Page 36 of A Reign of Embers

Since it’s the smallest, I crack it open first after I settle into my chair. I page through cramped print detailing the system of governance across the old duchies and the rules of inheritance, scanning for anything more relevant.

Then I turn another page and find myself looking at rows of whorled lines like orderly abstract art.

I peer closer. It’s a code—laid out efficiently for theofficials the author obviously expected might need to use it. A method of conveying messages that no one outside the Rionian governing bodies should be able to recognize.

As my hand lingers on the page, my mother’s voice drifts up through my mind.This is still a war, even if they want to pretend we’re at peace. And we have to make use of every resource at our disposal.

My pulse kicks up a notch, but at the same time, queasiness grips my gut.

I can also remember, ever so clearly, the sadness and resignation on my mother’s face and in her voice when I tried to tell her to have faith in Aurelia. Her melancholy dismissal of my comments as the result of my soft heart.

“Did you find something useful?”

My heart outright skips a beat at the sudden voice, even though I recognize it in the same moment.

I raise my head. Bastien has come up by the nearest bookcase, peering at the volume in my hand and the others stacked next to my chair. I was so lost in thought I didn’t hear the prince of Cotea approaching.

Maybe, I convey with a twitch of my hand, and switch to speaking through illusions.“I might have found a method to convey a message to my mother from a distance without any risk of the Darium forces in Rione stumbling on it. It occurred to me… maybe we should be reaching out to our home kingdoms. They have more to gain than anyone if Aurelia can hold on to the throne.”

Bastien lets out a soft huff of breath. “They do. But it’d be a tricky thing, letting them know that without the military and the governors catching on to her full intentions before she’s in a position to carry them out.”

“Yes. This could help solve that problem. But I don’t know if I can solve the problem of getting my family to listen to my advice once I give it to them.”

Bastien grimaces. “I suspect we’d all have a struggle there.”

The doubt that shadows his face at my words sends a sharper spike of nausea through my abdomen. A surge of defiance carries me above the wobbles of my own self-doubt.

Why should we cringe at the thought of facing our families? We’ve done more to improve the empire than they ever have.

We’ve gotten an empress who’ll free us all onto the throne, protected her, championed her. We’re fighting to support her cause even now. At her side, we’ve overturned two emperors and convinced so much of the empire to admire a woman who isn’t even of the imperial line.

We can’t shy from a challenge now, no matter how personal or difficult it is.

“We have to try,”I say, putting all the conviction I can into my words.“Open the lines of communication, prepare them for what might come and encourage them to see what’s possible. We owe it to Aurelia to win as many allies as we can from outside this country while she’s working on Dariu.”

My foster brother’s stance straightens to match my tone. “You’re right. Of course you’re right. I don’t have any secret codes myself… Perhaps I should go digging in the Cotean shelves. But you can at least make a start of it.”

“There’s only the question of how to send the coded message. If I convey it by regular means, some Darium authority will check it before it gets into my mother’s hands—and question why anyone from the palace is sending a letter so secretive.”

Bastien’s eyes go distant with thought. “When we were in Accasy, one of the baronissas—I think it was Hivette?—mentioned something about a gift for sending messages by magical means.”

A smile crosses my lips for the first time since I discovered the code. I set out today to bring the city ofVivencia together for a common celebration… but I may be on my way to uniting this entire half of the continent.

“Let’s discuss it with Aurelia tonight and see what the baronissa can do for us.”

Chapter Fourteen

Aurelia

“We’re supposed to do what with all this fabric?” one of the marchions asks, grasping the edge of the vast swath of orange silk as if he’s afraid it might smother him.

On my temporary platform in the midst of Vivencia’s largest city square, I adjust Coraya against my bosom. Motioning to all the gathered figures with my free hand, I summon the explanation Lorenzo gave me.

“You can see the path marked with paint on the cobblestones. The parents’ job is to guide all the children through the channels until they reach the end. Lift it or sway it or whatever else you need to do to direct them the right way and help them through the obstacles.”

One of the girls poised at the start of thefunnel game claps her hands, her eyes sparkling as she watches the fabric already shifting ahead of her. “This is going to be fun!”

The adults lined all along the pathway that winds through the square look less certain. The nobles, despite the encouragement I’ve given in the few earlier activities, have mostly grouped together apart from the commoner parents. The commoners watch them with a mix of awe and wariness.

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