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“There would be an inquest to determine whether you’re guilty of negligence in the pursuit of duty,” Kadou said stiffly. He felt the fear-creature prowling at the edges of his mind again, as if it were sniffing around in the shadows just past the circle of a campfire’s light. “Possibly you would be court-martialed. At worst, you’d be stripped of your titles or—she wouldn’t execute you, you know!”
“I think you underestimate how much your sister loves you,” Eozena said simply. “Make my job easy, Kadou. Let’s handle this through the proper channels. Isn’t that why you got in trouble in the first place? Because you tried to handle things yourself? You’ve done all that you can do at this point. Let’s not be reckless.”
Kadou hit his absolute limit. It was a singular sensation, one he had only truly experienced a few times before. “Stop. Please, just for tonight,stop. I can’t.”
“Commander,” Evemer said immediately, rising from his chair. “His Highness is quite tired. Perhaps there will be time tomorrow to continue. May I get the door for you?”
Eozena sighed and got to her feet. “This isn’t the end of the discussion,” she said sternly to both of them. Kadou covered his face with his hands and endured just as hard as he could until he heard Evemer bid her goodnight at the door. “Actually,” she said. “Could I speak to you outside for a moment, Lieutenant?”
“Highness,” Evemer said. “Do you require my assistance?”
“No. No, please go ahead.” The idea of a few minutes of solitude was a profound relief.
Evemer followed Eozena as she led him away from His Highness’s apartments, down the hall to the courtyard door and outside, and then even farther. She stopped by a bubbling fountain, loud enough to cover their voices from anyone who might try to overhear, and turned to him with her arms crossed. The dim moonlight glinted off the scattered silver bands decorating the ropes of her hair, matching something steely that glinted in her eyes. “Is there anything you want to tell me that you didn’t feel that you could say in front of His Highness? Anything at all?”
He stood before her in parade rest, his hands behind his back. “No, Commander.”
“Would you tell me if there was?”
“Probably, Commander. If His Highness—” But Kadou would never. He rephrased. “If I were assigned to serve a person who gave me a criminal order, I would report to you and ask for clarification, as per protocol.”
“Did you need any clarification tonight?”
“No, Commander.”
“Are you frustrated with me for my fixation on this issue?”
“You’re doing your duty, Commander, as did I. Mine is to protect His Highness. Yours is to protect all of us.”
She sighed. “All right. Is there anything else you need?”
“No, Commander.”
Arms still crossed, she tapped her fingers against her elbow. “You remember all your training, don’t you?”
“I was only promoted to the core-guard a month and a half ago, as you may recall, Commander.”
“Then, as I daresay I have no need to remind you: You know it’s not against protocol to begin something with him,” she said. “It’s just not . . . wise. Not without a great deal of care. Not without feeling that you can confide in him and honestly express what you’re thinking.” She eyed him. “Would you say you’re very good at expressing your thoughts?”
Evemer drew himself up until his spine was as erect as a steel bar. “I assure you, Commander, I have no intention of—”
She moved her hand a mere inch in a gesture to quiet him, and he fell silent immediately. “I’m not asking what your intentions are toward His Highness. That question is wildly outside my jurisdiction both as your senior officer and as an uninvolved third party who is coincidentally in the vicinity. But I am cautioning you. I am advising you. I am giving you something to think about.”
“Commander,” he said. “His Highness has no intentions toward me either.” Such a thing was so unthinkable as to be absurd.
She shrugged. “I was young once, you know. I know how things just sort of end up happening. But all right. Forgive me for my . . . overenthusiasm.”
“Thank you for your diligence, Commander.” Though it was quite a lot of diligence—more than was necessary for this particular situation. It had been one kiss, and His Highness would never have done anything remotely like that unless their lives were at stake. That was all. Of course he could not argue with the commander like that, but because the comment about expressing his thoughts had been a little too close to home, he added, “I assure you all is well.”
“I appreciate your candor,” she said dryly. “Anything else to report?”
“No, Commander.”
She nodded. “You’re dismissed, then. Return to your post. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Commander.”
She walked away down the garden paths. Evemer returned to Kadou’s chambers, nodding to Melek at the door. Inside, Kadou had already extinguished the lights in the sitting room and shut the door to his bedroom. Evemer frowned a little and left again, heading back to his own room.
