“I am,” Ciana said.
Fyre’s red eyes stared at Ciana for several long seconds. Nathan expected them to turn back to him, but they never did. Her expression never changed, but he worried about what was going on in her head.
Nathan hoped he wouldn’t regret his next words. He didn’t trust Fyre, but she knew enough to be dangerous. On top of that, she held extensive influence in the beastkin.
Above all else, she was loyal. If Nathan made Fyre his Champion, he could investigate her emotions during the transfer process and double-check if she was deceiving him.
“And you’re also becoming my Champion, Fyre,” Nathan said.
Before anyone could react, the staff brought out plates of fried fish, curried beef, and bowls of thick tomato soup. A whole hunk of decorative smoked cheese was set to the side, along with a knife and jam.
Fyre waited patiently for the staff to retreat.
Then she squealed in excitement. Nathan felt that his eardrums were about to burst.
Sen reached over to hug the horsegirl first. The excitement quickly became contagious, and overwhelmed the earlier jealousy and tension. More food was brought out along with wine, and Nathan suspected the owners were very happy with the bill they’d give Anna at the end.
In the midst of it, Nathan found Ciana and ruffled her hair.
She looked up at him in confusion.
“You’re fine?” he asked her.
She rolled her eyes, and chose to lean against him, pressing the side of her head against his chest. “I have the horn, she doesn’t. In the end, I’m just glad that you chose me at all, Nathan.”
“You never needed to worry about that, Ciana. You’ll make an excellent Champion,” he said.
Later that night, he found himself called to Alice’s bedroom. She and Anna sat at a small table, drinking a white wine. Nathan refused the offer of a glass.
“Suit yourself,” Anna said. “More for me.”
“Remember that there is a vote tomorrow morning,” he told her.
“You’re my lover, Nathan, not my father.”
He shuddered. “I told you never to make a joke like that again.”
Anna tilted her head. “Oh, you did. I forgot. Guess I’ll have to rethink my idea for dirty talk in the bedroom then.”
Alice stared at them in a mixture of horror and jealousy.
Nathan moved the topic along. “It sounded like the vote is decided.”
“As decided as it can be. Tomorrow will be a big day, in many ways. I’ve been absurdly busy. I wish I had more time for you.” Alice sighed. “But I’m going to be busier afterward. Grandpa loved my proposal to reach out to other nobles as the princess. I don’t think Uncle Leopold did, but he didn’t object.”
“Alice, I adore you, but I think you need to admit that the Emperor wants you to replace him,” Anna said flatly.
Alice and Nathan grimaced, and looked at each other.
“I know,” Alice said. “If you’ve also realized it, then I guess I need to ask if you support me. Do you?”
“Yes,” both Anna and Nathan said without hesitation.
Alice’s breath hitched. She placed her wine glass on the table, then folded her hands in her lap.
“That means a lot,” she said. “Just to check, this isn’t because there’s no alternative? You—”
“Alice, do you want to become empress?” Nathan asked. “That’s the real question. Nothing else matters. Tharban isn’t going to fuck off. Right now, the only thing that matters is that we support you. But you need to be the one to take the step. I imagine you don’t trip over and fall into being an empress.”
“Well, I was practically born into this, so is it any different?” Alice mumbled.
“Alice.”
“Yes, I do,” she snapped. “I just… This isn’t how I wanted it. Can’t everything stay as it is? I could enjoy my years with you… the two of you, I mean. Grandpa leads the Empire through all of this nonsense. You become a fantastic Bastion. I don’t need power if I have all of you.”
Nathan wondered if he had asked himself that same question in the past. If his old world had remained stuck in time, with the demons outside Falmir, and Nathan enjoying a life of exile with his beloved Champions in the north, would he have been happy?
Did the answer to that question matter anymore?
“I definitely empathize,” Anna said. “But these are the cards we’ve been dealt. I nearly tried to curl up and refuse to walk forward. Nathan picked me back up, and while some days I want to throw him down several flights of stairs for doing so, he was right.”
“Several?” Nathan repeated.
“Well, you’re pretty tough. I imagine it would take a while to actually hurt you.”
Alice giggled. Then Anna joined in. Soon, both women leaned against the table as they laughed. The joke hadn’t been that funny, but things might have felt a little grim for them lately.
“Thank you,” Alice said. “It will be hard, however.”
“I can only imagine,” Nathan said. “And I mean that. I don’t know how the emperor is elected beyond the basic idea that the Diet votes.”
Alice stared at him in disbelief, but Anna nodded in agreement.
“Really?’ Alice said.
“Milgar had to explain it to me,” Anna said defensively. “The last election was over a decade before I was born.”
Alice grumbled. “It’s fairly simple, but there are lots of bureaucratic complexities.”
“Of course. Would we be in the Empire if there weren’t?”
She glared at him. He waited for her to continue.
“The Emperor needs to call an election first, or be… incapacitated. Throwing him out requires almost every noble to agree. It’s practically impossible,” Alice explained. “Afterward, nobles submit themselves to the Diet for consideration. We then remove anyone in service to the Empire like active Bastions, commoners, or those in the line of succession to an archduchy.”
“So a random knight could apply?” Nathan asked.
“Yes, but no.” Alice smiled. “The Diet has never accepted anyone less than a count, or someone from the family of a count.”
He nodded, and then gestured for her to continue.
“Next, the Princes College votes on candidates. They control the Empire, so they choose who to reject with a majority vote. Finally, the entire Diet sits. This is… complicated. Not every noble has the right to vote on the emperor. Some can even vote twice. Fixing this would require not just altering the constitution, but grants of titles and lands from millennia ago.”
“It’s impossible, in other words,” Nathan said.
“Yes. Altering the constitution already requires almost every noble to agree, the approval of the Emperor, and every college to agree. Only changes blessed by Omria herself have succeeded,” Alice said.
“So the constitution is effectively backed by the goddess. No wonder people don’t want to change it,” Nathan said. “Isn’t that bad?”
“Very. But the Nationalists are deeply unpopular in many corners. If the only alternative is to bend the rules a little, we might be able to sneak through. And if civil war breaks out…” Alice grimaced. “Well, changing the constitution becomes a lot easier when all the nobles you disagree with are dead or unable to enter the palace.”
On that dark topic, they ended the night. Nathan prevented both women from drinking too much.
Upon returning to his bedroom, he found it occupied by two very enthusiastic Champions. Sen and Sunstorm took turns, as they often did.
They were unapologetic in the morning.
“It’s not even late,” Sen said. “Loo, it’s a little after seven. What time is the big event?”
“Ten. I think I need to be there early,” Nathan said as he stepped into the bathroom with both of them. They were still naked from last night.
He rubbed at his stubble, realizing he needed to shave it off before appearing in front of the entire Diet. Stepping into the shower, he fiddled with t
he taps until the water was just right.
“The bathrooms here are massive,” Sen mused, placing their new clothes in a basket in the corner for later. “I can’t imagine how long it takes to clean them.”
Then she turned around and stared at Sunstorm, who had kneeled down in front of Nathan.
“But I can imagine how long it takes to clean Nathan. Really, Choe, you couldn’t wait?” Sen said with a smirk, watching as her fellow Champion polished his cock with her mouth. “I guess we have a couple of hours. Why not have some more fun?”
His shower stopped being about cleaning, and more about being cleaned out, as Sen and Sunstorm slurped and suckled at his length in front of him. They giggled and moaned as their fun turned serious, and he fucked them into the bed together.
Fortunately, at least one of them kept track of time. They did manage to clean up, and he even shaved.
“9:45,” Nathan said as he ducked out of his bedroom.
“Princess Alice said to meet her in the throne room,” one of the royal guards said. “She came by earlier.”
Nathan froze. Shit. The door had been locked, but Alice definitely knew what he had been doing.
“Thanks,” he said.
For whatever reason, Sen remained behind and spoke with that same guard. Sunstorm raised an eyebrow at her when she caught up.
“She wanted to know if we really fucked all night and morning,” Sen said.
“You’re joking, right?” Nathan asked. “What did she actually want to know?”
Both Champions smirked at him.
“That wasn’t a joke?” He groaned.
“One asked me about how big you were the other day,” Sunstorm said. “I think you have fans.”
He already knew that. Did the beastkin at Gharrick Pass act the same way?
Was that why Fei acted so catty around them?
He found Alice, and she led him into the grand hall with little more than a smile and a raised eyebrow at his Champions.
To his surprise, he stood on the lowest level of the hall, beside Alice and the Emperor. Leopold and Maylis flanked the Emperor on the opposite side.
Normally, rooms appeared larger when empty. The opposite applied to the grand hall. Nathan thought it appeared massive when empty, but when full of people, it genuinely intimidated him. A hall that could contain the entire population of a large town held a power all its own.
Today, it was packed from wall to ceiling with people and looked larger and grander than ever. Cordons and magical barriers separated the nobles from guests on every level. Royal knights stood watch on every level to protect everyone. Everywhere Nathan looked, he saw someone of importance. Nobles flooded all three levels of the grand hall, clustering toward the balconies so they could watch and participate in the proceedings.
Only the archdukes and dukes had any space to themselves. Nathan spotted Anna with Archduke von Milgar on the top level. Narime and Fyre stood with them, alongside a pair of duogem Champions that protected Milgar.
Tharban stood with Nurevia and a cluster of Nationalist nobles on the upper level. They had managed to sneak onto the same level as the archdukes. Supposedly that didn’t happen normally, but there must be too many people here today.
Even the ground floor was filled with people. Royal knights lined the central walkway, and the tails of the beastkin were more obvious than ever as they stood up on end. No nobles stood on this level. Instead, the public had been allowed to crowd in.
Barons, knights, sorcerers, merchants—anybody of a status high enough to pass muster and have a pass to enter the palace grounds was allowed in today. Given the number of facilities in the palace, literally tens of thousands of people had access.
Nathan felt that most of those people stood here today. They piled out the front doors of the palace, like an unending tide of human flesh.
Maylis had set up some sort of external speaker system in case this happened. It was used for the Emperor’s annual address, but there had been anticipation that today’s vote would draw attention.
The largest war in recent history was about to end. And it was doing so against the will of one of the most powerful factions of nobles.
Despite the spectacle, the day proceeded as expected.
Endless speeches, lots of posturing, sound, and fury from the Nationalists. Nathan did his best to appear alert, given far too many eyes were on him. It helped that Sunstorm prodded him any time he began to grow bored.
The most notable unexpected event was that the Emperor only spoke briefly. He handed over much of his responsibility to Alice, who in turn pushed peace and reconciliation hard. Nathan got a mention due to his efforts in bringing peace to the Federation and that the Empire remained the mightiest nation on Doumahr.
Naturally, Tharban and a long train of Nationalists gave a similar screed about why peace with Trafaumh was a mistake. About how the Empire should push farther, and reclaim the lost territory of the Empire using its military might. Lots of religious rhetoric.
Nathan wondered if Tharban and Fyre learned from the same scriptwriter, although Fyre tarred her opponents with heresy while Tharban tried to create zealots from his supporters.
It didn’t escape Nathan that this war had started over religious affairs. The Empire had started this war over the Pearlescent Canyon—the place where Omria descended to Doumahr. The peace terms gave the Empire ownership of the canyon, so long as Trafaumh were allowed to continue their religious rites and services there without interruption. By all accounts, a political victory, but it wasn’t enough given Nathan had conquered a nation.
Notably, the archdukes remained silent. Anna spoke briefly, after Tharban attacked her refusal to send military aid. Her brother continued to serve in the war, after all, along with soldiers from her former county. She reminded everyone that the war with the Federation had been settled without intervention from the Imperial Army, save for Nathan himself.
The fact that the Nationalist-supporting archdukes said nothing spoke volumes. They held the true power in the Empire. Nathan was terrible at politics, but he knew that was significant. Tharban was an attack dog, but he wasn’t being publicly supported.
The vote came and went. The archdukes all abstained. The peace treaty passed with well over half the vote.
A hush fell over the grand hall.
In Falmir or the Spires, this would be when the royal knights started slamming their weapons into the ground and chanting about the greatness of the nobility or some such nonsense. That didn’t happen. The knights remained on edge, ready for anyone to try to attack a noble, the Emperor, or possibly Alice.
The Emperor raised his hands. “The Diet has spoken. I will acknowledge the will of the Empire. We are now at peace with the Order of Trafaumh. The war has ended.”
Cheers erupted through the hall. Not from everybody, but from enough people. The nobles restrained themselves to enthusiastic applause. After Alice hugged Nathan, he knew that word of his involvement with the Imperial family would rip through the entire Empire.
Chapter 12
The following days were far tamer. Nathan held many of the meetings he had organized while Alice and Anna attended the many votes in the Diet.
He ended up drinking tea and coffee for hours on end some days. At first, many nobles had turned down his request to meet with them or had deflected to their respective archduke. In the days following the peace vote, those refusals swiftly changed into requests to personally meet with Nathan. Extravagant luncheons and degustations at some of the priciest restaurants were often offered.
Part of Nathan was interested. In reality, he simply didn’t have the time to physically go to most of them. Narime deftly shifted her focus from Anna to him, and began to work with several officials under Milgar and Alice to prioritize the train of nobility seeking Nathan’s attention.
His nights ran late, either because he was pulled into meetings with the Emperor or Milgar, or because Anna needed his advice on something military in nature. He di
d attend a couple of private events with some interested nobles, although only with Anna, and laid off the alcohol.
“Leopold, don’t take this the wrong way, but this only cements my opinion of politics,” Nathan said one night, just before the final weekend.
The two of them shared a drink in a parlor in the palace. Alice, the Emperor, Anna, and the others were discussing some major taxation vote on Monday, the final sitting day of the Diet. On Tuesday, all the nobles would set off home. Most of them would be horribly hungover as they sat in their carriages or used gateways to teleport across the Empire.
“The Diet only sits once per season. Sometimes it even decides that winter is too cold, so most of the nobles don’t turn up. Or there’s a war on, so they can’t hold any important votes.” Leopold chuckled. “Sessions like this are rare. The last time I saw the palace that full was when I was young.”
“Was that when Omria used to crown emperors?” Nathan joked.
Leopold gave him an upturned look that suggested he wasn’t quite that old and didn’t appreciate the joke. Then he chuckled anyway.
“One day, you’ll be in my place,” Leopold said.
“I plan to do what you didn’t.”
“Oh?”
“Retire to a nice manor by the coast with a dozen beastkin maids who love me dearly,” Nathan said, repeating a line Leopold once used to chide him.
“Only a dozen? If you think you can get away with so few, then maybe I should try to become friends with Tharban.” Leopold smirked as he took a big swig of his ale.
“It’s not that bad,” Nathan said.
“I spend a lot of time in the royal guard barracks. Ciana does as well,” Leopold said, making his reason for doing so evident. “That means I hear a lot of their… chatter.”
“Urgh.” Nathan placed his head in his arms.
“You are the topic of a lot of dirty talk and fantasies.” Leopold paused. “Perhaps more than I appreciate.”
“Let’s change topics, before you become too fatherly,” Nathan said.
The old man laughed. “I am very aware of Ciana’s interest in you. She is a unicorn, and they only accept men for two reasons: family, and mating.”
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