Even had Mydea not known that the Imperial City now floated within the Everbloom’s domain, the pleasant weather during winter was telling in and of itself. It was said that the magic which kept the region’s perpetual summer was a remnant of the rituals that doomed Old Ilyos in the end, though the House Eminent Morgraine vehemently denied it.

Thus, while Mydea’s family had to bear the bite of winter, she took Snowscorn to bask beneath the warm breath of summer. One of Aelisium’s lesser clouds was a lush landscape with gently sloping hills perfect for riding. Mydea patted her steed as Snowscorn stretched her wings out. The stablemaster had said she was getting antsy from being cooped up. In the full week since she’d arrived at Aelisium, she had not had the chance to take Snowscorn out to fly before today, to her great regret.

“Down girl,” Mydea said gently as she tightened her legs, and Snowscorn obediently glided down onto a hill where her maidservants—and Tomas, surprisingly enough—waited.

Khloe stepped forward as soon as Mydea landed with a luscious golden apple native to the Everbloom. She had just finished serving out her sentence as a scullery made as of last night, and seemed eager not to repeat the experience.

Mydea accepted the proffered Hesperides apple when she saw it was without blemish, and fed it to Snowscorn, who was only too happy to accept.

A city as large as Aelisium constantly needed goods and grains, and so the stewards of the Empress took every opportunity to stock up. Lady Lara had recently procured a few of these apples especially for her, or rather, for Snowscorn. Her interest in Kolchis’ pegasi was plain enough for Mydea to see.

“What brings you here?” Mydea finally asked Tomas.

“Polyhystor Jorge sent word to the Seraglio,” Tomas said. “That diviner of foreign scripts you were asking for has some time to spare today, before the Empress holds court.” The daughter of the House Nominal Twigstone, the last of Prince Jaeson’s suitors, had arrived early this morning at long last.

“If he sent word to me, how is it that I’m hearing about this from you and not from my maid?” Mydea asked. She had purposefully left Ida to receive any messages that might be sent to her room. While the maid was a spy for Princess Lille, the posting was fairly benign. No one would pass along a truly sensitive message to a mere maidservant, and especially not one who did not have the privilege of wearing their mistress’ livery.

Having her comings and goings reported on was not ideal, but that could hardly be kept from Ida in the first place. At least, not without making it obvious she was suspected of subterfuge. If that were to happen, the princess would find some means of adding new eyes to her retinue if she insisted on pursuing Mydea’s affairs.

No, better to keep the fact that she knew from the princess and reveal that card only when there was benefit to be gained.

“I thought it courteous to tell you myself and spare her some trouble,” Tomas said.

A small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. “A prince’s valet doing the duty of a maidservant? Don’t tell me you fancy her now.” She made a show of gasping. “Just think of the scandal it would cause.”

“Why are you so sure it’s the maid I like,” Tomas japed, smiling back at her.

“It would be the height of impropriety for a servant to steal away their master’s candidate bride before he’s even seen her,” Mydea said. She assessed him up and down. “Then again, you’re not a very proper valet either.”

He gave her a look of mock shock. “Everything I have done is in line with Prince Jaeson’s interest. You cannot ask for a better valet.”

She rolled her eyes and turned to Troia. “Go invite the diviner to meet in my room.”

Troia nodded, and handed over the copper key to Mydea’s trunk which she held in trust. Mydea slipped it into the purse of sabertooth fur tied to her waist.

“Her name is Hystor Kait,” Tomas provided helpfully. “You can ask for her at the Archive.”

“Not the Imperial Athenaeum?” Mydea asked.

“She’s always struck me as more a scholar than a teacher,” Tomas said.

Mydea bobbed her head. “I must offer you my thanks then for all the help so far,” she said. “Really, you did not have to come here by yourself just to deliver a message. It is not some great secret that I am seeking out a specialist in foreign scripts, and I can scarcely imagine that news is of interest to anyone.” Now the contents which the strange script obscured was another matter entirely.

They walked over to the stables and Mydea personally settled Snowscorn in. “Be good for me,” she said to the pegasus, rubbing her head.

Snowscorn neighed.

“I’ll withhold your apples otherwise,” Mydea said.

Snowscorn neighed pitifully, then shrunk back into her stall.

As she turned back, Tomas had not yet left, which gave her pause. When they reached her carriage, he was still by her side. “Was there something else perchance?” she asked, facing him.

“Are you really not going to invite me to go with you?”

“My, how forward of you,” Mydea said as she flung the door open and stepped inside her carriage. “Do you ask many ladies to invite you into their rooms, or am I special?”

He flashed her a dazzling white smile. “If I say you are special, will you permit me to go with you? I’m not beneath setting aside my pride to get what I want.”

She snorted, but did not shut the door in his face. “Are you using me as a shield against Prince Jaeson’s other suitors again?”

“A man can only be asked the same questions so many times before going mad,” Tomas said, taking that as a sign to enter after her. “If I have to recite the recipe of Prince Jaeson’s favorite peach pie one more time, I may well murder someone.”

“You do realize I reside within the Seraglio, where the very people you wish to avoid also spend most of their days,” Mydea said as the coachman activated the enchantments, causing the carriage to shudder before lurching forward without need of a steed to pull it.

“There is no place in the Imperial City where they cannot find me,” Tomas grumbled. “I suspect someone’s put a tracking spell on me. Maybe the girl from House Greenglade? It’s a signature of theirs I hear.”

“I will allow you to accompany me only to my door then,” Mydea said. “What about Vivyan Black? She’s not the type to ask about food.”

“Vivyan’s exhausting in an entirely different way,” Tomas said with a heavy sigh. “Persistent to a fault when it involves eminent domain. I doubt she’ll stop hounding me until she wins a game off of me.” That much was to be expected. She had that wager with Lady Miryam after all, and losing would put a drastic end to one’s marriage prospects. “You seem to be the only one that deters her these days. Did something happen between the two of you?”

“You speak as if we were cordial to begin with,” Mydea said.

“Definitely not that,” Tomas said with a grin. “Yet, she doesn’t seem the type to shy from crossing words with you, though she oft seemed to come out worse for it.”

Come to think of it, Vivyan had made herself scarce to her ever since Mydea threatened to drag her name through the mud right before her tea party. To go so far over the mere threat meant Vivyan really wished to marry the prince then, for the threat only had as much power as Vivyan let it have over herself.

“If Lady Black wishes to avoid me, then it suits me just fine.”

“What a coincidence. That suits me just fine as well,” Tomas said. “It is good that our interests align.”

She was being used as a ward, and while she may have extracted a price from him for the service, she was not an ingrate. He had done her favors too in these past few days, agreeing to meet with Vivyan and attending her gathering. Perhaps he really did have some affection for her, but she could hardly imagine that the valet of an absent prince did not realize the risks he was taking by associating with someone hated by Prince Jaeson’s paternal vassals.

“If I recall, your brother Aspyrtus was a guest of the Empress for some time before you came,” Tomas said. “I ought to be thankful it is you and not him within Aelisium now, or I’d be left bereft of a most able defense.”

“Perhaps if I was the Lady External of House Kolchis and not my brother’s lady advocate, that would be the case,” Mydea said.

“How did that come to pass anyhow? As I understand it, the two of you are twins?” At Mydea’s nod, he continued, “Then how is it that your brother inherited the seat? Was he the older twin?”

“We Ilyosi do not favor the old over the young,” Mydea said. “My sister was but a babe when our mother passed away and a new head of house had to be chosen, so she was not considered at all. Nor was it merely a choice between my brother and I. Many of our uncles and aunts sought to lead, but our father defended our rights most vigorously.” There were graves as a testament to that.

In hindsight, perhaps it was not the wisest choice to insist that her or Aspyr rule. While not the sole cause of their hardships in the years following, having a child as a lord helped the matter none. History had shown that child lords could be the doom of houses.

Yet, Mydea could not begrudge her father his choices. They were not wise, but that he loved them was beyond question. That was not nothing.

“My mother was a gifted diviner,” Mydea continued. “And even the hystors could tell her she was nearing death. She had been preparing for it for a long time.”

“So it was your mother who chose your brother?” Tomas asked. “Not that I look down on him, but your mind seems more suited to the task. Besides that, a lady's children may never have their noble lineage doubted, but we cannot say the same for a lord's.”

“Not our mother. She left us a book of her teachings though. What she wished for most dearly was that we find a means of settling the matter among ourselves amicably and avoid kin strife.” Mydea stared out the window, eyes locked on the white spire with the hexagram rising in the distance. “We settled it with a contest during our first year in the Thalassian Athenaeum. ‘Let the worthiest rule’. We would adhere to the principle of Imperial Succession.”

“Imperial Succession tends to involve a lot more bloodshed,” Tomas said.

“Did Kolchis not bleed?” Mydea asked. “Were the lives of my uncles and aunts not a price to be paid? I may not have wielded the sword that struck, but it was for my sake. It left our line thin.” Branch members of the family would normally be the most trusted of advisors, holding positions within a lord’s court and leading his lances. That such dark deeds had been done meant even their surviving cousins could not be counted on anymore.

Tomas tilted his head. “My apologies. It was not right of me to make light of their deaths.”

“Why the sudden interest?” she asked as the carriage passed through the golden gates of the Seraglio without need for inspection from the Starguard—those knights and mages tasked with protecting the Empress and her palaces. “Does it keep you up at night, knowing you might have been friends with the head of a house external instead of the sister of one?”

“Prince Jaeson considers the Empire’s security his foremost priority,” Tomas said. “Kolchis is an important house to the defense along the Aigean Range, and deserves his attention.”

Ah, Mydea thought. That must be why Tomas was in Aigis at all. Otherwise, why would a distant house have the honor of hosting a prince’s valet? As for the reason behind the reason, perhaps he sought support from places beyond just his father’s family? The houses external of the Empire boasted the largest retinues and musters after the houses eminent.

“Has Kolchis been deemed adequate?” Mydea asked testingly.

“There is much to be desired in the current state of things,” Tomas said as he stepped out of the carriage and held out a hand for her. “But I foresee improvement.”

“Your words honor my house,” Mydea said as she accepted his hand.

Into the belly of the beast they went.