Alexia leaned out over her balcony and took a slow, deep breath, letting the familiar fragrance of the palace gardens wash over her. It was good to be home.

The view here, from the parlor attached to her bedroom, was secluded. If she closed her eyes and listened, she could just catch voices from beyond the trees and flowering hedges so expertly arranged as to give her privacy without feeling closed in. Children in the gardens, a class taking advantage of the perfect afternoon weather. The Imperial City had been deep in winter while Alexia was away for Shadow Court, but now that she had returned to Terris, spring had swept through nearly overnight.

Tōru was here with her. His agents had removed Vivek’s body and cleaned the room. There had been more. Alexia only now realized he’d been silent for a long while, that possibly he’d asked her a question before and was still waiting for her answer. Except that she hadn’t been listening.

This would not do. Alexia glanced at him, one eyebrow lifted.

Tōru understood her signal and repeated his last question without forcing her to admit she hadn’t been paying attention. “How well does my Emperor know her history?”

She couldn’t even track how they’d gotten to this question. That was how far her mind had wandered. It was time to pull herself back together. Time to stop indulging and remember that she was the Emperor. “I’m not interested in playing rhetorical questions right now.”

Tōru was unfazed by her sharp response. “I looked it up. It’s been eight hundred and sixty-four years since an emperor died to violence.”

In fact, Alexia knew her history very well. “Eiji Midōri.”

“During the Swan and Griffon war.” Of course, Tōru wouldn’t let the opportunity pass to point out bad behavior on the part of the Swan. Even bad behavior that had happened far closer to the founding of the Empire than the present.

In those early days, the Empire had still been finding its feet. As had the Emperors. Midōri had, of all things, actually taken side with the Griffon, and her death on the field had been part of the reason the war had continued for another eighteen years.

Eiji Midōri also had the distinction of being the Emperor to rule the shortest time. She’d only been six months into her rule when she died. “Is there a point to this?”

“Only that Kosuri Vivek’s actions make no sense.”

“You think that hadn’t occurred to me?”

He didn’t answer.

Of course Tōru would be thinking about this. Possibly with even greater obsession than Alexia. Tōru was, as far as Alexia had seen, incapable of letting something go that he didn’t understand.

Which usually took a great deal of the burden off Alexia. She knew she didn’t have to keep worrying at the question. At least, not to the exclusion of all else. She could trust Tōru to pick up on the subtleties, to turn the question over and over in his mind till he found the correct angle of approach to the answer.

But this—she didn’t need Tōru to obsess over anything. She was safe. Vik was dead. It was over.

A soft knock on the door before Kristoph stepped in. He bowed to her and Tōru, then said, “It’s time.”

The barest tilt of Tōru's head was a question.

“I’m meeting with Marshal Miyōshi. I want to be certain our secrets are safe.”

“Ah.” A flutter of curiosity. “With my Emperor’s permission, I would attend this audience.”

This was definitely a change from the contempt and dismissal he’d directed at Yeijiro the last time. Which meant it was Alexia’s turn to angle her head in a wordless question.

Tōru responded with a shift of his shoulders. Nothing so gauche as a shrug, but indifference was communicated all the same. “He is, perhaps, more interesting than he at first appeared.”

“Is he? Or is this simply that he’s a Serpent who belongs to Roderich?”

Tōru's steady gaze, his absolute stillness would have fooled anyone else. But even Tōru, wrapped so tightly in his etheric gifts, couldn’t hide from Alexia. She’d scored a point. “This business between you and Roderich…”

“A game. Nothing more.”

“You know it only counts as a game if both sides know that they’re playing.” But this was one more problem than Alexia was prepared to deal with today. “Come with me if you like,” she said. “Your opinion is always valuable.” Alexia followed the words with a smile. One with steel behind it.

Because she was the Emperor, and she refused to give her brother the victory of one more moment of weakness.