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Ato didn’t mind the night shift. Back when he'd been on outer guard duty, it had been tedious, staring for hours at the treasures on display in the dim light of the fourth anteroom. But on the inner guard, standing guard at night meant watching over his Radiancy's broken sleep, when he was in more danger from his own nightmares than from any external threat, and what he needed from his guard was to protect his dignity.
In the dressing room, Lord Conju was wielding two gold dressing-wands and administering his Radiancy’s nightly dose of gossip. “I believe Franzel has been expending a great deal of effort to that end, my lord,” Lord Conju said, wafting the black silk night robe over his Radiancy’s head. “We all know Cliopher has never been willing to sleep when there's a budget to write or a report to finish, but now that the purifications are complete, he has a great deal of missed sleep to catch up on, and Franzel knows it.”
His Radiancy nodded absently, seated on the dressing stool, while Lord Conju chose a lotion and sponges from a lacquered tray and continued his steady patter of gossip. The Imperial signet flashed a reflection onto the polished alabaster ceiling, and Ato glanced down and saw his Radiancy's hands trembling in his lap. The purifications, thought Ato. Cliopher Lord Mdang might have finished with the rituals needed for the Viceroy investiture, but his Radiancy had two more weeks of midnight and dawn purifications to endure before he could leave on his quest.
Lord Conju settled his charge into the bed and closed the foamwork curtains; Ato and Picabe settled into their night watch. Ato was not surprised when, not even a bell later, he heard a cry from behind the curtains, followed by rapid breathing, slowly quieting to a more normal rhythm. The protocol for nightmares was well established: if there was no discernible threat, leave the Glorious One some privacy to recover himself. So it was also no surprise to see his Radiancy part the curtains and rise from his bed an hour later. A sleepless night might see the guards watching over his Radiancy pacing in the gardens, or around his study.
However, when his Radiancy, without a word, walked through a seldom-used doorway into an old privy closet, Ato and Pikabe exchanged startled glances. They followed him through the door and then, inexplicably, through another doorway that had appeared in the wall before Ato could see how it happened. This was… not in the protocols.
“Glorious One?” Pikabe hazarded. No response. “My lord?”
His Radiancy continued on, not even allowing his guards to precede him into the dark passageway beyond the hidden door. Ato and Pikabe, considerably alarmed now, hurried after him through the passageway and down a spiral stair that Ato had never even heard of, much less seen. This was potentially the biggest security breach in centuries: a secret passageway leading straight into the Imperial bedchamber? There had been no time to alert the outer guards, and thinking twice about it, Ato wasn’t even sure it would have been advisable. Did Commander Omo and Ser Rhodin know about this passage? If they had kept it quiet, maybe Ato and Pikabe should also?
They came to a landing where there was room for his Radiancy to stop and allow his guard to get ahead of him. He didn’t stop, and he didn’t respond when Pikabe called after him again. Ato caught Pikabe’s eye and signed sleepwalking? Pikabe threw up his hands in a very non-guard-specific sign of frustration. His Radiancy was not known for sleepwalking; there was still, of course, a protocol, but it involved waking the Groom of the Chamber before his Radiancy left the Imperial apartments, and it most certainly did not involve breaching security to show the Groom of the Chamber a secret passageway into the Imperial bedchamber.
His Radiancy reached the bottom of the spiral stair, turned left into a hallway, and kept walking. There’s no dust in here, Ato realized suddenly: another sign that someone knew about this passageway, and hadn’t told the inner guard. This report was going to have to go straight to Commander Omo, as soon as possible.
At the bottom of a narrow stairway, the mage light above his Radiancy’s head showed a panel in the wall, with a sketch of a tiger. He pressed the tiger’s head, and a doorway opened onto a dimly lit hallway. Ato risked a glance at Pikabe, whose eyes had gone wide, as both of them realized where this passageway must lead: these were the apartments belonging to the lord of Zunidh. The Viceregal apartments.
His Radiancy had sleepwalked into Lord Mdang’s apartments.
Ato was now somewhat less worried about the security situation—Lord Mdang’s apartments were guarded on the outer doors—and more worried about his Radiancy’s reaction if he woke up and found where he had gone in his sleep. It was obvious to the entire inner guard that his Radiancy was completely gone on his Lord Chancellor, now promoted to Viceroy. The guards had even formed a book club, where they read the thinly veiled popular romances about Aurelius Magnus and the Seafarer King, and tried not to speculate too much. Because, somehow, Lord Mdang didn’t see it, and his Radiancy didn’t want him to. It was going to be a bit embarrassing, at the very least, for his Radiancy to find out he’d been sleepwalking into the man’s private study…
… or rather, his bedroom. They were now entering Lord Mdang’s bedroom.
The positive side to this, Ato reminded himself, was that Lord Mdang was the one person it was now safe for his Radiancy to touch, since the investiture. So it would not be a security-related emergency if his Radiancy accidentally brushed up against his Viceroy—
—or, for that matter, climbed into his bed, snuggled up with his back against him, and settled back into sleep.
And it would not be any of the guards’ business if said Viceroy mumbled something in his sleep, threw an arm over the Lord of Rising Stars, the Last Emperor of Astandalas, the Lord of Five Thousand Lands and Ten Thousand Titles, and went back to snoring into his pillow.
But it was, thought Ato, going to make for the most compelling book club meeting they had had in years.
—
Something hit Cliopher in the face. He startled awake. Who was—what was—
He was in his bed, in the bedroom of the apartments of the Lord of Zunidh, where he belonged.
The Lord Emperor was also in Cliopher’s bed, in the bedroom of the apartments of the Lord of Zunidh, where he most certainly did not belong.
And his Radiancy was, apparently, having a nightmare. That was what had woken Cliopher; his Radiancy was thrashing in his sleep, moaning something Cliopher couldn’t quite make out.
He looked around, alarmed, and saw Pikabe and Ato standing at attention, both of them looking somewhat sheepish as they met his eye. Was this a dream? How had they all gotten here without waking him? How was it even possible for his Radiancy to have hit Cliopher without—and then Cliopher remembered the purifications, and that it was, in fact, safe for him to touch his Radiancy’s skin. Which was certainly fortunate, since his Radiancy was fighting something off in his dream, or pushing someone away, and his hands were—
Cliopher reached around his Radiancy to capture his flailing hands, their long, elegant fingers balled into fists. After all, he reasoned, one of them might get hurt otherwise, with all that thrashing. He held his lord’s hands close to his Radiancy’s chest and made shushing noises in his ear (this really must be a dream; that tisane of Franzel’s was more potent than he’d thought), and rocked him as he shuddered. “Shhhh, you’re only having a dream, it’s all right, shush,” he crooned, the way he remembered Navalia comforting him when he’d awakened screaming about the sea, and being caught under the waves—and thankfully, his Radiancy took a breath, another, and settled back down to sleep.
Cliopher stared down at that familiar face, somewhat less familiar in repose, and then looked up at the guards, wide-eyed. “He’s never… how did you… he’s never even been in this room before! When did you…?”
“No, of course not,” Pikabe said hurriedly, “he just started sleepwalking, and it seemed safer to let him keep going than to try to stop him—and then when we saw he was coming here—”
“Shall we send for Conju? Is Franzel awake? I can call for whoever woke up to let you in, and have them fetch Conju—” Cliopher suggested, and then hesitated when the guards looked at each other doubtfully.
“We didn’t actually wake your staff,” Ato began. Cliopher stared at him.
Pikabe continued, “We’d rather not wake anyone else, actually, because of the security implications.”
“What security implications? What are you talking about? How did you get here without waking anyone?” The middle of the night was the one time Cliopher was not accustomed to headaches, but he felt one coming on now. He yawned.
Pikabe looked at Ato, grimaced, and said, “We didn’t wake anyone coming in, because we came in through the secret passage, and the fewer people who know about it, the better.”
Cliopher looked blankly at Pikabe. “What passage? Where?”
Ato said, “The passage connecting your rooms to his Radiancy’s.”
—
There was, in fact, a secret passage.
Cliopher stared at the open doorway between the windows of the little closet behind the cabinet in his study. “I didn’t even know this closet was here, let alone this passageway.”
“I thought maybe you and his Radiancy both knew about it,” Ato admitted.
Cliopher spluttered a bit. “His Radiancy clearly knows about it, but I most certainly did not,” he informed the guards, who had the grace to look embarrassed at their presumption.
Pikabe reached out for a wall sconce that was tilted at an angle, twisted it experimentally, and nodded in satisfaction as the door silently swung shut.
Cliopher yawned again, felt his jaw crack, and leaned against the study wall, unutterably weary. “What do we do now? Wake his Radiancy?”
“He seems to be sleeping fairly peacefully,” offered Ato. “He’s had a long week, with the purifications and the travel and everything.”
“You could just… go back to bed and let him sleep himself out?” Pikabe suggested. “We can’t get him back upstairs safely until he’s awake, and if we wake him now, he may not get any more sleep tonight.” Cliopher looked suspiciously at Pikabe, who shrugged. “We’ll be here to keep an eye on you both.”
Cliopher closed his eyes for a moment, and found he didn’t want to open them again. “Come along, your excellency,” Ato cajoled. “We’ll see you back to bed.”
Cliopher gave in. He stumbled slightly entering his room, climbed up on the opposite side of the bed from his Radiancy (his Radiancy! this really must be a dream), turned his back to the room and the guards and his Radiancy (was it treason to turn one’s back on the Emperor in one’s own bed?), and, finally, blessedly, slept.
—
“Are they spooning?” Pikabe hissed, two hours later.
“They’re spooning,” Ato confirmed.
“What are we going to say when he wakes up?” Pikabe whispered.
Ato grimaced.
They stood at attention. The Viceroy of Zunidh sighed into his pillow. The Last Emperor of Astandalas, regrettably, snored.
—
Ato had not been expecting his Radiancy to sleep this long—the nightmares were too frequent for that—but it must have been two bells before dawn by the time the slight snoring from Lord Mdang's bed suddenly stopped. In the dim light, Ato saw his Radiancy’s eyes fly open, dart around confusedly, and light on his guards standing at attention.
“Pikabe! Report!” his Radiancy hissed under his breath.
“Yes, my lord. We accompanied you when you left your bedchamber at approximately one bell after midnight, entered a secret passage via the old privy closet—” his Radiancy’s eyes closed at that; Ato couldn’t tell if it was relief or embarrassment— “and entered the Viceroy’s bedroom by way of his study. You have been sleeping for some three hours since then, my lord. None of Lord Mdang’s staff is aware of your presence here.”
A pause. His Radiancy neither moved nor spoke.
Pikabe volunteered, still in a whisper, “We did not consider it a security-related matter, my lord, because Lord Mdang’s purifications are now complete.”
“We… see.” Ato wondered, not for the first time, whether his Radiancy knew about the book club.
A pause. His Radiancy turned his head to look at Lord Mdang, who was now curled up facing the wall, one arm under his pillow, breathing evenly. He lifted a hand briefly, hesitated, and dropped it again. “We see no reason to wake Lord Mdang or his staff,” his Radiancy finally whispered. Pikabe and Ato saluted. He arose from the bed, stood looking at his Viceroy, and (Ato’s eyebrows went up despite himself) actually tucked the blankets in, before signaling his guards to precede him to the secret passageway.
—
Shoänie came in with hot chocolate and a pastry just after the dawn bell. Cliopher sat up in bed, yawned, and, sipping his chocolate, reflected on the odd dreams he’d had in the night. The Imperial guard standing at attention while he slept? A secret passageway? His Radiancy, asleep in Cliopher’s bed? No more of Franzel’s potions, Cliopher thought. It was nice to get enough sleep, but not worth it if he was going to have such vivid dreams as that. He smiled and shook his head at his own fancies as he went to bathe and dress for the day. His Radiancy crawling into Cliopher’s bed, indeed.
Entering the Imperial study that afternoon for his regularly scheduled meeting with his Radiancy, Cliopher had a sudden burst of imagination, picturing himself with his arms wrapped around his lord, brown hands clasping black, the Imperial signet gleaming gold against black silk in the dim lamplight. He blushed as he made his obeisance, and his Radiancy quirked an eyebrow as he gestured for Cliopher to rise. If it wasn’t a dream after all, surely his Radiancy will say something? Cliopher thought, clearing his throat to hide his embarrassment. Was it his imagination, or did his Radiancy also look somewhat… discomposed? But his Radiancy did not broach the subject; he merely wished Cliopher a good afternoon, as always, and they launched into the day’s business.
—
It was one bell after midnight in the Imperial apartments. The attendants had gone to bed; his Radiancy was sleeping, for the moment. It was quiet enough that Ato felt he could risk it. He caught Pikabe’s eye.
“I spoke with Zerafin in the guardroom, just before coming on shift,” he whispered. “He was on duty this afternoon during Lord Mdang’s meeting. He said there was nothing unusual during his shift. So if afternoon shift had nothing to report—”
“—and evening shift reported nothing when we came on duty,” Pikabe said slowly, “which they would have, had there been talk of secret passageways—”
“—that means neither his Radiancy nor Lord Mdang said anything about them at any point during the day today,” Ato confirmed.
“So you mean to tell me…” Pikabe began.
“...that neither one knows that the other knows that they were sleeping in the same bed for several hours last night?” Ato finished. “Yes. That’s what I think I’m saying.”
Pikabe was clearly working hard to keep a straight face, with only middling success. “And we can’t even tell anyone. When I reported to Commander Omo this morning, he confirmed that the passageways are still top secret. Only he and Ser Rhodin know they exist. Well, and his Radiancy.”
“And Lord Mdang, now,” Ato pointed out innocently.
Pikabe stifled a snort. Ato smothered a laugh behind his hand. They smoothed out their expressions and stood at attention, the Imperial Guard protecting the person of the Emperor. Protecting the dignity of this particular emperor, thought Ato, and of his viceroy in particular, might turn out to be beyond the abilities even of the fabled Imperial Guard.