“Which one?”
“The eldest,” he grunted. “Prince Lerek.”
Terena couldn’t hide the spontaneous smile breaking out on her face. She nodded and dropped her gaze. “Of course. So?” she asked the captain again. “Do you have room for one more?”
He looked at her for a moment. “For my part, aye, we could use someone like you on this errand,” he said, his voice gruff. “But you must first speak with the emperor. Get his blessing.”
“Aye, of course.”
“Find me in the morning, if he allows it,” he said with a nod. Before he took off again, he placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll wait for you.”
Terena watched as the captain strode off. She looked around thecourtyard once more before turning toward the eastern wing of the palace, wondering how quickly she could get an audience with His Excellency.
CHAPTER SIX
“Mistress Terena Luca.”
Terena strode into the emperor’s throne room after the herald’s announcement. It was larger and more quietly elegant than Duke Aurora’s, with white and gold decor throughout. Beautiful portraits of past emperors adorned the walls. Portraits of the empresses, of course, were conveniently absent.
Other courtiers milled about, but as she made her way to the center of the room, she caught sight of Lerek on the dais to the right of the emperor. She dared not show any emotion as she met his gaze; her face a careful mask, but something inside of her softened at seeing him after so long. His hair was longer than she remembered, now falling below his collarbone in soft waves, the light in the room picking up copper highlights when he tilted his head in silent greeting. His dark brown eyes flashed as he gazed at her, and Terena’s breath caught. She lifted a corner of her lips in response, then turned her attention back to the emperor.
Xoran, Captain of the Imperial Guard, stepped up next to Emperor Solon, his scarred hand on the hilt of his sword as he looked at her with his usual sneer. Xoran tolerated her because her father, Lorence Luca, had been his captain before his death at the Battle ofAlloras five years ago, but the man had never liked her and made no secret of the fact.
Emperor Solon watched her as she stopped a few feet before the dais and bowed low. She kept her gaze on the marble, looking at her reflection while she waited for his command.
“Rise.”
Terena straightened and clasped her hands behind her back. Her eyes picked a spot on his prominent forehead and remained there. The emperor regarded her behind dull brown, down-turned eyes. His Imperial robes seemed to hang off him, though he was not a small man. It was just his frame was not commanding, and his clothes seemed to know it. The white did not do his olive skin justice, unlike his son, and yet he preferred the color to any other that might suit him better.
“Mistress Luca, you have uncanny timing,” the emperor said, his voice carrying across the marbled room. His steward, Salorus, to whom he’d been speaking before her entrance, bowed low and stepped away.
“Your Excellency.”
“I trust by now you’ve heard of the convoy I’m sending to the north?”
“Aye, Emperor.”
“Good,” the emperor said and stood. He stepped off the dais, his movements elegant, unhurried, as he came closer. He stopped a foot away and folded his arms across his chest. “Stay a moment. I need a word alone. Everyone else, out. You too, Xoran.”
The captain didn’t like that at all, less so when Terena dipped her chin and gave him a pointed look, but he walked off the dais, his gold and green cape snapping as he strode past her.
“Should I stay, Father?”
“No,” Emperor Solon said with a sigh. “You may finish preparing, but see me again before you leave in the morning.”
Terena shifted her gaze then and looked at Lerek. He bowed and took his leave. As he passed, close enough his arm brushed hers, he murmured a greeting. She nodded in return.
The sound of the doors closing behind him echoed in the room. Terena kept her eyes fixed on the throne, but sensed when the emperor walked off to her left.
He had gone to the southern facing wall, a large tapestry depicting the fall of the Olympians taking up the bulk of the space. The emperor’s hands folded at his back while he gazed at it. Terena wasn’t sure if he was thinking about what he wanted to say, but for her part, she wished he’d get on with it so she could leave and find Lerek.
“As I said, your timing is impeccable. I’d hoped you’d return before they departed, but my messengers returned without word of your whereabouts until this morning.”
He turned at last. Terena saw new worry-lines as he furrowed his brow. He was not handsome like his twin sons, Lerek and Isher; they inherited their good looks from their mother, the Empress Adanna. But their height was their father’s.
He sighed, his eyes small in a face dominated by his forehead.
He regarded her steadily when he asked, “You’ve heard of the man who calls himself king in the northern provinces?”
