The Imperial Sorceress

Chapter 1

After a long day, I like to prepare a hot bath with rose bath salts and enjoy my half hour of peace with a wine glass. However, that day the emperor wasn't willing to leave me alone.

He had sent the high counselor due to the event of the last time. If he sends a servant while I'm in my relaxing time, I don't know how he thinks that I would leave the bath to stop Romulo and Remo from playing with the boy.

"The emperor is waiting for you. He has an important matter to talk about," the old gray-monobrow counselor said.

I looked at my nails, thinking that they needed some care because they were losing their shine. "My relaxing time, it's my relaxing time. Besides, if the emperor was in such a hurry, he could have come to see me himself," I said.

The counselor was uncomfortable with my words, but he knew I was in a superior position. "But, Lady Dominica, the emperor is the emperor," he said, loosening his shirt.

I decided to stop torturing the poor man. "Veste mutate in veste caerulea." My dressing gown changed into an aquamarine dress very formal with long sleeves and covering up to the ankles. I hate this kind of dress. They are so uncomfortable and awful but as the counselor said the emperor was the emperor and I would have to maintain a certain formality.

I went to the emperor's bedchamber without bidding farewell to the counselor. I arrived in the bedchamber where the emperor was waiting near the fireplace while he was speaking with some of the royal ass-kissers. To be more exact, he was talking while the rest only nodded and made some sound of admiration. Of course, he was talking again about the time that he killed a bull. It was clear if you looked at his bright eyes and his way of gesturing with his whole body represented a sword thrust.

I was tired of that story because it was a lie or a half-true at least. He killed the bull, after his father, the terrible emperor Marco II, literally pushed, at that time the prince, into the bull ring. He was twelve years old and I always had an excessive empathy for children, for this reason, I used a little spell to control the bull. The poor animal was calmer due to my magic and he could deliver the coup de grâce with his trembling hands.

I thought that experience would make him grow up like a better man than his father; however, when his eldest turned thirteen years old he pushed the boy into the bull ring. Not literally, he just needed to encourage the young and impressionable Prince Cesar IV to jump for himself. The child had been in bed for several weeks, and the sorceress that I had put in charge hadn't yet managed to heal him completely after the thrust from the bull's horn.

"Lady Dominica, High Sorceress of the Empire," the chamberlain said, interrupting my thought.

I approached the emperor and bowed. He only needed a look so that men would come out and leave us alone. He took his beer jar and guided me to his study, where I could see a war map with the distribution of troops. The war with the alliance of the Southern kingdoms had been lasting for fifteen years and if we followed this strategy, it would last another fifteen at least. The only reason the alliance hadn't won yet was because the difference in military strength was abysmal.

This is the thing that I most hate about monarchy; the ruler is not the most intelligent, nor the most charismatic, nor even the strongest. It is 'the son of' of 'other sons of' until at the root of the family tree you may find someone who has some merit.

"Lady Dominica, I need you to go to Lorencia in the middle provinces. We are currently struggling to conquer it and..." He stopped while staring at my penetrating gaze. He knew the rules of the Coven treaty, I had wasted a lot of my time explaining it to him when he was a child.

"I don't want you to intervene in the conflict," he stuttered while trying to dry his sweaty hands with a handkerchief decorated with gold thread embroidery. "The alliance was using a creature, one of those that changes shapes," the emperor said.