“I keep hearing Thea is being stubborn about its resources.” The Kaanan delicately speared a last piece of fruit from the sweet course. “Naturally, in Iskaner terms, that means your negotiators said maybe when Iskat expected them to say yes. You did get allied province status because you were amicable, after all. Do try the passion fruit, it’s very good,” they added. “The hothouses over here so seldom get it right.”

Kaan liked to stir up trouble. It was how they did politics; Jainan knew this and yet still felt a twinge of disquiet. The stateroom around them was full of Iskaners. “Thea shares its resources generously,” Jainan said. “We’ve been an allied province for decades. We’ve renewed the Resolution treaty several times already. Nothing has changed.”

“Except the factions on Iskat,” the representative said mildly. “Are we dealing with a commercial empire, a parliamentary system, a dictatorship, a military oligarchy? You can’t say, can you, because Iskat throws all of them at us at different times. I wonder how much of a grip the Emperor really has on everything that’s going on. Of course, Thea’s little gripe about your mining resources takes the heat off Kaan, where we really are stubborn. I am grateful.”

There were flippant responses and political responses; Jainan discarded all of them. Instead he watched the representative’s eyes, which weren’t part of their affable expression, and said, “Why did you bring up my treaty?”

“Oh,” the Kaanan said, casually straightening the cuff of their robe, “you’re our test case, if you like. How much do you have to annoy Iskat before you end up as a special territory?”

Treaties changed, for better or worse, but even in the wrangling that led up to the Resolution renewal, no allied or satellite province in the Empire had ever dropped to special territory status. Jainan could feel his heartbeat speed up. It was the kind of absurd, troublemaking thing that Kaani politicians threw out to

set hares running. He clenched his hands under the table and said nothing.

In the face of Jainan’s silence, the representative gave him a charming, impersonal smile. They could have been discussing the weather. “My embassy’s conversations with our Iskat counterparts have been … unproductive, this time around.”

“Have you mentioned this to the Thean embassy?” Jainan asked quietly. He couldn’t seem to slow his heart rate. “Do you have any evidence?”

“Evidence? This is politics, ” the Kaanan said. “I have talked to your embassy, as a matter of fact. Everyone has rather cut you out of the loop, haven’t they?

And this is honestly just gossip.” They rose to their feet in a rustle of bright formal robes. “Speaking of, I must circulate. Lovely talking to you.”

“What was that about?” Kiem murmured in his ear.