Page 8 of A Reign of Embers

Neven shrugs helplessly. “You know how those kinds of visions are. The intent wasn’t totally clear. The best that I could figure was that she was saying to follow the might. Side with whoever was willing to really fight, because they’d hold the empire together in the end. But I don’t think she was totally against Aurelia.”

He catches my gaze. “In Rodrige, when you went looking for her blessed armband—I had a vision of red light surrounding you and bringing the empire to your feet, and the sense that I needed to make sure you knew. That’s why I told you to follow the signs of the gods.”

My stomach drops with a sudden lurch. “Red light…”

Raul’s head jerks toward me. “What?”

“I thought it was Elox guiding me—maybe I should have realized. Red isn’t his color.” I shake my head. “When I was pretending to search for the armband, a reddish glow caught my attention. It led me to a specific place and ‘showed’ me where the armband was hidden. I could have retrieved the real thing… but I didn’t want to put that power in Linus’s hands, and getting it would have hurt the locals too.”

Bastien frowns. “Then Sabrelle was trying to manipulate even you to her own ends. The imperial family has always credited her and Creaden with the founding and expansion of the empire. She wants to see it strengthened, not broken apart.”

“It sounds that way.” Other memories trickle up. “Asimilar glow led me to overhear a conversation between merchants in Goric who’ve been sending Dariu faulty goods. Maybe she hoped I’d get angry instead of sympathizing with them. And Linus mentioned that Sabrelle sent him dreams that inspired some of the trials he put his potential brides through. Even?—”

I stop, caught in a sudden chill.

Raul’s arm tightens around me. “Even what?”

“Marc said he’d been having violent nightmares. He mentioned it at least once during the tour. He didn’t seem to think they were godlen-sent, but maybe he’d already adjusted his thinking too much for her to win him over that way.”

Lorenzo’s mouth twists.“If she manages to sway him, that could be worse than Valerisse.”

I stand up abruptly. “We need to talk to him, find out exactly what she showed him. I can come up with an excuse. The rest of you, step out of view before I talk to the guards outside.”

Lorenzo squeezes my hand before letting it go. With visible reluctance, the princes move to the bathing room where they won’t be visible even if one of the guards steps inside. It would hardly help my reputation for the empress to be seen entertaining her late husband’s foster brothers secretly in her bedroom less than a day after his death.

I ease open the door and peek out into the hall, putting on a sheepish expression. The guards posted there immediately jerk to sharper attention. “What do you need, Your Imperial Highness?”

“I find I’m too unsettled to sleep in here on my own. I keep thinking about that vile man barging into my other bedroom.” I add a shudder for dramatics’ sake. “I think I’d rest easier for now if Marc was watching over the doorway from the other side again. Could one of you call him here? Istill have the pallet if he needs more rest—I know he’d wake if there was a commotion.”

The guards hesitate for just a second before leaping to assist. “Whatever you need. It’s no wonder.”

One of them hustles down the hall to pass on word to a page.

In a matter of minutes, Marc arrives at the apartment doorway, his tarnished curls a little rumpled and his eyes weary but his well-built form now clothed in a proper imperial guard uniform. He steps inside, carrying a folded blanket under his arm.

As the door shuts behind him, his gaze lingers on me, appraising. “I suppose we could make this a regular assignment.”

I manage half a smile. “That might serve our purposes well.”

“As long as you remember to keep enough distance,” Raul adds as the princes emerge to join us.

Marc takes them in before returning his attention to me. “I take it you didn’t summon me only for your personal security.”

“No.” I fold my arms in front of me, bracing for what I suspect will be an unpleasant recounting. “I want to know about the dreams you had while we were on tour. The bloody ones that had something to do with me. Did any of them feel as if they might have divine influence?”

Marc pauses, the momentary creasing of his brow suggesting that the possibility honestly hadn’t occurred to him before. “I assumed they were brought on by all Linus’s aggressive ranting about you. I’d rather not— You have to believe I found them horrifying when I woke up. It was never anything I wanted.”

Bastien lifts his chin toward his foster brother. “What happened in them? Spit it out.”

Marc shoots him a quick glower but gathers himself. “Mostly there’d be destruction happening around Aurelia—buildings toppling or people crumpling where she walked, that sort of thing. And then I’d race in and… and slaughter her, and everything would recover.”

The horror he spoke of roughens his voice even more. He swallows audibly and focuses on me again. “Why would you think there’s anything divine about them?”

I don’t see any reason to hide what we know. “You’re already aware that Valerisse claims Sabrelle is encouraging her attempts to get rid of me. Linus mentioned being inspired by dreams she sent him. Neven has had dreams and visions he believes came from her, encouraging him to see me as a threat. And it appears that she tried to manipulate me into working toward her ends as well.”

As I explain what we’ve experienced in more detail, Marc’s jaw tenses. When I’ve finished, he swipes his hand over his mottled face. “In light of all that… those dreams could have been her trying to incite ill-feeling toward you. If she was urging on Linus at the same time, he undermined that strategy. It was hard to put any stock in imagery that aligned with his madness.”

Raul eyes his imperial foster brother with open suspicion. “Are you still getting these murderous dreams?”

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