19

“Our dungeons?” Tansoong asked, staring. “But why?”

“We are the princess’s guard,” Shadi told him. “We must be kept abreast of any dangerous felons in the city, and that includes those in your dungeon.”

Khalad had stayed behind to examine the sleeping Daanorian princess. Princess Inessa and Likh were elsewhere for some court function. Kalen was off to measure the scope and extent of the wards in the palace, hoping to find the means to unravel them, leaving only Zoya, Shadi, Fox, and me.

Tansoong, the elder statesman, was solicitous but also very inquisitive, constantly peppering Zoya with questions. He seemed particularly interested in Dark asha, and more than once, I felt his curious eyes on me when he thought I wasn’t looking. The younger court official, Baoyi, was the complete opposite, not bothering to hide his dislike. Clearly, he was here only because his emperor had ordered him to be and maintained a sullen silence with us. He had a nervous-looking servant with him who appeared to be a secretary of sorts.

It was unfortunate that I couldn’t cast Scrying on either official; I wondered what kind of minds they had. Likh had asked them about the wards around the palace and received blank stares from both. Inessa had questioned the emperor and gotten the same reaction. Either the barriers were placed without their knowing or they were magnificent actors.

“We only have two prisoners at the moment,” Tansoong explained, “both servants caught stealing from the kitchens. They shall be transferred to the larger jails in the city, so her betrothed will have little reason to worry.”

Zoya studied the prisoners while I peeked into the other empty cells. With a sigh, I glanced down at the floor, where some bored prisoner or guard had piled a few stones in one corner. Dirt was strewn across the floor, and many of the cells had no locks. The prison cells were rarely maintained, Tansoong explained, because few people would dare to commit crimes so near to the emperor. It was wishful thinking to have hoped that the old Heartforger was here.

It was only after we left that Baoyi finally spoke. “Why do you ask to examine our princess?” he demanded.

“We have a noted healer with us,” Shadi explained. “He offered his services.”

“What do I know of this man’s qualifications? What assurances do I have that you will not poison her?”

“It is the emperor’s orders, milord.”

His secretary cleared his throat and murmured something in a soft, placating tone. Baoyi scowled, then barked an order to some of the soldiers.

“He wants the guards increased at Princess Yansheo’s room,” Shadi murmured. “He is protective of the girl.”

The girl herself, Jade of the House of Weixu, lay sleeping on a golden bier, surrounded by flowers. A glass case separated her from the rest of the world, like she was a character from an old fairy tale. Zoya told me the glass was removed every three hours for the attending servants to bathe her hair and anoint her body with the choicest perfumes, which Zoya learned had been on Baoyi’s orders. To spread rumors that the princess was dead was a jailable offense.

“They found her by the gardens outside the ballroom,” Khalad said quietly. Whatever wards were in place, his forging skills remained unaffected. “Her heartsglass is missing, but someone had drawn her Heartsrune. I can still feel the spell lingering around her.”

“None of the Daanorians are owning up to that,” Fox said. “Curious.”

Tansoong excused himself, glancing at me as he did. Baoyi stood over the princess and folded his arms, still glaring.

“He doesn’t believe that a young girl like you is capable of putting down a savul when their army has failed,” Shadi whispered. “It is the kingdoms of Tresea and Istera that hold the nearest daeva burial mounds, so Daanorians know little about the beasts. They always considered asha an ornamental profession, more to do with entertaining guests than slaying daeva.”

“It is a belief they should consider amending,” Zoya said shortly. “Daeva have not been sighted in this kingdom for more than five hundred years, but a creature’s habits are never constant. Times are changing and so must they. Once they pinpoint the current whereabouts of the savul, Tea, you should prove them wrong. Show them asha are more than concubines for princes.”

“‘Princes’? Did a prince say something to you, Zoya?”

“Not to me,” the asha growled.

Shadi squeezed Zoya’s hand. “Don’t be jealous. I declined their offers.”

“Still makes me want to kick each and every one of their satin-clothed behinds.”

“You know I’m for you alone, Zoya. I thought I made that very clear last night.”

“Shadi!”

“I’m going to see how Khalad’s faring,” I said glibly, stepping away from the red-faced Zoya and her grinning lover. Fox followed me.

The glass case was removed at the forger’s request, but Baoyi and the stern, harsh-looking soldiers surrounding the bier remained. Oblivious to their scrutiny, Khalad continued his examination, his gray eyes large behind his spectacles. “Did you find anything else?”

Khalad sighed and rubbed at his eyes. “She was dancing at a ball held in honor of her fourteenth birthday when the sickness took her.”

“This is nothing we haven’t heard of before,” Kalen said, coming up behind us.

“I’d like to show you something.” Khalad’s hand hovered above the sleeping girl’s chest. I saw the swirl and eddy of colors and then a faint image from the princess’s point of view: a man bowing down to kiss her hand, the cut of his clothes more Odalian than Daanorian. There was no mistaking his face. The vision lasted only for a few seconds before sputtering out of view.

“Holsrath,” I gasped.

“My vision is limited,” Khalad said. “I can pull out a stray memory or so but not for long. This was the last thing she saw before losing consciousness, that much I can ascertain.”

Kalen frowned. “Considering my father was supposed to be in a jail cell during this time, it’s something of a surprise.”

“But how did he get out without anyone knowing?” Fox demanded. “Short of King Telemaine himself setting him free, that’s impossible.”

“Still not as many questions as I would like answered,” I confessed.

“We need to discuss this in private,” Khalad said with a sidelong glance at Baoyi. “Let’s get Shadi and Zoya and return to my room. We may be the emperor’s guests, but that’s not a guarantee his hospitality will hold.”

“Where are you going?” Baoyi wanted to know. “How will you cure the princess?”

“It will take time, milord,” Khalad told him gently. “We will do everything in our power to help her. Is there anything else you can tell us about her sickness?”

The court official nodded, the scowl momentarily slipping from his face. “There is very little to say beyond what is already known. She was found sleeping in the gardens with no evidence of foul play.”

“Did you see anyone running away?”

Baoyi thought. “There was one person—a young upstart by the name of Shaoyun. He was one of Princess Yansheo’s admirers, but she had shown little interest. A few people reported seeing him leave the gardens around the time she took sick.”

Khalad cleared his throat. “Lord Baoyi. You might not remember me, but I am Narel’s assistant. He introduced me to you once.”

Baoyi peered curiously at Khalad; then his expression changed, softening. “My apologies. Khalad, wasn’t it? I remember, we met at Kion once. I had no idea… Is Narel in trouble?”

“I don’t know. He has a habit of leaving when it suits him,” Khalad lied glibly. “He hasn’t returned from Santiang, and I was worried.”

“I am sorry we are meeting again under these circumstances.” Baoyi thawed considerably. “The situation has been complicated further by your…princess’s…arrival. I shall send out search parties of my own in the city.”

“I hope you don’t mind if we still conduct our own search?”

“Of course not. I wish us both all the success.” His clerk hurried forward, looking harried with a clipboard tucked under his arm. He murmured something in Baoyi’s ear, and the other man nodded. “I must go. Let me know if I can be of more assistance.”

“We will. Thanks.”

Shadi lowered her voice as we left the room. “What are your thoughts on the emperor and this Baoyi, you two?”

“It’s difficult to say for sure without a heartsglass,” Khalad said. “But Baoyi does sound genuinely concerned about Master.”

“It might be good to keep communications with him open,” Zoya decided. “He might find information we may not have access to. The emperor’s an admirer of asha, without a doubt, but it doesn’t seem likely that it was he who engineered these palace wards. It must have been someone of great skill, and I don’t see a Daanorian having that ability.”

“Have you ever considered that the elder asha might have a hand in this?” I asked quietly.

Zoya’s mouth fell open. “That’s crazy, Tea. Whatever their mistakes, they would never sink so low as to betray Kion.”

“They possess a False book much like I had.”

Shadi frowned. “They might have confiscated it from someone else in the past. Do you have any other proof?”

“No,” I was forced to admit. That Aenah had told me didn’t mean much either. But…

The pretty asha patted me reassuringly on the shoulder. “Let’s keep an open mind. I would say the duke is a far more viable suspect in this, with more evidence stacked against him.”

“I take it magic isn’t something they can easily get at in Daanoris?” Fox asked.

“Daanorian emperors of old have banned the practice of magic. Some nobles once dabbled in them or at least paid those skilled in the runes, with horrific results. The Daanorians imposed little restrictions on their magic, and twenty years of war soon decimated their population. It took Odalia, Kion, and the Yadosha city-states to put an end to the fighting, and every Daanorian ruler since then has pledged to never use runes. Even heartsglass was prohibited. That they have wards in place is suspicious in itself. Using magic to prevent other people from using magic sounds a little hypocritical to me.”

“But Emperor Shifang himself is keen on magic?”

“Not quite. His interest lies in the azi for the most part, given its similarity to his royal crest.” Shadi shrugged. “Hopefully, Emperor Shifang’s fascination with Princess Inessa shall work in our favor. In the meantime, Fox, try not to get yourself stabbed. You’re a little harder to explain.”

“I’ll try, milady.”

Khalad shut the door behind us, briefly pressing his ear against the door. Then he prowled the room, carefully tapping at the walls.

“Why all the secrecy, Khalad?”

“We need to go into the city,” the forger said quietly, pitching his voice lower. “I tried to earlier, but the guards stopped me under Tansoong’s orders.”

“The old man might not be as accommodating as we thought,” Kalen growled. “Didn’t they promise to allow us to search?”

“Sure—eventually, once the savul has been neutralized. Sorry, Tea, but the sooner we can get to that daeva, the sooner we can search.”

“I’d have done it already if I knew where it was,” I said. “Or if I could control the azi to search for it. But how certain are you that the Heartforger is in the city?”

“Master keeps a small house in Santiang.”

Zoya stared at him. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“It slipped my mind,” Khalad admitted. “He treats patients as a regular physician would, without using any magic, so he’s never gotten into trouble.”

“Do you know where this house is?”

“No, but I can find it.”

“Let’s give ourselves a few days to assess the politics in the palace first,” Zoya suggested. “I do not want to have to fight my way out of another kingdom so soon. We’ll need to ferret out more information about this Shaoyun fellow. It’s a long shot, but at least it’s a lead. Besides, I was never one to do things halfway.”

“No, you don’t,” Shadi said serenely, and Zoya blushed again.

• • •

It was difficult to find answers from the servants using only gestures and the most basic Daanorian I knew, but I finally found the gardens where Emperor Shifang was giving Princess Inessa the royal tour. It was an immense field, with each bush carefully clipped and tailored so none were out of place, and much of the shrubbery was shaped into different variations of dragons. The emperors of Daanoris, I thought, had a particular and peculiar fetish.

I felt Fox’s irritation. My brother leaned against a tree, glowering. Princess Inessa’s heartsglass told me she was bored, though she sent enthusiastic nods and wide smiles her fiancé’s way. She maintained a death grip on her collar and frequently snuck glances back at Fox to reassure herself she was not alone with the emperor.

I could understand his impatience. Every day we lingered, the chance of Prince Kance dying increased. Not for the first time, I cursed the barriers. Without them, we might have found the old forger by now, broken Inessa’s engagement under the threat of the azi, and left.

“Tell me more about Daanorian empresses,” Inessa said sweetly. “Were they brave fighters? Did they take command of armies?”

“They were as able as men,” came the proud response, translated through Tansoong. “Emperors are selective when it comes to wives. Should a ruler become incapacitated, they take over in his stead and command the same obedience. When Emperor Hansun fell dangerously ill, it was Empress Kalka who led the army to victory against Tresea, with only six hundred men against their thousand. And Queen Meili successfully conquered Arhen-Kosho when she married the sickly Emperor Jien, losing that kingdom only after her death. All young, blushing innocents before their marriage—as is required of them, naturally—yet with the courage of the gods in their blood. And with you by my side, my love, we shall lead Daanoris into further greatness.” He took her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist. Chagrin surged out at me from Fox’s end.

Where’s Likh? I asked quietly.

I think Inessa took pity on him and sent him to his room was the terse response.

You know, if you’re really bothered by this, you should speak up.

Who said it was bothering me?

You’re not as good at hiding your emotions as you were before I first drew the Veiling, Fox.

He scowled at me. That’s none of your business.

That’s never stopped you before.

I don’t like it, all right? It’s one thing to be engaged to Prince Kance, and it’s another to be betrothed to an emperor from another kingdom she knows nothing about! I saw the way he eyes her. She isn’t a person to him—she’s just another expensive ornament to display! I’d like to strangle that royal neck!

We’ve been in the Daanorian palace for barely a day, Fox. Let’s not set the fastest world record for bad manners.

I’m not going to lose my temper in front of her. I’m just…I’m just…

You’re what?

I don’t know. Nothing. It was not like Fox to sound so helpless, and my heart went out to him.

I could have told Fox to forget her, that Inessa was capable of handling herself or, failing that, her choices were her own to bear. But living inside his head and being more susceptible to his emotions changes one’s perspective.

Talk to her. She’s as scared about this as you are. You can’t be this dense.

He didn’t try to deny it. Not when the emperor is glued to her side all day, drooling like a little lapdog.

Do I have to do everything myself? I didn’t know if I was breaking Daanorian protocol by approaching the emperor, but I did it anyway. “Your Majesty?” My Daanorian was terrible, so I directed the words to Tansoong. “I’m sure you must have questions about the azi. Perhaps if you have time today…”

The emperor brightened at the mention of the azi. “But of course,” Tansoong said with some reluctance. “Perhaps after his majesty has shown Princess Inessa around the rest of the gardens—”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary,” Princess Inessa broke in cheerfully. “I’ve taken up far too much of His Majesty’s time today, and I’m quite tired. I think I shall retire to my rooms. I would appreciate it if he can keep Lady Tea company.”

Tansoong relayed this to the emperor, who nodded. “If you say so, Princess. Some of the other concubines shall accompany you back to—”

“That won’t be necessary either,” Princess Inessa said, shying away from the suggestion. “I—I…”

“I’ll escort her back,” Fox interrupted.

Tansoong looked scandalized, and Princess Inessa hurriedly added, “He’s my personal guard after all. I’m used to having him near.”

A muscle ticked in Fox’s jaw, but he said nothing else.

Emperor Shifang looked puzzled but nodded once her request was translated. He took Inessa’s hands in his and kissed them again. “Until we meet again, qin’ai,” he said in the common tongue, with only the slightest accent.

“Qin’ai, my ass,” Fox growled as he stomped after the Kion princess.

The emperor was inquisitive and not as oblivious or as simple as he first appeared. With Tansoong acting as translator, he asked me several questions about the azi, and I told him how instead of killing the daeva, I had found myself bonded to it, leaving Aenah’s role out of the tale.

“I am glad you did not,” he said. “Dragons have always been a symbol of prosperity in Daanoris. We have always considered the azi a noble beast. And you control it?”

“My influence is absolute, Your Majesty,” I lied, not wanting any suggestions of weakness. “It is a good companion to me.”

“I understand that Kion is quite different from the true kingdom. I have only been to Ankyo twice, and your customs are perplexing.”

“I can understand why. In Kion, for example, the practice of concubinage has fallen out of use.”

Emperor Shifang looked startled and laughed. “I thought asha were something of concubines themselves. Now I understand your surprise when I asked for Lady Likh. We did not mean to offend you.”

“Does this mean His Majesty will no longer pursue…ah, Lady Likh?”

The man shook his head. “As I have decreed, so it must be done. Lady Likh will be treated well. Royal concubines are highly respected here. Many would consider this an honor.”

So much for extricating Likh. “We are accustomed to taking only one wife or husband in Kion.”

The emperor shrugged. “I come from an unbroken line descended from gods and can take as many to wife as I wish. Some of my councilors do not like my choice of a Kion princess, but Inessa is different. Empress Alyx is wise to accede to my wish.”

“This is my first time in Daanoris, and everything is new to me,” I apologized, retreating from dangerous ground. “Our healer has finished his assessment of the princess, and he wants to know if anything unusual happened before her collapse.”

The emperor frowned, worried. “I do not think so. My cousin was quite the typical Daanorian noblewoman—quiet and refined for her age, though keen on attending parties, as girls are wont to do.”

I sensed his impatience and soon begged my leave. I caught up to Tansoong as he too left the king. “Our healer has questions about Princess Yansheo. Did anyone visit her in the days leading up to the party?”

“No, our women do not interact with foreigners beyond our social functions.”

“What about Princess Yansheo’s admirers?”

“Minor nobles, no one she should’ve treated seriously. Prince Mailen and Prince Feiwong come from good enough houses. And there was the young Shaoyun, an impulsive young man, prone to speaking before thinking. His family is of some minor importance in the outer provinces, and to set his sights on someone like the princess displays arrogance on his part. I have not seen him since she fell sick, and good riddance to that.”

I hid my distaste. “Did you invite foreign visitors to her party?”

“Yes, mostly from Tresea. Of course, we extended an invitation to the Kion express and the Odalian king, but they were unable to attend. But I do recall Odalia sending a representative.”

“A representative?”

“Yes. It came as a surprise, for we did not know he was coming until he was already at Miekong.” The official’s beard bristled. “But we learned he was a relative of the king’s, and he was quite contrite. Perhaps his messengers had gotten lost, and his missive failed to reach us.”

“Who was this relative?”

“The Duke of Holsrath, milady. Brother to the king himself. He was quite cordial to the young princess at her party, as I remember. We rarely have people from Odalia at important functions, and she was quite pleased that he had come all the way to make her acquaintance.”