The empress slides off the process desk and speaks behind me, in a meek, virtually repentant tone. “My topics concern me.”

The softness of her phrases prickles my compassion. I breathe out gently. “They don’t respect you.”

“How ought to I win their respect?”

She truthfully needs to know? She will be able to’t actually be real.

Though her pleading query is probably going a guise, I discover myself bestowing sound recommendation as a result of I’m her chancellor. “By displaying leniency. Commonsense in judgment as a substitute of 1 end-all punishment. There are various ranges of crime, and the punishment ought to match the offense.”

She circles me and appears up into my face. All I see is the youthfulness half-emrys possess. Her options are flawless. She is gorgeous. And horrible. Her nostril wrinkles. “Leniency reveals weak point.”

I mark the hardness of her options to distract me from the smoothness of the others. Her jaw is angled and powerful. Her nostril is straight. “Are you afraid of being weak? You let Commander Meuric finest you in the present day.”

She smiles, and her full lips skinny. “I knew you have been eager sufficient to determine that out.”

I stare at her mouth as I reply. “How was that for freedom of speech?”

“We are able to speak of issues apart from how I rule.”

I arch a forehead. “As you would like.”

“And, Caedryn, I gained’t put your head on a pike.”

8

Although my life turns into a routine of morning conferences, the empress provides me permission to make use of the afternoon hours for my very own pursuits. Neifion brings me cartloads of books from my library in Elidyr, and I eagerly scour them. By the Creator I miss my research.

After every week of free time, I notice I don’t know the place the empress is once I’m not together with her. She’s not all the time coaching with the opposite warriors. Her unknown whereabouts unnerve me. Whereas I crave the time to myself to rejuvenate and put together myself as soon as once more to enter her draining presence, I’ve to cease my seclusion. I’ve to all the time know the place she is.

The empress is inconceivable to search out. I can’t sense the place she goes the identical means I sense each being who possesses gentle. How can I discern and monitor a demon of darkness?

I’m racking my mind once I provide you with an excellent thought. Her mutt. The grey wolfhound Lord Berwyn gave her. The empress has taken to the beast following her round. They’re by no means aside.

Animals are tougher than people to discern, however creatures carry gentle simply as beings who stroll on two legs do. I shut my eyes and give attention to all of the lights. I disregard the lights of the half-emrys, who differ in diploma from newly kindled flames to raging fires. People’ lights are specks. They’re unable to harness power as half-emrys do as a result of their our bodies aren’t immortal vessels. However animals’ lights shimmer with the subtlety of sun-glistened water. Onerous to select. I’ve to search for a ripple in my thoughts’s eye. They’re simpler to identify in Caer as a result of animals don’t roam barren lava fields. I skip over the animals within the stables and pens. Lastly, simply exterior the stronghold, in a lava subject the place scrubby brush pokes by crevices, I discover her canine.

And the empress.

I don’t announce my presence. I hover close to the wall in its shadow. The bottom is heat by my boots. Sweat quickly coats my pores and skin. I may need to lower the quantity of sunshine I carry and construct the cooling darkness so I can higher regulate my temperature.

A lot because the day I first laid eyes on the empress, she frolics with the wolfhound she calls Drago. The empress throws a stick, and Drago bounds after it. As she makes an attempt to retrieve the stick from his mouth, Drago holds on to it. He growls whereas she tugs. The empress laughs, as soon as once more.

She throws her cloak off and tumbles with him on the bottom. I’m in awe. Her guard is totally down. She’s uncovered.

Don’t be so certain, Caedryn, Neifion says. I’m certain her guard is aware of precisely the place she is and what threats are within the space. Neifion’s taking a dip in a lake a number of leagues away from right here. I envy him as I pull my skinny shirt away from my pores and skin. I’m sporting the minimal quantity of clothes to be correct, nevertheless it’s a ineffective try to chill myself.

See how she relaxes with Drago? I open my sight to him.

He watches her for some time. It’s a unusual factor to behold.

I nod to myself.

Sweat glistens throughout the empress’s cheeks and brow. She’s rosy. It’s truly turning into on her exhausting face. Her eyes brighten as she rolls with Drago, nevertheless it’s not from internal gentle. I’ve a troublesome time understanding how somebody who carries solely darkness can ever snort. Does she even really feel pleasure, or does she snort to mock her canine’s efforts?

I again away to return to my chambers. I don’t know what motive I’d give her ought to she see me.

Nonetheless, I acknowledge Drago as one in every of her weaknesses.

9

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