The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire, #1)(91)

Nothing.

Ah well. This seemed to be my luck lately. I swung my staff at the first soldier. I connected before he could bring his sword to bear. But then something happened with his legs. His face went wide with shock and his feet went out from under him. He tumbled down the hillside. It looked like he was being carried.

Gio appeared beside me, a dagger in hand. He engaged the second guard, spinning out of the way of a blow. The man’s blade caught in Gio’s cloak, and Gio used his momentum to spin the cloth around the weapon. He pulled, wrenching the blade from the guard. Before the man could do anything else, Gio struck him across the face with the hilt of his dagger.

The man fell to the floor.

“It appears the stories were true about you,” Gio said, his breathing heavy.

I opened my mouth. Shut it. I reached for the thrum, as though I could have done some magic without realizing it. My bones were silent. A prickle raised all the hairs on my arms.

Whatever had happened, it hadn’t been me.





33





Lin


Imperial Island

“I am sick,” I said to the spy construct. “Say it back to me in my voice.”

The little construct rose onto its hind legs, its nose quivering. “I am sick,” Hao said. Its voice was a little bit higher than mine despite its efforts, but it was a fair enough approximation.

“Good.” I plumped the pillows beneath my covers and guided the construct beneath the blanket. “Stay here until I return. If someone knocks at the door, say ‘I am sick’ in my voice.” Hao’s tail twitched like it understood. And even though I knew I didn’t have to give it anything and that it would follow my orders regardless, I took a nut out from my sash pocket and gave it to the little beast.

It devoured it in moments, leaving behind crumbs on the bedsheet that it sniffed out to find and devour. I let the covers fall.

I’d rewritten Mauga and Uphilia. Ilith, the Construct of Spies, was next. The door to her lair lay within the shard storeroom – the small door at the back. I wondered if Ilith left and entered through this way, or if, like the spy constructs, she had some hole that she crawled in and out of, dirt clinging to the underside of her carapace. I shuddered.

Night had long since fallen, but I wasn’t sure how long this journey would take me. I’d known exactly where Mauga’s and Uphilia’s lairs were. Ilith’s was more of a mystery to me. That it was through that door, I knew. How far I’d go after that, I had no idea. I tucked my engraving tool into my sash pocket. This time, I’d not brought any extra shards. I’d do this the right way, without hurting anyone.

I slipped out into the silent hallway. The palace was like a shrine at night, lit by the odd lamp here or there, the wooden floorboards creaking a little beneath my weight. When everyone was asleep, I felt alone in the world. There was a comfort in that loneliness, the soft touch of black silk wrapped around me, hiding me away. My father might have ruled the Empire, but when he was asleep, when Bayan and all the servants were asleep, this palace was my kingdom. I held the keys to its doors and plied its secrets from its rooms.

The bone shard storeroom hadn’t changed since I’d last left it. I lit the lamp by the door, illuminating the rows of shelves and drawers, all neatly tucked away. So many lives contained in those drawers, so much power for my father.

It didn’t take me long to find the shards of Numeen’s family, searching by their ages and their names. They felt odd in my hands, now that I knew their owners. These little pieces of them, these bones. They clicked together like lacquered cards in my hands. I didn’t have Numeen’s but I had his family’s. That would mean something.

Tucking all the shards into my sash, I made my way to the door at the back of the room and to the cloud juniper door. With a deep breath, I drew out the key Numeen had made for me and inserted it into the lock. He underestimated his work. It turned smoothly, without the hint of give. The door swung open noiselessly, revealing only darkness beyond. The air inside was cooler, damp with moisture. It smelled like rain and decay.

There were no lanterns on the inside of this door. I had to take the lantern by the first door and bring it with me. The hallway I illuminated only continued a short distance before a set of steps descended into the earth. My insides quaked as I approached the steps. Of all the places I’d been inside the palace, this felt the darkest, like the bowels of some enormous beast, long since dead. The walls around me turned to dirt and stone. I remembered what I’d read – that there had once been a witstone mine on Imperial and my father had shut it down. Was this the remains of it? It certainly felt like the sort of place Ilith would make into her lair.

I came to a fork in the path.

This I hadn’t expected. Both passageways looked the same when I held my lamp into their mouths. What if I got lost? All I could imagine was being trapped in these passages, the weight of the earth above me. I’d gone willingly into my own tomb.

I swallowed the fear. This wasn’t a maze. Not yet. I could easily find my way out by tracing back my steps. If I panicked here, how much more would I panic when facing down Ilith herself with her eight limbs and eight hands? I breathed in deep and then out, and chose the left passage. The darkness seemed to swallow the sound of my footsteps.

A smell hit me when I’d gone ten paces in. It smelled like Mauga – musky, like old dried urine, hay and dung. I swung my lantern in front of me, my hand trembling. A growl. The flash of yellow eyes. And then something slammed into me, a wall of coarse fur, the wet warmth of a slathering mouth.