everything.
Rilla appeared at the doorway 'My lord, Ryko is back.'
I stirred, my despair pierced by her words. 'Ryko?'
'I am here, lord.' Ryko stepped into the room and bowed. He was covered in mud and stank of stagnant water, but a huge smile lit his face. 'Well done, my lord. Your magnificent success has given us all hope.'
'Where were you?' I rose from the bed, suddenly furious. 'You said you would be back for the test.'
'I am sorry, lord.' He took a step back from my anger. 'I was looking for Ido's messenger. To find out what information he had delivered.'
'You should have come back.'
'My men had orders to guard you. Did they not do their duty?'
I was unable to meet his frank gaze. 'Yes, your men came.' I glanced across at Rilla, but her face did not register my lie. Ido's
dragon charm had obscured her memory too. 'Did you find the messenger?'
'I did, eventually,' he said. 'Thrown into an old channel with his throat cut.'
Rilla grimaced. 'But why?'
Ryko scrubbed wearily at the mud caked on his face. '1 would guess it was to stop someone like me forcing the message out of him.'
'Or perhaps someone else wanted the message and got there before you,' I said.
Ryko nodded. 'True. But my gut says it was on his orders.' He jerked his head towards Ido's room.
'Lord Eon!' It was Tyron's voice. 'The Emperor's own men are here. You must come now'
The old Dragoneye, flanked by Hollin, peered in through the doorway. Both Rilla and Ryko bent into bows.
'They will not deliver until you are present,' Tyron said.
I could delay no longer. I squared my shoulders, trying to find the courage to face Ido again.
'I fear this is bad news,' Tyron murmured as we entered the stone passageway. 'Six messengers to deliver one message — no chances taken.'
It seemed as though the whole village had congregated around the stone dais. Now that the King Monsoon had been defeated, the women and children were allowed back into the town centre. The small area should have been full of jubilation and laughter. Instead, everyone stood silently in the late afternoon sun watching the six emissaries from the Emperor. The men were still mounted on their horses, although the animals were lathered with sweat and fidgeting with the press of people.
A flash of gold and silky green cloth amongst the drab homespun caught my eye; Lady Dela, escorted by two of Ryko's men, was working her way along the shopfronts towards us. The warm greeting in her face drove a barb of guilt into me; I had put my friends into such peril. I motioned to Rilla to go and meet her, then turned to the messengers, every part of me aware of the tall figure of Ido staring at me from the dais. I clenched my hands, forcing back the wild fear that made me want to run from him. Hollin and Ryko cleared a path through the tense crowd. As Tyron and I stepped up onto the stone stage, the air thickened with expectation.
'We seek Lord Eon, the Mirror Dragoneye,' the leader said, his cultured city voice reaching the furthermost corners of the square.
'I am Lord Eon,' I said, unable to bring myself to finish the formal claim of dragon status.
All six men dismounted. The leader thrust his reins into the hands of the man beside him and withdrew a scroll from the holder strapped to his body The villagers hastily made way for him as he approached and then dropped to his knees beside the dais, bowing his forehead to the ground three times. Twin short swords were crossed over the man's broad back; he was one of the Emperor's own personal guard. He held up the scroll, his face solemn.
The parchment was sealed with the wax image of the Imperial dragon. Its message was short.
Lord Eon, Mirror Dragoneye, Co-Ascendant of the Dragon Council, My honoured father is dead. May his spirit walk with our glorious ancestors and bring good fortune to my reign.
Return to the city immediately to sit the ghost watch with me. Be advised by Lady Dela, who was given leave by my father to study the rituals and understands your part in the proceedings.
Pearl Emperor Kygo-Jin-Ran
I looked up at the intent faces around me.
'The Emperor has passed into the land of the ancestors,' I said.
My focus narrowed on Ido. Air hough his face was schooled into new regret, I was sure that it was old news to him. The morning message. Had he played a pan in the E.mperor's death?
The timing seemed too opportune to he just luck. And how else would his messenger learn of the death and heal the Emperial horsemen?
The villagers close to the dais whispered the news behind them until the silence around us broke into a slow moan that shivered through the village square, building into a keen so piercing that it must have reached the otherworld.
'We must all return to the city,' Lord Tyron said over the terrible sound.
I nodded numbly. 'I am summoned to sit the ghost watch with Prince…' I stopped; Prince Kygo was now the Emperor. 'With our glorious new overlord.'
'You are to sit the Imperial ghost watch?' Lord Silvo gasped. 'Then the Pearl Emperor makes you second mourner. You are a guardian of the old Emperor's spirit.' He bowed low. 'May your sacred duties ease his way to his noble ancestors.'
The keening around us trailed off, marshalled into the gentler rhythms of a prayer chant led by a holy man at the other end of the square.
'It is a wise move on our new Emperor's part,' Tyron said softly, his low tone drawing Silvo closer. 'Especially now that Lord Eon has proved his power and his leadership of the Council.
This should dissuade Sethon from making a claim.'
I stared at Tyron. 'What do you mean?'
'Prince Kygo will be Pearl Emperor for twelve days until his father's body is entombed, and then he will be formally anointed as Dragon Emperor,' Tyron said. 'But the Pearl Days are the most dangerous: any male of royal blood can make his claim for the throne. That is why it is also traditionally the time when the Pearl Emperor kills any younger brothers to stop the internal wars that come with a divided claim.'
The Right of Reitanon,' Lord Silvo said, nodding. 'But I doubt our new Emperor will follow that tradition. He is his father's son.'
'Yrs, I'm sure he will spare his infant brother — the child poses no threat,' Tyron said.
'However, Sethon has made no secret of his ambitions, and he has the armies, led by his own younger brothers, backing him.'
'I can't stop High Lord Sethon from making a claim!' I grabbed Tyron's sleeve. 'You must not rely on me to stop Sethon. I cannot!'
Tyron pulled his arm free from my desperate grasp. 'Be easy, Lord lion. It is not you, personally, who will stop Sethon. He will be stopped by the knowledge that his nephew has your power behind him. You are the Mirror Dragoneye, you are Ascendant, and you now have the Council's full support. He would be mad to go against all that. Even with the armies.'
I felt a sob thicken my throat. The Prince — the new Emperor — was building his fortress on the quicksand of my power.
I grabbed at Tyron again. 'You don't understand —'
'Lord Eon,' Ido's rich voice harnessed my words. '%u are greatly honoured by our new Emperor.' From behind, I felt his hand close over my bruised shoulder. 'He raises you higher and higher. Soon you will not be able to see the humble truth of your beginnings.'
With subtle pressure on the older pain he turned me until I faced Rilla and Lady Dela, standing nearby. Lady Dela's pale make-up was streaked by tears. Did she cry for the death of the old Emperor, or for the loss of her protector?
'I will never forget my beginnings,' I said through my teeth.
'Nor, I am sure, your responsibilities,' he added. I felt his thumb stroke my shoulder before he released me.
