A plan that he was still devising.
He turned to Katsi, who still stood behind him, watching each person as they left the room. “Katsi, it’s time you had a peek at Marem political infrastructure.”
“Don’t try too hard to entice me,” Katsi said.
Migo smirked. “I’m not sure I could entice you with anything.”
Suresh returned to Migo, lips a thin line. “Shall we gather in the command room then, lord?”
“Certainly,” Migo said. Clearly Suresh still questioned Migo’s validity as emperor, as he should. Migo would have felt similarly were he in their place, but he was also a practical man. If something was necessary, he would do it. Perhaps that was a mentality common among soldiers, for they too were the first to kneel.
He’d failed as a leader since becoming a king, and he was truly not a great fit as an emperor, but he still felt that he would prove to be their best chance at victory should war come.
It was time to prove that he was more than a monster.
Chapter nineteen
Stars
Katsi rubbed the side of her head, never more grateful to see the end of a meeting. Migo held the door for her as she made her way out of the war room. The two of them were the last to leave. It was the same room with all the maps covering the walls and tables. They’d had to bring in a large candle holder to be able to see as the sun faded. A growing discomfort simmered in her stomach at the lurking darkness, and she’d yearned to leave the meeting early so that she could go outside and fly around with Scales.
Instead she’d spent nearly a whole mark listening to them discuss global troop locations as well as castle and city defense systems. She noticed all the details they went over did not specify anything about the magical elements intertwined throughout the castle walls. She’d come to recognize enchantments on artifacts more and more during her time here. Much of those defenses were established by Alyssad personally, and she doubted there anyone else who knew the extent of his enchantments. Perhaps Adrina, but she seemed upset enough by the whole situation that she didn’t seem likely to be very cooperative.
“Sorry for keeping you so long,” Migo said, closing the door behind him. “I’m sure you probably wanted to watch the setting sun.”
He’d practically read her mind. “I suppose there will be another chance tomorrow,” she said, still baffled by the very concept of day and night returning.
He nodded, a distant look in his eyes as though he was considering the same thing. “Do you have somewhere safe where you can sleep?”
Katsi shrugged. “As safe as anywhere, I suppose. As long as some flying black monster that’s impervious to magic doesn’t come after me, I think I may survive this first night.”
Migo shook his head knowingly. “I doubt you have to worry about that. From what I understand, some shamans have wanted to create whatever I am for hundreds of years, even before the tidal locking. Everyone they experimented on died.”
She looked at him sharply. He’d taken such a risk? “You’ll have to give me the details of that experience. Are you sure it can’t be repeated on somebody else?”
“Nothing is ever certain, but I doubt it. Also, the shaman who created the potion that transformed me is dead, so you can sleep well.”
Katsi nodded to herself. If anything like Migo’s… other form came after her, she had no idea what she’d do. Probably just fly away and hope that she was faster. “I’m not particularly tired. I’m also uncertain how well I’ll be able to sleep in such darkness either.” She walked close to him as they navigated the halls, passing a servant who seemed unsure about how to clean up the ruined hallway.
Migo urged the servant to leave it for the time being, then spoke to Katsi again. “Seeing as neither of us are feeling tired, do you know how to get to the top of the castle?”
“Of course,” Katsi said, smiling. She’d been thinking of the same thing. She took the lead, steering him through the darkened hallways. Interestingly enough, she’d grown so accustomed to tuning in with the air and stone now that she could practically see in the dark, like her hands were on every surface. It reminded her of when Alyssad had led her through the underground tunnel that took her to the castle that first time.
Migo grunted as his foot struck a dislodged tile on the floor. “Sands, I made a real mess.”
Katsi smiled. “You really should be more considerate of fine architecture.”
“The only thing I was considering was saving your life,” he said, looking at her through the sides of his eyes. He kicked another bit of rubble and growled to himself.
Katsi stifled a laugh. Candles were dispersed evenly enough that he could have still seen whatever he kept kicking. It was a sign that he was clearly distracted. She shook her head and led him up a flight of stairs that would take them to the top of the castle.
“How did your study of magic progress while I was away?” he said from behind her.
“I have learned a lot. Adrina, the foremost of those shamans that met with us in the emperor’s room, has been my teacher. She is a very experienced instructor. I might have learned a great bit more from her had circumstances been different.”
“I hope you still can learn from her. She has a strong will and speaks her mind. I’m sure she is unafraid to provide proper advice. These things are valuable in a teacher.”
“You think she’ll still teach me?”
“She’s not our enemy as far as I can tell. Either that, or she will likely kill me as I sleep.” He laughed as if it was funny.
“We just need to win her loyalty somehow,” Katsi said. “Though I’m not sure how to convince a very old woman that it would be a good idea to take orders from a seventeen year old emperor.”
Migo grunted in thought. “Perhaps I need to find a way to make it more collaborative.”
Katsi opened the door at the top of the staircase. “I’m sure we’ll think—” she stopped with a gasp, staring at the darkening sky, still purplish to the west. Bright lights twinkled all the way up there, varying in size and brightness. “Sands, Migo.” She’d heard descriptions of stars, but nothing truly prepared her for the awe that welled in her chest.
Migo hurried up the stairs behind her, ushering her out the door with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “It’s more magnificent than I imagined,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. His eyes grew so wide. He hurried across the roof to a more open area and Katsi stumbled after him, unable to peel her eyes away from the sky.
Katsi laughed as Migo flopped down on his back and stared up with his mouth open, hands behind his head. “Look there,” Migo said, pointing. “That bright blue one.”
She squinted off, but was unable to tell where he was pointing until she laid down next to him and followed his arm with her eyes. She spotted a star that glimmered in white and blue, much brighter than those around it. “I see it.”
“If I remember correctly, that's actually another planet called Orend. It normally is only supposed to be visible from a viewing point northeast of Mazanib, but with the rotations returned to normal…” his voice trailed off as he shook his head.
“Another planet?”
“Yes, it also rotates around the sun. There are supposedly several other planets. They’ve been observed at different points in the sky in relation to the stars around them, unlike stars which keep their same distance from each other without change—at least from our vantage.”
