As Within

Chapter Five

Despite Doctor Toskvig's recommendations, Emily did not take several days of rest to recuperate from the poisoning. If anything, she seemed twice as angry as before. The attempt on her life had done little but fuel the fires of her wrath, and she had the Watch all but tear Dunwall Tower apart, looking for the—in her words—"the wretched servants" who had poisoned her.

The Watch's investigations were nothing short of thorough. Daud suspected, not even at the height of his power, could he have hidden from the dozens of men that interrogated all visitors of Dunwall Tower day and night. However, due to his past, Daud was the primary suspect. It wasn't until Elizabeth, Corvo, and Emily stepped in, and vouched for Daud, did the Watch leave him be, though that did not stop the suspicious glances. Which, to be fair, after eleven months in the royal court, he was more than used to.

It took the Watch three days working around the clock to find the culprits. They continued searching through the night, operating on patrols, and making their rounds. Elizabeth's anger was the only thing that let her stay up until the sun had risen, determined to make the culprits pay for ever daring to lay a finger on the young Empress. By the time everything had been said and done, Daud was almost impressed by the Watch's efficiency. He harboured no love for the Watch, whose history was plagued and riddled with corruption, but Elizabeth's meticulous planning abilities, and Corvo's watchful gaze had turned them into a force to be reckoned with.

After Delilah's coup, the staff had to almost entirely be created from scratch, most of the previous employees having been slain by Delilah or one of her crazed witches. This had left many holes in security, and after almost two years, no one still quite trusted each other. Which was why, Daud suspected, discovering that the servants who had poisoned Emily had been amongst the handful that had survived Delilah's reign of terror came as such a shock. In hindsight, it made sense. They would have been the only ones who had come close enough to Delilah to support her cause. Daud could all but see Emily's face fall as a soldier dragged the traitors up to her throne, one of her former nannies—a woman by the name of Nora Miller—in one hand, and a cook in the other.

"Explain yourselves." Emily's tone was curt, clipped, and authoritative to such an extent that Daud found himself wincing. He made eye contact with Corvo who stood on the opposite side of the Empress, and found that he too, seemed concerned by his daughter. But what could they do to stop her? She was the most powerful person in all the Isles, and it took an entire cabinet to stop her from doing what she wanted to do. Her conviction was the oil that fed her fire, and she would burn through anything that stood in her path. She was quickly turning into a wildfire that would see the entire world razed to the ground.

She was quickly becoming everything she had once hated.

He could see Delilah in her. The way she squared her shoulders, her laugh so bitter it sent shivers down his spine, the derision that was the undertone to everything she spoke—all of it, he had seen in her aunt. The worst thing was, he knew she could see it too. And even worse, she didn't seem to care. Power was power, in her eyes. It did not matter how she wielded it, only that it was wielded. Mercy was a lie. This world would leave the suffering to suffer, the starving to starve, and the powerful would remain in power, but they all shared a common friend in Death himself. If she took their lives, if she brought Death to the doors of her citizens, she was granting them an end they would have had to have waited for. It was better that she end their suffering now, before they had nothing left to live for.

Daud couldn't even begin to describe how much he disagreed with her. He tried to tell her it was better to be kind, better to be gentle, but she would not have a word of it. She turned her cheek, and lifted her chin high as she ruled from her throne with an iron fist. Emily the Vengeful, the people began to call her. Her reign was one of corruption, and terror, and no matter how hard they tried, how hard they fought against her, they were still subject to her whims and fancies.