Page 125 of A Dance of Shadows

He blows out the candle and turns back toward the platform. I only have a second to brace at the unsettling glint in his eye before his grin stretches wider. “Now it’s time for my wife to honor us all as well.”

Chapter Forty-Three

Aurelia

My stomach has already been churning as I watched the people of the city of Andov erect their horrific building with the bones of past citizens. When Linus’s gaze fixes on me, the nausea congeals into a pool of pure dread.

I know the tales of Elox well. I can already guess which he has in mind given the circumstances he’s created.

He hops onto the platform, takes my hand with a tug sharp enough to send a twinge through my wrist, and spins to face our audience. “One of Elox’s early disciples had himself buried beneath the earth so he could reach the greatest depths of meditation. I’m sure your empress is just as eager to bring back more wisdom from her godlen for all of us. We can begin our celebration of your country’s loyalty while she communes with the divine.”

From the glint dancing in his eyes, he expects me to balk just as the city folk did when he first declared his test for them. Buteven as the chill inside me spreads through my limbs, I will not let these people see a cowed wife.

I can own this test as I have all those before. I can give our downtrodden audience an empress who’ll face their emperor’s cruelty without being shaken, who’s determined to stand with her people rather than against them.

Drawing my posture straighter, I smile back at him. “It will be an incredible opportunity to receive Elox’s guidance for the future of our empire. I welcome the chance to put myself in the hands of my godlen while serving all of our people.”

Let Goric’s rulers and civilians see the man who asked them to dig up their dead for his own glory—and the woman who sacrificed her comfort to learn how she could make their lives better.

A muscle in Linus’s cheek ticks, but he can hardly complain about my willingness. “Excellent! Let us begin.”

As he escorts me off the platform, my gaze snags on Lorenzo’s where he’s lowered his lyre. The horror etched on his face matches the turmoil inside me.

I flick my fingers at my side.I’m fine.

At least, I hope I will be.

The devout in the story of old told his companions to dig him up after three days had passed, taking only a flask of water with him and fasting through his meditation. Surely my husband—even the more sadistic twin—wouldn’t leave his pregnant wife and his heir buried for anywhere near that long?

I don’t even know how long the air would actually last before it soured… There’s no telling how much the fable was embellished or outright invented. I wore the steel-woven undershirt Raul gifted me with beneath my dress today in anticipation of the danger to come, but it won’t help me through this particular challenge.

My mouth has gone dry. As Linus leads me along a path cleared by our soldiers, I swallow thickly and shrug my worries off as well as I can.

When we step into the cemetery, I have to restrain a wince. Heaps of dirt are strewn around open pits all through one section of the graveyard—presumably where the older bodies were buried, chosen to ensure theywouldonly be bones. Chunks of aged boards from the coffins add to the mess. A loamy scent permeates in the air.

So many ancient bodies have been disturbed from their eternal rest for one man’s self-importance. We can only hope their souls are so deep in the arms of their godlen that the disruption didn’t touch them. I can’t imagine how awful the city folk must feel having to desecrate this place.

Next to one dug-up pit near the gates, a new but simple coffin has been set down by two imperial footmen. They watch our approach with tight expressions, stifling whatever feelings they might have about their emperor’s command.

Linus certainly hasn’t given any care to my comfort. The wooden box is unpadded and unpolished, nothing more than rough boards nailed together. The sight of the thin gaps between a few of the boards sends a tremor through my nerves. How much soil will seep through?

It doesn’t appear he’s even offering me water. May that be a sign that this won’t be too long a trial.

I suspect that if I ask how long I’ll be down there for, Linus will frame the question as a lack of faith and increase whatever time he was already planning. The more unfazed I act, the more regal and generous I appear in front of these people, the less satisfaction he’ll get out of extending my torment.

Linus motions for me to get in. I lift my hand as if in benediction to the people who are streaming into the graveyard to watch, and clamber over the side of the coffin.

It seems wisest to lie on my side so my belly won’t weigh down on the rest of me. I tuck one arm beneath my head to cushion it.

Without asking whether I’m ready, Linus orders one of the footmen to close the lid. It shuts with a thump just a few inches from my higher shoulder, taking most of the light with it.

Before long, I won’t have any light at all.

As the coffin hefts into the air and then starts to lower, I close my eyes. I might as well accept the darkness while I have a choice about it.

With each sway of the box, I even out my breaths. Inhale slowly, exhale even slower. Sink into the center of calm I’ve held on to for so long.

Elox, let me make something good out of my husband’s terrors. I give myself over to your care. Where should I go from here? What else can I do to heal all this wrongness?

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