"Why don't you want to come in? You always used to love my library, I dare say you may have loved it more than you loved me. You took it's key with you when you left me behind." The cold voice roused me from my sleep with a cold sweet on my aching back. I propped myself up on my hand and peered over the edge of the shelf, catching sight of Mortemine just as she entered the room before darting back down into the corner.
"I didn't take the key because I loved the library it unlocked, I took it because I needed something to assure me all my past life was not a mear hallucination." Mother replied, her voice soft and confident. Did she really believe that she would be of more use to us as a captive than as a contemporary?
"Well that was not my point anyway, what was it you said as you lost your wits back there in Illy's room? I'm confident I misheard you because you were speaking little sense." Her voice seared it's way through whatever it touched, like a burning fire.
"I wasn't in the right mind. I spoke, but I do not now believe wholeheartedly in what I said."
"You're chewing your cheek again, I can hear your lying from here. Would you mind being a little more honest now that you've got nothing to loose?" Mortemine said. I felt my ears perk up at this. Chewing her cheek, did that indicate she was lying? How did Mortemine know this and not me, her own daughter?
"I might have little to loose but I wouldn't say I don't have anything."
"Where are my daughter and her new pet anyway? Is that what you've got to loose? I assume it's not the case that they would volunteer to remain in a prison they could break out of, and what a shame, when I was so looking forward to seeing the three of you beg, all distraught in your chains, for release." Mortemine was getting closer, I could hear her voice get a little louder, but not hearing any movement of ladders, I figured she was still on the ground. Illy beside me was starting to stir, her face coming to life like disgruntled doll. Her eyes blinked open in surprise at the next voice, but thankfully she remained silent.
"I've no idea actually, I left almost as soon as they let me free, under the pretext of sleep of course, they'd never let me rush to your side if they had known."Mother said. Illy's eyes were full of shock, she scooted silently closer to the back of the shelf.
"Who long have they been here?" She whispered quickly.
"Not too long," I replied quietly, my words cut off my Mortemine.
"Of course you did, but I doubt you've got no clue to their whereabouts. Where was it you were going to sleep, or are you more inclined to tell me about what all that jargon in Illy's room was?" Mortemine stayed silent after this, the room filled with a tense air, like a stand-off was happening.
"The book," Illy whispered, her breath on my ear. "I left the book out." I raised my head a little to peer over the edge, catching sight of the blue book as it lay open on the table corner. I saw Mother standing beside Mortemine, slightly pinned between her and the bookshelf, she had cut her hair short. I was baffled by the short black curls protruding from the top of her head, the sides shaved cleanly, her big blue eyes like opaque marbles, blocking out all view of her emotions. I slipped back down into hiding.
"I told you Mine, it was just that, jargon. I don't expect you to believe it, so there is then no point in saying it."
"You sure are defensive today, won't you give up on all this and just let me solve the enigma, for the sooner I solve it the sooner you can rest, and I can move on. It's no pleasure of mine to deal with the lot of you, I just want it back to normal, Illy her typical self, and me mine. Now what did you say, I don't care it if was jargon, I want to hear that jargon again." I could almost feel the press of Mortemine's words, even though they were not directed at me in specifics. Illy slipped around and peaked out the shelf now, slipped back down a moment later.
"I might not be as good at reading you as you are me, but I can't say I believe that."
"Get on with it Rosetta." She almost shouted now, her voice resolute. "First you place betrayal on my name, now stupidity? I've no time for this."
"You've got time for all of it, Mine. You never do anything, you were dead for years before me, and the moment you thought me gone you fell right back into death again. I know Illy as well as you or the next person, she runs this country, you're not busy, Mine, I know you aren't." Mother's voice was airing on desperate.
"So what, it matters little, I don't care if I'm not the Queen the world wanted me to be. Is this really too much to ask?" Her worlds were bitter.
"Sole Blood," Mother shouted. "I said sole blood, are you happy now. That you're a step closer to your precious sleep?" Her words pierced the room like an arrow, cleanly slicing the noise into silence. But I felt immediately that there was no satisfaction in this confession for Mortemine.
"Then it must really be that at least one of us has finally gone mad, or I've finally run out of memory space." I heard the cold harsh footsteps of Mortemine's heels clank on the stone floor as she walked, and the squeak of a ladder being picked up and set down. Illy's eyes were big, but not in fear, but calculation. This was defiantly not part of our plan. "There's a gap here." Mortemine slipped down from the ladder, and I peered up to see her pick the book off the table. "Looks like we're not alone, or we weren't alone. How long have you been planning this, sent your daughter in to slip her way under Illy's nose, key in hand, then you arrive to distract. I'm not a fool and I know you aren't one either, Rosetta."
"It wasn't like that. I never intended my daughter to ever meet Illy, let alone catch her eye, and neither did I expect to be here today. I only wanted my daughters safety."
"Well you didn't play that card very well. But what about now, when her safety is temporarily certain? What do you want now?"
"Peace, Mine, I want peace back, for all of us. I want stability, Mine. I want what I used to have."
"You're the one that took that from yourself, and now you've crawled to me, wanting it back? You do know you're selfish, don't you?" She said. I could see the hair on Illy's neck bristle as Mortemine spoke, her frame stiffened and taught like a string. She flipped around and pressed a finger to her lips to signal silence, before fading away into a fluffy cloud of black smoke, that lightened and spread slowly until I was gone from my sight, although I knew she was still there. The door was locked, the windows closed, but I supposed that probably wasn't her plan anyway.
"I'm fully aware." Mother replied, but her voice was lacking conviction, worn with the mornings events. I peered over the edge of the shelf, seeing Mother standing a little in front of the shelves, and Mortemine facing towards her, away from me, by the table.
"Where are my daughter and your little wretch now?" She set the open book down, neglecting to begin reading the section just yet.
"I told you, I don't know."
"Sure, and I'm sure you've nothing to do with the missing key or the open book at all. Where are they Rosetta, if not a place, a couple places? I know you're not stupid, if it's the one thing I know about you that's true, I know you're not stupid, you'd be dead if you were." She felt and sounded like a judges mallet at court when she spoke, convicting and judging and silencing everyone around her, until she deemed them right. I could see mother chewing her cheek anxiously from here, her lips silent, her eyes searched the room. Behind her I saw a slight blur of the books, they grayed as if aging to ash, forming a human figure, and then, Illy.
"I told you Mine, I really don't know. I left before they figured it out, we were staying temporarily in Illy's room, but it was really short term, I'm sure they're gone by now." Mother finally said, she kept from chewing her cheek, oblivious to Illy standing behind her. I wondered what Mortemine looked like right now.
"You're sure about that?" She asked after a moment.
"Of course."
"What do you think Illy, she telling the truth?" Mortemine asked. Mother jumped back, flipping around to see Illy.
"You really don't believe you know her Mother? You know her better than she knows herself, and if you weren't so skittish about it, you could tell us why we're gearing up to you before we've even began." Illy said.
"I swear to god Illy, if you left my daughter somewhere she isn't safe I can tell you I will personally deliver your butt to hell so quick you won't even know what it was you did wrong until you're sitting there and the Devil's telling you himself." Mother whispered angrily, slipping back into line with Illy so they faced Mortemine together.
"He's gonna tell me a lot of things Rosetta, but I don't expect to hear about them soon." Illy.
"If you too are done, I hate to intrude, but I'm gonna ask for my capture back, the one I've actually managed to keep in her place, unlike Illy here." Mortemine said. Mother stepped forward, giving one last glare to Illy and stepping up to Mortemine, who rung the chain off her waist through her hands like it was a pet.
"You get awful jealous over your exes mother. I'm your child, give it a rest." Illy stepped apart, framing her shoulders with her adjacent legs.
"Don't kid yourself, you know exactly why I ought to keep my eye on this one."
"Well you can read her well enough, I doubt it's necessary. Why do you put up with all this goose-chase and just ask what you haven't already figured out."
"Oh, I've figured plenty, but I have other, funner, things to do. For instance, snoop out that little child who keeps messing up all my stuff."Mortemine slid into a step around the room, glancing upward. I darted back into the corner, trying to make myself as small as I could against the wall. "The tables in here have no space beneth, the secret compartments are air proof, so you couldn't of gotten out if you were in them, and there's not space in with the scrolls and documents. There's only one spot left Illy, the shelves, you've left your precious girl without even a fair covering." I peered over the edge to see Mortemine thin, her light body lifting up off the ground on a cloud. I cowered in the back corner.
I turned behind me but the marble wall probably wouldn't break silently, nor would it be conspicuous to have a hole in the wall. There was only one option, and I was glad I had on the dress I did, for it would come with me. I slipped flat on the shelf and concentrated fully on it, but at first it was like holding my eyelids half open. Transform slowly, I thought, I prayed, clenching my body as I watched it slip out of it's form, hovering in a fluffy clouds outline of a person. Clear, I thought, and I felt my vision flood out around so instead of a seeing the world from two points, I saw it like a blurry window, but the shelf was empty as I drifted out into the center of the room. Mortemine's voice seemed to echo through me.
"She's right here isn't she Illy?" She rose up and turned around, looking back and forth one or two times, but it was clear she saw no one in the shelves. "Well aren't you clever." Mortemine said. Mother cease her glaring at Illy and came up too, Illy following, and now all three of them were looking around strangely. Mother and Illy began laughing."What?"
"It's nothing." Illy replied, but the Queen's squinted eyes said she already caught on. I let myself sink to the floor, but I was tired.
* * *
"Well, what have you done with her?" I asked, letting myself fall to the floor, but there was a sudden wind in the air, it swirled quickly around, but the windows were closed. Before me emerged straight from the air the girl I spoke of, her hair flying about her face, her eyes closed, and arms out like a statue. It was as if the whole room was sucked away from me and into her, small white and blue lights dancing around her, settling beneath her eyelids. When her eyes opened I felt a shiver dash down my spine, the intensity in her eyes as she let her arms fall limp. Maybe I really should remember her name.
"How much will it take to get you to believe us?" She asked, Illy falling behind her. "You aren't the only one here allowed to read the room."
"And what would you read from this scene?" I laughed, she might have some theatrics but that didn't mean she was any match for me. The little twat was twenty, if that. It didn't matter if she had somehow managed to pick up these skills a little quick, she was still a child regardless.
"Well right now you're sizing me up, and my name is Elly since you wondered. Illy is planning our escape, and Mother is planning how to protest her part in that escape to stay with you. But you already know all this, and why Mother acts as she does, I'm here to tell you what you don't."
"And what would that be? Don't flatter yourself too much." I asked, a little surprised she was so spot on, but there was logic to it all, not genius.
"As much as I'de love to stay and talk about it, Illy's through with her plan now." She stepped to the side smoothly, clearing the way for a the window opposite us to shatter. I turned almost instinctively to make sure Rosetta was out of the range of falling glass, but by the time I looked back I was greeted with a black bar and bird, wings outstretched. They cut through the air like arrows, and as they passed I saw the glowing lights of both of them flicker back and forth. I never did figure out why Illy had those, but it looked like that girl had them too.
"Don't even think about it." I said, holding Rosetta's chain taught, but she didn't budge. There was so little resistance in her actions it almost alarmed me, but knowing it to be intentional, I let it slip past.
"You already know what we're getting at, and I know full well you don't believe us. Don't you want to know why we're so adamant?" She turned back to me, stepping forward, her blue eyes blazing like I imagined the sky to be in day, though I had never seen it. I couldn't tell her I wasn't saying what I knew because I knew that was what she wanted, and when she got it, who knew how long it would take for her to slip through the cracks again. It was a ridiculous proposition, and the illogical and stupid habits of society shown at their peak in it.
"You know my policy. When you are greeted with an unsolved issue, you must vet all possible scenarios that explain completely the issue. When you come upon one that is impossible, of incredible or comparative unlikelihood, you should always abandon it for that proposition that is more viable."
"But you do not know the whole of my theory."
"And you could quite possibly be lacking parts of mine." I felt myself weary, but as I looked up at the shattered window panes I saw the sky was not yielding to the morning, and in fact, the moon had not yet even risen to it's partial peak. "Did it ever occur to you that I'm over you? That I don't care anymore, Rosetta, not about you and your dim wit daughter, not about you and your infidelity. I don't care Rosetta, I don't want you here. I want you out, gone, and I can tell you right now that I've already spent way too much effort in accomplishing such a simple task."
"You ask me not to lie and turn around to do just that. If you wanted me gone Mine, I would already be dead, and if you didn't care, I'de be in the slums, because my pretty body has been soiled, and you can't even use me in death anymore." I felt her voice crack beneath me, and stared as she looked at me like I had always wished she would, but I didn't want her to. It didn't feel good to see her beg, or hear her plead, because she was broken now, and I hated that in reality I had never wanted to break her.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I stepped forward, "I couldn't of drunk your blood regardless."
"Not blood." I heard her murmur, but she stopped herself. I hated myself for being so manipulated. Here I was, the tyrant, yet all I wanted was to please her.
"What happened to you when you left Rosetta? Where did you go? You've got nothing to loose now, you can tell me that at least." I leaned up against the table, letting the edge of the wood dig into my hips because I didn't care if it hurt anymore.
"First Germany, because I didn't know German, and I figured you would search most where I knew the language. There I sold all my belongings and traded out all my money, and as soon as I did I fled to Welsh Britain. Just before I had Elly I moved to a more British area, and holed up in a house I bought with the money. I stayed there until my death, windows bolted, afraid even to walk my child to her school, but it was worth it."
"How?" I laughed.
"I have a daughter now, and she was raised well enough. She is safe, and I, I got my last wish." Her eyes turned cloudy when she said the words.
"But the money you stole couldn't have gotten that kid as much as it did. Your house might have been quaint but you put that girl in a good school, and fed her well even when she didn't need it. Where did you get the rest of your money?"
"Government funds, we were poor, we qualified." She spoke too quickly.
"But that's not true, we searched there data base plenty. The Greenwoods never showed up as a family taking help." I saw the panic in her eyes.
"If you already know how I got the money, just out and say it already." She turned away and started towards the door, letting her hand fall limp on the doorknob. I had the key.
"I don't know how you got the money Rosetta, that's the problem."
"Problem?"
"Well, indescrepicy."
"Imagine it Mine." Her voice raised. "I was in the human world, dirt poor and too scared to ask for help, left with only a house and a child to feed and clothe. You know how humanity works."
"You didn't?" I felt the gears click into place, the rusty bronze grinding to a screeching halt, left only at the ugly truth. ⨠"Of course I did, Mortemine. I didn't think I'de ever need the body again anyway, I used it for it's worth." I couldn't see her face, but I knew from her voice she was crying, and started up before I could stop myself. My heels clanked on the ground like railroad tracks, and in moments I had my arms around her chest, hugging her tightly to her. I should let her go, I thought, but I couldn't. Not when she was so warm, and my heart hurt so much. "Don't," She whispered, "It's not clean."
"And like hell I am." I replied, feeling my heart bolster as she let out a laugh. "I've killed more people than the Spanish Armada, and I'de be lying if I said I could imagine a part of me that hasn't touched blood. They were brutes too, the blood of brutes."
"It's not as bad."
"Perhaps, but comparing quality over quantity I think we're even." But it was then that I remembered who I was comforting, and my arms stiffened, their grip loosening like untied shoelaces. Here I was, trying so hard to comfort the girl who had left me alone, taken from me the only hope I had ever had. I let my arms fall, stepping back. Why the hell did the world have to be so complex?
"Oh come on Mortemine," She said, "You can't tell me you believed all that wholeheartedly."
"What am I supposed to believe? And coming from your lips?" I threw the key to her, hearing the chain jiggle as it flew through the air, landing in her outstretched hand.
"You don't do what you're supposed to, it's your whole thing." She laughed. "You should do what you want to."
"What if what I want to do doesn't match with the limitations of our world?" I waited impatiently as she swung the door open.
"Oh come on, is there ever really anything you cannot do?"
"Plenty." I stepped through the door and let her lock it behind us, holding out my hand for the key. The hall was empty as it had been any other night, and I regretted not bringing Eleven up to my bedroom yesterday, as he was probably half starved, always says the slaves have the worse tasting dreams.
"Like what?" She asked, leaning against the now closed door.
"I cannot have the satisfaction of death without the loss of the experience and the person from then on out. There are few in this world who hold any interest to me or can match me, and nothing ever appeases my hunger. I have no daughter, my empire does not look to me as it once did, and I've had the worst trouble with staying awake. I cannot retire as I have no heir and what heir I do have is more my equal and has no heir of her own."
"That's ridiculous." She said. I watched as she slipped a hand through her short hair, letting it drain through her fingers like flour in a sieve. "Half your problems would solve themselves if you could stop being so prudent about it for a moment."
"Prudent?" I shook my head in disbelief, but she just laughed.
"No one interests you, then who is your daughter, your slave, my daughter? Nothing appeases your hunger, nothing keeps you awake, nothing interests you, then who am..." But she stopped there, although I already knew what she was going to say.
"So you just wanted to bring to my attention that your infamy caused all my problems, how kind." I scorned, staring down the hallway towards the bedroom. It was not night, but I had had plenty of this, and there was little else for me to do.
"You can't say all of it. You couldn't stay awake before me, I just left a whole that seemed bigger, when really, it's the same size Mine, I'm just not there to fill it."
"Great." I muttered sarcastically, stopping before the door, but she stopepd a bit further back.
"Oh Mine," She said, "I snuck out last night, you've got a ball to attend in around an hour."
"You what?" I yelled, whipping around to look at her smug face. "You little brat," I walked straight up to her, resisting the urge to yank her up to my height by the neck. "Who did you tell?"
"Minister of Guards, said I was a slave sent by you. You change them so often, no one can keep track, with a hood and a timid voice, no one asked." She said. I groaned, letting my head fall back in exhaustion.
"You've got to be kidding me. To hell with it, you're going right back in that bedroom and staying there until I'm back. And by god when I am I'm not sure what the hell I'll do with you."
"Well that's perfect. You'll have something fun to think about while you tend to the ball." She smiled like she used to and I only sighed, knowing it was hopeless. I took the chain of her waist and practically threw her into the base of the staircase to my bedroom.
"Don't you even think about pulling another escape. I've enough to tend to without you slinking down the halls doing god knows what!" I slammed the door and felt the lock click as I turned the key, slipping it back around my neck with a sigh. But what was this? If she had gotten out last night, then why in the world was she in her chains this morning? Why go to the trouble of putting that thing back on if she knew I would know anyway? Was she really going this far just to try to manipulate me? Didn't she know it was futile?
I pushed my thoughts aside as I walked, turning to swing open the door to my closet. I strolled through the left aisle and picked out the first dress that caught my eye, a blackish gray ruffled dress with silver detailing along the edges of the fabric that fluttered out at my hips and hugged me tight, leaving my back exposed. After tying up my hair in a golden beaded clip, I slipped a ring on each finger, a ruby choker around my neck, and slipped out the door to the hall with only about twenty minutes to spare. I unlocked the front door and walked through, but the guards that stood on the opposite sides of the double doors did not seem suprised to see me, and walked with me as I started down the corridor.
I took a right and got myself to the Minister, half opening, half kicking down his door and grabbing the started man off his chair by the neck. "You imbisule, I did not request a ball, get your senses in order. And that was no slave of mine, not even asking her to remove her hood, what are you trying to pull. Because of the shortcomings of idiots like you I've got a ball to attend and a new minister to hire, now get your ass out of here before I decide I'de rather you not leave in so few pieces." I let him fall to the floor with a thump before walking out and down to the ballroom, taking my station behind the double doors.
If there was one thing I hated it was attending a ball in which no one interesting could possibly attend. I had hardly slumped down in the velvet chair and drunk myself silly on blood that tasted foul before I heard the bells calling me. I stood and swung open the double doors, smiling down upon the crowd gathered below as I descended the stairs. I must have taken quite the force to do it, but they had managed to collect my slaves at the sides of the stairs, although Eleven looked did not look stable on his feet as he bowed. I called him to me as soon as I reached the base, shooing the rest away to do whatever it was they did at these events.
"You believe what that little brat did, snuck out and set me up for this shit?" I asked as Eleven wobbled over. "You can walk, how surprising."
"Well I wouldn't miss this for anything, Master. You in public, this hasn't happened since the year you spent trying to convince them you didn't care." He replied.
"Oh, shut your yap. I could say the same about you being untied." I surveyed the crowd, but it looked like they were still deciding who was going to risk conversation first, so we had time.
"Who said I was untied?" Eleven said. I laughed, and he did too, but it almost knocked him over like a Jenga tower, which only made me laugh more.
"Anyway, go scout me a slave to play with while you still know your legs, and let me know if you see anyone I should know about." I said, pushing him away to stumble off like a newborn deer as I saw someone approach. "Count Clock?" I exclaimed, recognizing him as he tread towards me.
"Your Majesty, isn't it a pleasure to see you awake again." He was wearing a simple black suit, but behind him was a new slave, a boy clad in a purple silk pantsuit, it's creased pattern almost displacing the fact that it was a tad see through, showcasing black roping beneath.
"A pleasure, to see you? Don't flatter yourself Clockwork. You waltz in here practically once a month asking for some cordial gesture of appreciation, it's a miracle I haven't killed you off yet." I said. His slave, with blond hair french braided to his shoulders, looked to be sweating quite profusely now.
"Oh, you'd never do that. What, the only people smart enough to replace me are you or your daughter, and if you sent Illy you'd have to run your own kingdom for a change."
"Fair enough, but all the same I ought to have your passport revoked, just for fun."
"Enough with your games Caedis, I want the real story. Why are you awake so soon, you were put to be not a year back?" He looked me up and down as though there might be some clue, although I knew he knew there wasn't one. He did it out of habit.
"Just thought I'd take a stroll is all, Eleven was lonely."
"Don't kid me, you only wake up when somethings really wrong. And you care for your slaves about as much as you do your slums, that is, not at all."
"Enough of that, I have to deal with enough boring nobility as it is, who's your snack?" I asked, pointing at the slave to his side. He instinctively stepped closer to his master, pinching the Count's sleeve like a child.
"Venastras, and it doesn't matter you like him, he's mine."
"Protective, you could at least let him have a break from his bondage while you dance, couldn't you?" I laughed as the boy brought his arms in close, trying to cover what the translucent fabric could not.
"Not with you awake." The Count laughed. "But back on topic, are you really that mad about your daughter's fling. Let her have the girl Mortemine, it does no one harm."
"It harms plenty of people. I can't have my daughter running around with that of a exiled fugitive, think of my reputation. It was a stretch to let her be a slave, alive even. That girl will be out of my palace, out of my kingdom, and into a coffin if I have anything to do with it, along with her mother."
"Along with her mother?" Count Clock asked, and I recognized to late that all this was weighing on me too greatly, and I had let something slip I should not have.
"Well, her mother's already in a coffin." I replied.
"You never make mistakes Queen, if I know one thing about you it's that. I'll be back tomorrow."
"You'll be met with closed doors."
"And you newspapers, lots of them." He replied with a smirk, taking his slave by the arm and walking away before I had a chance to say a word. I frowned but let him walk away, disappearing behind the crowd. As there was no one with the guts to speak, I went walking instead, strolling through the parting crowd until I spotted Eleven as he stumbled up to me, a panicked look on his face.
"They're here Master." He said quickly, pointing.
"Who?" I asked, straining to pear over the heads of the crowd to try to spot someone of importance.
"Illy, and Elly too." I hardly heard him over the blood rushing to my ears as I stomped away, quickly softening my steps as I realized people were staring. Eleven disappeared behind me as I shot forward into an open circle, and almost gasped as I saw them. The audacity. They had done more than just show up, Illy clad in a white creased dress that gathering in large ruffles at the end of the long sleeves and waist, a red tie around the collared neck, that girl in a small navy dress that cut out at the waist, separating it from the skirt, which flowed out as she spun and was traced with white roses at the base. I scowled as Illy shot me a smile, bringing that girl out and spinning her, before pulling her back in as swiftly and smoothly as I had ever seen her do.
It took all the composure I had not to step in and smack them apart before the music ended. "Mother, I am so glad to see you awake again." Illy said cordially as she stepped up to me like a batter does the plate, that girl on her arm.
"Yes, just as happy as you were to know about the casualty count of the war I presume." I replied cooly, keeping my voice low.
"My mother, I would say your inconvenience to me had been greatly exaggerated if you truly believe that."
"There is not much I say that I do not believe, my daughter. I thought you knew your mother, but I suppose I was wrong. Now how about you loose the pet so we can talk like adults?"
"My, you are in a foul mood indeed. I'll been keeping my pet right here."
"Then can I eat her?" My voice was raspy as I glared at her. "I am very thirsty."
"You'd poison yourself, and I do believe you've to a reputation to uphold, my Queen."
"May I ask, daughter mine, when you plan to come to your senses and act like a grown woman again. You're chasing bread crumbs like a child, and I don't intend to stand it much longer."
"You do know you couldn't kill either of us even if you tried, don't you mother?" I burst out laughing at the proposition.
"I could kill you here and now if I pleased." But something about the way that girl's eyes sparkled when I said it put me on edge.
"You could not no matter how much you please. It's about time you learn your own strength Mother, you only one before because back then I did not recognize what it was you were doing, pouring down you pleas upon me like a waterfall. I know now, and I've got someone I need more than I ever have anyone else. You cannot win Mother, and I know you hate that."
"I hate it more and less than you could ever imagine, Illy, but there is one thing about your mother you should never forget. When I resolve to do something, and someone tells me I cannot, it is those words that set my proposition in stone, and I resolve on instinct always to achieve what they have told me was impossible. My betrothed betrayed me, I resolved to kill her, I saw her dead. My people were in hardship, I resolved to save them, I saw a kingdom built for them. I always do as I decided I will."
"Mortemine," The girl said, and I turned my head to look at her youthful face. What could she tell me that I did not already know? "Fifty years ago, you resolved to marry my Mother, you soiled your knee, caught your heart, and presented it to her in the form of this silver ring. It was your will then, and I am certain many a people told you that you should not. Why, Mortemine, Queen Of Caedis, did you back out? Why did you run away from that promise? Why did you allow that resolution to dissolve? What made it different from the rest? You have not always followed through with your will." Her words were like ice on an injury, both numbing and aggravating the bruised and torn skin.
I was silent. What could I respond to that? I hated being silent, being wrong. This was why I had made this resolution as a child, because I hated falsity so much. "I made the promise to follow through with my will because I wanted always to have truth within me and my actions. She violated truth, it was only right I violate the promise I, in turn, made to her."
"No, you did not. You've come up with that now. She violated nothing, but with the press's accusations soaring to new heights each day, you could not keep her. You ran away."
"Violated nothing?" I laughed. "You cannot be serious child. Wake up. I never supposed Rosetta to produce such a stupid girl, who out of suductive beauty alone managed to trap my daughter."
"Explain to me one thing, Mortemine, one thing for each time we meet. If my mother had a normal child, who came from infidelity alone, how do I break chains and bend bars of titanium?" I felt my hair bristle as she spoke.
"Diamond, you cut it with diamond."
"From where? You stripped us of all our rings and jewels. The only thing I had of that sort is the sapphire in my collar. And beyond all that, diamond cannot bend bars."
"Mother, have you forgetten? You coated those bars in diamond when they were made." Illy said. I felt anger well up in my stomach.
"Well so what? You're a little stronger than your average pureblood. So what, you're clever. What does that prove?"
"So a lower class rauzire, one of no prestige, no special skills, and most likely not even pureblooded. One who is not smart enough to rise out of his class, and has somehow evaded extensive searches for his whereabouts, was prestigious enough to convince my mother incriminate herself and leave that who she loved? He was prosperous enough to create me?" She said. This was the exact sort of thing that I didn't want to be confronted with. "Rosetta didn't even have private access to anyone but you around that time."
"She was an escape artist."
"You weren't busy."
"Is it too much to ask that I not be bombarded with questions at my own ball? She got pregnant, child. You are not my child, therefore you are someone else's." I was almost yelling now, trying to keep my voice down so the guests didn't notice.
"Isn't that staying inside the box a bit too much."
"The box of sanity that is. My, the lot of you really are insane. Am I the only person here who understands the fundamental level of biology? Am I the only person here with a head that works?"
"If your head worked to the extent you believed it too, you could have answered my question." Elly said, turning to leave.
"You better be damn glad we're in public right now because if we weren't I'de snap your head off and leave it on a spike in my room."
"And I thought Dracula was dead." She laughed. Illy turned with her and they walked away like ghosts. I felt my chest heave a tired breath and tried to make my way back to the staircase, but was interrupted by the most undesirable of guests.
"Your Majesty." Master Clementia bowed low before me, blocking my path.
"Out of my way runt. Go home and if you even think about telling a soul of what you've seen in this palace, I'll see your body chopped into centimeter sized cubes." I grumbled.
"I did not mean to anger you, My Queen. Your secrets are safer in my hands than any others, but I would not be disappointed if you allowed me to know more about what I saw."
"They're about as safe with you as they are carved in stone in the market square, and if you expect to live even to your allotted lifespan I would suggest you shut your yap and retire to silence."
"Yes your Majesty, if that's how you wish it." He bowed, stepping aside.
"Oh, and another thing. You won't be leaving this castle today. I've got your tower all set up, so please don't resist, it's only an inconvenience." I said, walking through. I heard the bells and started up the stairs, turning at the top to survey the crowd. It almost made me cry looking at them. There was a time when they cheered just to see me, woman fainting and men reduced to blubbery tears as they watched me ascend these stairs. There was a time when I was accompanied by my family, and seen as the top of all the world, a savior of millions. Even the time when they shivered under my step was better than this.
But now they saw me as a worn leader, lashing out at all who forsake me like a scared old dog. They had looked on me so kindly when I rose to this door with Rosetta on my arm. Nobility's children would stop me in the ballroom to say they hoped to find a love as pretty and kind as my bride. But now, now they looked at me like a delusional ghost. I wasn't even feared like I used to be anymore. How had I let myself sink this low? Why didn't I have the energy to rise back up? I turned and slipped through the parted doors, staring back to my room.
When I got there I slipped through the bedroom doors and clicked them shut with a key, and turned into a bat to get up the stairs, as I didn't have the patience for walking them. At the top I found Rosetta on the edge of the bed. Her eyes looked sad and worn, but her short black hair glistened and her snow white skin looked so soft and warm I almost reached out to touch it before I stopped myself. Her big eyes looked up at me like that of a child.
"When did this happen Rosetta? When did we become like this? Me an old mad dog, you a sad famished puppy? When did we get so starved?" My breath felt hollow and I cursed myself to speaking the words aloud. Letting her in was the worst thing I could do right now.
"I don't know Mine." She slipped her arms around my back and stood, hugging me so tightly it almost took my breath. But that breath was a thousand times more full than any other I had taken for years. She was so warm around my middle as I gripped her closer. I pulled back the covers and fell in with her still around me. I don't remember going to sleep, but I remember it was warm. So wondrously warm.