Page 58 of The Rebel's Prize

"Do you think there'll be sanctii?" Corporal Gheligne asked.

"Deandra is a water mage," Chloe said, "but when she left Lumia, she didn't have a sanctii. And if she had one with her at the parliament, none of the other sanctii have mentioned it."

Though she had no idea if anyone had thought to ask them directly.

She looked at Imogene. "We should check with Ikarus and Octarus."

Imogene nodded. "Yes, that's a good idea." She rapped the table once. "But Deandra was dismissed from the Academe before she could master the skills she would need to bond a sanctii safely. There aren't that many water mages about who would risk teaching someone like her the final steps to bonding. It would be too risky, and it would be unusual for a water mage with a sanctii to be traveling with a theater troupe. It's a waste of someone that skilled." She looked at Chloe. "What do you think?"

Chloe held out her hands. "You know more about that than me. But yes, it would be out of the ordinary. Unless the mage had other ties to the troupe. Perhaps if they had some sort of problem and needed to lie low." Or wanted a convenient excuse to move around the country to plot against the emperor.

Imogene frowned. "That may be possible. Though we do keep track of mages with sanctii. I don't remember any recent scandals."

"It may not have been recent. And we can't assume we know about all of them in the first place," Lucien said.

Imogene nodded again. "Yes, that's always possible. Some people will try the bond without the proper training."

"It might not be disgrace," Chloe said. "It could be something simpler, like marriage or some sort of family connection."

Imogene blinked. "Yes, I guess you're right. I hadn't thought of that."

"They could just like performing," Corporal Chartres chimed in from the end of the table. "I had a cousin who ran off with a theater troupe. He was a strong blood mage, and everyone expected him to join the army, but instead he auditioned for one of the opera companies in Elenia." He grinned. "The family doesn't exactly talk about him much at gatherings, but I hear from him occasionally, and he seems happy enough." He shrugged. "I guess it's a calling like anything else."

Chloe nodded. "Yes, you would have to love it, surely, to spend your life traveling around the empire for much of the time. Not being able to put down roots. That would take a certain devotion to the craft."

"Yes. And as Corporal Chartres said, it is impossible to rule out a water mage who wants to tread the boards," Lucien said. "We cannot entirely rule out a sanctii, though I think it's unlikely. And once we arrive, our own sanctii should be able to confirm the presence of anyone who they don't recognize. We should focus on how we're going to approach the theater company in the first place."

Imogene spoke first. "The easiest way would just be to swoop down and take them all into custody."

Captain Ilveut grimaced slightly. "That is one approach," she agreed. "It may raise something of a scandal if it turns out that the man you're seeking isn't part of the troupe."

"I'm not sure the emperor is overly concerned with scandal just now," Lucien said. "But I agree. Let's not win him any more enemies than he already seems to have. We need another plan."

CHAPTER13

Chloe fanned herself with the playbill as she took her seat in the stalls of Basali's theater, the stiff paper swishing in rhythm with the jittery thump of her pulse in her ears. She may not have been as ardent a fan of the theater as Corporal Chartres's cousin, but she had always enjoyed attending. But hunting traitors turned the experience from enjoyable to nerve-racking.

The theater was larger and more elegant than the one in Fallea, as befitted a town that was probably four or five times as big. The Ancallan architecture leaned more to curves and flowing lines than Miseneian, all the visible wood stained a pale shade and inlaid with iridescent tiles that caught the light of the chandeliers and reflected it softly over the audience. The walls and seats were soft seashell colors, giving the overall impression of sitting inside one of the pearls that Ancalla's oceans were known for. The curtain hiding the stage was a bright sea blue, drawing the eye amidst all the gentler colors.

It was quietly beautiful and doing nothing at all to soothe her nerves. Even safely disguised by Lucien's illusions, the light-filled theater made her feel as though she was under a spotlight. Easy for Deandra to notice.

She shifted in her seat, trying to look calm. No reason to be so nervous. Lucien had done good work, and no hint of strain or distress had come through the bond. She hadn't wanted him to try the illusions on three of them, but in the two-day flight to Basali, the other illusioners hadn't yet mastered the spell. Lucien had insisted he could do it, and so far, it seemed he was right.

All that came through the bond was a solid confidence. Which eased her anxiety somewhat. Either he was sure they would prevail or he was damned good at hiding his true emotions. And with the bond so new and strong, she didn't think that was likely. Neither of them had yet succeeded in being able to completely control the flow of sensation the way they had previously. It would come with practice, she hoped, but until it did, it would be difficult to hide anything.

To prove her point, his hand squeezed hers reassuringly. She snuck a glance at him and was startled once more by the difference in his appearance. He had chosen the same unremarkable face he'd used in Fallea for his disguise. He'd varied hers a little, the hair a lighter honey shade that matched that of the locals. Imogene's was slightly darker but not by much. Chloe's eyes were brown, but Lucien had shifted Imogene's from their usual sparkling sapphire to a smoky gray and blurred the sharpness of her cheekbones and chin, shifting her from beautiful to merely pretty. The two of them resembled each other to suit the story they'd devised that Chloe and Lucien were a married couple, escorting her sister to the theater while she was in town.

Unlike Fallea, most of the conversations floating around them were being conducted in Illvyan, which only made her more aware of needing to play the part. Speaking Illvyan wouldn't afford any privacy here. Though she and Imogene could communicate via their sanctii if necessary.

She lowered the playbill to her lap and tried to study it so she wouldn't look around to see if she could locate the soldiers who were also seated throughout the crowd, dressed in civilian clothes. They'd been chosen to blend in with the locals. Corporal Chartres, with his pale skin and red hair, had remained at the barracks, much to his chagrin.

He'd tried to hide it, but his disappointment dulled his usual eager demeanor. It made her feel old. Once upon a time, she would have been the eager young corporal if her life had played out as it had first been planned. Now she was older and more cynical and perfectly happy to avoid any danger where she could. Tonight, unfortunately, was not going to be a situation where that was possible.

The hum of the crowd around them was pleasantly anticipatory, and reading the bill, she understood why. The program was to be two short plays and a series of songs and other acts. Ambitious for a traveling troupe. She knew one of the plays, had seen it many years ago in Lumia, and she remembered the staging then as relying on realistic scenery. The few times she'd seen traveling troupes perform, they had used props that were mostly suggestive of the setting. Staging the performance as it had been done in Lumia would require some degree of illusion. Hopefully that meant they had indeed found the correct troupe. But that remained to be seen. After all, most sizable troupes could afford to pay an illusioner if they chose to do so.

There was no easy way to send someone to scout out the troupe in advance. The performers had been inside the building all day, rehearsing, and the theater had doormen at all the entrances, not letting anyone inside. Captain Ilveut had vetoed using a sanctii in case there was one traveling with them. Once the theater was open, there would be legitimate reasons for a sanctii to be in the building—after all, there were water mages with sanctii at the barracks—but not before.

Chloe shifted again and craned her neck toward the stage.

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