A Dance of Shadows (The Royal Spares #3)

Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

Aurelia

A few miles from the sprawling city of Rodrige and the slim, gleaming lake Lavira’s capital sits beside, our convoy grates to a halt. A tremor races through my nerves at the sound of hoofbeats on the road outside.

Has there been a renewed stirring of rebellion in Raul’s home country? If we’re beset by insurgents, I don’t think they’d believe any claims from me that I’m more on their side than my husband’s.

But the face that appears by our carriage window above a high officer’s formal uniform is familiar. Tribune Valerisse peers in at us down her long nose, her dark eyes flicking from me to my husband in an instant as if dismissing me as irrelevant. Three tight braids pull her chestnut hair away from her coppery face as before, but the absence of a helm suggests she’s not expecting to ride into combat just yet.

“Your Imperial Majesty,” she says in her forceful voice, the singular title dismissing me as much as her gaze did. “I’ve brought an additional squadron to escort you into the city, as requested.”

Oh, he requested that, did he? Beyond Valerisse’s lean frame, I make out several other new soldiers on horseback farther along the road in the fading late-afternoon light. No doubt there are more flanking our procession on the other side as well.

We’re going to look like an invading army rather than honored visitors.

Linus swipes his hands together, his expression all avid approval. “Perfect. Let’s not have the beasts in that city getting any ideas into their heads about trying me. I’ll want you to ensure that several of the soldiers draw close alongside my personal guard when I make my announcement after the pledging of loyalties tomorrow. I expect the situation may become somewhat… chaotic.”

His feral grin sets my nerves jittering again. What fresh horror has he planned for the Lavirians?

It won’t be just delusions of grandeur fueling his demands but a sense of retribution for the attacks the rebels carried out a few months ago. Gods smite him, how far will he think it’s fair to go?

As if fairness ever enters into my husband’s decision-making.

The tribune salutes her emperor and rides off, barking orders to her underlings. After a moment, the carriage jerks forward into the descending dusk.

I offer Linus an adoring smile. “It sounds as though you have quite a thrilling time planned for us tomorrow. Do I have any reason to worry for my own safety?”

Linus makes a flippant gesture. “Stay back and keep with your own guards, and you should be just fine. If anyone tries to take advantage of the furor, I’m the one they’d be after.”

That may be true, but he’s also proven before how little concern he has for my security. I touch the growing curve of my belly as if I can protect the child inside me from his madness with my mere fingers.

“What fable are you drawing on for the Lavirians?” I ask as if I simply want to bask in his brilliance.

Linus simply chuckles. “It’ll be more fun to watch it unfold as it happens. I’ll do our gods proud. It’s a shame we arrived too late to begin the festivities today.”

No hint at which specific godlen he’s intending to emulate next, but from his remarks about “chaos” and “furor” and his request for additional protection, I’m guessing we can expect some violence. It isn’t as if he’s shied from causing harm to the inhabitants of the past capitals we’ve visited.

Apprehension gnaws at my gut as we roll on into the city.

Neither the additional soldiers nor the thickening darkness appears to dampen the locals’ curiosity. Along the sides of the roads, figures in brightly colored clothing watch us with wide eyes and chatter mostly in their native tongue. Beyond them, lanterns glow along shop awnings and the entrances to vast, swooping tents that cover a couple of larger marketplaces.

Lavirians are known for their skills in negotiation and trade. Merchants from all across the empire must venture to this central city in the hopes of making a name for themselves on an international scale.

Rich smells both savory and sweet wind into my nose from stalls still operating alongside the larger shops, but I’m too wound up for hunger to take hold. Not even the gates that let us into the palace grounds right in the middle of the city, their gold gilding sparkling in the lantern-light, can provoke much awe through my uneasiness.

The Lavirian royals certainly know how to present a lavish appearance. The two palaces we approach—the larger one for the local royals and the smaller building for the emperor’s traveling court—gleam with as many embedded jewels as decorate the necks and wrists of the nobles who emerge to greet us. Within moments of our stepping out of the carriages, Raul’s mother, Queen Benvida, has motioned for a horde of smartly dressed servants to circulate among us with goblets of wine.

I take the glass an imperial taster sips for me, the heady fragrance turning my stomach.

“We have dinner already waiting for you, Your Imperial Majesty,” the queen says with a dip of her head toward Marclinus. “I hope you will find all you need to freshen from your travels in the prepared apartments and join us as soon as you wish.”

More servants sweep us off into the palace, ushering Linus and I to the imperial wing. My door, just down the hall from his, opens to a lush expanse of silk and velvet, marble and gold, so intensely opulent I almost shudder at the sight.

Linus laughs to himself. “They always treat us well. No doubt they’ll be licking our boots even more than usual, begging for forgiveness after all the recent trouble. Just wait until we get to the meals! Lavirians know how to butter a person up with plenty of actual butter.”

Still chortling at his own joke, he strides on to his chambers.

I hurry through a washing and change of clothes and join our traveling court walking across to the dining room in the main royal palace. The banquet laid out in the vast, lavishly decorated space smells even more mouth-watering than the scents I caught on our journey through the city, but I barely taste the elaborate combinations of flavors that pass over my tongue. My mind is too occupied with thoughts of the future spectacle my husband has planned.

If there’s going to be violence, injuries will almost certainly follow. I’ll need to make sure I’m more prepared this time.

It doesn’t occur to me that anything all that momentous could happen before the pledging ceremony. But Linus never shies from a chance to upend any semblance of security.

He’s just polished off his dessert when he grasps my hand and tugs me to my feet before the watching Lavirian nobles.

“You will all have the honor of celebrating not just the pledging of loyalty but my birthday tomorrow,” he announces. “And that has presented me with a miraculous opportunity.”

We’re on the cusp of his birthday? My gaze flicks to the Darium nobles around me, but all of them look as if they’ve swallowed their tongues.

It’s hard to keep track of the days when you’re on the road for so long. I don’t think any of them realized.

Linus’s gaze slides to me. “While I was learning more about this intriguing country, I also stumbled on a tale about Sabrelle and Elox. It seems there was a relic Sabrelle blessed, a steel armband that gives the wearer the courage to see through any battle, and it ended up passing between multiple hands in one of Rodrige’s markets. Elox feared it might land with an owner who’d do more harm than good. After a lot of arguing, our godlen of war conceded to letting the godlen of peace hide it where only the most worthy dedicat could seek it out.”

I’ve never heard this particular fable before, but my heart is sinking before Linus even squeezes my hand. “I have full confidence that my lovely empress is such a worthy figure. She will track down Sabrelle’s blessed armband and present it to me before the dinner feast tomorrow as my birthday gift and a sign that all the empire basks in divine favor!”

He says it as if I’ve already agreed to this task—as if it’s a challenge and an honor we dreamed up together. I had no idea he’d lob such a weighty quest at me before I’ve even really experienced the city.

What in the realms does he want this relic for—if it truly exists? It’s Marc who’s ridden into battle with the Darium army in the past.

Does Linus suspect that his twin might be harboring violent intentions and hope Sabrelle’s blessing will give him the necessary edge to survive? I hardly want to help him with that goal.

But I can only imagine the consequences of humiliating him by denying his request. I suppose if I can track down this relic, it’ll be further proof to the Lavirian people that I have the approval of our gods, whatever they might think of my husband.

What happens after that… I’ll have to determine as I go.

I beam at Linus as if there’s no task I’d rather carry out. “I look forward to sharing in this honor. I believe I must start by meditating with my godlen tonight, and we’ll see how Elox will guide me.”

When I take to my bed after a long supplication in front of Elox’s statue in the Lavirian palace’s temple, darkness fills my dreams. Branches loom and lock around me; walls press in suffocatingly tight.

I wake with a jolt, my skin still itching from the imaginary pressure.

For a few minutes, I simply stare at the ceiling. Elox didn’t give me any clear message while I was conscious last night. If he sent these dreams, I have to think he’s saying he’d rather Sabrelle’s relic stayed hidden away.

Somehow I don’t think Linus will accept that answer, even from a godlen.

It’s too early for my maids to have arrived to help me dress. I sink down by one of the windows in the dawn’s pale light. After tapping my fingers down my front, I lean forward to prostrate myself with eyes closed.

Please, Elox, I don’t want to place this power in Linus’s hands either, but I have to give him something. I don’t know how much description he’s seen of the relic… Can you at least show me what it should look like so I can divert him with a replacement?

I have no idea whether I’d be able to find something convincing enough to meet Linus’s expectations. I’ll have to bring my potion-making skills to bear and put on a show of a determined search. And I only have until the pledging ceremony this afternoon.

If I at least had a place to start…

An image swims up in my mind: a semi-circle of steel, etched with Sabrelle’s sigil flanked by a galloping horse and a baying hound, both with rubies gleaming in their eyes.

I swallow thickly. Is that the ancient armband I’m meant to find? How in the realms am I going to conjure anything quite like that?

As I grapple with my uncertainties, a spark flares in the darkness behind my closed eyelids. Its stark red glow blazes into my consciousness.

I hesitate, focusing on this new vision. The ruddy glimmer flits forward like a daimon might, although the few spirit creatures I’ve seen in my lifetime have given off a colorless or silvery glow rather than crimson.

A twitch of the light makes me think it’s beckoning me. It veers off into the darkness until its glow is swallowed up.

What was that supposed to mean? Was Elox telling me he’d lead the way after all?

I’m snapped out of my reverie by a rap on my bedroom door. A guard’s voice filters through the thick wood. “Your Imperial Highness, Prince Raul is here to offer assistance in today’s quest.”

Has Linus sent the prince of Lavira to irritate me the way he seemed to think Bastien would at the bog? I glance down at my nightgown, with a sudden flush at the thought of how much I’d like Raul to see me like this… just not while my guards are looking on.

“Tell him he’ll have to wait until I’m presentable,” I call back.

I dress hastily and fix my hair up in a simple but neat style. Pausing for a moment at my desk, I write a brief description of the armband I saw in my vision along with a rough sketch for guidance. With the slip of paper tucked up my billowy silk sleeve, I open the door.

Raul stands at attention at the other side of the hallway. He dips into a short bow—respectful but as if he’d rather not have to. “My esteemed foster brother ordered me to see that you get on with your quest bright and early. Any clues Elox has offered you, I may be able to expand on with my knowledge of the city.”

His knowledge that’s more than fifteen years out of date, other than his rare visits back home. Does Linus actually want me to find this relic or is he hoping I’ll fail?

Maybe he isn’t all that confident it exists either—and if it doesn’t, he’d rather everyone think it’s the Lavirian prince’s failing rather than my godlen’s lack of faith in me.

“Thank you,” I say in a strictly formal tone. “I’ll appreciate any help you can give. Based on the impressions I’ve gotten in my meditating, I believe we should start our search at the square where the pledging ceremony will take place.”

It’s probably the most popular space in the city. May I find further inspiration there.