Golden Age (The Shifting Tides, #1)(58)

The eunuchs brought food three times a day and there was a constant supply of fresh water. The exterior garden provided somewhere to get some fresh air but she was always accompanied. Chloe was well rested and had fully recovered from the journey.

She replayed her last encounter with Kargan and the sun king over and over in her mind. He had asked about gold, and when she had said Phalesia possessed just a few items of jewelry, he had become angry.

She had to protect the secrets of her home, but the Ark of Revelation was no secret. And evidently the sun king wanted it.

Just after midday on the third day, the summons came once more.

This time she didn’t have to sit in the waiting room; the palace guard led her directly to the throne room. Kargan wore a different robe – a crimson garment belted with golden cord – but he stood in the same place as before. Guards still protected the golden throne. Archways behind revealed a sunny terrace with a stone rail.

There were differences, however. Courtiers stood on both sides of the throne: six swarthy men with groomed beards and flowing robes in a variety of materials and colors, apparently arranged around Solon in order of precedence. The breeze from the harbor was close to non-existent, and the day was hot and humid. Sweat beaded on Kargan’s brow and Chloe’s palms felt sticky.

Solon wore a robe of golden silk and a delicate crown of gold spikes on his head. His long dark hair was sleek as the pelt of a cat and his pointed beard was now curled in front of his chin. Chloe walked up to stand beside Kargan, before kneeling and touching her forehead to the ground.

‘Rise,’ Solon said.

Glancing up at him as she returned to her feet, she saw he was more at ease than before. He still gazed at her with strangely hypnotic eyes and he was still so lean that his face was made entirely of sharp angles. But he appeared to be less troubled. She figured it must be the ebb and flow of the pain caused by his illness.

Kargan, by comparison, looked uncomfortable, as if he wished he were anywhere else.

‘Chloe, daughter of Aristocles,’ Solon said in his curt, clipped voice. ‘I have questioned Kargan at length and I believe I have learned all he has to tell. I will now ask you some questions, and I have asked that he remain present.’ He didn’t take his eyes off her. ‘If your answers do not match with his, then we will have a problem. If I believe you are deliberately hiding information, then we will have a problem. If you are too brief, too meandering, too obtuse, or simply too stupid to understand what it is I wish to come to the heart of, then we will have a problem. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, sun king,’ Chloe said.

‘If we have a problem, then blood will flow,’ he said. ‘I ask you again, do you understand?’

‘Yes.’ Chloe nodded, her heart racing and fingernails pressing into her palms. ‘I do.’

With the lords of his court looking on, Solon proceeded to ask Chloe questions about Phalesia. He asked her about the geography, the region’s natural resources, the produce of the workshops, and the system of governance via the consuls of the Assembly.

Chloe answered truthfully and succinctly. Despite the sun king’s threats, she didn’t volunteer more information than he asked of her, which meant she had to think swiftly to send his inquiring mind in directions that would interest him but wouldn’t compromise her city. When he asked her about mining she emphasized Phalesia’s lack of a gold mine rather than highlighting the steady output of the silver mines. As he asked her about the manufacture of weapons she spoke of the proud warrior tradition of Xanthos, remembering Kargan’s interest at her father’s dinner table. He kept her talking, and she kept her posture respectful and her expression earnest, but all the time she avoided answers that made Phalesia appear overly weak or temptingly wealthy.

When he asked her about the city’s layout she spoke at length on her city’s beauty and grandeur, elaborating on the proud temples and expansive agora.

‘Yes, yes,’ he said impatiently. ‘But tell me more of the city’s defenses. A bastion rises up from the shore, does it not?’

‘We have a sloped wall guarding the city,’ Chloe said. ‘Climbing up to the city from the water means ascending one of two narrow stairways.’

‘And the army . . . ? How many soldiers does your father command?’

Chloe knew exactly how many men were under Amos’s command. ‘I . . . I am a woman, sun king. I know nothing of military matters.’

‘Kargan?’ Solon frowned at the overlord of his fleet.

‘It may be as she says, eminence,’ Kargan said. ‘I know that the Assembly consists only of men, and that while women and men share meals together in the home, it’s likely she has little involvement or interest in war.’

Solon nodded curtly. ‘Then, girl, tell me of this ark.’

Chloe had been expecting this. ‘The Ark of Revelation was a gift from the gods. It was not constructed by men.’

‘But it is a chest of solid gold, the size of an ox cart?’

‘Y—Yes, it is gold. But to defile the ark would bring down the wrath of the gods. It must always reside at the Temple of Aldus.’

‘This Aldus is not a god we worship in Ilea,’ said Solon. ‘We share Helios, the sun god, most supreme and mighty of all, and it is in honor of Helios that we build the golden pyramid. I fear Helios, as all men must. But I do not fear your god of justice.’