Page 94

It takes her a moment to read what is written on the paper.

Sister, have strength. X comes for you.

She stares at the words for some time, realising why it took her a moment to read them.

They are written in Plumian.

31

CROWN PRINCE UMBERT

THE ROSE PALACE, ATTAR

On the fourth morn after Selim’s death, Umbert’s father leads him through the big wide corridors of the Rose Palace. He knows they are going to the Emperor’s Chambers to see his uncle.

The great hope of Azuria. Emperor Ascendant Atticul.

Umbert is dressed in his finest clothes for this meeting. A jerkin in his father’s purple, embroidered with silver and gold, the finest satin breeches, silk stockings and shoes with polished buckles that click on the stone floors.

They are shown directly into his bedchamber. It smells strongly of moonleaf smoke. Atticul is sitting up in a wide bed. It has a huge frame of carved, dark wood, piled with furs and silks. Atticul’s chest is bare, the rest of his body hidden beneath the bed’s coverings. He reclines back on a heap of silken cushions in rich colours — cinnabar and ochre. Umbert has always liked learning the names of colours.

Although the sun is long risen, the windows are still hung with heavy curtains. The only light is from the candles that flicker beside the bed and in the wall sconces.

There are two women sleeping in the bed. One on each side of Atticul. One of them is not covered by the bed clothes. Umbert can see her bare behind, white and round as the moon.

There are three serving women in the room too, holding golden trays of fruit and wine. Each standing back to the wall, still as statues. One light, one dark and one with hair red as flames. Auburn. They wear only hip cloths. Their breasts are bare — only covered by the fall of their hair — nipples decorated with gold paint, lustrous in the candlelight. It is a strange sight. Umbert has never seen a woman’s breasts before, excepting his mother’s.

He looks away — he knows he should not look at such things — as Atticul declares, “Vindar, my own brother in love.” He smiles down at Umbert. “And you, my sweet nephew. Come closer.”

Umbert looks at Atticul. He does not want to step closer. His father is holding his hand and he doesn’t want to lose that contact. He doesn’t want to move any nearer to the bed. To the naked women and his Emperor uncle with his wild hair falling into his face and his eyes looking strangely dark like deep pits.

He makes Umbert think of the statues in his great uncle’s shrine. When he had been sitting in their serving as page, Umbert had often thought those statues whispered to him in the silence. Told him terrible secrets. Told him something great and evil was coming.

Umbert looks at his father and says, “No. I don’t want to.”

Vindar leans down and says softly. “Your uncle is Emperor. You must take his blessing.” Vindar’s fingers find Umbert’s upper arm and pinch him hard.

Umbert swallows his yelp and steps forward, towards the bed. As he does so, Atticul swings his legs out from under the sheets. Revealing that, like the women in the bed, he is also naked. His legs are pale and hairy. Atticul’s sex looks like a rat in a nest at the meeting of his thighs.

As Umbert steps closer, Atticul says, “Kneel before me, Prince Umbert.”

Umbert obeys, kneeling at Atticul’s bare feet, heart beating hard in his chest. Looking down so he does not have to look at Atticul’s naked body. The chamber smells unpleasant, but this close, Atticul seems to smell especially foul. Like rotting meat.

Atticul places a hand on top of Umbert’s head. The touch makes him gasp.

“So, Vindar,” Atticul says over the top of Umbert’s head, “you would make your pathetic son my heir? Tell me, is your plan to have me killed so you can rule the great Azurian Empire as his Regent?”

“Sire,” Umbert hears his father say behind him. “I have only ever served the Empire. I served Emperor Erond, Markus and Emperor Selim. I would continue to do so under your rule. Your devoted servant, always.”

“Is that so?” Atticul’s voice is a cool drawl. Umbert stares down at the rug he kneels upon. It is indigo, embroidered with roses in Alios gold. “Tell me, Vindar, do you know why my brother Damon, the One Man Army, was indentured for twenty years?”

“He took a stead punishment for your father, Sire. It is well known.”

Even Umbert knows that.

Atticul says, “Of course. But what was that punishment for? My disgusting father’s crime was never revealed.”

“It was not,” says Vindar. “It was never known to me. Only to Emperor Selim and to Doroth Zain.”