The teapot between us steamed, and rain pattered on the roof above in the silence. I decided that he had the wide-set eyes of a weasel instead. I held his gaze. So strong and self-assured – up until Bing Tai growled. Then he blinked, his face going pale.

“Peace, Bing Tai,” I said. The beast at my side settled. I turned my attention back to the man, who was still trying to regain his composure. “Thank you for your time, Sai. We will notify all the candidates once a choice has been made. Close the door behind you.”

He let his gaze slip to the medallion before he rose to his feet, bowed and left.

From behind me, I heard Jovis sigh. “And what was wrong with this one, Eminence?”

I found my fingers slipping to the medallion before I could stop myself, tapping it against the table. “Too ambitious. I need someone to run the palace for me when I’m gone; I don’t need someone to run the Empire for me. That one –” I pointed one wing of the medallion at the door. “– would stab me in the back with this pretty thing as soon as he had the chance.”

“Someone without a backbone would be easy for any visiting governor to bully.”

I turned in my chair to look at him. “So you think I should choose someone who would instead be the bully?”

He pressed his lips together, his gaze going to the window, where the light was quickly fading. The darkness of the wet season was settling in, painting the room in faded hues. “I’m only saying that it’s been a long day.”

I couldn’t argue with him on that. Neither of us had slept much the night before. Even after I’d dried myself off and had drank a warm cup of tea, it had been difficult to sleep. “Do you think we’re Alanga?”

He looked to the window and the door, instinctively checking for any prying ears. He was right to check, especially after the spy construct we’d chased. “I honestly don’t know. But it makes you wonder – if there is you and there is me… are there others?”

“Keep an eye out for Mephis or Thranas then,” I said.

“And keep this to ourselves,” he said.