Chapter Twenty – Scarlett #2
‘I thought mothers were supposed to celebrate their daughters’ successes,’ I murmured. ‘I thought you would be pleased. I’m finally acting like the empress you taught me to be.’
‘If that were true, you wouldn’t have gone to the Western Lands in the first place. We both know what motivated that decision, and it had nothing to do with proving yourself to your subjects. You’ve been reckless ever since the Artisan’s death.’
The Artisan – as if Severin had been nothing to Zandri. As if she hadn’t sent him on countless missions and relied on his predictions. And yet, I shouldn’t have expected anything else. Severin might have been one of my mother’s favourite tools, but all tools could be replaced.
‘I saw what you did to the greenhouse,’ Zandri continued. ‘The plants, flowers and glass torn down in your blind rage . . . It was unnecessary. The cost of restoring it will be immense.’
‘Then leave it.’ My voice was sharp. ‘No one else cared to visit it anyway. The court found the poisonous plants unnerving.’
Zandri didn’t respond. She turned on her heel and I followed, our steps strangely synchronised as we entered the palace.
As she filled me in on Ravalian politics, I was careful to look attentive. To express concern and gratitude in all the right places and ask all the right questions. And the wariness in Zandri’s eyes slowly began to fade.
She wouldn’t forget my decision to disobey her, but perhaps in time she would dismiss it as a childish attempt to gain power. I doubted she suspected my true intentions: to honour Severin’s memory and transition away from the old Ravalian Empire to something new.
‘I have organised a fighting match in your honour,’ Zandri said as we ascended the grand staircase. ‘It will be the first of many public appearances, so it’s important that you make an impression.’
I nodded in assent. I hadn’t expected anything less.
We reached the landing, but when I started to turn, Zandri stopped me. ‘I have a present for you,’ she said, continuing straight ahead – to a set of gold-plated doors guarded by two female Masks. My eyes dropped to the filigree doorknobs, shaped like roaring lions.
The Masks brought their arms to their chests at our approach – a Ravalian gesture of respect and fealty. And then they opened the doors.
The doors to my father’s chambers.
I stepped inside in a daze. I had only been invited to Emperor Kalias’s private chambers a handful of times, but everything was as I remembered: the imposing obsidian floors, soaring marble columns and carved furniture upholstered in rich, dark shades.
Crossing the spacious parlour, I approached the floor-to-ceiling glass beyond. My chambers had overlooked the gardens, but Emperor Kalias had a direct view over the arena and sprawling city beyond. It was surreal to gaze out of those windows as he once would have done.
‘I understand if you prefer to return to your own chambers,’ Zandri said, and for the first time, she sounded slightly uncertain. ‘Or if you would like the servants to redecorate–’
‘Why would I do that?’ I asked, finally turning to face my mother.
‘What would be the point of ruling the Ravalian Court – of controlling every inch of this palace, including these chambers – if I redesigned it so that it was unrecognisable?’ Slowly, I started to smile.
‘This is the best gift you could have given me. And it’s so much better to leave it exactly as it is, knowing that it’s all mine now, and Emperor Kalias is dead and rotting in the ground. ’
And as my eyes locked with Zandri’s, something passed between us–
A shared understanding.
If a dark one.
Standing before the full-length mirror, I tilted my head to admire the gown: red and black, with a fitted bodice and slitted skirt. A golden snake slithered its way down the otherwise open back, held in place by matching chains.
Aella swept my hair off my face with two scorpion hair pieces. I allowed her to replace my earrings with rubies that dripped down like blood, but when she reached for my necklace, I slapped her hand away.
‘Leave it,’ I said, reaching protectively for Severin’s necklace. The aquamarine pendant didn’t go with the rest of my outfit, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t taken it off since he’d given it to me.
Aella cast her doe-like eyes down to the floor, and I regretted my harshness.
There was something so delicate about her: a childlike fragility that didn’t suit the cut-throat Ravalian Court.
With the way she so rarely spoke or looked me in the face, it was easy to forget that she had a personality of her own.
No doubt Zandri thought the same about her servants. That realisation didn’t sit well with me.
‘You’ve done wonderfully,’ I told Aella, softening my voice. ‘Take the rest of the evening to enjoy the celebrations.’
When she left, I turned my attention to Zandri. My mother was standing at the window, where she had a view of the firelit arena. As night fell, it seemed to pulse like a ruby heart.
I wasn’t eager to attend the gathering in the banquet hall, where the nobles would already be eating and dancing. But tonight’s fighting matches – those filled me with bloodthirsty anticipation. How long had I waited for this moment? For my achievements to finally be recognised by the Court?
Zandri’s thoughts echoed mine. ‘I am so proud of you, Scarlett. You’re becoming everything I always hoped you would be.’
Two sentences. That was all it took – two simple sentences to convey what I had spent my life longing to hear.
If I was honest with myself – truly honest – I had betrayed Mira for this . Not just because she was a threat to me or my future plans, but because I had wanted to finally prove myself to my mother.
But now . . . now, I found myself thinking of how Zandri had risked my life in the pursuit of power. And the role she had played in Severin’s death.
His murder .
I sank into my father’s favourite wing-backed chair, tapping my fingernails against the armrest. I had everything I had bled and sacrificed for. Everything , and yet–
‘What did you do with his body?’
Zandri’s shoulders stiffened. Just the slightest movement – but it told me everything I needed to know.
I smiled mirthlessly, something in my chest caving in. I hadn’t doubted the seer’s vision, but a part of me had still hoped that Zandri hadn’t been involved.
‘His body was burned,’ she said at last. ‘There’s nothing left of him to resurrect, if that’s what you’re thinking. Even if there was, I warned you once before: the Sorceress herself couldn’t resurrect someone who had been dead too long.’
I had already suspected as much. Had never allowed myself to hope otherwise.
‘You killed him, didn’t you?’ My voice sounded dead even to me. Fitting, since a part of me had died with Severin. A softer, kinder part that Zandri wouldn’t have believed existed.
‘He left you, Scarlett.’ Zandri slowly turned to face me, her expression inscrutable. ‘He chose to die because he couldn’t stand to see the person you had become.’
‘No.’ I stood abruptly. ‘That’s a lie. I saw the vision of him dying, and the seer said–’
‘Did you see me kill him?’
‘I didn’t see you try to save him.’
‘ Save him.’ She barked out a harsh laugh.
‘And why would I do that? He was weak , Scarlett. Not like you.’ Zandri moved closer, her dark eyes boring into mine.
‘Not like us. If you expected me to intervene for him, then I have truly failed you as a mother – and you have misunderstood every lesson I have ever taught you.’
I shook my head. ‘This is what you do – you twist things around. But I know – I knew Severin. And he wouldn’t have done this. He wouldn’t have . . .’ I couldn’t say the words. Could barely even think them.
‘People are generally disappointing.’ A hint of what looked like genuine sympathy softened Zandri’s hard face. ‘Severin clearly wasn’t who you thought he was. But you should have known better than to expect genuine devotion from a slave.’
‘He was so much more than that – and he was far stronger than you give him credit for.’ I raised my chin, facing her with all the defiance left in me. ‘This was your doing, not his. You corrupt everything you touch. Even someone as pure as Severin.’
Those dark eyes blinked, as if to say, Pure? Severin? ‘Do you even know what I used him for?’
‘I don’t care what missions you sent him on. He never had any choice but to–’
‘Oh, he had a choice. They all do – and they choose to live, even if it means killing others to advance the empire’s interests.
As noble as you believe Severin to be, he was no different from the others.
Perfectly content to kill whoever I told him to, to predict the outcomes of battles to ensure Ravalian victory, to report on rebellions before they happened.
He was nothing more than a murderer. A traitor to his own people. ’
I stared at Zandri, finally understanding exactly how she saw the Orders and the people under her command – not as people at all, but as weapons to be used and then discarded, without regret or hesitation. And Severin . . . Severin had been no different in the end.
‘You used Severin’s blood ruby, didn’t you?’ I said, because it was the only thing that made sense. ‘You ordered him to throw himself off the battlements, because–’ My voice broke. I swallowed and tried again. ‘Because you knew that I loved him.’
Zandri didn’t laugh this time, but her incredulous expression was almost worse. ‘Oh, Scarlett.’ The pity in her voice was cutting. ‘You didn’t love him. You’re not capable of that. Not true, unconditional love.’
I backed away from her. ‘You’re wrong.’
‘Severin knew it too,’ she continued ruthlessly. ‘In the end, he saw exactly what you are – and he couldn’t stand it. He chose to die rather than be with you. What does that say about him? What does that say about you ?’
You think me selfish , I had said to Severin once. And his slow, cautious reply: I think that you can be relentless when it comes to what you want.
I closed my eyes, and this time my memories of Severin were darker. No longer sweet and passionate, a shared love between equals, but – a princess and a slave. A slave who had dared to believe he saw something kind in me, only to realise that he had been mistaken.
There’s always another way, Scar . Always.
I could still hear the love and desperation in his voice. Could taste it in his final kiss on the battlements, when he had kissed me like it was the last time.
Because he’d known then, hadn’t he? He’d decided that he was going to die. To leave me cold and alone, because of course someone as honourable and decent and wonderful as Severin could never have loved someone like me .
Maybe Zandri saw the devastation on my face, the emotion I was too slow to hide. Maybe, for a brief moment, she saw her daughter and not a future empress. Her expression softened into one I recognised, one she reserved for wounded and emotionally traumatised agents who required careful handling.
‘Severin couldn’t accept you for who you are,’ she murmured. ‘But I accept you, Scarlett. I see every part of you, even those parts you try to keep hidden. And what I see is magnificent .’
I looked up into my mother’s dark stare, burning with conviction. With truth.
How easy it would be to seek comfort in that conviction. To let myself drown in it.
‘They all turn against you in the end, don’t they?’ Zandri said, the sympathy in her voice making something inside me ache. ‘But I never have. And I never will.’
Flashes of memory unfolded before my eyes. Zandri teaching me magic. Zandri leaving hidden weapons in my chambers. Zandri ordering her Masks to look out for me when she couldn’t.
And I realised she was right. Zandri was the only person who accepted me, even if it hurt to admit it.
Zandri was the only person who knew me at all.
‘There were so many things that your brothers did to you,’ she said after a long pause, those onyx eyes intent on mine.
‘So many small cruelties that I had to watch, knowing that I couldn’t protect you from them.
I’m sorry for that. More than you know.’ Zandri took a hesitant step towards me.
‘But I do love you, Scarlett. Whatever part of me that is still capable of love will always love you.’
There was nothing Zandri could say to rewrite the past. The things she had done, the choices she had made . . . they couldn’t be forgotten or entirely forgiven. No matter how many empires we tore down together.
But I believed her. After all this time, I finally believed that Zandri loved me. And that knowledge made all the difference.
I placed my hand over hers. It was the only thing I could think to do. The only way I knew to show how I felt.
Eventually, there would be a reckoning. There would have to be, because I didn’t intend to rule as my mother’s puppet. But the Ravalian throne was mine. It was my inheritance.
And Zandri could help me win it. Together, we could achieve anything.
The tender moment lingered for another handful of seconds. Then Zandri pulled her hand from mine.
‘Enough sentimentality. We’ve kept the Court waiting long enough; any longer, and they will begin to wonder if you’re afraid to face them.
Which is the last thing we want.’ Zandri turned on her heel, only to glance back over her shoulder.
‘And get rid of that necklace. There’s no point clinging to reminders of the past.’
I straightened my shoulders and followed Zandri from my father’s chambers.
But I left Severin’s necklace on.