chapter 73- twin chaos #2
She simply laughed while Elias marched farther into the room, leaving a trail of glitter behind him and carrying both imperial princesses toward the throne as though he intended to present them as evidence in a criminal proceeding.
Elowen's laughter echoed around the high ceiling.
Lysandra did not stop issuing threats simply because she was upside down.
If anything, the position seemed to deepen her conviction that a crime had been committed against the crown and that she alone possessed the authority to correct it.
Her arms remained folded tightly across her chest, though maintaining that posture while hanging by one ankle required enough stubborn effort that I almost respected it.
Her dark hair brushed the floor each time Elias took another step, glitter caught through the strands and scattered behind her in tiny silver flashes.
Her face had gone red from outrage rather than discomfort, and every word left her with the solemn fury of someone delivering judgment before an audience far beneath her station.
"I will have you imprisoned."
Elias did not even look down at her.
"You need authority."
"I have authority."
His grip on her ankle remained secure while he continued walking through the center of the court as though carrying the crown princess like a captured animal was an entirely reasonable response to whatever disaster had occurred beyond the doors.
"You require help tying your boots."
Lysandra's eyes widened.
"That is unrelated."
"It is extremely related."
"No, it is not."
"You called for your father because a moth entered your room last night."
That accusation struck deeper than the threat of imprisonment had.
Her outrage sharpened instantly. She twisted as far as Elias's hold permitted, trying to look directly up at him despite her position, and the movement made her swing slightly from side to side.
Elowen, still hanging from his other hand, laughed harder at the motion and began kicking her legs as though encouraging him to continue.
"It flew at me," Lysandra insisted.
Elias finally glanced down.
"It sat on the curtain."
"It was watching me."
"It was a moth."
"It had intent."
The seriousness in her voice nearly broke the court again.
I dragged one hand slowly down my face.
"I do not want to know."
The words left me with the exhaustion of a man who had already understood that any explanation would reveal more crimes than the visible glitter suggested.
There were certain questions a father learned not to ask.
How did this happen? Who gave you permission?
Why is there smoke? Where is the missing horse?
Each one created a story longer and more dangerous than the last.
Beside me, Ophelia looked toward me.
Her eyes had filled with tears from laughter, making them shine beneath the courtroom lights. She pressed her lips together, attempted to compose herself, then failed so completely that another warm laugh escaped before she could stop it.
"You have to ask."
"No."
"You are emperor."
"That does not require me to investigate glitter."
"It happened inside your palace."
I lowered my hand and stared at her.
The glitter already coating the floor had begun drifting toward the steps beneath the throne.
A servant near the wall looked horrified by the possibility that someone would eventually order him to clean it.
Elias shed another bright cloud with long breath.
Elowen continued laughing. Lysandra continued plotting murder.
"It is not his palace."
The response came from the wrong direction.
Lysandra turned her head toward me as far as Elias's grip allowed. The movement left her face angled strangely, one cheek nearly brushing the front of her own dress, but she still managed to look offended by my claim.
"It is mine."
I stared at her.
She stared back.
Upside down.
For several long seconds, neither of us spoke.
There was something deeply unreasonable about being challenged for ownership of an empire by a six-year-old hanging from one ankle, yet Lysandra looked entirely certain that her position was stronger than mine.
"You are being carried by your ankle."
"That does not change succession."
"It weakens your authority."
Elias nodded once, apparently pleased to discover someone else willing to argue the obvious.
"Considerably."
Lysandra's gaze snapped toward him.
"You should sleep with your one eye open tonight."
Elias's expression flattened.
Not frightened.
Offended by the lack of originality.
"I always sleep with one eye open."
"You only possess one."
"That makes it more impressive."
Ophelia laughed again.
The morning had begun with reports.
Quiet reports.
Dull reports.
Reports so tedious that I had nearly appreciated them simply because nothing inside them screamed, exploded, glittered, or threatened an elderly relative with execution.
A minister had been explaining grain storage.
A court recorder had been writing. The palace had, for once, behaved like a palace rather than an elaborate structure barely containing my family.
Then Veronica appeared in the doorway.
She was not covered in glitter.
That did not make her innocent.
Several silver pieces clung to one side of her dark hair.
More had settled across the shoulder of her coat and along the edge of one sleeve.
She walked into the courtroom without haste, her expression perfectly composed, as though she had merely arrived late to a meeting and had no connection whatsoever to the glittering disaster currently carrying my daughters by their ankles.
Elias saw her.
The anger already covering his face did not disappear. It shifted. Deepened. Became more precise, no longer the broad fury of a man betrayed by children and glitter, but the focused outrage reserved for someone who should have known better and had chosen treachery anyway.
Veronica walked through the doorway without the smallest hesitation.
She did not acknowledge the murderous expression in his remaining eye.
Did not slow.
That was what made it worse.
Lysandra's face changed the instant she saw her.
The fury vanished so completely that it became obvious some part of it had always been performance.
Her mouth curved into a wide, pleased grin, all royal outrage forgotten as she twisted slightly in Elias's grip and looked toward Veronica with the satisfaction of a conspirator seeing an accomplice arrive exactly when promised.
"I told you it would work."
Veronica stopped near the throne.
Her expression remained perfectly composed, though the faintest warmth entered her eyes when she looked toward Lysandra.
"I never doubted you."
The court quieted again.
Not because anyone had recovered from Elias's entrance.
Because something far more interesting had just revealed itself.
This had not been the spontaneous destruction of two bored children.
It had been planned.
Worse, it had been advised.
Elias turned toward his wife slowly.
The movement was almost impressive considering he still held both girls upside down. Glitter slid from his shoulders and drifted onto the floor as his head moved, catching the light before settling against the polished stone.
"You."
Veronica looked at him.
No guilt.
No fear.
Only calm recognition.
"Me."
"You helped them."
"I offered guidance."
His jaw tightened.
"Guidance."
"Yes."
"You are my wife."
"I am aware."
"You are not permitted to conspire against me with that creature."
Lysandra gasped.
It was far too dramatic to be sincere.
Her eyes widened. One hand pressed against her chest despite her inverted position, and she turned her head toward me with the wounded dignity of someone who had spent the last several minutes threatening execution.
"Father."
I closed my eye.
"No."
"He called your heir a creature."
"I heard nothing."
"He insulted the future empress before the entire court."
Every noble in the room suddenly found the floor fascinating.
Heads lowered.
Hands folded.
Several people studied the marble as though imperial succession had been carved into it moments earlier. No one wanted to be seen reacting when a six-year-old princess attempted to invoke ceremonial law against Elias.
Elias looked toward me.
His expression carried the exasperation of a man discovering that the child he had trained had survived long enough to use his lessons against him.
"She is using procedure."
"You taught her procedure."
"I believed knowledge would make her less irritating."
"It made her more accurate."
Veronica smiled.
Only slightly.
Enough.
Elias saw it.
His jaw tightened further.
Lysandra twisted again in his grip, her dark hair brushing dangerously close to the floor.
"Put me down, you glittering corpse."
"I should drop you."
"You would not dare."
"I think about it constantly."
Elowen began laughing harder.