(Imperial grounds, somewhere on the property)
Iyan was distracted the whole morning, father wanted him to join his morning routine from that day, that is why Sullivan woke him up so early in the morning. First was horseback riding around the property, not for any particular reason, it was more of an exercise than anything else. Sullivan rode beside them, talking to the emperor about everything that happened last night, he was basically telling him the guards incident report from last night that he had memorised. There were a few minor incidents amongst guests but nothing to be concerned about. Things like that happened at events like these.
Father didn't pay much attention to Sullivan, he was riding with his gaze set straight ahead, holding a tight grip on a horn of his saddle instead of reins. The emperor's horse was a dark brown destrier with no mane due to a strict Athenian tradition which stated that the ruler's horse mane must be cut and used for war tapestries. When a tapestry represents the ruler on a horse in battle, the thread used for the horse must be from its own mane. Fathers battle tapestry wasn't finished and it won't be finished until he gets close to old age, close to death to be precise.
Unfortunately, like his father, Iyan got too lost in his thoughts to keep listening to Sullivan speak. The thing he saw that morning kept repeating in his head. In the Queen's palace, currently only three people reside on the upper floors. His mother and sister, and daughter of Marquise von Favre. The direction the maid was coming from was to his mother's chambers, no one besides her lives in that part of the palace.
The blood is from her room, it must be, but why, what could have happened to cause that? If something happened to the Empress, if she was hurt in any way they would already know about it. The three of them would not be on a stroll around the property if the Empress was hurt.
"Will everything be ready for the banquet in time?" The Emperor asked after getting bored from listening to all the reports.
Iyan started paying attention. A few families were invited to the banquet today. He heard about it last night from Neftali, even though she didn't know about it until last night when her maid came to ask her what she would like to wear.
"Everything is going according to the plan, everything should be ready on time." Sullivan answered without a flinch, waited for the Emperor to nod and then continued from where he was interrupted.
How come no one told him about it earlier? Iyan found it weird his mother and sister hadn't mentioned a thing about the banquet before, even if Neftali didn't know, mother must have known. She was probably in charge of organizing the event. Mother always takes care of event organizing, it's impossible she wasn't in charge.
But knowing his father and how he suddenly ordered the coronation ceremony and ball to be organized, he probably got the idea of a banquet yesterday. That is probably why mother had retired so early last night.
They were now close enough to the main gate, that in the distance, Iyan could see the carriages arriving and leaving at the same time. He probably saw about five carriages leave until now, and more were coming, this means that a lot of guests from last night have already left the palace. How many will even attend the banquet if this many already left? It won't be called a banquet at this point.
Iyan noticed a sudden silence in his ears and realized that Sullivan had stopped talking. The Emperor waved his hand as a sign for him to leave. Sullivan stopped his horse, bowed his head and rode away from them in a quick manner. The Emperor continued ahead, not changing the course, they were going alongside the forest edge, so even the staff they saw working on the property couldn't easily notice them.
"Son," the Emperor spoke, "you should stay by my side from now on."
Iyan waited for him to say something else, but when he didn't he just answered. "Yes, father."
"Your life as a Crown prince will be different then the one you had. I hope you are ready for it."
"Mother thinks I am ready." Iyan was testing the waters by mentioning his mother, the last time he saw them together wasn't the most pleasant and after Neftali told him that is just a normal evening at the palace he became nervous every time somebody mentioned his parents.
"Your mother is a wise woman," he took a deep breath, "but whatever her prophecy may be, I find it ridiculous."
Iyan looked at him with shock on his face, he didn't know what to say to that. Should he defend his mother's honor or should he agree with his father? By picking what to say he is picking a side and the side Iyan wants to pick will not bring him fortune in relationship with his father. Instead he stayed silent and waited for father to speak again.
"A prophecy is destiny," for the first time the Emperor looked at his son, "you can not change destiny. If she sees somebody dying, they will die, there is no escaping."
"Is that why she fell ill?"
Father stopped his horse, "Fell ill?"
Iyan tried his best to stay put, but anger in him was slowly waking up. "Mother fell ill after naming me the heir."
"Oh yes." The emperor clicked his tongue and continued ahead, "Perhaps it is the side effect, I never understood those religious rituals of hers."
"So it is not a sickness?"
"Son, your mother is not sick. You can ask anyone in this palace and they will tell you she is healthy as a horse!" He waved his hand across the view of the property. "I did not bring you here to talk about that."
Before Iyan couldn't say anything before the Emperor spoke again. "You will stay by my side from now on, when you are not in class you will be in my office."
Iyan almost forgot he is not returning to the academy, "Yes father."
"There are many things you need to learn about this empire, but we should start with this palace first." The Emperor stopped his horse in a place where they could clearly see the Imperial gardens and all the nobles gathered there having their morning tea and breakfast. From the distance Iyan couldn't see who was there but he assumed that those people were going to attend tonight's banquet, probably families of government officials.
"The root is always deeper than it looks."