The Emperor's Daughter

by H M Angues

  I wriggle closer to Blade, curling up in his arms. His short beard scratches my forehead as I settle into place. “As long as she doesn't take you,” I murmur as I return to sleep.

  ∞∞∞

  I manage to sleep through the rest of the night without any complications. When I wake up, I decide to lay in bed for a while, head resting on Blade's steadily rising and falling chest. My thoughts stroll along inside my head until they come across something I had almost forgotten in the chaos of things.

  That first conversation I’d had with Kainan back in Jurynn. He was onto something; something big.

  I practically jump out of bed and hunt down Valek. I find him sitting in the small study at the far end of the house, with massive windows overlooking the lake and Mira’s garden. He hardly glances up from his current reading when I enter.

  “Good morning, Your Majesty. Something in particular that you’re looking for?” I notice that his words aren’t as lilting as they used to be; his Laroi accent is fading, or he's hiding it to limit his recognizability.

  “Do we have anything here on Primori religion and mythology?” I ask, scanning the shelves as I walk toward him.

  “Well, considering that we didn’t know the Primori even existed until last year, I can confidently answer that with a no. However, we do have several volumes on the old Eterran religions. I believe A Detailed Analysis of the Dormand and its Mythology will give you what you’re looking for—that old religion is very similar to the Primori’s, based on what I’ve learned, if not the exact same. It's what your ancestor, Augustus, believed in.” He tilts his head toward the bookcase to the left of his plush armchair. “It should be on the second shelf, maybe the third. Big volume, brown leather cover.”

  I follow his instructions and find the book on the second shelf. I pull out the dusty tome and sit down across from my adviser, opening the book in my lap. I pore over it for several hours, though it only feels like a few minutes go by. When I finally glance up from my reading, Valek is gone and the sun is beginning to set, the orange glow seeping in through the windows and dancing on the lake waters beyond.

  I close the book and stride over to one of the glass panes. The blue lake stretches far and wide, but my eyes are fixated on the city of Jynna beyond. Its skyscrapers and architectural marvels stretch their peaks to the sky, sun glinting off the glass and metal, making the city sparkle as if it were a cluster of stars in the night sky.

  I pick the book up from my seat to take it to my room, but a slip of paper I hadn’t noticed before falls from between its pages.

  I snatch up the scrap with my fingers, reading it quickly.

  I drop the book and sprint back to my room, throwing on a pair of jeans and grabbing a sweatshirt from the closet. I creep downstairs, scanning the area for my friends and family. I can hear their voices coming from the living room—good. I cross the foyer and start to open the door when a big hand slams it shut.

  “Going somewhere?” Talon asks, folding his arms over his chest as he leans against the front door, blocking my exit.

  “Talon,” I gasp, “please let me out. I’ll be back before morning, I promise.”

  He grabs a pair of shoes from the bin in the corner and hands them to me. “You can’t walk around the city barefoot, you know. It’s a noticeable characteristic and may draw unwanted attention.”

  I take them and quickly slip them onto my small feet. “Okay, now can I go?”

  Talon shakes his blond head with a quiet chuckle. “How exactly do you plan on getting there? Are you going to walk the three miles? You know, my old truck is sitting in the front driveway.” He pulls the keys out of his pocket and dangles them in front of my nose.

  I reach for them, but he yanks them away, holding them high and out of my reach. “You know I can basically teleport, right?”

  “Then why are you still standing here arguing with me? Face it Cal, a part of you wants me to go with you. You knew I’d probably hear you come down the stairs, you knew I’d stop you at the door, you knew we’d have this conversation. Let’s go.”

  “I hate you,” I mutter.

  “For an emperor, you sure are childish sometimes,” he teases as we make our way to the truck, careful to avoid catching the attention of any of the others.

  “At least I didn’t marry my murderous great-aunt,” I retort.

  His deep laugh echoes through the trees around us. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

  I lift my chin. “I never said that. Making fun of you just helps a little bit.”

  Chapter 41

  Bellamy

  I thought Jurynn was bad, but being holed up in this log cabin is even worse, especially since it’s in Morda. Though I love my home Province, I feel nothing but contempt toward its hot, muggy early-autumn weather, so I’ve been doing my best to avoid outdoor activities.

  I haven’t seen Calla since she disappeared into the study this morning, so, out of boredom, I decide to hunt down Rysen. I find him locked up in his room as usual, finishing up packing his things for his journey to Haercayn, which is on the other side of Namari.

  “What the hell do you want?” he barks at me.

  I rest a hand on my hip, squinting at the younger Dane. If I didn’t know he was related to Kainan, I would’ve never guessed it. His older brother was a different kind of noble; the kind of noble man that made himself the bad guy, that turned the world against him, just to keep the people he loved safe. And he was a cunning little bastard. I mean, how many people can say they actually fooled Ramsey? By the gods, the man was basically a genius.

  Kainan may have died for Calla, but he was sacrificing himself for the rest of us, too. He knew there was every chance he’d die hated by us all, but he did it anyway. He didn’t care about being recognized for his valor and selflessness, because all that mattered was that my sister was alive to save us, that she knew who he really was. Kainan was well-aware that the world hated him and thought him a monster, but that didn’t matter. His name, his reputation—none of it meant jack-shit to him, because he knew he was doing the right thing, in the end.

  Rysen, however, is not his brother.

  He has done so much to hurt her. I doubt a single selfless thought has ever crossed his mind. And now, with my sister in the state that she is in, I’m worried about what will happen. Who she will turn to in her grief, and what that person will do to her. Rysen is the closest thing she has to Kainan now, technically, and if I know Ryse well enough, then I know it isn’t unlikely that he will try to take advantage of that.

  “Are you just going to stare at me?”

  His sharp voice pulls me out of my thoughts. “Maybe," I reply. "Everyone in this house is so damn beautiful. Naturally attractive. But you look like shit. It’s nice to look at something not-so-nice, for a change.”

  Ryse raises an eyebrow. “Thank you?”

  “Don’t thank me, asshole,” I retort with a roll of my eyes. “I just called you ugly.”

  “Whatever,” he sighs. “What the fuck do you want?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know—I’m bored. Talon’s too content fishing all day with Valek, Mira and Syn and Jeriko enjoy planting shit way more than any normal person should, Jed just sulks all day coming up with strategies, Calla and Blade are off doing gods know what, so I’m—”

  “Wait, what?” he snaps, leaping from the bed corner he’d been sitting on. “Calla and Blade are doing what?”

  “Gods know. Pretty sure I already said that, Ry.” I roll my eyes at him.

  “Stop being a smart-ass, Bell.”

  “I don’t know what they’re doing, Ryse. Calla’s been in the study all day and I haven’t even seen Blade. I said gods know what they’re doing, not that they’re doing anything together.”

  He just snarls.

  I shake my head at him. Pathetic, jealous young man. “What is your problem, Dane? You think your ‘love’ for her means you have some sort of dominion over her? Well, let me tell you something.”
<
br />   I take a few steps closer, jabbing the center of his chest with my forefinger. He’s barely taller than me and is hardly what I would call intimidating. “You don’t love Calla. You love the idea of her, of what she could be if she wasn’t, well, Calla. You want a version of her that doesn’t exist. She’s not even with you, she never wanted to be, and yet you act like you have some sort of control over her.” I grab his shirt collar, the fabric crumpling in my fist. “Emperor or not, she’s too good for you. Calla is strong and independent and kind and compassionate and a force-of-motherfucking-nature and everything a person should aspire to be. She has spent half her life grieving for all the people the world took from her, yet she still manages to be the phenomenal person that she is. She let some of your despicable actions slide because she cares about you enough to swallow her pride and avoid doing anything that would result in losing you, because she’s lost enough as it is.

  “She’s Calla Daiena Renald, my half-sister and the emperor of Namari. And she’s too much woman for you.”

  Just as I turn away from him, Rysen snatches my wrist and spins me back around. “I don’t know what the hell all of that was about, Bellamy, but you have no idea just how much I love her. Despise me all you want, but I will not stop fighting to keep your sister safe.”

  I raise my chin, rigid in my stance as I fold my arms across my chest. “Maybe you should ask yourself why you want her safe, then. For you to continue to abuse her under the guise of keeping her safe, or for her own well-being?”

  ∞∞∞

  Later in the evening, I find myself listlessly wandering around in the study. Calla had spent the entire day in here, but there’s no sign of her. In fact, the entire room appears to be untouched by anyone, save for an old book carelessly tossed onto one of the armchairs.

  I pick up the leather-bound pages and flip through them, fingers grazing the soft paper that came from my own home Province. Morda’s soil makes it perfect for growing hemp in the central region, which in Namari is used to make paper. Once outside of the big cities, hemp farms and paper mills dot the Mordan landscape, despite how digital most things are these days.

  At least, that’s how it used to be. Whether those farms and factories are still up and running under Ramsey’s tyranny is a mystery to me.

  I turn my attention back to the words on the pages, rather than the pages themselves. I recognize some of what it’s saying—it’s a book of the mythology surrounding the old Eterran pagan religion, the same religion that Syn and Jeriko follow and have told me a little bit about. Based on the size of this massive volume, though, there’s a lot more to it.

  I plop onto the armchair, skimming the pages and briefly reading through stories of ancient gods and goddesses and far away realms that may or may not exist.

  One particular story catches my attention, and this one I choose to read more carefully.

  Armageddon, also known as the End Times, will come at the hand of Kri, brother of Thym, father to Morr—also known as Amorré, to some—the goddess of death. Kri will become so angry with those who think themselves above the gods—the Primori children that bore from Thym’s seed—that Kri will lead the Kronisians in turning on the halfpeople. He will go to their enemy, the Seer, and lead her army upon Namari, destroying his children and their home along with them.

  Once the Primori have fallen, Kri will release Dorma upon the galaxy, and all that exists in the land of the mortals will be devoured by the giant wolf’s mighty jaws. Only the worlds with Kri’s favor will survive, and a new era will reign. An era of darkness and suffering, destruction and chaos in the galaxy.

  There is one, known only as the Phoenix, who will be able to stop Kri and Amorré. But, should Kri destroy the Phoenix before it can rise, all will be lost, and the galaxy will live in the desolation of the Phoenix's final ashes.

  That’s all it says about this so-called Armageddon level event. I always thought religion in general was a bunch of bullshit fairy tales to help people sleep better at night, but my mother had been a devout Catholic. Even though no official churches existed, she still found a way to worship and garner a group of similar friends. I used to have to sit with her during sermons in my aunt’s living room, and I hadn’t ever paid attention to a word being said.

  But this is... familiar. Namari and Primori didn't exist when the Eterrans wrote the Dormand. Dread pools in my gut and I slam the book closed.

  A favorite theme for most Namari fiction authors is to write about the aftermath that would come with the extinguishing of the Eternal Flame. I used to hear all sorts of horror stories from my mother and my aunts about what events they think would befall the world should the Eternal Flame go out.

  Two paragraphs just convinced me that event would be the end times it spoke of. The third told me what I already have guessed: My sister is meant to stop it all, to save us from whatever destruction will come.

  I try to shake it off, to remind myself that it’s only mythology, fantasy.

  But I can’t get rid of that uneasy feeling telling me that my sister, Calla, is the Phoenix it speaks of. And if so many pieces of it are true, who’s to say the rest isn’t?

  Chapter 42

  Talon

  “What prompted you to go to Jynna? And don’t give me some crap answer about wanting to see it—you’ve been to this city dozens of times,” I say about a minute into our drive. I can tell by the look on my sister’s face that she was hoping for a silent journey.

  “I want to see my people, see how they’re faring under Ramsey’s reign of terror,” she explains.

  I let out a snort. “I believe it, but I don’t believe it’s the only reason. Why now, why so suddenly? Why at night, and why not wait till the end of the week and just go with Jed and me?”

  She doesn’t answer me. Her gaze drifts to the scene of the lake outside the passenger window. “Calla?” I prod.

  “It doesn’t matter, Talon.”

  “Cal…” I mutter.

  “Like I said, I need to see my people, how they’re doing,” she lies.

  She’s never been particularly skilled at hiding the truth from me. That hint of a tremble in her voice—she’s afraid. And not much scares my little sister.

  I think about it for a few moments, about the one thing that truly frightens her.

  Ramsey.

  Calla wanted to go to Jynna alone because, I believe, Ramsey is there.

  I pull the truck onto the side of the dirt road, concealing the vehicle behind a tree before parking it. “You’re fucking insane, Cal,” I breathe.

  “I’m not walking into another execution, if that’s what you’re thinking. I just need to talk to her.”

  I don’t buy it. “She contacted you, didn’t she? Calla, you can’t trust anything she says. We should just turn around and go ba—”

  The stare I receive from my sister stops me mid-sentence and turns my blood to ice. Never, ever, has she looked at me—or any of our friends—like that. Like a ruler threatening obedience, which is exactly what she’s doing now.

  “I’m sick and tired of people acting like they can tell me what to do! I’m the emperor, Talon. You may be my brother, and I do love you, but this is my choice, and I’m choosing to go to Jurynn. Why? Well, all I know is that she threatened the safety of everyone in the lake house if I didn’t listen. I don’t even know if she’s actually in Jurynn, I just know that I won’t be risking everyone’s lives tonight because you don’t want me near her. I need to do this, Tally. Now drive.”

  “Okay,” I say after a long stretch of silence. No person, brother to the emperor or not, would dare question such a powerful tone of voice. “Okay, I’m sorry. Let’s go.”

  ∞∞∞

  It only takes us a few more minutes to reach the city. I park the truck in the trees about a quarter of a mile out. Calla and I pull up the hoods of our sweaters and walk the rest of the way. She doesn’t let go of my hand the whole time.

  When we were kids, we used to stroll through this city w
ith our father, my mother, and an entourage of Royal Guardsmen. It’s nowhere near being the grandest of the provincial capital cities, but it’s breathtaking just the same. Most of Jynna’s architecture is sleek and modern, with the occasional traditional Mordan-style building.

  The light of the twin moons dances off the glass of the skyscrapers stretching toward the cosmos. I used to feel like I was walking among the stars when I was in Jynna, with all the starlight reflecting off the glass. They don’t have streetlights here for that very reason.

  Now, despite the city’s physical beauty, Jynna feels dead. Lifeless. The people used to be friendly and happy, always smiling at the emperor’s family and wishing us well as we moved through. The Mordans, native to the Province or not, used tohave purpose as they bustled about their business, always on the move. But tonight, walking through those streets, no one smiles. No one knows who we are, either. Hardly anyone is even out; the apartments, condos, and town homes that line the concrete streets are dark, curtains pulled closed.

  The few people we do encounter in the streets have their heads bowed, light summer jackets pulled up to their chins. A few of Ramsey’s guards in her colors—orange and black—are shouting at citizens to get off the streets.

  Cal squeezes my fingers and pulls me into an alley between rows of town homes. We walk-jog between the concrete and glass structures until we stop at one of the alley doors. A back entrance to an apartment or condo, it looks like. Red paint is splattered on the door in an odd pattern. A line through a star, with two dots above it.

  A dainty black-haired Mordan woman opens the door. “Your Majesty,” she gasps, clamping a hand over her mouth. “Piers said something about a special guest, but I didn’t think... Well, we all didn’t believe her because you’re—you’re dead, Your Majesty. Oh, what am I doing! Come inside, please.”