Page 27 of Oracle's Reign
Pianti walked past them to the table in the corner of the courtyard. She poured herself a goblet of mango juice and settled on a cushion. “Maybe you should have come with us today. It certainly would have put to rest the rumors flying about.”
Peroen glanced between the women. “What rumors?”
Yslie led him toward the table. Better they were sitting before she explained.
Qilar entered the courtyard, a servant with a tray of food behind him. It took several minutes for the servant to unload the food onto the table, leave, and then for everyone to get settled.
Peroen didn’t reach for a plate. “Yslie? What rumors?”
She looked at her plate, a single golden pastry sitting on it. “That Brevin is seducing me away from you.”
“Was he there? I thought you were meeting with elemental sprites, not incubi.”
“It’s because of what everyone saw when he had Yslie look into his past,” Pianti clarified for her. “She was with you, but touched him. Of course they assume his lure proved too tempting for her.”
“Everyone kept their distance from me, afraid of my power, but the one time I actually used it, they assumed I was the one being magicked, not the other way around.” Yslie bit into her pastry with unnecessary savagery.
“The rumors will stall the next time you and Peroen make an appearance together,” Qilar assured her. “It is obvious to anyone who looks that you two are devoted to each other.”
Pianti sighed. “I suppose we will have to abandon all efforts to make it seem a rational, political alliance. Making it clear that Brevin hasn’t driven a wedge between you takes priority. Of course, it would have been nice to know before we arrived today what everyone was saying. Our efforts were practically useless with all focus on the rumors.”
Peroen suddenly straightened. “Your afternoon might not have netted any answers, but I had an interesting meeting with my father. That’s why I came down; I thought you’d want to hear what he said.”
Qilar raised a brow. “You mean you didn’t make yourself comfortable in our home just to wait for Yslie?”
“I only knocked on the door so I could leave a message that I was waiting at the cafe a few blocks away. Your servants are the ones who insisted I come in and make myself comfortable.” He slid an arm around Yslie’s waist. “And of course my real reason was Yslie. But that doesn’t change the fact that my father did summon me today.”
Leaning into him, Yslie nibbled at her food with a bit more decorum. The worries that had plagued her all afternoon disappeared. Peroen wasn’t bothered by the rumors. He trusted her.
“What did Envaho have to say?” Qilar prompted.
“He demanded I marry Odela.”
Yslie set down her pastry again as Peroen recounted his meeting with his father. The Assembly might have claimed mostof the governing power in the empire, but Emperor Envaho was still Peroen’s father. Yet, Peroen didn’t seem worried about his father dictating whom he married.
“He thinks the Assembly will fall apart,” Peroen concluded. “I don’t know if it is his own delusion or what Odela promised him, but that’s his motivation.”
“Maybe it is a good thing you weren’t with us this afternoon after all,” Pianti said.
Yslie tried to understand. “Because otherwise he wouldn’t have spoken to his father?”
Pianti shook her head. “No. I’m sure Envaho would have said his piece before long, no matter what. But Odela must be playing a deep game. If we let the rumors that Brevin has seduced you gain steam, then Peroen can pretend he believes them and turn to Odela for comfort. Maybe he can learn what she is up to that way.”
“No.” Yslie didn’t hesitate, the answer as natural as breathing.
“It would be a few days, maybe a week, of watching him with her, Yslie. Isn’t it worth it in the long run? You’d know it was an act.”
“It’s not about watching him flirt with Odela. If I’m going to marry Peroen, then I can’t be known as a woman who lets an incubus’s lure distract me. We have to show that we are partners from the beginning.”
“But—”
Qilar cut his wife off, laying his hand over hers on the table. “Some things should never be games, love.”
She looked up at him, and everything about her softened. “You’re right, of course.” She turned back to Yslie and Peroen. “You two will have to work harder to win over the humans, in that case. We need to figure out what Odela promised them so that we can see if you can make a better offer. Peroen, you don’tneed to flirt, but try to use your portrait sessions with her to learn something.”
???
“Why did weswitch times?”
