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He chuckles suddenly, and the sound tugs at a rare queasy feeling in my stomach. I’m being patronized. “I assume you do not believe in love at first sight, Seer? Fretting is unnecessary—he is already enraptured by her.”
“Oh.” Goose bumps prickle my arms. “Enraptured?”
“He’s barely left her side. Follows her like a lovesick puppy. Frankly, it’s undignified, but my son has always been an unfortunate sap.”
My last memories of Cyrus flare alive at once, every muscle in my body seizing to will away the heat from my cheeks.Actually, Your Majesty, I think your son is an accomplished actor,I want to say.
“I see,” is what I actually say. “How…blessed.”
“I suspected Felicita’s prophecy was unfurling. Intervention can be a catalyst for prophecy—I do not think it is coincidence that beasts began rising after the arrangement with Raya. We will attack this from all sides. A quick wedding to fulfill the requirements of the prophecy. Burn the Fairywood in the meantime as well.”
“I should have a reading with her, too,” I add quickly. “Her threads will be interesting.”
He nods. “I’ll arrange for you two to meet. I cannot force her to accept—we are not the first nation to use a Seer to pry—but in these extenuating circumstances, Raya must understand. She is the subject of prophecy, after all.” One arm on the chair, he strokes his chin, eyes shut. “Learn as much as you can.”
Pry,he means.
“Should I read your threads as well?” I offer out of politeness. “For your own foreknowledge.”
His mouth twitches. King Emilius knows the extent of my magic, and he doesn’t often allow me to see his threads. I’m not surprised when he answers, “No, I do not worry about my future. But perhaps you should divine my son’s threads.”
“Cyrus and I still aren’t—that is to say—”
“Cyrus will be busy enough without starting feuds with his Seer. There is much I want to accomplish through his reign while I am well enough to guide him, so that the seeds I sowed for Auveny may continue to flourish. You have been and will continue to be key to that.”
I bow my head, smiling genuinely for the first time today. I’m privy to his secret plans, more so than his own son is. I’m useful, and that’s worth more than any love I could offer. “Happy to serve.”
“Maintain the kingdom’s morale as best you can. I pray the events of the prophecy pass soon. Then Auveny can, at last, focus on uniting the Sun Continent.”
I’m barely prescient enough to not look surprised.Uniting,a clever word forconquering.King Emilius has brought up the subject of acquiring Balican land before, often whileespousing the might of the Moon Continent across the sea, unified into the Kingdom of Yue. He has spoken hypothetically of annexing Verdant as well—though less enthusiastically, as the isolated kingdom across the mountains is not as valuable in his eyes. He has distant relatives among the Verdantese royal family who he would have to deal with, too.
But for all that the king has talked, he has never implied any plans for unification were in motion.
This arrangement with the Head of Lunesse is at least the start of some negotiation with Balica. Though with our Fairywood burnings and poor Dragonsguard practices, we haven’t exactly been wooing our southern neighbors well. Maybe notnegotiation,then.Intimidation.Auveny acts like it has a right over the entire Sun Continent already. After all, we named our capital the Sun Capital as if it stands for all three nations here.
But I don’t ask further. I never reveal too much to the king, lest my opinions misalign with his, and I have enough on my plate to brood over without inviting his doubt.
King Emilius is famed for being just and magnanimous, as long as you aren’t an enemy.
The royal engagement announcement should be noisy with equal parts barbs and fanfare, but no one knows how to act after prophetic beasts scarred their prince and Seer. Since the attack, I’ve had complete strangers apologize for what happened, celebrate my recovery, pour out their fears to me—a banquet of overfamiliar behavior that I don’t want to respond to. Worse, people are actually beingniceto me, which meansIhave to be nice in return.
It’s exhausting.
I feel ready to keel over just standing here in the audience chamber, hand clenched around a near-empty ceremonial wineglass as I raise another tepid toast to our new couple.
Onstage, Auveny’s future queen looks gawky as a stuffed stork—a far cry from her ethereal appearance at the ball—swallowed up by an enormous ruffled gown that, while fashionable by this season’s standards, ill-fits her. Balican dress tends to be looser and more suited for temperate weather, but if Raya’s seeking acceptance, then acclimating to the impractical local dress is one way of doing it. She wearsAuvenese purple well, her brown skin aglow against the rich color, and fayflowers sit prettily in her plaited hair. A veil of gauzy silk obscures her face.
She’s been oddly reticent as Cyrus rambles through an introduction of her. “Raya is the rare combination of generous and shrewd,” he says, taking her hand. “When I passed through Balica, we’d only seen each other in passing, but I felt that tug of destiny at once. She did too, clearly, traveling all the way here to meet me again.” He smiles, leaning in close enough to—nearly—brush noses with her. How quickly he acclimated to nauseating lies. “Had she not come, I might have made a return trip myself.”
Every time Raya fidgets, I hear another skeptical cough around me. Flowery speeches don’t stop beasts. We all thought we’d have time to test her mettle and make our judgments, but the prophetic mantle is already upon her shoulders and now we’re stuck with a bride who looks likeshe’sthe one stuck withus.
A shriek shrills through the room, followed by another. Chairs scrape.
Dragged out of my thoughts, I catch the end of the clamor—some girls trying to storm the stage, their arms viciously outstretched toward Raya, who hides behind Cyrus’s cloak.
“She’s a witch!She’s enchanting him!” one screeches.
They’re harmless society girls, not assassins; they wouldn’t hurt a fly, because it’d be disgusting. Possessed by jealousy or some fairy magic in the air, their only target is Raya’s reputation.
