A Light in the Darkness Book: The Moonlight Murderer

Chapter Twenty: Everyone Expects The Inquisition

Emperor Sigmund Cevarius III straightened out his robes and imperial regalia as he strode through the palace halls. Through a series of unforeseen circumstances, he was left to resume governing while his wife departed on a likely fruitless mission. He ignored the surprised stares from the servants as he proceeded toward the throne room.

The looks on the aristocratic assembly were even more shocked. Clearly his presence had become a greater oddity than he'd realized. Still, the work he'd been doing was important, probably. He settled uneasily onto his throne, considering these matters as Preston announced his presence to the court. Sigmund leaned back casually and listened to the various nobles complain about their tedious issues. The topic of the recent robbery came up and he gave the go ahead for additional security at the palace.

Sigmund, of course knew who was responsible for the heist and doubted they would be back again. At least, he hoped they wouldn't. Not that he particularly minded chatting with that young Fen but he wasn't anxious to lay his hands on the Sun Shard again. Those cursed stones had been the subject of his constant research the last few months. Despite his maddening efforts, he'd discovered little about the mythical objects.

Supposedly a source of divine power, they'd only sparsely appeared in recorded history. It was said there were some in Subri's possession during the First Great War and that one had been spotted around the time of the Eastern Conflict. Beyond that there were only scattered references dating back to earliest history, perhaps even before the dawn of humanity. The objects were said to be sources of immense power and Sigmund believed they had something to do with the shortening days and the eternal twilight which plagued their world.

It was also likely partially responsible for the visions that had plagued his mind for so long. Though he had relinquished the Shard to Jan as he'd felt the urge to do, it was taking time for him to recover from the effects. That voice, which first appeared as garbled gibberish had eventually become clear as day, was fast fading and the visions were no longer occurring at regular frequencies. Finally, the emperor could see clearly again and what he saw was almost as maddening.

A city in turmoil, traitors around every corner, and a murderer hiding in the shadows. Things were worse than he could have known. As he was thinking this over, he noticed something very odd going on in the room. The gathered assembly had begun to remove the footwear for some reason. The situation continued to puzzle him for some time until he casually looked down at his own feet. There he saw his toes in all their imperial glory sticking out for all to see. Apparently, he'd been in such a rush no one had dared to tell him he wasn't wearing shoes and now he'd accidently started some bizarre fashion trend.

By then nearly everyone in the throne room had removed their shoes, except for a few outliers. Adelais of course had not dignified the situation with any response, and Quintus had made no move to remove his boots. It was just as well, Sigmund mused. His cousin's feet probably smelled worse than the lot of them. From the corner of his eye, the emperor caught a pleading look from Preston. He gave the steward a weary nod, at which point he carefully undid his laces and neatly folded his socks over his discarded footwear. It was a real shame Nick wasn't in attendance; the whole situation would have provided some excellent comedic material for one his routines. Nevertheless, Sigmund endeavored to keep a straight face as he cleared his throat.

"Well, now that we've all gotten more comfortable, let's get down to business," he beckoned for a drink. It was going to be a long day.

One of the first matters to come before the court ended up being the budget. Kaeso got up and droned on about numbers and various expenses. Cassandra, the Minister of Trade was with him. Apparently, the Merchants' Cartel would be holding a meeting in the next few weeks. They'd be discussing some additional tariffs and the preparations for the upcoming Festival of Blazes. There'd have to be additional security.