Page 29 of Oracle's Reign
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Yslie listened toPeroen recount everything he had learned from Sophenie. She had already heard it all, but had still wanted to come with him when he told Pianti and Qilar. There truly were too many possible futures to guess what would come next based on the other oracle’s visions, but it was obvious why Odela had found the visions useful. Picking through the more immediate possibilities was perfect for planning a long-term strategy to bring about what you wanted.
“She’s trying to pit humans against the magical races.” Pianti reached the same conclusion as Yslie and Peroen. “She wants the Assembly to split.”
“She probably told Father that a split would give him back his power,” Peroen agreed.
Pianti frowned. “It won’t. There are already factions within the Assembly and several of them fall along the human/magicalraces line. If the Assembly splits, I don’t think things would change that much so far as the practical business of making laws is concerned. The issue is that it reverses every attempt made since the empire was founded to become one people. The Assembly was supposed to be proof that we were finally making progress after the imperial family failed.”
“Which is exactly the argument Odela would use to dissolve the Assembly if she becomes empress.” Yslie pointed out. Pianti and Qilar looked at her as if she had uttered an earth-shattering prophecy, not a simple fact. Technically, it was a guess, but she had discussed the matter with Peroen and he agreed with her conclusions. Now he squeezed her hand, and she continued. “She doesn’t want Emperor Envaho to regain power, though she’ll tempt him with the possibility to secure his support and help. But she wants power for herself. This way, the crown remains ceremonial until she dons one herself. At which time, she starts talking about the old Imperial-Oracle Treaty and how it was meant to protect the magical races and make them feel safe under human rule. She points out how the Assembly has failed, that the division between humans and the magical races is wider than ever before. Then she reminds everyone that Peroen’s marriage to an oracle was meant to encapsulate how we are one people. If the Assembly can’t remember that, then maybe it is time for it to end, and for the imperial dynasty now infused with the blood of humans and the magical races to usher us into the future.”
Pianti and Qilar were silent for a moment. They exchanged a glance, then Qilar spoke for them both. “It is a good thing you aren’t Odela. I have a feeling you could make that ploy work even without forcing the Assembly to split first.”
“The question is,” Pianti continued, “what will she do now that it is obvious she won’t become empress?”
Peroen cursed. “I won’t marry her, but that’s not the only way for her to become empress.” He ran a hand over his head, fingers tangling in the tight curls. “Sophenie said she’d seen more possible futures in which Odela married my father than me.”
“What?” Pianti went pale. “Why didn’t you mention that when you told us the rest of what she had seen?”
“Because it wasn’t part of her report on what she had seen for Odela. She said it as an explanation of why she was talking to me—why she was convinced I would marry Yslie.”
Qilar cursed. “If she marries Envaho and bears a child, there’s a strong chance the Assembly would act to make that child the heir over you. A mixed blood imperial line is the entire point of you marrying an oracle—it would get them what they want a generation earlier.”
Everyone fell silent for a moment. Peroen was proof that a terrible parent—or parents—didn’t ensure a child would grow up to be the same. But the risk... no, it wasn’t even the risk that a child raised by Envaho and Odela would be another tyrant in the making that bothered Yslie. It was the knowledge that they’d never sit back and let the Assembly continue to gain power.
She didn’t want to become empress. Peroen didn’t want to become emperor. But the alternatives were far worse.
“I have to oust my father from the throne, don’t I?” It was a question, but everyone could tell Peroen already knew the answer.
“If you act now, before Odela offers an alternative, the Assembly will be on your side,” Pianti said with uncharacteristic gentleness.
Peroen exhaled slowly. “But the court won’t.”
“So we find a reason for the Assembly to force an abdication. It’s a topic discussed any time more than two members meet behind closed doors.” Pianti shifted back into brisk efficiency.She was once more in her element, as if the topic wasn’t borderline treasonous. Then again, she had taken an active role in the revolution. As long as her side won, it wasn’t treason. “We’ve assumed it would take a few years to establish the Assembly’s power securely enough to succeed in requiring an abdication. We’ll just have to work faster, find strong enough grounds for such an act, before Odela can ruin everything. The courtiers still won’t like you, but they won’t be able to blame you.”
Yslie did her best to emulate Pianti’s careless confidence. She and Peroen had already stymied several attempts to get the Assembly to vote on choosing Peroen’s wife for him. They could do this too. They would do this.
