Why Must We Wake Him?
There were a great many weapons arrayed before the Emperor’s bedchamber.
Twelve of the Emperor’s personal guard.
Six medical officers from the Imperial Medical Office.
Add the attendants and palace servants, and the number climbed past twenty.
And every last one of them stood in my way.
“Stand aside.”
The captain of the guard answered at once.
“I cannot.”
“There is a problem with the medicine being administered to His Majesty the Emperor.”
“An unconfirmed claim.”
“I have come to confirm it.”
“His Majesty’s bedchamber is not a place that may be searched on the strength of the Regent’s seal alone.”
The captain’s gaze settled on my finger.
The imperial crest engraved upon the red jewel.
It had opened the Ministry of Finance.
It had opened my own mansion.
It had opened the warehouses of the Argen Trading Company.
But the Emperor’s private chambers were different.
Beyond that door lay the highest authority in the empire.
Conscious or not.
The Emperor was still the Emperor.
“This is not a search.”
I looked the captain straight in the eye.
“It is a seal.”
His brow twitched.
“That is even less permissible.”
“Someone has been continuously feeding His Majesty a drug that clouds the mind.”
“How dare you utter such blasphemy—”
“Imperial Physician Edrick Senel has testified to it himself.”
A murmur rippled through the medical officers.
“Lord Senel was dismissed for failure of treatment.”
An older physician stepped forward.
“We cannot trust that man’s judgment.”
“I have already arrested the physician who tried to kill him and leave behind a suicide note framing Her Highness the Princess for poisoning the Emperor.”
The murmuring stopped cold.
“We will soon learn whose orders that physician was following as well.”
I pointed at the bedchamber doors.
“Before that, we must secure the medicine inside.”
The captain of the guard shook his head.
“No one enters without a formal imperial decree.”
“His Majesty has lost consciousness. How exactly do you propose we obtain a decree?”
“Then you must wait.”
“For what?”
My voice rose a fraction.
“Until every last drop of that medicine has been cleared away inside?”
The guards’ hands settled on their sword hilts.
Behind me, the Princess’s personal guards straightened their stance as well.
Perfect.
Right outside the Emperor’s bedchamber, the Emperor’s own guard and the Regent Princess’s guard were one heartbeat away from drawing steel on each other.
At this point even I was starting to wonder whether I was investigating a case of treason or attempting a fresh one.
“Everyone, hands down.”
A low voice carried from the far end of the corridor.
Every head bowed at once.
Adelia approached, her long red hair cascading down her back, a crimson cloak thrown over black uniform.
Four escort knights followed in her wake.
“Your Highness.”
I bowed quickly.
Adelia passed me and fixed her gaze on the bedchamber doors.
“Report.”
I gave a concise account of everything that had happened at Edrick’s mansion.
The forged suicide.
The note claiming to have acted on Adelia’s orders.
Edrick, still alive.
The physician who had let slip that he received instructions from the Chief of the Medical Office.
And the testimony that the Emperor had collapsed not from poison, but from chronic illness.
“If Edrick is correct, His Majesty should have regained consciousness within three days.”
Adelia listened in silence.
“Someone has been continuously administering a drug that slows the pulse and clouds the mind.”
“And so?”
“The medicine must be stopped at once.”
“If it is stopped?”
“He may recover consciousness within a few days at the earliest.”
Adelia regarded the bedchamber doors for a long moment.
“We have secured the testimony of the Imperial Physician and the forged suicide note.”
Her voice rang clear through the entire corridor.
“There is a possibility that the medicine administered to His Majesty the Emperor has been tampered with. From this moment, I place the bedchamber and the pharmacy under the authority of the Regency for preservation.”
She turned her eyes on the captain of the guard.
“Open the door.”
The captain stiffened.
“Your Highness. His Majesty’s bedchamber—”
“This is the command of the Regent Princess.”
“Without an imperial decree—”
“There is a possibility that the physicians currently inside are assassinating His Majesty as we speak.”
Adelia’s eyes went cold and still.
“If you still bar the way, I will judge that you are colluding with them.”
The captain’s face hardened.
A moment later, he stepped aside.
The massive bedchamber doors swung open.
A thick, bittersweet medicinal smell rolled out into the corridor.
An old man lay upon the bed.
The Emperor.
Master of the empire.
His face was ashen; only his chest rose and fell with agonizing slowness.
On the bedside table, medicine bottles and empty cups stood in a neat row.
“Drag every last person from the Medical Office outside.”
Adelia’s order cut the air.
“Your Highness!”
The older physician raised his voice.
“If His Majesty’s treatment is interrupted, the danger—”
“Is that why you have failed to wake him for months?”
“We have done our utmost.”
“It is that ‘utmost’ I intend to investigate first.”
The guards hauled the physicians out.
Adelia picked up one of the bottles from the table.
Dark brown liquid swirled inside.
“Seal the pharmacy and the prescription vault.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Confiscate every remaining drop of medicine. Prescriptions, compounding records, visitor logs as well. Relieve the Chief of the Medical Office of his post at once, confine him in a separate chamber, and transfer custody to the Inspectorate.”
“As you command.”
“Everyone out except Cassian.”
The captain of the guard lifted his head.
“I cannot leave Your Highness alone.”
“Stand watch outside the door.”
“But—”
“I will not say it twice.”
The imperial guards and the Princess’s knights withdrew.
The heavy doors closed.
Only the sleeping Emperor, Adelia, and I remained inside the bedchamber.
Adelia looked down at the Emperor.
“You said that if the medicine is stopped, he will wake within a few days.”
“If Edrick’s judgment is correct, yes.”
“Why must we wake him?”
I stared at her.
“Pardon?”
“His Majesty.”
Her voice dropped lower.
“I asked why we must hurry to wake him.”
“Only when His Majesty awakens can the poisoning charge hanging over Your Highness be lifted.”
“Do you truly believe His Majesty will clear my name?”
“We have Edrick’s testimony.”
“The word of one dismissed court physician of no account?”
“We also secured the forged suicide note.”
“Someone will simply claim I coerced the man into forging a genuine note.”
“The confession from the Argen Trading Company as well—”
“A confession extracted by the man who took bribes to falsify ledgers.”
Painfully accurate.
When I fell silent, Adelia took a step closer.
“The moment His Majesty wakes, the Regency ends.”
Her gaze dropped to the seal on my finger.
“The investiture ceremony for the Crown Prince will reopen, and I will have to surrender every scrap of authority. You will have to return that ring as well.”
That part was a little regrettable.
I had been finding it extremely useful of late.
“And His Majesty will begin by asking why you sealed the Ministry of Finance and a trading company, and why you forced open even the Emperor’s own bedchamber.”
If the Emperor woke, Adelia would not be the only one in danger.
The corrupt official who had taken money to brand men traitors.
The man who had carried the Princess’s seal and sealed, one after another, the Ministry of Finance, noble mansions, and trading houses.
And who had now thrown open even the Emperor’s private chambers.
In the Emperor’s eyes it could look exactly like a palace coup staged by the Regent Princess and her pet villain.
It would be rather difficult to argue otherwise.
My sudden surge of loyalty cooled by several degrees.
“His Majesty raised me as his heir.”
Adelia spoke.
“He taught me imperial law, entrusted me with the treasury, and sent me to the battlefield.”
Her voice was dry as dust.
“It was a war from which I might never have returned. Yet I came back alive, and I led the council of ministers in his place.”
A faint smile touched her lips.
“Then a son was born.”
A boy could become Crown Prince simply by being born.
Everything Adelia had built over a lifetime became secondary in an instant.
“His Majesty told me to rejoice. That my younger brother would shoulder my burdens for me.”
She looked down at the Emperor.
“While he stripped those burdens from me and took them away.”
I had no answer.
Not politically.
And not when measured against my own neck.
Leaving the Emperor asleep a while longer was the wiser course.
“I am not saying we let him die.”
Adelia said.
“But the moment he wakes will be decided by me.”
So we uncover the conspiracy, only for the victim to continue it herself?
And simply cut out the part where her own head rolls.
Hmm.
“If Your Highness personally delays His Majesty’s consciousness, the poisoning suspicion will only look more true.”
“Then make certain no one finds out.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“I have already confirmed that my loyal subject is quite capable at this sort of work.”
I could not tell whether that was praise or a notice of increased workload.
Adelia opened the door.
“Bring Edrick Senel.”
The captain of the guard outside bowed.
“His Majesty’s treatment will be entrusted to him once more. This is not a full reinstatement. Place him as temporary chief physician under the authority of the Regency, and instruct him that stabilizing life and condition is the absolute priority.”
Edrick was carried into the Imperial Palace on a litter.
His complexion was still pale, yet his eyes were clear and sharp.
The moment he examined the Emperor’s condition and the confiscated medicine, he clenched his teeth.
“It is not only sleepwort.”
Edrick sniffed the bottle.
“There is powdered root of azure-ash flower mixed in—something that slows the heart-pulse. At this dosage, recovery of consciousness becomes extremely difficult.”
“If the medicine is stopped, when can he regain consciousness?”
“As soon as two days. At the latest, within five there is a possibility.”
“Do not rush.”
Edrick lifted his head.
“Pardon?”
“His Majesty has been suppressed by drugs for a long time. We cannot risk straining the heart-pulse by forcing consciousness too abruptly.”
Adelia looked down at the Emperor.
“Stabilizing life and condition is the first priority. Do not use any strong stimulus or prescription aimed at restoring consciousness without my express permission.”
Edrick hesitated for a breath.
“I will comply within the bounds of medical safety.”
“You will compound every medicine yourself.”
“Yes.”
Adelia turned to me.
“Now we only need to find who arranged all this, yes?”
“To find them, we must force them to move.”
“How?”
I looked at the Emperor lying motionless on the bed.
Everyone had been desperate to keep the Emperor’s mouth shut.
Then we simply had to announce that the mouth had opened.
“Announce that His Majesty has regained consciousness.”
Edrick stared at me in open shock.
Adelia did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
“He has not even opened his eyes yet.”
“We announce that clear signs of recovery of consciousness have appeared.”
“You propose we lie?”
“We are merely informing them of the truth a little early.”
“We still do not know for certain when he will wake.”
“That particular detail need not be included.”
Adelia studied me for a long time.
“What effect will it have?”
“Those who fear His Majesty’s awakening will begin to move.”
They might try to switch the medicine again.
They might try once more to kill Edrick.
They might burn evidence, flee the palace, or send word to the young prince’s faction.
“You mean to use His Majesty as bait.”
“He is Your Highness’s father, so he makes a very expensive piece of bait.”
“Are you truly a loyal subject?”
“My head is still attached, so I believe the answer is yes.”
Adelia gave a short, dry laugh.
Then she said,
“Well done, Cassian.”
For an instant I thought I had misheard.
So the woman does know how to praise people.
“Thank you.”
Then, so softly that only I could catch it, she murmured,
“Thanks to you, His Majesty will be able to rest a little longer as well.”
Of course it was never ordinary praise.
That night, the Imperial Palace issued an official announcement regarding the Emperor’s condition.
His Majesty the Emperor has moved his fingers.
Breath and heart-pulse have stabilized.
Clear signs of recovery of consciousness have been confirmed.
The news raced beyond the palace walls.
Some rejoiced.
Some declared that the Crown Prince’s investiture would soon resume.
Some raised cups in celebration, saying Adelia’s regency was finished.
And less than one hour after the announcement was released, an imperial courier arrived at the sealed bedchamber of the Emperor.
He carried a sealed command bearing the Emperor’s own seal.
“An imperial decree from His Majesty.”
The captain of the guard received the document and presented it to Adelia.
She examined the wax and the seal, then handed it to me.
“Open it.”
The wax was genuine.
The Emperor’s seal was unmistakable.
I broke the seal.
All investigations and seizures concerning the prescriptions administered to His Majesty the Emperor are to cease immediately.
The Chief of the Medical Office is to be restored to his original post.
Edrick Senel is to be arrested on charges of impersonating an imperial order and obstructing treatment.
I turned and looked back into the bedchamber.
The Emperor still lay with his eyes closed.
He had not moved so much as a single finger.
Hmm.
So when exactly did he write this?