Elven Legacy

Chapter 7

Imxi

The empress of Chyulin sat in her throne, an intricate, over-the-top affair with a halo-like golden shape for the backrest. She crossed her legs under a raspberry-red dress and smiled affably when a servant came to refill her cup of chrysanthemum tea with heated water. Imxi stared for a brief moment at the undulating flower at the bottom of her cup, then looked up again at the young emperor, Neros of Azuria.

Neros had come to the imperial palace unannounced, showing up on her doorstep at an early hour and demanding to speak with her.

Demanding!

The nerve on this one, honestly. Imxi had despised Emperor Shezenos and his oppressive, war-mongering rule, of course. Well, his son wasn't much better, as of yet. It didn't help that he was only twenty-one years old, she supposed. At thirty-two, Empress Imxi Chadonia was considered very young for the title. But she'd been empress for four years now, and before that, she'd been devoted to her studies, and followed her mother everywhere so she could learn.

Even, sometimes, when her mother forbade it.

If what Imxi had read and heard about Neros D'Azuriani was correct, then he was self-centered, arrogant, and he surrounded himself only with people who would never dare contradict him. Her imperial consul in Azuria had written to her that Neros had thrown six lavish weddings over the past months, each one costing more taxpayer money than the last.

Six!

The young emperor stood before her now, on the black velvet carpet, at the bottom of the blue-veined marble steps that led to the throne. He had short black hair, frowning thick eyebrows and neatly-trimmed beard, and his deep-set brown eyes were stern. Neros had small metal studs in his earlobes and a few along the tops of his ears, as per the southern fashion. His outfit of black trousers and long pale tunic was adorned with a white side-cloak, trimmed in gold, and he also wore a long sword with inlaid rubies along the handle, which protruded above his left shoulder.

Not that he intended to ever use that sword, from the look of it.

Neros had with him an obnoxious retinue of some thirty Azurian soldiers in their red-themed uniforms, complete with metal breastplates, shoulder pads, gauntlets and leg guards. They crowded in awkwardly around the central aisle, in between the decorative fountain and the marble steps.

The ones at the back flinched away apprehensively when Singhi, the empress's panther demon, casually glided over to the fountain to lap some water. Imxi hid her amusement behind a sip of tea.

In comparison, Imxi had very few people beside her. Only two men, standing on either side of her, their stance relaxed. They wore no armor – they had no need for it – only their elegant shamshir, sheathed tight to their backs. They bore the sinuous black marks of the Demon Blessed on their skin, though their demons themselves were not present.

Should their demons appear, Imxi feared Neros and his men might suffer some ungainly incidents of the soiling sort.

Imxi was very fond of her servants, she wouldn't want them to have to clean that up.

"Empress," Neros said, and conjured enough humility in himself to bow. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

Yes, well, it isn't like you left me much of a choice.

She shelved her irritation and impatience neatly away. Gave him a polite smile.

"Of course," she said in Azurian, the language Neros had used. "After all, we share the longest border in the civilized world."