The golden pyramid was on a dusty plain, lower than the ground around it, so that it was even larger than she’d originally thought. Slaves now swarmed over it like flies on a piece of meat, scurrying under the direction of bare-chested overseers with whips. Scaffolding surrounded the stones close to the pyramid’s peak. Although the afternoon wasn’t bright, with gray clouds overhead, the golden slopes of each face nonetheless glistened. Chloe wondered how much gold she was looking at. She’d worked with gold foil before and knew it could be beaten until it was thin as a blade of grass. Regardless of the thickness, in the history of the world it was surely more gold than had ever been assembled in one place.

‘King of kings,’ one of the soldiers in Chloe’s escort said. ‘We have brought her.’

Solon turned as she bowed. He was so lean and tall that he towered over her. Up close, she could see that his eyes were sunken, with gray skin underneath.

‘Behold, Chloe of Phalesia,’ Solon said, gesturing to the pyramid. ‘This is the gateway to the afterlife. Helios has spoken. The pyramid must be completed before my death.’

‘Sun king,’ Chloe said hesitantly. ‘Could you not still enter without it? Don’t people enter paradise without a pyramid?’

‘Are you a devout person?’ he asked.

‘Yes, sun king. But I worship Aeris, goddess of music and healing. I don’t understand . . .’

‘There is one belief we share: when a man dies his deeds are weighed. I am the ruler of a great empire. I have taken Ilea into a new age. I have done good deeds and I have done things that may be considered cruel. I must never show weakness. It is no easy feat to unite five nations into a single empire.’

‘Perhaps if you atoned . . .’

‘Atoned?’ he asked, curious.

‘It means to make a change. To do good deeds in order to restore the balance of one’s life and gain entrance to heaven.’

He barked a laugh. ‘It is an interesting idea. But I prefer to deal with absolutes. This guarantees my entry and I can continue to be the ruler I must be, suppressing rebels and building a civilization that will stand the test of time. I have brought peace and wealth to almost all of Salesia. If I let that fall into chaos because of soft-heartedness and weakness, would that not weigh against me?’

Chloe gazed at the pyramid. She tried to count the bare stones, but soon gave up; all she could see was that, while there were more surfaces of gold than those unclad, there were still many remaining. ‘But will you ever have enough gold?’

‘There are nations in the east still unconquered. There are tributes I await. There are places across the Maltherean Sea, places like your Phalesia.’ He suddenly looked exhausted by so much speech. ‘Enough. The gods have spoken to me. Slaves!’