CHAPTER FOUR Sev 
It seemed that the emperor had forgotten about me, for which I was grateful. The light in the dungeon never changed, so the only way I marked time was by the meager bowls of food pushed into the cell. I was reasonably confident it hadn’t been more than a day or two, but there was no way to be certain. The sharp pain in my fingers had dulled into a persistent ache—I hoped that meant they were healing as expected. After a while, I began to think I’d prefer a quick execution to withering away over the course of weeks, so when I heard a door slam open and the emperor appeared once more, I was strangely relieved.
I stood up, setting my shoulders back. “Back so soon?”
Rafael sneered at me. “Much as you deserve a long and painful death, I’ve decided to offer you a chance at an alternative future.”
Magnanimous of him. “Being alive is generally preferable to being dead,” I said slowly.
“Quite so. My offer is this. I will restore your title to you… in exchange for your service to me.”
I stared hard at him in surprise, though my heart twisted. Ruzi. I hadn’t seen it in years.
Of course this was a trap. What else could it be? I’d lived for so long with the knowledge that to be caught by the Flame of the West meant death. I’d prepared for that eventuality, though I’d planned and hoped that when we did meet, I would not be the one to lose my life. I had never foreseen a future where we both survived. So what was he playing at now?
“Ruzi has a king.”
Rafael waved a hand dismissively. “I put him there. I can easily dispose of him. Swear your loyalty to me, and you could be king.”
Loyalty? Had the emperor forgotten who I was? His Aurati had been warning him about me for years. By the shadow prince’s hand the flame will fall. And now he offered me not only my life, but the rule of a kingdom? All I had to do was kiss his ring. The thought was sickening.
“A generous offer,” I said. “What’s the catch?”
He spread his arms. “You malign me. Can I not believe in the power of second chances?”
“No,” I said flatly. “I know you. I know what you have done to my family. I know what you have done to your empire.”
The smile dropped from his face like a stone. “Then know this, boy. My Aurati have told me all about the girl Maren, and her dragon. She is a traitor to Zefed, and soon she will be brought to me. If you wish to ensure their safety, you will think hard before you turn me down.” His voice softened. “Haven’t you lost enough? Are they not worth your fealty?”
Maren. If what the emperor said was true, she was still free—at least for now.
The emperor wanted my loyalty enough to threaten my friends—to offer me a kingdom, as if that could make up for the last five years I had spent on the run. But why? There was more to this proposition than I understood, but I had no illusions about the price I would pay if I didn’t acquiesce. What I wanted was my blade through his chest, which was impossible as long as I was in this cell. I had to bide my time, and in order to do that, I had to stay alive.
Teeth gritted, I said, “All right. I accept.”
“Excellent.” Rafael snapped his fingers, and an Aurat wearing scribe’s cords stepped out of the shadows, flanked by the same three guards from my last encounter with the emperor. “Take our prince to his new quarters and see that he is made presentable.”
The woman nodded. Satisfied, Rafael turned and left, leaving me alone with his servants.
The woman unlocked the cell door. For a moment I contemplated pushing past her, grabbing one of the guard’s swords, darting up the stairs, and running the emperor through. I could do it, I thought, though the tremble in my legs betrayed me as I left the cell. Days without adequate food had left me weaker than I wanted to admit.
I reluctantly tore my attention from the weapons and followed the woman up the stairs.
It was a long ascent, and I felt every single step. My joints had stiffened from the cold and injuries I’d sustained, and I could feel the ache where the bruises hadn’t yet faded completely. So I moved at a snail’s pace, and every so often the woman stopped on the stairs ahead of me and waited with what appeared to be aggrieved patience until I caught up.
I had to rest multiple times before we got to the top of the stairs, and the woman sniffed at me when I finally stood beside her on the landing.
“Spend a few days enjoying the emperor’s hospitality yourself,” I said.
She arched an eyebrow. “This way,” she said. Then she opened the door.
I was not prepared for the light. I shut my eyes at once, but the brightness still came through. The guards pushed me forward, and I put my hands over my face, stumbling into the hallway.
When at last I lowered my hands, I saw we were in an empty, unadorned hallway—one of the least trafficked areas of the emperor’s palace, I surmised. It wouldn’t do for the dungeons to be directly below the throne room.
“Are you quite done with the theatrics?” the woman asked. Now that we were out of the dungeon’s gloom, I saw that she was of Celet heritage and not so much older than me.
I resisted the urge to snap at her again. Best not to antagonize people unnecessarily, at least not until I knew how much power they held.
Instead I nodded. We continued down the hallway and through the palace, the Aurat leading a route that seemed designed to confuse me. But soon enough we made a familiar turn, and I was thrust back in time.
The Hall of Watchers. I’d spent more time here as a child than I cared to remember. It was the place where the emperor kept visitors waiting, those he wanted to intimidate. Thousands of glass eyes of varying sizes and colors lined the walls, staring down at us. As a child I had thought these eyes were those plucked from the heads of the emperor’s enemies, and I’d had nightmares about them coming to life. Even after I had learned the truth of them, I still took pains to avoid this hall.
Part of me wondered whether this was all an elaborate ruse to give me a false sense of security before delivering me to a public execution. Anything was plausible where the emperor was involved. He was sadistic enough to take pleasure from such a trick.
But if I went down that route, I would never come back from it. Everything was in shadow, every player a potential enemy. I could drive myself to madness, expecting my end at every turn.
I reined in my thoughts and realized that we had made our way to the east wing of the palace. According to the Dragons, this area was filled with executive offices and the like, though our information was sketchy at best. The first emperor of Zefed had commissioned the palace and promised generous sums to the architects who designed it—only to slaughter all involved when the work was done.
The Aurat opened a door and ushered me through into a chamber that clearly had been an office until quite recently, though some care had been taken during the conversion. There was a bed, a wooden wardrobe, and a desk, chairs and a table for receiving guests, and a bathing area in the corner, the bath already filled with steaming-hot water. Hanging curtains separated the room into sections, and I could see how one might partition off the bathing area and the bed from the receiving area to mimic a more fashionable chamber. And there were windows, though again, too small and high to be of any use to me. The youngest child of a poor noble would have a grander room than this, but it was still a far cry better than my dungeon cell.
“This is your chamber,” the Aurat said. “Clean yourself up—you’re to appear in court tonight. I’ll return later.”
They were gone before I could reply, but I didn’t even spare a thought for the lock turning in the door. I ripped off my clothing, hindered only by my injured hand, and practically leaped into the bath.
I should have been more cautious, but I couldn’t help it. A proper bath. I hadn’t had one since Belat, and there was a sort of peace that came upon me as I submerged myself in the water. The worst had already happened. I had spent so long avoiding the emperor’s clutches, and now I’d fallen into them. I’d lost. And it was a relief not to have to keep looking over my shoulder.
I took my time soaking away the grime of the dungeon and didn’t leave the bath until the water had cooled considerably. Then I stood and grabbed the towel that hung over the back of a nearby chair to dry myself off as I looked more closely around the room.
The walls were bare and unadorned, but the carpet beneath my feet was lush. I dug my toes between the fibers. There was a tray with bowls of rice and pickled vegetables on the desk, and I paused only fractionally before shoving a cucumber into my mouth. While the ingredients weren’t too different from a meal at any peasant’s table, the quality and delicacy of the seasoning made it obvious that this was proper court food, the sort I remembered eating as a child. The thought made my mouth water. I settled into the chair and ate, trying my best to pace myself.
Once I had finished, I turned my thoughts to what was coming tonight. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it doubtless would involve some exaggerated show of loyalty, which meant looking the part of a courtier. I walked over to the wardrobe that stood against the wall near the bed. I opened the doors to reveal rows of well-tailored clothing, but as I drew out one shirt after another, anger rose within me. Every single piece bore the emperor’s colors. The embroidered crests, the thin bands that circled the sleeves—all of it in red and silver.
My first instinct was to tear off the adornments. Instead I gritted my teeth and sorted through the pile. I settled on an outfit that was neither the most ostentatious nor the dullest. Red splashed across the front of the gray shirt like blood, but the silver embroidery was muted and easily missed. The deerskin boots at the bottom of the bureau were a hair too small, so I set them by the door for later, then lay down on the bed to rest.
I must have slept deeply, for I woke to the sound of the door slamming. I sat upright, my hand going to my waist before I remembered that I had no weapons. I got up and peered around the curtain to find that the Aurat had returned—alone. She was sitting with her back to the door, at ease.
I could try to overpower her, but to what end? There were probably guards posted outside the door, and I doubted Rafael would allow anyone into close contact with me who was not adequately trained.
“I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced,” I said, entering the receiving area. I sat down across from her.
She smiled. She had pulled some of her dark hair back from her face, but otherwise wore it loose. “I’m Faris,” she said. “Your attendant.”
I snorted.
“Something funny?” she said innocently.
“Let’s not pretend that I wasn’t until quite recently staying in the emperor’s dungeon,” I said. “I’m the disgraced prince of Ruzi; you’re an Aurat and a spy sent to report on me. Can we be honest about that much?”
“All right.” She tilted her head and touched the Aurati cords that hung from her shoulders, almost as an afterthought. “Let’s be honest, then. From now on I am your attendant. One you cannot dismiss.”
“Ah.” I was surprised, both by her directness and by how easily she’d agreed to my request. Perhaps those were her orders—to get close, to trick me into trusting her. Perhaps that was something I could use to my advantage, if I could convince her that I did trust her and then let something slip.… “Then I do have a question for you, as my attendant.”
“Of course, my prince.”
I leaned forward. “What happened in Lumina?”
Whatever Faris had been expecting me to ask, it wasn’t this. She leaned back in her chair, considering me. Finally she nodded. “Doubtless you’ll hear about it in court tonight. The day you were captured and handed over to the Talons, Lumina collapsed. A great dragon was seen rising from the wreckage with the girl Maren on its back, but they have since eluded the emperor.”
That must have been the dragon that Rafael had questioned me about. So it was true—Maren was still free. Faris had not mentioned Kaia or the dragon kit, but I had to believe they were safe too. I sat back, in awe of what Maren had accomplished. Destroying the Aurati stronghold? The casualties must have been catastrophic, among both the Aurati leadership and the initiates. I wondered whether Faris had known anyone who had been there. Her face gave nothing away.
“If Lumina is destroyed, who leads the Aurati?” I asked.
Faris shook her head. “That’s not your concern. You’d do better to concentrate on tonight. You will have to apologize quite well to convince the court of your fealty. The emperor will not accept anything less than complete conviction.”
“Very well,” I said, letting the subject drop for the moment. “So as my attendant, do you have any suggestions for how I can win them over?”
“What makes you think that I have any advice to offer?”
I leaned back, crossing my arms. “I’m an extremely valuable prisoner. You wouldn’t have been picked for this assignment if you weren’t exceptional in some way.”
She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand as she studied me. “And why should I help you?”
Good question. Most likely she would go along with whatever I said next, if her assignment was to keep a close eye on me. But I still chose my words carefully. “If I’m to make it through the night, I need a speech. And it’s been a long time since I’ve had to give one to courtiers. Scribe’s work is boring, isn’t it? Wouldn’t keeping me alive be much more interesting than watching me get myself executed?”
Faris’s face was as still as a portrait. For a moment I thought I’d misjudged the situation completely. And then she laughed. “All right, little prince. I’ll help you.”