The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire, #1)(99)

I’d been lying to myself.

“You couldn’t have saved them.”

Father. The sick in my throat turned to frozen slush.

Did I dare turn around? Did I even dare to face him? Somehow, I gathered the shreds of my courage. He didn’t look angry, or even disappointed.

“Your work with Mauga and Uphilia was good. You almost succeeded with Ilith. But her commands are complicated, and although you studied hard, I have studied for a lifetime. Ilith is one of my finest creations.”

Hot tears rolled down my cheeks, and I couldn’t find the strength to dash them away. “You didn’t have to kill them.”

“I did. They were traitors to the Empire.”

It was as simple as that to him.

“Ilith isn’t my finest creation though.” He watched my face as though looking for something. When he didn’t find it, he gave a short nod and held out his hands. “If you rewrite the commands in a construct, the commands must still all remain in harmony. They still have to make sense together. Having a command out of balance is like removing a block of bricks at the bottom of a tower. The tower begins to teeter and sometimes to fall. Likewise, a construct will fall apart if its commands are out of balance.”

“Bayan.” I picked up the paper crane and stood to face my father. I was going to tear him apart with my own two hands if I had to. He’d have to make Tirang kill me.

“Yes,” Father said. He strode forward with his cane, his limp pronounced. One, two, three – the pattern echoed from the walls of Numeen’s house. He stood before me, and even leaning on his cane he towered over me. He must have been fearsome in his youth. “But even Bayan was not my greatest creation.”

The sickness. No one had brought the sickness with them because it hadn’t been real. My memories. The ones I didn’t have.

He’s growing things down there, Lin. He’s growing . . . people.

I fought against the horror clawing its way out of my belly. It curdled in my throat as a scream, but I didn’t scream. I was Lin. I was the Emperor’s daughter. I didn’t want it to be true.

“You’re still not quite perfect.”

And then something struck the back of my head.





36





Phalue


Nephilanu Island

The cell was cold and damp, though not as bad as Ranami had seemed to think it would be. Phalue shifted on the cot and drummed her fingers against the wood. She hadn’t “sorted things out” with her father as she’d thought she might. Her father, who had always seemed as warm and indolent as a dry season afternoon, had been cold when the guards had brought her before him.

“What’s this I’ve heard about you showing up at one of my caro nut farms? You didn’t say you wanted to visit.” He’d sat at the end of the dining-hall table, hands clasped in front of him, no food or drink upon its surface. “You said you were going out for the afternoon with Ranami. Did she go with you?”

Phalue shook her head. She wasn’t going to implicate Ranami in this as well, no matter how angry with her she might be. Despite Ranami’s protestations that Phalue just didn’t understand, she understood that Ranami would suffer far worse consequences. “It was only me.”

Her father had only frowned. “Four boxes of nuts were stolen on the farm the day you showed up. Nothing else changed. And though the foreman was reluctant to tell me, he said you led them on a fruitless chase into the forest after nonexistent bandits. What am I to think?”

“Are you accusing me of having stolen from you?” It wasn’t hard to sound incredulous. “Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know,” he’d said in a tone that let Phalue know he was indeed accusing her. “I can’t figure it out. I’ve let you run about freely for too long – going out into the city to see your mother, learning how to spar and now running around the caro nut farms. You’re not the governor yet, Phalue.”

She hadn’t been able to help herself. She’d laughed. Perhaps if she’d kept her mouth shut, if she’d just continued to act bewildered, she wouldn’t be in this mess. But she’d laughed. “Father, you don’t do any of those things, and you are the governor.”

He’d nodded to the guards. “Think things over, sweet. Just not here.”

And now she was sitting in the bowels of the palace, just a left turn from the wine cellar, bored and angry with herself. She wasn’t even sure what she was angry with herself about – whether it was for falling in with the rebels and Ranami’s schemes, or if it was for getting caught, or if it was for just being who she was. She’d never asked to be heir. Phalue wondered if her mother had heard. Her mother would be furious with her father, but after the divorce she was only a commoner. There wouldn’t be much she could do.

Footsteps sounded from beyond the cell. There weren’t any windows down here; just the dim light of a lantern hanging by the door, so Phalue couldn’t be sure of the time. Time for breakfast? Or was it lunch? It didn’t really matter, she supposed.

Tythus opened the door, carrying with him a large, steaming bowl.

Phalue sat up. “Breakfast?” she hazarded a guess.

“Lunch,” Tythus said. He eyed the tiny slot at the bottom of the cell door, sighed and pulled the ring of keys from his belt. He unlocked the cell and handed the bowl to Phalue.