26 Imogen
Imogen
The long table in the stateroom was set with a fine feast. Glazed ham, and cod, and rabbit that had been gathered when we’d docked in Della. The excellent food, however, did very little to raise the spirits of those gathered around for the meal.
Markis sipped from his wineglass, then sucked on his teeth. “Do we suppose this could have been a speedy meeting, instead of a lingering meal, Your Majesty?”
Theodore set his own wine goblet down slowly, his gaze on the full plate before him. “No.”
He looked worse for wear—unshaven, with dark smudges beneath his eyes and sallow skin.
For three nights he’d attempted the killing spell, and every night he’d failed.
Every time, the rat would remain squeaking in its cage, and Theodore would double over with sick, only to sleep fitfully the entire next day.
But true to his character, the damned man would not relent. He refused to believe me when I insisted that magic did not suit him, and we’d been enraged with one another since.
My gaze darted away from a sullen Theodore, who sat across from me at the far end, to Halla, who sat beside him. She sparkled in a beaded lilac gown and picked at a piece of buttered bread. Beside her sat Aleka, who ate quietly, barely lifting her head unless addressed.
I glanced next to Agatha, who, praise the bleeding Gods, was eating. Lachlan sat close beside her. They spoke sweetly, each leaning toward the other’s ear to whisper.
I found myself unable to look away from them.
The way their hands would purposefully graze, the way their faces seemed to be ready to break into a smile at any moment, the mindless, unnecessary touches they would bestow upon each other.
Despite the unease in the stateroom, I smiled to see them happy after so many years apart.
Theodore cleared his throat. “We’ll be arriving in Obelia’s main port soon. It’s important we make our arrangements now, as we’ll need some time to prepare.”
“I’ll begin, if Your Majesty doesn’t mind,” Halla said, her lilting voice so soft, I hardly heard her.
Theodore answered with a distracted nod. His attention was fixed on the opposite end of the table—on me.
I stared at Halla, who clasped her hands together and gave a little smile to the group. “As we are aware, Mother does not know we are coming.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Agatha stiffen.
Halla went on, almost sheepish. “She will, of course, welcome us eagerly. She had lamented not being able to celebrate my marriage at home, with friends and loved ones.”
I kept my reaction from my face. Such sentimentality was at complete odds with what I knew of the imposing and gelid empress.
“It will take some days for the feast to be organized. Mother will want to prepare a procession as well, I’m sure.” Halla’s flowery voice darkened. “During that time, we will need to present the new contracts to her. I find myself terribly fearful over how she might react. ”
Everyone at the table tensed. The empress had been meticulous with her original contracts, and Theodore had agreed to them.
“If I may, Your Majesty,” Aleka said to Theodore. “If you are feeling a change of heart, I still have the original contracts. One must be pragmatic when it comes to such weighty things. A proper marriage would smooth many a wrinkle. It is not too late—”
“No.” Theodore said into his wineglass, as if bored.
Aleka sipped her own wine before shouldering on. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, it is my duty to remind you of Varya’s maxim. Of the words carved into your crown. Power sundered is power lost. Bonds are what make us strong—”
“The right bonds strengthen us, Aleka,” he said harshly. “We’ll speak no more on it.”
“The right bonds.” Aleka nodded. “Indeed. Forgive me, Your Majesty. You have my support, but we must do all we can to sweeten the news that Halla’s station has changed.”
I marveled at the calm Aleka possessed. It spoke to her experience, and yet I saw her concern in the seriousness of her tone, in the grim downturn of her mouth.
Halla kept her regal gaze on the table before her.
“Despite all that has transpired, I will do my utmost to defend Varya and its people, please believe that.” She paused for long enough that my attention heightened.
“But it is true that my mother is more likely to be assuaged—and less violent—if our marriage is consummated before we arrive.”
My breath hitched. Dread pooled in me as I realized how ruthlessly dogged Halla was. She wanted a child with insatiable determination, and for the first time, I feared that someway, somehow, she would have what she craved.
As the tension built in the stateroom, I tried for cool reason. My chest felt tight enough to split, my stomach hollow enough for my meal to sit in a painful lump.
I gripped the stem of my wineglass.
Markis drained his wine, his gaze catching on me and lingering. “Consummation is certainly advisable.”
Aleka gave an agreeing nod.
Lachlan and Agatha eyed me like I was a beast masquerading in human skin, a single prod away from tearing free and destroying them all. But I didn’t feel like fighting, not with my hope of unbinding from Eusia gone. Not with the threat of the empress looming.
I gave a diplomatic nod and kept my gaze on my wine when I said, “A contract must be honored.”
The quiet brittle. Theodore stared at me across the table with an austere, inexorable look that only a true king could muster. His tired eyes fluttered shut for one beat of my heart. Then he glanced in Halla’s direction and gave a nod.
Good. I tried to reassure myself with a gulp of wine. That’s settled. This was duty. If I was set to fail at keeping Leucosia safe, at least Theo would. A lurch of sickness filled my stomach, but I managed to keep down my drink. “I have questions for your wife, Your Majesty, if I may.”
Gods, the look Theodore fixed me with made my skin stipple and my stomach drop. Black and fierce. “Of course.”
“Where on the continent is your mother’s palace located?” I asked Halla. “Is it near the port?”
Halla nodded while she chewed a piece of her bread. “It is.” She brimmed with quiet accomplishment. “Mustkiva, Mother’s castle keep, is right on the bay.”
I drummed agitated fingers against my wineglass but felt a small measure of relief knowing I’d at least be close enough to the sea to still use my power. “I do not expect that I will be welcome in your mother’s palace, therefore—”
Halla raised a hand. “My mother still believes you are King Theodore’s cousin. She has no reason not to welcome you.”
I slammed my glass down, spraying my plate.
“That is a blatant lie,” I shouted. “Your mother intended to abduct me instead of Agatha. She knew who and what I was the moment she laid eyes on me.” My attention cut to Theodore.
“I will require protection when I’m in the empress’s palace. As will Agatha.”
Before Theodore could address the request, Markis cleared his throat. “Do we think it wise that Agatha enter the empress’s palace at all?”
Lachlan swiped a hand down his face. “Shut up, Markis.” He addressed the whole table.
“Agatha is a witness, and without her present, Queen Imogen might struggle to defend her claims against the empress. I offer my sword to protect Agatha, but I suggest a retinue of at least six guards to protect Queen Imogen.”
Theodore sipped his wine, quietly livid. “I thought you were Queen Imogen’s guard now. Tell me why you’re as quick to abandon your service to her as you were me.”
Lachlan was unbothered. “Because I won’t leave my wife in the first week of our binding,” he said simply. “As is customary.”
Agatha froze for a moment, then, as if it couldn’t be contained, let a beaming smile break across her face.
The a great weight seemed to press in around me, crushing, squeezing.
I should feel nothing but elation, nothing but relief for them both.
I shoved my chair violently back from the table and rose.
“I’m so happy for you,” I said, breathless.
I looked around the table, avoiding Theodore’s gaze.
“A retinue of armed sailors will do. Thank you.”
I smoothed my hand over the amber-colored silk of my bodice and started toward the stateroom door. “Good night.”
“You’ll remain,” Theodore commanded, blandly, as he watched his cupbearer refill his wine.
“No, I will—”
“I implore you,” he said, green eyes searching mine. “The rest of you may go.”
Gods damn him. The pain was worse like this, clinging to one another as every force in the world tried to rip us apart. We might find some cursed solace in finally letting go.
Markis and Aleka rose quickly, bowed, and left. Halla let her bread fall to her plate, her long fingers snapping away crumbs as she glared at me.
I cleared my throat. “We can speak in the morning, Your Majesty.”
Theodore leaned back in his chair. “I said stay.”
Agatha and Lachlan made for the door while I gripped the edge of the settee, brimming with anger.
Agatha gave my arm a soothing pat as I stood there and watched Halla go to Theodore’s side.
She curtsied, then leaned toward his ear to whisper.
The hot seep of power in my middle began before I even realized.
It spilled through me in a roiling cascade as I watched Theodore tense.
Halla set a quick kiss to his cheekbone and rushed from the room with her handmaid following.
Only we were left.
I wished there were some tidy phrase that I could administer, like an antidote to a certain poison, that would ease this, but as we drew nearer to Obelia, the hopelessness of it all had begun to throttle the both of us. Theodore dragged a hand down his face, and I could no longer stomach the quiet.
“You shouldn’t do that,” I scolded.
Theodore looked at me with hard eyes. “Do what?”
“Order an entire room of your advisors to leave so that we can be alone. It’s dangerous.”
He shook his head, a dark laugh shaking his chest.
“You’re being heedless and arrogant, Theo. It’s bound to catch up—”