Her Heart, His obsession

63. Risky confrontations

As Dante dismissed his commanders he was surprised to see one of them remaining behind staring at him defiatnly. Of course. Only his brother was crazy enough to defy a direct order of dismissal.

Dante shook his head: " whats the matter Demetrious. You dont seem very cheerful. Didnt you hear my order? Get back to your original post. In your case, your destination is the magic science division. Mother would not be happy with you remaining at the front line for longer than necessary. You are the first in line after me. Not that I am planning to give up my position anytime soon. So last chance Demetrious. Get back to your post before I discipline you."

Then Dante walked to his desk and sat down staring at the unmoving form of his brother. " Oh i see. You are here to ask me to reconsider my plans for the western territory. I understand you have difficulty witnessing too much bloodshed. That is why i have given you the back seat in Arkansas. If you dont want to have blood on your hands, I wont force you to take part at the front line. But this is the world we live in. Demetrious you need to learn that we are the Ronas and we can do as we wish. I hope you would embrace your heritage too very soon. But for now, I will try to endure your empathic tantrums for our parents sakes. If anyone of my commanders dared defy an order, I would have hung them upside down and made them scream like there was no tomorrow. But of course you are an exception to my rules. So come on. Out with it. say what you want to say and get out of here. I have an army to lead."

Demetrious closed his eyes and tried hard to speak with a steady voice. He was frozen in the spot. he couldnt move. he was in total shock after hearing Dante's plans. He was not sure what he was hoping to achieve by remaining behind but he knew he had to try.

Demetrious whispered " Dante, you have to have some kind of conscious inside you. What you are planning to do to the western territory is wrong. You are hurting innocents for no reason. You will conquer North America but they would obey you out of fear. You are going to make the people dread prosecution at the hands of your enforcers and follow your commands but how can such rule be worth anything. If you want to be a just ruler that everyone would respect and love rather than fear, then you must not cause so much hurt and suffering. I can not ....."

Dante narrowed his eyes " Silence Demetrious. You may be my brother and can speak your mind but there is a limit to what I allow you to say before I backhand you. I dont appreciate advice from you on how to run my army and conquests. I advise you to know your place. I do not want your lousy and pathetic opinions on the war that I am waging. You have said too much already. Get out Demetrious before I lose my temper. I am already restraining myself from attacking you right now. I do not wish to spill my own blood. I prefer it if I take my rage out on others."

Demetrious looked at Dante with wide eyes: " Do you mean that a simple conversation with me is going to send you on a killing spree? Is that it? Once I depart are you going to ......"

Dante nodded " Yes, I am going to summon some poor souls and torment them until I forget your mini act of defiance. Like I said get out while still you have the chance. I am not in the mood to torment you and then get messages from mother later on that you look weak and pale. If I do, I may also sanction her too for questioning me. I would surely put her under arrest in her chambers and forbid her from communication with the outside world if she complains about how I treat my commanders. Then this would be a domino effect. Father would surely protest for my treatment of mother and then you figure out what would happen next. Do you want to cause our family unnecessary hurt? Is that what you want? Get out of my sight. Your empathic waves of emotion are making me very angry right now. Dont make me hurt you."

Demetrious was close to breaking point. He could not stand and watch his brother hurting others but he knew he did not possess the power to defeat him. he had spent along time trying to plan to throw obstacles in Dante's way but so far there was no effective plan in place.