Chapter 61 The Emperor’s Parables.
Malrick's POV
I raised my hand, hoping to be done with this execution and move on to my station to see if the Emperor is recovering.
But this execution was not like every other execution I had conducted, and I cursed this wretched woman for it.
My ties with the Emperor go deep. He had once saved my mother from the former evil Emperor, who wanted to eradicate all the poor from his Kingdom so he could build a utopia.
Emperor Darian had objected to this and challenged him. He saved my life, and from that moment I swore to him that I would protect him to the death.
While I served in the palace, Darian didn't fully trust me, not because he thought I wasn't capable, like Basgrid, his former head of the palace guard, and that pervert.
No.
It's because, despite my loyalty to him, I'm not afraid to challenge the Emperor and call him out for his conduct. Darian knew I dreaded his lust for little girls and couldn't stand it. So I was demoted on purpose so that he could carry on with his life without any guilt.
Yet, I saved the Emperor. Being at his side in the palace, protecting him from veiled conspiracies. I served despite the dishonour the Emperor brought upon me, and he recognised my sincerity by protecting him in the long run and reinstated me in my position.
With Basgrid dead and me back where I want to be i noticed a difference in the Emperor. He cares less about storing up young buding virgins upon virgins. He only cares for one now.
One, who by his previous appetite was already too old for him. The Emperor lost interest in girls when they were 16, but his interest in this one suddenly bloomed when she turned 16.
Who is she? Had she changed him?
I wanted to know more about this girl, and when I did, I was shocked to find that she was not a prominent beauty, with no appealing interests; she looked like a frail, small girl, and there were rumours that she was cursed.
She didn't look cursed to me. She looked just like every other scared girl who comes to this palace against her will.
"Protect her at all costs." Darian had told me. "There are many people in the palace who hate her. They think she has some power over me. And they are right." He sniggered ominously. "It's too bad she has no idea what power she holds. The moon goddess will blush at such ignorance."
Sigh.
Sometimes the Emperor's parables amuse me. And sometimes it irritates me. What is this talk about the moon goddess and the powers in the hands of a young girl?
But all of this only drew my curious towards Amarien. Surely the Emperor might be sick, but he is not insane.
She has a hold over him, a force beyond her comprehension.
After she came back from her hometown looking for a cure for the Emperor, rumours weaved around the palace that she had met with Alpha Theron on the way. I thought this was a rumour from a fool's mouth because no man meets with Theron and lives to see another day.
Yet she scrolls in casually, basket in hands, excited to be back in the palace like nothing happened. I watched her closely then, for even I began to feel this eerie unsettlement around her.
Everyone avoided her; they were scared of her, save for a few whose anger for her burned more than their fears.
And then the next rumours were even more poignant than the first. They say she's having an affair with no other person but the Emperor's son.
An abomination!
How could such an innocent being be capable of such? I was willing to short down such rumours with my sword. The next person I hear say such will be without a soul.
I did this not because I cared deeply for Amarien, but because I worried about the Emperor's health when he heard such rumours. He has been so in love with her that a heartbreak could cost him his life.
So I fought to keep the rumours from him. I checked every entertainment that enters the Emperor's quarters to be sure there is no parody or satire of any affair going on in the palace.
Alas, while I protected the Emperor from this, the reality was that the rumours were true. I was protecting the Emperor from the truth. Something I swore never to do.
It was an act of treason!
So when Princess Catherine came into the Emperor's quarters, showing us all evident of Prince Daevir's numerous unfaithfulness to her with a certain concubine. I turned to the Emperor, willing him to give me the order to fall on my sword and kill myself, for I had failed him.
The Emperor, on the other hand, didn't look too surprised. In fact, when Princess Catherine left, he chuckled and said bleakly. "It is expected."
That was all he said before retreating to his chambers and giving the orders to have her charged.
"Don't show her any graciousness, my lord. Let me go to her and cut her head off. Let me have the guard shame her to help death." I had said as I raced into the room.
The Emperor shook his head wearily. "You will do no such thing." He sighed and then proceeded to tell me the most ominous thing I have ever heard from a man. These words still shook me up.
"I will tell you this one thing, Darian. It is my will that Amarien lives. But what sort of Emperor will I be to have such sin now public go unpunished? I will find a way to save her if I can."
What?! I thought. Then, he was right. Amarien has certainly cast a spell on him!
But he wasn't done.
"Amarien has the power to bring any powerful Alpha to his knees. She has done that to me. And she will do that to my son's: Theron and Darian."
I paused.
The Emperor must have gone mad, I thought. He couldn't be suggesting what I thought he was.
No, it couldn't be. No way!
I cut my mind from it. It was probably his illness getting to him.
I focused instead on executing the justice the people wanted. And right now, as I looked down on Amarien, her head stuck into the board, her eyes crying out for mercy.
I felt compassion. Was there a way to save her from all these lustful, blood thirsty guards?
No, I can't. I'm sorry, your majesty. She has to die.
I raised my hands, signaling to the executioner to lift the board. And then, in that moment, I spotted something in the distance. A message from the palace on a white racing horse.
They don't use a white horse except in a tragedy, when every other event must be halted until the message is heard.
Shaken by what this might mean, I mistakenly dropped my hands, permitting the executioner to drop the blade.
"No!" I screeched. But it was too late. He had let go of the rope that held the heavy blade from chopping Amarien's neck.