Chapters (68)
I cleared my throat. “It seems the rumors are true. The Alanga are returning. Next time we’ll be better prepared.” I wasn’t sure how I’d live up to that promise if I was an Alanga too. Meraya had mentioned another name. Chari? Was that a friend, a lover or a companion like Mephi and Thrana? “Take her body to the courtyard, to the garden. We’ll hold funeral rites there.”
Not everyone knew about Thrana yet. Meraya might not have known. Or she might not have had a companion beast. Did the Alanga have companions or did they not? I had so many questions, none of which she could answer anymore.
The physician hovered over the guard’s body, but to his credit, waited for my word this time. I nodded. “You can go.”
Bing Tai padded placidly back to sit at the end of the table and the physician gave the beast a wide berth as he left. The guards picked up the body of their fallen comrade and carried her out the door. I’d have to get someone to see to Meraya’s body as well.
“You and you, there’s another body in here, can we get that cleared that out?” The gray-haired woman directed servants to Meraya’s corpse, pen still clasped in her hand. “I’m sure the Emperor will want the floors cleaned too.”
The tremor finally left my bones, leaving me feeling drained in more ways than one. First the spy construct and now this. I needed to get out into the Empire, to know what was happening in it, what other surprises my father might have left behind.
“Eminence?” The gray-haired woman said. Her gaze swept over the dead assassin and she didn’t so much as flinch. “Given the circumstances, should I return tomorrow? I was here to interview for the position of steward.”
She’d reacted swiftly in a crisis without even being under my employ. I touched a hand to my hair, strands of it pulled free, floating in every direction. “What’s your name? And your background?”
“Ikanuy,” she said without missing a beat. “I’ve lived in Imperial most of my life, though I attended the Scholars’ Academy at Hualin Or. I have seven children and run my own household, though the youngest is now grown and my house is empty. I’m not old yet, and was hoping to put my education to use.” She rattled off these facts quickly. She’d rehearsed her answers. Well-prepared: another point in her favor.
“No husband or wife?” I asked.
“I never wanted one.”
I picked up the steward’s medallion from the table, strode to the door and handed it to her. “Welcome to the palace, Ikanuy of Imperial. We have much to discuss before I leave.”
5
