Chapter 35

Aris’ mood mirrored the overcast weather the rest of the day. He hated feeling powerless. He hated that Treall had died under his command. He hated that he had been foolish enough to believe that just the one secret guard would be enough to keep his niece safe. He hated all those things, but most of all, he hated seeing his family hurt.

That feeling of helplessness, that he hadn’t been able to do a thing to protect them boiled in his blood. What was worse was the man who had nearly killed them in the first place had been one of is own.

How poisoned were his guards? He had half-believed Kestrel’s story of corrupt guards killing a child and he had looked into it. Every organization had corruption. He was not fool enough to think otherwise, but he’d allowed the investigation to falter. There had been little leads and so many more pressing issues. It was okay to let the investigation slow while other, more pressing issues were at hand.

Or so he thought. How wrong he’d been.

Aris used to know his place in the world. He had known where he belonged and had carved his niche into the stone there. Yes, his was a place among the squalor of a broken people, but it had been his. He knew that world. He trusted those he worked with. Even some of the dirty ones who were lax on the protection if the money of those they were protecting faltered still more often than not pulled through in times of need. Rel had turned that upside down. He expected small measures of corruption in his force. It happened everywhere and he was powerless to weed out every instance of it, but Rel had attacked his family. He had nearly killed his niece. His trust in his own organization was being burned to the ground.

Everything he trusted in was being eaten away to its core.

First he’d found the ties to the kidnapping of children that plagued Fiell and the Emperor’s Inquisitors, then he had found his own organization had rotted from the inside, and one of his own had nearly gotten his niece and Kestrel killed.

Everything had been shaken.

Who had been behind the attack?

Only one name came to mind.

It had to be Edrian Wolls. It was the only thing that made sense. Cillia must have seen his meeting with the rebels and he’d freaked out and found someone corrupt enough to do his dirty work for him and not get imprisoned for it.

That had to be it.

If his hunch were true, then just how deep did the Minister of Defense’s tendrils bury into the the Veaish empire? How much had he corrupted already? Could anything the man did be trusted?

More importantly, what was he to make of The Minister of Defense’s connection to Emperor Evrain?

Could he still trust the man he’d dedicated so much of his life to?

That’s what ate at Aris the most.

Every fiber in him knew that he couldn’t.

*****

“Useless rubbish!” Edrian Woll’s screamed and slammed his fine crystalline goblet down on the deep cherrywood table, shattering it. Even in his rage he refused to curse. He was above those other fools who couldn’t control their tongues. He merely grimaced as a chip of the crystal sliced a fine line on his hand. He would not debase himself with foul language.

He’d been bred better than that.

“You’re amusing,” A deep, almost silky, voice chuckled. “You really think that one rogue city guard and an Inquisitor would be enough? If so, you really are a fool.”

Edrian reddened. The playful chastisement burned more deeply than any harshly worded reprimand. Here, next to him, was the one man he looked up to more than anyone else in the world. The Emperor was who Edrian strived to emulate. The Emperor alone was above the rest of the filth that plagued their country. The Emperor was the hero that had saved their nation. He was perfect, in appearance and strength. He stood so high above the crowds that Edrian sometimes wondered if the Emperor carried a spark of divinity within him.

“He shouldn’t have failed! I used an Inquisitor! How did this happen?” Edrian’s voice betrayed his bewilderment. “It was but a child he was facing and The Inquisitor was there to make sure he would not fail!”

He had expected Rel’s failure, that fool had been bound to dissapoint, hence the Inquisitor who had been there to bury a spike in the vitriolic guard’s throat the moment he spoke. What he hadn’t expected though was the death of the Inquisitor that looked, for all the world, to have been self-inflicted.

What could that mean?

What had bothered Edrian the most of everything had been the lightning-flash of fear he had seen in the Emperor’s eyes upon hearing of the Inquisitor’s seeming suicide. It had been been but the barest dilation of his eyes, nearly invisible, but Edrian Wolls was certain of what he had seen.

The Emperor, who was so high above the world, hid fear in his heart.

“I’ve amused your suspicions long enough my dear Edrian. If Aris truly is who you say, then we will find out my way,” Evrain purred the Minister of Defense, then whispered under his breath, “And it doesn’t matter if he is or not. We can use him either way. We’ll inflate him so when he fails, it’ll feed us all the more.”