Foundation of Smoke and Steel

Chapter 183

VivianThe word cut through her thoughts the moment she stepped into the room.

Vivian froze within her own internal monologue. She didn't actually have the right to say any of this. It was a good thing she wasn't saying it, only thinking it. She could picture her husband's, Sophie's, Nathan's, and Anmei's faces if she expressed such pettiness.

She struggled to get her impulses under control. She was Vivian Li, the Crane of the Li House, the Greatest of the Four Beauties of the Empire. She was not some jealous bar maid and she would not have such emotions cloud her judgment.

Her gaze fixed on Anmei, sharp and unyielding.

Vivian closed her eyes.

She took a deep breath and looked at Anmei's face.

Vivian took another deep breath.

The lanterns had been turned low. Maps still covered the central table, marked with the same careful notations from that morning's session, but the working atmosphere had shifted into something slower, looser. Ethan sat at the head of the table with his eyes closed, his shoulders dropped in a way she had not seen since before the battle. Anmei stood behind his chair, her fingers threaded through his hair, both thumbs moving in slow, deliberate arcs at the base of his skull.

Vivian set the folder down on the nearest clear surface.

She could tell that Nathan was trying very hard not to be noticed. He was still upset about his earlier comment, she could tell. Vivian did not look at him either.

"Anmei," she said. Her voice came out level, which was what she had intended, but still surprising.

Anmei glanced up without removing her hands. Her expression brightened. Not the brightening of a person caught doing something they shouldn't, but the genuine warmth of someone pleased by the company. That was the part Vivian found hardest to work with. There was nothing to push against when the warmth was real.

"Lady Vivian," Anmei said, her voice conversational and amused. "Princess and the little Li. Up so late? What brings you to the war room at this hour? Scholar Man and I were just discussing magic."

Ethan looked between them with the mild focus of a man returning from a significant distance. Then he straightened slightly, though not all the way, as if his body was still negotiating with the past hour.

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"Lady Li. Princess." He glanced toward the doorway. "I thought you'd retired. I would have thought you were asleep."

The smile softened his eyes. "Not that I am sad to see you."

"I had something to bring you, and I didn't think it could wait." Vivian nodded toward the folder. "The confirmation came through. The delegation has departed from the Capital. We can expect them within the week."

That pulled him the rest of the way upright. "The week? So long. Why aren't they flying? This is somewhat important."

Vivian, despite herself, gave her husband a warm smile. "Not everyone has carriages that can fly that far and fast with altered magic arrays that change the nature of travel, dear husband. Most of the carriages rely on mana stones, which are in short supply right now. Rumor has it that there is something wrong with the mana stone quarry in the Latolla. Apparently, that was why Father has been out of touch."

Vivian saw her husband consider this. "Since we know that we aren't going to be attacked, we should send our carriages, Nathan."

Nathan stood straighter. "Yes, brother-in-law."

"Let's inform the pilots that they will leave first thing in the morning. We will have a destination for them before or as they leave. We will have the carriages bring in the main delegation. Anyone else can come through the old northern paths."

Nathan saluted. Ethan rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Any chance we got a report from Karguk and the rest of his delegation in the last couple of hours?"

Sophie caught this one. "Yes, actually. Apparently, he is still trying to get information from his father. This Karguk fellow is surprisingly adept at political nuance, and from what I can tell, he is really interested in this alliance. We think his group will be here within the next two days."

The room settled into the particular stillness of people recalculating. Ethan's attention had sharpened entirely now, whatever ease he had been experiencing at Anmei's hands receding behind whatever he was already mapping in his head. Vivian had watched him do this enough times to recognize the shift, the moment he stopped being present in a room and started being present in the problem.

Behind him, Anmei's hands had slowed. She did not withdraw them immediately. She finished what she was doing with the same unhurried composure she had started with, her fingers sliding once more through his hair before she let her hands fall and stepped back to rest one palm lightly against the edge of the table instead.

Vivian watched the withdrawal, not for what it was, but for what it meant that it was unhurried.

"We'll need to prepare separate briefings," Ethan said. "The delegation and the Iron Tide are going to want different things, and giving them the same information risks one side learning what we've offered the other before we're ready."

"Agreed," Sophie said. "The question is how much we tell the Capital at all. If they don't understand the situation, they'll make decisions based on assumptions."

"They'll do that anyway," Nathan said. "Especially if Prince Alaric the buttlick comes."

Nathan seemed to remember who the princess was. "Oh, no offense, Your Highness."

Sophie considered Nathan. "How could that NOT be offensive, Young Master Li? And I thought you and Alaric were friends."

Nathan shrugged. "We are. He is my friend. Doesn't mean he couldn't use a good stabbing from time to time."

Sophie considered this. Then said, seemingly without thinking, "Yeah, to be fair... he is somewhat of a buttlick."

Sophie paused. She clapped her hands over her mouth.

Ethan snorted. It was clear he was trying very hard not to laugh.

Vivian let the discussion run for another few minutes, tracking it without participating, noting where the gaps were. When the thread began to circle, she cut across it cleanly.

"We'll go over positioning in the morning when everyone is rested. The messages will keep until then."

No one objected. Nathan stretched with boredom and amusement. Sophie lingered a moment, her gaze moving briefly to Anmei, then to Vivian, then to neither of them as she turned toward the door with the careful neutrality of someone declining to have an opinion.

Anmei remained where she was, relaxed, her expression unhurried and open. She met Vivian's gaze with the same warmth she had offered at the beginning of the scene. There was nothing in it that could be called a challenge, which was the challenge.

Vivian turned toward the door.

Her route took her behind Ethan's chair. She did not alter her pace. As she passed, her hand dropped to brush the carved back of it. Her fingers rested there for just a moment, light enough that it required no acknowledgment, deliberate enough that it could not be mistaken for accident.

She continued without looking back.

In the corridor, the sound of the room receded behind her. She walked at her usual pace, the folder tucked under her arm, her breathing even.

She was his legal wife.

This was a legal and political fact with structural weight, and right now the structure around it was not as clearly defined as it needed to be. That was a problem she intended to address. Probably not tonight, and maybe not with words, but with something more defining.

She needed to have a conversation with her husband.

She just had to figure out what she wanted to say.