Mom's Warning

Mom's Warning
Emilia’s POV

I had no choice even though I had no idea how to fulfill my own end of the bargain. I guess I hoped he would have forgotten about it before the ten-year ultimatum arrived, or I could have found a way to stall him then. Either way, I agreed to a deal whose terms were beyond my power to fulfill, and we shook hands to seal the deal.
He slipped me that careful, innocent smile again, masking whatever schemes thrived in his mind as he rose gently to his feet. “I’ll get ready to call the Lords together and gather their forces against Aaron's, and also find a way to get the army seal from him. Once we get that, then it is over.” He said. He grabbed onto the backrest of his seat, still wearing that smile. He leaned on it as he spoke. “But you and your husband would have to leave the palace soon for a safe site I know, because you aren't safe here. All Aaron needs to do to kill you and your husband is to storm your palace with enough guards, and no one would stop him, because as long as he has the seal, he also controls the palace guards.”
“Is this site safe?” I asked.
“It is,” he brightened his grin. “But it is not as convenient as your palace, and since you can't trust your guards to keep you safe, I will assign my men to you as your detail, and you can only leave with one or two maids.” He paused for a moment, perhaps for suspenseful effect or just to make sure I was following, but he just paused. “I will be here by evening to take you and your husband by evening, so get ready, Emilia.” He said. Then he turned, and he strode out of the room.
Not long after he left, and just while I was rising from my seat and heading out to prepare for evening, my door slammed open, and it was the last person I’d expected standing before my door—Mom. The fake one, actually.
She breathed loudly as she ran into the room for me, her chest heaving high and fast. Her make-up was rough, the powders staining the sweat on her forehead and dripping down to her cheek, and her rouge was worn like she had just hastily plastered a red smudge on her cheekbone. There was a tension to her face that I hadn't seen before she stopped before me. She had to make a long but fast inhale before she could speak. “What the hell was Brian?” She demanded.
I still didn't know if I should hate her or not. I still didn't know if she could be a friend or a foe. I moved to reply, and I hesitated. Then I tried again. “I just called him here for a talk.” I answered.
“What talk?“ she demanded, her tone sharp.
“Just some random talk,” I said. Then I moved past her to the door.
She grabbed my arm, pulling me back. But unlike before when she had always stared up at me as if I was her tool, now she looked at me with something else—terror. Her eyes shifted so much as they roamed my face, and her chin trembled, almost like she was epileptic. “I don't know what you are planning with Brian, but please stop it and listen to your brother, Aaron. Stop this madness.” She said.
“He is the one who needs to stop…” I tried to say "Mom," but I stopped, blinking hard to ease the burn behind my eyes. I assured myself that she isn't my mom, that she is a fake, a copy—a very bad and cheap copy at that. “Aaron is the one who plans to kill me just because I asked that he return the seal he stole from my husband and me.”
“Sebastian is not your husband. He is just a mad…” she was yelling, but then she suddenly paused. She ambled closer to me. I watched her hands move, and I prepared to duck her slap. But rather than a slap, she took my hands beside me instead, holding them in her softer, tended ones. She looked right into my eyes, and rather than the proud, pompous, and self-pleased look that always filled her eyes, now I saw tears stain them, and for reasons I can’t understand, the sight caused a tightness in my chest.
“I am sorry. I haven't been a good mother to you, Emilia. I have been cruel and hateful to you. But you have to understand, unlike your brothers, I couldn't bond with you. I couldn't be a mother to you because you were either unconscious or senile since you were born. But I can assure you, you are also my child, as your brothers are. So please just listen to your brother and stop this fight between the both of you. He is terribly furious right now. Your father won't forgive me in his grave if he finds out I watched while both of you killed each other.” She squeezed my hands with her tender ones more gently.
I shouldn't fall for her emotional blackmail. She was my fake mom, and yet, I couldn't understand the sharp pain that consumed my heart as I watched the tears in her eyes linger. Why did I even let her hold me like this? “But why do I need to listen to him? Why doesn't he listen to me?”
“Because he is your elder brother, Emilia, and he is crazy about being king…”
“Just like I am crazy about protecting my husband, Mom. I won't let him harm Sebastian.”
I watched her throat bulge as she swallowed hard. “But you cannot win, Emilia. Aaron is more powerful than you will ever be. He has the army under his control.”
“Don't worry, Mom. I’ll win. I’ll make sure I do.” I said. I jerked my hand free from hers and turned away.
She grabbed again at my hands, pulling me back, holding me so that I was staring into her face and she was looking into mine. “I know you think you found an ally in Brian. But Brian is much worse than Aaron. Brian is evil. Sometimes I marvel at the extent of evil that resides in that boy's heart. You can't trust Brian.” Her voice echoed a louder conviction now. It was firm and hard. Somehow she seemed utterly convinced that Brian was evil.
I wouldn't say Brian isn't evil. I could always tell in his eyes that he was always scheming something, that I couldn't trust him. But right now, he seemed like the only person uninterested in Sebastian’s throne now, and that makes our goals align, at least for now.
“Don't worry, Mom. You don't have to stress yourself. Just know that I’ll win, and I promise you, once I do, I won't kill or harm Aaron, though I might lock him up.” I said, made her a false smile, and jerked my hands away from hers again, moving fast for the door before she could stop me again.
“Please don't do this, Emilia. Please wait.” She called after me, but I refused to answer. I blinked off the tears about to stain my eyes, and I hurried down the stairs to prepare.