While he appreciated their concern and protectiveness, they were missing the big picture. This wasn’t the usual grunt soldier sent for Rayne. This was someone who worked directly for the emperor.
Rising with as much grace and dignity as he could muster, Rayne placed a hand on Eno’s shoulder and then moved it to Drayce’s, urging them to return to their seats on the cots. “It’s okay. I think someone just wants to talk.” Eno furrowed his brow at him and Rayne smiled. “A chess piece has moved.”
And Rayne was very interested in seeing where this led.
He followed the soldier in the pristine black-and-gold uniform, who paused only long enough to cut the binding on his wrists. The guard’s appearance really wasn’t that different from the others, except for the extra eagle patches on the sleeves as well as the blood-red strike that ran down the seam of the pants. This person was either a personal guard of the emperor or a member of the elite team that protected those who were closest to the emperor. The best equivalent in his world was the Royal Guard of Stormbreak Point.
On the other side of the encampment, he was brought to an enormous tent that was surrounded by the same elite soldiers. The guard who’d been sent to fetch Rayne held open one of the flaps and motioned for Rayne to enter.
He stepped inside and almost sighed with relief at the sudden coolness that greeted him. He squinted against the darkness of the tent to find that the edges of the large main room were lined with servants who were gently waving fans, stirring a continuous breeze through the tent and lowering the temperature.
The tent was actually more of a luxurious cabin with a wood floor covered with thick, ornate rugs. Candlelight flickered inside of colorful globes of crackled glass, casting the room in a rainbow of colors.
As he moved farther into the tent, he found himself in a room similar to a parlor with an elegant sofa and claw-footed chairs covered in beautiful gold silk demask fabric. It was hard to believe he was still standing in the middle of the Ordas when everything about this place reminded him of stepping into the palatial rooms of some foreign dignitary.
Or maybe just the emperor of New Rosanthe.
Sitting in the center of the sofa was an incredibly thin old man with snow-white hair that barely covered his spotted head. Wrinkles deeply lined his lean, hard face. Everything about Emperor Naram Suen was sharp and birdlike—from his beakish, hooked nose to the claw-shaped hand that clutched the porcelain teacup in front of him. He seemed impossibly old. It was a wonder he’d made it this far into the Ordas without dying.
Straightening his shoulders and lifting his head, Rayne strode the last few feet to the sitting area, walking with the same authority and confidence he used every time he was faced with a foreign power or even meeting with Queen Amara. It didn’t matter that his clothes were filthy, his hair was a mess, or that he smelled horribly. He was a representative of the crown of Erya, and he was fighting for the survival of Thia.
As Rayne drew closer to the old man, he noted that there were at least half a dozen guards also tucked away among the servants, their hands surreptitiously holding guns and ready to cut him down if he so much as twitched the wrong way.
“Emperor Naram Suen,” Rayne greeted. With his hands pressed to his sides, he offered the emperor a modest bow. Respectful but far from subservient.
The emperor placed his teacup on the saucer with a soft click and sat back against the cushions of the sofa with a sigh. “Lord Rayne Laurent, I presume.”
Rayne straightened and kept his eyes locked on a point just past the emperor’s narrow shoulder. “That is correct, Your Majesty.”
“This is our first meeting, isn’t it? But you’ve served the Talos family for at least a decade now.”
“True, Your Majesty,” he replied while his mind scrambled to figure out where this conversation was going.
“Then I believe we are overdue for a chat. Especially since I’ve heard that you are now the dauphin for His Majesty, King Caelan Talos.”
Rayne’s heart skipped a beat while he fought to keep his surprise from showing. That was information they had carefully guarded. How had the emperor discovered it? There had to be a leak somewhere within Stormbreak. The second he was home, he was setting the Gray Fox loose to root out the source of their leak. Spies and leaks were a constant problem that needed attention, and the Gray Fox was very good at plugging leaks.
The bigger problem now was that Emperor Suen knew that he possessed both the leader of Erya as well as his heir. This was very bad.