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“Yes. From what Valerisse said, Sabrelle has been encouraging her to push back against any influence I have. Enough so that she felt justified attempting my assassination, both this morning and through soldiers who were following her orders while we were on our tour.”

Neven’s jaw works. “I think Valerisse is telling the truth. I—I’ve had dreams, visions… Maybe some of them really were just dreams, but the more that came, the harder it was to ignore them.”

Lorenzo studies him solemnly. “You mentioned the dreams before.”

“Yes. It might not sound like much of an excuse, but I really didn’t know what to believe. At first there was only this sense of urgency, like everything I cared about was slipping through my fingers, like I needed to fight.”

“Like you weren’t doing enough,” I say, remembering what he said when he shared his fears with me many months ago.

“Yes.” He swipes his hand across his mouth.

“But then, even when I started trying to help you with your goals … The dreams turned bloodier. More violence, more death. Most of the time, they showed you turning your back on the pain or accepting the chaos. And when I kept seeing you go along with Marclinus’s challenges, barely standing up to him at all?—”

When Raul makes a sound of protest, Neven cuts him off with a brusque wave.

“I realize how difficult a position you were in,” he says to me. “And I had no idea how much more complicated your situation had gotten. She just seemed so insistent … It’s difficult to ignore what feels like a divine presence in your head for weeks on end. ”

My voice softens. “I can understand that.” Elox has never been anywhere near so forceful in his messages to me, and I still struggle with refusing to heed him.

Bastien cocks his head. “What do you think Sabrelle wanted? Did she really think Marclinus was doing a great job as emperor—did she want him terrorizing the rest of the continent? Who was going to stand up to him if not Aurelia?”

Neven shrugs helplessly. “You know how those kinds of visions are. The intent wasn’t totally clear.

The best that I could figure was that she was saying to follow the might.

Side with whoever was willing to really fight, because they’d hold the empire together in the end.

But I don’t think she was totally against Aurelia. ”

He catches my gaze. “In Rodrige, when you went looking for her blessed armband—I had a vision of red light surrounding you and bringing the empire to your feet, and the sense that I needed to make sure you knew. That’s why I told you to follow the signs of the gods.”

My stomach drops with a sudden lurch. “Red light…”

Raul’s head jerks toward me. “What?”

“I thought it was Elox guiding me—maybe I should have realized. Red isn’t his color.

” I shake my head. “When I was pretending to search for the armband, a reddish glow caught my attention. It led me to a specific place and ‘showed’ me where the armband was hidden. I could have retrieved the real thing… but I didn’t want to put that power in Linus’s hands, and getting it would have hurt the locals too. ”

Bastien frowns. “Then Sabrelle was trying to manipulate even you to her own ends. The imperial family has always credited her and Creaden with the founding and expansion of the empire. She wants to see it strengthened, not broken apart.”

“It sounds that way.” Other memories trickle up.

“A similar glow led me to overhear a conversation between merchants in Goric who’ve been sending Dariu faulty goods.

Maybe she hoped I’d get angry instead of sympathizing with them.

And Linus mentioned that Sabrelle sent him dreams that inspired some of the trials he put his potential brides through. Even?—”

I stop, caught in a sudden chill.

Raul’s arm tightens around me. “Even what?”

“Marc said he’d been having violent nightmares. He mentioned it at least once during the tour. He didn’t seem to think they were godlen-sent, but maybe he’d already adjusted his thinking too much for her to win him over that way.”

Lorenzo’s mouth twists. “If she manages to sway him, that could be worse than Valerisse.”

I stand up abruptly. “We need to talk to him, find out exactly what she showed him. I can come up with an excuse. The rest of you, step out of view before I talk to the guards outside.”

Lorenzo squeezes my hand before letting it go.

With visible reluctance, the princes move to the bathing room where they won’t be visible even if one of the guards steps inside.

It would hardly help my reputation for the empress to be seen entertaining her late husband’s foster brothers secretly in her bedroom less than a day after his death.

I ease open the door and peek out into the hall, putting on a sheepish expression. The guards posted there immediately jerk to sharper attention. “What do you need, Your Imperial Highness?”

“I find I’m too unsettled to sleep in here on my own.

I keep thinking about that vile man barging into my other bedroom.

” I add a shudder for dramatics’ sake. “I think I’d rest easier for now if Marc was watching over the doorway from the other side again.

Could one of you call him here? I still have the pallet if he needs more rest—I know he’d wake if there was a commotion. ”

The guards hesitate for just a second before leaping to assist. “Whatever you need. It’s no wonder.”

One of them hustles down the hall to pass on word to a page.

In a matter of minutes, Marc arrives at the apartment doorway, his tarnished curls a little rumpled and his eyes weary but his well-built form now clothed in a proper imperial guard uniform. He steps inside, carrying a folded blanket under his arm.

As the door shuts behind him, his gaze lingers on me, appraising. “I suppose we could make this a regular assignment.”

I manage half a smile. “That might serve our purposes well.”

“As long as you remember to keep enough distance,” Raul adds as the princes emerge to join us.

Marc takes them in before returning his attention to me. “I take it you didn’t summon me only for your personal security.”

“No.” I fold my arms in front of me, bracing for what I suspect will be an unpleasant recounting. “I want to know about the dreams you had while we were on tour. The bloody ones that had something to do with me. Did any of them feel as if they might have divine influence?”

Marc pauses, the momentary creasing of his brow suggesting that the possibility honestly hadn’t occurred to him before.

“I assumed they were brought on by all Linus’s aggressive ranting about you.

I’d rather not— You have to believe I found them horrifying when I woke up. It was never anything I wanted.”

Bastien lifts his chin toward his foster brother. “What happened in them? Spit it out. ”

Marc shoots him a quick glower but gathers himself. “Mostly there’d be destruction happening around Aurelia—buildings toppling or people crumpling where she walked, that sort of thing. And then I’d race in and… and slaughter her, and everything would recover.”

The horror he spoke of roughens his voice even more. He swallows audibly and focuses on me again. “Why would you think there’s anything divine about them?”

I don’t see any reason to hide what we know.

“You’re already aware that Valerisse claims Sabrelle is encouraging her attempts to get rid of me.

Linus mentioned being inspired by dreams she sent him.

Neven has had dreams and visions he believes came from her, encouraging him to see me as a threat.

And it appears that she tried to manipulate me into working toward her ends as well. ”

As I explain what we’ve experienced in more detail, Marc’s jaw tenses.

When I’ve finished, he swipes his hand over his mottled face.

“In light of all that… those dreams could have been her trying to incite ill-feeling toward you. If she was urging on Linus at the same time, he undermined that strategy. It was hard to put any stock in imagery that aligned with his madness.”

Raul eyes his imperial foster brother with open suspicion. “Are you still getting these murderous dreams?”

Marc shakes his head. “Not in weeks, maybe even months. I suppose Sabrelle could tell they weren’t swaying me.”

“If the godlen of war really is siding with Valerisse’s rebellion,” Neven says, “isn’t that much worse for Aurelia? There’ve got to be tens of thousands of Sabrellian dedicats just in Dariu, and a lot of them are soldiers.”

A thread of nausea winds through my gut. “If she can persuade them into seeing me as an enemy to the empire, we’re going to have a difficult battle ahead. Unless… ”

I trail off, overwhelmed by the thought that’s struck me. The men wait for me to gather my thoughts.

Despite my own fatigue, I harden my stance.

“Sabrelle reached out to me too. She gave me a chance to act in her favor. There has to be some way I can persuade her that my interests don’t have to be at odds with hers.

If I can win over her and those dedicated to her, the whole rebellion may very well fall apart. ”

But that requires convincing the godlen of war that a dedicat of peace is a worthy ruler of an empire… an empire I intend to disassemble.

The weight of that task stifles whatever hope flickered to life inside me. The princes’ expressions darken too.

But Marc’s gray eyes glint with sudden enthusiasm. “I may have something that’ll help your cause.”