A fork appeared ahead, the glow of Lin’s lamp emanating from the left side. I crept forward, wondering how deep below the surface we were now. Even my breath seemed to echo off the walls in the quiet. And then the tunnel dead-ended. In yet another door. Lin pulled a key from her sash pocket.

My apprehension rose. I wasn’t sure I understood this Emperor. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe the official statement – that Shiyen had died of a long illness, peacefully in bed. There had been no construct guards manning the walls when I’d arrived at the palace. Even the front doors had been unattended. I’d run into Lin in the hall, her clothes torn and bloodied, Thrana and her construct Bing Tai flanking her.

It hadn’t been a peaceful transfer of power.

And then, instead of executing or imprisoning me, she’d given me a position as Captain of her Imperial Guard. She’d explained how she wanted to make things right, how she was ending the Tithing Festival and her father’s iron-fisted way of rule.

To the Shardless Few’s leader, Gio, it didn’t matter who was Emperor. Only that there was one. I’d thought perhaps he was wrong. That a good Emperor, one who cared about the people of the Empire, might not be a bad thing.

But now, following Lin into the dark, I couldn’t help but spin tales in my mind of what secrets she was keeping, what terrible deeds I might uncover.

Mephi rushed forward as she passed through the third – and I hoped last – door. “Thank you,” I whispered to him in the dark as I cracked the door open. I wedged a rock into the opening. I might need to make a quick, silent exit.

“We stay together,” he whispered back, his voice fierce.

“You’re right,” I said. I could nearly feel the smugness vibrating off the beast. Like most adolescents, he very much enjoyed being right about things. Obviously I just didn’t know better. Not until he came along to correct me.

Behind the door was another tunnel, leading down. Light flared at the bottom. I pulled my staff loose from its strap on my back, took a deep breath and descended.

The cavern the tunnel opened up into was vast – the size of the palace’s entrance hall three times over. A pool filled part of it, a thick vein of witstone running across the ceiling. Lin had lit the lamps in the cavern, and the light pressed against the vast shadows. She stood at the center, at what appeared to be a workstation. There were shelves, books, baskets, chairs and a metal table scattered with various items.