He dipped his head again.

She motioned to a davenport with a woven dome above it.

He moved there, even if he did not wish to sit in that contraption, as she walked to a hanging chair of the same shape.

She climbed into it.

He waited until she was settled before he sat at the edge of the cushion.

When she did not say anything, he did.

“You asked to speak with me without your daughter present, and I am here, but I must share, I’m not comfortable with her not.”

Something moved over her face, a face that seemed to have aged years in the days they’d been there.

It was not hard to read it was relief.

What was hard was to realize she had shown that emotion so openly.

Ophelia was not one to share her thoughts in any way, unless it was intended.

“Also unexpected,” she said quietly, “is how well you two suit.”

Cassius did not respond.

She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin before she hit him with a verbal brick.

“I am dying, my son.”

He had the unusual instinct to burst from his seat.

He did not.

“Ophelia—”

She waved her hand and spoke over him.

“There is nothing to do but plan for that eventuality.”

“I think you should speak to your daughter. She was approached by a Go’Doan priest at Catrame Palace. She has—”

Ophelia nodded. “Elena discussed this medicine with one of our healers. And that healer, Joan, discussed it with me. I cannot say in this moment my trust in the Go’Doan is at its highest. But if Joan feels it is safe, I will take it. She’s studying it now. But even if it is safe, it will not but perhaps prolong the inevitable.”

“I find I have nothing to say,” he replied. “Except this saddens me, for my princess, for your Sisterhood, for my daughter, who I would wish to know you better, and for myself, for you have my respect.”

“Thank you, Cassius,” she murmured. “And I did not ask you here to make you speak. I asked you here to request you listen. For I have made a decision and it’s important that the Prince Regent of Airen, as well as the future husband of my daughter, is understanding of it, and supportive.”

Cassius nodded.

“I will be naming Elena my successor.”

Every inch of Cassius’s body froze.

“It will be up to you,” she went on, “and she, how you will rule different lands side by side.”

“What you suggest is an impossibility,” he said in a tone heavy with incredulity.

“What I have decided is an imperative.”

“She will rule by my side,” Cassius shared. “I will need her engaged. I will need her counsel. What we wish to achieve in Airen I cannot possibly foster without Elena’s aid.”