Empress of Dorsa (The Chronicles of Dorsa)

17

Joslyn held her tongue the rest of the time they were in the gardens. She held it when the sun finally fell, and she, Tasia, the children, and Darien crossed back through the palace towards the royal wing.

She held her tongue as Tasia’s handmaids bustled about, helping their Empress change from her evening dress into her night clothes. She held it as Linna brought their evening tea and set it on the table in Tasia’s bedchamber by the window.

“Anything else tonight, Empress, Commander?” Linna inquired.

“No, Linna, thank you,” Tasia responded. “Sleep well.”

“And you, Empress,” Linna said, giving a deferential bow. She turned to Joslyn, a question in her eyes.

Joslyn nodded. “Training in the morning.”

Linna nodded and exited.

And at last it was just the two of them, sitting across from one another beside the half-opened window.

Joslyn thought of how she wanted to begin, testing each potential opening in her mind before discarding it again.

We know next to nothing about the Kingdom of Persopos,was the first opening she considered.

You’ve seen for yourself how the Order of Targhan fights. If our ordinary soldiers have to fight an entire division of them, we’ll be slaughtered – you along with them.

Then she thought she’d try something simpler, something like:

It is too dangerous

but she knew Tasia would reject that, so she thought of

Your place is here; send someone else

Yet Tasia had discarded that in the gardens already, so finally Joslyn arrived at:

How can you trust Mace to rule in your place? He is completely untested and as innocent as an apa-apa calf.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Tasia said.

“What am I thinking?” Joslyn stared into her teacup, avoiding Tasia’s perceptive green eyes.

“You’re trying to figure out how to talk me out of going, just like you were in the gardens earlier tonight. My mind’s made up, Joslyn. Mace will be well-suited to rule in my absence. If anything, there will be many who will prefer an Emperor to an Empress, anyway.” She paused. “And it’s like I said. I do not trust anyone else to end this war. I need to be there. I have to be there.”

“Tasia …”

But Tasia held up a finger. “No, don’t. I know that tone.”

“I haven’t said anything.”

“But I know what you were going to say.”

“First you know what I’m thinking, now you know what I’m going to say.” Joslyn said, looking up. It would be amusing, if the topic were not so serious. “So tell me. Tell me what I was going to say.”

“I’m sure it’s some variation of what we already discussed – that it’s too dangerous, that my place is here, that I am not a field general.” Tasia took a breath. “Alric will be with me; I know I can at least trust him. Between his mind and mine, we will find a way to defeat the Kingdom of Persopos, even if we have to invade it.”

“We barely know where to find the Kingdom on a map. Even the Wise Men know next to nothing about it.”

“I have thought of that problem already,” Tasia countered. “Which is why I sent Alric to the Shipper’s Quarter – well, sent his spies, anyway.”

Joslyn frowned. “To the Shipper’s Quarter? Why?”

“To find myself an Adessian sea captain,” Tasia said. “If anyone has laid eyes on the Kingdom in recent years, it will be an Adessian. The Adessians sail further afield than any in the Empire, and while the maps may not agree on exactly where the Kingdom is, the one thing they do agree upon is that it is situated on the other side of an ocean.” Tasia squared her shoulders. “Which is why I’m not marching my army east. It will give the mountain men and whomever might be helping them too much notice. I’m going by sea, which they won’t expect. And once I defeat the mountain men, I’ll sail on the Kingdom of Persopos. Hence the Adessian.”

“You are assuming you will still have an army after taking back the East,” Joslyn pointed out.

“I will.”

“How do you know?”

Tasia shrugged. “I must be victorious, and so I will be.”

Too many assumptions,Joslyn thought. Tasia might be a force of nature, but armies could not win using willpower alone.

“I’ve already spoken with Mace. He’s prepared to shepherd the Empire in my absence.”

Joslyn wiped a hand down her face. And there it was. Just as Joslyn had feared. Tasia had consulted with Mace about this scheme, but not with her.

Tasia watched Joslyn carefully. When Joslyn didn’t argue, she said, “Besides Mace, the Empire will have you while I’m gone. You will be here to protect the Emperor, and my sis–”

“No.”

“Joslyn, I need you here to–”

“Absolutely not. Where you go, I go.”

“I do not trust anyone else to protect them but you.”

Joslyn rose suddenly from her chair, turning away from Tasia and towards the window, as if something in the courtyard below had captured her interest. “The Empire, your sister – they just got you back. Now you want to leave them again?” In a voice that came out far smaller than she meant for it to, she added, “You want to leave me again?”

“No, Joslyn, of course not.”

Joslyn heard Tasia’s own chair scraping backwards and slippered footsteps behind her.

Tasia’s hand found Joslyn’s shoulder. “I want to be close to you. Always. But I need to know they are safe while I am away.”

Joslyn didn’t answer.

“What kind of ruler will I be if I stay safe behind the walls of my palace while a threat none of us – not even the Brotherhood – truly understands threatens the Empire?”

“A living ruler,” Joslyn said tersely.

Behind her, Tasia heaved a frustrated sigh. “Do you know what happens if I stay here, in Port Lorsin?”

“Yes.” Joslyn turned around, taking both of Tasia’s hands in her own. “You stay safe. You avoid the needless risk of being on a battlefront. You bring stability back to your court, your city. You give your people a reason to hope, a reason to believe that things can return to normal again. That is what happens if you stay.”

Tasia’s green eyes searched Joslyn’s face. “And I consummate my marriage with Mace, and let my belly grow heavy with a future prince or princess.”

Joslyn let go of Tasia’s hands. “Don’t. Don’t do that.”

“I’m not doing anything but telling you the truth,” Tasia said. “If I stay here, bearing a child – bearing children – will become the primary duty I am expected to perform, regardless of my father’s wishes for me to rule after him. That is what women are for in my family, Joslyn. They bear heirs.”

“How petty do you think me? Do you truly believe that you could talk me into your mad quest just because it will keep you from Mace’s bed a while longer?” Joslyn shook her head. “I’d rather see you pregnant with Mace’s child than have you returned to me in a box.”

“And why are you so quick to assume I will fail?” Tasia cocked her head. “I intend to gather one of the largest armies the Empire has ever seen. Is it the army’s skill you doubt, or is it mine?”

“You’ve seen for yourself what one assassin from the Order of Targhan can do,” Joslyn said. “How do you know your army will not face an entire battlefield of them, each imbued with a shadow that will make them as deadly as fifty men?”

“I do not intend to fight shadows,” Tasia countered. “We will not embark until every tenth soldier carries a rune-marked blade.”

Joslyn shook her head again and quoted her ku-sai: “False confidence kills swiftly.”

“Joslyn …” Tasia’s tone was part frustration, part tenderness. “My reign cannot really begin while shadows still loom over the Empire. The War in the East must end – it must finally, truly end. The mountain men must be pushed back to where they belong, and the threat coming from the Kingdom of Persopos must be defeated.”

“I do not disagree with you,” Joslyn said. “I just do not understand why you have to personally go East to end it.”

“If you do not understand, then you have not heard a word I’ve said!” Tasia snapped, exasperated. She stalked away, stopping where Joslyn’s black armor rested upon the upholstered bench at the foot of her bed. She traced the crest of the House of Dorsa embossed upon Joslyn’s brigandine with her index finger, then pushed the pile of armor aside so that she could sit down. “How long will it take the generals to send me a message from the Kingdom? Under the very best of conditions, it takes a set of couriers three weeks to travel from House Druet to Port Lorsin. How much more time will it take a message to come from the Kingdom of Persopos? Another two weeks?” She shook her head. “I cannot make decisions from afar, and I cannot trust enough generals to make them for me.”

“Trust Alric,” Joslyn said. “Let him be your eyes, but also your voice.”

“I do trust Alric. He has a brilliant mind for war, and the common soldiers are charmed by him. They love seeing a general of the Imperial Army who reminds them of themselves. I hope to have more like him one day – soldiers who rise through the ranks based upon merit rather than birth. But right now …” She sighed. “The highborn officers barely accept him as it is. If I send him to the East in command of my entire army, I am practically begging for a mutiny. The last thing I need is a coup on the other side of the continent that I am powerless to put down.”

“So send a highborn officer to work with him.” Joslyn’s mind spun through minds and faces. “Send Lord Simon. Or Lord Roland – or Mace himself.”

Tasia shook her head. “Simon has more poet than warrior in him. Given too much power, Roland could easily become another Lord Hermant one day. Mace has a talent for administration – managing supply chains, negotiating trade deals, keeping his underlings happy. But he has no talent for war. He’s said as much himself, and you know he’s right.” Tasia tilted her face up, searching Joslyn’s face once more. “My love, please tell me you understand why I have to do this. Please tell me you believe that I can.”