The Sparks: Book I of the Feud Trilogy

by Kyle Prue

  The emperor leaned forward slightly and examined Neil. Neil tried not to stare back, but he couldn’t help but scan the emperor’s face a few times. It had no wrinkles, no discolorations, and no marks of any kind. It was as if he had been fashioned out of the purest marble. That face was both fascinating and terrifying.

  “I wonder,” the emperor said, running a long finger down the arm of his throne, “what it is about me that repulses you so?”

  The question caught Neil off guard. “Excuse me?”

  The emperor laughed once. “Look at you, Neil Vapros. You’ve been gawking at me since I walked in. I disgust you.” He tapped his chin with a slender forefinger. “Is it my face?” he asked, eyes boring into Neil’s. “Do I look ugly to you?”

  “No, sir. I’m here about—”

  “Is it my voice?” the emperor interrupted. “Do I sound like some sort of monster? You’re looking at me as if I crawled out of one of your nightmares.”

  “I don’t think you’re a nightmare,” Neil said uneasily.

  “Come, now,” the emperor chided. “You’re afraid of me, I can see it in your face. You want nothing more than to run from my palace and never look back. Isn’t that right?”

  “No, sir,” Neil said, but it was only partly true.

  The emperor laced his fingers together. “You’re lying to me, Neil Vapros. But I forgive you. I understand. There are certain times when it is wiser to lie.”

  “Yes, sir,” Neil said. “Um, about the city—”

  “For instance, if you were to tell me I looked ugly to you, or that I reminded you of a nightmare, I might be offended. I might become . . . angry.” He let his gaze drift to the servant at his side. “I can be unpredictable when I’m angry. Can't I, Saewulf?"

  The servant trembled and nodded.

  The emperor continued, “It’s because I’m a man with power. And when a man with power becomes angry, you never know what he might do. He might throw you in a dungeon. He might have you exiled. He might use his power to destroy you—all because you made a mistake.”

  The servant inched away from the emperor’s throne.

  “But I’m a patient man, Neil Vapros,” the emperor droned on. “I won’t get angry because of one mistake. I won’t even get angry about two mistakes. But when the mistakes begin to pile up, I’m afraid I lose control of myself.” He looked pointedly at Saewulf, who was shuddering visibly. “So please, for everyone’s sake, try not to make any more mistakes, Neil Vapros. Now, let’s get down to business. Why are you here?”

  Neil glanced at the servant once more before answering. “I came here to talk to you about some concerns I have about the city.”

  The emperor heaved a sigh and leaned back into his throne. “The city,” he said uninterestedly. “The city your ancestors were sworn to protect until they threw it all away.”

  Neil forced himself to remain quiet. The emperor raised his eyebrows, silently egging him on. “They couldn’t handle that kind of power, I suppose. Not strong enough. Not worthy. It’s not their fault. Some men weren’t born to be great.”

  Neil clenched his jaw. “I have some concerns, sir,” he repeated.

  The emperor grimaced. This was his game. Pushing Neil, testing him, seeing if he could get him to sweat. “It was this very room, if legend is to be believed.”

  “Yes, your highness.”

  “Savages broke through those very doors and stormed this hall, and then according to your little ‘myth,’ a deity came down and made you ‘godlike’ in your own way.”

  “I know the story, sir.”

  The emperor’s face suddenly twisted into a violent sneer. “I’m sure you know it very well, Vapros,” he hissed. “I’m sure you tell yourself that story every single night. I know it would make me feel less guilty if I believed there was some god justifying my actions. For how can you feel bad about stomping on the rest of us when it’s ‘his will.’”

  Neil didn’t quite know what to say. The emperor grinned when he noticed Neil’s attempt to form a sentence. “Yes, sir. But I’m not here for that. I’m here because of our concerns about the city.”

  The emperor gave in and queried, “What sort of concerns?”

  “I’ve been hearing strange rumors about the Captain of the Guard,” Neil began, but the emperor cut him off.

  “The Captain of the Guard,” he said, “the one who died of a broken skull thanks to a family member?”

  “Yes,” Neil interjected. “Because of a Taurlum family member.”

  “But the Taurlum was only there because he was chasing a Vapros, isn’t that right?” the emperor asked, raising one eyebrow.

  Neil swallowed hard. “I’m not the one who threw your soldier into a wall.”

  “I didn’t say you were.”

  “There are rumors,” Neil pressed on, “that you are planning to retaliate for what happened. People are saying you’re going to target the Lightborns. I just wanted to know, sir, if there’s any truth to those rumors.”

  The emperor blinked slowly.

  “I just—I don’t think my family deserves to be punished for something a Taurlum—”

  “Have you ever heard of the legacy phase?” the emperor asked.

  “I, um, yes.” Neil was trying hard to hide his frustration. “When a family’s bloodline is threatened, the head of the family sort of . . . panics, I guess. He feels a responsibility to keep his family line from dying out. So he makes it a priority to produce more offspring, to pass on our powers to as many children as possible.”

  “And how many offspring inherit the powers, Neil?”

  “All of them,” Neil explained. “Our powers are always passed on. That’s why we all still have powers.”

  The emperor smiled. Neil didn’t like it. “So it is perfectly normal in your family to have one parent with powers,” he said slowly, “and one parent without. That’s what happened to you, in fact, is it not?”

  Neil agreed, “That’s how it is for everyone in my family.”

  “Who is more powerful, your mother or your father?”

  “My mother is dead, so my father.”

  “Ah, that’s right. Such a pity.” The emperor looked off into the distance as if picturing something from the past. “I remember your mother: gorgeous woman. Your parents were treated like royalty. The people adored your mother. There was always a lot of nonsense about her clothes, what party they were attending. People actually referred to them as 'Altryon's first couple.'" He nearly spat the words. “The empress was quite upset when she heard that one. Really, people made such a fuss.”

  Neil swallowed. His father rarely talked about his mother. Neil hung on every word, not knowing if he wanted him to stop or continue. The emperor went on. “Your father adored her. He must have been completely devastated when she died.” His eyes returned to Neil.

  Neil felt his cheeks burn. He felt goose bumps up his arms, but didn’t understand the conflicting emotions: outrage at the emperor’s underlying scorn, pity for his father, a longing for the mother he never knew. Before he could sort through it all, the emperor interrupted his thoughts. “Anyway, back to the original question. Before your mother died then, who was more respected, more important in your family, your mother or your father?”

  “I don’t know. My father, I suppose.”

  “Why?”

  This conversation didn’t make sense. “He’s a direct descendant of the Vapros line,” Neil said finally.

  “There it is.” The emperor stood while declaring, “A direct descendant. You and your Lightborns, you think you’re all so much better than the rest of us. We ordinary people, we’re nothing to you. We are ugly to you.” He ran a hand across his marble chin and continued. “You throw us into walls, break our bones, bend our laws, because once upon a time there was a leader who had powers and you are his direct descendant.” The emperor wasn’t shouting, but Neil still felt deafened by the words.

  “Your majesty, I don’t—”

  “A Taurlum killed m
y father twenty years ago,” the emperor said, trapping Neil in his gray glare. “He didn’t agree with some of his new laws so he murdered him. This defiance of authority is not new to our city, and it will not be tolerated much longer. That I can assure you."

  Neil shifted his weight from foot to foot for a tense moment of silence. “My family would never intentionally defy you, your highness.”

  “Of course not,” the emperor replied, waving a hand dismissively. “It was the Taurlum, as you said before.” He looked into Neil’s eyes again. “You have nothing to worry about. Frankly, I’m surprised you bothered to come speak to me at all. It was so kind of you to converse with an ordinary person like me.”

  Neil opened his mouth to protest, but at the last second caught sight of the beaten servant, shaking his head very, very slightly. “It was a pleasure to meet with you, sir,” he said as politely as he could. “I’m sorry for taking so much of your time.”

  “An apology,” the emperor exclaimed as Neil walked away. “Did you hear that, Saewulf? How polite it is for him to apologize. You could learn a thing or two from Neil Vapros.”

  As Neil left the palace, he turned toward home and began to run. He had to see his father. Despite what the emperor had said about having nothing to worry about, Neil wasn’t convinced in the slightest.

  Upon returning home, Neil found his family convened in the Vapros war room. He took an empty chair next to Rhys and leaned over to ask what he’d missed, but stopped when Sir Vapros began to speak. “Now that we’re all here,” he said, looking pointedly at Neil, “we can begin.”

  Neil wanted to shout at him that he was only late because he’d been visiting with the emperor, something Sir Vapros had ordered him to do. While he was at it, he wanted to ask why he always had to do the worthless jobs and, more importantly, why he had to learn about his mother from the emperor?

  He still had an uneasy feeling about that whole conversation, but kept his mouth shut. Throughout Neil’s life, it was as if his father had always been wary of him. Uneasy around him, as if he wanted to be close, but there were barriers. Neil had always wanted to ask why. However, he couldn’t do that. And he already knew why, anyway. He’d been born.

  Sir Vapros pointed at Neil and he gave a quick summary of his conversation with the emperor, leaving out any mention of his mother.

  Sir Vapros made eye contact with each of his children while noting, “Something is very wrong in our city. We have seen worrisome behavior among the Imperial Guards. Rhys had a troubling encounter with an arms dealer.”

  Neil scowled. His father hadn’t mentioned his contribution, or Bianca’s. Sir Vapros began to review the recent suspicious activity. “Today, two business partners have chosen to end their affiliations with our family. Meanwhile, Darius Taurlum has been arrested for attacking our Opera House, which means the emperor isn’t turning a blind eye to our actions anymore. And last night, the Celerius house had a break-in and an attempted robbery. The culprits were members of the Brotherhood of the Slums.” An uncomfortable murmur went up. “They tried to steal worthless documents,” Sir Vapros continued a little more loudly, “ and why they chose papers when they could have gone after jewels or money, we can’t be sure.”

  “How is all of this related?” asked someone from the other side of the table.

  “This is not just about our family,” Sir Vapros said. “It concerns the three houses. For the first time in three hundred years, we may have a common enemy.”

  The room fell silent. Finally, Rhys spoke up. “The Celerius are moving a carriage today. I heard they are transporting something important away from their house, in case of another attack. I want to take Neil and Jennifer to raid it. See what they’re so concerned about.”

  Neil was touched that his brother wanted him to accompany him on the mission, but Sir Vapros waved away the idea and said, “We can’t risk any illegal activity, particularly when the Imperial Guards are arresting Lightborns.”

  Neil looked over at Jennifer. She seemed slightly relieved. She’d come away from the fight with Darius with nothing more than a few bandages wrapped around her torso, but Neil suspected she wasn’t eager to jump back into action quite yet.

  “We’ll ambush them in the orchards,” Rhys insisted. “It’s neutral territory. We can hide in the trees until we see them. A sneak attack. We’ll be in and out before they can do anything about it.” He was getting excited. Rhys loved to plan battle strategies. “I can put them to sleep. They won’t even see us.”

  Sir Vapros relented. “Fine. Proceed.” Out of the corner of his eye, Neil saw Jennifer open her mouth, but then she closed it and arranged her face in her trademark smirk. “The rest of you should be on the lookout for more information. Spread no more rumors. Just listen.” He stood. “This meeting is adjourned.” Rhys jumped up and ran to prepare for the coming carriage raid. “Remember, Rhys, heart or head.” Rhys nodded and darted out the door. The rest of the family funneled out of the room behind him. Sir Vapros was reminding his son of the fact that the only way to kill a Celerius was to damage their heart or their brain. This was another detail that Neil had known from the time he could walk.

  Neil slumped in his chair and groaned. “How did things get so messed up?”

  “Things always get messed up,” a cold voice said from the other side of the table.

  Neil looked up to realize he was alone with Jennifer. She slumped in her chair too, moodily examining her knife. He wanted to get up and leave, but Jennifer stopped him with a hard look. “Sure you feel comfortable going along with us?” she asked lightly, staring at him with icy eyes. Neil felt like prey caught in a hunter’s trap. “After all, your powers haven’t evolved at all.”

  A surge of anger coursed through him. How could Jennifer be so different from her twin sister? Victoria was kind to Neil. She encouraged him and helped him. Jennifer goaded him, mocked him, all the while knowing she was safe because she could kill him with one twist of her wrist. “Are you sure you feel comfortable going along with us?” he mimicked. “After all, dear sister, you did have half a wall pulled from your back last night.”

  Her eyes widened, and then narrowed. She materialized in front of Neil, her knife an inch from his eye. “Care to repeat that?” she snarled.

  Neil materialized to his feet behind her. “You seem a little sensitive,” he said, resting his hand on his own knife.

  Jennifer’s eyes began to burn. “People don’t talk to me like that.”

  He saw her hands begin to heat up and knew it was time to go. “Maybe they ought to,” he said with a mocking bow, and then he was out the door and materializing down the hallway as fast as he could. He reached the strategy room in record time. Rhys hardly took notice of his presence. He was pouring over a map and muttering to himself.

  “We’re not going to lose anyone on this one, right?” Neil asked, collapsing into one of the padded chairs positioned around the table.

  “No. I’ve taken nearly every variable into consideration,” Rhys replied without looking up. “The Celerius family is small. The only possible threat is Lilly, the daughter, but she doesn’t have any advanced powers, so I’ve ruled her out as a danger. Her brother is the General of the Imperial Army, but he doesn’t have time to sleep, let alone escort a convoy. Other than that, they’re all either off on military business or powerless servants.”

  “Lilly doesn’t have advanced powers?” Neil asked.

  “No, not yet.”

  That struck Neil. He knew the Celerius girl was a year older, seventeen. If Rhys thought there was hope for her powers to develop, maybe there was hope for his.

  “I’m a little concerned about the youngest brother,” Rhys said and pointed at his right temple. “He reads minds. He might be able to see us coming. And he’s decent with a sword. They all are. If he shows up, Jennifer and I will double-team him with our powers. So he’ll either end up asleep or Jen will burn him until he surrenders.” He finally looked up. “I think we should be on our way soon.
We’ve only got about two hours to prepare.”

  Neil noticed that Rhys was squinting at his documents on the desk. “You need spectacles,” he said.

  Rhys looked up, his brow still knitted from concentrating. “Father won’t allow it. He thinks it’ll show weakness if we wear things that show our flaws.”

  Neil ran his fingers through his hair. “That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. You’re practically an inch away from the paper and you’re still squinting.”

  “Neil, I can’t,” Rhys sighed. “Will you tell Jennifer to get ready?”

  “She’s ready to slit my throat. You’d better tell her.” He started toward the door, and then stopped. “Rhys,” he said, a smile starting on his face, “would it help if I brought along a friend?”

  “As long as you can meet up with us quickly. The Celerius carriage is probably already on the move.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  THE ORCHARDS

  NEIL VAPROS

  “When most boys invite me out, they don’t take me to sit at the top of a tree and ask me to bring my knives,” Bianca said.

  Neil sharpened his knife and began testing it on a nearby branch. “What can I say? I’m not most boys.”

  She grinned and winked. “On that, we can agree.”

  Ambushes were usually boring, especially when remaining quiet was part of the criteria. Neil and Bianca had long ago given up on silence, and Neil was surprised at how quickly the last hour had passed. “You know you’re going to stick out with your hair like that,” he informed her.

  She touched a strand of her ivory hair. “What do you mean ‘with my hair like this?’”

  “Well, we all have our black masks and hoods. We blend in. But

  you—”

  “Have beautiful shining hair?” she supplied, tossing her head.

  “Yes,” he said rolling his eyes, “you have beautiful shining hair.”