Chapter 5 A Weigh-in from the Wisers
An Air Of Alarm
Inspecting her nails, Kat marveled at how adept the maids at the Zinferan palace were at removing every speck of dirt from under the whites. They were even filed into a lovely shape.
Kat had never been all that fussy about nails.
She knew her mother on occasion would pay extra attention, and her father was highly regimented in ensuring his remained cut practically to the quick to ensure the food he handled would be unspoiled.
Nails just hadn’t seemed relevant to Kat aside from keeping them short enough to not bother her when she wielded a sword.
But now she had to admit, it really was quite elegant looking.
Someone cleared their throat, drawing Kat’s golden gaze upward.
A long table of Zinferan officials and nobility stared at her where she sat farther down their ranks. From the head of the table, the emperor practically glowered at her.
“Well? We wait, Queen Katarina,” the emperor rumbled.
“And I think,” she answered bluntly, dropping her hand to her lap.
The mood descended even further into unease. Were it not for the summer heat, some of the attendees might have shivered.
The emperor looked down his nose. “We are all aware you went against my orders and aided Princess Elisara in leaving Zinfera.”
Kat raised an unbothered eyebrow at the ruler. “You went against my orders that my brother and his wife should return home.”
The two officials nearest Kat leaned away from her, as though they worried that the emperor might throw something in her direction and wanted to avoid the possibility of getting in the way.
“You harmed my soldiers.”
“They were holding my brother and his family prisoner,” Kat returned shortly. “And they were also the ones who held me hostage, if you recall.”
The emperor pressed a hand on the table in front of him, the gold designs and threads of his fine cream coat catching the light. “You are in my empire, Queen Katarina—”
“If I’m not welcome, I can return home and you can deal with your coven and the dragon by yourself, then.” Kat rose to her feet, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
The guards at the doors stiffened.
She didn’t bat an eye. She could see the fear in their faces.
A few nights ago, she had effortlessly slain a number of men without sustaining so much as a scratch. Two guards weren’t going to slow her down much, if worse came to worst.
“You impeded matters pertaining to the royal family.” The emperor’s voice filled the room, giving no indication of the several months of coma he had experienced.
“I believe Elisara already addressed the fact that she has not been a member of the imperial family here for over a decade, as it was your own concubine who sold her. Which means she has been relieved of any and all responsibility to this empire for many, many years. And with her marriage to my brother, she is now firmly tied to Daxaria and is my sister-in-law,” Kat volleyed, her own volume spiking in response.
The emperor’s eyes glittered with displeasure.
She met it unflinchingly. “The world does not bend on the whims of a man. Even if that man is an emperor. My family has offered aid and saved Your Excellency, and we are being repaid with a tantrum. Get over yourself. Your kingdom has fallen into chaotic disrepair.”
The emperor’s cheeks flushed, and the air filled with ire that seeped from every official present.
Kat swept her gaze over all of them, leveling the attendees of the meeting with her golden eyes that she ensured glowed with magic. “Piss me off and I will leave. I’ve no interest in helping people who are too busy whining about power to save their own citizens.”
The emperor opened his mouth and Kat growled, her grip on her sword tightening as her aura flared, silencing him.
“I suggest you all sort yourselves out. If you want to declare war with Daxaria, you are welcome to give it a try. Though I will also remind you that your army is in disarray all over the bloody empire, and your ships are few and far between what with the kraken and the pirate problem that you also have.” Kat moved toward the doors.
She could feel Jiho Ryu’s eyes boring into her, but she didn’t spare him a glance.
“I’m going to go for a walk. If you manage to pull your heads out of your arses long enough to actually realize you have bigger fish to fry, feel free to send a messenger to summon me and we can all stop wasting time. ”
“Katarina Reyes,” the emperor rasped, his palpable outrage making Kat turn with a snarl waiting. “Your brother came onto Zinfera’s shores without proper notice. Don’t think I’m not aware that he came to spy on my empire.”
“That isn’t the case at all.” Kat’s voice was low, her conviction unwavering.
“We sent my brother as one would send a friend to check on a partner. We had heard of your people’s suffering.
Of a dragon. Your Excellency had been asleep for months.
We would not be your allies if we allowed your empire to fall under these threats. ”
The sharpness of the murderous sentiment in the room dulled ever so slightly. It seemed the emperor was mollified by the reference to the long-standing partnership between the kingdoms and by Kat’s continued use of the emperor’s formal title.
“The ones you should be challenging and questioning are the men still seated at this table, Your Excellency. They were supposed to be the ones you could trust to keep your great land prosperous. Not only did they fail, but they went the opposite fucking direction and attacked your people because of their own greed.”
The ferocious emotions among the Zinferans returned swiftly.
Kat lifted her chin, unapologetically. “So again. Stop being a giant arsehat to the Daxarians that actually saved you, and start dealing with the people who created this Godsdamn mess in the first place.”
Stalking forward, Kat reached the doors, where the two guards jolted. “Move.”
The two men should have looked to their emperor for permission, but both were trembling violently, and their knees had buckled. Rather than move out of the way, they tilted. It was enough space for the Daxarian queen to shove the doors open and take her leave.
Shutting the doors once more behind herself, Kat let out a long breath.
She cracked her neck.
It hadn’t been the worst council meeting she’d ever been a part of—not by a long shot. She got to swear at people and leave early. If it weren’t for the fact she couldn’t go eat a whole pie and spend time with her children and husband now, it would’ve been a good day.
Sighing, Kat turned her sights down the long walkway that was open on the right to a palace courtyard. She felt listless. At least with her mother around she’d had a bit of fun and someone to talk to.
“KAAAAT! You’re out early!”
A loud, slurred voice hollered behind Kat, making her turn round to find Duke Oscar Harris stumbling toward her with a bottle of moonshine clasped in his hand.
“Hey, Harris. I see you’re enjoying a bit of a break.”
The Daxarian duke snapped and pointed his finger at her. “You bet your bottom I am! I spent weeks starving in the woods with your brother and Elisara. I’d say I’ve earned the right to some debauchery.”
Kat scoffed knowingly. “You’re missing Mackenzie and your boys a lot, aren’t you?”
Harris’s goofy grin faded. His shoulder sagged against the wooden panel beside him and he let his head thump against the wall.
“Yeah… Yeah, I really do. It helped being around your wonderful nephew and soon-to-be-niece Penelope, but now that all the fun little people are gone, it hits much harder. I don’t like not knowing when I can go home.”
Kat gave a grim half smile of sympathy before reaching for the bottle in the duke’s hand, uncorking it, and taking a prolonged drink from it herself.
When she’d finished, she smacked her lips and proceeded to start walking in the direction the duke had originated from. “Come on. I might as well join you. I’m missing my own boys.”
The duke belched, then moved unsteadily to join the Daxarian queen. “How did the meeting go?”
Kat allowed a rueful smile to rise before she took another gulp of moonshine. “I was in an unsupervised council meeting with a bunch of officials who tried to complain about me. I’ll let you imagine how it went.”
Harris burst out laughing. “Aah, Your Majesty. I’ve always felt like we were kindred spirits.”
“Well it was you I modeled my political approach after.”
“And you will take that fact to your grave, or your mother will use a soup spoon to gouge my brain out through my eye sockets.”
Kat slid an amused look at the duke. “Colorful.”
Harris shuddered. “Your mother has threatened me with those words verbatim before.”
Caught between surprise and amusement, Kat was forced to ask, “What were you doing that warranted such a threat? You’ve already been responsible for destroying parts of our keep and traumatizing farm animals, and she barely batted an eye.”
“I may… or may not… have at one point tried to give you coffee when you were a toddler.”
Kat sprayed out the mouthful of moonshine she had just taken and stared at the duke in awe. “Why in the world would you have tried to do that?”
“You had been sick! And your parents were all worried because you were being sluggish,” Harris replied heartfully.
“I was still the fastest toddler in the entire kingdom in a weakened state!”
“Yes! I know! Your mother brought that to my attention!”
Kat burst out laughing as the two fell into familiar stories of their loved ones and kingdom. It helped to be reminded that she was not entirely alone in an empire of strangers, and at the very least, they did both share the same troublesome sense of humor.
★ ★ ★
The fourth day of their journey from Zinfera, Eli woke before Tam.
He had been acting more or less like himself, if perhaps a little distracted.
Eli had done her best to prompt him to share whatever was on his mind, but every time he’d managed to deflect her efforts by catering to some need or perceived desire of hers instead.
If it hadn’t been such an apparent ruse to avoid bringing up whatever was troubling him, Eli would’ve been more annoyed.
She still wasn’t certain if she was expecting or not, and if Tam had started doting on her because of that, she would’ve most likely lost her temper with him already.
It was easier for Eli to accept that there was something else bothering Tam, as it also helped her avoid her own anxiety about the possibility that she was pregnant. Though she did wonder what Tam had said to Kraken that had gotten the familiar’s fluff scruffed.
Rising from the bed they shared, Eli stretched and yawned.
Luca had stopped sleeping with them once Penelope started teasing him about it.
While Eli knew that it was most likely for the better that he was starting to find his independence, she had to admit she missed the family nap times.
Looking out through the bank of windows, Eli was mildly surprised to find that it was not magnificently sunny like all the other days since they’d been aboard the ship. Rather, the sky was overcast, with a strip of bruising dark clouds on the horizon that hinted at a storm.
Taking a moment to briefly grip the bedpost and tap her finger, Eli cast her mind about for ideas on how to distract the children from getting too frightened should a storm hit.
Wandering over to the chest that was filled with clothes for her—a thoughtful bit of cargo provided by Jiho Ryu—Eli tugged off the sleep tunic she’d been wearing. Technically it belonged to Tam. She hadn’t gotten used to sleeping in anything other than men’s clothes yet.
As soon as the garment hit the ground, awareness prickled at the back of Eli’s neck, making her glance over her shoulder.
Just as she suspected, Tam had woken from a dead sleep.
He grinned at her exposed torso, his eyes only half open.
She lifted a wry eyebrow at him. “I swear you are getting far too good at sensing when I’m taking my clothes off.”
Slowly propping himself up on his elbow, Tam responded with, “I’d like to think of it as being attentive and loving to my wife.”
Eli grimaced and stuck her tongue out in disgust over the sickly-sweet voice he’d used. “Stop that. Or I will take great efforts to never take my clothes off in front of you again.”
Tam’s mischievous expression sobered instantly. “Yes, ma’am.”
With a huff, Eli returned her attention to the task of getting dressed for the day. Still, she was unable to resist a smile.
Once she was ready, Tam held out a hand.
She gradually made her way back to the bedside. Tam grasped her hand, then kissed her palm.
The move made two things happen.
First, a rush of tingling started in Eli’s belly. Second, her own gaze slipped over Tam’s bare, muscled torso.
“You know you don’t have to rush off just yet…” Tam pointed out suggestively.
Eli grumbled. “We’re in the middle of a pregnancy scare and you still want to be intimate?”
Tam shrugged ambiguously, then grinned in a way he had to know made Eli a little too susceptible to his whims.
Leaning over, Eli brushed a chaste kiss over his lips. The warm musk that hung around Tam was starting to draw her in when shouts from above deck rang out.
Looking at the ceiling, Eli listened. Several thumps followed the voices, and she turned to the door.
“Never a moment of peace—even in the middle of the sea,” Tam lamented as he rose behind Eli and hastily pulled on his pants from the previous day.
Eli had already reached the door. “I’ll go see what’s going on. They might just be preparing for the coming storm.”
Tam sighed. “I never wanted to live a life when I actually prayed for the mild danger of getting caught in a storm on a boat, but here we are.”
Giving a chortle of agreement, Eli slipped out of their cabin and set off toward the stairs.
Hopefully it really was just the threat of bad weather. It would be a nice break to have something so mundane be all that troubled them.
Alas…
She quickly learned that was not what the fates had prepared.