Page 19 of A Dance of Shadows

Linus’s voice carries on without a hint of concern. “If those people of Rione could manage such an honor when they had so little, I expect it should be an easy enough feat for you to honor me the same way now. For all you’ve gained from the empire, let me see you bleed your thanks!”

Chapter Eight

Aurelia

In the first moment after their emperor’s demand, the Rionians gathered in the square stare in stunned silence. A couple of the translators echoing Linus’s words stumble with the end of his missive.

My own jaw has gone slack, though I’ve gritted my teeth to stop it from dropping.

He can’t seriously expect— He’s asking these people to treat him like he’s a godlen.

He’s asking them to put their lives at risk, both grabbing the sheddings from the reefs and braving the vicious fish that will be drawn by the blood. Is this some kind ofjoke?

But it’s Linus in all his manic imperiousness, so of course it isn’t.

He folds his arms over his chest, his glinting eyes sweeping over the crowd. “Come on now! What’s the delay? You’re in a far better state than those shipwrecked wretches were hundreds of years ago. I expect my boat within the hour… or I’ll have toassume that you and your royal family don’t hold all due respect for your empire.”

The menace in those last words sends a shiver down my spine. As the translators convey his message to those in the crowd who don’t understand Darium, my gaze catches on uniformed figures all around the square.

Our host of soldiers who’ve traveled with us aren’t the only military figures on hand. There must be at least a hundred other men and women in imperial purple and black poised along the edges of the crowd.

They might have traded the typical skeleton-painted uniforms of the regular army for imperial colors in honor of the emperor’s visit, but the locals will know what they represent all the same. With the rebellion only years distant, there must be hundreds more stationed in and around the capital.

What penalty will Linus have his soldiers inflict if the people of Santia don’t respond to his request quickly enough?

My gaze shoots to the highest military authority beneath the emperor. Axius is standing just a few paces to Linus’s other side.He’sstaring at his emperor too, with a flex of his jaw as if he’s chewing on words he’s not sure he should say.

Is the high commander actually considering speaking up in challenge?

Before I can find out, the same worry churning inside me must strike the royal family. Queen Anahi grasps the cleric’s amplification charm and pitches her voice across the square. I can only make out the gist of her Rionian words, but I can tell she’s urging the audience to honor the emperor and follow his orders as quickly as they can. She points to the beach and then the harbor.

With a few twisting currents of confusion, the mass of commoners in the square surges toward the shoreline.

From within our cluster of Darium representatives, Neven makes a rough sound in his throat. He pushes a little ahead of the other nobles around him. “You can’t make them?—”

Raul catches his shoulder before the younger prince can finish his protest. “His Imperial Majesty is within his rights to ask whatever he wants of his people,” he says in a low voice that’s more a warning than an endorsement of Linus’s scheme.

My heart thumps faster with concern both for the Rionian people heading to the ocean and the royals nearby. Neven’s mouth presses flat, but his eyes still flash with defiance.

Will he be able to keep his frustration under control once there’s blood in the water—once people are dying for Linus’s command?

I have no idea how I can moderate my husband’s sadistically grandiose ideas myself. I fight to keep my voice even as I tip my head toward him. “Such a unique approach to confirming their loyalty. Did your father do something similar?”

Tarquin was cold and calculating, but brutally practical too. I can’t imagine him attempting to set himself on the same level as the gods.

Unfortunately, Marc seems to have cared a lot more about his father’s lost guidance than his twin does. Linus simply lets out a cackle of a laugh. “Every emperor must make his own legacy. I intend mine to be a brilliant one!”

I wish his version of brilliance didn’t veer so close to insanity.

The figures reaching the sand are stripping off shirts and trousers to plunge into the water with only their underclothes to hamper them. On the docks, others are yanking steel-tipped spears from equipment bins and leaping into smaller fishing craft.

A lump clogs my throat. They want to be ready as soon as the barama start arriving.

I’ve never seen those vicious fish before, but I’ve heard they can tear open a man in a matter of seconds with their razor teeth.

As the crowd empties from the square into the beach and harbor, Linus strides off the shaded platform into the full heat of the blazing sun. He beckons the rest of us to follow. “I want to get a close look at my glory.”

The Rionian royals hurry along beside us, their expressions mild but tight, as if they’re holding back their anguish through sheer force of will. I glance around and catch a glimpse of Lorenzo with the other princes, his rich brown skin turned grayish with horror.

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