Page 131 of The Sundered Realms

“Improvisatory,” she confirmed.

His look was plainly unimpressed.

“We’d lost the chancellor with regular arguments before we came here,” Liris said. “He’ll have to be provoked into action. The resident Serenthuar ambassador is the best positioned to know how to make that happen.”

“You expect her to help us for Serenthuar’s sake?”

Liris snorted, loudly enough that Chancellor Ariurn turned back to them suspiciously. So she raised her voice to include him as she said, “Ambassador Shaisse absolutely won’t help our cause if she can possibly avoid it, and she won’t make learning anything about the situation in Serenthuar easy.”

The chancellor’s nod was too smug. “Indeed. But you’re certainly welcome to talk to her. I of course will be joining you, in the event she shares any information relevant to Ormbtai’s security. I trust that won’t present an obstacle for you?”

Liris laughed. “Never fear, I did not think for a second you would let me into a room with her alone.”

Ariurn didn’t expect her to learn anything—he in fact planned to use that to discredit Liris further, not to mention Serenthuar’s reputation—but if Ambassador Shaisse did let any secrets slip, he wouldn’t miss them. And he certainly wasn’t going to let Liris and the ambassador speak alone, in case Shaisse could arrange any deals to improve her personal or political position.

Liris’ answer satisfied him though, as he turned his back to them again.

To Vhannor she elaborated in a quieter voice, “The Serenthuar ambassador stationed in Ormbtai is traditionally the best of the best at smoothing problems away. But that skill gives her an almost magical sense for what will upset the chancellor’s equanimity. That’s what I hope to use.”

“You hadn’t met the ambassador in Tellianghu, but you know this one,” Vhannor realized.

Liris smiled bitterly. “Oh yes. She was one of my teachers.”

Teacher, judge, and jailer.

There was no time for more; they’d arrived at the door, and Chancellor Ariurn was waiting for them nearly gleefully, or what passed for it with such an exploitative creature as he.

Nevertheless, Vhannor caught Liris’ hand. “What role would you have of me?” he asked.

The chancellor’s expression froze for a moment.

The Lord of Embhullor naming her partner was one thing, even letting her lead, but taking direction from a Serenthuar? The chancellor of Ormbtai couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

Gods, she loved Vhannor.

Liris squeezed his hand and smiled. “This one.”

And that was how she entered the room to face a challenger she’d never yet bested in the one way that mattered.

Liris took in the elegantly appointed room at a glance, just as she’d been trained. Not the ambassador’s own rooms, as there was nothing of Serenthuar in them. A cruelty: that she should be surrounded in a height of excellence subsidized by Serenthuar that did not in any way include Serenthuar’s gifts. The only view faced outward, Ormbtai’s grassland stretching into the distance she would never be permitted to reach.

Ambassador Shaisse sat on a plump couch in the center of the room, sipping tea as if she were entirely at ease. She, too, took in Liris and her company at a glance. As she was prepared for any entry into the room where she was kept to be an attack of some sort, no part of her so much as twitched.

Always in control. That was how she expected to be, how she expected any candidate to be, and yet at each turn she undermined them lest their control threaten hers.

Liris always could provoke that part of her like no one else, even when she wasn’t trying.

“Ambassador Shaisse, how tremendously unsurprising,” Liris said, dropping into a seat opposite her. A small table sat between them with other cups; Liris ignored it in favor of leaning back insouciantly.

The ambassador delicately sipped her tea. “Former Candidate Liris. It’s been too long.”

Since she’d had an opportunity to put Liris in what she saw as her place, she meant. Liris grinned almost despite herself; a masterful set-down, avoiding Liris’ bait neatly.

Not quite masterful enough, though, this time.

“You will of course recognize my companion, the Lord of Embhullor,” Liris said. “I’m assisting him with looking into the situation in Serenthuar, as, you are no doubt also aware, I am more familiar with its inside than anyone.”

Shaisse knew her well enough to recognize the wry acknowledgement of her imprisonment made with veiled cheer. She set down her cup in its saucer with an admonishing clink and replied, “I am unsurprised you of all Serenthuar would intentionally lend your energies against your people. You never did learn your place, never appreciated the gifts you were given. But I never thought your judgment would extend to thinking I might help you do so.”

---