The Game of Courts — Victoria Goddard

The Cavalier Conju enazo Argellian an Vilius--Conju to his friends, or he would be if any of them had survived the Fall of Astandalas--survived the cataclysmic destruction of the Empire of Astandalas in perfectly good health, thank you very much. If he spent the year (or hundred years) afterwards partying while the world burned ... well, he has always considered himself a man of fashion, and that was very definitely the fashion. Until the Emperor woke up. At which point Conju wondered whether he might conceivably want to consider the other options. Even if cataloguing storerooms is a bit of a pain when you don't actually know what anything is. Sadly, neither perfumery nor fashion are particularly useful skills after a magical apocalypse. Unless you can finesse your way into attending said Emperor, that is ... The Game of Courts is a companion novella to The Hands of the Emperor, though it can be read as a standalone. It takes place concurrently with the events of Petty Treasons.