~Bloodlines~

Walking behind Hermes made Oris flashback to when he had led her through the secret tunnels that ran beneath the royal estate. She thought of how he had looked then—stiff and on guard—and compared it to how he looked now, a handful of hours later.

She glanced down at his hands and found them bare. Only the jade ring on his thumb remained, which she supposed was a good thing.

His movements were more fluid that when she had last seen him. His gait was looser too.

She wondered if that meant that his injuries were fully healed but knew better than to ask. "Sire, I do not understand why you are telling me this."

The path they walked down, she didn't recognize—not that she had expected to. It seemed more remote compared to everywhere else she had been to in the palace. There were hardly any servants or guards in the area, which was strange because it was common knowledge that the Emperor was always to be accompanied.

"This will likely be the last test," Hermes turned around to say this but other than that their was no difference in how he said it.

Oris managed not to crash into him. She averted her eyes when their gazes met. "I do not understand."

According to Andrea, there were still a couple more remaining. If this was the last test, she would only get to compete twice in the entire Selection. There would be no opportunity to increase her ranking significantly enough to be among the top scorers.

"Is that true?" He closed the gap between them. "If you did not understand, you would not have been so eager to distance yourself from me in the library."

Oris clasped her hands together, her mind whirling. She tried to avoid him in order to avoid making unnecessary enemies. But what does that have to do with... "Your Majesty, are you in danger?"

With the firelight from the lantern in Andrea's hand reflecting on his face, she watched his eyes darken. "When am I never in danger?"

He turned around and continued walking.

Oris followed but this time Andrea rushed to occupy the space in front of her. As relieved as she was to have someone in between her and Hermes, she also realized that the girl had done so, so that she could see the road better.

How can you be so attentive when you were born royal? Oris couldn't make sense of it. Servants had to be trained from a young age to learn to put their Master before themselves. Submission wasn't something that came easily to most people.

"I never intended to crown my Empress during the Selection. It ending early is to my benefit," Hermes said after a while, "even if there is an element of danger involved."

"The Empress Dowager..." Oris lowered her voice to a whisper. Even if she couldn't see the servants, that didn't mean that they weren't there. "She won't be pleased."

"It is precisely because of her that this is happening. I have no hand in it," he said. "She already has an image of who my Empress should be and the tests are skewed to justify it."

"But will she agree?"

"She has no choice but to agree. I will choose my Empress based on my criteria, after she has entered the harem."

He turned around again, this time sporting a wild grin she had not seen before. "Today, I let the ministers see us being intimate. Of course, that will get you some enemies. But it will also earn you allies. So what you should do now is—"

"—act like I have your backing." She finally understood what he meant. Act, act and act until the act becomes real.

"Yes," he murmured and took another step forward.

Andrea stared him down until the hand that was slowly reaching out to Oris fell back to his side. "So if you are hiding a goddess inside you, it would be best to reveal her now."

Oris could tell that his words were not as simple as they sounded. It was not a compliment but an accusation. "I will try my best."

"I want you to be the best," was all he said before clasping his hands behind his back and stepping aside. "Your lady-in-waiting knows the way back from here."

Oris took that as a dismissal and curtseyed. "Thank you for escorting me, Your Majesty. This servant will take her leave."

Aware of his gaze trained on her, she continued down the path with the ever-dutiful Andrea by her side.

~

By the time Oris got back to her room, all the candles in the palace had been lit, casting a warm glow down every hallway that she passed.

The men guarding her room let her in on seeing her and shut the doors behind her once she entered.

Knowing that she wouldn't be going out again for the rest of the day, the first thing Oris did was tear off her veil. It fell to the floor and Andrea rushed to pick it up.

Oris shot the girl an amused glance before she started undoing the buttons and clasps holding her gown together. "I am so tired," she threw the bottom half of it to the bed, "and exhausted."

"Mistress. Wait." Andrea scampered after her as she all but tore herself out of the clothes.

"You don't need to call me that when we're alone," Oris threw herself into one of the chairs, now in her white inner robe. She shut her eyes. "Mayree and them are in the other rooms?"

"Hn," Andrea shuffled to her side and covered her with the cloak she had just throw down. "They should be making dinner."

At the word, Oris' stomach rumbled. "I could eat a cow," she mumbled and Andrea laughed.

"Those maids," she continued, "if they are smart, they won't cause any obvious trouble since the Emperor is currently favoring me. It would do us some good to make them think that we trust them. After dinner, call them up here so that I can see them properly."

"Yes," Andrea said. "What should I do with the letter and silk?"

"It would be safest to keep them on my person but the silk is useless if the scent fades. We'll need to find a good hiding place for it later."

Andrea agreed. "Then I will hold onto it for a while."

After that, there was silence. Well, as much silence as their could be with Andrea moving around and arranging things.

"Mis—... Sister, Physician Lei prescribed some medicine behind for you. Should I boil it?"

"Are you worried about me?" Oris cracked one eye open just in time to see the girl's expression turn sullen.

"First you coughed blood then there was blood in the basin after your meeting with the Emperor, and after that you got bullied by Anastasia's maid." Andrea pouted and clutched the packet of herbs to her chest. "In court today, Physician Lei said that poison had gotten to your heart, how could I not worry?"

Oris smiled at the girl and tried to reassure her. "Out of all the things in this world that can kill me, an arrow will work far better than poison ever will. You should be worried about the Selection."

"Now you're teasing me!"

It was Oris' turn to laugh. "Say, what do you think we're having for dinner?"

"Knowing Mayree, it'll be a feast. Or else she would have been done by now."

Oris' gaze shifted to the jug still on the table. "Andrea, please serve me some wine. Ah, don't complain. If you do, I won't take the medicine."

"And now you're bullying me." The girl set the letter on the table and grabbed one of the little wine glasses by its stem.

"I'm spoiling you by being obedient."

Andrea filled the cup to its brim. "Just one."

Oris took it and downed all the wine in one gulp. "Not even enough to wet my tongue."

"You—"

"You should join me," Oris grabbed Andrea by the arm, wanting to pull the girl to her side, but she caught hold of her mid-pour.

Wine spilled onto the table.

Andrea set the jug down and rushed to wipe it off with her sleeve but she wasn't quick enough to save the letter from getting stained. "Mistress, I—"

Oris took Bren's letter out of her shaky hands. "Don't worry. It's just paper. I've read it over enough times that every word is stamped in my memory."

"But your clothes..."

She looked down to see a few drops of purple on her white inner robe. It wasn't as bad as the stain on Andrea's dress but it was still conspicuous. "You don't need to worry. It only looks bad now. You just have to hang it out in the sun and the wine stains will disappear."

Andrea's eyes widened. "Really? It looks really hard to wash out."

Oris shook her head and unfolded the letter, taking extra care to separate the wet parts without tearing into them. "Washing will only make it worse. Exposing this wine to sunlight makes all the purple disappear and..."

The cloak tumbled off her shoulders as she shot up in the chair. "Andrea, get me a tray."

Without questioning her, Andrea rushed to get one.

While waiting, Oris thumbed the edge of the letter. The wine had soaked into many places but it was most concentrated here. When she rubbed the spot between her fingers, she felt its layers slide against each other. Layers, even though it was supposedly one sheet of paper.

"Mistress, I've got it." Andrea placed the tray on the table and stood quietly to the side.

Oris poured some wine into the tray and set the letter on the thin film that formed on its surface. Slowly, the purple liquid seeped into the paper until there was no spot on the letter that hadn't been stained.

Oris took it out of the tray and Andrea let out a small gasp of surprise when, starting from the corner she had held before, she peeled the layers of the letter apart until she had two pieces of paper in each hand.

"Mistress, this is...?"

"It seems like I have ruined my letter," Oris put the first paper back into the tray and held the second one in both hands, ignoring the way wine dripped onto her clothes.

At first, the paper seemed blank. That is, until she asked Andrea to bring more candles over.

A faint copy of the letter she had already read revealed itself on its surface, but before Oris' disappointment could grow she noticed something else.

Separate sets of tiny scribbles were used to spell out each individual letter that made up every word. She had to bring it close and blink a few times before she was able to recognize the characters. The scribbles were a part of Orsyan alphabet and the shape of D in "Dear Sister' had been made by using the words 'My Queen' and 'if' in her native language.

This realization was like a key to the lock that was Bren's secret message. Oris had to resist the urge to ask Andrea for a brush and paper to write it all down.

She forced her expression to portray ber usual calm when she looked up at the girl. "Can you please find a place to keep that?" She sighed and pointed to the letter in the tray. "It can be saved as long as it doesn't dry before sunrise."

"So... Add more wine?"

"See? I didn't drink more than one cup and yet its already half gone."

Andrea laughed and took both the tray and the jug away. "I will tell Mayree to come serve you while I get changed."

"Thank you, Andrea."

"My pleasure."

It was only when the doors shut and she was left alone in the room, that she managed to get relaxed enough to start decoding the letter.

It was best if she never wrote it down. If Bren had gone to this extent to hide it, it wasn't something that should be easily seen of reproduced.

My Queen, if you are reading this I have successfully crossed the border of Inae into Southern Rakesh—and this letter has passed the inspection of Hermes' spy network, which heralds the safety of future communication.

I write to inform you of the current status of the rebel army as well as to ask for punishment.

Impulsively, I led fifty assassins into the palace without knowing the full situation, barely managed to escape and even endangered your safety. Without your explicit instruction, I took the initiative to contact you, endangering your safety once again. I will receive my punishment in person, when we meet.

Of the 250,000 men in our army, only 50,000 could be rallied after the assassination attempt. Of the 10,000 women in the army, only 3,000 still remain under our banner. Of these 60,000, half are foot soldiers and the rest are what remains of our calvary.

Heibey has ceased to be our ally. Their ministers have sent tributes to Inae to plead their innocence to Hermes and wash their hands clean of the rebellion.

Due to my actions, we have lost more than half of our sponsors. The royal relatives that had been public about their support have gone into seclusion and the noble families who we promised benefits are asking for proof that you are still alive. The rest have halted their funding until they see results.

As you read this, I am looking through the list of our 'old friends' for new allies. I doubt the success of this venture.

The Crown Prince of Rakesh as well as the former King of Muddah have reached out to me to offer support on the condition that you marry them. They are the only ones who do not doubt that you are still alive.

In this vein, I have completed the task you assigned to me a year ago. A list of men with bloodlines that are most likely capable of awakening the Orsan bloodline has been compiled. The Crown Prince of Rakesh, the Grandduke of Nambar and the Earl of Irenshi were formerly names at the top of this list but in light of certain events, I am forced to add a name I had never considered before...

Princess Aella of Narita's marital union with King Abbadad of Inae merged two ancient bloodlines under the banners of two powerful gods.

Emperor Hermes II is the best candidate to father the future queen of Orse.

There was still half of the letter left. Bren's miniscule and convoluted message took advantage of all the space available to convey as much information as he could, so it was triple the length of the original letter... But Oris' brain had short-circuited... She could almost feel herself shutting down.

What? She read the line over and over again, but it didn't change. She hadn't somehow imagined it. Bed Hermes?

It was only now that she seemed to remember that not only was he an undefeated god of war, he was also the child of Sūn, the chosen one of his god just short of being the country's Deádim. His mother was also Naritan...

It was now that Aella's words chose to echo in her head. There is a reason why kings seek Naritan princesses as their wives and it is not only because of their beauty or wisdom. Our sons are blessed by Sūn, they gravitate towards battlefields and excel in their art. They are the perfect heirs.

Perfect. Heirs.

Hermes was the perfect heir amongst perfect heirs. A line of wise general-kings on his mother's side; a line of benevolent rulers on his father's side; the god of war and fortune on his mother's side, and the god of enlightenment and healing on his father's side... Not to talk of the many bloodlines that had intermarried long before then.

A child sired by him had a higher chance of preventing the curse that had been placed on the Orsan throne from eventually turning the State to dust.

Oris didn't need to read the rest of the letter to know that she was running out of time. How long will Orse last if I'm not back on the throne within three years?

The longest the State had gone without disaster after the crowned queen had been disposed of or forced to abdicate was twenty years, but the time only got shorter and shorter each time.

It didn't matter how determined her ancestors had been to keep their bloodline pure by only marrying within the family, to acquire more affluence the future generations of queens had arranged political marriages with the noble families in and out of Orse.

By the time Oris was born, the royal bloodline had been diluted to point where there were still earthquakes and floods year in and year out despite there being a legitimate ruler in power.

It was only when she sat on the throne herself that she realized just how weak she truly was.

With every day that passed, she felt the dormant volcanoes scattered around Orse slowly come back to life.

~

Mwuhahahaha. THIS is the reason she's fighting this rebellion to take back her kingdom, and also why she doesn't just settle down with Bren without having children, blah blah. You think she wants to go back to that life? Nah! If she doesn't sit her ass down on that throne, millions of folks shall drown in lava.

Annd, she isn't 'talented' enough to stop it, only delay it. So all hope rests on this kid of hers turning out to be a little avatar who can stop the volcanoes from erupting and killing everyone. I'm glad I could finally write that.

Oris doesn't think about it all the time, but it's always lingering in her subconscious. Sigh.

Oh yeah! I was sooo happy to finally write this part about the two sheets of paper in one and Bren writing words into the shape of letters... So he practically did this:

I can just imagine him covered in sweat, pulling out his hair and cradling the wound Hermes gave him while recommending the dude to the love of his life to go and sleep with. It's the sort of angst that I live for. Orr... She could marry the Crown Prince of Rakesh and have his babies?

Happy Valentine's Day🖤