«Two golds,» I say. «I offer two golds.»

«You're bidding too, Duchess Kyre?» the Empress states. «What a surprise...»

She has just offered a single gold for a painting worth a thousand of them. I won't let her ruin my auction just because the rest of the court is afraid of battling with her.

I'll be the one buying the portrait if no one else wants it.

It won't be that hard to repay myself. I just have to make sure that the percentage I'm setting aside for my Duke is covered by all the rest I raised today. Which is very much.

I didn't negotiate the percentage yet, so I might even decrease it by a point or two. My hubby won't be displeased.

«Why shouldn't I bid?» I utter, raising my shoulders. «The painting isn't mine yet. I've just brought it here, and this one is among my favourites. I'd like to have one for myself, after all.»

«You can ask your mysterious painter to make another one,» she replies, her eyelashes hiding her pupils with their shadow. «I'm sure it's easier than this.»

«It's the fun of bidding. And every work of an artist is a piece on its own. It can't be repeated, not with the same, unique emotion...»

«Oh, you're so sensitive to art.»

I bow my head with a shy smile, pretending to be pleased by her majesty's praise.

«Some of us are.»

She observes me. For a moment, I believe she'll let go and allow us to continue the auction. Still, she's not here just to look at the show. She's here to make a spectacle or reveal to the court where my place is.

Or both, whatever.

«Three golds,» she exclaims. Her smile is challenging yet dignified, the perfect expression of a wise, knowledgeable regnant.

«Ten!» I reply. It will take us forever to reach an acceptable price if we raise one gold at a time.

In the end, money is money.

I'll surrender after reaching a hundred and something golds; as soon as I sense her majesty is losing interest. With all the money in the treasure, she sure can afford so much for a painting. And the time Alexander used to make it wasn't more than an afternoon. He won't be disappointed by the return.

«Fifty,» she says.

Oh, Empresses do not know the value of money. They do not treasure it as much as the rest of the people that don't have their every need fulfilled by magical, invisible hands. I bet she's never seen a coin in her life, and she probably doesn't know how much one can buy with fifty golds.

«Sixty,» I say. It's better to avoid challenging her in the open by doubling her sum. I'll just raise about ten to twenty per cent. Enough to avoid people thinking I'm playing with her, but not as much as to make it look like I squander my husband's money.

There wouldn't be any real transaction in this case, but people do not know it.

Sixty is already enough for a non-commissioned painting. Just a few minutes more, and I'll let her majesty win.

«Seventy.»

«Eighty.»

The Empress observes me in the eyes, trying to find any clue of a bluff. She almost relaunches to a hundred, but then she changes her mind.

Maybe, she sensed that I'm just raising the stakes to make more money.

«It's not worth more than that,» she exclaims in the end. «If you mysterious painter was someone I approved of, working in the Palace for me, I might have spent more. But for this... I'm not that interested in a nameless painting.»

«Thank you for letting me have it, your majesty,» I say.

It's better to make her feel as if she was the one allowing me to win, rather than pointing out her early surrender.

«It will be a perfect decoration for my lodgings.»

She snorts, rolling her eyes in an expression that loses its elegance and royalty for a second. An annoyed grimace.

«Anyone offer more?» the Princess inquires, looking in the room.

As no one moves a muscle, she declares me as the winner of the painting and instructs the other ladies how to get their pieces after paying the price.

Then, she returns next to me and sits down in between my chair and the Empress's. The latter is still surrounded by her delegation.

The rest of the hall is becoming deserted as my guests are leaving one after the other.

«We will organise another auction in the future. Hopefully, your majesty will visit that time as well,» Princess Lyland says. «There were many paintings at the start... If only your majesty arrived earlier, I'm sure there would have been another one that would catch your attention.»

Oh, this child loves to make trouble.

«What about you, Duchess? Have you bought many paintings?» the Empress says, ignoring the Princess's provocation. «Someone as in love with art as you must have spent quite a lot today.»

«Actually, I've bought the only one that caught my eye so much that I couldn't resist. The others were only pretty; this one is beautiful.»

«Is that so?»

I nod, hoping it's the end of this conversation. I'd like to retreat to my room and admire the good I've just bought from myself.

«You two have been together for a few days, but the court is already full of stories about your friendship,» the Empress comments. «I'm here to advise you to keep your head low and not attract more attention than necessary. You might be related to a contender to the throne, but Duke Kyre won't sit on the sacred chair unless it's the end of the world. He would have already been there if he had a single chance.»

I refrain from chuckling, remembering how the late Emperor's death was suspiciously close to Alexander's naming as his successor. This one has always been involved, but she didn't consider the young Emperor as a candidate. Such a newbie mistake.

«My Duke won't sit on the throne because we already have his majesty, the Emperor,» I reply. «I pray every evening for his majesty's health and strength. Our Empire will prosper even more under his guidance!»

She snorts, annoyed. Yet, she can't say anything without sounding dangerously close to treason.

«Indeed,» she mutters in the end. «That is precisely what I was referring to.»

With her delegation as a witness, she tried making me sound like a rebel. Too bad I'm not that easy to manipulate.

The Princess is young; her patience is low and lasts short. She might say something that would sound off, but her position is steady enough to let everyone overlook it.

I am not like her, but at least I have some experience in handling people.

Instead of acknowledging that staying here and trying to trick me is useless, the Empress curls her lips upwards. Her eyes are cunning, her hands tremble with excitement.

«We'll see if you'll say the same thing,» she whispers, «when his majesty asks you.»

That said, she gets up. The Princess and I follow her and curtsey when she leaves the room. Only after, we look at each other and burst out laughing.

«I wasn't expecting her to come out of her cave. Her public appearances are getting frequent, by the way,» the Princess comments. «At this rate, she'll return to behave like the reigning Empress by the end of the year.»

«Does her majesty have any influence over his majesty, the Emperor?» I inquire, asking the only person that has enough information and courage to answer.

«Not at all. But she has tried to be named Empress Regent for months. After failing the seventh attempt, she retreated from public life for a while.»

«And now, she's back in attack.»

«You think so?» the Princess asks. «She came here as if it was all hers, pretending to have a precious painting for a single gold! She can afford way more than this, but she thought that... Ah, I'm glad you challenged her, sister. And that you won, of course. It's better than letting her command us at our own party.»

«Money is not an issue.»

«It is if you think about the painter. This is his job: that woman shouldn't treat it like garbage.»

«It's good. Now that I won over her, the Dowager Empress won't forgive me this outrage. She will target me until one of us can't defend anymore.»

«Oh, damn it!» she murmurs, clenching her fists. «And what was it about her last sentence. She's planning to make some trouble in front of the Emperor!»

«Oh, yes,» I chuckle. «I already know what it is.»

The Princess raises her eyebrows, understanding the true meaning of my words.

«Your plan!» she says. «It's working...»

I move a finger on my lips, signalling to her to keep it a secret.

«You and my brother are scary together.»

I just shrug. I can't say that she is wrong, after all.