“I really should have considered my options before ascending to Emperor,” I said with a smile. I looked down at my salt-spattered tunic. “I need to dress before we arrive. Get yourself ready too, and the rest of the guards.” Mephi was snapping at a squid Thrana had in her jaws. “And could you make sure they’re at least dried off? I don’t want them dripping onto the governor’s rugs.”

“As you will it, Eminence.”

It was more of an ordeal to drape myself in the Emperor’s vestments than I’d first expected it would be. The seas grew choppy just outside the harbor, and the three maidservants I’d brought with me struggled to tie my sash and to secure the Phoenix Empire headdress atop my hair. They swayed with each rocking wave, one of them blushing furiously as she careened into a wall.

“Never mind the conditions,” I said to them. “You can straighten everything up once we’re in the harbor. I won’t be expected to disembark right away.”

The roiling waves seemed to reflect the roiling of my belly. Yes, as I’d told Jovis, I was excited. At the same time, this would be my first meeting with any island governor. They hadn’t had much contact with an Emperor recently, not since my father had been younger. And now I was asking them to accept my absolute authority.

The rocking of the boat calmed, and the three maidservants hurried to fix my hair and clothes. With the silk dress, the embroidered robe and the headdress, I felt heavy, my movements slow. I’d have never been able to climb the palace walls this way.

“The shards?”

The maidservants went to the corner of the room and hefted a carved wooden chest between them. All the living shards my father had collected for Riya. It was the best gift I could think of.

I opened the door and found myself face to face with Jovis, his hand raised to knock. This close, I could see the faint shadow of stubble on his chin, the flecks of lighter brown in his eyes. He brought the scent of the ocean with him, as though he’d woven it into his hair.

“Sorry, Eminence, I…” Flustered, he stopped talking and stepped to the side. “We’re docked and an envoy has come to greet us.”

Somehow, knowing that he felt some nervousness around me made me feel less nervous around him. I stepped out of my cabin and swept past him. “Thrana and Mephi?”

“Above-deck, along with the rest of your guards.”

“Then let’s go meet Riya’s governor.”