Welcome to the Empire. Where the Prophecy is law, and betrayal is the only way to survive it.
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Two thousand years ago, the Prophecy of Fire and Light foretold the coming of the...
Reylor couldn't help but watch her lying there, thinking how better suited black looked against her skin than the brighter garb of the Empire, regardless of that damn ring on her finger.
If it wasn't a family heirloom, he would have considered pulling it off and melting it for the metal alone.
The Empress lay unconscious on the bed within the chambers Reylor had prepared for her arrival, and he stationed mages at the door to ensure she didn't venture out on her own any time soon.
The chain around her ankle that attached her to the bedpost would most likely assist in that as well, if only as a temporary precaution until the castle was better situated for the Empress' extended stay.
Once the Borderlands had come into view, she began to grow aggressive, and it was safer for all parties involved to have her immobile upon their arrival. He hadn't wanted it to be this way, but sometimes one must take matters into their own hands. Treyan began the conflict the moment he banished him to the hellhole known as the Borderlands. He refused to listen to him when he told him the Prophecy was wrong, had assumed there was a deeper treason involved when he, of all people, had dreamt of the Empress before Treyan. Reylor wasn't the Crown Prince, he had been told in the midst of his brother's threats, and if he acted upon any of it, Reylor would have been as good as dead.
His brother chose to not make any of this easy for any of them, so Reylor decided the only way he would get what he wanted was to begin anew of his own making.
He had been erased from the Annals already, what would the Prophecy matter at this point? His future was his own now, and by the Empire's own doing no less.
There was much to do now, but the magic necessary required time to perfect, and he only had a moon's cycle to complete it.
Could he convince Alexstrayna within that small amount time?
For her sake, he hoped so.
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Reylor had ordered his mages to bring Alexstrayna to his chambers the moment she awoke, and though it was not until much later that day, they followed his orders dutifully. He had just sat down for his evening meal when the door opened, and between his mages was a very awake, and very belligerent, Queen Empress.
"Wonderful!" he exclaimed as he stood to meet them. "I was hoping you'd be awake in time to join me."
She looked at him with those beautiful dark doe eyes.
"Fuck you."
One mage raised a hand to strike her for her disobedience against his lord. She braced for the impact, but Reylor grabbed the mage's wrist before it met its mark, bent it backwards at an unnatural angle, and in one fluid motion cracked the bones in his fingers. The mage released Alexstrayna in a yelp of pain, but Reylor refused to let him go.
"You will never raise a hand to the Empress, do you understand?" His voice remained steady as the mage's eyes widened at the severity of his injury.
The mage nodded and Reylor released him from his hold.
