Swords of the Imperium (Dark Fantasy Novel) (The Polaris Chronicles Book 2) Read Online Free

her eyes. “I’ll think about it, if it gets you off my tit for a sodding second. Now, I need to piss.”
    She sauntered out of the chamber unbidden.
    Amilia shook her head, rose from her throne, and dusted her robes off. She glanced at Taki and Hadassah. “I doubt the principality will return. In the meantime, I’d like a word with you, Cornet Natalis.”
    “Your Grace.” Taki bowed deeply and tried to stifle his own trembling. She wants to eliminate the evidence. Now is as good a time as any. For once, he was glad that Hadassah was with him. At least she’ll get axed too.
    “There’ve been rumors of late,” Amilia said. “Idle slander that I seduced a young Polaris of the Temple and that, in a foolish attempt to gain my favor, the young man killed our former liege.”
    “I know very little of these matters, Your Grace,” Taki said. He swallowed. Sweat droplets formed on his brow.
    “As basileus, it is my sacred duty to uphold the law and bring justice to the murderer. If it so happened that an ambitious but misguided young man raised his hand against Niketas Palaiologos, then he should be hanged, drawn, and quartered, and his parts sent to all corners of the Dominion to serve as an example for traitors.”
    Taki clenched his jaw. “Yes, Your Grace.” This is the end.
    “So you basically used him, and now you’re gonna turn him into wieners?” Hadassah said. “That’s pretty shitty of you.”
    Amilia cracked her knuckles. “Were we not alone here, you’d be flogged to death for your insolence, girl.”
    Hadassah seemed unfazed. “I just speak plainly, Your Grace.”
    “Just consider yourself lucky to be beneath my notice. As for you, Cornet Natalis, perhaps I’ll speak plainly too. You’re becoming a liability. But, as your wench pointed out, it would be untoward of me to simply have you killed.”
    “I’m definitely not his wench,” Hadassah said.
    Taki coughed and sputtered. “What will happen to me, Your Grace?”
    “The safest thing for both of us would be to cut out your tongue, have you branded on both cheeks, and sever your thumbs before depositing you on the Ursalan border. You’d avoid execution, in any case.”
    Taki went pale. “P-please, Your Grace…”
    “Luckily for you, another option has presented itself. For now, you’ll simply need to wait…and to not do anything stupid.”
    Taki dug his nails into his palms. His knees wobbled, and he found it impossible to stand.
    “I hope you understand my situation. I’m not a monster.” With that, Amilia rose from her seat and pointed to the door.
    Taki lowered his head and stared at the tiles on the floor. They formed a mosaic of Orestes tormented by the Furies: punishment for the murder of his betters. And yet because the deed had been instigated by a god, Orestes had been unable to even take shelter in any temple. Until he’d made impossible amends, his fate was always to suffer. Rendered in exacting detail with tiny precious stones, the ancient hero’s face was caught in an eternal scream.
     

     
    Hecaton stood at the highest point of the Mitripoli, letting the wind whip her hair into disarray. Her prayer robes had been dumped on to a beggar in a side alley, and now she sported a gold-accented tunic that she’d swiped from Amilia’s chambers. Wearing it was treason, but edicts were meaningless atop the fort’s steeple. Athenaeum also smelled slightly better where she was.
    “ Udaan uulzsangui shuu, Sirin, ” Chronicler said. He perched on a buttress nearby, just out of arm’s reach.
    Hecaton tensed for a moment to hear her sworn nemesis speak her truest of names. Had anyone else addressed her with such familiarity—such intimacy—she’d have struck him down where he stood. Chronicler, however, was no stranger. She let out a sigh of resignation and continued to stare out over the city. Of the two of them, Chronicler was always the more physical, and trying to run from him would only result in more taunting. It was