All I had as proof were my father’s disjointed notes. I gave him an exasperated look. “Since when has anything I’ve done made anyone happy? We’ll resume production as soon as we figure out how to stabilize the islands. It’s the best I can do. I’ll keep my promise to Iloh on Riya, just not right now.”

Wood scraped as a steaming bowl of soup was set in front of me. “There,” Jovis’s mother said, a self-satisfied smile on her face. “Now if that’s not the best, most invigorating soup in all the isles, you can close my shop down. I’ll take some to your maidservant too. It’ll help.”

It did look good. But there was so much more work to do, and never enough time to do it in.

She saw my glance, set a hand on the papers and moved them just out of reach. “You need to eat, and you need to stay healthy.”

She sounded like she actually… cared? But she couldn’t care; we’d only just met one another. Without warning, feelings I hadn’t known I had came welling up from inside me. Sometime far in a past life, I’d had a mother, or at least, Nisong had. Despite her position as a governor’s wife, she’d liked to cook and by Nisong’s journal, it had comforted her.

I’d wanted a family so badly – I’d clung to the idea that perhaps my father could love me, if I only tried hard enough. And now this woman was treating me more kindly than my father ever had, and I’d done nothing for her.

The soup blurred in my vision. But I picked up the spoon and ate. It was good, better than anything the ship’s cook had made. Thick noodles swam in broth, a sheen of black sesame oil on top. It was slightly spicy, the broth flavored with some herb I didn’t recognize. Had she brought her own herbs? “It is the best,” I said, trying not to cry. “And I wouldn’t shut down your shop if it wasn’t.”

But I took back the papers and started writing out my edicts again. I needed to finish this. There was still research to be done, a whole Empire to hold together.

Jovis’s mother sat next to him on the bench. “Does she have any relatives?” she said in a whisper I could hear. “Or is it just you, the guards and the maidservants?”

I could almost hear his jaw grinding. “Her Eminence is right there.”

I stood abruptly, almost tipping over the bench. “I’m going to finish this in my room. Thank you for the soup…”

“Ongren,” she said. “But you can call me ‘Auntie’.”

“Thank you, Ongren,” I said. I gathered my papers and fled. I was halfway down the hall before Thrana caught up.