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Lio looked at Tendo, willing him to say something, anything to tempt Solia away from the destiny the Empress had in store for her.
Tendo folded his wings tightly against his back, his face like stone.
“Your Imperial Majesty,” Solia said, “there are no other candidates for the throne but my sister.”
“Are you not the daughter of the ruling king?” the Empress asked.
“He seized the throne with violence and dishonor,” Solia protested. “His rule is not legitimate.”
“Is there not another path to the throne for you besides war? One paved by the love of your people?”
“In fifteen years, they have surely forgotten me.”
The Empress looked to Cassia. “Have they?”
Cassia hesitated. Lio knew how she hated to play along with this part of the game. But they had no choice.
“No,” Cassia finally answered. “Tenebra still mourns Solia’s loss. I have no doubt they would rejoice at her return.”
Silence reigned in the court, while Solia’s aura was in chaos. Lio caught Tendo’s gaze and glared at him. He had never been so tempted to give another person’s mind a push with his thelemancy.
The Empress rose from her throne. By magic, there appeared in her hands a long, slender object wrapped in golden fabric. The scarf levitated to Solia and draped over her cropped hair, the delicate Imperial silk flowing long down her back.
The fabric had concealed a sword. The golden hilt was engraved with the acacia, but it was a gladius forged in the ancient Tenebran style.
The Empress held out the weapon to Solia. “This is my gift to you.”
Lio made his last, desperate move. “As the Empire’s ally and mediator, Orthros asks if any sister states object to Princess Solia being declared the future Queen of Tenebra.”
No one spoke. Until Tendo bowed first to Solia, then the Empress. “The Sandira Court wishes Princess Solia well in her new endeavor.”
Solia did not look at him. She reached out and took hold of her new sword.
THE GREATEST AMBASSADOR
By the time she and Lio returned to their rooms, Cassia’s legs ached from standing in court, and her belly was sour from the Empress’s celebration feast. Worse still were the unsaid words she had for Lio.
Someone had opened the terrace doors in their absence. She felt an instinctive jolt of warning. Then she spotted the note fluttering in the breeze, pinned to one door by a dagger she recognized.
Cassia stared. “I thought he gave it to his brother.”
“I saw him surrender it.” With a frown, Lio pulled the long dagger out of the wood and laid it across Cassia’s palms. “It seems he wasn’t quite ready to let it go after all.”
There was no mistaking the wickedly pointed Sandira blade with its carved wooden grip. She had seen Monsoon fight for their lives with this. It was his fortune blade, the emblem of his life as a mercenary before he had given into his royal duties as Tendeso once more.
Lio read the note aloud.
Dear Shadow and Sunshine,
The Sandira expect their prodigal prince to return, just as the Tenebrans require their new queen.
It’s time for me to extricate my wings from all these grasping courtiers and go home. It may take a few more duels in the Court of Claws for my brother and me to finish working out our differences, but he needs me.
Thank you for the many repeated invitations to visit you in Orthros. I would be honored to be a guest in your home. But you will be surprised how small House Komnena feels if Cassia manages to convince a fire mage to visit. Let me know when you have room for me at a later time.
Silkfoot, I wish I could be there to watch you perform the Labors for the Matriarch. Remember everything you learned from me and try not to get burned, all right?
Regardless of who Freckles is related to, I crossed the Maaqul with you two. We’re tangled up in plenty of life debts of our own, so don’t imagine you can get rid of me easily.
