Drakkon

Chapter Thirty-five

"Have you heard? The Dragon has executed seven people from the army."

"Seven? Isn't that too much?"

"Of course it is!" the other man hissed. "He's gone mad and is killing anyone that might be an enemy rebel. We could be next too."

"The war is over but—"

"Have you also seen the foreigners? The red haired boy terrifies me. I saw him kill someone with a smile."

"I heard about that. The one that scares me the most is that demon—"

They all stopped talking when they saw me round the corner. All of their spines stiffened and they held tightly onto their staffs as they stared forward. Sweat gleamed on their foreheads and I slowed in my steps to examine the soldiers that, moments ago, were talking about Meilin's dealing with the enemies and the Peccata.

I offered them a curt nod before continuing down the hall. It was no surprise that word was spreading about Meilin's skeptical treatment towards the army and the way he was executing people right and left. After all, I had an inkling of knowledge that Meilin wanted people to know what he was doing, so that they would be too scared of his wrath to go against him.

"Ah, Empress, good morning," Nikator called out to me as he tread his way down the hall. He gave me a small wave, his gaze flicking over to the guards posted around. He stopped when he reached me, giving me a small bow. "I hope you slept well."

I thought back to last night and this morning, and shrugged unsurely. "I suppose it was alright."

"Remus came to Atreus and said that you made him feel better after his little . . . episode. Thank you for that."

"Don't thank me. Remus is important."

"Yes, but he's a handful when he's . . . you know, having a moment." Nikator ran a hand through his hair and tugged at the ends of it. "I'm glad that you were able to calm him down. Whenever he's like that, it's kind of bad if we're not there. I'm glad that you brought him to Master and made him feel better."

"Really, don't thank me," I continued. "I'm just treating him the way I would treat my younger brothers and sisters."

"Well, anyway," he said with a chipper voice, "General Keung's whereabouts have been found out by Thera."

"Really? He's the one that's in charge of all the people doing the revolts?"

Nikator bobbed his head. "You should know more about political affairs, Empress. Keung is indeed the man in charge of all those revolts."

I nodded, embarrassed. "I'm still trying to understand everything with the empire."

"It'll take time," he said with a shrug. "Well, Thera figured out all the enemies in the palace."

I raised my brows. "Thera did?"

"She had been . . . intimately involved with one of the enemy soldiers and she made it out so that he thought that she was on his side, telling him that being raised under Master was horrible and that she wanted him dead, and that she was basically like a slave under Master's rule. Anyway, she fooled him and slowly got information out of him. Now, she's found out all the enemies in the palace—she went to one of their meetings—and she's figured out Keung's location."

Thera was a seductress? That was news to me, and I was even more surprised that Meilin allowed her to do that sort of work. He cared deeply for the Peccata and it was hard to imagine that he would approve of her finding out information in that way.