Page 73 of Stranger's Choice
Chapter 21
Sebin was outof time. More than what she had shared, Auraelie’s expression and urgency after scanning his future convinced him that he needed to hurry home. But he refused to leave without knowing Auraelie was free.
He had considered asking her to run away with him, but the risk of being caught was great. Besides, he didn’t think she would abandon the magical races of Pynth in a way that violated the treaty protecting them. He didn’t even know if she would abandon her people if she was free. If he asked her to go to Moial, he’d be the one tearing her away from everything she had known and throwing her into a world where she was the only one of her kind and didn’t speak the language. He’d be the reason she never saw her father again or met her sister, instead of the Emperor. He would rob her of her home, as the oracle in Opiesa had warned him not to do.
And she hadn’t mentioned anything about her presence in his future.
Even if his brother’s death meant that Sebin could no longer enjoy the life he had hoped to build with Auraelie, he refused to let it ruin her future. No matter how much she said he needed to hurry home, he would not leave while she was still bound to serve the Emperor.
He needed the rebels to approach the Emperor soon, and he needed the agreement to include Auraelie’s immediate and total freedom. Waiting for the Assembly to act was no longer an option. He would not leave and trust they would see Auraelie free without him.
Sebin arranged to meet Tjalik and Heolin in the underground room he had visited before. Because of the need for secrecy, it took longer than he wanted to make the arrangements, but Sebin did not waste the time. He approached the final few courtiers he thought might be sympathetic to his cause, letting Auraelie scan their futures first at her insistence. Once he spoke to the leader of the city’s rebels and the earth sprite, everything would be in place, ready to move.
He went down into the city with his emotions teetering back and forth. He was about to trigger a revolution that would wrest power from the Emperor, see the humans and magical races working together in a single government, and free Auraelie. After finishing his task, he’d then sail back home, where he’d never see Auraelie again.
Sebin knocked on the brick wall, and it parted immediately. He repeated the procedure on the inner wall and descended the stairs to where Tjalik and Heolin waited.
“We’re out of time,” he said without preamble. “I have to return to Moial soon. You have to approach the Emperor so that I can negotiate the deal within the week.”
Heolin crossed his arms. “We still haven’t figured out all our districts.”
“Then figure them out after you have the approval for an Assembly,” Sebin snapped.
Tjalik shook his head. “If we can’t agree, then the whole Assembly will fall apart. We won’t get another chance.”
Sebin stepped up to look at the map on the table. “Is the only stumbling block the city districts being taken from the incubi?”
“Yes,” Heolin answered. “The oracles will get Kalitalo. That is the only option, but the incubi refuse to give Reslin Harbor to the water sprites.”
Sebin’s eyes roved over the map and settled on the tiny dot labeled Opiesa. He remembered his visit to the oracle’s village. He remembered Timben’s assurance that Sebin would see them free of the treaty. No, wait. The prophecy Timben had shared hadn’t referenced the treaty directly. What had he said?
“‘Rulers in our own rights,’” Sebin whispered the words Timben had shared with him. That was it. That was the way to make ending the treaty a part of establishing the Assembly.
“You will not give the oracles Kalitalo,” he said to Heolin. “The incubi can keep it and give the water sprites the harbor.”
“The oracles will not cooperate if they don’t have a representative.”
“They don’t need a representative. When you confront the Emperor, not only are you going to demand an Assembly, you are going to have him nullify the treaty he has with the oracles. He will do it, because you are going to make him a better offer than having one oracle in imperial service every generation.”
Tjalik frowned. “What do you mean?”
“The oracles are going to become part of the imperial family. They won’t be servants to the Emperor, but advisors and relations. They won’t need a representative in the Assembly; the oracles will have an empress.”
Heolin slammed his hand down on the table, the sound echoing in the tiny room. “Absolutely not. You will not do that to Auraelie. The Emperor wouldn’t agree, anyway.”
Sebin met Heolin’s eyes. “Not Auraelie. That is why the Emperor will agree. The oracles will pick a woman to marry the Emperor’s heir. The imperial family will have mixed blood from that generation forward. You can even agree that an oracle marries into the family every few generations to maintain the connection and the bloodline’s power.”
Sebin thought about Auraelie. He thought about his sister, nearly married to a man more than twice her age. “But no one will ever be forced. The oracle chosen to marry into the imperial family has to be willing—and I want someone other than the oracles themselves determining that willingness. I don’t trust them.”
Heolin’s eyes went distant as he thought over Sebin’s words. Tjalik, on the other hand, glared at him. “You want to give the imperial family more power at the same time we try to put the power in the hands of the people? Who’s to say a future emperor won’t use those powers to regain all the authority given to the Assembly?”
“They won’t be oracles,” Sebin said slowly. “The imperial family has magical sensitivity in their bloodline. When the two mix, the power changes. They may sense important moments or have a feel for what choice to make to get a certain outcome, but they won’t see the future, not like genuine oracles.”
“It’s true.” Heolin refocused on his surroundings. “That’s why there are so few half oracles in the Emperor’s Will every generation. Too many humans are sensitives, or they would be if not for all the mixed bloodlines. The power they inherit because of the mixed blood is far more limited than an oracle’s.”
The earth sprite turned to face Sebin. “I think it will work. I need to confer with the others, but I think everyone will agree.”
Sebin let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. He looked over at the other man. “Tjalik, will the humans agree to this compromise?”
