Always and Forever

Old Pain

"Nonsense," the Emperor answered. "If anything that story makes me admire you more."

"I hope so sir, because the second story makes me look far worse." Edmund said.

"No man is without his mistakes son, just tell me."

Edmund signed "Just after Hayes knighted me I was placed over a small command in the northern section of his quadrant. He sent me on a mission to eliminate a small rebel group that had been looting wealthy areas and killing the people. They were headed toward a massive estate near the sojo river."

"The Marion Place," the Emperor said surprised.

"Yes."

"I heard about that, Hayes ordered his men to attack from the south even though they were clearly coming from the north, they did not get there in time and the whole place was ransacked. It took Hayes over a year to clean that up. No one died though, so he kept his career." The Emperor eyed Edmund suspiciously.

"That was the story." Edmund agreed, "but it was not the truth. "Hayes ordered me to lead the men to the north. There was a man, Barno, who worked for Hayes. He pretended to be a double agent and persuaded the rebels to attack from the north. But, he really worked for Hayes, and told him to wait for them at the north.
That is where I was sent, but I did not know about the agent. I thought they would attack from the south, and had it not been for Barno, they would have. I was arrogant. I could not imagine there was a piece of information that I did not have.
I broke his trust and figured his command. I took my team to the south and that was the reason we failed. It was my fault. Hayes took the fall for it, he told me he loved me like a son and that while he was disappointed in me that since no one had died I got a reprieve for that one. He also knew that watching him suffer for my mistake was worse then anything he could do to me."

"Defying your commander is illegal." the Emperor noted quietly.

"Extremely. But, I was not enlisted yet. Legally he was not my commander yet. I was still a part of his household and was acting with his authority, so I could not be prosecuted for it. It still would have ruined me though if he not protected me." Edmund said.

The Emperor nodded, " well I am glad your not a felon, that would have been a problem."

"Yes. But sir, I learned my lesson, I will not do it again. Trust me, I watched a man I loved as a father, but mocked and ridiculed. I watched him almost lose his job, lose any chance at ever become General. I also swore to him I would never defy a commander again. I would stab myself before doing it again."

"I am glad of that, since it's my orders you follow now. The military would fall apart if the chain of command did not work."

"I know that sir."

The Emperor nodded. "Anything else I should know.

"Just that commander Hayes had the records of me commanding those men erased so it would not come back to haunt me but that if it ever got out there would be hell to pay." Edmund said.

"Especially since I knew about it and did nothing." The emperor added.

Edmund looked up, startled. "The punishment for defying orders ranges from jail times, to beatings to death. If you want to do something about it sir, you could. I will not argue with you."

"No, if it gets out I will deal with it, I appreciate the honesty."

Edmund opened his mouth to say something but the Emperor added "that's final, Edmund. Do not argue with me."

"Do you have any other questions for me sir?" Edmund asked, knowing full well the subject was closed.

"No questions, but you have been honest with me so now I have some things to tell you."

"Sir you do not owe me anything."

"Edmund, trust me, your about to put your career and your reputation on the line for the slim chance this works. I want to know you know what your getting into."

"I understand the risk sir."

"No you don't."

Edmund stared at him. " if there is something to know about her sir, I would rather wait until she wants to tell me."

"I appreciate and admire that but you need to know this. There are still plenty more things for her to tell you. This part is my sorry to tell.

Elenna's mother, Anne, was the daughter of my predecessor, Emperor Charles. His wife and her mother was a lady named Pricilla. A year after Anne was born, Pricilla began an affair with a foreign diplomat. They had a child together.

Charles found out and was furious. He sent the diplomat away. But, the penalty for adultery was death. As much as he hated what she had done, Charles did not want Pricilla to die. So he decided to raise the baby as his own, but, he never touched Pricilla again. When the baby was born, there was an obvious problem.

Charles and Pricilla were both from Northern Europe, with pale skin, light hair and blue/green eyes. The baby was born with dark hair, brown eyes and black skin. There had already been rumors about the empress and the official, it was going to obvious what happened so, the Emperor sent the child away to live with his father. A decision that Pricilla supported by the way, to protect them both.

At some point the child's father must have told him the truth because shortly after Charles died and I became Emperor he visited me and demanded that I make him Emperor. He said that as a male child of the Empress he was in line ahead of Anne. I refused of course, he was not the blood of the Emperor, he had no claim to the throne. He was angry and threatened me, but I refused.

Years later after Anne gave birth to Peter, he wrote asking to see his sister and her children. He said that all he wanted was to see the family his parents had denied him. In my stupidity, I believed him. He went to see her, Elenna and Peter. I was not in the room. We had bad blood between us and I wanted to make the reunion as peaceful as possible and there were very few guards."

"Oh no" Edmund's voice was a whisper, he knew where this was going.

The Emperor's voice broke. " he killed her, with a knife he had hidden in his robes. Elenna saw it, she was six but she took Peter and ran. He was shocked but she got them away. I have no idea how a six year had that presence of mind but she did it.

Anne and the guard who was with her fought him to give them time. Elenna found the guards but by the time they got there the guard was dead and Anne was dying. She was nine months pregnant. She died in my arms. Her dying wish was that no one ever no what happened, she did not want her mother's affair to be revealed. Anne loved Pricilla, no matter what. The story was that Anne and the baby died in child birth, I kept the secret. But my guards captured her brother and I killed him with my own hands." The Emperor finished.

"Do you have any idea why he did it? Other than vengeance?" Edmund asked.

"He wrote a letter to his mother before he died. He said that he would kill Anne and our children, become the only heir and tell the world that he was Charles' son from an affair, then he could have the throne. He threatened her and said he would reveal the affair if she did not support him. Pricilla wrote to me immediately, trying to save them, she sent as many messengers as she could but they did not get here in time. That's another reason I kept the secret. By writing to me she risked herself. I could not reveal what she had done after that. Besides denying your wife her dying wish is hard, no matter what it is."