The Emperor's Concubine

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Emperor Cabel sits on the sofa, gazing at Cethin and his friends.
Luna stays quiet as she looks back at Cethin—who seems rather playful.

"I want to make sure none of my 'family' gets hurt or myself. We'll get injured on missions, that's a given since it's part of the job, but I don't want to be injured from people who wish to have our heads." Cethin calmly states.
"I can provide that. If I do, you must give up the citizenship you have, from whatever hole you crawled out of, and become citizens here. There's no such thing as quitting. I ask for loyalty, and expect it until retirement or death. In your retirement or death, you'll be provided enough money to live, and your family will be cared for."
"Fair enough, sound good to you all?" Cethin turns to look at his friends sipping the tea.
"Quit shoving your mouths with plant water, and decide!" Cethin scolds.

"Okay." A man with grey hair shrugs.
The girl nods, shoving cookies into her mouth.
The three men ignore Cethin as they play with gadgets on Emperor Cabel's desk.
"If you accept, you guys should introduce yourselves before we sign it." Cethin sighs, "I swear I'm just a babysitter."
The five assassins line up behind the sofa Cethin sits on, and bows.
"This is Xal, Jax, Petunia, Riddle, and Eli. It's all nicknames, but it's been so long since we've used our birth names, we forgot them." Cethin shrugs.
"I still remember mine though-" A man with light brown hair speaks, sticking his hand up.
"Come on, don't just piss on my cool sentence like that, Jax." Cethin groans, embarrassed.

Emperor Cabel and Luna exchange bewildered looks with each other.
The people in front of them seem childish and playful, much different than 'murderous' trained assassins.

"Listen, I don't know why you'd go through this effort to hire some people. We could kill you both right now and steal your stuff, and you still trust us?" A blonde man rolls his eyes in disbelief.
"Allow me to specify. I am the emperor. Those who wish to harm me or the empire, won't live long enough to notice when they've been executed." Emperor Cabel calmly states.
He pulls Luna close into him, placing his hand over her eyes.
"Your highness? What are you doing?" Luna questions.
"It'd be best if you don't watch for this test."
"Test? Does this mean you want us to show our strengths, right now? You could die y'know." Cethin grins slightly with a twinkle in his eye.
"You can if you'd like, but I'm not responsible for anything that happens-"

Emperor Cabel's cut off with a blade to his throat, throwing stars piercing the sofa around Luna and him.
Cethin stands behind him, holding him in a hostage position.
"This was too easy. You'd be dead by now!" Cethin laughs, looking down at Emperor Cabel's expression.
"If it were an 'attack', you would have been dead seconds before you moved." Emperor Cabel calmly states.
"What? You're crazy-"

Cethin looks up surprised.
Xal, Jax, Riddle, Eli, and Petunia are all restricted by giant spikes—glowing with dark red electricity.
Pinned against the walls and floor, spikes are pointed at their throats. The shadows caging them with pillars, holding them in place. A thin beam is erect in front of Luna, the other side of it holds throwing stars aimed for her.
Cethin looks down at his body to see a large spike, aimed upwards under his jaw, millimeters away from his skin.

"How did you?-" Cethin pauses, looking at the room growing mysteriously dark.
A heavy red fog emits off of the emperor.
The shadows continue to grow, moving to cover the windows. The light slowly dimming.

"Like I said. Those who wish to harm me or my empire, won't live long enough to notice when they've been executed." Emperor Cabel's lips curl into an amused smile.
"Can I count on all of you to stay loyal? Or shall I continue?" Emperor Cabel's glowing sharp eyes shift up to look at Cethin.

A visible chill rushes through Cethin's body as his eyes widen.
He gulps slightly before his lips curl into a grin, breaking out into laughter.
"You're fun! What the heck, thought you were some boring noble!" Cethin removes his blade from Emperor Cabel's throat.

Emperor Cabel releases his shadows, the room turning back to normal.
Petunia picks up her throwing stars uneasy, watching Emperor Cabel from the corner of her eye.
Removing his hand away from Luna's eyes, she looks to see the six assassins on their knees, bowing in front of them.
"We accept this opportunity, your highness." Cethin grins, amused.

Luna is escorted back to her room as night approaches.
Emperor Cabel sits, sipping a glass of wine as he reads a document. The assassins sit around, waiting for him to review the contract.
"Sign at the bottom. This binds you to me. If you break the contract, I'll be sure to hang your hands and tongues on the gates and leave you on the street to die." Emperor Cabel tosses the paperwork towards Cethin.
"Interesting, are you sure you can catch us if we break the contract?" Cethin replies, reading the documents.
"I'm not one to hold grudges, but breaking my trust is enough to make me kill someone—no matter what lengths I have to go through."
"Ha! Fine, it's better than being on the run constantly." Cethin signs, passing the papers for the rest to sign.
"While you're working here, you'll be guarding Luna as well. At least two or three of you should shadow her. I don't give orders half assed, so I expect you to kill anyone who tries to harm her." Emperor Cabel rests his elbows on the desk.
"Her again? What makes her so special? If anything, it'd be a hindrance to protect her." Cethin scoffs.

Emperor Cabel's eyes glow subtly as he coldly analyzes the assassins, the room atmosphere growing heavy. He clasps his hands together, placing them in front of his lips as his eyes pierce into Cethin.
Cethin jumps, startled by the cold gaze in his eyes.
"You've just signed your life to me. There's no point in asking irrelevant questions, so do as you're told. If you need incentive, remember—I'll kill whoever fails to protect her. If she's killed, I'll personally torture those who let her die. So don't make a mistake."
"How fun." Cethin laughs.
He nods and stands.
"Understood, your highness." The six assassins speak, bowing their heads.