It wasn’t long before the senate was dismissed. Realizing the crowd has started leaving, Hazelmere prepared to do the same. But, the gentle hand landed on her thigh, stopping her.

“Miss Hazelmere,” Rowena, who was still sitting next to her, said with a very polite and respectful expression on her face, “can you please wait until everyone else leaves? I want to talk to you about the details.”

Hazlemere’s expression could best be described as a measured rage. Her eyes looked Rowena scornfully, but there was no hostility in them.

“I’d really appreciate it if you’d follow me to the palace, where I’ll explain everything to you. I understand you’re very … displeased with being put on the spot here, but we wouldn’t do it without good reasons. I hope you’ll allow me to explain why such secrecy was necessary.”

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Hazlemere spat venomously, with an exaggerated, formal posture.

Rowena smiled at that: “You’re learning fast. I must say, I’m impressed. Still, even though you’re new to this, it does take a lot of intelligence to get where you’re now.”

“Flattery doesn’t work on those who have spent their lives reading the books!”

Still, Hazelmere shifted in her chair, her hand absently going through her hair.

“And yet, appreciation should be shown when you’re asking the people to do something for you.”

“Are you ready to go, Rowena?” The Emperor inserted himself into the conversation, severing it completely.”

“Oh, your majesty,” Rowena turned meek in an instant, “if you don’t mind, I’d like to have a conversation with our archmage regarding our endeavor. I think that the sooner we get everything started, the better.”

The Emperor nodded his head in agreement, visibly pleased: “Good … good. Do that. But remember to return to the castle soon, the sunset is approaching. Don’t forget about your other duties!”

“Oh, of course, your Majesty! Actually, I’d like to invite miss Hazelmere to come to the palace with us tonight. That way, both of us will be at your disposal.”

The Emperor measured Hazelmere from head to toe, looking both pleased and yet disappointed at the same time. Like when a child gets a toy it really wanted, but something is missing from it.

“Ok, she can come.”

Then he turned away and started wobbling.

As soon as he was out of the earshot, Hazelmere started pulling Rowena’s sleeve aggressively.

“No! No! I’m not doing that!”

Rowena raised her hands as if to show she doesn’t mean any harm: “Relax! Nothing’s going to happen. You and I will talk about summoning the portal, and that’s it. If you want, you can sleep in the palace, or you can go home as soon as we’re finished.”

“I’m definitely not staying there!”

“Ok, it’s your choice! No one will force you to do anything. His Majesty is entitled to many things but, honestly, I don’t think he’s into skinny girls.”

“Well, excuse me for burning all of my excess energy when using magic!”

“I’m not trying to rile you up. Anyway, if his Majesty happens to barge in while we’re talking about the portal, just take off all of your clothes and I promise you he’ll lose interest in no time.”

Hazelmere stared at Rowena uncertainly, as if she was questioning everything she knew about the royal advisor.

“That was just a joke.”

---

The palace wasn’t far away. After all, the senate was placed close to it so the Emperors wouldn’t have to waste their much-needed energy traveling reasonable distances.

“I believe you want us to discuss the portal as soon as possible, right, miss Hazelmere?” Rowena said as soon as they’ve disembarked the carriage.

“Yes! The sooner we start, the better.”

The Emperor gave them a serious look, nodded his head, and left with his escort.

“Well then, follow me,” Rowena’s commanded in a pleasant, understanding voice.

The four royal guards escorted them as Rowena led Hazelmere to the medium-sized room located on the first floor.

When they’ve reached the door, Rowena turned towards them: “We won’t need you here. You’re dismissed.”

“We’ll stay in front of the door, my lady,” the one with the most decorated armor and the roundest belly stated.

“As you wish,” then, with a calculated smile, she turned towards Hazelmere, gesticulating with her hand, “if you’ll follow me, miss.” She opened the regular-looking door, and the two of them entered the room.

The room looked like a typical study. There were plenty of shelves with books on them, but not enough to dominate the room. There was one big work desk with a comfy sofa and a low-height, long table surrounded by several chairs. All the furniture was excessively decorated, to the point it looked ridiculous.

Rowena sat in one of the chairs while pointing at the chair on the opposite side. Hazelmere obliged, but not without a comment:

“Aren’t you a bit too commanding for an advisor?”

“Darling, I do more commanding in a week than the Emperor did in his entire life.”

“Ohh,” Hazelmere acted amazement, “how so?”

“Do you honestly think the Emperor is running day to day business? He has much more pressing matters, like stuffing himself with fancy cakes.”

“Don’t you think you are too young to be entrusted with that?”

“Look who’s talking! You aren’t much older than I am! Besides, I don’t know when was the last time you saw yourself in a mirror, but we aren’t so young anymore. We’re ripe fruit, ready to be plucked before we rot.”

Hearing that made Hazelmere roll her eyes.

“Speaking of rotting,” Rowena continued as she shifted her legs in the chair, “the royal advisor I replaced got old. This position has plenty of responsibilities, and some of them are affected by age. His Majesty wasn’t satisfied with that state of affairs, so he got himself a younger advisor.”

“And you are ok with that?”

“Absolutely!”

“You aren’t worried the same will happen to you?”

“She was rewarded for her service with a suitable husband. She’s living a life of luxury now.”

Hazelmere glared at her: “You consider that to be a reward?”

“It only sounds bad because you don’t realize how the royalty works. The royal advisors have a lot of influence in the court, and smart advisors can make their fate by convincing the Emperor to give them a hand. She chose her husband herself and has convinced the Emperor to persuade his family. That’s how she got a very handsome and tough husband, who is much younger than she is.”

Hazelmere’s glare turned into a frown of judgment: “From the way you are talking, some would say the royal advisors are manipulating the Emperors.”

Rowena smirked: “I like that.  I like it when the people go straight to the point. It makes my job much easier.”

She sunk deep into the chair: “Yes, the Emperors can be manipulated by the royal advisors. But we advisors aren’t the only ones trying to do it. Everyone is trying to manipulate the ruler in every country. That’s just how it goes. It’s the job of the royal advisors to ensure those manipulations don’t go too far. And luckily, although there are many great things about our Emperor, he’s a male. And just like all the other males, he can be quite gullible. If the one has the right tools for the job, of course,” Rowena accentuated that by puffing out her chest.

“Oh, come on! That’s getting old! You’re acting like an immature teenager!”

“I just like putting the others in their place and making them aware of my advantages.”

“Can we talk about the portal, please?” Hazelmere asked, looking tired.

“Sure!”

“But first, where are the other advisors? I doubt you’re the only advisor his Majesty has.”

“Oh, yes, there are about a dozen royal advisors. I just happen to be the Emperor’s favorite.”

“Well, where are they? Aren’t they interested in summoning the portal?”

“They’re probably hiding like they usually do. No one else will be coming if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Aha. Well, then, let’s get to business. The sooner we finish this, the better.”

---

“Look, even if we have everything, which is way too optimistic, we still won’t be able to convince all of the mages to participate,” Hazelmere argued over the table which was now covered with all kinds of writings and drawings, “especially the archmages! The nobles are constantly summoning powerful archmages to deal with all kinds of problems. Think about it. If someone in your family is suffering, and you have plenty of coin to spend, you would rather hire an extremely costly archmage than a regular mage. Even if the regular one is perfectly capable of solving your problem. People just feel much more at ease when they know a world-renown person is taking care of it. You will be asking the archmages to give up on all that coin and do some non-paying, high-risk job instead.”

“Shouldn’t the royal decree take care of it? I don’t think they’d go against the will of his Majesty.”

“They won’t rebel, but there will be a significant backlash. Nobles will be furious. You have no idea what menial tasks they are having us do! To them, it is a matter of prestige. They like bragging about calling for an archmage. Almost every problem the nobles have called me to solve was perfectly solvable by a novice mage. Of course, I have never complained about it. I just do the simple work and take a chestful of coin. And, in turn, the nobles get the bragging rights. I don’t get it why but, for some reason, most of the nobles think that wasting coin on something overpriced is a praiseworthy thing to do.”

Rowena chuckled at that, unconsciously bringing the quill in her hand closer to her mouth: “I must say, you’re much more perceptive than you look.”

“Was that supposed to be an insult?”

“Quite the contrary! I’m actually dismissing the criticism I’ve heard about you. And your lack of proper lady-like mannerisms.”

“I didn’t really have the time to learn how to be a proper lady, and I’m not sure I want to be one. But, more importantly, you will have a hard time convincing the powerful mages to get on board. Some may even defect to foreign countries. They may even join our enemies! The magic gives us plenty of opportunities, so most of the mages feel no attachment to the fatherland.”

“Yes, I’m fully aware of that, but thank you for bringing it up. Speaking of which, I’ll need you to write down the names of any mages you think would even think of defecting.”

“That will be quite a long list.”

“It’s necessary. I’ll send it to our spymaster, and he’ll certainly find some ways to motivate those mages to stay.”

Hazelmere raised her brow: “I have spent most of my life in my study, but I am not as stupid as you may think. What do you intend to do to those mages?”

“That changes on the personal basis but, in most cases, the spymaster, or his agents, will have an unpleasant conversation with the mage. The shadow guild is already monitoring all the mages. But, if we could narrow the number for them, it would make their work much easier.”

“I take it they are monitoring me too?”

“Of course! They monitor you even when nothing is happening! The title of the royal archmage is extremely influential. We have to know what’s happening with you.”

“This unpleasant conversation … what exactly do you mean by it?”

Rowena looked at Hazelmere without lifting her head from the papyrus sitting on her lap: “What, are you worried about them?”

Hazlemere hesitated for a few moments: “As the royal archmage, I represent all the mages.”

“That’s not true. The head of the mage’s guild represents them.”

“You know what I mean!”

“It will be nothing more than a conversation. We don’t want the people to obey us out of fear, but we also don’t want them to take us lightly. There will be some threatening involved but nothing beyond that.”

“And if they don’t obey.”

“If they try running away, we’ll have to treat them as the traitors they are.”

Hazelmere shifted in her seat: “What if they don’t run away but also refuse to help with the portal?”

“Then we’ll just make sure they can’t earn any coin. The nobles are a noisy bunch, but they don’t accept the outcasts.”

“I see …”

“With that out of the way, let’s talk about the scrolls themselves. I can’t let you take a look at them right now.”

Seeing the confusion on Hazelmere’s face, Rowena continued: “We’re taking the ultimate measures of precaution so, until your team is assembled, no one is allowed to take a look at the scrolls.”

“How will I brief the other mages if I have no idea what the scrolls say?” Hazelmere raised her voice slightly, “How can I tell them what to do unless I know what has to be done! I need to know what spells and ingredients are needed!”

“You didn’t think you’ll be starting tomorrow, didn’t you?” Rowena’s smirk made Hazelmere’s brow twitch, “it will take at least one full moon until the shadow guild deals with the problematic mages. Only then will the mages be conscripted. Until that’s done, the scrolls are staying in the safe.”

“So, what am I supposed to be doing in the meantime?”

“You could throw a few of those galas you enjoy so much. After all, you won’t be having those for a long time.”

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Hazelmere said in a flat voice.

But Rowena was dead serious: “I’m not joking this time. I’m not a mage, but I do know some theory behind the magic. I also know a few things about Axulla and her ways. For example, why only the virgins can receive the gift of magic. Once you start collecting the energy for the spell, we’ll need every ounce of it, which means that wasting it will be prohibited. Therefore, I suggest you spend the next moon enjoying yourself to the fullest. Do it like you never did before, because you’ll be staying chaste for a long, long time.”

Hearing that, Hazelmere started staring in the empty space, mouth agape as her ears moved slowly.

“What, it didn’t occur to you?” Rowena asked, “it should’ve been obvious, really. We want to gather as much energy as soon as possible. Everything you’ve said leads to that conclusion. We can conscript the mages only for so long before both the nobles and the mages start protesting.”

The only response from Hazelmere was: “Well, nail me sideways …”