The Empire (The Lover's Opalus) by Grayson Reyes-Cole Page B

wished, not for the first time, she could scry his thoughts the way he divined hers.
    In a moment she felt him stroke her skin with his thumbs. In a tone softer and gentler than she had ever heard from her husband, even when he spoke to their daughter, Lanus asked, “Do you love me?”
    In truth, she did not know how to answer. In truth, Raeche did not know what love meant. So she asked her husband, the man to whom she had belonged all her life, “How can I tell?”
    “Do you love Rucha?”
    Without hesitation, the Empress assured him she did.
    “How do you know?”
    “It is different.”
    “Most assuredly,” Lanus said.
    “Do you love me?” Raeche asked.
    Lanus did not have an answer. He did, however, have a proposal. “Come with me to the West and South.”
    “To Whrennal?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why?”
    “So that we may have a time together as husband and wife. So that we can make ourselves ordinary and learn what we learn about our new situation.”
    “Our new situation?” Raeche crossed her arms over her chest. “You are doing this for Taritana, are you not?”
    “I am doing this for two reasons. The first is to determine whether we can truly coexist with one another without the Spirits of Violence and Lust riding us. The other is indeed out of guilt. Not often does that Spirit finds its way into the Empire.”
    “I have not met her sister.”
    “Ina is the Spirit of Gentility.”
    “So…not like her sister.”
    “Indeed.”
    “What will you do when you find that she has been mistreated by Praytor, because that is most certainly what you will find?”
    “Perhaps you will help me discern the answer, Empress.”
    Raeche raised an eyebrow.
     

 

 
    Chapter 13
     
    Tawny locks waved down her back, catching the light from the window, shining like the daystar on the edge of his sword. He had always loved the long trail of fine waves.
    Valor gave a little push of Spirit and watched her shoulders go up when she felt it. Taritana turned slowly and released a deep breath. She rubbed her hands over the tops of her arms, which were covered in a tight material. Tiny, almost imperceptible fibers rose from the material, indicating that it had come from the skin of the glabba bush, a rich material in that it was thin and light but kept the body warm. Her white dress conformed to her body down to her knees, where it flared wide. A simple winter dress for an important woman of the court, yet Taritana wore it as if it were fit for a coronation…or a bedchamber.
    She licked lips painted blood red, the stain probably left over from the celebration dinner. Valor considered not for the first time that she should not have looked so beautiful. Her features were handsome. Her skin was as white as the great daystar-scorched rib bones of the centuries-dead aurus.
    “What happened?” Valor asked, lightly touching her arm, sending a quick Spirit of Heat through her so that she dropped her hands.
    “I have never been good with heat,” she confessed shyly. Even when she blushed, her skin remained pale, not a blemish or even a fragile blue vein to betray that she was real.
    Valor prodded her again.
    “I discovered that my beloved Empire is peopled with fools.”
    Valor felt the side of his mouth quirk. “Tell me.”
    “The Empire chose to ride west and south to Whrennal.”
    “I know.” Valor nodded. “They were of a mind to get to know each other.”
    “After more rings of being in each other’s presence than not, they needed to get to know each other? Ludicrous.”
    “Tell me what happened.”
    “The Empire was not awarded its wish to be alone for this trip. Upon learning that they would travel with Rucha, the king and queen of Innov were honored to accompany the Empire with Eynow and the rest of their horde. As you are well aware, Rucha has not taken to Eynow. Which may not have mattered but that the family is long in the memory and favor of the Empire. Your brother and sister have ignored the Empire in favor of