The Princess of Wrath

Chapter 8 - Part III: The Dark Matter Edge

The most intelligent man in the continent was looking at Elfriede as she finished emptying the bottle of wine, ignoring that she was the center of attention of all eyes. He coughed to clear his throat and continued, sounding somewhat irritated:

"I don't decline your offer, but wouldn't it be better for someone less crucial to the Empire to fight...?"

"Shut the fuck up. I want to put that girl's skill to the test... I heard that she's quite strong," the Empress said, chuckling in such a way that it froze the blood in her daughter's veins.

Suddenly, she punched the table before standing up, startling more than one around her, mostly Tuomas Virtan, who flinched against his chair. She passed by the Wraith holding her glaive, who had not moved an inch since the ceremony began, and he handed the weapon to her as he bowed his head.

"No, mother. Don't do it," Asura begged softly as she passed behind her, taking her arm to stop her. She did not know what led her to do that, knowing full well that her mother was going to be victorious in that battle. "Please!"

"Do you want to fight in my place? You flatter me, daughter," she teased, smiling gracefully at her. Beside them, Roland seemed hesitant about wanting to intercede or not in the conversation.

"No! I..."

"Say no more, or you'll ruin my mood. You can't even see a sword without being on the verge of vomiting..."

Once again she messed with her trauma, offending her to the point of replying without thinking:

"That's your fault! I-if you hadn't killed Master Blaine..."

"You dare blame me, you stupid girl?" Elfriede jerked out of Asura's grasp and glared at her. "I didn't kill your master."

The Princess gasped and was unable to utter another word; and even if she could have, her mother would not have stayed to listen to her as she entered the battlefield, with the Imperial Guards moving out of the way to allow her to pass.

"But she was the one who killed Blaine! She was... she..." The sudden memories became blurry and hazy, denying Asura the ability to differentiate between reality and fantasy. That made her totally doubt what she had witnessed years ago and her hands began to shake. "Calm down...calm down..."

She could not give her unstable mind the luxury of causing her a panic attack in that place, next to her fiancé, in front of her lover and hundreds of guests who waited with endless different emotions for the start of a fight that he was going to be talking about for months. If her mother was lying or the trauma had been so great that the memories of that time had been totally altered, it was going to be something she was going to have to talk about with her after the party.

She breathed deeply and discreetly so that Roland would not notice her condition, but he was not paying attention to her: he was staring annoyed at his champion.

"What's going on?" the Princess asked him. "Don't you want mother to fight for you?"

"No," was his curt, short reply, without delving into detail. Asura would have asked him why, but she sensed that he was not going to answer her. She had no choice but to focus her attention on the battlefield.

Wielding her terrifying glaive and ready for combat in her armored uniform, Elfriede overwhelmingly imposed her presence on everyone, including her daughter. Her opponent showed no fear, although from the way she was blinking rapidly and licking her lips, she seemed to have a minimal level of concern.

"Mika! Don't do it!" Dalton yelled in despair as he approached the barrier of Imperial Guards, who prevented him from continuing. He was on the verge of tears. "Drop your sword!"