84 A Grumpy General

AYAN'S POV

As I got up from my seat and prepared to leave the Emperor on the balcony something suddenly came to mind as I thought of Teon and what lay ahead for us. From all the talk about him finding another partner, and Teon having a new stepmother I thought of Teon's birth mother and the incident in the morning with the necklace that had upset him.

I stopped walking and turned round to look at the Emperor once more.

"Your Majesty?" I asked for his attention once more.

"Yes?" he said looking up at me from the scrolls that were on the table.

"I know I may be overstepping my bounds with this question but do you remember what the Prince's mother was like?" I asked him nervously. 

The Emperor stared at me for a second his expression faltered and he froze. For a moment I was worried that I had in fact overstepped my bounds and angered him.