Epilogue
Queen Ailana of Nornne was meeting with her chamberlain to go through her accounts early that same morning, firmly holding back every yawn that wanted to escape, when a letter suddenly fluttered into place on the small side table beside her.
It wasn’t unusual for mail to be delivered in that fashion. Any number of her spies had magical access to her. She only spared it a quick glance as she continued to calmly deliver her instructions …
… until she spotted the letter’s crimson wax seal, where the icons for every god in the Imperial pantheon had been stamped in a full circle of power.
Clothilde.
She didn’t even realize she’d stopped speaking until her chamberlain politely cleared his throat. “Your Majesty?” His head had cocked in question, his quill pen held ready in his hands.
“Ah…” There was no reason not to continue their meeting now and wait to read Clothilde’s—no, the Imperial high priestess’s—letter later.
No matter which favor might be demanded in exchange for the unexpected help given last night, it could surely wait for at least half an hour.
After all, it might be after nine o’clock, but the winter sun hadn’t even risen here in Nornne yet.
So it made no sense whatsoever that Ailana found herself breaking the seal open anyway with hands that felt suddenly out of her control.
“Just one moment, if you please.” At least her voice remained steady; her chamberlain nodded and sat back without any sign of concern.
Ailana pulled on the ice that could always be counted on to chill her veins and took great care, as she unfolded the letter before him, not to allow her expression to reveal anything but the coolest of interest.
This was only one more diplomatic missive of many; yet another in the series of quiet favors and repayments that had helped her spy network spread across the continent and earned Nornne a position of power once more after her parents’ reign had come so close to shattering everything.
She didn’t allow her eyes to widen as she read. She forced herself to breathe slowly and deeply as she absorbed every word of the proposal laid out before her.
Then she set down the letter in her lap and counted in silence for several seconds until she felt able to speak out loud again. When she did, her voice sounded strangely distant to her own ears, but it was, at least, perfectly controlled, as she always would be.
“Oh, and one more note,” she told her chamberlain. “We’ll need to prepare for a public celebration very soon. It appears that I am to be married.”