She had already planted the seeds for the next phase of her plan. When Derwyn came to see her following the birth, she had told him how pleased and proud she was to have given him the son he wanted and added, as if in passing, an observation as to the importance of the birth.
“He shall grow up to do great things, my husband,” she had said. ‘I know it. I can feel it in my bones.”
“I have no doubt he will,” said Derwyn proudly.
“You now have a strong son to carry on your name,” she said. “And he shall be an important person in the empire, for the emperor remains unmarried, and without an heir. As the firstborn of the eldest princess of the House of Roele, Aerin shall be the next in line to sit upon the throne. Of course, I am sure Michael will marry someday and produce an heir. It is just that he has been so busy with his campaigns of late that he has had no time to devote to such pursuits.”
Still, that had set Derwyn’s mind to thinking about the possibility.
She could tell. Unlike his father, Derwyn revealed every thought through his expression. And the thought of his son one day sitting on the Iron Throne was something he had not previously considered.
However, now that the thought had been planted, it would grow. And she would slowly nurture it until it bloomed into a driving ambition.
If Michael remained without an heir, and if something were to happen to him on one of his campaigns, Aerin would stand to inherit the throne, and Derwyn would become the regent until Aerin came of age. Once that had been accomplished, if some ill fate were to befall Derwyn, then as his wife, she would become regent. And she would rule the Empire of Anuire.
Each night as she lay alone in bed, keeping Derwyn 371 at bay until she had recovered from the birth, she planned as diligently as Michael planned the strategies for his campaigns. In her mind, she went over each aspect of her goal, refining it, contemplating every last detail.
The one thing she could not control was Michael. If he were to marry and produce an heir, that could ruin everything. There seemed nothing she could do to prevent that from happening.
But if, by chance, he did marry and the new empress, whoever she might be, bore him a son, she would have to find some way to make certain the child did not survive.
One night, as she lay in bed contemplating possibilities, she became aware of a subtle change in the air within her room. The candles guttered, and the atmosphere around her took on a certain thickness.
It grew darker in the center of the room. As she sat up in bed, she perceived a smoky, faintly glowing mist that appeared just above the floor and rose in tendrils that began to swirl, spinning around and around until they formed a vortex, a misty tunnel in the air. Through that tunnel came a dark figure, walking slowly toward her.
She held her breath. As the figure approached, looming larger, she could make out the robes he wore and the staff he carried in his hand.
Even before he stepped out into her room, she knew who had come to visit her.
“Callador!” she said.
He bowed to her. “My lady,” he said, pulling back his hood and revealing his ancient, hairless features.
“It has been a long time. I trust I find you well?”
“I am recovering from having given birth,” she said. “Derwyn has a son.”
37?
“Yes, I know,” the wizard said. “I have kept track of events. I still have an interest in what transpires at Seaharrow.”
“Where have you been?” she asked. “You disappeared without a trace after the war. It is widely assumed that you are dead.”
“That serves my purpose,” Callador replied. “I had to take certain precautions. When I learned that Arwyn fell in battle, I feared the possibility of retribution for the part I took in his rebellion. For all I knew, your involvement in it might have been exposed, and the emperor could have taken it into his head to punish me severely for the part I played in it.
Had you been revealed as an agent of Boeruine, I had little doubt you would try to save yourself by claiming to have been ensorcelled.”
He held up his hand to forestall her comment. “Do not protest,” he said. “That would have been the only logical course for you to take if you wished to save yourself, and I would not have blamed you for it.
However, under the circumstances, I felt it prudent to remove myself from the possibility of imperial retribution, and since I had lost my patron, it was needful that I find another. I had not anticipated you might escape suspicion.
“I thought it likely Derwyn would denounce you in an attempt to save himself,” Callador explained.
“I never expected your brother, the emperor, would be so forgiving as to raise Derwyn to his father’s dukedom and allow him to retain his lands.
Nor had I anticipated you might become his duchess. Strange how things turn out. You appear to have emerged unscathed and done quite well for yourself, all things considered. Congratulations are certainly in order. However, knowing you, I expect you still have hopes of doing better.”
“That I do,” said Laera,
