How To Tame An Empress (BOOK I)

Chapter 45 - The Shape of Obsession

--Valeria POV--

The garden had always been most beautiful when my sons were in it. Although that might have been because they had somehow managed to bring the same chaos into it that they brought everywhere else.

"Evan, darling, you are drowning these innocent flowers." My oldest child paused, the watering vessel still pouring water as he glanced between me and the darkening soil beneath the roses.

"But you are the one who said they needed water." He raised a curious brow as I gently pried the vessel out of his hands and set it aside.

"Yes, water. Not a lake." A laugh drifted from the fountain and I glanced to where Ambrosius was sitting on the edge of the travertine fountain with a scroll spread across his knees.

"Perhaps he thinks they will grow faster if they learn to swim." He joked to which Evan's curious expression instantly shifted into an offended one as he glared at his younger brother.

"And perhaps you should help us instead of just sitting there like a statue." Evan pointed accusingly to which Ambrosius scoffed.

"I assure you, brother, mama would much rather prefer me to remain where I am, reading this scroll instead of murdering her flowers." Evan wasted no time in threatening Ambrosius that he would push him into the fountain, and Ambrosius began daring him to do just that.

I left them bickering with each other before returning my attention to the garden. The afternoon was warm, sunlight resting on the colonnade while the fountain murmured behind us, it was perfect, I told myself. No soul would desire anything more than this.

Evan eventually returned to crouch beside me, pulling some weeds from the soil with considerably more force than necessary while Ambrosius remained on the ledge of the fountain, reading his scroll.

"Mama?" Evan eventually called, brushing the soil from his fingers as I hummed my response. "Have you ever been inside the room near Father's old study?"

"I have no clue which room you are speaking of. Why?" He did not reply immediately. His gaze darted towards his brother before returning to the plants before him.

"It is the one beyond the narrow passage in the west wing with the carved doors. I passed it a few days ago just as a servant was coming out, and the door was open so..." He drifted off as I finally turned to look at him, eyes narrowing jokingly.

"Were you somewhere you should not have been again?" He shook his head quickly, then thought about it before shrugging.

"Not deliberately, but looking past that... the room was filled with drawings, paintings, and even statues. Lots of them. Of you." He looked at me then with something akin to concern, and I found my hands pausing in what they were doing, brows furrowing in confusion.

"Of me?" I echoed.

"Yes. Initially, I had assumed it was where father kept some family portraits. But then I realised that the room consisted of no one but you." The fountain continued splashing behind us as his words echoed in my mind, the confusion being replaced by something much colder.

"Did you know about it, Mama?" Ambrosius asked, slowly rolling the parchment between his hands. I could have just said yes. I could have made up an excuse and brushed the topic away, but for some inexplicable reason, I could not bring myself to do that. Perhaps it was just curiosity, or perhaps I knew the answer without having to see that room for myself.

"No." I breathed.

Neither of them looked surprised by my answer. If anything, they looked like they had expected it, and that seemed to unsettle me more than I wished to admit.