Page 98 of A Dance of Shadows

Aurelia exhales with a note of disappointment. “I’m sorry there isn’t a clearer answer. I’ll continue to think on it.”

“It means a lot that you’re willing to think about us.” The woman swipes her hand past her forehead and beams at the approaching rain, heedless of the damp breeze that ruffles her wavy hair. “There’ve been hard times, I won’t deny that. But we’ve withstood the tough parts all the same. We’ll see what comes. No matter how barren the soil has seemed, the plants still sprout. We just give them time.”

I swallow thickly. What I wouldn’t give for her kind of patience.

Then again, I’m not sure the struggles the farmers have faced are quite of the same intensity as the abuse Aurelia has endured at her husband’s hands.

I push myself to my feet, tamping down the swell of dread.

I’ve done a little good here. Hopefully Aurelia has learned one or two useful things.

And now we must return to her jailer.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Aurelia

With each turn of the carriage wheels closer to the palace I grew up in, the ache in my stomach expands.

Some part of it is the eager anticipation of seeing all the people I left behind. A larger part is apprehension.

How is this visit going to go? What are my family and friends going to make of my husband?

What are they going to make of how I have to behave around him?

On the opposite bench, Linus chuckles to himself. Naturally he’s acting as emperor today, as he has with every arrival at a new capital. He hasn’t let any hint slip about his plans for Costel, though. All I know is the tidbit Bianca passed on.

Gods smite him, let that be enough.

We wave to the locals who’ve gathered along the road around the edge of the city. I’ve kept a smile pasted on my face from the moment we came into their view.

Many of the Accasians are calling out my name, some referring to me as “Princess Aurelia” instead of “Empress.” After the first few instances, my husband’s stance starts to stiffen.

I don’t think he anticipated what it’d be like venturing into a country where I’m better known—and more beloved—than he is.

Still, he gives his own jaunty waves and grins avidly at the people we pass. During a brief lull as we rattle over a bridge, he lounges back in his seat with his usual careless attitude, though his eyes glint ominously.

I grope for something to say that might prompt another clue out of him. “I look forward to getting to introduce you properly to my family.”

Linus aims a smirk at me that turns my blood to ice. “Yes, it should be quite an occasion.”

It always has been so far, hasn’t it? He’s turned every pledging ceremony into a spectacle of horror.

He always comes up with some way to twist his demands into something even more awful than I could have imagined.

Even worse than I could have imagined… What if the scenario I assumed he’s arranging isn’t going far enough?

How could he make his challenge worse? If he wants to keep us on our toes as much as possible, to put us through the most humiliation and struggle…

My pulse kicks up a notch. It’s more important than ever that I speak to my parents—quickly, with time for them to prepare.

As with every other capital in the empire, a smaller palace stands next to Costel’s royal one for imperial use. Our carriage stops right outside the imperial palace, but my gaze immediately shoots to the elegant stone turrets and polished wooden shutters of the building where I lived for most of my childhood.

“You’ll be staying in the imperial quarters inourpalace, of course,” Linus drawls, possibly recognizing the longing in my gaze.

Of course. I’m much more than a returning princess now—I’m “Her Imperial Highness.”

The implications of that fact don’t fully hit me until we step out of the carriage and find my parents, my sister, and her husband waiting to greet us. Even as my heart leaps seeing their faces, their faces dip low with their bows—not just to Linus but to me as well.

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