The Chasing Graves by Ben Galley

Author:Ben Galley [Galley, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, fantasy
ISBN: 0993517048
Publisher: BenGalley.com
Published: 2019-05-06T22:00:00+00:00

‘May your reign be long and prosperous, my emperor, powerful of strength and mind, lord of all the sun touches. May both the living and the dead remember your name throughout all ages to come.’

Sisine waited for the two knocks to come, but nothing stirred besides the flames of the lamps above. She bent a knee to the marble again, her silks rustling.

‘May your reign be long and prosperous, my emperor, powerful of strength and mind, lord of all the sun touches. May both the living and the dead remember your name throughout all ages to come.’

The wait was torturous.

‘May your reign—’

The hatch slid open with a clang, and the scroll was pushed through.

Sisine reached out to take it, but held herself back. She leaned closer. ‘Father?’

The scroll shook as if the hand that held it was unnerved.

‘Will you not even speak to me? Your own daughter?’

Only a muffled cough answered her.

‘You’re a coward!’ she hissed, but before she could go further, the hatch shut with a clang.

Sisine snatched the scroll up and strangled it, wishing it was the emperor’s neck. Hands shaking with anger, she got to her feet and ripped open the scroll to see his decrees. The ink was so fresh she smudged half a sentence with her thumb. Her lips moved silently as she read.

Sisine looked back to the Sanctuary door in all its glinting complexity, and the great diamond that glowed at its centre. How many times had she stared at it? Wondered at its thickness, its keyholes and mechanisms? What manner of man was left behind it, possibly staring back at her? Almost five years had passed and not once had he left it, preferring to stay alone and untrusting. The Sanctuary had been his insurance, and yet it appeared it would now be his downfall. That was the only explanation for the nonsense scrawled on the papyrus.

The emperor has finally lost his mind.

There, in the golden glow of the door’s metal, the empress-in-waiting smiled.

‘Guards! The door!’

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