❖ QUEENKILLER, KINGMAKER Book 2 ❖
A year has passed since Isla rescued Tam Mai from the dungeons, but her sister's mind is still trapped and broken. There is only one person Isla knows can help her.
Meanwhile across the sea, a prince seeks justice f...
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A chequered palanquin waited at the top of the embankment, but Kiet was done with sitting in a vessel. 'I prefer to ride, if it is no difference to you.'
Immediately were horses brought before them. Kiet spun the stirrup towards him and mounted the horse, Akai and two of their chosen soldiers following.
The road had been cleared all the way from the harbours of Tanmoji to the colossal gates of Momuji Castle, onlookers pushed aside by mounted soldiers. It was too ostentatious for Kiet's liking, but he understood the show was more for the people and less for his own comfort.
'I told you to bring more men,' muttered Akai. He had become more brazen with his opinions. Kiet liked that. 'Instead you bring more servants and a bird.'
'The bird could not be helped.' Kiet chuckled. His pet flew low around his unimpressed mount. Whatever his theurgy did, he never could shake the creature away. It had grown into a full-sized swiftlet since he nursed it—just larger than a fist—and was more attached to him than any palace dhayang. 'As for the Emperor; he is enough of a suspicious and fearful man. I'll give him no reason more to distrust me than my presence itself already draws.'
Three of his best soldiers were enough. Another half dozen he left on the ship. He needed most his men home, with his sisters.
'You've met him before?'
'I came for his coronation, though that was so long ago, I was too young to remember anything.' He had been four. The only thing he knew of the visit was what had been written in their annals, and his next visit to Tsunai had neither been to Momuji nor to see its Emperor. 'This is your first time to Tsunai?'
'Yes, maharaj, though my grandmother told me many stories of the land and taught me their language.'
'I was counting on that.' Kiet had guessed correctly his captain's roots. Never mind his skin tone—even his name suggested Tsun influences. It was why he elected Akai to accompany him to the realm. Kiet knew the language himself—not as well as Common Regnant or Kapuluan—but he might later need a man to be his eyes and ears where he was himself not present. 'Well. Now you shall have stories to tell your grandmother in return.'
Akai beamed at that; the first Kiet ever saw him so enthused.
The sound of chatter overwhelmed them then as they entered what their escort announced as the Tanmoji markets. The guards here had a harder time keeping people at bay. Children pushed between their horses, women flirted for a peek. The smell of the sea turned into the tang of metal and stone, the musk of woods and fabrics. It followed them until the market streets merged into a wide road leading up to the castle.
They were welcomed through the Hancheon Gate—heavengate, in their tongue, and aptly named. It was built into the face of the cliff, so high that four tiers of soldiers guarded the entrance. Men lined the tunnel, spear in one hand, torches wedged in the wall between every soldier. Archers guarded the higher tiers.
