Page 37 of The Exile's Curse

Perhaps because for him to be familiar, for things to be easy with him, it required Charl to be there, too. Part of the trio. One corner to the angles, the three of them supporting each other.

And Charl was gone forever. Leaving them awkward and lopsided, a gap between them too raw to mend.

Even before she considered the reason for the gap.

"Lieutenant de Montesse?" Lucien said, and she realized she had missed the question he’d asked her.

Goddess damn it.

She didn't want to make a mistake in front of him on top of everything else.

"I'm sorry, Major," she said, not quite meeting his eyes. "Could you repeat the question, please? I was busy with my notes, and I missed what you said."

"I asked how you would say 'This clause is not acceptable,'" Lucien said. His tone was mild, no hint of rebuke, but she felt herself bristling anyway as her brain raced to put the translation together.

She spoke the words, trying to wrap her tongue around the sibilants that made the language tricky. Lucien's brows lifted as she spoke, and others around the table smiled.

"What did I say?" she said, resigned to the fact that she had gotten it wrong somewhere. She was learning, she reminded herself. She was allowed to make mistakes, as much as it tweaked her pride to do so.

"You said 'this teacher is unacceptable,'" Lucien said. "I will take your review on notice, Lieutenant, and endeavor to do better." It wasn't a reprimand and was delivered with a half-smile that told her he was trying to put her at ease, but that didn't help.

"The fault is mine, Major. What should I have said?"

Lucien spoke the phrase again. "The accent on the third syllable is what is letting you down, Lieutenant. That is a tricky sound."

She repeated the phrase, and he nodded. "Better. Keep practicing, Lieutenant. Time and effort always improve things, I find."

Was he talking about her Andalyssian or the difficulty of having to deal with each other? She'd bite off her tongue before seeking clarification on that matter. So she turned her attention back to her notes and tried to pretend that Lucien was nothing more than a teacher.

The class continued for nearly two hours, and Lucien seemed to be preparing to dismiss them when the door opened and Colonel Brodier and Captain Theisse walked in.

"Major," Honore said. "How go the students?"

"Well enough, Colonel. A few more days’ practice and we won't be embarrassing ourselves in Deephilm."

Honore flashed a smile at that. She walked to join Lucien at the far end of the room. "All right. Practice will continue at this time each day whilst we are traveling. Anyone not without other specific duties will be here." She studied the group a moment. "And given most of you are here, I'm going to take a few minutes to brief you on something else."

A murmur of surprise—or speculation—rippled briefly around the table before everyone fell silent.

"As you know, we are attending the wedding of King Mikvel as the emperor's representatives, and we will be meeting with the Ashmeisters and the king and others to discuss the mining treaties. But we also have another task to attend in Deephilm."

Chloe's skin prickled with sudden nerves. Another task? What exactly? Lucien looked completely unsurprised by Honore's words. Was this why he was going with them?

"King Mikvel is a young king and a new king. He is dealing with his own politics as he approaches this wedding. And there are certain factions in Andalyssia that are, perhaps, taking advantage of that fact. But we don't know all the details yet. What we do know is the king has petitioned the emperor for House Elannon to be restored."

This time it was more than a murmur.

"Three years early?" Theo blurted.

"Yes. They are citing balance, making it a matter of religion as well as politics. Given what you all know from your briefings, I'm sure the difficulties become clear, and we will discuss them more as we continue our journey. But for now what you need to know is that the emperor has asked us to assess the situation and whether House Elannon has been...rehabilitated, shall we say. We do not have overly long to come to a decision, given the religious angle. There is some danger that the priests will refuse to complete the king's marriage rites if the house is not restored. After that, all hell could break loose." Honore held up a hand before anyone else could ask another question. "This is, of course, confidential. We do not know how widely the king's request is known in the Andalyssian court. We can assess that when we get there. But until I say otherwise, you are to say nothing of this to any Andalyssian or anyone else you encounter on this trip. This particularly applies to those of you attending the court ceremonies and celebrations. Understood?"

There was a chorus of "Yes, sir" and "Yes, Colonel."

"Major de Roche will be taking the lead on this part of the mission. After we arrive, I will assign some of you to assist him as necessary. Now, I'm sure you all have things to be doing, so I will see you at dinner."

The iron fer-taureaus who pulled the charguerres waiting to take them into the mountains steamed gently in the cool morning air, the mist rising around them softening their harsh line. After a week of air travel, Chloe was glad to be off the navire, but she wasn't sure the next part of the journey was going to be particularly pleasant.

She shivered and pulled her cloak tighter as she waited with Giane. The delegation's luggage was being loaded into the charguerres, and the courtyard at the front of the Elenian embassy was organized chaos. But even with what seemed like a hundred people to-ing and fro-ing and small iron braziers set up to warm the air, it was colder than Lumia would be in the depths of winter, let alone autumn.

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