Empress of Dorsa (The Chronicles of Dorsa)

“And I know we just got through the executions and the coronation and none of us want to think about it, but there is the business of the royal wedding at week’s end,” Joslyn went on. “We will need a bigger guard for that, obviously. Besides the Empress and the Emperor-to-be, we’ll have highborn families from around the Four Realms pouring into the city this week.”

Alric nodded. “It’s already started. Me eyes in the city have reported we already got most o’ the Capital Lands nobles in the city. Others’ll be here by sundown today.”

“Talk to the highborn. Find out what men-at-arms they’ve brought with them, if any, as they come in,” Joslyn said to Alric. “We might need to assign temporary guard roles to them, because the city guard and the palace guard are already stretched thin. And Brick, I need you to speak with your night guard, find volunteers who can work both the day and the night shift for the wedding.”

“I will,” Brick said, “but some of ’em have already been pulling double-duty. Ain’t sure they’ll be happy ’bout it.”

“Tell them if they volunteer, they’ll be paid a time and a half for the day shift,” Joslyn said, even though she knew Wise Man Burrent, the palace treasurer and Tasia’s primary finance advisor, would purse his fussy lips when he heard Joslyn had been wantonly promising extra pay without checking with him first. “If they have to be conscripted, they get only normal pay. I’ll say the same to the day shift, as we’ll be needing more men at night, too.”

“As you say, Commander,” Brick said.

Joslyn glanced at the candle clock mounted to the wall behind Brick’s head. “I should be off,” she said, pushing off from the wall. “The Empress will be heading to her office for the morning meeting soon.”

“Hold there, Joz,” Alric said. “What news from the East? Does the Empress still plan on retaking the lands the false Regent ceded to the tribesmen?”

“The palace kitchen is not the place to have that conversation, General Alric,” Joslyn said pointedly.

“Aye, true ’nuff, but the Empress made me a general and her spy chief, didn’ she?” Alric said. He spread his hands, indicating the bustling kitchen. “Yet here’s me, sitting at a servant’s table in the basement, while you hurry off to her offices upstairs.”

“She hasn’t forgotten you, Alric,” Joslyn said. “But the Empress is mindful of how many new faces she’s brought into her father’s office already, especially given the situation with the Brotherhood.” She lowered her voice. “You heard what I said earlier – we’re months away from having enough rune-marked blades for the Imperial Army, which puts us months away from military action. When it comes to planning that action, she’s going to ask for your help, I promise. It just might not be in her offices.”

Alric grunted, still not satisfied.

Joslyn sighed. She bent closer, lowered her voice even more. “Put your mind to what an invasion of the East might look like if it came by sea instead of by land. I will say no more.”

Alric’s eyebrows shot up. The Emperor’s Road was the way Imperial forces had made their way from the Capital Lands to the East for nearly the entirety of the War in the East. Despite the Great Desert lying between Port Lorsin and the East, the route was well-traveled, well-stocked, and generally considered safer than traveling through the Adessian Sea.

“Is it me lack of sleep, or did ye just say by sea?” Brick asked.

“Keep your voice down,” Joslyn hissed. She straightened. “Enjoy what remains of your breakfast, gentlemen. And Brick, give Martha and the children my regards. I must go; the Empress will be waiting.”