force me to break the only other oath I’ve sworn in my life.”
“And what does ‘anything’ imply?”
“Anything,” he replied. “I will kill to protect it, if killing is required. I will kill at your command, trusting that the command itself is built upon a foundation of necessity.”
The Emperor’s nod was grave.
“I will follow your orders with the understanding that in carrying out any mission you choose to give me, I am to do the least possible damage to your citizens and the laws you have devised.” He exhaled. “And when I feel that the commands themselves cannot be obeyed in that spirit, I will ask for an audience to explain my reservations.”
“As you have done today.”
“Yes.”
“And if I chose not to heed your...advice?”
Elluvian stiffened slightly; Severn didn’t look away from the Emperor to see the Barrani Wolf’s expression.
“I would accept your decision. I would have to accept it.”
“Hierarchically, yes.”
“No. It’s not about hierarchy, or you wouldn’t have asked the question.”
“Would I not?” Once again, a smile lurked at the corner of the Imperial mouth.
“I would obey you because I’ve chosen to trust you. Not with my life, of course—but with the things that matter.”
“Your life does not matter?”
“It matters—but it’s one life.”
“And you would trust my decision over your own?”
“You’ve seen more, done more, fought more, than I ever will; you’ve lived for centuries. I’ve lived for almost two decades. But you created an Empire that’s meant to preserve not the strongest and most powerful of your citizens, but people like me. Like us. I have to trust that those considerations and the experience I lack are behind the decision to reject my request.”
“Have to trust?”
“If I swear my life to your service, yes.”
“That is not the case with most young Wolves.”
“I can’t speak for another person’s vows. I can only speak for mine.”
The Emperor held Severn’s gaze for what felt like minutes. “I accept, Private Handred. I accept what you offer.”
It was a dismissal. Severn turned to leave.
“Not you, Elluvian. You and I have words to speak in the wake of this unusual audience.”
* * *
“You assumed the oaths to be entirely ceremonial,” Elluvian said when the door had closed and the private was safely on the other side of it.
The Emperor raised a brow.
“He assumed it because he’s not a fool. The oaths are entirely ceremonial. They’ve been written into long, dense, and irretrievably boring phrases.”
“Perhaps those oaths have changed in the past few decades—I cannot recall seeing you during those ceremonies for some time now.”
“They have not changed.”
“No, perhaps not. Ceremony exists for a reason, after all.”
“And Severn is to be spared the long, tedious cant?”
“Private Handred has sworn his personal oath to his Emperor, and I have chosen to accept it, yes.”
“Why?”
“The pomp and splendor of the Imperial ceremony, coupled with its privacy, elevates the oath, and the import of the oath, in the minds of most young candidates.”
“I believe that was the entire point.”
“I do not feel it will have the same effect on your private.”
“He is not my private.”
“Ah, no. I believe Lord Marlin claimed him—first, and most tenaciously. He wants that boy.”
Elluvian nodded.
“I begin to see why.”
“And the official oaths?”
“I admit that I find them tedious at times. It is tedium I endure because it serves a purpose. Since it will serve no purpose for Severn Handred, I find myself more than willing to avoid them.”
“What do you see in that boy?” Elluvian asked, as the silence threatened to become too weighty.
The Emperor’s eyes were an orange gold. “I see what you can’t. Why do you ask?”
“I am curious. You have long held to traditions, and yet you have chosen to forgo them almost entirely in Severn’s case. Helmat did the same.”
“You cannot see why?”
“He lacks the charm and charisma of our previous recruit.”
“The one who died?”
“Indeed. I perceive you ask because you wish to make a point.”
“No. Life has already made the point. Why do you ask? It is unlike you to readily expose ignorance.”
“You are not the only person of my acquaintance to show an unexpected interest in the boy.”
“Ah. I will not ask a question you will not answer. But I would be displeased should that unexpected interest remove him from the Wolves.”
“You would not be the only one. I do not understand the private. He is obedient, silent, studious; he does not seem to be any of these things to curry favor. And it appears to me that he actually holds the Tha’alani in some affection.”
“Lord Marlin seems to