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“And could we use your shower?” Hazel said. “We haven’t washed all day.”
“We don’t have any hot water left,” the farmer said. “But you can wash with cold water.”
The farmers formed fists and brought them toward their chests. I performed the same motion back to them, but with a huge sense of guilt pressing down on me.
These people had relied on their emperor to protect them.
And I had betrayed them, heart and soul.
How could I have been so stupid?
Letting Slak decide what news I would receive? What I would base my decisions on?
But it was worse than that.
I made no decisions.
He made them.
Then he gave me the documents I needed to sign, documents that would make me do what he wanted me to do.
This whole time, I might have been the emperor, but I had not been the leader.
Slak had been in charge.
Had he worked alone? Or had he recruited the help of the other advisers?
Were they innocent?
No. They couldn’t be.
On the rare occasions I asked questions, the advisers stepped forward and provided the information I needed. They told me whatever they had to to ensure I signed their damn documents.
They had already agreed on what I ought to know and what I shouldn’t.
They were the corrupt officials I was supposed to protect the empire from.
I was a fool.
I hadn’t noticed the water was ice cold when I washed in it. It did nothing to sharpen my senses. I felt even more tired afterward.
My mind was still buzzing with those thoughts of my traitors.
The empire’s traitors.
But ultimately, I had to accept responsibility. For the countless who had died, the honest, the innocent. All of them had died because of my negligence and stupidity.
The Creator forgive me. Let me make it up to my people. Please.
The farmer’s wife led us up the ladder and into the barn’s loft. She left the oil lamp on. It revealed a pallet in the corner with hay and a rough woolen blanket strewn across it.
“I’ll leave the ladder up,” the farmer’s wife said. “In case you need to visit the toilet during the night.”
“Thank you,” Hazel said.
The farmer’s wife smiled kindly and descended the ladder.
“This was a stroke of luck, huh?” Hazel said.
