A Dance of Shadows (The Royal Spares #3)

Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Aurelia

C oncocting a cure for banded asp venom. Linus’s declaration echoes in my ears. My gaze snags on the little princess and prince tucked close to their parents in the cluster of Cotean royals.

Surely my husband isn’t going to have even the children bitten by those snakes? Consign them to the same torturous fate two of their people have already suffered?

Can I even concoct an antidote?

What will become of Bastien and his family if I can’t?

That last question sets my heart thudding twice as fast. It was agonizing enough watching two of the commoners crumple without having anything I could offer them. There’s a part of me that wants to scream and wail against the insanity of this demand.

But what good will it do the Cotean royal family if I break down in front of them? What good will it do anyone in their kingdom?

Linus will get what he wants one way or another. I don’t have enough strength behind me yet to openly challenge him.

The best thing I can do is show the strength I do have. Act as if this isn’t a punishment but a challenge I embrace in my determination to serve all the empire’s people, not just those of Dariu.

Let’s see how far I can spin his insanity in my favor.

My conviction stiffens my spine. I force a smile onto my face and address both my husband and our spectators. “What a brilliant idea. It would be my honor to show all of Cotea that we imperials can support them as much as they do us. Let me see what my gift can tell me.”

I let my focus sink deeper into my mind, picturing the snakes I watched Bastien and the city folk carrying out of the field of irises. Imagining one of the green-and-purple banded asps sinking its fangs into Bastien’s arm.

Through the panic that quivers through my mind at the thought, I aim my gift at the problem. If he were poisoned with that venom, what could I give him as an antidote?

It’s possible no answer at all will emerge before my mind’s eye. That I’ll get only the dark blankness that tells me curing this ailment is beyond my gift.

I can’t fathom what Linus would do if I have to tell him that.

But the images start to form, punctuated with my rush of relief. A chunk of sylvere bark, a little ipio powder, a sliver of garlic—I have all that in my trunk back at the palace. The brewing should only take an hour. Too late for the two civilians whose breaths have nearly stopped, as Linus said, but soon enough to save someone .

Unfortunately, there’s another ingredient my gift shows me tossing into the cauldron: a heap of small white petals I don’t recognize.

Frowning, I prod that part of the gift-given imagery. The petals whirl and assemble themselves around a tiny yellow center, blossoms in a sprig on a thin stem with curving, grass-like leaves.

I still don’t know what that plant is. A sharper flicker of panic passes through my veins.

In my medical studies, I’ve come to see that nature tends to work in patterns. The needed aspects of a cure tend to emerge in tandem with the conditions they can treat. Chances are that this flower is native to Cotea, to the same areas where banded asps live.

But I don’t know where to start to look. I don’t remember seeing those delicate blooms along the road as we traveled, although they’re so small it’d be easy for me to miss them.

Linus claps his hands, jolting me out of my reverie. “Well, my empress?”

“I almost have it,” I say hastily, with all the confidence I can bring to my voice. “There’s just one ingredient—let me meditate on it for a moment.”

The pressure of hundreds of gazes weighs on me. I swallow thickly and concentrate on the white flowers, clasping my hand over my godlen brand.

Elox, lend me a little more guidance. Let me see the scene where these flowers would grow. Please, give me a bigger picture.

I extend my appeal from the well of calm inside me, the peace I’ve cultivated through all my best meditations to my godlen. I don’t know how much he approves of the course I’ve taken in the past few months, but I’m sure he wouldn’t want the entire Cotean royal family to die unnecessarily.

My image of the flowers wavers and expands behind my closed eyes. The stem is sprouting from… muddy-looking ground, with reeds matted across it and more sprouting up with thick waxy leaves and vibrant red cattails.

I glance toward Bastien and his family clustered behind him. “There’s a small white flower with a yellow center that I believe grows in some kind of marsh. Do you know what that is and where near here I could find it?”

Bastien’s brother, Prince Rolland, raises his eyebrows. “That has to be josemine. It only grows in the bogs.” He looks to his father in confirmation. “The closest one would be the Erlich Morass, wouldn’t it?”

King Stanislas nods, his mouth twisting slightly. “It’s a few hours’ ride away, longer if you go by carriage, but you should definitely find josemine there.”

They need to see I’m taking this quest seriously, worrying more about their survival than my comfort. I turn to Linus. “I can ride. Everything else I need, I already have in my things at the palace. I can set out now and return not long after dinner. I only need a guide.”

“I’ve already appointed one,” Linus says with a grin. “Prince Bastien, presumably you’re aware of this bog as well.”

Bastien dips his head. His stance is rigid as if he’s unhappy with the responsibility, keeping up the pretense that he dislikes me. “I can direct her there.”

“Right then.” Linus raises his arms to draw the attention of all our spectators. “Reconvene in the square at midnight to see your empress’s impressive gift at work!”

He motions me and Bastien toward the imperial carriage, I assume to take us to the stables. We’ve nearly reached it when High Commander Axius steps into our path.

There’s an uneasiness to his grim expression that I don’t understand. He offers his emperor the customary bow before speaking. “Her Imperial Highness should have all due protection on her ventures across the countryside. I’d rather not leave such a large undertaking in the hands of only her personal guards. I would be happy to ensure myself that she?—”

Linus waves his military advisor off with an air of boredom. “My wife is eager to show her capabilities. It’ll hardly do to send her with an entire entourage. Let’s not have people doubting who did the work.”

Axius hesitates and then gathers himself as if to speak again. In that moment, I abruptly understand what I’m seeing.

He’s worried about me. Not because he sees me as weak, but because he can tell his emperor is going off the rails.

The high commander wouldn’t mind seeing me falter due to my own failings. He’s putting his neck on the line to protect me from Marclinus’s.

I don’t know what to make of that shift in loyalty. But if I won’t have to dispose of him myself, I’m not going to let a man who could be instrumental in keeping the Darium army on my side get cut down for wounding Linus’s ego.

I step forward and aim a reassuring smile at Axius. “My husband is quite right, High Commander. You know I’ve faced plenty of challenges in the past without any guards at all. Finding a flower hardly seems all that perilous.”

I keep my gaze firm, conveying a silent message I hope he can catch the gist of. Back down before you say something your emperor won’t let you take back.

Axius’s gaze flicks to me. He shuts his mouth. After a brief silence, he inclines his grizzled head. “You have always known your own mind, I suppose, Your Imperial Highness. Forgive my interruption.”

“If I need you, I’ll call on you,” Linus snipes, and ushers Bastien and me into the carriage.

At his urging, our vehicle draws ahead of the others. It circles through the crowd and sets off for the palace.

Linus must have sent word ahead by some means I didn’t notice. Before we get close to the palace gates, the carriage veers off onto a different road, past a glade of trees, and comes to a stop where two saddled horses have been left waiting for us.

Only two. As I exit the carriage, I scan our surroundings, but we’re utterly alone. A creeping sensation spreads over my skin.

One of my personal guards speaks up before I need to. “Your Imperial Majesty, how will we accompany Her Imperial Highness?”

Linus waves him off. “My foster brother can prove himself too today. The prince can protect her well enough.” He aims a cruel smile at Bastien. “After all, if he doesn’t bring her back, his entire family will succumb to asp venom.”

I can’t tell whether my husband is hoping to lose me to the bog so he has an excuse to execute the Cotean royals, or if this is simply more punishment for my interference in Rione. He wants to make my quest as difficult as possible. He probably thinks Bastien will be colder with me if we’re alone.

I let my expression tense as if I’m uncomfortable with the idea, though actually I’d rather be able to talk with Bastien openly. He’ll certainly do far more to defend me and our unborn child than Linus ever would.

“If we should encounter any danger on the road…” I begin.

Linus clicks his tongue. “This hardly seems like dangerous territory. Do Cotean marauders typically linger in bogs, Bastien?”

The prince shakes his head, but his voice comes out stiff. “I will do my best to see Her Imperial Highness through this task safely, but obviously with more protection?—”

“Ah, I’m sure Elox will watch over her.” Linus pats me on the shoulder with a condescending air. “I’ll see you tonight, wife.”

He steps back into the carriage with a motion to the driver. My guard who spoke up, the man named Kassun who’s expressed concern for me in the past, shoots me a worried look as if offering to argue on my behalf.

My gut tightens at the thought of how Linus might punish the dissension. He’ll be even swifter to lash out at an ordinary guard who questions his judgment than he would have with the high commander.

I offer Kassun a tick of my head as if to say, It’s okay. Go on.

He scowls, but he returns to his seat on the back of the carriage. The horses draw the vehicle back toward Delphine.

I turn toward our own steeds. “Well. I suppose we’d better get started.”

Bastien’s shoulders have come down with Linus’s departure. His gaze skims over my dress. “ Can you ride in that thing?”

I study the flowing silk gown. “I can make do. I don’t think it’ll get through a bog unscathed anyway.”

Retrieving my small knife from its sheath on my belt, I grasp the silk folds with my other hand. With a couple of swift jerks, I carve a tear through the fabric from mid-thigh to hem on either side.

Now it’s shaped more like the riding dresses I’d have worn when going out back home.

The corner of Bastien’s mouth quirks upward. “Not very imperial.”

I brush my hands together. “If Linus is going to send me off to be a medic princess rather than an empress, some adjustments need to be made. Now where’s this bog?”