Chapter 46
Aurelia
A fter the final confirmation rite, the celebration in the capital overshadows all those before. Triumphant music swells from every direction; red and violet banners whirl in the wind from rooftops all around the largest city square. The bakers and chefs commissioned to supply refreshments sent a flood of smells both sweet and savory through the air.
In front of the audience of civilians, all of the nobles currently at court have knelt to reconfirm their loyalty to Marclinus and the imperial line. His foster brothers were among them, careful not to so much as glance my way.
They’ve departed now with some excuse I didn’t hear, but I know they’re actually sneaking through the city under the cover of Lorenzo’s illusions and Raul’s shadows, transporting the one rebel we could save from execution beyond the walls. I’m hoping that replacing the body should be even easier when it’s an average-sized man rather than giving them more trouble than they counted on.
As Marclinus and I offer a toast to our subjects and eat morsels for dinner before the reveling crowd, evening falls. Lanterns beam to life, some streaming a golden light and others imperial purple or Sabrellian red. Many have been enchanted to drift through the air above the square like immense fireflies.
When I see the princes return, I school my expression to remain in its same warm smile. From the corner of my eye, I catch Lorenzo’s furtive gesture. All’s well.
The tension that’s been weighing on my chest dissolves, letting my next breath flow more deeply into my lungs. I proved myself to Dariu’s citizens and to my husband without actually compromising what I stand for—or losing anyone I love.
I swallow the next few bites of roast duck with more genuine enthusiasm. The people before us prance and whirl with periodic cheers encouraged by the imperial guards stationed around the square. Some of the nobles on the platform around us sway with the music too, while others simply relax and nibble on the offered delicacies.
Marclinus has spent most of the time when he isn’t waving and bowing to the crowd laughing with his noblemen friends and tossing back wine. He’s been in more exuberant spirits since we had our brief respite at the palace to wash and change our clothes after our battles.
He elbows me playfully, his eyes glinting. “Now we’re right where we’re meant to be, aren’t we, wife? I’ll bet you never imagined you’d be sitting in the capital of the empire like this when you were a little girl back in Accasy.”
I hold my smile in place. “No, I didn’t, but I’m ever so grateful to be here.”
Those words aren’t even a lie .
Marclinus hums and trails his fingers down the side of my arm. “I’ll be grateful when we can have our time alone later tonight. Why don’t we confirm just how?—”
He cuts himself off at a parting of the crowd just beyond our platform. High Commander Axius strides over to us from the ring of guards. He dips his head to Marclinus with a slight nod to me as well—and a similar apologetic grimace to the one he offered me while he pledged his devotion to the empire this afternoon.
“Your Imperial Eminences,” he says. “A party of citizens would like to make a presentation to Empress Aurelia. My soldiers have checked them over and can see no means by which they could harm either of you. Shall we let them through?”
My heart skips a beat. A presentation? I wasn’t expecting that.
Marclinus’s smile tightens slightly, but he waves at Axius to go on. “Let them up. An honor to my empress is an honor to me as well.”
Yes, as long as he’s beside me, I’m sure he’ll never fail to take credit for anything I accomplish.
Several guards usher a group of a dozen or so men and women through the crowd and onto the platform. The music briefly halts. Faces all around the square turn to watch.
One man in a well-fitted linen tunic and trousers kneels before me while his companions cluster behind him. He’s holding a parcel of fabric.
He clears his throat. “Your Imperial Highness, we represent the people of Vivencia and citizens all across our country who’ve passed on reports of your bravery and kindness. You may have come from far north, but you’ve shown more dedication to the Dariu’s people already than we could have hoped to ask for. We feel you deserve this symbol of our respect and appreciation in return. ”
Tugging back the cloth, he reveals a crown that’s made of twined leaves, their glazed surfaces artfully shaped into a ring.
Marclinus stiffens beside me. I lose my breath.
A woman speaks up at the man’s shoulder, explaining what I’ve already guessed. “It’s a wreath made from leaves native to every part of our country. Dariu was proud to present a similar gift to our former empress, may the gods still bless her soul. We felt you deserved no less.”
I manage to find my voice through the swell of emotion in my chest. “I’m honored by your offering. May I put it on?”
The entire delegation breaks out into grins. “Please, Your Imperial Highness,” the man says.
I lift the wreath crown from his hands and nestle it on my head. Someone in the crowd beyond lets out a whoop, and then the entire square bursts into cheers and clapping and hollers of, “To Empress Aurelia, long may she live!” The soldiers around us add to the applause, many of them grinning themselves.
As the guards usher the delegation off the platform, I can’t hold back my own wider smile. Every beat of my heart resonates with joy.
All the pain I’ve gone through and the risks I’ve taken have been worth it. I’ve truly been accepted—by at least enough of Dariu’s people to have received this honor. What doubters still exist, I simply need more time to win them over too.
Possibly including my own husband.
Marclinus pushes off his seat and holds out his hand to me. “It does appear I’ve chosen well. Let’s give them something worth watching.”
He spins me to the resumed music so abruptly the crown almost tumbles off my head. I only get a second to right it before he’s grasped me by the waist to match the dancing below.
I’m not sure whether it’s the presenting of the crown or the spirited music, but my husband appears even more impatient to get to the private part of the night. After he’s led me through three dances and downed another glass of wine, he waves to the crowd once more. “Your empress and I must take our leave, but we look forward to tomorrow’s celebrations!”
I follow him to the waiting carriage without complaint. My skin is still tingling with the knowledge of what I’ve accomplished today.
How could there be a more perfect time to share the news that should earn me if not his full devotion, then at least his dedication to seeing me survive the next several months?
I wait until the carriage is moving, the rasp of the wheels over the paved road obscuring our voices to the guards seated outside. Marclinus slips his arm around me with a stroke of his fingers from my thigh to my ass.
I set my hand against his chest to stop him. “Husband, we have one more joy to celebrate today. Before we left for the festivities, I used one of the common herbal means to test—it appears I’ll soon be providing you with an heir.”
I’m not sure what to expect for the strength of Marclinus’s reaction, but I have no doubt it’ll be positive. So when he simply blinks at me, his leering smile faltering, my pulse stutters.
He seems to recover quickly enough, with a broad smile that I can’t help feeling is a little too tight. “What wonderful news! Are you sure?”
I spread my hands. “We can ask the medics to confirm, but the results seemed quite clear. I have been feeling a little under the weather the past few days—I thought it was nervousness about the rite, but when it persisted after, it occurred to me to check. We have had plenty of opportunity to produce this result.”
“Indeed we have.” Marclinus chuckles, but something about the sound feels a tad tight too.
My stomach knots. I don’t understand why he seems hesitant to rejoice. Surely he’s wanted an heir? Everyone else in the palace has seemed to think that’s my main purpose to him.
I’d like to think he’s only anxious remembering what befell his own mother in childbirth, but I have trouble believing he cares about my well-being quite that much.
“Many things to celebrate tonight indeed,” Marclinus goes on. He presses his mouth against the side of my neck in a demanding kiss. “What a spectacular time it’ll be! What a wife I have!”
My skin creeps at the manic energy in his voice. Thankfully, it’s a short trip back to the palace. The carriage hitches to a halt before Marclinus can do more than grope halfway up my inner thigh.
To my bewilderment, the moment we’ve clambered out by the front steps, my husband pulls away from me. “Wait for me in your chambers! I have a couple of matters to attend to first.”
What in the world? What “matters”? Minutes ago, he appeared to have no concern for anything but bedding me.
I walk through the halls at a regal pace, suppressing my uneasiness. The moment I push past my door, Sprite bounds to meet me. I scoop her up and flop into one of the armchairs, running my fingers over her soft fur until she’s purring in a resonant thrum.
How long is my husband going to leave me waiting? What will I face when he returns?
Nothing about this situation feels quite right, but I’m so confused about what could possibly be wrong that I have no idea how to prepare.
Is Marclinus simply upset about my reception from his people, the fact that they offered me a gift and not him, and that’s bleeding into his reaction to my pregnancy?
As a precaution, I lift the wreath crown from my head and set it gingerly on top of one of my trunks. I’ll need to see about getting a box built for preserving such a treasure.
The minutes slip by. The knots in my stomach multiply. I’d like to crawl into bed and get some sleep, but the last thing I want is for my husband’s arrival to take me by surprise.
The bell is just pealing out the tenth hour of the night when the door swings open and he strides in.
I set down Sprite and get up from the chair. Marclinus walks toward me but stops a few feet away. His gaze sweeps down to my belly and back to my face.
The intensity in his expression sends a wobble through my veins. Gone is the nonchalant front with the trace of an edge. I have the impression he’s grappling with himself, but I don’t know what over.
“Women have ways of judging when their body is fertile, don’t they?” Marclinus says without preamble. “The timing of their bleeds and whatnot? I’ve overheard one or two of the ladies of the court mention it.”
I adjust my stance, needing to regain my footing. Where is he going with this line of questioning?
I offer a small smile that I hope is endearing. “There are ways. Of course we can never tell for certain whether any particular interlude will result in a child.”
Marclinus takes another step toward me. “But you can at least estimate when this child was conceived.”
He says it like a firm statement rather than a question, but it’s clear that he wants an answer. I can offer one easily enough. “Based on the timing of my last bleed and the bodily signs I noted, I’d imagine it happened while we were at the palace by Rexoran.”
That’s the only time I was fully intimate with anyone since I last bled, so I actually know the timing for sure, not that I can reveal that fact.
The tension washes from my husband’s face with a light like the sun dawning. He crosses the last short distance to me and brings his hand to my cheek. The other rests on my waist, palm against my belly.
His voice drops to a murmur. “Good. Good. I knew— He’s simply?—”
Marclinus stops, bowing his head toward mine. At the slide of his fingers along my jaw, I lift my chin to meet his kiss. He melds his mouth to mine, tender but with a strange sense of urgency.
I don’t understand any of this, but at least he finally seems happy about the announcement.
When he draws back, I soften my own tone for my tentative questions. “What’s happened? Is something wrong?”
Marclinus inhales deeply with a hint of a tremor that startles me. I’ve never heard him sound this shaken, even when his father died in front of him.
He grasps my hand, squeezes it, and lets it go again as if he’s not sure whether the gesture is wise. With an air of resolve, he draws himself straighter. “You’ve proven yourself. You’ve earned your place in the family. You need to know.”
I knit my brow. “Know what?”
“Come here. Let’s sit together.”
Marclinus guides me over to the sofa across the room from the bed. He lets me sit next to him with a little space between us and none of the groping he couldn’t resist in the carriage. His gaze lingers on my face, dropping briefly to my belly before returning .
He reaches across the space between us, but only to clasp my hand again with an unusual gentleness. “You’ve heard the story of my birth—that my mother died in the process and my father raised me alone.”
I nod. “But I’m sure you don’t need to worry about?—”
“That’s not what I’m getting at.” He pauses, and his eyes smolder even more fiercely. “Part of the reason my mother was in such a precarious state is she was pregnant with two children, not one.”
What?
I keep my fingers curled around his, waiting for him to explain.
As he speaks, Marclinus’s gaze doesn’t leave mine for an instant. “She died giving birth to twins. Identical twins. And my father decided that it was best for us and for the imperial line if no one ever knew there were two of us. If we lived one shared life, combining our strengths, balancing out each other’s weaknesses, and ensuring any assassination attempt could only target one of us.”
He lays the story out so matter-of-factly that it takes a moment for the absurdity of what he’s said to sink in.
My jaw goes slack. I know I’m staring at him, but I can’t stop, can’t hold back the question now blurting from my mouth. “ What? ”
Marclinus swipes his free hand over his face. “I know it’s a lot to take in. But it’s really very simple. Father got rid of the few people who had a chance to know when we were very young. Once we were old enough, we simply switched off regularly. He had the apartments in all the palaces renovated—there’s an additional hidden room in our apartments where we stay when the other is living our life. The wardrobe carriage when we travel is mostly a living space… It’s worked. Until now. ”
I haven’t yet wrapped my head around the core of his story. “Then you—it hasn’t always been you?”
“No. My brother and I have spent about an equal amount of time with you, trading off depending on the tasks at hand. Linus is fonder of fraternizing and flirting. I do better with strategy and practical action.”
“Linus,” I repeat.
The man I thought was my husband smiles crookedly. “Yes. I’m Marc. Father thought he was very clever combining the two names so anyone speaking to us always referred to both of us, even if they didn’t know.”
I think I need to lie down. Perhaps I’ll wake up and discover I already fell asleep and this is all a bizarre dream.
Dreams. The one vision Elox sent comes back to me: the two lambs I was holding.
Great God help me, my godlen knew. He tried to tell me.
But no version of my husband that I’ve interacted with has struck me as remotely lamb-like.
“It’s worked until now,” Marclinus—no, just Marc —repeats, his expression turning more serious again. “But not anymore. Linus has gotten… paranoid. He doesn’t trust you. He thinks you’re trying to upstage and undermine us—he’s had all sorts of mad theories.” He shakes his head. “We tested you because he insisted, and all it’s done is risk ruining the partnership I can see we should have. Not to mention the commotion he caused in Lavira.”
“Oh.” A lot of pieces are clicking into place in my head. The sudden shifts in mood, the moments when my husband has appeared frustrated with or even unaware of our past conversations. All the ways he’s tried to provoke the princes and perhaps other members of his court as well as me.
Marc makes a disgruntled sound. “He’s even soured this blessing—what should be one of the happiest moments of our marriage— He’s been taking mirewort because he felt it was too soon to completely enmesh you in the family. I told him that you and I slept together more than once when we were at the Rexoran palace, but it’s always been him otherwise, and he couldn’t believe the timing—but you just confirmed it. He’s fucking insane.”
I look at the man seated next to me in a daze. “Is that why you’re telling me now?”
Marc’s eyes harden to steel. “I’m telling you because I’m tired of living only half a life. I can’t stand by while Linus destroys everything that should be mine… I need you to help me kill him.”
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