The Veneer of Injustice

Part 9

Earth Moon 10, 1527 C.Q

I opened my eyes and blinked at the sight of the subtle gold and green paint of my bedroom's ceiling. I had done the patterns with my own hand, so I was sure of where I was. But I could not understand why sunlight was streaming through my window. I last remembered the sight of the setting sun illuminating my favorite place, the top of the Gale Tower...

I blinked as I remembered my last memories. After punishing Corisa, I had received news of an invasion, planned a war strategy, and then had successfully modified the crown's communication spells network. I had blacked out after that from the loss of magic and strength.

Taking an account of my person, I noted that my strength was about a quarter replenished but my magic was barely present. I also realized that I was devastatingly hungry: I had not eaten since lunch yesterday, and, from the sunlight and my level of strength, this was the next morning.

I could not understand though why I was in my own bed – I should have woken to the inside of the Gale Tower's roof. Someone must have moved me... but why had anyone cared enough to do so?

I moved to sit up – and, as I did, I heard a squeak. Suddenly, the faces of Benedetta, Melts, and Maps appeared in my vision. All three looked exhausted, worried, and frightened.

I wet my dry lips and parted them to speak.

"Your Highness, you fell atop the Gale Tower," said Benedetta hurriedly. "Maps heard you fall and called Melts and me. We had some of the guards bring you to your bed. We apologize for touching your person and for intruding into your chambers."

I closed my eyes at how she had actually apologized for taking care of me – as though I was so cruel and lacking in my heart that I would be upset over that. I did not allow anyone into my chambers because this was one of the few places where I did not have to hide who I truly was, but I would rather be cared for than have my privacy respected. Indeed, I wished that I had been conscious to feel a touch that wasn't intent on harming me, even if my person had not been handled gently.

Bitterly I realized that, although Benedetta, Melts, and Maps had not left me outside in the cold and on a stone floor overnight, they had also not acted out of anything but fearful duty and perhaps a perceived need for their strategic mastermind of a tyrant prince during wartime.

Did I truly expect anything different? My father had been cruel not only as a ruler but also as a parent and teacher and had beaten his interpretation of the way of the warrior-prince into me. My mother had hated me because she had hated her husband for murdering her father, the last scion of the old noble houses of Emerstones; unable to punish my father, she had beaten me instead and had taken her anger and grief out on me through her harsh words. She had never recognized me as her son. And my fellow trainees, from Hannes to Arras to Ursa, my teachers, including Gretel, and my many ministers and staff, from Melts and Maps to Benedetta and Corisa, had never seen me as anything more than a monster, my father's child and copy. I could not even be sure that the Almighty cared for me, for I had stained my own soul with my tyrannical actions.

But none of this mattered. I loved the Almighty, I loved Emerstones, and I loved all my people. I had to think and act for my people's sake even though my love would never be requited. I did not deserve their love, and I did not have the time to long for it. I had to act.

With a monumental effort, I opened my eyes and, fixing my persona into place, said coldly, "How long was I out? Do the spells work? And what is the status of the deployment?" My voice rasped, instead of its usual deep rumble, but it was firm.

Benedetta, Melts, and Maps seemed, oddly enough, relieved at my words and total lack of acknowledgement of the service they had done me. The sight only upset me further – they really had expected to be punished.