“The Emperor’s Laws are the Emperor’s. The Emperor decides guilt or innocence. He can’t make that call using the Tha’alani to get at the truth—if the criminals were in our custody, there’d be no hunt. He calls the hunts based on information he’s given. He can call them off. It’s entirely his choice. It’s not possible for the Emperor to break the law.”
“It is,” Helmat said.
“The Emperoristhe law.”
“Did Elluvian put you up to this?”
“Elluvian?” Which answered Helmat’s question.
“Tell En,” he finally said. “I don’t have the Emperor’s ear. En does.”
“Why do you call him that?”
“Because it annoys him. Tell Elluvian, if you prefer. Elluvian can broach the subject with the Emperor.”
“And you’ll accept that?”
“I’ll accept it. Elluvian might not.”
“No.”
“Is that why you wanted to speak with me?”
“I thought you’d understand my reasoning.”
“And Elluvian won’t?”
“Elluvian won’t care.”
Ah. “Elluvian is a Wolf, but he occupies an unusual position. I cannot command Elluvian to discuss this with the Emperor. I can ask, but I can’t control the conversation; I can’t control what Elluvian says or requests. If I have no chance, you have—”
“Less than no chance.”
Helmat nodded.
Severn surprised him then. “I would like,” he said, “to speak with the Emperor.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The Wolves had a tabard that was seldom worn; unlike theHawks or the Swords, the ranks of the Wolves were always thin. Severn was not allowed to enter the presence of the Eternal Emperor without the tabard.
He was also not allowed to enter said presence in any of the clothing he currently owned, and Elluvian’s forays into the High Halls had given Severn clothing he would never have owned before because the cost was so high. If he’d thought Elluvian’s choice of clothing appropriate for a visit to the High Halls expensive, he repented; he hid both distaste and shock at the cost of the clothing Elluvian considered necessary for a meeting with the Emperor.
Elluvian hid almost nothing. He was appalled at Severn’s request—but could, given Severn’s relative ignorance, barely accept that it had been made. He was shocked that the Wolflord had passed the request on. Severn was almost certain that the Wolflord had heard an earful of less impeccable Barrani about this very subject.
Lord Marlin had, however, declined Elluvian’s “request” that the request for an appointment be withdrawn. The Wolflord had reasonably pointed out that there was no guarantee such an audience would be granted.
He had pointed this out to Severn as well.
No immediate need for the Wolves had been handed down by the Emperor, and Severn was therefore free to take the classes that the Wolves required of their recruits. In theory. Severn, however, was dragged off shopping instead, where he could be confronted with the ridiculous expense of clothing that seemed, to his eye, to be less durable and far less practical, given the general duties he would have as a Wolf.
He was a private, but he was no longer on probation. Rosen had given him the news, but quietly, as if it were a guilty secret. She was of the opinion that cutting off both of her legs with her own daggers was preferable to an audience with the Emperor—and possibly one of her arms as well—but she nonetheless admired either Severn’s ignorance or his balls.
The appointment was granted almost two weeks after Severn had made his request.
“You don’t seem surprised,” Rosen said, because it was Rosen who informed him of the date and the time.
“Should I be?”