“You don’t know?”
“I didn’t read your letter.”
“Out of loyalty, or because you lacked the opportunity?”
A pause, a breath of silence that he filled by shaking his head and closing his eyes.
“I thought as much,” she said. Oh, she definitely sounded amused. “You’re not quite that moralistic. If you were, you’d never get anything done.”And I’d have no use for youwas unsaid but heavily implied. “Though you’ve grown overly fond of lecturing me.”
“I don’t lecture,” he said. “My job is to advise, and that’s exactly what I do, when I’m actually afforded the chance to do so.”
“Advise me, then.”
“The Ahiranyi are still viewed with great suspicion.”
“I am well aware of that,” she replied.
“Then I have to ask why you’re reaching out to them,” he said. “Especially now, when you have…” He paused, and said more quietly, “After the fires—and the war council—you have enough problems to contend with here.”
“HowdidMahesh’s war council proceed without me?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m curious. Did anyone outright say that Aditya should have the throne, or did they only imply it?”
“If you want me to be your eyes and ears, then it would be helpful if you could be honest with me in turn,” Rao said, in what was absolutely not an irritated tone of voice.
“I have spies enough,” said Malini. “And until I am able to attend my own war councils without fear that my own men may seek to protect me from the warIam leading, you will have to forgive me for holding some truths close to the chest.”
You don’t have to lie to me, he thought, and did not say. It sounded too pitiful even in his own head to be spoken.Don’t you understand what you are to me?
Like all royals of Alor, his true name had always been a secret—a prophecy waiting to be spoken. His true name had been the guiding star of his faith and fate, dragging him onward. Leading him, inevitably, to kneel before her in the sun-drenched dirt on a road toward Dwarali, where he had revealed it to her and given her the right to her throne.
When she is crowned in jasmine, in needle-flower, in smoke and in fire, he will kneel before her and name her. He will give the princess of Parijat her fate. He will say: Name who shall sit upon the throne, Princess. Name the flower of empire. Name the head that shall reign beneath a crown of poison. Name the hand that lit the pyre.
He will name her thus, and she will know.
Didn’t she understand that his fate was still tied to her own? That the nameless god had made him like this, and he could not change his nature, his purpose? He had named her empress, and she…
She did not trust him.
He swallowed back hurt.
“You can’t always assume that people are going to turn on you. That they need to be managed and—and manipulated.” Rao was turned away from her, knowing his face was still painfully open—that she would see right through him, if he allowed her to. “You’re going to have to trust them.”
Silence.
“Rao,” she said after a moment. He looked at her again. The amusement had drained from her face. What was left was tired, and shaken, and world-weary. “I’ve trusted all through this war,” said Malini. “I trusted those men when we traveled to Dwarali. When we forged new alliances there. When we faced battle after battle. I trusted they would fight and die to see me on the throne. I trusted that I would not find a knife placed against my throat in my sleep. That is plenty of trust, Rao. Any more trust, and I’ll be making my own noose.”
“I just don’t believe the Ahiranyi will be as much help as you hope they will be,” Rao said. “I worry that this error will cost you.”
“We will see,” Malini said, voice unreadable. “But there’s no worth in sending a messenger to stop a messenger. My message will reach Ahiranya, and Ahiranya’s temple council will respond, and I will deal with the consequences if and when they turn up at my door. That is all.”
Rao knew a dismissal when he heard one. He bowed.
“And Rao?”
He paused.
“Next time put your morals aside,” she said. “You could have chased after Yogesh, if you’d tried. I cannot coddle you. I cannot treat you as my friend, and I don’t ask for friendship in return. I ask for the cunning and canny advisor I know you have the capacity to be. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Empress,” he choked out.
