Page 90 of All the Wandering Light

A ripple of laughter went through the crowd. There was something familiar in it, the recognition of an old joke. River smiled.

“It was productive, Your Highness,” he replied. His voice was clear enough to carry across the crowd. “Shall I bore you with the details?”

The captain’s gaze held a hint of affection that looked strange in a face like his. The courtiers laughed again. “Later. I’ll permit no serious talk now. You’ve returned safely, and that warrants celebrating.”

River lowered his head. The captain turned toward the woman at his side. As he did, his gaze fell on me.

Shock spread across his face. I ducked behind the tall courtier again, having forgotten myself for a moment. But unfortunately, every eye that had been trained on the emperor had noticed his reaction and followed his gaze to where I stood.

“There, that—that girl.” The captain seemed to falter, but when he continued, his voice was steady again. “Bring her to me.”

I tried to run, but there were too many people in the way, and the crowd was parting again, people stepping back to witness the source of the confusion. A guard appeared out of nowhere and seized my arm. He half dragged, half led me to the dais, sending dragons darting this way and that. The captain leaned forward now, both hands gripping the arms of his throne.

River watched as the guard led me to his side. He was good at concealing his shock—I had only caught a flash of it, now buried under an opaque expression.

“Your Highness,” River began, “what—”

“This girl is a witch,” Elin announced. The crowd gasped in near-perfect unison, which I might have found comical under different circumstances. As it was, there was nothing amusing about the expression in Elin’s eyes.

The emperor’s eyes.

River’s composure had slipped a hair. “There must be some mistake.”

“Don’t be fooled by her appearance.” The emperor stood and came toward me. I shrank back instinctively—I had thought him equally fearsome in his royal garb as he had been in his bloodstained armor. In truth, he was far more terrifying now, his roughness subsumed by royal manners, his sword traded for the might of an Empire. He moved and spoke with the confidence of a man who could end lives with the flick of a finger.

“I came upon her and her companions on patrol with the Fifth Army,” he said, his gaze never wavering from my face, as if he thought I might disappear. “But they slipped from my grasp.”

Understanding dawned in River’s gaze. I could see him take in the situation and turn his thoughts to dealing with it.

“We had no idea who you were,” I snapped, which was nonsensical, but I couldn’t help myself. Captain Elin was the emperor.

And then, immediately after that thought, Lusha attacked the emperor.

Emperor Lozong stopped in front of me. Even if he hadn’t been on a dais, I would have had to look up at him—as it was, the distance between us made my neck ache.

“I always travel under an alias when I inspect my armies in the field,” he said. “So as to hide my identity from bandits and assassins. Little did I know I would be concealing myself from a group of witches. And are your companions here as well?”

“I am,” said a voice from the crowd. To my dismay, Lusha stepped forward, all glittering jewels and flashing eyes. The emperor stared. He could have given the command to have Lusha seized too, but he seemed to be momentarily struck dumb. Lusha came forward as calmly as River had, bowing as if she were just another courtier paying her respects. Standing next to her, though, I could see the pulse racing in her throat.

“You called yourself a captain,” she said. “Yet, as it turns out, you were not what you appeared to be. Is it so difficult for you to imagine that the same is true for us?”

The emperor blinked. He seemed to be recovering from his shock, and some of the venom was returning to his expression. “Explain.”

“We are not witches.” Lusha didn’t flinch beneath his gaze, though he could have at any moment chosen to nod to a soldier and have her slain at his feet, which something in his eyes suggested he was considering. “Nor are we in league with them. We are travelers from the village of Azmiri. We accompanied the Royal Explorer to Mount Raksha.”

River was gazing at Lusha as if she were a particularly complex chess board. Seeming to come to a decision, he said, “It’s true, Your Highness. These two are no more witches than I am. In fact, I couldn’t have completed my mission without their help.”

The emperor stared at River. He could not have looked more shocked if River had burst into flames.

“How can this be?” he said after a long, deadly silence, during which I could hear every breath drawn by the silent courtiers. “Someone is playing me false.”

River gave him a calm look. “Do you trust me?”

His expression was composed, his tone even but for the vaguest hint of a reproach. The performance was so note-perfect that I shivered.

“Please.” Lusha stepped forward again, and the emperor’s gaze drifted to hers as if against his will. “Please, Your Highness. I can explain everything, if you’d allow me. Not only that”—her cool gaze shifted to River—“I can tell the story of how the Royal Explorer brought you a fallen star.”

“Lusha,” I said, but my protest was swallowed by the murmuring that swelled through the hall. I hadn’t expected her to do this now.