Chapter 15
AIMILIA
Aimilia loosened her grip on the railing as the sharp pain on her side began to shift into a sore ache now that the queen was no longer trying to crush her.
“Oh, son, thank you,” Clelia said, drawing Aimilia’s gaze back away from the crowd.
Nikias was slightly out of breath as he came back into the room, a servant coming in behind him a few seconds later, carrying a tray with a pitcher and several glasses, also out of breath.
“Aimilia?” He didn’t even spare his mother a glance or a response.
“We better sit down. They’ll be starting back any second and we’ve got three mages to watch in this next round.” Aimilia took her seat again, ignoring the slight flare of pain through her side when she brushed it against the chair.
What would it change if Nikias knew? He’d never been able to stop his parents from laying their hands on Gavril, and that was his brother. Aimilia would just have to be more careful in the future not to be cornered now that she wasn’t off limits.
The good news was the queen hadn’t pushed her over the railing.
Aimilia would take the win.
Nikias’ leg brushed hers and he leaned in, dropping his voice to a low murmur in her ear. “What did she do?”
“Nothing,” Aimilia replied, bowing her head and sorting through her notes. “She just wanted to say her piece. Reprimand me for rejecting her favorite son.”
The warm, calloused hand landing on her knee stilled her movement. For having such a large heavy hand, Nikias was surprisingly gentle. Nikias’ hair was falling in his face as he shifted to look like he was reading off her notes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I told you to go.” Aimilia shifted, holding the paper so he had a better view.
He looked up, staring directly into her eyes, lips parting, but then the next round was starting and their attention went to the novices below.
The academic hopefuls really weren’t all that impressive even though they should have been.
Their demonstrations should have been the best of the best and showcased complex runes, but it seemed this year the academics would be the mostly mediocre, no one who was truly a savant in theory or an innovator in creation of new runes. Unfortunate.
Nikias only moved his hand back when he was forced to in order to take his notes.
Aimilia didn’t like how she somehow felt vulnerable without it. It wasn’t like Nikias could or would protect her.
The second the last round finished, Nikias grabbed Aimilia by the arm and pulled her out of the box, throwing something over his shoulder about getting their notes to the other judges. She scrambled to grab the bag and shove their notes into it as they went.
This time she let him loop her arm through his as he ushered her down the stairs. Nikias leaned in as they went down the tight stairway side by side. His breath brushed her cheek as he murmured. “Second chance, what did she do?”
Aimilia’s heart stuttered and she turned her sharp breath into a controlled sigh. “Like I said, she just wanted to make sure she got a word in. She wanted to know why I refused your proposal. I handled it.”
Nikias still didn’t look like he fully believed her, but he sighed and said, “If I had known she would be there, I would have taken us elsewhere. We’ll sit in another box tomorrow.”
“Nikias—”
“I won’t leave you alone with her again.” He caught her gaze and held it. “Promise me, you won’t let her or my father corner you again.”
“I’ve had practice dealing with her, but if you want to spare me from having to deal with her at all…
” Aimilia said, turning to him and giving him a wide grin.
Why was he so close still? Worse, why was her heart racing?
“You’re more than welcome to give me a different post and send me away from Areator. ”
He answered her only with a pointed look.
Given what she suspected, obviously not happening, but it was worth a try.
Then his gaze softened and he whispered, “Please, promise me.”
Aimilia could do nothing but reply just as softly, side aching, “I promise.”
Nikias nodded and picked up his pace again. Aimilia’s heart couldn’t seem to slow as they kept heading down the stairs.
“Where are we going?” Aimilia asked, looking up at the many boxes they’d passed.
“You ran off yesterday and left your notes with me, but we do actually have to give our notes to Commander Livus.” Nikias nodded toward the bag slung over her shoulder. “Plus, I want to have a look at the command track novices before tomorrow.”
“Oh. I suppose that makes sense,” Aimilia said as they reached the bottom floor.
Nikias blinked at her, but she didn’t stop moving, simply pulling her arm free and heading for the tunnel that would take them to the barracks where all the novices were staying during the tournament and where Commander Livus would be.
Nikias caught up to her, a suspicious look entering his eyes. “You’re being less difficult than usual.”
His eyes started darting over her arms. He was looking too closely.
“Give it five minutes.”
That got her a soft snort as they stepped out into the sunlight of the courtyard.
She scanned over the crowd of children all milling about, discussing the events of the day until she spotted Commander Livus off to the side, accepting the notes from some of the other judges. Good, this would be quick—
“That’s the woman who rejected Prince Nikias, right? The Mitis mage?”
Even the little brats were talking about her.
“It can’t be, what would they be doing together if she rejected him?”
Excellent question. Aimilia ignored the attention and the whispers as she moved to wait in line to give Commander Livus her and Nikias’ notes.
When footsteps didn’t follow her, she looked over her shoulder to see Nikias had stopped and was looking at one of the mages they’d been judging earlier that day.
A gangly boy with black hair, scuffing his sandal in the dirt, one of the few not gaping at Nikias and Aimilia.
What was Nikias doing?
He then walked right over to the boy. As he approached, the mage next to the boy hit him on the shoulder, and he looked up, his olive complexion paling and eyes widening seeing the crown prince kneel beside him.
All the students immediately switched from whispering behind their hands about Aimilia to watching the two of them.
She couldn’t hear what Nikias was saying, but the poor boy looked terrified.
She flipped through their notes. It was the boy they were considering for the healing track instead of the academic track.
She supposed there was nothing wrong with Nikias speaking to him now that the academic track’s section had been concluded, but what for?
She looked up again right as Nikias smiled and the boy breathed out a little easier.
Huh. She hadn’t seen Nikias smile that kindly in years.
Every smile she’d seen over the last few years had ranged from dark and deranged at its worst, to cold and stony at its best. If it wasn’t brimming with bitterness, then Nikias usually smiled the way a marble statue did, devoid of life and light.
“I highly doubt my son would be miserable, especially once his wife provides him with the heirs Faustina didn’t.”
Heat flooded Aimilia’s cheeks now that she wasn’t being crushed by the queen’s grip. When Nikias married again, what was he going to be like with his children?
She pressed a hand to her side, the dull ache of the bruises beneath flared.
He’d be better than his parents, she was certain, but how much better? Would he still be as rigid and cold and lifeless as a marble statue even with a son that had his eyes? Would he just hand him off to a nursemaid every time his son reached for him until one day the child stopped?
Or was Queen Clelia right?
Would having a child bring back a Nikias that had been buried along with Faustina?
But on the other hand… how could any woman bear to be a tool used to achieve that end?
Nikias’ conversation with the boy wasn’t long.
Commander Livus hadn’t even finished with the Runai at the front of the line by the time Nikias was rising and turning to join her.
The students finally remembered their manners and bowed when Nikias passed by.
The novices who had at least half-heartedly attempted to continue their sparring so as not to look like they were watching also stopped and bowed.
This time she was close enough she could hear Nikias when he said to them, “If you’re going to use a shield, you need to have the physical stance down. The more grounded you are, the more grounded your vitae shield is.”
The two novices gaped at him for a moment before the taller stuttered out, “O—Oh! Thank you, Your Highness!”
Aimilia crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow as he finally reached her, refusing to give away exactly what she’d been thinking about.
Had it been exactly what he’d wanted her to be thinking about?
“What’s that look for?” Nikias asked as he took his place beside her, clasping his hands behind his back.
He wasn’t half as clever as he thought he was.
“Don’t give me that,” Aimilia said, keeping her voice low. “What was that all about?”
“The novices? You saw on the first day how many of them had poor stance when casting their shields. It was sad, and I’ll be sure to be letting the Academy know such subpar teaching will not be tolerated.”
“Not that—I mean, yes that, but not like that!”
“You’ve lost me, Commander—Aimilia,” Nikias said, lips shifting into a grin on her name. He knew exactly what she was talking about.
“Playing dumb doesn’t suit you.”
“I’d hope not. Especially since I’m not playing at anything.”
“This—” She gestured to all of him. “This act, I’m not buying it. So don’t bother wasting your time.”
“Act?” Nikias raised an eyebrow. “You don’t even know what I was doing.
” He reached over into the bag, pulling out her notes and flipping through the pages until he reached the one covering the novice he had spoken to.
He held it up and said, “I was asking him why he wanted to be an academic and not a healer. He told me his mother is an academic, and all he wants to do is be able to work under her and create objects imbued with vitae to serve Imperia. Also, he’s rather squeamish about dissection. ”
Oh.
Nikias handed the pages back to her. “He will go on the academic track. There are other mages we can look at if we need more healers.”
“Fine, if you insist, I’ll support that decision,” Aimilia said, snatching the pages back and stuffing them into her bag while Nikias chuckled softly to himself.
As they waited in silence, she turned it over in her head. Was he being genuine or putting on a show? But what did asking a novice a couple questions and throwing out a piece of advice really prove?
If he thought she would change her mind about him just because he’d mustered up a sliver of cold compassion and showed he could on occasion be nice to a child, he was sorely mistaken.
The real question was, did she let him know she’d figured him out and try to get it through his thick skull she was the last woman in the world who would agree to be his second wife? Or did she let him keep on trying to convince her he wasn’t exactly who she knew he was?
He wouldn’t be able to keep it up forever.