and how I was to prepare myself for a response. My translator had stopped toying with the ring, and indeed his hands were held completely still. His expression was harder to read than it had been before, and he kept his face turned from mine this time.
When he spoke next, it was with a wry smile, as though he’d tasted something bad in his food.
“He says that he understands now the need for action. He understands that for diplomacy to work between our two countries, we will need two leaders of a like mind, able to forge a future together based on trust and mutual benefit. If everything you have told us is true—and he believes that it is, based upon our reconnaissance in the Cobalts—then our solution is a simple one. What better way to earn the trust of the people than to put their beloved prince at an army’s head? If we are to send in troops to rescue our diplomats in the capital, then we must have a familiar face to allay the fears of the people about a renewed outbreak of hostilities. If they see that you are the guiding influence of this change, then they will not complain.”
“What about Iseul?” I asked, forcing my voice to be strong and even as the Esar’s was. “My brother. He will not—He would never allow such a thing. He’d die first.”
“That, I believe, is the Esar’s intent,” Royston replied, not bothering to translate for the man he served.
I felt something well up within me, like a rush of wind from the shows the magicians had once put on to entertain the royal family. It filled my lungs to bursting and made my chest ache with the sharp suddenness of it. I pressed my hands flat against the table, still damp from when I had spilled my drink, and straightened my back. Many people had been brave in order to bring me here, people who’d owed me nothing at all but had risked everything nonetheless.
Kouje, I was sure, had nearly killed himself bringing me over the mountains.
I would not lose strength and shame them all for their efforts.
“You… Your Highness intends to replace my brother with me,” I said, ignoring the fluttering of panic in my chest, like the sails of a ship picking up wind. I was not ready to become Emperor. Iseul had been right in that, if nothing else.
“Just so,” said Royston, though his expression remained unreadable.
I wanted a few days to think it over. I wanted Kouje at my side, to tell me what the wisest course of action was so that I could follow it. I wanted to go back to bed and sleep until the seasons changed, to wake up in a fisherman’s hut with little wooden boats and nets and hooks.
I had never met Kouje’s sister. As Emperor, I never would.
“Time is of the essence,” I said, ignoring the lapping of waves against the shore. “We must move as soon as I am able, as soon as you are able to gather enough men together. I do not know when my brother plans to attack, but we cannot risk an assumption of its being later rather than sooner.”
“I agree,” said Royston, and he began to speak again, translating what I’d said to the Esar while I kept my head high, my gaze level.
He nodded, with what I hoped was his approval, then said something quickly that I wasn’t able to catch.
“The main roads will take you there in a week if we send other troops to deal with the threat in the mountains. We will speed your party back as swiftly as possible. He worries only about your condition,” Royston translated. “I’ve reassured him that we’re doing our best and reminded him that magicians, as he so helpfully put it, can look after themselves.”
I smiled faintly.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I’m not so certain I deserve that, but I’ll accept it anyway,” said Royston. “That charmingly subtle hint is our cue to leave, in any case.”
He pushed his chair back to rise, and I followed his example, holding on to the table only slightly more than I might have preferred. If we’d been required to bow again, I might have toppled over completely, but fortunately the guards moved to open the doors before I could start calculating how rude it might have been to use one’s translator as support while showing respect for a foreign leader—and new ally.