Page 86 of A Reign of Embers

I already knew how far I might have to go to convince her of Aurelia’s message. I just didn’t realize it’d be because she had pre-existing plans that could lead to an even greater catastrophe.

In my own cunning ways, I’ve stood up to soldiers and emperors. I helped put the woman I love on the throne. I’m a gods-damned force to be reckoned with.

Hiding that from my family now looks to be much more dangerous than revealing myself.

I push to my feet too, drawing myself up so I’m slightly taller than her, my stance steady. And I project the illusion of my voice straight into her head.

“We’re not finished here. You need to tell me exactly what you mean to do.”

Mother freezes other than the drop of her jaw. She stares at me in silence for several thuds of my suddenly racing pulse. “Lorenzo. You…”

I keep my mouth firmly shut so there’s no doubt about my voice being gift-driven.“I have a lot more of a gift than I’ve let on. There are plenty of things about me that you don’t know. Because I’ve been playing this game of politics for years right in the thick of it, and I couldn’t risk jeopardizing everything I was working toward by letting my secret get out. But it sounds like you might be about to jeopardize it all right now anyway.”

“I— You—” Understanding dawns in her eyes, and her posture relaxes slightly. “Youarededicated to Inganne. It’s all illusion. Just more than music.”

I nod.“It’s anything I need to conjure. I did sacrifice an awful lot. It was a little too easy to convince everyone I was enough of an idiot to swap my voice for nothing more than extra artistic talent.”

Her mouth tenses against a wince, but then her expression brightens more. “Then it’s even more wonderfulthat you’ve come back to us. There’ll be so many ways you can help?—”

And there it is. She’s already jumping straight to how she can use me for her own ends.

I cut her off, letting my illusionary voice flatten.“Help you withwhat? What are you planning?”

A fierce smile curves my mother’s lips, one I don’t like at all.

Determination rings through her voice. “We have the perfect opportunity, Lorenzo. You haven’t been here to see it. First, a handful of the imperial soldiers vanished after word of the tribune’s declaration reached us. Then so many more were summoned to bolster the reserves around Vivencia. The governor and his ranking officers have tried to cover up the loss, but we estimate there are no more than a quarter of their usual numbers left.”

My stomach bottoms out. I can already see where she’s going with this line of thinking.

Aurelia—and Marc and Axius, advising her—must have assumed that as long as they kept some military presence in Rione, my people were too down-beaten after the last uprising less than a decade ago to attempt another. No doubt the high commander hoped to end the threat of civil war quickly and return regular forces to our island country.

None of them, not even Aurelia, could fully understand just how much fury our queen has been hiding behind her royal composure. Not even Aurelia knows what it’s like to see hundreds of your citizens strung up around the city like hogs in a butcher shop.

Mother knows she may never get another chance like this again. Of course she’d jump on her first opportunity.

Except she didn’t quite. She hesitated until my arrival… it sounds like, because she was worried what would happen to me if she rebelled while I was in Darium custody.

A lump rises in my throat, but her consideration of my safety doesn’t make a difference now. She thinks that with me here, she can rush ahead without any dire consequences.

“You’re going to order our soldiers to turn on the remaining forces and slaughter them,”I guess.“And hope that Dariu is too busy fighting with itself to intervene until it’s too late.”

A sharp laugh leaves my mother’s mouth. “They will be. We’ve been marshalling forces, and they haven’t had enough presence here to notice a thing. I have men ready with a message that’ll send the governor hustling off to the other side of the country, and the moment he’s gone, we can sweep them all out of Santia and the rest of the island. Once we’ve cleared our territory, we can defend the strait so they never get another foothold.”

It's a clever plan. It would probably work.

And it might ruin the chances of us ever being at peace with Dariu rather than in a constant state of potential war. It woulddefinitelyruin Aurelia’s chances of handing back true sovereignty to my foster brothers’ kingdoms.

The people of Dariu will never accept the ceding of other territories right after they’ve been violently thrown out of one. Aurelia would look weak rather than wise.

My mouth twists.“Don’t you see that the empress is offering us something better than that? We could rule Rione again as allies with Dariu, withoutneedingto defend the strait or see more of our people die in attempts to reconquer us.”

Mother waves her hand dismissively. “One is a sure thing. The other—Empress Aurelia has her own goals. I’m not going to let my people down by giving up this one opportunity for another that may never materialize.”

I resist the urge to smack my hand against the table for emphasis.“You’re letting them down by turning against the only imperial ruler who’s actually cared about us.”

That sad look crosses Mother’s face again. “You reallybelieve that, don’t you? If you’d been through as much as I have—do you have any idea what she’d have done with you if she’d discovered your true gift?”

A stunted laugh hitches out of me. I meet my mother’s gaze with a smile nearly as sharp as hers.“Mother, I told Aurelia a year ago. I helped remove Marclinus and put her on that throne. She’s had a thousand chances to exploit me, but she’s only ever worked toward getting to where she is now—where she can set the empire free.”

---