The Emperor Whose Vision Kept Going Dark
The Emperor was feeling surprisingly good.
After sleeping through the entire day, he was wide awake and reclining on a plush couch while a few attendants worked on his shoulders and legs, their anxious hands applying just the right amount of pressure.
A rare, lazy smile touched his lips, free from the usual weight of running an empire.
He was savoring every second of the quiet.
The quiet, of course, didn't last. The doors flew open and Prince Ashworth burst in, looking frantic.
"Brother! Something's happened!"
The Emperor squeezed his eyes shut. *Why did our mother have to give birth to this fool?*
Seeing the Emperor lounging there with his eyes closed, Ashworth's agitation spiked. "The empire is collapsing around our ears and you're taking a nap?"
The Emperor's expression curdled. *Has he lost his mind? Cursing our own empire?*
His eyes snapped open. He glared at Ashworth. "Keep talking that kind of nonsense and I'll have you thrown in the Clan Court before the day is out."
Ashworth, who had stormed in ready to play the hero, looked genuinely wounded. "Fine. If you don't want to listen, forget it. If you don't care about the empire, why should I?"
With a huff, Ashworth gave up and collapsed onto a different couch. Then he had the audacity to wave the Emperor's attendants over to his side. He glanced at Payne, the Emperor's steward.
"Payne, old man," he ordered, "your prince is hungry."
Payne stood there, speechless. Seeing the prince clutching his stomach and groaning about being starved, the steward could only look to the Emperor for guidance. With a weary nod from his master, Payne hurried out to have the kitchens prepare a meal.
Now that the fool had finally shut his mouth, the Emperor found himself getting curious. "Weren't you supposed to be at the Donovans' for dinner tonight? Did they throw you out?"
Ashworth scoffed, deliberately turning his back and closing his eyes.
The Emperor stared. *He's actually angry?*
The Emperor sighed, got up, and walked over to nudge his brother's shoulder. "All right, I was joking. Come on. Tell me what's happened to 'my' empire."
Ashworth cracked one eye open, a sly grin spreading across his face. "You have to beg me. Go on. Beg, and I'll tell you."
The Emperor raised his foot and kicked the couch just hard enough to send Ashworth tumbling to the floor. "Fine. Don't tell me. I don't want to hear it anyway. Seeing you like this, it's obvious the Donovans threw you out."
Ashworth scrambled back to his feet, suddenly full of indignant energy. "I refused to stay in the home of those loyalists to the fallen dynasty! What do you mean they threw me out?"
The Emperor's focus sharpened. "Loyalists to the fallen dynasty? What are you talking about? What do the Donovans have to do with them? Explain."
Ashworth just clamped his mouth shut and held out a hand, palm up.
The Emperor scowled. *This brat.* He gritted his teeth and pulled five hundred dollars from his wallet. "You are going to bankrupt me one of these days."
Money in hand, Ashworth's confidence returned instantly. "You rule this entire empire, and you're complaining about supporting your own little brother? If word got out, what would the other kingdoms think?"
The Emperor couldn't believe the nerve. How could anyone be so shameless? "Having a brother like you is what makes the other kingdoms laugh."
"Look at yourself. You're old enough to have your own household, and yet you're still running to the palace every day begging me for cash."
Ashworth didn't look the least bit embarrassed. In fact, he sounded proud. "Father said it himself: we're brothers. He said I should come to you for anything."
"He said that if you inherited the empire, you also inherited me."
"And he said you had to support me. That no matter how old I get, you have to take care of me."
The Emperor was speechless. "And did Father ever mention that you were supposed to listen to your older brother? That you should read a book, build some character, and stop lazing around causing trouble just to get on my nerves? You seem to have forgotten all of that."
Ashworth gave him a look of pure innocence. "Nope. I only remember the part where he told you to support me."
The Emperor felt his patience snap. He forced the conversation back on track. "Just tell me about these loyalists."
Ashworth puffed out his chest and launched into his story about the evening at the Donovan estate. "I'm telling you, the Donovans have to be loyalists to the old dynasty. Why else would they be plotting against your empire?"
The Emperor rubbed his temples. "Solana is a child. What's your excuse? You're a grown man, and you're just as unreliable."
"Is this how you conduct an investigation? Based on 'I think' and 'I feel'?"
"You claim the Donovans are traitors, but do you have any actual evidence?"
He wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.
After believing the nonsense from this father-daughter duo yesterday, he'd only ended up embarrassing himself at Crestfall Manor.
He wouldn't trust a word out of their mouths now.
They were probably just holding a grudge because Lord Donovan hadn't invited them, so they went looking for trouble, got themselves thrown out, and now they were here, trying to stir the pot.
Ashworth flopped back onto the couch with a smirk. "My job is just to investigate. It's up to you to find the evidence."
The Emperor's temples throbbed. He was one second away from having Ashworth thrown out when the doors burst open again. Vaughn Garrison hurried in, followed closely by Cassidy and the Fourth Princess, who were shouting over each other.
"Uncle!"
"Father!"
"It's a disaster! Something terrible has happened!"
The overlapping cries pierced the Emperor's skull. For a moment, his vision swam. *Aren't the ghosts of my Sterling ancestors supposed to come and put us all out of our misery?*
He took a slow, deep breath and turned to face the two newest heralds of doom. The sight of them nearly knocked the wind out of him. He had no idea what they'd been up to, but it couldn't have been good.
Their hair was a wreck, their pins hanging crooked. Their expensive dresses were wrinkled and askew, and fresh, shallow scratches crisscrossed their faces. They looked like they'd just been in a brawl.
The Emperor gritted his teeth. "Did you two get into another fight?"
Even Ashworth was stunned. He sat bolt upright, eyes flicking between his own disheveled daughter and his even more disheveled niece. It looked like Cassidy had gotten the better of the exchange, so he wisely decided to stay quiet.
Cassidy was mortified. The Fourth Princess looked horrified. They glanced at each other, taking in the other's miserable state, and a shared thought seemed to pass between them: *Oh, no.* They'd been so focused on tattling, they'd forgotten they'd just been fighting each other.
To head off a trip to the Clan Court, they both shook their heads frantically and threw their arms around each other in a hug that couldn't have looked more forced.
"No, we didn't! We get along great."
A laugh of pure, unadulterated frustration escaped the Emperor. He pointed a trembling finger from their wrecked hair to their dirty, wrinkled dresses. "I'm not blind! Who do you think you're fooling? If you didn't fight, then explain to me how you ended up looking like this!"
At the Emperor's demand, Cassidy and the Fourth Princess both turned in perfect unison and stared at Vaughn Garrison, who was standing quietly behind them.
Vaughn froze.
*What is that supposed to mean?*