CHAPTER TWELVE Sev

I could hear my heartbeat rushing through my ears as the world around me slowed—the crowd, the emperor, the man kneeling on the ground, the dragons crouching on the rooftops above.

If I did what the emperor demanded, I would be as monstrous as him.

But I already was, wasn’t I? I had killed to keep my secret. I had killed to stay alive. What was this now, but doing the same?

But this wasn’t the same.

This was an act designed by the emperor to shatter the legend attached to my name. We were playing a game he controlled, and I had yet to make a move that he hadn’t foreseen. If I continued down this path, it would only end in one place. My destruction.

The fear that had consumed me yesterday came roaring back up. I inhaled deeply, letting it rise through me, then dissipate as I exhaled. In the emperor’s presence I had become a boy again, frightened and friendless.

But I wasn’t a boy any longer. I was a monster, too, and I could play my own game.

I reached out and grasped the hilt of the sword. Then I circled the prisoner slowly, as though debating the most efficient way to dispatch him. Poor fellow. I wouldn’t have been entirely surprised if he’d been hired under false pretenses, to ensure that there would be someone in the crowd to punish.

I came to face the man and set the tip of the sword under his chin, forcing his head up. He looked familiar to me, I realized, though I couldn’t say from where, or even if it was simply my imagination playing tricks.

He stared at me angrily. Then he threw his head back, shouting, “Long live the revolution!”

Despite the Talons above us, there were audible cheers from the back of the crowd. I had to act quickly. I grabbed the man by the collar and struck him hard across the temple with the hilt of the sword. He collapsed to the ground, senseless. Then I turned to the emperor. “The peasant wants to be martyred, my lord. To kill him now would play into his hand.”

Rafael raised an eyebrow. “Are you suggesting that he should go unpunished for his treason?”

Let this work—please let this work. I gave another extravagant bow, visible to all. “No, almighty Flame. Only that a swift execution is too good for him. We might extract information from him first.”

A muscle twitched in the emperor’s cheek. I knelt, offering up the sword for him to take. I was relying on the hope that this whole display was meant to demonstrate his control over me, and that my submission would be enough. But I could still have been wrong.

The Flame of the West took the sword back from me and raised his voice for our audience. “I offer this man a clean, merciful death. But Prince Vesper insists on taking him first as a guest of the palace.” The sound of indrawn breaths swept through the crowd. They knew what this meant. Torture. Rafael turned to me, his expression triumphant. “I entrust his fate to the hands of my loyal servant.”

Scattered jeers broke out as the soldiers lifted the unconscious man from the ground and tossed him carelessly into the last carriage. My heart sank as I heard my name cursed among them. I’d thought that if I could put off the man’s execution, I might find a way to save his life. But the emperor had used it to turn the people against me nevertheless.

Still, it had been a necessary risk. I had to start making moves of my own, or I would never survive.

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A page ran to meet our carriage as we arrived back at the palace grounds. He bowed before the emperor. “Your Illustriousness, you must come quickly. A dragon’s been spotted flying over Eronne!”

Maren.

“Put the prisoner in the dungeons and escort the prince to his quarters. I’ll see to them later,” Rafael said to the guards next to him. Then he leaped down from the carriage, and followed the page into the palace.

The guards retrieved the knife Faris had given me, then walked me back to my chambers and locked me in. I set my back against the wall and sank down to the floor, my hands in fists. Think. Think. I was going to be punished for what I’d done—I had to plan my next move while I was alone.

But I was distracted. A dragon had been seen flying free! Whether or not it was the same dragon that had destroyed Lumina, I had no doubt that it was because of Maren. If I escaped, I could find her again. We could free the dragons together—we could dismantle the system that propped up the emperor.

But first I had to make contact with the Dragons. And I had to find a way to meet Piera, too.

The door slammed open as Faris burst into the room. “What happened? You weren’t expected back for another hour.”

It seemed unnecessary to obfuscate. “A man threw a cabbage at the emperor’s carriage. The emperor ordered me to execute him, and I… said that perhaps he should be interrogated first.”

Faris’s eyes widened. “You disobeyed the emperor? In front of all of Irrad?”

“I—” I stopped. “I did.”

She groaned.

“Faris, the man threw a cabbage. It was nothing.”

She shook her head. “You of all people should know that doesn’t matter.”

“I thought I could buy him some time. I thought—”

“That you could save him?” Faris laughed coldly. “Prince Vesper, if you’re truly that naive, it’s incredible you’re still alive.”

“Don’t call me that.”

The door opened again, and a guard entered. “You’ve been called before the emperor. Let’s go.”

I half expected to be led straight back to the dungeons. Instead the guards escorted Faris and me deeper within the palace grounds. The centerpiece of the emperor’s palace was the elaborate array of gardens around which the buildings had been constructed. When I was a child, I could lie on my back and look up and see the stars on a clear night. Every garden had been cultivated around a different theme.

The guards delivered us to the Garden of Glass, where plants were interspersed with delicate glass decorations and arrangements. The pathway was sand—a strange choice, but I stopped thinking about it when I saw what awaited me on the other side of the garden.

An enormous red dragon towered over the emperor. Vix, the Ruiner. Rafael’s dragon was reputed to be just as cruel as the emperor himself, though I couldn’t be certain whether that was due to its innate nature or the way the emperor used it. My steps slowed as I took in the rest of the scene. The emperor stood above a man kneeling on the ground. The man’s hands were bound together in front of him—as we approached, I saw that he was the same man I’d tried to save.

Rafael looked up at us. “Faris,” he said. Faris left my side and went to stand by him near the prisoner.

I stopped at a safe distance, taking care to stay as far from the dragon as I could manage. I had seen dragons enough at the fortress, but none as large or menacing as Vix.

“Come here, Vesper,” the emperor said.

I approached reluctantly.

“Unfortunately, your peasant friend didn’t have any useful information to share with us.” Rafael grabbed the young man’s hair and pulled up his head, then threw him forcefully to the side. “He did, however, remind me of something else.”

He leaned back against his dragon’s flank, glanced at Faris, and nodded toward the prisoner. She put a hand on the man’s shoulder and closed her eyes. Something prickled in the air, like lightning. The man gasped and writhed on the sandy path, his black hair shielding his face. I took one step forward before reminding myself that this was exactly the reaction the emperor wanted from me.

“I neglected to explain Faris’s unique skill to you,” Rafael said as calmly as if he were discussing the weather. “It’s quite remarkable, you see. She can sense your injuries, no matter how old, and with one touch, she can recreate or amplify them. The pain is extraordinary, I’m told—but of course, you’ve already experienced that yourself.”

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the man in the sand. Last night Faris had made me relive the pain of my fingers breaking. What other injuries might she be able to exploit? I had to do something. But what?

“I thought you said that he doesn’t have any useful information,” I said.

The emperor smiled. “He doesn’t. You do.”

I felt suddenly queasy. This man’s suffering was all my fault. Because I had protected the man in the city, Rafael believed I would protect him again.

“Tell me, Vesper. How does Maren ben Gao communicate with dragons? She was seen riding one out of Lumina, and I have credible reports that she tamed a rogue dragon without the use of Talon techniques.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond. I was certain Milek’s formulas weren’t yet functional. It had suddenly occurred to me that the emperor might be interested in what I said beyond as a means to get control over Maren. If there was a way to command the dragons that did not require the oils, the emperor would want to exploit it.

I glanced at the man on the ground. He was moaning now, a continuous, guttural sound. Faris wasn’t even looking at him, her expression blank as she held him down. I had to be very careful how I answered—for both of our sakes.

“I don’t know,” I said.

Rafael’s hand curled into a fist. Faris pressed down on the man’s chest. He screamed in agony. No head injury, that—Faris must have found something deeper, older.

“I swear to you, I’m not lying,” I said quickly. “I’ve never seen anyone do what she does.”

“And what is that, exactly?” His voice was deceptively even.

“She speaks with them. I’ve only ever seen her do it with one, but it might be the same for all the dragons. They understand her. And they speak back.”

Rafael snorted. “Impossible. Dragons do not speak.”

“They do,” I insisted. “Maybe not so that you or I understand, but she does. She can speak to them. Without oils or tricks.”

There, was that enough? Rafael’s eyes narrowed. “And what is her aim? What is she working toward?”

We’re coming for you, she’d said. Hold on.

I blinked. “When we were traveling together, she wanted war against Lumina.”

“An anarchist, then,” Rafael said, stretching his neck from side to side. “One girl shouldn’t be too difficult to take care of.”

Of course he had no intention of keeping Maren alive, regardless of the bargain we had made. I refrained from mentioning the way that she had spoken about freeing the dragons. Better to let him believe that she was out to destroy whatever stood in her way than to give away her actual aim. And as long as Rafael sent dragons after her, he would never succeed.

The man’s screams grew hoarse. My head began to ache with the sound. But the emperor clasped his hands behind his back and did nothing but stare at me, waiting. I could do this. I could wait Rafael out. But the man’s agony was shrill in my ears, and when I looked down, I saw that his face was turning purple.

I turned back to the emperor. “Please. If you have more questions, just ask them.”

He finally nodded to Faris, who lifted her hand. She stepped back, breathing hard. The man fell silent, his mouth opening and closing like a fish cast out of the water.

“This peasant has been sentenced to death. Tonight you will receive a sword. If you want to end this man’s suffering, you will use it. If not, Faris will torture him until he dies—and your own demise will follow. The choice is up to you.”

He raised a hand, and the guards standing at the garden perimeter approached. “Take him away,” he said, gesturing at the prisoner. Then he pointed at me. “You—not so fast. You disobeyed me during the parade. Faris?”

Knowing what was coming did nothing to relieve the pain that lanced through me as Faris put her hand on my shoulder. The wound from Vir’s Passage flared to life along my side, and I gasped, sinking to the ground.

Somewhere beyond the boundaries of my pain there was movement. Something large and dark moved past my blurred vision, and then was gone.

When it was finally over, I lay with my cheek pressed against the cool sand, shaking.

Faris’s face entered my field of vision, and I flinched away. “You make me sick,” I whispered.

She pursed her lips together. “We all do what we must,” she said shortly. “The emperor has left.”

How long would she have tortured me if the emperor had stayed? I flashed back to the way her face had looked as the man screamed—blank, almost bored. How long had it taken for her to burn away her humanity?

I inhaled, careful not to take too deep a breath. “I want to speak to him. The prisoner.”

“You know he’s going to die, no matter what you say.”

I managed to roll onto my back, though I wasn’t confident in my ability to stand up yet. “He would not be in this position if it weren’t for me. I feel responsible for his fate.”

She considered my words before nodding. “If you insist. I’ll arrange a visit to the dungeons.”