Empress of a Thousand Skies(39)

“Ma’tan sarili!” he yelled.

In a single second, Seotra’s body began to crumble, the fire eating away at his edges until his face and eyes and shock-white hair disappeared into black. He dropped like sands of an hourglass, into a tiny mountain of ash on the gray floor.

He hadn’t even screamed.

Rhee looked at Dahlen. “How dare you.” She tasted ash on her tongue.

“He was not a good man,” Dahlen said, his tone flat and expressionless as always. He opened his palm, and the ring gave off blue sparks before it turned black again. Dahlen’s hand was badly burned. “He held my Elder hostage for years, but not before he commanded the slaughter of one monastery in the order. The very home of my family . . .”

“You know this boy?” Tai Reyanna’s voice was practically a whisper, but it still startled Rhee. She turned and saw her adviser limping toward them through the wreckage. “This fanatic?”

Rhee felt as if she were the one who’d been incinerated. All of her beliefs were smoke. They’d all blown apart. For the last nine years she knew Seotra had been responsible for her family’s deaths. And now she couldn’t even trust herself to tell left from right or up from down. “Dahlen saved my life.”

“He killed the Regent. An ally to your family. The one man trying to keep peace—”

“This man did not believe in peace,” Dahlen said. His eyes were dark and unreadable. “He’s a murderer who has never atoned for his sins. But Vodhan will be his judge.”

“Your precious Vodhan,” Tai Reyanna said with so much hatred that it transformed her features to someone Rhee didn’t recognize. “There is no god that could help a soul as rotten as yours.”

A crash sounded above them. Footsteps rattled the lights in their glass casing.

“Tasinn.” Dahlen turned to Tai Reyanna. “You called them.”

“You called them yourself,” Tai Reyanna snapped. “Or did you imagine that you could burn half the library without anyone remarking on it?” Rhee’s heart felt as if it might jump straight out of her chest—the footsteps were closer now, and if they were caught here, with the remains of Seotra . . . “If your god exists, I hope your punishment is slow and vengeful.”

Rhee took a step backward. Panic welled inside of her. “I can’t be caught,” she said.

“No, Rhee, you’re safe now.” Tai Reyanna’s voice was gentler this time. “Your guard is coming.”

“Veyron was part of my guard, and he betrayed me,” Rhee said. “I must go.”

Tai Reyanna caught her arm. “Go? With this murderer?”

“She has no other choice,” Dahlen said. “I can better serve her than you can.”

Both were true: He was a murderer, and she had no choice.

If Seotra hadn’t been responsible for her family’s deaths, her would-be assassin was still out in the universe, roaming free.

Tai Reyanna pulled Rhee into a fierce hug, whispering an old blessing into her hair. “May the ancestors be with you.”

Rhee bowed her head and let the blessing wash over her; she felt the warmth of a thousand perfectly sunny days on her skin. Tai Reyanna pulled away.

“There’s a secret passageway there,” she continued. “Behind the second column. It leads underground and out near the ruins. You’ll be in darkness, but there is only one path. Follow it.”

It had been Tai Reyanna watching over her the whole time she was in Nau Fruma. She’d taken that time for granted. “I’ll come back for you,” Rhee said.

“You can’t. It won’t be safe,” Dahlen interjected from behind her.

Rhee ripped the hem of her tunic, and a long scrap of it came free. “I’ll have to tie your hands. They can’t think you had anything to do with what happened here,” she said. Rhee’s fingers were shaking as she wound the fabric around the Tai’s wrists. Her adviser’s hands were limp. She looked at Rhee as if she’d never seen her before.

Maybe she hadn’t—not the real Rhee.

“Princess,” Dahlen said from behind them. “We’re out of time.” His voice made her insides curdle now. He had robbed her of her one chance to know the truth. He was a murderer. You’ll be changed, he’d said. Dahlen knew this more than anyone, because he was too far gone.

“I’m sorry,” Rhee said. “For everything.”

Tai Reyanna leaned in and put her mouth close to her ear. “I will be loyal to you until the day I die.”

Dahlen grabbed Rhee’s arm and pulled her into the tunnel entrance. Rhee feared it would be the last she ever saw of the Tai: the woman who had been like family to her, crouched at the remains of a dead Regent. What’s worse: She feared her Tai’s words were an omen, a prophecy.

“Ma’tan sarili,” Rhee pledged over her shoulder. Honor, bravery, loyalty.

“I hope you mean it, child,” Tai Reyanna called out as Rhee walked into the darkness.





TWELVE


    ALYOSHA



ALY watched through the monitors as Derkatz receded in the distance. They’d easily slid past the first customs checkpoint and would soon be in Portiis, where they would meet Vin’s contact. So close. Alyosha finally felt like he could breathe.