“Make no mistake. You’re entering a pit of vipers. It’s a pretty pit and the vipers are all beautiful and well adorned, but they’ll still rip out your throat or poison you at a moment’s notice.” Roslyn’s voice was bitter and cold.
The room went quiet as Tate took the undershirt Ashwin had given her and set the rest of the outfit on the small dressing table.
“Don’t drop your guard while there; they won’t hesitate to stab you in the back—or the front. Friendships are rare. Most connections are the result of mutual benefit and shared goals.”
This was the kind of environment Tate hadn’t prevented Daisy from volunteering to enter. Great.
Tate wasn’t worried about herself. If things went bad, she had Ilith. Even if she didn’t, she had a long history of getting herself out of trouble. The other side often ended up bloody—and sometimes dead—but that was the price you paid when you messed with a dragon or a dragon’s Savior.
Daisy didn’t have that. Her connection with her dragon had stabilized after Ilith had a talk with Skye, her bonded, but she was young. And she wasn’t a warrior. She wasn’t accustomed to the feel of blood on her hands. She might not be as ruthless as she needed to be in such a situation.
“Who else will be there?”
“Anyone who has a title in the government.”
Tate finished putting on the rest of the clothes and walked out from behind the screen. She made her way over to the standing mirror in the corner of the room, stepping up onto the stool Ashwin had relocated from her reading nook.
“Besides the nobles, you’ll have representatives of both the Kairi and the Silva,” Roslyn said, naming the two other primary races in the empire. “You can also expect to see the Grandmaster of the Guardians and the Lord Obsidian of the Black Order.”
Tate could understand why she’d mentioned those two groups in particular. Tate’s often fraught connection with them wasn’t a secret.
Her relationship with the Guardians was ambiguous at best, but she didn’t think they were enemies. As long as she didn’t threaten them too much, they’d be content not to meddle with her.
The Black Order on the other hand was a different story. You could only classify their relationship as extremely poor. That tended to happen when one side referred to the other as an abomination.
Between the Grand Master and the Lord Obsidian, the latter was the one Tate was most concerned about. She’d never met him so she had no way of knowing how much of a problem he would be. If his subordinates were anything to judge by, he was going to be an ass.
“The ceremony itself is an old tradition stemming from the very beginnings of our empire. The first part takes place behind closed doors with only a few of the highest officials in attendance. The second, and more publicly known, involves presenting you to the citizens of the empire and then a ball where the guests wield weapons cleverly disguised as compliments,” Roslyn continued.
Tate lifted her arms when Ashwin poked them, holding still as the seamstress eyed the cuffs. She tweaked the material here and there, muttering to herself. There was an intense look in her eyes, making Tate think she wasn’t really listening to Roslyn. The clothes were the only thing before her eyes. Everything else was unimportant.
What must it be like to have such a drive and passion where nothing else mattered?
Tate had to admit she was a little jealous.
“Tell me about the closed-door ceremony,” Tate said, returning to the conversation.
“What I know is only what I learned in history books or things I heard from my father,” Roslyn said.
“That’s far more than I can claim.” Tate twisted to grin at Roslyn. “Besides, I’m used to winging it.”
And she was fairly certain Thora or one of the other dragon-ridden would fill in the holes. Roslyn was here to get her as familiar as possible with the etiquette and rules. The details could be handled later.
Tate held still as Ashwin jerked hard on the hem of the jacket she was wearing, moving around her and smoothing out the material at her shoulders.
“The closed-door ceremony will only be attended by the emperor’s council. I’m not sure if it comes before or after the public ceremony. The most important thing to know about is that there is a test involved.”
“What sort of test?”
“The kind it would be very bad to fail.” Roslyn met Tate’s gaze in the mirror. “All I know is it involves a minor god.”
At that, Tate dropped her arms, turning to face Roslyn. Ashwin protested around a mouthful of pins.
“Are you sure about that?”
Uncertainty flitted across Roslyn’s face. “Truthfully, no. This is something my father said in passing. As you know there hasn’t been a new dragon-ridden in over a century.”
At least not one who’d survived. Tate suspected other dragons had made the crossing but finding suitable hosts that would live past the first transformation and not go mad was a challenge.
