MAEGYA | xvii. "NO ONE CAN PROTECT YOU, EXCEPT YOU." BLOOD RUNS THICK
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IF NOT A stellar politician or queen at the age of eighteen, Thea Valaryen was a master at masking her emotions. No one ever told her that impressions were key, as a street vigilante or an Avenger. To be in her position and not learn how to keep your face and tone in check was a rookie mistake and one that she was determined not to perpetrate. Not to mention the slightest adversity the media could take against her if her lip curled weirdly.
Her lips were pulled into a firm line, her nostrils flared ever so slightly and her eyebrows remained in trimmed arcs. But she couldn't contain the way her heart lurched in her chest. When Aeres said... the fighting... Her throat felt dry and she felt a pang in her chest.
"Why did she," she gulped, "uh, never mind, I'm sorry, you don't have to—"
"No, it's okay. It hasn't been easy but she couldn't take Dad's mood swings anymore," Rhaeon spoke, his eyes distant and voice dancing around breakage. "Besides, she knew there was no real scope for the second-born child in our family. You were going to further our bloodline and wear our house colors and smile when you passed a crowd. And that wasn't you. You were..." His tongue briefly darted out, sinking into his lower lip as he shook his head.
"Well, you were kinda like the way you are right now. Powerful. The worst part was that she knew it."
Thea bit hard on the inside of her cheek. The look on Rhaeon's face was heart-wrenching. She wondered if her real brother and father lived, would she have run away? All her present responsibilities, ceremonies and meetings, polite smiles, and diplomatic verbiage— that would be Rhaeon's job. Not hers. She would be doing everything and anything she wanted. But she was entrusted with that legacy now. Not as Rhaeon's little sister or Aeres' only living child. As the Mother of Magic, the Dragon Queen.
"Sera named me after Empress Theodora," Thea said. "I did a report about her in fourth grade."
If not a master of politics and war, Rhaeon was dependent on his eagerness to learn history— the mistakes and glories of the more notable names of the past.
He huffed a small laugh. He peered over the black metal railing down to the first floor. His gaze lingered on the redhaired woman who was speaking to Matthen. He observed the rigidity of her posture, her face strict and cutting. Anyone with half a sense would be entranced by the deep lilt of her voice or the sword in her sheath.
"She picked well," Rhaeon remarked. "Empress Theodora used her power and influence to promote social policies that were important to her. She was one of the first rulers to recognize the rights of women. Politically brilliant and absolutely revolutionary."
"Aw, shucks," Thea crooned, lifting her shoulder graciously.
"So, uh, how long did you have the book?" Rhaeon asked, tilting his chin toward the hovering tome. The question seemed eager like it was pent up in his brain.
