Further harsh words died on my lips. It wasn’t Jovis. He’d truly taken the rest of the day off. It was Ikanuy, flanked by the two guards I’d left outside the room. She raised an eyebrow, and her gaze flicked to the sword’s hilt over my shoulder, but she did not back away or look reproached. So she did have a spine. “Eminence,” she said, bowing her head.

“Ah, I’m sorry.” Were Emperors supposed to apologize? The heat in my cheeks intensified, though for very different reasons. “I thought… Well, it’s no matter.”

“You are difficult to reach when necessary, Eminence.” Her tone was neutral so as to avoid offending me and my shame deepened. I’d have to prop the doors open and leave Thrana by the shard storeroom door the next time I went to my father’s workstation. She could fetch me if I was needed. My father had been answerable to no one. I had to change that for myself, no matter how it irked me.

“It’s an urgent matter?”

She straightened. “Constructs in the north-eastern reaches of the Empire have organized, Eminence.”

A cold feeling of dread rose in my chest. The spy construct. Was it one of them? “Organized how?”

“I hesitate to use the word ‘army’, but they have taken over two small isles south-west of Maila. They may already be on their way to conquer another.”

8

Jovis

Imperial Island

Philine didn’t lower her dagger from the woman’s back. Around us, people either didn’t see or chose not to.

I tried to swallow past the panic tightening my throat. Had the merchant told her anything? What did Philine know about me and my loyalties? Did she know anything she could tell the Emperor?

I took an involuntary step forward and heard a low growl from Mephi. “Don’t hurt her,” I said.

“Your pet is a lot bigger,” she said, eyeing Mephi. She’d felt his teeth once when he’d been little more than a pup. Her gaze went back to me. “How did you land such a position?”

I affected nonchalance, trying not to think about the blade pressed to the merchant’s back. Trying not to think about the letter in my jacket’s inside pocket. “Yes, well, if you try hard and believe in yourself, anything is possible.”

“I forgot that you thought you were funny. Jovis, Emperor’s pet smuggler,” she drawled, her gaze raking over my jacket festooned with chrysanthemums, my medallion, my golden sash.

“Look, I have Kaphra’s money.” I reached for my purse, grateful that I’d filled it that morning. I tossed the contents to her. She caught it in her free hand. “That should cover the balance I owe. I’m done with Kaphra and I’m done with the Ioph Carn.”