by L M Lacee
Phantor decided anger would not serve him at the moment so taking a calming breath he asked. ‘So what you are saying is this female who has at her command thousands of Warriors and is the Beloved of hundreds if not thousands of Turquall. We should not forget the Raparthen Nations, who she is allies with and has a sister revered by the Pack Leader Huju. The very same female who has given sanctuary to Masters and Senes from all over the Universe. Who has through the joining of her sister to Harmara Solverea, aligned herself with the Solverea family and given them a home in her Solar System. This female who reportedly enticed a sentient planet to move itself into one of the oldest solar systems in our Universe. A solar system that no one knew existed and has the planet Oraintarre calling her friend. The same sentient world who has willingly halted all production of the mineral Salistred for the next two yentas after dissolving the house of Oraintarre. This is the female you so elegantly said was a plain, ugly nobody. A graceless, uneducated person of no consequence. I see how she would be worthy of being dismissed by your arrogance Ikiern.’ He sarcastically continued. ‘This is the same female you wish to ask for proof of who she is, who she holds within her. Yes, I can see you gave this an immense amount of thought.’
‘I do not think...’ Iirtha started to say when Phantor interrupted her in a voice of steel.
‘You do not think, you never think. That is your greatest failing Iirtha. You did not think when you arranged my banishment or when you chose your two youngest children over mine. When you chose your family and the life they wanted over our life together. When you ignored the warnings from my brothers about the Star Daughter and mostly you did not think when you agreed with my father.’ He sighed tiredly. ‘You never think Iirtha, as you did not when you signed the death orders for my brothers and myself and especially when you ordered the deaths of my daughters!’
He roared, then swallowed his frustrations once again, and resumed his normal voice. ‘And with that one decision, you went from thoughtless to criminal. You and your children, with all the members of your family will attend court this morn, and afterward you will be tried for treason.’
Iirtha’s heart hammered inside her chest as a pulse drummed a tattoo in her temple. She cleared the fear his words induced from her throat, as she hoarsely stammered. ‘Co… court… what court? There is no court this morn.’ Her voice became stronger as she remembered who and where she was and screeched. ‘I have not called for court to be convened!’
Phantor raised one brow and looked at her with contempt, which was reflected in his voice as he coldly told her. ‘As I am the Emperor, I have convened court this morn. I was unaware I needed your permission to do so.’ Iirtha howled her anguish and stormed around the room. Phantor quietly stated, unmoved by her display.
‘Depending on how you act, when we are at court, depends on if you and your family live through the session.’
As she spun around in horror at this calm announcement, she fell to her knees begging. ‘No Phantor, say it is not so. You would not take the life from your daughter’s mother. Please relent for me, for our children.’
He leaned down and gripping her chin between his thumb and forefinger, he lifted her still beautiful face to his and studied her clear, calculating eyes. She winced, but he did not let go as he enunciated clearly.
‘Do not test me on this wife. I will take your life as my daughters watch if you step out of line. Before I do, I will slit the throat of every member of your family including your children as you watch. Now go and make yourself presentable, we are to be in court in one hour.’
He released her as shock washed the calculating look from her eyes, for the first time she saw an emotion she had never seen in Phantor’s eyes, hatred. Her face lost color, and she slowly nodded with jerky movements. She looked for something from her daughters and found a bland wall of nothingness. ‘Daughters?’
They turned their backs on her and addressed their father. ‘We will retire to change Papa.’
At his nod and without another look at their mother kneeling on the floor or their stunned siblings, they walked from the room. Iirtha stood shakily with the help from her son and daughter.
Wentur begged. ‘Father.’
Phantor looked at him and Amera, and his voice was as cold as the look on his face. ‘Do not address me as father again, ask your mother whose basterads you are, for you have never been mine.’ With that he followed his daughters from the room, when he got to the door he said without turning around. ‘You have fifty-five mins, do not make me wait. You will not like what happens if you do.’
NINE:
‘Mother, what did father mean?’ Amera asked as she watched her mother pace the room. Iirtha ignored her daughter’s questioned as she looked at her shocked brother and screamed. ‘Well!’
He moved toward the door. ‘I have to go to mother and father, they must be told. No doubt someone has visited them already, they will be beside themselves with terror.’
She screamed after him. ‘Tell them all their plotting was for nothing. We have lost and if we get out of this, it will be because of me. Not you or their plans. It will be by my hand alone and they will owe me.’
He stopped at the doorway and stared at her. ‘You really are demented, there is no getting out of this. You foolish female we are doomed. The best we can expect are our lives.’
She mocked him. ‘Tell them that as they lead you into court. Tell them you are the fool, without me you have nothing.’
‘Mother!’ Shouted Wentur as he grabbed her arm, spinning her around. She slapped him hard across the face, knocking him down as she screamed at him.
‘Shut your furin mouth; he is not your father. The late Emperor was. Now you are as dead to Phantor as I am!’ She sobbed as she walked from the room and stumbled up the stairs, her hand clutched to her breast, leaving destruction in her wake as she muttered. ‘He knew all along… he knew.’
‘You have fifty-mins to get ready.’ The Emperor’s brother Putaran reminded them in a voice that was as cold as his eyes. This was a male they had thought of as brother to their father, Amera timidly asked as she helped Wentur from the floor. ‘Did you know Putaran, have you always known?’
His expression did not change, but both siblings stepped back as he replied with one word. ‘Yes.’
Wanting to ask more questions but intimidated by the frightening cold male staring at them, brother and sister hurried pass him to the stairs. When they made their respective rooms, Wentur turned to Amera and said. ‘All this time, she lied to us. We have nothing left.’
Amera laughed hysterically. ‘Only death, our mother signed our death orders, and we did not even know it. What does that say about us Wentur?’
She pushed the door to her bedroom open with her back to him he heard her say. ‘Do as we always do brother. Dress and perform like the puppets we are, and we may live, but do not hold out hope, as I will not. He is not our father, we are nothing to him. If we are very lucky, we may be banished but I give our chances for that next to nothing.’
Her door swung closed as Wentur entered his room, and as his door closed behind him, he laughed with a touch of hysteria which turned into sobs of despair.
‘Not my father, never my father, how did I not know this?’ He dropped to his knees and begged. ‘Dearle Originals what is to become of me?’
There would be no protection now, a few yentas past he had found the forged documents that said they were the heirs. In truth the markers in their codex were only one sixth of what was needed to establish their claim. He had to assume the new Emperor knew about the deception his mother had perpetuated.
Staring at the doors that led to his balcony, the thought of escape filled his mind. Then fingers of death walked down his spine as the eyes of Peneria impinged on his fantasy, and the fear she always engineered overcame him. He struggled wearily to his feet and stripped as he made his way to his cleansing room, knowing he would not escape, puppets never did.
At the same time as Wentur
entered his cleansing room. Amera dropped her clothes and walked into her own, while her mind whirled with the implications of her mother’s betrayal. She could see no easy way to convince the new Emperor, she and Wentur had not plotted with their mother to kill him and her sisters. Wentur and she were over twenty-five yentas old, the age considered an adult on Patamagolian. A sob escaped her dry lips as she clamped her hands on the sink, fear making bile rise in her throat. She and Wentur were at the mercy of a male who it seemed had no love or compassion in his hearts, at least not for them or their mother. There was nowhere to run, no one to turn to. She had been blind to everything, especially to the warnings from her own misgivings. Flagrantly brushing them aside in favor of a dream her lying, treacherous mother had promised. Now fate had come home to Patamagolian, to her. If there was any hope, it was in staying alive, and to have some chance at that she would need to present a calm face to the court and a repentant face to the new Emperor.
So with that in mind she readied herself to perform as she had never performed before, and if there was any hope, which admittedly seemed in short supply today. Maybe… just maybe she and Wentur would be spared and banished to her mother’s island fortress, rather than the death she had predicted to Wentur.
Iirtha stood in her rooms as her lady-in-waiting dressed her, her world as she knew it destroyed and her dreams gone. She believed within her heart that Phantor would not take her life, but she knew he had no love for her now. She had one hope to save her children and family from certain death, all she had to do was hold her tongue.
Yentas of practice would ensure she played her part of Empress well and in doing so, she would once again protect her family and her children. Iirtha struggled with the despair that wanted to sweep her away, Phantor had known all along of her children’s parentage. Perhaps that was the reason he had never once demanded she present proof of her children’s claim to the throne.
She brushed those unwanted thoughts aside, concentrating on what she could do now. She reasoned she had only to get through this farce of a day and then she would lay the blame for all of this on her brother Ikiern. After all, he was the Ambassador, and it was his advice she sought. Phantor would believe her because as he had plainly shown he hated Ikiern. The only problem was Phantor was it seemed doing what all new Emperors did when they took over the world. He was sweeping his house clean and getting rid of all the chaff. Iirtha knew her brother would not survive Phantor’s house cleaning.
She pondered that for a min and then shrugged, as she decided she could live with his death as long as she was spared. Once she explained to her parents, why Ikiern had to be sacrificed they would eventually come to terms with her decision. It was after all how they raised her, only the ruthless survived and Iirtha had always excelled in her lessons.
She quickly ran through what she knew of Phantor and what his likely responses to the situation he found himself in would be. She knew he would need to be seen to punish her for her misdemeanors, so his next course of action would to be to exile her and her family.
As the Empress she knew that meant her Island Fortress by the sea. Where, with her family’s help, she would organize taking her world back. First she would contact the Emperor of Jenersar and then the Coalition. They would dearle love to hear about her husband and this Star Daughter.
Satisfied with her plans, she ordered her lady-in-waiting to style her long green hair. She was pleased the color was back in fashion as opposed to the orange that was the rage a few luneras ago. This shade of green suited her complexion far better. She watched as the female, she thought her name was Lissa, wove the last strands of her hair into the traditional coronet. Once the final layer of net snapped into place. She flicked her fingers dismissing the female, and as she hurried from the room. Iirtha remembered she did not like the female because she was a cousin to Phantor. Which was the only reason she had been made a lady- in-waiting. Iirtha believed she was bedding the former Emperor as well, although she could never prove it.
Thankful to be away from the tyrannical Empress, Llssa breathed deeply and rushed along the hallway only to turn the corner and walk into the arms of Iperran. Concerned at her haste he asked. ‘Llssa, are you well?’
‘I am.’ She searched his warm gray eyes and asked softly. ‘And you Iperran, how are you.’
‘I am well. Is she ready?’
She looked back the way she had come and grimaced. ‘Yes.’
‘Do not return, you are no longer required.’
Llssa drew in a sharp breath as she asked. ‘Is it really going to happen?’
‘Yes.’ He grinned at her smile of relief and told her. ‘Cousin, tell Mastan to come to my office tomorrow, and he will be reinstated. I need him to train the Emperors guards.’
She smiled with pleasure and hugged him in her excitement. ‘Thank you cousin, my husband will be so happy.’
‘Good, now go.’
‘What of the other ladies-in-waiting?’
‘They have all been arrested and will answer to their crimes over the next wekens.’
‘I see,’ hesitantly she asked, ‘they do not know it was I who informed you.’
Iperran shook his head. ‘No, we kept your name from the order. However, you realize it will be discovered.’
She nodded as worry filled her eyes. ‘Of course.’
‘Phantor wants you and Mastan to live here until he finishes cutting the rough from his house.’
Llssa smiled in relief at the offer and then coyly asked. ‘Whatever will I do, idleness does not suit me?’
Iperran quietly laughed. ‘I am sure a resourceful lady-in-waiting, and cousin to the Emperor can find something to occupy herself with.’
Smiling, she agreed. ‘True, well I must inform Mastan and then pack.’
‘There are guards waiting to escort you and help collect what you need. Phantor wishes you here by eve-meal.’
Llssa shook her head. ‘Such a liar, you want me here to supervise eve-meal.’
‘This is true, the girls have missed you.’
Llssa’s expression softened. ‘As I have missed them. Are they well?’
‘You know those two, they will not say. So we hope they will be.’
‘Yes well, that is all we can do.’
‘Go, Llssa.’
She kissed him goodbye and hurried down the back stairs to be met by five of her husband’s friends and Phantor’s faithful guards.
Iperran rubbed his face and sighed, he squared his shoulders and walked slowly toward the suite his brother’s wife resided in. Then a smile lit his face as he realized this would be the last time he would have this duty.
After Llssa had left her, Iirtha twisted from side to side as she stared at her reflection in her dressing mirror admiring her tall, slim figure. Unlike the females of her age she did not need pampering, she paid enough to ensure her figure remained that of a twenty yenta old.
The recent treatment to renew the skin on her small pointed ears and around her oval eyes of pale blue, had been more successful than she could have wished for. Phantor was a fool to dismiss her so lightly. He would never find another female who embodied the Patamoglian female as much as she did, not even his daughters. She grimaced and then felt the burning anger return as she remembered his awe when she had birthed both girls. From the first min the three rings had appeared in their eyes, they ceased to be her daughters. It had been made abundantly clear to her they would always belong to Phantor.
Sighing in frustration, she practiced several expressions for when she stood before him at the trial, he would insist on after court. She had just decided on repentant, or at least as close as she imagined it would look like, never having experienced it herself when the door opened. She turned to berate the intruder but one look at the hard face of her husband’s brother and she thought otherwise. He stepped back out and called in his deep voice. ‘It is time.’
‘I am sorry I have kept you Iperran.’ She simpered as she passed him making sure to slide her bo
dy against his. He did not bother to hide the shudder of revulsion he felt at her touch, nor did he miss the tightening of her lips and the narrowing of her eyes.
‘Do not disturb yourself Iirtha, wife of my Emperor. We are readying in the foyer.’
She did not miss the fact he had not called her Empress when he addressed her. With her head held high she preceded him to the wide staircase leading to the public side of the palace. Wentur and Amera joined her there and followed her as she descended the staircase.
All three faltered in their steps when they saw Peneria and Ipeara standing by Phantor, the change from outlander savages to elegant graceful females was stunning, and for once in her life, Iirtha felt over shadowed. She fumed when she saw his daughters had adorned their coronets with Phantor’s mother’s jewels. The same ones he had denied her throughout their joining. The very ones she had searched the palace tirelessly for after he had been banished.
Both sisters smirked at the shocked expressions on their faces as they fell into line directly behind their father. Iirtha stood next to Phantor, who cautioned her once more. ‘Remember my warning, the first false move and people die.’
Iirtha nodded, unable to speak as she swallowed the bile in her throat his words invoked. Amera and Wentur took their places behind Ipeara and Peneria, followed by all three of Phantor’s brothers. When they entered Phantor noted the looks and whispers as his brothers did from the houses, who wondered at the significance of the order of the royal house.
Usually the heirs followed the Emperor and Empress, by placing Iirtha’s children behind his daughters, he was sending a message he was home and things were about to change. He flicked his eyes to the balcony and in that brief glance, he did not understand Ikiern’s reference. The Star Daughter’s presence filled the court, he saw nothing meek or wanting about her, she shined with power. He shook off his fascination and strode to the royal seats as everyone stood and bowed. All but the Star Daughter and her people.
