Tales of the Vangen: The Black Ministry's Betrayal (Book 1)

Chapter 32: A Truth and A Lie

The Empress reached out and caressed Libro's cheek. Her hand burned like ColdFire against his cheek, just like before, but the feeling was soothing this time. He placed his hand over hers without realizing it, letting the sharp chill lap away his heat. She didn't stop him. Instead, she laughed, and the crystal titter of her voice made him weak in the knees.

"Have you finally been getting some rest?" The Empress asked. "You had me worried there. I haven't seen you or Dux in awhile. I feared the worst."

"We've been pushing with all our might towards the Palace," Libro reassured her. "We're almost there."

"I know. I've been watching you all from the tower." Her thumb brushed his cheek, the nail gently teasing. It made his skin prickle into gooseflesh. "My only hope is that you all make it here on time."

Not even the Empress's hand could mask the chill that ran up Libro's spine. "On time? What do you mean?"

The Empress did not answer immediately. She stared ahead, focused elsewhere. When she did, her voice was distant. "The Ministry has surrounded the palace. They plan to siege the outer gates."

"That...that can't be. How could the rebels be so organized?"

The Empress traced a finger down Libro's cheek, stopping just short of the muscle feathering across his jawline. "You should not underestimate the man who leads them. Tyrannus is cunning. He knows his weaknesses and surrounds himself with people to compensate for what he lacks."

"Tyrannus?" The name felt familiar to Libro, like a distant dream lost in its meaning. "That is who leads the rebellion?"

"He and the others like him, but I have felt their lives wink away. One by precious one." The Empress clutched at her chest then. Her perfect hand dug into the fabric of her dress. It was clear her affection for them.

Libro felt a pang of jealousy. "You still care for these traitors? After all this?"

"A mother doesn't stop loving her children just because they disagree with her. Wouldn't you agree?"

Libro couldn't rightly say. There hadn't been enough time with his own mother to form an opinion. He was still a youngling when the disease ripped her away and dumped him at the Orphonarium's doorstep.

"I suppose you're right." He muttered.

That slender, cold hand of hers found his chin and lifted it. Gleaming amber met amethyst. "But I will always love the Vangen most," She added. She craned to look up at the mighty red cross that hung from the banner behind her. "Three centuries of loyalty is more than enough to love."

The thought of Elena and her family suddenly came to Libro's mind. What her father had said about Keevan Rahs, the invasion. Is that what three centuries of loyalty bought you?

The Empress wrenched her hand back as if she'd been stung. The smile in her eyes left too, replaced with an accusatory glare.

"Her." The Empress hissed. "So she's the one putting those treacherous thoughts in your head."

Libro balked. He'd forgotten the Empress could read his mind like an open book. He stared down at his boots, at anything that wasn't the Empress's gaze. Heat crept up the back of his neck, burning into his cheeks. He felt small like he had the last time. Like a guilty child caught disobeying his mother yet again.

"She saved me from the rebels."

"She fills your head with lies." The Empress said. "Weaving words as a spider weaves her web. And now she's caught you like the little fly that you are."

"All she wanted to do was help me."

"And you believed her," The Empress spat back. The sweetness in her voice was gone, now sour with accusation. "You'd believe anything, wouldn't you? As long as it's chased with a honeyed word or a lilting promise."

Her words cut deep into Libro. Down where the weakest parts of himself resided. His cowardice, manifested by his father's temperament. His needs, made from a mother's absence. And past that, in his core, where the raw anger lay. Hidden beneath it all. And like a volcano, that anger erupted.

"Then how is she any different from you!" The throne room trembled at Libro's words. Even the Empress had to step back, the aura of hatred that emanated forth radiating off him like the sun's heat. He could feel the rage coursing through him. It made his nerves burn, crackling up his flesh like kindling in a pyre.

And then it snuffed out, leaving only the bitter ash of regret behind. Fear came next. He had yelled at the Empress. The most powerful woman in the known world. And he'd yelled at her. He shut his eyes, expecting his life to end at any moment, but nothing happened.

Libro looked up, expecting hatred in the Empress' eyes, but instead, he only saw curiosity.

"Go on then," The Empress said, goading him. "Speak your mind. How am I like her?"

Libro knew he was trapped. To answer the question would be folly. To not answer would be tantamount towards disobedience. Better to be a fool then disloyal.

He decided to answer her question with a question. "Why did you send an army into Keevan Rahs?"

The Empress folded her arms. "What are you talking about?"

Libro licked his lips, ignoring the hammering in his heart. An odd sense of bravery took hold of him, a strange form of courage where his life could be snuffed out instantly. Like a moth flitting close to an open flame, he felt entranced to press the question. "Elena's father told me you sent an army into Keevan Rahs. I want to know why."

"And you believed him?" The Empress repeated.

"I don't know what to believe. I've been gone since the Orien campaign. That's why I'm asking you."

The Empress studied him for a long while before answering. "There was a rebellion."

Libro couldn't believe what he'd heard. "A rebellion? In Keevan Rahs?"

"Yes," The Empress tapped an irritated finger. "Much like the others, perhaps even inspired by them. Order had to be restored, and so I sent an army to quell the rebels."

"I was told there had been a genocide."

"Do you always believe what you hear?" The Empress asked. "Are you that naive?"

"All I want to know is the truth." Libro pressed.

The Empress was upon him before he had a chance to react. Her amber eyes bore into his, burning with untold malice. "And I have given it to you," she hissed. Her hands clutched his shoulders, the cold burning through his clothes into his flesh. "But you seem so eager to listen to others. So why listen to me? I can see it in your eyes. Doubt. Uncertainty. Hesitation. And yet you can't even see the lies being fed to you right now."

Libro didn't know if he could soil himself in a dream, but he'd have done so by now if he could. He bit down on his lip to keep them from trembling. The copper taste of blood filled his mouth and dribbled down his chin.

"You'll see, though." The Empress was mere inches away. Her voice had returned to an iron sharpness that made Libro's ears bleed. "The moment you defy her, she'll show her true colors, and then you'll come crawling back to me. Pray that I decide to take you back."

There was an eruption of noise off in the distance. The throne room trembled slightly before settling. The Empress stood up then, releasing her hold of Libro. He fell to the ground, tucking his knees into his chest as he began to weep.

"Aeturnus has breached the outer gate." The Empress walked away, not even deigning to look at Libro as she stepped out of the throne room. "Try not to die."

And then she was gone.