Chapter 2
AIMILIA
“Slower!” Marcella waved her hands through the air, curls flying as she repeated in her thick accent. “Slower!”
Aimilia paused, both in her pacing and her ranting. She turned, putting her hands on her hips so she could take a deep breath. She stood in Marcella and Gavril’s quarters at the Academy while Marcella sat on the sofa.
While Marcella had made great strides in understanding their language, she still struggled if Aimilia spoke too quickly or used more obscure vocabulary and Marcella had yet to shake her thick accent. Aimilia doubted she ever would.
Aimilia steadied her racing heart and said, “Where did I lose you?”
Marcella dropped her hands to her lap and stared up at Aimilia, a helplessness in her eyes that Aimilia was certain was the reason Gavril had been wrapped around her finger from the beginning.
Now that Aimilia no longer wanted to send the clan mage back where she came from, she was more endearing than she was frustrating.
Marcella finally said, “The… post? Yes, the post.”
Aimilia bit back a groan. That meant she’d lost Marcella after the first sentence. Dare she start over again?
She was saved from making the decision herself as the door behind her opened. Gavril stepped into the room, raising an eyebrow at her presence. She might as well start from the beginning.
Marcella was out of her seat the second the door opened, and Aimilia quickly backed up so she wasn’t in the girl’s path as she rushed to greet her husband.
She rolled her eyes as Gavril swept her up into a hug, pressing a quick kiss to her lips.
Marcella pulled back, resting her hands on his shoulders. “Class went well?”
“Mostly. The twins from House Salum were a handful as usual. When their peers are able to beat them in practicals with only one hand, maybe then they’ll start paying attention.
” Gavril looked up over Marcella and over to Aimilia.
“You’re always welcome to join and start learning for yourself.
The children would benefit from seeing a commander herself willing to learn how to cast in the style of the clans. ”
Since returning to Areator after their wedding, Gavril and Marcella had taken up residence at the Academy and started making good on their terms with Hypatia and the clans to train mages in the one-handed casting style of the clans as well as the traditional two-handed style of Imperia.
“At this rate, I might take you up on that. It’s better than sitting on my hands for the rest of my life.” Aimilia leaned back against the dresser.
Gavril shifted, keeping a hand on Marcella as the two of them moved to sit on the sofa. When they were in the same room, they were always touching in some innocuous way. It was sickeningly sweet.
They were lucky they were her only friends at the moment; otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to stomach their saccharine interactions for more than five minutes at a time.
Marcella leaned into Gavril’s side and said, “No post. Again.”
“Worse!” Aimilia pushed off the dresser. “Your brother gave my post—well, what should have been mine anyway—to guess who.”
“Well since you’re here to complain about it, I know it wasn’t you,” Gavril said, a teasing turn to his lips.
Aimilia glared at him. “Commander Prisca and Turpis. A post that was begging to be filled with a Mitis mage, and he chose them!”
“On the bright side, Turpis won’t be in Areator much longer.”
Why couldn’t he just be outraged with her?
Aimilia scoffed. “Is that a bright side?”
“It is for me.” Gavril gestured toward her. “You never had to try to manage him under your command.”
Aimilia waved her hand. “Turpis is not the point. It doesn’t matter who he filled it with, what matters is that it wasn’t me!”
“I’m sorry, but only slightly,” Gavril said. Aimilia narrowed her eyes at him, but the action had long since lost any effect on him. “Look, I sleep easier knowing we have an ally in Areator.”
Aimilia stepped closer, lowering her voice to a whisper even though no one outside the room could hear them anyway. “I don’t sleep at all staying in the palace that still holds the king I poisoned, the queen still looking for someone to execute for it, and the son ruling in his place.”
Gavril also lowered his voice, leaning forward and forcing Marcella to shift her weight.
“Aimilia, how many times must I tell you? It’s been months.
If any of them knew or even suspected it had been you, we would know by now.
Whether you like it not, staying in Areator so long has helped.
No one suspects you, and should anyone, we won’t let anything happen to you. We’re just as much at fault.”
Gavril could say it as much as he wanted, but what could he do to stop it if she was discovered?
“Easy for you to say.” Aimilia crossed her arms. “You’re not at risk of execution even if you had physically poisoned him alongside me.”
“Nikias would never,” Marcella said simply, her expression making it clear she thought her sentence made perfect sense. It probably did to her, but Aimilia was out of patience to devote any to deciphering it.
“Yes, you two are his family. Nikias has already secured your safety from the king and queen. I, on the other hand, have no such protection. Not to mention the ire I’ve accrued from Nikias over the years.
” Aimilia looked over at the door like simply speaking of it would summon guards for her arrest. “Should the worst happen, I’d rather at least be anywhere other than Areator so the two of you can send me a warning.
And if I’m lucky, I just might be able to seek asylum with Chief Konstantin and Hypatia. ”
Marcella sank back into the sofa and scoffed. “Ire…”
Aimilia would tell her what it meant later.
“I really don’t think you need to worry about that,” Gavril said, leaning forward. “Nikias, for all his many, many faults, wouldn’t execute you even if he put it together.”
“You can’t be certain of that. He’s done a lot of things we never thought he would do.
And after what Hypatia did to him—” Aimilia’s voice broke and she scowled.
“He’s been acting strange lately. There’s no telling how he would take it.
The two of you running off to Hypatia is not the same thing as me poisoning his father, the king. ”
Gavril raised an eyebrow. “You’re absolutely right. To Nikias, going to Hypatia was a worse betrayal.”
Which Aimilia’s actions ensured he had no choice but to negotiate with her, so she was guiltier than all of them combined.
Before Aimilia could argue, Marcella waved her hand. “Strange? How?”
Aimilia bit the inside of her cheek. She’d been doing her best to avoid Nikias, mostly because she was afraid that simply standing near him too long would cause him to see the guilt written all over her.
Nikias had done his duties as regent while his father was sick, but he’d been recovering as well.
His first public appearance hadn’t been until a month after their return to Areator.
The times she had seen him…
“I don’t know how to describe it. He’s… acting strangely. If the two of you would come to the palace banquet, you’d see it for yourself. Have either of you seen him recently?”
Both Gavril and Marcella nodded. Gavril said, “I’ve seen him a handful of times and I haven’t noticed him acting any differently than normal. But I also haven’t been prying.”
“I’m telling you that there is something off with him.
He is—Alright, at first glance, yes, he seems mostly normal.
But then I pass him in the hallways, and he always stops me and drags me through painful small talk until I can escape.
Same thing, but worse at any banquet that’s been hosted at the palace.
He’s somehow always there.” Aimilia gestured at the empty air.
Gavril returned the gesture while Marcella laughed as he said, “What does there mean?”
“First of all, he’s there.” Aimilia started counting off on her fingers.
“Nikias used to only attend these things out of obligation, always hovering off to the side and doing his best to avoid anyone who had their eyes set on him to become his second wife. He would appear only enough to do his duty and then slip away. Now he’s there, sometimes even talking to people and staying until the end.
It’s baffling. Second of all, he’s there in that I swear every time I turn around it seems like he’s right behind me.
When he does manage to catch me, it’s more of that painful small talk until I can manage to slip away, usually to go dance since it’s the one thing he won’t follow me to.
Even when I do get away and even when he’s engaged in a conversation on the other side of the room or courtyard, it’s like he’s somehow still watching me. Now you see why I can’t stay?”
“You think all of that is because Nikias is onto you?” Gavril asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s certainly not helping me.
The less of his attention I have, the safer I am.
The only other explanation is that something is wrong with him, and considering the timing of when it all started, it most likely has to do with whatever your insane cousin did to him, no offense, Marcella.
Hypatia must have done something and the healers haven’t figured it out—which he would barely let them near him afterwards, so of course they haven’t.
That is hazardous to all of us, if he’s making completely petty and illogical decisions like not giving me the post near Mitis and taking me off the patrol schedule. ”
Marcella seemingly took no offense as she was smothering her laugh, but what was amusing about what Aimilia said, she had no idea.
Gavril braced his arm on his knee. “Forgive me for even daring to submit this possibility, but have you considered that maybe—just maybe—Nikias is talking to you and approaching you because he thinks the two of you are friends after everything that happened a few months ago?”