Talia heaved an impatient sigh as the carriage rolled to a stop for the third time that day. At the rate they were traveling, it would take more than a week to reach the capitol.
She drummed her fingers anxiously on the seat as she waited for Ilya to open the door. When he did not quickly arrive, she leapt up and opened the door herself.
Outside, Ilya had dismounted and was speaking with a soldier who appeared to be in command of their guard. Ilya had insisted on taking almost half of the Bludston troops with them to the capitol, and when questioned, had insisted that the roads were not safe.
It was a foolish insistence, easily disproved, as they had already traveled along the northern road, which were far more dangerous, and they had done so with far fewer men.
It had taken more than a day simply to pack enough supplies for their entire group, and now, they were stopping every few hours to attend to minor inconveniences.
Ilya was clearly trying to stall her from meeting with the Emperor, at least until Prince Mikhail returned.
"What is it? Why are we stopped?" Talia demanded, stomping across the road to where Ilya stood among the men.
"Ah, Princess. You will need the coals refreshed in your footwarmer. Please return to the carriage and rest while I have the men build up a fire and--"
"It is unnecessary, and you know it well!" Talia snapped. "It is already significantly warmer here than it was in the Highlands and you were not nearly so attentive to my footwarmer then!"
"An unfortunate necessity at the time, due to haste. I will not make such a mistake again. Especially not while the Princess is still recovering from frostbite!" Ilya insisted.
"You make every excuse to stall this journey, because you hope to allow Prince Mikhail the time to overtake us. Do not think I am unaware!" She scoffed.
Ilya snatched her wrist, and yanked her away from the solider who was watching the argument between them as if fascinated.
"Excuse for one moment, Bulridge!" Ilya called to the soldier over his soldier.
When they had walked some distance from the men, Ilya dropped her arm with disgust and glared at her.
"Always running your mouth!" he accused. "Has it ever occurred to you that the Emperor has ears everywhere - even among our own men? Yes, I am hoping that the Prince will receive one of the messages I've sent, and yes, I am hoping that he will ride fast enough to reach us before we enter Torobirk, and yes, I will do whatever I can to delay our arrival, because the Emperor did not summon you for afternoon tea and a pleasant chat!"
"I do not need Prince Mikhail to speak on my behalf. His bargaining with the Emperor did nothing to benefit me or my country the last time. If the Emperor wishes to renegotiate the treaty, then by all rights, I will be the one to speak for Vezda!" Talia informed him coldly.
"And I tell you that this summons is nothing more than a bluff! Once the Emperor has you under his hand and away from the Prince, your life is forefit. You have nothing to bargain with. That's why-"
"You're wrong," Talia cut him off.
"I am NOT wrong. I know the Emperor. I know what he-"
"No. You're wrong when you say I have nothing to bargain with." Talia remarked calmly.
Ilya paused and glanced warily at her.
"And just what would that be, Princess?" he asked.
"The Emperor has ears everywhere," she shrugged and smiled pleasantly at him. "Now, I suggest we start moving again, or those ears you're so worried about might hear a thing or two about your Prince's loyalty to his brother. Do you understand?"
Ilya scowled and his face became very red. He looked as though he wanted to argue further, but instead, he turned on his heel and strode back to the soldiers.
"Forget the fire! Let us move on!" he ordered.
Talia nodded sharply and climbed back into the carriage. The door fell shut behind her as she threw herself down onto the bench.
She had no intention of ever suggesting to the Emperor that his brother was not loyal to him. It was one of the only things she really liked about Prince Mikhail, but time was of the essence.
She was shocked, at first, to receive a summons personally from the Emperor. As a prisoner and slave such a summons should have gone to Prince Mikhail, ordering him to bring his possession. That it did not, was a clue. The polite and formal language in which he addressed her was another clue, and finally the words: 'discuss a resolution in the differences in our interpretation of part 7.4 of the Treaty of Fronov' was so specific that it was more than a clue, it was his entire reason for a public summons.
The Emperor was under pressure. The only thing that might cause the Emperor to feel pressure, was the council of seven kingdoms. Which is why, Talia had paid for a council scribe to write the treaty. Neither Prince Mikhail nor the Emperor knew this, of course, but that, in and of itself, was not enough to involve the council. Treaties were violated and ignored every week. There had to be one country of the seven, at least, who had raised objection to the violation.
And Vezda had new allies!
Talia smiled to herself and pulled the lap blanket over her knees as the carriage lurched forward.
The danger for Emperor Grigori was that she might be requested to go before the council. He could just kill her before that happened, of course, perhaps say she had taken ill, or was captured by rebels, but it would not look good for him. Besides, the Emperor had kept her alive this long for his own reason. He believed that House Eosin was the solution to his curse, and she was all that was left of House Eosin.
He needed her on his side, and she, like her sister before her, would be sure to gain every benefit from him that she could without ever addressing that need!
She did not need Prince Mikhail to fight her battles for her. She was perfectly capable, and she certainly did not need him to send her off to Frem or make decisions about her safety that did not include her opinion.
The thought that she might not ever see him again occurred to her then, but she pushed it away from her.
What did it matter, after all? She was not a fool who put the lives of herself and her people into a man's hands simply because he was handsome and good at kissing... and... sometimes looked at her as though she was a godess who had fallen to earth... and constantly appeared at her side whenever she was in great danger... and whose body looked like a work of art... and whose strong hands--
"Oh Gods," Talia whispered and lightly slapped her own cheek.
Anyhow- she was not that sort of woman!
Ilya mounted his horse and whistled to the carriage driver. They traded a long look, before he turned and lead his horse back onto the road.
The Princess was young. She was arrogant, argumentative, and oftentimes, rash. But she was not stupid. If she was so eager to run towards something that looked exactly like a trap, then it was highly likely that she did have a bargaining chip... and a big one at that. She knew something that he and the Prince did not, and the thought made him feel very uneasy.
He glanced again at the sky, but there were no birds. He had sent almost a dozen messages himself over the past few days, and so far, there was still no response.
It was unlike the Prince.
The errand to Pirchburg should have taken practically no time at all... unless something had happened, or the Emperor had prevented the Prince from returning so that the princess would not have an ally.
It was a good thing that Prince Mikhail was always so thoroughly prepared. He was a suspicious man, and rightly so, because his brother had done exactly what he'd suspected.
And now it was up to Ilya to enact the plan Prince Mikhail had detailed so many weeks ago.
The last message he'd sent, had been to Bludston. It would depend on many people playing their parts so well that they made not a single mistake for the plan to work-- for that reason, he did not have high hopes. Some of them would surely die in the process. For that reason, he hoped more than anything, that the Prince would appear soon. He hoped that the burden of making those sort of decisions would soon be lifted from his shoulders.
He watched the sky nervously as the party moved slowly down the road.