Court of Snakes: This Desert Cage

Old Enemies - The Palace | January of the Third Year

"She took that rather well."

Terran sighed and sat in his father's seat, agreeing, "I think she did... at the ball she would hardly listen to me."

"Damn him," Talbot cursed, stood, and made his way over to a window.

"Who?"

"Lexus, that traitor, waltzing into my palace like he owns the place. How did he even get in? There's only one entrance, and he would've needed an invitation."

Terran chuckled in his own head, and he asked aloud, "What do you have against him, anyway? He's just a street thief."

"We've sparred before, in the Council Room. When La'Hall was Sovereign, I wanted to begin my work reshaping this city and proposed a good deal of laws to do so. I had found a book, something buried in a secret compartment behind La'Hall's bed. She must have had it built while she was ruling. This book, titled The Old Way, outlined the way Segeno was constructed. The book was written by the original Sovereign, Lord Raith the First, and had what he called 'The Segeno Code' in it."

"You went through their room while she was still alive?"

"I had to. I knew they were hiding something. This code is God-given, Rune. It outlines everything we should hold dear as the Sovereign. There are rules we must abide by."

"Like what?"

"Firstly, we must maintain purity of the blood line. Lord Raith the First tells us that those of any skin other than white are lowborn, and must be separated from the stock. We must keep it pure. The science before the great war, according to Lord Raith, proved this as fact. Secondly, everything must be done to put money back into Naa'a. The lowborns are nothing more than cogs in a machine, my boy. Cogs in a machine."

Terran felt a stone drop in his stomach. He had to see this book for himself. "May I read the book?"

"In time. For now, I've hidden it in away so that no one unworthy of its wisdom may find it. I fear someone would destroy it. Why La'Hall hid it, I have no clue. Once I had that knowledge, I knew what I needed to do and what laws needed to be reinstituted. A lot of it La'Hall or her father had destroyed. Every time, she and Lexus would garner just enough support to shoot down everything I brought up. She said it wasn't good for the people. I asked, 'What about our people?' They didn't understand."

"How could they?"

"Exactly. Traitors, the lot of them. Lexus would attack me with his words, try to catch me doing something I wasn't supposed to. Eventually, I realized that La'Hall made the city sick, her and all her kind. She was destroying the Embassy from the ground up. May I share with you a secret?"

"Of course."

There was a knock on the glass door. Terran let out a breath as the conversation turned away from The King. He figured it was only a matter of time before Talbot put two and two together. The King had been disguised as Ruben, Rune's cousin, and things were about to get messy.

A servant opened the door and bowed to Lord Talbot. "My Lord, Widow Corine is here to see you."

Lord Talbot rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I had completely forgotten in all of this mess. Rune, would you like to stay and watch me deal with this nonsense?"

"Certainly, Lord Talbot."

"Send her in."

Widow Corine entered, her hands tied as before, and she knelt before Lord Talbot. Her red dress pooled around her as she fell to her knees, and Lord Talbot exhaled a sigh so long it became almost insufferable. "What do you want?"