uster shook his head. “All messengers are sent back without response. I would suggest she and Solovyova go to them, as they will not enter Tal. I also suggested that any Vsadnik currently in Tal’s prison be released, in a show of good faith. Some believe them responsible for what’s been happening to the farms, targeting them. Perhaps that’s why they refuse to enter the city, but we need news and trade.”
“Do it.”
He pursed his lips. “Your father has decided against it. He keeps separate from the general population. There are children among them.”
Children in Tal’s prison. The cold Tempest had thawed crept back another inch. The world would be better without my father in it.
“I’m your prince. Free them.”
Von Uster shook his head, regret in his dark eyes. “But not yet king. The people require a scapegoat.”
My mood darkened further.King—the one thing I did not want to be and that I had to become. I wanted to improve Tal. I wanted revenge. Did I want them more than freedom? I had told Helia we could have both, but was that true?
I spent the next bell pacing and telling the spymaster of the tunnels and handing oversome of the ancient maps so he could place them under surveillance before nightfall. When he stood to leave, my words had run out—still there was one more topic. Tempest’s request.
Even hinting at her made gusts of wind whip around my clenched hands. The stolen moment this morning had been perfect. Mentioning anything to the spymaster felt like a betrayal. But von Uster had not been wrong. If I had trusted him with my plans, good people might still be alive, and I would not risk Vanya’s life. I had sworn to protect her. The curse prevented her from telling me everything. What if it forced her in other ways? Malicious mind witches could control people’s very feelings—my grandmother’s deepest fear.
Von Uster had his hand on the door when I stopped the pacing and swallowed my reluctance.
“If the Talian rebels wanted to meet with me alone, what would you say?”
He turned slowly, the wind, twitchy like my nerves, swaying his shoulder-length hair. “That you won’t survive until morning. Are you telling me such a meeting is happening?”
He pressed a hand to his temple, as if questioning why after two bells together, I just mentioned this now.
I jerked my head in affirmation. “Tonight. A reliable source says they have information we need.”
“Of course, they have information we need.” He stalked closer as if barely able to control himself, anger leaking into his voice. “They are behind the inflammatory speeches and probably the missing guards. They take in fighters from the farms and hide them. We stopped an attack on the western guardhouse only two days ago. Their plansarethe information we need.”
“People were hurt?” Vanya would not knowingly set me up, of that I was sure, but what if she didn’t know or couldn’t say… The inflammatory words I’d heard during the riot, and violence they had triggered, could not be ignored.
“One dead, five we can ill afford seriously injured. We’re already stretching the healers treating any mage with plague symptoms. Let me send someone in your stead. We can take them by surprise and stop another attack.”
I had only promised Vanya I’d consider the meeting but from her voice, I knew it was important. What we saw in the tunnels… I did not think the information she referred to had anything to do with the rebels themselves. This was Tal and I had a responsibility to the dead.
“I’m going.”
Von Uster must have read the determination on my face, for he nodded. “Then we send a Roja hand with you—unless needed they won’t be seen—and have bone soldiers waiting in the two closest guardhouses. If not needed, they’ll follow the rebels when they leave—but they will be needed.”
Five Roja.Would Alexei have lived if I had not sent away the guards? If I had brought more last night, would Koshka and Yahontov have returned? If I wanted to be better than my father, I also had a responsibility to the living. And if it was a setup, I could not protect myself, much less Tempest, alone.
“Midnight. Dragon Bridge.”
Von Uster squeezed my shoulder. “They’ll be ready. You’ll be a good king, Dimitri Ivanov.”
When he left, I passed the reports and letters, the maps I should be drawing, and books on long dead priestesses I should be studying. Ineeded sleep. Tonight was too important to push through and hope for the best.
In my bedchamber, I pushed aside the fine coats in the second closet, revealing a worn shoe next to a glass crown—perfect and impossible. I could not ask someone to return it to the treasury under the Women’s Tower without raising questions better left alone. Could not even check if this was a second crown or Tempest had somehow stolen it again. How could I even question her when the answers could choke the life from her?
She had been so pale on the floor of the Archive…
