Royal Blood : Chapter 12 (Patreon)

Chapter 12: Another Royal Interlude

It had been a year since the attack.

Elysia found herself surprised at that. A year, gone in the blink of an eye. She’d expected, well, perhaps not to have her little brother back by now, but she’d expected a body.

Instead, silence.

“Do matters of state bore you, my daughter?”

Elysia affected a laugh, turning away from the elaborate frieze that adorned the wall of the Privy Council chamber. “Of course not, My Lord Father.” Here, even she didn’t dare address the Emperor more informally. “It’s just, the solution seems rather obvious, does it not? It only requires that we all make sacrifices for the greater good of the Empire.”

“Oh?” Her father, Emperor Raxus, raised an eyebrow, as if he hadn’t been leading the conversation in this direction for the past hour. “Would you care to elaborate for the rest of us?”

“The treasury swells, and yet, Norvusk finds itself with more obligations beyond our borders.” Elysia waved a hand in the air, fingers tracing out patterns of sigils that lingered in the air: the banners of their current allies. “The Island nation of Myren recently has been having trouble with corsaires and privateers.”

“There is no indication that these scoundrels are operating under another nation’s marque.” Vice Admiral Quntillus leaned forward on the ornate circular table. He was a broad man, with a sailor’s build and just now going grey at the temples of his jet-black hair.

“Of course.” Elysia demurred, dipping her head. “Forgive me for jumping to such a conclusion, given the evidence.”

Such an obvious conclusion, that is.

Still, while Myr was an ally, The nations of the southern continent formed Norvusk’s foremost trading partners. They had interests on northern shores, and no admiral enjoyed bleeding his ships for a foreign power. But he wouldn’t oppose this next bit.

“In any case, it seems clear that we can spare more funds to enhance the navy, and teach these…rogue scoundrels that they should fear us.”

There was some grumbling, but the men on the Privy Counsel were nationalists one and all. Raxus had made sure of it since his ascension.

His statesmanship was one of the few areas where her father even tried to reach the levels he was capable of.

“To that end, it would behoove the interior to relax taxes and tariffs along the Imperial highways.” Elysia turned their attention back to the map. “In return, more trade shall flow along them, and back into the treasury, even as the reduced tariffs will help pave the way for more merchants to transport the raw materials we need to Port Royal.”

The Lord Secretary of Finance, Amarish Feln, sighed, writing something down in her ledger with perpetually ink-stained fingers. “I dislike spending yet more coin on our ships; many of the eastern fields still lie fallow, investments into that region…”

Raxus raised a hand. “The Empire will not fall from within, so long as we are vigilant against the foes without.” He turned toward the Lord Secretary even as she ducked her head, tucking a long strand of chestnut hair behind her ear. “What aid may be given to the good admiral and his men?”

Elysia sighed, turning back to the frieze as the conversation turned to numbers. The Lord Secretary of the Interior would not like lowering his tariffs; he would need to find coin in other places to see to the maintenance of the roads and highways, but he was her father’s man, bought and paid.

And of course, no Admiral ever said no to more money for their ships.

The Lord Secretary of the Exterior remained silent. He had long since pointed out the true source of these ‘pirates’, but lacked the concrete evidence to push the nation to direct action. Emperor Raxus was more than glad to allow his ‘allies’ to bear the cost of Norvusk’s expansionism. Eventually, a more severe slight would allow him to mobilize for a brief, popular war to chastise the southern continent and reassure Norvusk’s maritime allies that the Empire protected them.

Elysia was sure that in several decades, Myren would willingly sign on as an imperial protectorate.

She saw how Raxus could bring them into the Imperial fold in five years.

But he wouldn’t devote himself to it.

She curled her fingers against the delicate satin of her dress, twisting the fabric until it seemed to nearly cut against her palm.

It was so easy to see how things could be better.

It was harder to remember why she should not force them to be.

In due time, the Privy Council broke for the day. There had been no other matters of import to discuss. Of course, a relaxing of tariffs meant that the Royal Guard would be mostly recalled to the capital. The search for Prince of the Blood Alexander Nevarius would end here.

Not that they had ever called it such. The royal guardsmen they had dispatched had been caught up in everything from petty dynastic struggles to gang wars in the slums, but they’d seen neither hide nor hair of her brother.

Elysia dismissed her lady in waiting, choosing instead to walk the Rose Wing of the Palace by herself. The red-stained glass that gave the wing its name bathed everything in a shade of sanguine. The decorations were hand-picked to pair well with such light, but Elysia barely saw them.

“One year,” she whispered.

On a whim, she stopped, trailing her fingers across a window sill. It was spotless, as all things in the palace were. Beyond the window, she could see one of the interior courtyards. A squad of Knights went through drills, overseen by the Knight Captain herself. The woman hadn’t said a word about Alex’s disappearance since the day it occurred.

Elysia pressed her hands flat against the sill with an effort of will.

“Your Highness.”

Elysia turned, perfect smile on her face as a pair of courtiers—it took her only a second to recall their names—approached her from the opposite direction of the council. “Lord Eles, Count Veriani.” She inclined her head. “A pleasure as always.”

“The pleasure is all ours, my princess.”

She let the words wash over her with a bare sliver of attention, turning aside their questions and entreatments with a practiced ease that nonetheless left both men thinking they were making progress towards their eventual goals. The two were at complete odds, but of course, that’s why they kept each other so close.

Well, that and the steamy hate sex they had behind closed doors, but it would be uncouth to talk about such things.

Lord Eles was married, after all, and not to a man.

“Still, my lords.” She made a show of pressing her fingers to her neck. “The affairs of state weigh heavily. I think I shall retire for the day.”

“A burden shared is a burden halved, Princess.”

She laughed, it took focus to keep it light and airy as opposed to a dersive cackle. Please. “If house Veriani has any offers to make against my hand, I’m sure my father will treat them with all the seriousness they deserve.”

By which she meant precisely none.

Lord Eles was quick to jump on his fellow’s misstep. “It must be such a great hardship, to have no room for romance in your life.”

“Oh, Lord Eles, you are too kind.” She touched his shoulder, just briefly. A less experienced courtier would have missed the way Veriani’s eyes tightened. “Still, as heir to the throne, I cannot be so cavalier with my affections as you and Lady Lia.”

Any courtier could have seen the tightening of Eles’s eyes.

Lady Lia actually was a nice woman; she didn’t deserve Marc Eles. Fortunately, she did very much deserve his estate. Elysia knew that Lia Eles would do wonderfully for herself, and they maintained regular correspondence.

It took only a few more remarks to see the back of them, leaving Elysia alone in the hallway once more. She took a moment to ensure she was well and truly alone before leaning her head against the cool stone of the inner wall.

It annoyed her so, that even those pretentious buffoons could be so much more, if they just applied themselves.

To add insult to injury, Marc Eles and Thamas Veriani could even be happy together, if they ever saw far enough past their own petty pride to realize that. It would be difficult for them, but it was a future that could still come to exist.

Like so many, it would instead lie stillborn.

Elysia valued her friendship with Lady Eles far more than the happiness of two vain and petty men.

The Princess  took a steadying breath. She had lessons to attend, and she still hadn’t finished that damn quest to get a stat-up.

“One year.” Elysia gave a soft laugh, this one low and somber. “If only you knew what you’d done to me, Alex.”

She’d gotten the quest the same day he’d been attacked. At first, she almost discarded it, but of course, after the events of the day…

Elysia had been trying to achieve a stat-up for a whole year.

She’d seen about as much success as the hunt for her brother.

Straightening, Elysia resumed her way down the hall.

“Silent stars, were they really that bad?”

She stopped, almost stumbling before she recovered. Elysia spun on a dime, hair and dress fanning out around her like a wave.

This time, though, the accompanying smile was a little more genuine.

“Velari.”

“Sister.”

Elysia opened her arms. Vel sighed, but after a moment took two quick steps forward into her older sister’s embrace.

Velari was in a black and gold dress today that matched her eyes. She had an elegant assortment of pins in her hair, wrapping a pair of silky black braids around her head like a crown. In a year months, she’d reached level 24, and raised her second class to the level 10 threshold, much of it due to Elysia’s direct tutelage.

“You look slightly fatigued,” Vel noted. “So, you must be absolutely exhausted.”

Elysia gave a small smile. “Just worn. Father used me in another one of his games again.”

“Why didn’t you just hijack the conversation?” Velari raised an eyebrow. “We both know you could push for a better solution, especially on a topic you know as well as this.”

Elysia shrugged. “Politics.”

Velari’s mouth twisted briefly before she sighed. “I’ll tell Mother that Father is scheming again.”

“Don’t.” Elysia shook her head. “It won’t do any good to tip our hand now. I’ve kept Father’s favor for nineteen years. Ten more is nothing.”

Velari gave her older sister a look somewhere between concerned and bemused. “Emperor Raxus won’t abdicate in ten years.”

Elysia just smiled and shook her head again.

Velari sighed. “Fine, don’t tell me.” She tugged on Elysia’s arm. “Skip those ridiculous lessons instead.”

“Vel.”

“I know, I know.” Velari flicked her other hand. “That stupid quest was the last thing you have of our brother. I know how much it means to you.” She gave a fragile smile. “The Heavens know that I still have my own quest. But…I’ve finally managed to convince Charlotta to share her baking with the other ladies and myself. It would mean the world to her if you attended our little tea party in the gardens.”

“Still no change in your quest to ‘rescue’ Alex?” Elysia asked. Velari shook her head, and Elysia could only sigh. On one hand if the quest was still there, surely it meant it was still possible to save their brother. She’d never heard of an impossible quest. On the other, to have gone a full year with no sign of him…

“It is strange, isn’t it?” Velari replied to the obvious question. “Still, if the infiltrators had aid from within the Palace, perhaps they still do.”

“I begin to believe it. Yet you were the first target. The pieces do not fit.” Elysia knew how labyrinthine Palace Schemes could be. Even after a year, she was clearly missing a crucial piece.  Unfortunately, there was nothing for it but to keep looking. “All right, I shall attend this soiree of yours. I suppose I wasn’t going to gain a point in Strength today, anway.”

“I still can’t believe you chose Strength of all things.”

“It’s the stat I have the least points in.” Elysia shrugged elegantly. “It seemed reasonable.”

“Yes, well.” Velari rolled her ruby red eyes. “I’m sure that one point of Strength will matter a great deal when we hunt down Alex’s kidnappers and brutally murder them.”

“Of course not.” Elysia’s smile grew a bit. “But it may help in case I feel the need to quarter them myself.”

Vel laughed. “I never knew you had such a black sense of humor.” She shook her head, leading her older sister from the Rose Wing. “If nothing else, I owe him a thank you for letting me get to know that side of you.

Elysia continued to smile. She wasn’t joking.

Velari squeezed her arm. “We’ll find them.”

“I know,” Elysia said.

There were many more resources available to an Empress, after all. And even as Raxus’s recent plans would end the search for Alex, it was her own people who had taken control of the harbors. Oh others saw it as the Crown Princess using the search to expand her powers, but that only meant she could be even more blunt in her reach. If anyone had tried to take Alex beyond Norvusk’s shores, she would have found him.

“And meanwhile, for problems we actually can have a material impact on right this moment,” Velari continued. “Charlotta really has been coming out of her shell these past few weeks. I think that…”

Once again, Elysia let the words wash over her, but this time, they felt like a pleasant summer rain, bright and full of warmth.

Velari really was growing into a gentle nurturing mirror of herself, and…it made Elysia happy to see.

Because everyone, from the proudest Emperor to the meanest beggar, had the seeds of greatness buried deep inside them.

But from Elysia’s experience, only the rarest soul brought those seeds to fruit.