I didn’t think that it would be a good idea to point out that I thought much the same thing about Caius. Particularly because I wasn’t so sure that I did anymore, and I sure as hell couldn’t explain the distinction between the two.
Maybe part of it was that Caius Greylace was on my side, and he seemed to like me well enough. And maybe part of it was knowing that Emperor Iseul hated me—all of us—maybe even more than I hated him, because the war had been on his soil, and it had been his city we shattered.
You couldn’t expect any fairness in war, but that didn’t mean you forgot all your grudges as soon as peace was dropped in your lap, either. I certainly hadn’t, but then again, I wasn’t supposed to be an emperor. The question—one I didn’t know how to answer, because I’d never known the man before—was what had tipped the scales. His father’s death, or his nation’s defeat?
“Think of his brother, poor creature,” said Caius, his voice taking on an odd quality, like it was coming from inside my head instead of outside of it. His lips were moving, though, and Josette was on the edge of her seat, so I could tell that she was listening, too. He was using something, though, some particular brand of his Talent. My head felt clearer, like I’d got a full night’s sleep instead of a full night’s interrogation. As Greylace dealt only in illusions, I was sure it’d wear off soon.
“You must remember how quickly things happened,” Caius went on. “One evening he was enjoying dinner alongside us, and by morning he was a traitor! You know how difficult it’s been for us to decide anything here, how etiquette demands a careful consideration of each option, weighing the positive and the negative out for endless hours. How, then, could a decision such as that be carried out so quickly unless it was made by one man, and a very powerful man, at that?”
Josette blinked, and opened her mouth as if to say something.
Caius shook his head, and dragged his little chair closer, indicating that she do the same.
“I have no reason to believe that the prince is innocent of such charges,” he went on, looking almost regretful that he couldn’t clear the little Ke-Han prince then and there, “but I have no reason to believe that he is guilty, either. And if he is not…”
“He’s doing the same thing to us,” Josette whispered, looking scared for the first time since I’d known her. “Isn’t he? That’s what you’re trying to say. He’s having our mail read… He suspects us of something.”
“I am only saying that if the Emperor suspects something, then we are in danger,” Caius said. “Just like the prince was; only he had no time to plan ahead, as we do. We know well enough that the Emperor moves speedily in the face of perceived threats, whether they are imagined or not.”
I was starting to feel a little sick to my stomach, though whether that was because of conspiracy theories or just because I hadn’t slept or eaten breakfast, I didn’t know.
“I’ll spend more time with Lord Temur,” Josette said, firm and decisive like she thought she had to make up for sounding scared before.
Except I didn’t like the sound of that plan one bit.
“Hold on just a minute,” I said.
“That’s excellent, my dear!” Caius proclaimed. “That’s just what I was hoping for from you. I would do it myself, but you have a certain quality that I lack.”
“Yeah, more like two—” I started, only I rethought things real quick when Josette shot me a look. “What I mean is,” I said, changing tack while clearing my throat, “I don’t like this plan.”
“Really, Alcibiades,” Josette said, but she looked a little less murderous, so I guessed she wasn’t that mad at me after all.
“Well, it’s just… the way I thought of it was,” I said, trying my best not to be loud about it, “all those warlords are loyal to the Emperor. So maybe they are in on it, what with their obsession with loyalty, whatever that means in the Ke-Han Empire. And if we start sniffing around—and they’re looking for betrayal around every corner, with more than just those mirrors of theirs—then the second you step out of bounds… I just don’t like it.”
We were all silent and grim for a long moment, trying to figure, or