"No. It is out of the question," said Mhera. She was affronted by the very suggestion Councilor Yorek had made—affronted that he had thought it his place to make such a suggestion at all.

"Your Grace, if you please—"

"I do not please," Mhera snapped. She turned from the window to address Yorek, ignoring his imploring look. "If you do not recall, Councilor, you once altered the course of my life with a few choice words. I did not have the power to stop you then. Now I do. I will hear no more."

"Perhaps you should hear him out, Mhera." Matei was seated at the other end of the council table. With a steady, tired motion, he massaged one temple with his forefinger. "There is no harm in hearing him."

Mhera shot a dark look at Matei, her hands balled into fists at her sides. With some difficulty, she reminded herself that they had agreed to challenge one another—and to listen to one another. She drew a steadying breath and unclenched her fists, turning her attention back to Yorek. "Go on, then."

"I mean merely to raise the matter to Your Grace's attention and nothing more," said Yorek. "It is a question of some importance."

Mhera had never truly liked the councilor. Obsequious and calculating, he had always seemed to be two steps ahead of anyone else, and she suspected that in all matters he had his own interests at heart. She had been unable to hide her disappointment when Matei had informed her that he'd allowed Yorek to keep his position, but it was true that the two of them had benefited from Yorek's counsel thus far. Still, although she tried to listen to him without judgment, she could not help but frown at his syncophantic tone. "To whom? Certainly not to me," she said.

"To the nobility, Your Grace. Those formerly on the High Council discuss little else, and I think they shall not until some indication of Your Grace's plans has been made known."

"A pox on the nobility." Mhera stopped herself from saying more. She was seldom angry, but she was angry now. "I will not marry. I do not wish to marry. And, Councilor, in case it has escaped your notice, were I not here, serving the realm to the best of my ability, I would be at the Haven doing the same. I think I have earned the right to decide for myself when and whom I marry, and I have no intent of marrying at all. You may tell your enterprising, self-serving noblemen that."

"Self-serv—Your Grace, you misjudge—"

"I do not think she does," said Matei. "Tell me that this interest in Empress Mhera's future husband has anything to do with anything but self-interest, Yorek. These nobles are salivating over the chance to marry off their sons. No one will come out and say it, but the purpose of the roundabout lines of conversation and underhanded introductions is obvious."

Yorek appeared to grasp for words. "Her Grace is...what I mean is..."

"That I am a woman," Mhera said. "That my value to the realm lies not in what I might do as empress, but rather in the husband I might find and the children I might bear. I was born a noblewoman, Yorek. I'm not a fool."

"Your Grace misunderstands."

"Explain the part she misunderstands." Matei stood up and went to stand by Mhera. When he addressed Yorek, his tone was direct, but not unkind. "You are here to counsel us, Councilor; we are listening."

Yorek composed himself. He looked from Matei to Mhera, then back again, appearing to collect his thoughts before he spoke. "I will say this, Your Graces. It is clear you wish to make changes. You wish to shift the balance of power; you wish to do away with certain traditions and move the realm of Penrua into the future. I have not spoken out against these plans, although they will shake the empire to its very foundations. But, if it please you both—and I do not think it will, but I have sworn to give you good counsel—some traditions are not to be done away with so casually. The people crave consistency. Traditions, propriety: these are what link one generation to the next. One may make small changes here and there, but to completely discard...why, Your Grace," and here he addressed Mhera, "it is true that I counseled the late emperor to send you to the Haven, but although you may not believe me, I did it in the interest of your own safety. No one could have expected how things would turn out—" and here he glanced at Matei, as if acknowledging the irony of it all, "but I did what I did because it was the right thing at the time, no matter what you may think now.

"And the subject of marriage is not to be lightly discarded or ignored. Set aside for a moment the fact that it is a tradition. Set aside even the fact that some of the noblemen whose support you desperately need will not take Your Grace seriously until you have been respectably wed. What of the succession?"

It was something Mhera and Matei had not yet discussed; they had not yet had time to consider it. Mhera's stomach sank.

"Whatever changes, whatever revolutions Your Graces secure during this lifetime...all may well be for naught if the reign cannot be passed down. Princes—or princesses, as it may be—must be groomed, tutored, raised up into rulers of men. Emperor Matei, you must know it to be true; that you were raised a prince prepared you for the crown you wear. To do things otherwise and leave the matter of succession to chance is, if Your Graces will forgive my candor, irresponsible."

Mhera said nothing. She looked at Matei and could tell from his resigned expression that Yorek had won him. Panic gripped her heart. For a moment, she saw the two men as allies, and she felt her future slipping out of her grasp. Would Matei seek to marry her off to a convenient ally as her uncle would have done before him?

Yorek's gaze lingered on Mhera for a moment. "I swore to Your Graces that I would counsel you with honesty and loyalty, and this I shall do and have done. If it please you to listen, consider carefully all that a marriage secures. That is all." 

Sinking into her chair, Mhera said, "Thank you, Councilor. You may go."

Yorek glanced at Matei, who nodded. Then, he bowed and backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Mhera put her face in her hands, feeling nauseous. It was too much. Too much had been placed on her shoulders. She wished she could take it all back. In that moment, she may very well have taken back her decision to offer water to a nameless prisoner in a cell all those months ago. How much would have changed? Her life would certainly have been simpler.

But perhaps the world would have been a darker place, too.

"Don't cry, Mhera," said Matei. His voice came from close at hand, and his tone was gentle.

"I'm not crying," she said. "Yet."

"Is it really so bad to consider marrying?" There was a scrape of chair legs against the floor, and then she heard him sit down next to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"When I was a girl, I thought that would be my life." She lowered her hands and looked at him. "Uncle would choose a husband for me—or Father, perhaps—and I would marry and have children and...that would be all. But that changed, Matei. Everything changed when Uncle sent me to the Haven. I never thought on it again."

"Didn't you wish for a family?"

Mhera shook her head. "No. No, I didn't. No family other than the one I had lost. I suppose that after you were gone, and after Uncle sent me away, I did not even feel close to the family I had. And after I was sent to the Haven, I realized that the concept of marriage and children had always been a dream to which I was not particularly attached."

"That's...irregular," said Matei.

"Why? I don't suppose I ever understood what was so wonderful about motherhood. Mother never paid me any attention at all; she must not have cared much for the burden she'd borne."

"Neither did my 'father,'" Matei said. "Perhaps things would have been different if...but it doesn't matter. I still wanted to be a father. I still wanted...want...a wife."

"Well, I am sure you've had your share of opportunities," Mhera said, lowering her gaze. "You were already speaking of marriage as a child."

He chuckled. "Perhaps you would be surprised."

She raised her brows, giving him a skeptical look. "Mm."

"In all seriousness, Mhera. I think you and I are of a kind."

"You just said you want to be a father."

"I do. But I did not think I would be. There is little justification and less time for a man such as I was to take a wife and raise a family."

Mhera thought of Hanpe. There had been children there; some men had found the time to father them. But Matei had been their leader, and he had carried many responsibilities. She could see what he meant.

"In any case," said Matei, "I think circumstances have changed for both of us. You are no longer prevented by your vows from wedding, if you want to. And I...I have relative safety and a stable home. Perhaps I can consider marriage, too."

"You may have it," Mhera said with a sigh. "It is too much, Matei. Do not make me think on it now."

"You need not. But do consider it—all right? No one can force you into marriage. But Yorek's counsel is sound." He smiled at her, and Mhera was relieved to see that smile. She truly had thought for a few desperate moments that Matei might have given her away, reneging on the promise he had made her that they would be equal in every way. Matei's smile faded as he said, "Consider it. It may be that you never wanted it because the choice was taken from you. Now you can choose for yourself."

"I do not see the need for it from a point of view of succession—at least, not if you marry. You are the descendant of the Blessed Sovereigns, Matei. Your children would have a claim to the throne. Whether or not I have children will not matter in the grand scheme of history."

"Be that as it may, children are never guaranteed, and basing the succession on blood alone is not an ideal way to choose," Matei said, looking thoughtful. "If I have my way, Mhera, the rulers who follow us will not be chosen based on who sired them, but instead on their merit and fitness to represent the people. But this is a conversation for another day. We have enough to cope with today; let us save some of tomorrow's problems for tomorrow."

Ooo, maybe Mhera can be a bit sassy when she wants to!

Did anyone really expect them to avoid this conversation for very long? Mhera might have been the only one not to see it coming...

Your next update will be Sunday, October 14th, and we will once again be in the company of a certain broody ranger!