QT: Our Dreams Follow

Arc 2.3

"The engagement reception will be next week."

Delis looked like she was waiting for an explosion as she spoke. Heru wished he could smile at the sight. She seemed to be warring between guilt and duty but also a good deal of determination. She was a good senator, but also a good mother.

"Mom, I haven't changed my mind. I will accept the marriage. The admiral is probably not as bad as the rumours."

His family seemed to pause at his words. They hadn't yet gotten used to this level of maturity on his part. "Really, a change of environment might be good for me. It will help get away from... the memories."

Seeing him hesitant to elaborate further, his mothers relented. "It is idiotic to believe those useless rumours. Some of our best empaths have been in the same room as admiral Bet'heldt before and none of them ever found any guilt or hate in her aura. The most they could sense was sadness and a worrying level of indifference. So, either she did kill her mother and is incapable of guilt, or she didn't and is covering for someone."

Heru looked up from his dessert, surprised. He hadn't heard about this before. He had thought the rumours the result of an open secret.

Kaire seemed to find his surprise amusing. "I know that with this arranged marriage, we might not have seemed like the best parents, son, but we are still your parents first and servants of the Union second. Did you honestly think we would let you share your life with a monster?"

Ashamed on behalf of his host, Heru could feel his cheeks warm. Delis moved to hold his hand and smiled reassuringly at him.

"So is she," Sander spoke, "covering for someone?"

"We have no evidence, of course, but that's what the Intelligence Committee have suspected for a few years now. " Kaire continued. "Five years ago, the Empress died and the emperor was sent to the Imperial Hospital with heavy wounds. Half the Imperial Palace staff was killed. Mere days after, news that the admiral wanted to usurp the throne and thus, had been responsible for the attack on her parents spread among the people. It had all seemed a bit too convenient to us. The admiral would get the throne in a few decades anyway, so why the attempt at a coup?"

"She could have become impatient. Isn't it said that the emperor and her don't get along well?" Sander said.

"They don't. But I believe that if Admiral Bet'heldt had wanted her father dead, he would be dead, not wounded. In addition, the emperor started to remove himself from politics and power following the death of his wife. He hasn't been seen in formal events in a long time. Such behaviour is not the behaviour of an all-but-deposed ruler struggling against traitors."

"Was he the one who killed the empress then?" Heru asked.

Delis moved the chair over to be closer to her younger son. "We think so. Not even the highest of his officials have vouched for the emperor's mental stability in a long time. It's the reason why although the alliance treaty requires the emperor's oversight, none have questioned the admiral's role in substituting for her father."

"Again," his mother said, "We have no proof of anything. We could be wrong on all counts here."

"But if the admiral is not playing with us and reasonably sane, why would she ask for such a ridiculous condition for the treaty?" Heru asked.

"We have no idea. I have investigated every instance of her visits in this planet. You have never met before. And neither your mother, nor I are influential enough to irreversibly tie our nations together with just a marriage. The eldest omega daughter of the president or the beta son of the vice-president are both of age, of pleasant appearance and education, and overall infinitely better matches for something like this."