The prince and princess joined the Council's meeting the next day. Anna was also among the company, having returned from her family visit. She and Ezer stood together, ready to present their tale.

"Councilman Ezer and I went on the world tour in the place of Her Majesty when she went on her quest to find the Fates." This was not news to anyone; they had all been a privy to that scheme to hide the Empress's absence. Anna continued, "It was on this tour that I came into contact with Xander."

"It was not Anna's fault, what happened. She did her best given the circumstances. We both did." Ezer defended his wife admirably.

"Xander attacked us on our journey without knowing who we were. That part was a bit of luck because he merely robbed us, although he took your original wedding ring, Your Majesty." Anna said with a look of deep remorse.

"As I have said before, do not worry about such trinkets. Your life is worth far more than silver and gold." Aurora comforted her. In truth, the gaudy ring was one selected by Cafer when she and Devrim were only pretending to be married, and she was glad that the jewelry was lost. She much preferred the simple golden ring on her finger that Devrim had used to propose.

"Thank you." Anna was truly grateful. She returned to her tale. "After Xander left us high and dry, we made our way to the nearest town for assistance. It was there we learned that the pirates had ravaged the town and abducted many of the women. Ezer reminded me that it was not our fight, but I could not let it go. I used my image, or rather the image of Her Majesty, to call forth the surrounding troops and navy to attack Xander and retrieve the stolen goods and people. We may also have employed some unorthodox methods and allies," Anna said quickly hoping no one would ask. "The end result was that Xander's ship went down, and we assumed he went down with it. Xander swore to take revenge on me, but since we believed he was dead, I did not think it a credible threat."

"Anna did not mean to put your life in danger, Your Majesty." Ezer's face was etched with concern.

Aurora held up her hand. "Do not fear, Councilman Ezer. Do you think I will repay her good acts with evil? I do not hold Anna at fault."

Ezer knew the Empress was fair, but he still heaved a sigh of relief at her pardon of his wife. He, like Devrim, often worried about the strong-headed woman by his side. "Thank you, Your Majesty," he said. Having finished their report for now, Ezer and Anna sat down at the table.

Previous rulers had allowed no one but the Council to be present during Council meetings, but Aurora had changed that policy beginning with Devrim and stretched it as the situation demanded. Because of this, Nurlan and Junayd were guarding the inside of the door instead of outside just now. The Empress called to the older soldier.

"Nurlan, I believe it is your turn to join the troops and look for anything out of the ordinary." Nurlan understood. He was supposed to look out for magical creatures. Even after the events on the balcony, most people had assumed there was just an unfortunate structural failure at the palace. Outside of those in the room, human's knowledge of magical creatures was merely from fairy tales.

"But who will guard you while I am away? If there is an imminent threat on your life, surely I should stay." Nurlan had been Aurora's personal guard ever since they returned from visiting the Fates. Junayd had been assigned to Devrim as they were better suited in temperament.

"You are going. My husband will take extra special care of me while you are gone." The couple exchanged a loving glance while Devrim squeezed Aurora's hand under the table. The Empress looked back at Nurlan. "Junayd went last time, and you two are the only soldiers I will trust in such matters."

"What matters are those?" Alaron asked. He was speaking out of turn again. This time the Empress was deep in thought and less inclined to answer.

"I will explain later," Aurora said quickly.

"But I want to know now," the boy was insistent.

"We will talk after the meeting," Devrim answered sternly.

"Don't get mad at me! It was a simple question."

"Without a simple answer." Aurora was struggling to remain calm. This was only the Council's second impression of the Prince in matters of state, and he had behaved inappropriately both times. "Please wait until we have finished our meeting."

Alaron started to argue but Mairwen touched his arm gently. Her pleading eyes stayed his naturally defiant nature. After a silent conversation, the prince grunted but otherwise remained quiet. The room was like a tomb as no one dared move.

No one except Nanny. "Any of you who haven't had a family squabble in a public place feel free to judge. You should have seen the time my cousin and I duked it out in a fountain. I won of course."

"That will do, Nanny," The Empress said evenly, though she was secretly glad that the woman had so expertly alleviated the awkwardness. Aurora returned to the task at hand. "Nurlan, you will leave day after tomorrow. Look over Brinn's report beforehand and run any questions by her."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"I think that will be all for today." Aurora stood.

"Glory to the Empress!"

In an uncharacteristic move, Aurora walked out without Devrim. She needed to calm herself. Alaron had not read her mother's mood correctly and hurried after her. "What matters is Nurlan supposed to look into?" He asked when he fell in step beside her.

The Empress sighed and rubbed her head. "Nurlan will be looking into unexplained occurrences and making sure all of the pirates are human."

"You mean he is looking for magic and fairy tale creatures? Come on, Mother! I'm not a child anymore. I know magic isn't real. Tell me the truth." He had always assumed the 'elves' and 'gnomes' story about the battle with Cafer was to protect him from the truth. Even his own magic mirror he thought was just some advanced technology that his favorite uncle had built.

"Your father and I have seen more magical things and creatures than possibly any human on earth. I am sad that you think I would lie about such things. I take no pleasure in fooling you…" There was extra meaning in the words she spoke, but Alaron missed it. He watched as the Empress ran her fingers nervously along the golden chain around her neck, and a new idea came into his head.

"What about your necklace? You always wear it. Is it magic?" As he hoped, the boy caught his mother off guard.

"Why do you ask such a thing?" Aurora was suspicious. The Fates' chain was a gift from her father, Emperor Elias, and it indeed held great magic. But the boy had never mentioned the necklace before.

"No reason," Alaron pretended to have lost interest. "It must be important to you or you wouldn't wear it so much since it makes you look so…"

"What?"

"Old."

"WHAT?!" Aurora nearly screamed. Although the Royal record showed that she was thirty-four, she was really only twenty-six. For someone to call her old was a gross injustice.

"I'm sorry!" Alaron said quickly. He had been trying to irritate his mother, but he had gone too far. It was time to make amends. "I am really stepping on toes today. In the next Council meeting I will be silent as a statue."

"You will not attend another meeting for quite some time, Alaron." The Empress told him firmly.

"Is this because of my outburst? You are blowing the matter out of proportion. If I am going to rule someday, I need to have more experience." Alaron thought he was being reasonable, but his words were the straw that broke his mother's patience.

"You presume too much, my son. I have not named a successor. You will get the amount of experience I say when I say so. Right now you are not mature enough. That was my mistake."

"But!" The boy was ready to plead his case. "I am mature. I am practically a man. And who else but I can rule? Mairwen doesn't want to reign, and you would not pass your crown to someone outside our family."

"Please give me my leave before I say something I regret." Pain mixed with anger brought hot tears to Aurora's face. She ran from her son's presence. Devrim, who was walking with Mairwen some distance behind, saw his wife leave suddenly. He hurried to speak to his son.

"What have you done?" The Emperor asked.

"Nothing!" Alaron crossed his arms defiantly. "I was merely trying to talk some sense into mother."

Devrim rolled his eyes upward. "That will be the day… Your mother is very wise and does everything for a reason. You must trust and respect her."

"But everything I said was right!" Alaron protested.

"There's a time and a place for everything, my son. Perhaps you need a lesson in diplomacy."

"What do you mean?" Alaron was intrigued.

"Your question during the meeting was not wrong, just ill-timed. If you are a guest, you save your questions until they can be addressed on an individual basis at another time." Devrim watched the Prince's face as he processed the information.

"I think I understand. I will not speak out during Mother's governmental affairs. But…what about when Her Majesty finally names me heir to the throne? When is the diplomatic time to say, 'I told you so'?" Alaron anxiously awaited his father's answer.

Dervim stroked his chin. "If that indeed happens, the appropriate time to say such things is…NEVER!"