~Alliances~

The day the journey ended was as uneventful as it was meant to be: no fires, no unexpected summons, no blackmail. Things had died down enough that no one commented when Oris stepped down from the carriage in one of Lady Dianne's dress. It was common knowledge now that they were in some sort of allegiance with each other. The ladies had found more interesting things to entertain themselves with.

In a row, they waited under the sun for the rest of the procession to pass, glittering like golden statues as they stared into the distance at the dust clouds sullying the horizon. The carriages the court officials had ridden had lagged far behind theirs, for the sake of both safety and leisure, and now it was up to them to look pretty for them when they arrived, so that they could see just what their daughters were competing against.

Oris looked in the opposite direction, at the castle she would be living in for the next month and some. She scanned its tall walls and counted the embrasures facing her, casually marking the point that would be just out of range for the bowmen. Just the thought of crossbows made her side tingle though the wound was almost done healing.

She casually pressed her palm against it. Since the beginning she had been putting herself in arms way, mostly to build a reputation of being dangerous and reckless. She couldn't do that anymore, not if she wanted to survive long enough to steal Hermes' children away from him.

It's a good thing this isn't the capital, she thought, or Bren would have had a hard time getting out. The opulence of the main palace looked like a weakness when contrasted with the scarred and scorched walls of the emperor's secondary home.

This is a place that has seen many wars and stood the test of time. If Hermes shifted the capital here, he wouldn't have to worry about encountering the stray assassin ever so often and he would be close enough to the border to get rid of several layers of bureaucracy. So why didn't he?

Oris tightened her grip on her umbrella, an unsettling feeling washing over her. I'm missing something. Her eyes shifted to Keziah, who stood behind her with her head bowed, shaded by the shadows cast by the others around her. What do you know?

The rest of the girls had followed the carriage to make sure that their property remained intact. Already, a few Ladies had been sabotaged but they could only hide their teary eyes behind glitter and kohl. In the heat of the competition, there was little time to feel pity for anyone. That was why Oris had given everyone enough time to consider an alliance with her. Whether they pitied her or wanted to use her, they had a full day of travel to think about it while the rumor that both Lady Dianne and Lady Yue were vying for a spot by Oris' side circulated.

Once the test started and she showed up in a dress that was neither lady's, a fire would be lit under the rumor mill. All she had to waa sit back and watch people deny giving her the dress, or even better admit that it was their dress she had been wearing. The mounting distrust among already established cliques would prove beneficial once the hunt started. How many people could put differences aside and cooperate with someone who betrayed them?

Not many.

Keziah estimated that it would only take two days before Oris could build a circle of her own. Andrea bet that it would only take one.

Now that Hermes has become one of my options, I have to at least make an effort to have some backing. Oris had to hold in a sigh. Raising her rank had never been part of her plans and she had been dealt an atrocious hand from the very beginning.

If she wanted to stay, she'd need to undo all her previous efforts to remain unseen and pushed to the back of Hermes' mind. She'd also have to win over the Empress Dowager and find a way to kick her off the throne. Somehow.

She wanted to burst out laughing. Her life was turning into a caricature of itself and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Here he comes," someone whispered, and the chattering muted itself as women clasped their hands over their mouth and giggled in excitement.

Oris took that as her cue to look over as well. Something swelled in her when she did and her eyes caught sight of a sparkle of golden armor riding behind Hermes. Mikeal.

She almost took a step forward, out of her position in the row; Keziah held her back, a crushing grip on her wrist keeping her in place.

Oris woke up, a flush crawling up her cheeks when she realized what she could have done. Gods, that was so embarrassing.

As the riders approached, she was able to see Hermes' triad together for the first time. Lord Magnus on his left, Lord Eugene on his right and Mikeal at the very back like an ever-present shadow.

She didn't know what to expect as they rode closer and closer towards them but it certainly wasn't Mikeal bringing his horse by her row and dismounting.

The whispers grew as he made he way to her, walking past many flustered woman.

"Lady of Inqa," he greeted, and took off his helmet. With one sweep of his hand, he pushed the loose coils of his hair out of his face, back towards the ponytail they had been tie up in.

"My Lord?" Oris blinked slowly, trying to understand the situation. Had she suffered from a sun stroke and started hallucinating? No, that wasn't possible... Unless Keziah's tightening grip on her fingers meant that she should stop ogling an empty patch of air.

Mikeal fell to one knee and hit his fist on his breastplate. Far off in the distance, Oris' mind dimly recognized a dozen more men doing the same.

"I would like to thank you for protecting the emperor in my stead," he said and behind him, the soldiers bellowed: "Many thanks, my Lady!".

"Of course..." Oris tried not to look into his eyes and inadvertently her gaze met Hermes' for just a brief second before he and the rest of his men passed her. "Lord ...?"

"You'll just have to find out later, my Lady." He stood up and winked.

Even minutes after he had gotten onto his horse and galloped into the palace city to catch up with the others, Oris was left frozen in place as the rest of the carriages rolled past. She was vaguely aware of Keziah whispering something about the empress dowager but her mind wasn't there at all.

Instead, she was thinking about what Lord Eugene had said they day before. "Before the hunt," he had said, but this was too early—much too early. And the promise, she hadn't given it much though until now but seeing Mikeal's self-confident smile had jogged her memory.

"If I pass the Selection..." I will apply to be your personal guard. Had he been serious? She hadn't thought so when he had first said it but it seemed like he was. Will Hermes allow it? Place his closest person by my side? Why? To be a spy?

She couldn't imagine Mikeal being a spy or Hermes being desperate enough to use him as one. Then... Is this an incentive for me to do well? Using Mikeal as a reward? I don't think I mind that.

"Mistress?"

Oris woke up from her trance. "Uh? Yes. I'm listening."

"The Empress Dowager came along, that was her carriage just now."

"Was she supposed to?" Oris had thought that that Wei Wei would have preferred to stay in the capital, using the time Hermes was away to consolidate more of her power.

"Most of the ministers came along for the trip," was Keziah's curt reply.

The last carriage passed through the gates prompting a change in formation of the crowd from row to column. There was a collective sigh of relief as they walked, the bride candidates and their maids were pleased to finally get out of the sun. Meanwhile, Oris pretended not to understand the implications of Keziah's words and stayed silent.

If Hermes and his close ministers were here, Heshera had been left as an empty husk, home to only servants, guards and yes-men—and the most defenseless it had been in years. Was this hunting trip just an excuse for Hermes to start the process of shifting the empire's capital?

It seemed farfetched. He had only just solidified his position in court and it had been little more than two years since his coronation. Even if he wanted to move, he wouldn't have let Wei Wei come along. What better way to strip her of her power than to abandon her in a useless city?

Except Heshera wasn't useless, even if all the important people in it were gone. It had been the home of Inae's kings for centuries and over that time infrastructure supporting that level of wealth had sprung up around it. Compared to it, this secondary palace was a no-man's-land in the middle of the desert. It didn't matter that its walls were impenetrable; no army had ever gotten close enough to Heshera's palace to even see its walls.

But if he's not moving the capital, what is he up to? Why does he need so many important people in one place and what was so important that Mikeal had to show up earlier than scheduled?

Oris' stared up at the sentry towers as the gate started closing, watching the soldiers switch shifts as they patrolled the top of the walls. The sun was slowly setting and the hunt would begin tomorrow. There was no time for her to worry about things bigger than what was.

Only queens had the luxury of scheming plans according to the bigger picture and right now everyone still saw her as a pawn.

She needed to change that. Fast.

~~

Hola, dear readers. What do you think? Oris plan for the dresses has been revealed. Remember, no property of hers was actually lost in the fire. It was all a lie, haha.

The whole plan hinges on the fact that no one knows who gave her these new dresses that she's going to wear. Everyone would be wondering whether she got in another alliance secretly but they won't know with who. Even if someone denies that it's them, they won't be cleared of suspicion because there's no proof. And if someone jumps on the bandwagon to say that the dress is theirs, they are openly admitting that they are siding with Oris and are therefore now an ally.

Alright, all that's left is Hermes' own plan. But yay, Mikeal is back. He must be exhausted. I love writing Oris' reaction to him. She's always caught off guard and it's one of the few times her mask slips and we see a more childish version of her.

Till next time! <3 Shout out to Dark3st_Shad0ws for being the most recent commenter. I'm going to go reply now. Bye~