“I don’t get it, though,” Erin said, putting her elbows on the table and resting her chin in her hands. “Even if your father doesn’t readopt you and Kirchel, she’s still his granddaughter, right? Isn’t that good enough to count?”

Kiari looked up from the dough she was kneading to give Erin a small, sad smile. “It’s not about bloodlines,” she explained gently. “It’s about politics.”

“But why does it matter if she’s legally royal or not? Why even have a law about the emperor having to marry someone from a royal family in the first place? It seems like pretty bad politics as far as all the ordinary people are concerned. Doesn’t it make them mad that the people running the empire have to be above them like that?”

“But the emperor doesn’t run the empire,” Edward said. “You’re thinking of empires in the human world, like ancient Rome or China. But the imperial government in Silmar is a different situation. It doesn’t directly impact ordinary citizens. Each country’s government is over its own people. The imperial government simply helps the different countries work together. You could call it the government’s government. So it makes more sense to require the head of the imperial government to be chosen from the governing class.”

“I still don’t think it should make a difference,” Erin said, frowning. “It should be their abilities that determine whether they’re fit for the position, shouldn’t it?”

“Yes, it should,” Kiari said. “But politics is rarely about what should be. It’s about what people want there to be…or not to be.” She sighed and gave the bread dough an extra hard push. “It’s about dealing with people’s pride and selfish desires, their ignorance and their fears. Politics is all about trying to keep the worst sides of people in check. It's a pity that it has to be that way...but that's how it is.”

“You have to remember that Silmar is a different place with a different culture than the one you're used to,” Edward said. “They have their own way of thinking...especially the people in the aristocracy. The reason the imperial line has to be of royal lineage is that most of the Silmarith rulers are royalty, and they don’t want someone over them who’s from a lower social class. It was those rulers—the Imperial Council—that made the law in the first place. And it can only be changed if they agree to it, which they haven’t so far.”

Erin was still frowning. “But Arturyn’s royalty, right? So his kids would still have royal blood no matter who their mother is. And won't one of them be the next emperor or empress? So what’s the problem?”

“The problem is when the process doesn’t run as smoothly as that,” Edward explained. "I don't know all the details of how the succession laws work, but I know there are cases when the empress is allowed to take over the emperor's responsibilities, like if he's incapacitated or killed without having an heir ready to take on the role. If she's not of royal blood, that puts someone from a lower class over the imperial government. Which might not be a problem on its own, since it's usually just a temporary situation. But let's say that empress is competent and well-liked, and the next heir isn't. The Imperial Council can vote to allow her to remain in the position if they want to. But if she's not royalty...well, it makes things more difficult. It was a messy inheritance situation similar to that centuries ago which led to the law first being passed.”

“I still think it’s a lousy system...” Erin said stubbornly.

“Yes, it is,” Kiari said gently. “I think most people would agree. Arturyn and Kirchel definitely would. But, unfortunately, the people who have the power to change it don’t agree.”

Out of arguments, Erin merely sighed gloomily. She still didn't really understand, and Edward's and Kirari's explanations didn't help that much. Not that she blamed them—who would expect people who had been stuck in a little cottage in Raylmiyr for the past several decades to be experts on Silmarith politics, after all?

She wished Jechrin were there....

Erin sighed again as she watched Kiari shaping the dough into loaves. Under the current circumstances, the idea of baking bread seemed almost bizarrely mundane. But at the same time, the homey smell of yeast and the steady rhythm of kneading were very soothing, which was probably why Kiari was doing it.

“How soon do you think they’ll be back?” she asked as Kiari spread white cloths over the loaves and set them on top of the oven to rise. “They must have been gone at least two hours by now.”

“It probably won’t be much longer,” Edward said, looking out the kitchen window, where the sun was just visible, hanging low over the tops of the mountains beyond the forest. “I didn’t really expect them to be gone as long as they have.”

“Is that a good sign, do you think?” Erin asked hopefully.

He shrugged. “It’s hard to say. It could be, I suppose. But try not to get your hopes up too high. Better to be surprised than to be disappointed.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Kiari came back to the table and sat down next to Edward, pulling her chair close to his so she could lean against his shoulder. Edward put his arm around her and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

It occurred to Erin, watching them, that they must have gotten to know each other extremely well over the last forty years. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to stand going that long with only one other person for company.

“What are you two going to do once you’re free to leave here?” she asked. “Go back to Silmar?”

Edward frowned slightly. “We haven’t decided for sure yet. It will depend some on what happens with Kirchel, of course. We’d like to be somewhere close to her. Or at least close to a portal so that we can visit her easily. But I’m not even sure when we’ll be able to leave. The magic binding Kiari might lift completely when Nievar dies, or some of it might linger afterwards. I’m sure Seiyan will be able to get her out eventually, but it might take some time. He’s going to have a lot of other things on his plate for the next while, for one thing.”

“He did seem pretty preoccupied...."

“This is being very hard on him,” Kiari said sadly. “He and Father have become very close since Mother died, in spite of their differences in opinion. And Seiyan’s had to take on more and more responsibility as Father’s gotten weaker. The strain has really been getting to him the last few months.

"But I think it helped a lot for him to find out that I was still alive, which happened a few years ago. And of course his wife, Tiora, and their children have been doing their best to support him. He was very fortunate to be able to marry her. Nirayls traditionally have spouses chosen for them by their parents, and…well, it doesn’t always work out terribly well. Especially in the aristocracy, where rank and connections often influence the choice more than personality does. But Tiora is kind and competent, and she and Seiyan are well-suited for each other.”

“That’s probably part of why he’s been so willing to help Kirchel and Arturyn. He understands what a difference it can make for a country to have a good queen.” Edward gently nuzzled the top of Kiari’s head. “And what a difference it can make for a man to have a good wife....”

Kiari gave him a small smile but didn’t say anything.

All three of them lapsed into silence. Erin couldn’t stop thinking about Kirchel and Arturyn and wondering what was happening back at the Nirayl capital. She could tell from the slightly worried looks on their faces that Kiari and Edward were both thinking about the same thing.

After a while, Kiari got up and went to check on her bread. She had just taken the cloth off the loaves and was putting them into the oven when she suddenly froze, lifting her head and looking alert, as though she had just heard something.

“Seiyan?” Edward asked.

Kiari nodded.

Edward stood up and went to the doorway into the front room. Kiari closed the oven door and went after him. Feeling a little confused, Erin got up and followed them.

Edward and Kiari both stopped just outside the front door. Looking past them, Erin could see Kirchel and Arturyn following Seiyan along the path toward the door.

None of them spoke. They didn’t need to. One look at their faces was enough to know that things hadn’t gone well....

Seiyan’s expression was sober. Kirchel, who was back in her Silmarith form, looked like she was on the verge of tears. Arturyn’s face was blank and mask-like, but his eyes were focused on the ground in front of him, and as he came closer, Erin could see that there was an unusual rigidness to his features, as though he was working hard to keep his emotions from coming to the surface.

Edward and Kiari exchanged a long, meaningful look. Then without a word, Kiari went forward and put an arm comfortingly around Kirchel’s shoulders, leading her past Edward and Erin and into the house. Turning, Erin saw them heading toward the kitchen.

Arturyn and Seiyan remained standing near the door. Seiyan and Edward were both watching Arturyn, who was avoiding their gaze by keeping his eyes on the ground. After a pause, Edward stepped forward and put a hand on Arturyn’s arm, saying something quietly in Silmarith. Arturyn glanced at him and nodded, then followed Edward as he started walking in the direction of the lake.

Erin and Seiyan looked at each other.

“What happened?” Erin asked finally.

Seiyan sighed heavily. “As I'm sure you can tell, the meeting didn’t go as well as we’d hoped. When Father first saw us, he thought that Kirchel was my mother, coming to take him with her. As Kiari said, Kirchel does look a great deal like her. Father was very unhappy when he realized that she wasn’t who he thought she was, and…things only became worse from there.” He sighed again. “He refused to acknowledge that Kirchel was his granddaughter and insisted that he had never had a daughter named Kiari. When they tried to explain that they wanted him to readopt Kirchel so that she could marry the emperor, he called them a pair of treacherous Silmarith usurpers and ordered me to have them thrown into prison.”

Erin winced. “So is that it, then? There isn’t anything else they can do?”

Seiyan slowly shook his head. “I’ll try talking to Father again, but it's very unlikely that it will make any difference.” He glanced toward the lake, where Edward and Arturyn were walking slowly along the water’s edge. “I need to return to the palace, but I think Kirchel and Emperor Isáran would benefit from staying here a little longer. Will you tell the others that I’ll return tonight for the three of you?”

“I'll tell them,” Erin said, nodding.

Seiyan glanced one more time at the distant figures of Arturyn and Edward. Then, shaking his head sadly, he spread his wings and vanished in a flash of green light.