Page 24 of The Exile's Curse

The emperor tilted his head. "When I was a child and my father was emperor, there was a man at court who had been there since my grandfather's time. A former Lord of the Faithless Isles. My grandfather brought him to Illvya when he conquered the Isles. One of the hostages, I suppose. Though those conditions were eventually revoked, I believe. I asked him once why he did not return home, and he said to me that exiles sometimes live under a curse of a kind. When I asked what kind of curse, and could a mage not fix it for him, he laughed at me. Not many people dared to laugh at me in those days. Not the young crown prince." He smiled somewhat ruefully. "When he stopped laughing, he told me the curse was not a magical one, just one imposed by life itself. And that the home he dreamed of, after so much time, lived only in his head. And that, if he returned, he was afraid he would lose even that, if he found his home had changed completely in the years he had spent in Lumia. Which it may well have done."

Chloe sat very still, an unwelcome prickle of recognition stinging her eyes. No. She would not cry in front of the emperor. She was here to convince him she was capable and worthy of serving him, not to garner sympathy. She swallowed and said, "I imagine it would, Your Imperial Majesty."

He nodded. "Yes. And I imagine you may have found some degree of change here. Enough to be unsettling."

His tone wasn't quite a question, but she found herself nodding anyway.

Damn the man, he was charismatic, if nothing else. But an emperor who couldn't learn to charm and convince people to do his bidding probably didn't last long. And Aristides had been emperor for twenty-odd years.

"Things are different," she admitted. "I am different, too. I cannot slot neatly back into life here. The life I left—" She stopped then, fearing she was straying into dangerous waters. "Well, I have to make a new life for myself. See who I will become. And besides, I have traveled little in the last ten years. Your empire is large, Your Imperial Majesty. I always wanted to see something of it."

He smiled over his teacup. "I can sympathize with that urge. I spend too much time in Illvya these days."

The emperor's family had cemented their control of the continent two generations ago. The wars were largely over and the empire ran smoothly, barring the odd snarl here and there.

Aristides ruled mostly through governors and ambassadors who represented him and operated alongside the governmental structures of the individual countries, be that nobility or clans or whatever system of rule they favored.

There were only a few places, like the Faithless Isles, where the existing governmental structures had been removed completely. Places where the wars for territory had been vicious and the treaties severe. But even those were mostly peaceful now. The diplomatic corps represented the emperor when necessary, and he seldom traveled far beyond Lumia’s borders. Select trips to the various reaches of the empire to be seen at intervals, but those were all pomp and ceremony, carefully planned and full of politics. A junior diplomat might have some freedom to explore a foreign land, but emperors didn't roam freely.

Not least because it put them in danger. Aristides was a target. He had been targeted here in Lumia and would be again. He would be targeted wherever he went.

"I do not wish to be chained to one place," she said. "Not so soon, anyway." Eventually she might want to settle down. She couldn't imagine getting married again. The young and eager Chloe who had said yes to Charl after a few short months seemed like a figure from a story, barely remembered. But a house of her own, work to do, friends, security. Those were all things she wanted.

But she couldn't settle with this itch under her skin, with this feeling that she didn't fit the old Chloe-shaped hole the city and her family wanted her to fill.

"I understand chains," he said. "I also understand responsibility. And duty."

She stiffened. Was he referring to Charl or merely to her family? "I would serve you well, Your Imperial Majesty."

"Ten years out of practice with your magic," he countered. "What makes you think you have the required skills?"

Another question she had anticipated. "I was near the top of my class at the Academe," she said. "And I have ten years of surviving in a country where most of my magic was taboo. Where I could have been put to death for using it. Where I arrived with very little. Yet I prospered. And rest assured, I did not completely abandon my powers in that time, Your Imperial Majesty. I believe I have every skill a diplomat requires. I know how to get along, how to learn a place fast, how to observe. How to be invisible when needed. And what magic I may have forgotten will come back quickly enough with a little study. I have access to excellent teachers. I am, after all, my father's daughter." She raised her chin.

Aristides nodded, then smiled. "Well argued." He considered her a moment. "Very well, Lady de Montesse. I will speak to General Vincent, and we will see what can be found for you."

She ignored his use of her title, too happy to be annoyed. She wanted to leap out of her seat and squeal with joy as she and Imogene might have when they'd been at school. But ten years in Anglion, watching her words and behavior near constantly to ensure she didn't make a fatal error, had taught her too well. She merely nodded with a smile and said, "Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty. I am most grateful."

He lifted his cup again, sipped, and put it down, dark eyes serious. "Of course, if you fail in whatever they set you to, I will not intervene on your behalf again. I do not second-guess my army."

She doubted that was true. At least not when push really came to shove. But she was not an empire-in-peril-level problem. When it came to her, he would, indeed, let her be shoved with no regret. "Of course, Your Imperial Majesty. I would expect no less."

The emperor worked even faster than Imogene. The invitation to attend the barracks and meet with representatives of the diplomatic corps came the next morning. Early. Before her father left for the Academe. His expression was sober as he handed her the envelope, his thumb rubbing over the unmistakable seal of the Imperial mages.

"Something to tell us?" he asked, glancing back over his shoulder toward the dining room where Ana was finishing her coffee whilst reading the morning's newsheet.

Chloe took the envelope, opened it neatly, scanned the paper within, then folded it all back up again and slipped it into the pocket of her skirt. She wasn't ready for her mother to know about this yet. But it seemed she was going to have to tell Henri. "I'm thinking of joining the mages," she said softly. She hadn't wanted to tell them until after her appointment with Aristides. Not until something actually came to fruition.

Henri was quiet a long moment. "Keen to leave us already?" His pale eyes were steady, but sadness lurked in their depths.

She sighed, heart twisting. "Papa, you know that’s not the case. But I have to make a life for myself again. This is something I always wanted to do, you know that. If...if what happened hadn't happened, I would have ended up trying to join the mages at some point." She and Charl had been frivolous and lighthearted for those first few years of their marriage, but she'd known deep down that she hadn't wanted children yet. She would have grown bored eventually, would have turned back to work and magic. But she hadn't had the chance. "Can’t you understand?"

He winced. "I do, darling. Your mother will be less easy. She has longed for you to be home."

"I am home. But that doesn't mean I can sit in the parlor doing embroidery all day. And I don't expect you and Mama to support me. I'm used to working. Used to making my own way. I need todosomething."

"What corps?" Henri asked.

"Diplomatic," she said. "It's what I always wanted to do, the same as Imogene."

---