Iscariot

'Cause I need you to see that you are the reason

Erik returned to the throne room but his brothers were gone. Night had fallen. Tilting his head back, he shook his bangs away from his eye and noticed how the windows above were dark. Several were stained glass, depicting Lilith and the Queen's legends. He'd spent a fortune replicating them from the old castle. They were beautiful to behold when the dawn was behind them. In the dark, you couldn't even tell they were there.

Like me. The light hadn't touched him in a long time.

Despite the myriad of standing candelabrum in the chamber, Erik could still feel the chill rising off the marble around him. He rolled the sleeves of his shirt back down, buttoning his cuffs as he walked towards the throne. Unlike the large gold monstrosity his father passed to Raestrao; this chair was elegant, narrow and tall, to accentuate the Queens that would sit upon it.

My duty. He might be the Lord but the kingdom still waited for its next Queen. Of all the nobles he'd met, none even remotely appealed. The thought of serving one of them...

The throne loomed over him, his stomach churning, just another thing showing his lack. Raestrao was right. He didn't rule, not in the day-to-day or the details; that was what his advisers were for. Uzaeris refused to be a tyrant like his brother. Only the big decisions came down to him, as few and far between as they were, and he tried his best to make them for the good of his subjects.

And the posturing. Let's not forget the pretty poses. Those were his specialty: playing the figurehead to show that everything was all right; acting in front of the entire Plains as though the bloodline hadn't been horribly massacred by his own father, that the last Queen hadn't completely abandoned them all.

All he truly had was his magic and it took Mika to show him that he wasn't using it enough. It provided protection for his people, yes, and he would fight for the kingdom if it ever came down to it. But he could be healing his people, too.

I haven't been outside of the castle gates in over a decade. He didn't know where to begin, how to even start.

Uzaeris turned away before his thoughts could drag him down even further. He left the grim, golden reminder behind, walking through the silent hall back to his brother's room when he heard Sam's growl.

"Quit being an idiot!"

"How can you, of all people, say that?!" Raestrao demanded.

Erik paused, the voices echoing out of the war room. His brothers were there, standing around Lilith's table, arguing. Raestrao loomed, his back up and every inch the Demon Lord as he met the Dragon Lord's fierce glare.

"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Sam ground the words out, leaning on the warm granite, hoping Lilith helped him keep his temper.

"I am saying you are honest." Raestrao carefully enunciated each of the words, implying both.

Sam snarled. "I'm only trying to-"

"Damien will be fine," Uzaeris interjected loudly into the conversation, causing both to start as he walked into the room. Raestrao eyed him, silent, while Aomaris frowned at him grimly. "We've healed him, he just needs to rest."

"We? And Mika?" Raestrao asked before the brute could, staring intently.

Erik flushed, refusing to let his brother intimidate him without a fight, "Her healing magic is stronger than mine, she was the one who handled most of it, but it is draining to her. She needs rest as well." He folded his arms, forcing his back to straighten and stand tall, reaching for his own regality once more. "And I would appreciate it if you would use your glamour while in my domain, especially in her presence. She knows what we are," his lips thinned as he glanced at Sam, the brute unrepentant, "But I prefer we have some human decency around her."