“Indeed,” He whispered, his head bowing slightly even at the mention of his brother’s title. “My brother is a fair and just ruler. He shows consideration for the lesser planets and houses, but many turn blind eyes to these kindnesses, which he need not bestow,” He eyed her closely then, watching her expressions, wondering what thoughts were passing through her head. She spoke soft and gracious words, but he didn’t trust them.
He didn’t trust anything she said.
He wondered, not for the first time, if the rumors about her house had been true. What could they hope to accomplish in rising up against him and his House? Against the entire empire? Against the very gods? He almost wished she would, just to see her burn.
“Many forgot the strength of our House,” He said, his cape fluttering dramatically in the soft Vaanish breeze, “It is more apparent on Arvor, but other planets, such as Reva,” Such as Vaane, he added silently, “do not know what my brother could do them if he wished. But you,” He began, turning to face her, “But, you know this, don’t you?”
He hadn’t been part of the battle that day, although he had begged his father for the chance to fight for the glory of their house. But he’d been there for the aftermath. He’d seen what this planet had been like after his father had had his way with it. It had been blood and ash. This planet has fallen and risen again by Quasar commands and if she thought she could change this, she was wrong.
“Forgive me,” He said, “I do not mean to bring up the past. Not now. Now that we are family. I know you and yours are not like the other’s.” As he said this, a small lizard was crawling on one of the pillars. He reached out and grabbed it, holding it carefully in his hand, “Life is such a precious thing.” He said, “So delicate.” He raised the creature close, inspecting it. “One moment you are breathing and the next …” He bit the lizard in half, severing the head from the body.
He gave her a bloodied smile and swallowed, tossing the body into the gardens. With the back of his hand, he wiped his mouth and then continued on as though nothing had happened.
“I do not doubt that they will,” He said, “The Ancestors know the strength of our house; they know that we shall rise to the challenge. Everyday, Velorum Nocate becomes united. Do not fear, Arantha. They will all kneel or they will die.”
Arantha rested careful eyes on her brother-in-law as he spoke. She heard the accusation in his tone easily enough and knew just the sort of toll he would exact for any perceived slight through painful experience. His words seared her, branding her with anger, but she breathed in and out and smiled instead. She was tired of niggling, unspoken slights. She was tired of listening pointlessly to the subtext. She was tired of Leck. Meeting his gaze, she favored him with a sympathetic smile. She meant to call his bluff. Would he look her in the eye and call her out? Or would he dance around the issue? It was time to find out. “Who are these, dear brother, who so misuse our Emperor’s good graces?”
But you, you know this, don’t you?
Arantha felt a chill creep along her back; that deep, dark horror breathing in the shadows of her mind. Her father’s hand on her cheek, his blue eyes intense as he spoke his last words to her: “Be brave, Arantha.” Valen grasping her arm; her sisters. Screams and cries everywhere and fire, fire. The halls stank of blood and fear. But what came after had been even worse. She remembered emerging back into the light after all was said and done. She had hardly recognized the smoking ruin of her world. Her parents’ mutilated corpses on display at her coronation where she was forced, at twelve, to kneel before their murderer and swear her allegiance...Breath strangled in her throat and when she raised her eyes to Leck’s again they were dewy: dewy, but hard also, like coal, pressed and pressed and pressed for ages into something small and black and incendiary.
“Yes,” she whispered; made no effort to conceal the quaver in her voice. It was real, the rawest thing she’d ever exposed to him, and he’d want to hear it. It could help delay his suspicion. “Yes, I know.”
It boggled her how Leck could stand before her and say such things: a man who worshipped his own forebears expected slavish loyalty from those whose own parents his had murdered. How could he not see that those things were at odds? It seemed to her that he, of all people, ought to be sensitive to the slights people felt on behalf of their loved ones. Still, her parents hadn’t been gods: they’d been people, good and just and honorable, just as Arantha strove to be, and, for those simple traits, worth all of Leck’s divine ancestors combined.
“Those fools have paid for their crimes,” bit out Arantha. “They are dead and gone and House Quasar reigns supreme in their stead.”
Now that we are family. Arantha nodded slowly. “Yes,” she agreed. “Soon enough you and I will be overjoyed to welcome our mutual nephew into this wide universe.”
She watched as his hand snapped out suddenly, seizing a small lizard. She looked at it, poor helpful, struggling thing, and felt pity. Yes, yes, as much at Leck’s mercy as soon all of Reva would be. Suddenly, he bit into it, blood oozing in thick gluts down his chin as the creature writhed, only to be cut in half. Arantha stared in horrified disbelief, turned suddenly away. She felt ill, horribly ill. Perhaps the rumors are true, she thought, half-inanely. Perhaps he does, indeed, feed on human flesh.
His teeth were dark with blood when his lips drew back in a grin, the grin of death like a skeleton. Her gut clenched and she thought, Only Aram and Ressa’s child stands between this maniac and the imperial throne. A cold shiver ran through her, like fingers of ice on her exposed skin.
Everyday, Velorum Nocate becomes united. Arantha smiled then, softly, hopefully. He had no idea just how true those words were. “Yes,” agreed Arantha. “Yes, you are right. All the gods be praised, it is so. Velorum Nocate grows strong, stronger than once we’d ever dared imagine and soon, there will be no threat that can withstand us.” We will be free.
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