Chapter 172

The darkness of dawn had not yet waned when Bishop Duvernay left his humble quarters in the twisting maze behind the Grand Temple’s glittering interior. Knelt in the nave, the section of the church where the many pews spread out across the lustrous pearl-tiled floor, was a woman cloaked in black.

“Sister,” the bishop greeted. “You honor me.”

Placid green eyes, so unlike the icy blue chill of the bishop’s own gaze, looked up from prayer. However, the empress remained kneeling.

“It is not honor that compels me to arrive. The time is ripe for me to grab someone in her inner circle without the princess ever being wiser,” she announced plainly yet elegantly.

Bishop Duvernay walked around the altar to the pews, considering Empress Katya’s words deeply.

“Good. I had told you that placing someone by her side would be ineffective.”

“It was not entirely ineffective,” Katya mused in an unphased manner. “Nina has given us interesting tidbits over the years.”

.....

“But she sits on the outside looking in. It’s like watching a family eat dinner from outside their home and trying to guess at their conversation,” the bishop replied in a jolly manner that was most unlike how most perceived him.

“I did not take you to be so inclined to humor,”

“I am not,” Bishop Duvernay assured his sister. “I am inclined towards acquiring this promised child you had promised would be in my grasp years ago, yet eludes me to this day.” A glint of obsession glittered in his eye, but it was regimented and controlled, like a fanatic devoted to a cause.

“You ought to have made more demands of her when you did have her in your grasp.” Katya slowly rose from the pews, giving her disguise of a simple dress a good shake. Although the sibling appeared alone, if Katya were to make a single hand gesture, her brother would be shot with arrows in the next breath.

“And have her leap into the fire altogether?” The bishop shook his head in amusement. “Faith must be slowly cultivated otherwise it shall be firmly rejected.”

“You shan’t make a believer of her. But I will allow you to have her alive, as you requested.”

“Her death benefits you very little. Don’t fall into the trap of rampant emotions,” he paused. A knowing glint filled his eye. “You know father doesn’t like it when you make decisions based on emotion. It’s a-”

“-A weakness.” The empress sighed, speaking in tandem with her brother. “I know that. Do you?”

Her inquiry seemed innocent, but the elder brother knew the venomous flower he had grown up with and immediately understood what she alluded to. The mask of a jovial man of the Holy Church fell away, leaving very little in its wake.

However, neither sibling went further, allowing an eerie calm to hang between them.

Katya broke the silence first. “The nursemaid truly believes that Lief is her true nephew. The evidence of anything contrary was removed long ago. Tonight we shall act and ‘take’ Lief away. I am curious to see how far this nursemaid will be willing to go for her only family.”

“Naturally she will do whatever you demand if Lief played his part correctly. As Helio wills it, her love of family will burn bright and true,” Bishop Duvernay agreed.

“It is amazing, the lengths that people will go to for their family,” Katya mused. “I seek to give my son an empire but he rejects it.”

Most would assuage their sister at such an admission, but House Duvernay did not breed ordinary individuals.

“You are lucky the patriarch is ill. Otherwise, he would have killed you and had our young cousin become the new empress. The emperor is still young and has time to father a son who would serve our House’s interest.” He spoke this in a matter-of-fact tone as if he were discussing the weather as opposed to the death of his own sister.

Katya let out a thin smile, not bothering to counter her brother. It was just his usual scare tactic and one that held less water than the usual ones. Katya wasn’t a young girl solely supported by her family anymore. And even if it were out of spite, the emperor would not allow House Duvernay to further extend their will upon the imperial family. One Duvernay empress was more than enough for him.

“You earned 3 saved lives from Winter,” she stated. “Why haven’t you used any to save our patriarch? I thought you would do anything for family.”

Bishop Duvernay did not react, but his younger sister was not done speaking.

“Unless... it is an unusual ailment that plagues the patriarch. Perhaps he dabbled with something he shouldn’t have and is now tasting the consequences.”

The bishop did not bother to deny it, but he did not attempt to confirm her words.

“He shall recover one day,” her brother answered with great confidence.

“Only if Father wills it. I must know. Who are you more loyal to? The Church? Our father? Or our grandfather, the patriarch? Choose wisely, not all the ears in this church belong to me,” Katya uttered. Their father had served as the interim patriarch of House Duvernay for many a year and those who still remembered who they owed their true allegiance to had been dwindling, especially amongst the younger generation.

“I am loyal to our House,” Bishop Duvernay wisely responded. He looked down at his sister, still as beautiful as ever in her simple garb and humbled disguise. “Are you?”

Katya drew her cloak tight around her form, all but disappearing from view. “Our sigil is that of a thorny rose. Does that inspire loyalty to you?”

She didn’t care to hear his response, slipping around her taller sibling to walk down the central aisle and out of the Grand Temple. There was no need for her to fear her husband waking up without her by her side, so her return was leisurely and slow as she ambled her way to the secret exit with her hidden guards.

The rose was the king of all flowers, more vibrant and beautiful than the rest and protected by sharp thorns. She and her brother had long served as one of the many thorns that protected their house. But such an arrangement could not last forever. There were many more flowers within the garden and each one sought to take away the rose’s favor.

“When you see Lief in the courthouse today, pass him this note,” Katya instructed to the figure dressed in black that all but materialized by her side. There were just a few brief words, undecipherable to all except those who understood. When Lief read it, he would understand what needed to be done.

The bait that she had laid out years before, it was time to catch the fat fish that had bitten at the end of it. Katya hummed to herself in anticipation, a habit she had lost in her youth that had recently been rekindled. There was no use going back to sleep at this early hour, as there was to be a meeting between herself and her ladies-in-waiting regarding an upcoming event.

Katya’s carefully coordinated and conducted morning ritual went as usual. But as she held up earrings to her face in the candlelight to decide which one to choose, Katya spotted something unusual.

“What is... that?” she asked slowly. All movement within the spacious bedroom ceased.

Linette, who had been holding the jewelry box, was closest to the empress and thus could not escape from answering. But still, she dug in her heels against the inevitable. The scars on her back had yet to heal from her last punishment.

Linette leaned in with a dramatic squint. “I cannot see what it is you speak of, Your Majesty.”

Behind her, Kora shook her head at Linette’s foolishness. What the empress had selected Linette for was not her cleverness, but her ability to execute her dirty work effectively and brutally. But today, neither of those abilities would save her.

Empress Katya lightly tapped at the forehead wrinkle she had discovered, her face unreadable as she waited for Linette’s answer. Not even a breath could be heard.

But suddenly, Katya did something out of character. She smiled, which was rare for a woman who only smiled in public settings to maintain her benevolent image.

“Relax. Do you think I am someone who would punish you over a mere wrinkle?” she stroked at her forehead. “I am getting old. It is inevitable.”

It was now that Linette finally dared to draw breath, spying an ideal moment for her to brush up on her favor. She wasn’t sure why, but she had felt the empress become more distant towards her, favoring Kora for secret tasks and finding fault with herself often. It had weakened her image in front of the other maids, causing the lowly ones who had always been cowed by Linette’s fierce temper to develop an attitude against her.

Didn’t they know that she was one of the empress’ favorite lady’s maids? Didn’t they know how superior she was to them?

As someone who had served others her entire life, Linette had long derived her pride from the favor bestowed upon her by her master. She did not like the quiet and diligent Kora whom the empress seemed to find more clever than herself.

“Your Majesty,” Linette proudly said as Katya set the earrings she held in her hand back in the jewelry box Linette held and searched for a different pair. “You are as beautiful as ever. The most vibrant rose in the garden. The crown jewel of the empire.”

The empress’ hand seemed to curl around a stunning pair of ruby earrings in agreement, but her words did not.

“Really?” Katya asked almost innocently. In the background, Kora shook her head and quietly ushered the other maids from the room. But, like a thirsty man failing to notice the serpent in the river he drinks from, Linette’s desire to regain the empress’ approval made her blind to what others saw clearly. And that did include the lone figure trembling beneath the empress’ bed in fear of being discovered by her mother.

Linette nodded eagerly. “Yes, Your Majesty!”

“The most beautiful...” the empress continued. “More so than the ladies of my court? More so than Countess Koberg?”

Her voice was as soft and even as ever, but Linette was finally beginning to sense the danger that had befallen her.

“Of course, Your Majesty!” What else could Linette say?

“That’s not true. Janice is younger and prettier. I have yet to know why the emperor forced her to be one of my ladies-in-waiting,” Empress Katya shook her head, her blonde, undone locks swishing in the candlelight. Outside, dawn had set its course, soon to render the candle useless. But by then, perhaps Linette too would be just as unneeded.

Without an audience to witness her shame, Linette dropped to her knees. Her treatment over the past few months had reduced the little backbone she once had to nothing.

“Your Majesty, have I erred in some way?” she begged. Her knees quivered, too weak to hold herself upright. Linette could hardly draw a breath.

“Why do you ask?” the empress inquired, impervious to the fear that emanated from her maid like a bad odor.

“I-I seem to have displeased you in some way. For which, I greatly apologize, Your Majesty,” Linette profusely apologized, bowing deeply since she couldn’t curtsey with a jewelry box in her hands.

“How long have you been in the Sunset Palace?”

“10 years, Y-Your Majesty.”

“And what have you learned in that time? Or better yet, what haven’t you learned in all this time?” The empress began to put on the ruby earrings, which glistened like crystallized blood in candlelight.

Linette wasn’t a complete stick in the mud. She could sense that the empress was referring to a previous mistake she had done, but she had made many. Her cruel torment of maids in the palace was well known and she had learned well from the empress in matters of tormenting others physically.

Still, Linette fretted. Could it be about the maid whose eye she had removed with a hot poker? Or the pretty flirt of a laundry maid she had permanently disfigured out of jealousy?

“P-Pardon, Your Majesty?” she all but whispered.

The empress shook her head with a faint laugh. “You haven’t changed, haven’t grown. What use are you to me? You’ve become a foolish burden.”

If Linette wasn’t gripping the jewelry box as tightly as she was out of terror, she would’ve dropped it on the carpeted floor. Meanwhile, Kora finally detected the faint movements of a person beneath the bed. For a moment she froze, ready to warn Empress Katya of an intruder. But then she noticed it, the way that the way the empress’ mirror was positioned in a way that allowed her full view of the person beneath the bed, while they couldn’t see her gaze. The empress knew. Which meant it had to be someone the empress was familiar enough to allow in her personal chambers without suffering severe consequences.

The list was short and there was only one reasonable guess: Princess Julia.

A warning, the sharp Kora realized. The empress is sacrificing Linette as a warning to Princess Julia, telling her to stop her youthful foolishness and start behaving like a Duvernay. And poor Linette is too stupid to know. No wonder the empress chose her.

Linette’s thoughts ran around her head like a dog off a leash – there was no controlling them. But amongst the thousands of thoughts overflowing in her mind, not one of them had come to the speedy conclusion Kora had reached. Working for the empress, Linette had never expected to live a long life. But she had thought she would die with honor, in service to the empress, never at what appeared to be a whim.

“Your Majesty?” Linette’s voice broke, cracking into several different octaves.

“Bring my needles,” the empress told Kora, looking away from Linette. Linette knew those poisoned needles well. She’d seen them at work on Princess Winter’s hand. The girl’s strange countenance had kept the poison from severely crippling her beyond rendering her right hand useless. Linette knew she wouldn’t be as lucky.

“Please. Please, Your Majesty,” she gasped out, falling to her knees. For some reason, she could barely draw breath, as if her mistress were strangling her instead of calmly putting on the day’s jewelry. She knew pleading wouldn’t work, but she had not expected to die that morning when she put on her maid’s uniform. She couldn’t accept it.

“I have served you so faithfully! I-I have done everything you have asked of me w-without fault!” The hand that had fed Linette and tacitly encouraged her own violent behavior had poetically turned against her.

Empress Katya dabbed at her lipstick. “Then you should have been able to realize where you’ve erred.”

“I cannot. Please tell me! Please! Don’t deny me, please!” A sob broke up her last plea.

There was a power that came with controlling the life and death of others. The way they stared as if the floor had fallen out beneath them and begged so pitifully. Many spoke of mothers and fathers. But Linette had none of those. She had only ever had the empress. Because of that, Linette knew she was done for.

The soon-to-be-dead maid did not try to run. She knew what the empress did to runners. They aroused the fun of a hunt. And Linette knew that as terrible as the needles would be, nothing would be worse than arousing that sickening side of the empress that enjoyed the taste of blood and fear.

She also knew her pleas were nothing but the buzz of a fly in the empress’ ear, so eventually, she sat on the floor and let out a long breath, one of her last. She was 26. Unmarried. Unloved. No one would mourn her.

The morning light was beginning to crawl through the window, illuminating the floor before the bed. She saw a hand tremble beneath the massive frame carved of rare oak, frail and small like a child’s. Only one child would dare enter the empress’ room.

.....

Kora came back, bearing the devices of Linette’s death. The older maid’s lips were pressed in a thin line, but other than that, she did not show any emotion. Linette always thought of Kora as a boring prude, but as she took her last breaths, she suddenly wished she had been more like the quiet maid. Less fawning, more diligent. At the very least, she wouldn’t then become a sacrifice.

“I understand, Your Majesty,” Linette whimpered, unable to look away from the light emanating behind the empress. Would the light reach where she knelt in the half-darkness or would she die first?

“I understand, I understand, I understand.” The words kept slipping out of her mouth like pearls from a broken necklace. Every time she repeated it, the hand beneath the bed jumped as if it were shocked with electricity.

“Good,” the empress replied. Her pretty smile had returned once again. She looked over the needles carefully, taking her time to make her choice. “Give me your hand, Linette. I will be quick.”

Linette closed her eyes and held out her right hand. And as one monster died, a new one was born.