Elijah
Ihad never been both so disgusted by a place while also somewhat intrigued. Although the latter was because I couldn’t possibly imagine how this empire had survived so long when everything seemed so breakable. A house built on glass, ready to shatter at any moment. We had been here three days, and in the time spent silently observing others around us, I had quickly learned that this empire was far different than our own.
There was no stability here, except that the Emperor’s word was law. An Emperor whom I'd heard many things about, absolutely none of them good.
I kept my expression controlled as my gaze moved over the entrance to the gothic castle, the doors open wide but not welcoming in the least. The structure radiated a level of malice that I didn’t know was possible for a place to contain. Not for the first time, I realized the importance of this mission and why we had crossed the Cursed Divide to gather information about the empire across the sea.
The Tridian Empire, the land we resided in, never interacted with the Thaician Empire. In fact, to most, it was but a whisper from across the vast body of water between us. For good reason, obviously. Our two lands were worlds apart.
Which was why it surprised me when our leader put out the orders for us to travel across the ocean to observe and report back. At first, I doubted the importance of such a mission. Our land was a peaceful one, but there were still things we could improve, and that felt more important than placing our attention outside our borders.
But now that we were here? I couldn’t imagine having a life here, if you could even call it that. From what I’d observed on the dock and our journey through the lands to arrive at the castle, everyone in this empire was just a cog in a well-oiled machine, all working to ensure the Emperor and his Lords were satisfied.
I was understanding the volatile nature a threat like this could pose if they decided to make a move against us.
Our mission was simple—gain insight on the Emperor’s personality and his plans moving forward. Apparently, there had been rumors of him wanting to expand his empire, something that concerned our leader. Our spies in the empire hadn’t been able to gather the type of information we were looking for—not without blowing their long-established covers.
“This is…” Kolvar started, clearly unsure of how he could describe it considering we were surrounded by enemies.
We were supposed to be silent observers, so we were trying to not draw any attention to ourselves. At the same time, this event really did warrant a visceral reaction that I was attempting to control. I couldn’t show my disgust on my face. It would be an easy giveaway.
Kolvar’s usual lighthearted personality was absent, replaced by a calculated watchfulness. It didn’t surprise me—there was a reason he had made it so far up in the chain of command. His loyalty to our empire was one of the main reasons we had eventually become friends, although it had taken several years of the bastard being around constantly. I wasn’t one who made friends easily, mainly because I didn’t want to, but Kolvar had managed to force his friendship on me.
I seldom admitted it—I wasn’t exactly an emotional individual—but he was like a brother to me at this point.
Although, there were some big differences between us as well. Where I had gone into the guard out of necessity, needing a way to survive with no family to support me, Kolvar had done it out of interest and felt a duty to our empire.
“Fucked up,” Dakath finished Kolvar’s sentiment, keeping his voice quiet enough that only we could hear. Which was good, because it no doubt wouldn’t look good to have ‘Lords from the empire’s far-reaching lands’ insulting the Emperor’s event. We wouldn’t have to stay here for long, but the last thing I wanted was to blow our cover.
We stood taller than most of the individuals we walked past, who scuttled out of our way like rats. It was one nice thing about being so damn big—it was a natural defense from anyone who wanted to bother us with casual conversation. After all, the more you talked to someone, the more likely you were to mess up your well-crafted story with slip-ups.
“You aren’t wrong,” I murmured in response to Dakath’s words.
Despite the two of us being nearly a hundred years apart in age, Dakath and I had become friends pretty easily. Well, as easily as I could for someone who doesn’twantto become friends with anyone. I understood the guy, and I knew that his loyalty to our mission was unyielding—to the point that he was willing to come here.
Before being turned, Dakath had stowed away in a merchant ship that traveled across the Cursed Divide, seeking refuge from his destroyed life. I knew being back here was going to drag up those haunting memories, so I was surprised he’d accepted the mission to begin with. The three of us worked together on almost everything, so it would’ve been odd to not have him with us, but I would have more than understood if he hadn’t been willing to do this. I had the utmost respect for him, being able to see this mission through with us.
“Thralls,” Kolvar said in disgust. “They have Thralls.”
Looking around as we walked up the steps of the castle, I nearly cursed out loud. He was completely right—all the Lords had human servants next to them, fresh blood trickling from bite marks on their skin, their gazes dazed.
Fuck.This was so fucked-up, and while it wasn’t our empire, I couldn’t help but want to change this place.
“And we don’t,” Dakath hissed.
At first I didn’t realize what he was getting at, but then it hit me. We would stand out because we didn’t have Thralls like all the other Lords.
Why hadn’t we considered that? Then again, we hadn’t learned about this event until last night when we had overheard some human workers at the pub. I felt a stab of disappointment in myself that I hadn’t considered the details of this more. I think this place was throwing me off my normal level of calculated logistics, and I didn’t like that shit.
This was a huge error, and it was on me to run point on this mission.
“We can just say we didn’t choose one yet, if they ask,” I said, trying to decide if that sounded realistic. I didn’t know the culture here as well as I should. Was it mandatory for Lords to take a Thrall? If so, I could end up breaking a rule I didn’t know existed.
Perhaps we could say we’d drained them too much for them to travel.
“Maybe our Thralls couldn’t make it, but we still wanted to honor him by coming here?” Kolvar offered.
I nodded. If the rumors of the Emperor’s ego were true, that explanation could work. Emperor Malakai wouldn’t doubt that we’d fall over ourselves to be here for him.
