Page 45 of The Exile's Curse

"And yours, Sejerin Silya," Katiya responded in Andalyssian. She slid a sideways glance that seemed part apologetic at Chloe. "It is kind of you to join us."

Irina had gone quiet beside Chloe, the flush on her cheeks fading. Seeing her turn from animated to wary did nothing to quell Chloe's earlier uneasiness with the seer.

"Irina," Silya said.

Irina just bobbed a curtsy, murmuring, "Sejerin Silya."

"Katiya, perhaps you would introduce me to the Illvyan," Silya said.

Well, that was rude. Or did the seer not imagine that Chloe spoke Andalyssian?

"Sejerin, this is Lieutenant de Montesse. Lieutenant, this is Sejerin Silya, currently senior of the sejerin council."

Had she stressed that “currently” slightly? The sejerin council advised the king, like the Ashmeisters. So Sejerin Silya had power. It was interesting, in fact, that there was a seer here but nobody from the priesthood.

Chloe curtsied as rapidly as the sejerin had and said hello in Andalyssian, hoping her accent held up to scrutiny.

The seer regarded her with narrowed eyes, then said something to Katiya in the same language she'd used for her ritual back in the King’s Hearth.

Katiya looked somewhat surprised, then annoyed, as the seer turned on her heel and headed over to the next group.

"Good riddance," Irina muttered in Andalyssian. "Katya, when you're queen, can you send her to the outer peaks for several years?"

Chloe hid a smile, but curiosity won over amusement at Irina's obvious dislike of the seer. "If you don't mind me asking, Lady Katiya, what was that last thing she said? I know Andalyssian but not whatever language that was."

"It's seer tongue," Irina said.

Katiya shook her head at her. "It's an older form of Andalyssian," she said to Chloe, switching back to Illvyan. "Ancient, in fact. The seers use it in their rituals."

Irina snorted. "It's seer tongue. They make us learn it at school, but no one but seers ever uses it. They just do it to seem more mysterious than they are."

"Irina!" Katiya said, but the word was half a laugh.

"You know it's true. If the priests can talk normally, why do the seers need to be different?"

"Tradition," Katiya said firmly. She turned to Chloe. "And to answer your question, Lieutenant, she said, 'So this is the daughter of ravens.' I'm assuming that's a reference to your father?"

Chloe blinked. As much because Katiya knew who her father was than the phrase itself. Though the former was foolish. Katiya was to be a queen. Of course she would be as well briefed on the foreigners visiting her court.

"Who is your father?" Irina asked, eyes bright again.

"Henri Matin. He's the Maistre of—"

"The Rookery," Irina said, clapping her hands. "I know who he is." She glanced down at Chloe's hands. "You do not wear a wedding ring, Lieutenant. But you are not Lieutenant Matin?"

Ah. This was a question she had expected. She'd stopped wearing her ring after her first year in Anglion. Her widowhood was, by then, accepted in Kingswell, and she'd hated the reminder of Charl greeting her every time she glimpsed it. But Irina's query, as genuine and lacking malice as it seemed to be, still caused a pang. "My husband died," she said gently. "A long time ago."

She risked a glance at Katiya, wondering how thorough her briefing had been. She would have been a child when Charl was executed, and though it had been a scandal in Illvya, she wondered if it had been news in the farthest reaches of the empire. The Andalyssians would still have been dealing with the repercussions of the Ashmeister Elannon's plot, so maybe they wouldn’t have been focused on the ins and outs of what was happening in Lumia.

"Have you not returned to your father's house, then?" Irina asked.

Chloe lifted a brow in query at Katiya.

"Childless women who lose their husbands sometimes choose to rejoin their own families," Katiya said. "Take back their old name." She looked at her sister. "I don't think it works the same way in Illvya, Irina."

"Not exactly," Chloe agreed. "Sometimes women might change their name back if they get divorced, but most widows don’t." She didn't think muddying the waters by explaining that she actually was living with her parents again, made much sense. And she'd noted that Irina had assumed she must not have children to be a member of the army. So she might chafe against the balance, but Chloe needed to remember that Andalyssia was not Anglion. She wanted to ask more about the seers, but it didn't seem to be quite the moment.

"So you went to the Academe in Lumia?" Irina asked.

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