Thirteen
There would have to be a big, formal wedding ceremony later. A chance for the Assembly members—and even the courtiers—to attend and play their games. Someone like Triese would crave that moment, being the center of attention, having the entire affair be a stage for politics and jockeying for power.
Peroen thanked the stars that he and Yslie were able to say their vows without all of Kalitalo watching. He’d survive the public ceremony, but this hasty wedding, it was just for them.
“I so swear,” Yslie answered the priest.
Peroen’s fingers tightened where they laced with hers, holding her closer than the cord binding their wrists.
“And do you, Prince Peroen Daitano Tjawer, swear to honor Yslie of Garaea as your wife, to adore and support her, to stand by her side both in joy and adversity, for the rest of your lives?”
“I so swear.”
“May the gods and goddesses witness your vows and grant you their blessings.” The priest laid his hand over the cord wrapped around their wrists. “Though this cord may untie, your lives are bound, as witnessed in the heavens and here on earth.”
The priest bowed, and it was done. Ignoring the handful of earthly witnesses, Peroen gave in to temptation and kissed his wife. The tug when he tried to move his left arm, forgetting that it was bound to hers, reminded him that even if this was a relatively private ceremony, they were not actually alone.
Yslie drew back at the same moment he did, her smile luminous. “I think the newlyweds are supposed to raise their bound wrists in front of the crowd, not kiss.”
“I prefer my way.”
“I do, too.” Yslie raised her unbound hand to his cheek and drew him down for a second kiss.
The priest had already walked away by the time it ended. Pianti took his place, reaching out to untie the cord. “The Assembly is meeting in less than an hour. We need to make sure you are ready.”
Peroen sighed. That was the one drawback to this private ceremony. He and Yslie had no time to celebrate their new status. Pianti worried about people discovering they had wed before they were ready to share the news. There wasn’t time for any whispers to get out before Peroen was scheduled to address the Assembly.
Everyone assumed he had requested the chance to speak to announce his choice of wife. Odela’s supporters would be ready to argue his choice, but no one would expect what he actually had to say.
Peroen allowed Pianti to quiz him about his prepared speech and how he’d answer any of the questions that might come up, but he didn’t release Yslie’s hand. She would stand beside him through the entire thing, as they’d just sworn to do for the rest of their lives. Knowing that she’d be there, always, chased away any nerves before they could take hold.
“He’s ready, love,” Qilar interrupted, drawing Pianti aside. “Trust him.”
She pursed her lips together and did as her husband advised, looking closely at Peroen. Whatever she saw reassured her, for she gave a nod. “Then I suppose it is time we go to the Assembly House.”
???
Pianti and Qilar had retreated to the balconies, where non-Assembly members could watch the proceedings. Yslie stayed next to Peroen. No one questioned her presence, because they thought they knew what he planned to say. They waited in the back of the room, watching the seats fill. They didn’t speak, but they didn’t need to. Not now.
The man who had shown them where to wait, then left, returned. This time, Odela, Triese, and Sophenie followed him. Sophenie offered an apologetic shrug from her spot at the back of the group, and Peroen wondered who had arranged for all the oracles to be present. He suspected Odela. She had the contacts among the Assembly, but her face was a mask. She knew he had already made his choice and didn’t expect to change his mind—instead, she hoped to use the Assembly to get her way.
Triese didn’t stop with the others, walking right up to him and Yslie. “ Dyela , how naughty of you to try to make this announcement without warning us. Shouldn’t you have announced your choice in private first?”
“I never hid my preferences.” Peroen tilted his head, studying her. Could she honestly not see what was right in front of her?
“But you never made them clear either. How could you, when you never came to court?” Triese tried to slip between him and Yslie. When Yslie didn’t budge, he grinned. Triese no longer had power over her.
“Are you delusional?” Yslie asked, blocking Triese’s next attempt to get close to him. “Or desperate?”
The other woman sneered. “I’m not desperate. You saw him with me. You know what he is up to when you aren’t around.”
Yslie laughed. “I saw him run away as fast as he could when you threw yourself at him.”
“I wasn’t running away.” Peroen waited until Yslie looked his direction. “I was running to you.”
A hint of color spread over her cheeks and she pressed a kiss to his jaw. Triese gasped. He still couldn’t decide if it was an act, a need to pretend everything was how she wanted in hopes that the world would fall into line, or if she truly had convinced herself that he would never look at Yslie with her around.
“I told you we didn’t need to be here,” Sophenie muttered.
“You are forgetting that the Assembly hasn’t approved his choice,” Odela told her. “We need to be here for that debate.”
Peroen ignored Odela. It didn’t matter how confident she was that the Assembly members would support her. She was already too late. She didn’t know as much about what was about to happen as she thought. Looking forward to surprising everyone was almost enough to settle the jitters trying to take over his stomach. Having Yslie at his side handled the rest.
The Speaker announced Peroen, and an aide motioned him toward the spot where he’d address the entire Assembly. Yslie remained behind, ready to step in if needed. For this first part, he needed to face the Assembly on his own. The other oracles remained with her.
“Members of the Assembly,” Peroen said into the windstone that carried his words through the entire chamber. “I come before you today to share a discovery that impacts the whole of Pynth, including our past and our future.”
He waited a moment as murmurs rippled through the room at the unexpected words. “This empire was founded after decades of war on the hope that all the people of Pynth could live together in harmony. Emperor Daitano the First accepted the crown because he wanted to defend that peace. He charged his heirs to do the same. But peace means more than just a lack of war. As generations passed, the Tjawer Dynasty lost sight of our mandate. My ancestors forgot that they were meant to serve the empire.”
Peroen pulled the small journal from his pocket and opened it to the same page Yslie had days before. “I read to you now the words of our first emperor, written in his own hand.” Peroen read the passage, then looked out over the Assembly, letting his gaze roam over every member. “According to our founding emperor’s words, my father, Emperor Envaho, is nothing more than a usurper. He is not an heir of the Tjawer line by his own actions. In truth, I do not think my grandfather, nor his father, had a right to the throne either. I do not know how far back the rot goes, but I do know that we can address it now.
“Auraelie, Envaho’s oracle, decried him in the clearest way possible. She aided a revolution that led to the formation of this august body and quit his service. It is now your duty to finish the work she began.”
???
The debate raged through the Assembly. From what Yslie could tell, no one objected to stripping Envaho of his title, yet they couldn’t seem to agree on anything else. She wished she could slip her hand into Peroen’s, lean against him, and let him lean on her. But for the moment, she needed to remain in the background.
Odela eased into the spot at Yslie’s side. “I appreciate the fact that you are hastening the end of Envaho’s reign. It will give me greater power even faster.”
Yslie didn’t look away from Peroen. “You won’t have any power.”
“I thought you were smarter than Triese. You must realize that this may be a distraction, but eventually the Assembly will remember that one of the only reasons the revolution even happened was because the oracles were promised a spot on the throne. They’re politicians, Yslie. They won’t give you a happily ever after simply because you fell in love.”
“Luckily, I’m not relying on them to give me anything. I’ll make my own happily ever after.”
“We’ll see.”
Odela drifted back to her former position, and a moment later, Sophenie took her place. “Do you think Pianti was right about how long it will take until they start talking about who comes after Envaho?”
“You didn’t try to see how today would go already?”
“Just thinking about using my power to see what would happen in this room this afternoon was enough to give me a headache.”
“If Pianti was right, we’ll know soon.”
Yslie continued to watch. Listening was harder. There were too many conversations going on, the words all jumbling together. Then, in one of the natural lulls that can fall in any noisy room, a single voice cut through, catching everyone’s attention.
“Why stop at requiring him to abdicate? This is justification to abolish the entire monarchy. The prince said it himself; this problem has gone on for generations.”
A new wave of debate broke out. Odela shifted, moving forward. She didn’t aim for the podium where Peroen stood, but the spot in front of it. The arguments slowed as her allies saw her and fell silent. Then everyone else noticed her. She lifted her head and spoke in a voice that carried even without the help of the windstone. “I wish to address the Assembly.”
The Speaker acknowledged her, and Peroen stepped back, ceding his spot at the podium. He looked back at Yslie, and she moved forward to stand with him. Odela would make the argument they had assumed Yslie would have to. She didn’t mind letting the other oracle steal the Assembly’s attention. Nor did she worry.
Odela took her spot behind the podium. “What we have heard today proves that the Tjawer Dynasty has lost their right to rule. We all agree on that much. But the empire has already faced so much upheaval in the past year. The future is in flux. We need continuity to stabilize the chaos. We must also do better than the emperors who steered Pynth toward the abyss. That means we must remember the promises that formed the foundation of this Assembly. According to what Prince Peroen read, Jaesa should have been empress. We’ve seen what came of allowing political bickering to get in the way. The revolutionaries who brought us to this moment also thought an oracle should be empress. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past.”
“Let me guess,” an Assembly member Yslie recognized, a succubus named Dyna, shouted over her peers. “You want to be that empress.”
Odela’s composure didn’t waver. “I won’t deny what everyone knows to be the truth. But I acknowledge you have four oracles to choose from. I trust the Assembly to make the wisest choice.”
“No.” The denial came from behind Yslie and Peroen. Sophenie pushed forward. “The Assembly has either no choice, or thousands. If marriage to the prince is no longer a requirement, then every oracle is a candidate for the throne. If, however, the Assembly wishes to minimize chaos, then they will admit that their authority extends no farther than demanding Emperor Envaho’s abdication. His son has not lost the mandate of the first emperor. He has a right to the throne.”
“Prince Peroen was never given an oracle who could say one way or the other if she supported him!”
Yslie couldn’t see who had spoken, but she saw the ripples of agreement in the wake of his words. She drew a deep breath, prepared to say her piece, but Sophenie wasn’t done.
“There are four oracles here, willing to marry him. Is that not proof enough?” She didn’t wait for the objections that were sure to follow. “No, I suppose you’ll say that the situations aren’t analogous. The proof you need is that the oracle chosen by her people to serve Prince Peroen would not turn away from him, given the choice. Well, the treaty might have ended, but the next oracle had already been chosen before the revolution. It is her actions that matter, then.”
Sophenie turned back toward where they waited, and Yslie squeezed Peroen’s hand. She was ready to step forward, but didn’t have the chance.
“What?” Triese cried out. “No! Yslie is no one. That’s why the elders chose her in the first place.”
The Speaker’s voice cut through the room. “Yslie is the oracle who would have served Prince Peroen when he became emperor?”
This time, Yslie didn’t wait. She stepped up to the podium. She faced the Assembly with her chin high. “When I was five, I was told I would be the Emperor’s Oracle after Auraelie. I was raised to step into that role when the time came, with no choice in the matter. When the treaty ended, I decided to come to Kalitalo and meet the man I would have served, this time knowing that I could walk away. But I won’t walk away from him. Prince Peroen Daitano Tjawer has my unwavering support.”
Another round of chaotic conversations, shouts, and questions without answers followed. Yslie waited. Pianti had made it clear that she shouldn’t offer answers until an Assembly member mentioned certain topics. So even though she knew most of the current debates hinged on a piece of information the Assembly members didn’t know, she didn’t try to regain their attention. She held Peroen’s hand and bided her time.
Finally, one of the humans in support of Odela got the attention of the entire room. “If Emperor Envaho has lost his mandate, but Prince Peroen has not, then the remaining issue is that the very formation of this Assembly was contingent on the prince marrying an oracle. And we all know that was meant to happen before he ascended the throne. We don’t have time to waste in choosing his consort.”
A few shouts demonstrated that the Assembly was not all in agreement that Peroen should become emperor after his father, but Yslie refused to worry about that. She spoke into the windstone once more. “I don’t think you understand. When I said I wouldn’t walk away from Peroen, I didn’t mean he only had my political support. He has my heart, just as Daitano the First had Jaesa’s.”
Peroen held up their clasped hands and kissed her knuckles. Then he spoke, his voice that of a man who would not be pushed around. “This time politics won’t stand in the way of what is right. You may debate who should be empress all you want, but understand that you have no say in my selection of a wife. Of course, I understand that the principles of the revolution must be upheld, and my wedding cannot be delayed.” He paused, looking around the room. “Which is why Yslie and I have already married.”
He ignored the shouts, and everyone quickly quieted, wanting to hear what else he had to say. “We have done our part. Now it is time for you to choose if you will do yours, or if you will be no better than the emperors who forgot that with power comes the duty to serve your people.”