A deep chuckle escaped from the depths of my throat as I released the fireball towards the little usurper. It was finally happening, it would be a quick, clean victory without all the mess of a possible war, and no one would be able to debate my right to the throne with all the rest of the family dead. It would be simple work to dust the ashes from the throne and take my seat like nothing had ever stepped in my way. It seemed a bit too easy, but since I was staring a certain victory in the face, I didn’t feel a need to question it too much just yet.

“No!” the usurper yelled as the flame illuminated his face and doom splashed over him.

The laughter on my lips cut off sharply as I realized the flames of my attack had been scattered and diverted away from doing any real damage. He sat unharmed, a shocked look on his face.

“It seems someone has figured out some magical tricks of their own,” Feros murmured behind me.

“It doesn't matter, I have been training for as long as he’s been alive, he is no match.”

How dare he embarrass me, the great Queen Toria Yser does not have her magic cast aside like that, not by some little boy. The next attack would be sure to hit and burn slowly, really make him suffer in his last, agonizing moments for his foolish choice to block the first shot. I had shown mercy with the intent to make his death swift, but if he was going to be defiant then I would show no further mercy towards him. I didn’t hesitate drawing in more power, focusing it to a white hot point, then firing it with deadly aim, designing the attack to wash over him and singe his flesh beyond hope of being healed. The flash reached my target and my brother’s face screwed up into a look of agony, for a fleeting moment filling me with triumph that quickly turned to rage as I realized he was not engulfed in flames and instead it was rolling over him and dissipating into the air. His skin was noticeably red from the heat of my attacks, but he was otherwise unscathed.

“Perhaps we need a different approach,” Feros suggested with a barely suppressed chuckle.

I turned on my heels, fury on my face. I didn’t care what kind of terrible, dark creature Feros was, no one should find humor in the situation, he needed to learn to have some respect for the queen before him.

“You think this is funny?!” I screeched. Deep down I felt it was more regal to keep cool and calm, but my frustration was at an all time high.

“Funny?” the fiend repeated with his characteristic smirk. “Not quite, perhaps a bit amusing from the standpoint that you have gone all this time planning out this moment and did not consider that he might have stumbled into his own latent magical ability at some point. You were planning on marching an army to get back this kingdom, but overlooked something glaringly obvious that could stand in your way.”

“He is just a boy,” I snapped, “how strong could he be by now? It was so insignificant of a problem that it didn’t warrant more than a passing thought.”

“Strong enough to block both of your attacks so far.”

Rage filled my mind so completely that I could not follow a single line of thought in the cacophony of angry noises that filled my head. I was being made a mockery of and what could I really do? Turning on Feros, even though I was certain that Mistra would aid me, would still end with the both of us dead, though it felt like a slap in the face to my authority to allow him to say such things unchecked..

“That is not helping, Feros,” Mistra snapped. I was glad she was the one to speak first, if I had been given another moment I might have said something that I would end up regretting. “This is a serious matter and you’re being very disrespectful to your queen.”

“I apologize,” Feros said, finally being respectful enough to take the smug laughter out of his voice. “You know my sense of humor typically tends towards being offensive on my very best of days, no harm is meant. Though I would suggest that we take a step back and reevaluate the circumstances we’re dealing with.”

“Step back? No, this is the time of my triumph, we’re going to surge forward and take what’s mine. I’m sure I have more magical stamina than he does, I will wear him down and succeed, he is just a child.” I left unsaid the much easier idea that I could simply allow either of them to step forward and snap the boy’s life like a twig, now that he was in front of me I wanted to be the one to do it.

Feros’ eyes strayed from my face to my bastard brother, lingered a moment in contemplation, then returned to me. “Perhaps just humor me and take a moment to consider just why we have been squabbling and giving him the perfect opportunity to call guards or try to run and he has not moved an inch.”

“He’s an idiot child,” I replied without looking back, “he’s probably frozen in fear as he knows the day of his death has arrived.”

“My dear Toria, as I’ve said before, no Yser is an idiot.”

“Then perhaps he just accepts his fate, it is a wretched thing to know you are a traitor and a mistake. He must know by now that he was never meant to be born and is an abomination to this family line. Maybe he knows that it is his time to be put down, like the family dog that is old enough to be a burden and provides no value.”

“And yet he still fought back.” Feros glanced behind me again and gave what I thought was a wink, but was too perfectly timed with my own need to blink that I couldn’t be sure it actually happened. “Maybe we should try asking him?”

“I don’t care what his reasons are, they are irrelevant.”

“Toria, my dear, you are far too much like your grandmother in some key ways.”

“What exactly is that supposed to mean?” I growled. My hackles were up already and he was grating across them in every way he possibly could to make it worse. There had to be some sort of angle he was trying to get at. “If you have something you’re trying to lead me into saying, just spit it out, let’s get past this so I can sit on my throne as I’m destined.”

“Your grandmother, and your aunt for that matter, spent your entire adolescence reaffirming the idea that revenge with an iron fist was the only way because those are the only solutions they ever sought in their own lives, but look where that has got them.”

Feros moved, forcing me to turn towards the usurper to maintain eye contact. He stepped between my brother and I, turning so that he could talk to us both.

“Your grandmother died not having achieved much during her reign.”

“Watch what you say about my grandmother,” I warned through clenched teeth, “she outranked and certainly outclassed you.”

He let out a sigh and held up his hands in a defensive posture. “I meant no disrespect, only that she did not use her power to her potential. She should be applauded for her establishment of the start of the Yser royal line, but she hesitated to do much with her power. She let herself be content with a small sphere of influence and did little to expand her domain or find alliances, even her own daughters she let run wild and stray from their intended destinies.”

As much as I was angry with him for daring to say anything bad about my grandmother, deep down I couldn’t find much fault for what he was saying. It was all things I had thought or complained to Mistra about before. She had been far too complacent in her reign, it was one of the things I was determined to do differently in mine.

“Now I think it’s time you consider that perhaps your aunt and grandmother have trained you to think and respond just like them and perhaps that will end up with you walking a similar path. If you walk that path, I think you’ll end up looking back with regret.”

“So you’ve brought me all this way to take back my throne and now you say I shouldn’t?”

“There is that black and white thinking echoing from Evonia beyond the grave,” he said with a chuckle, “no, even I’m not quite that contrarian usually. I’m simply saying, why does the boy need to die to accomplish your goal? Or at least die before you explore any other options.”

“He is an abomination to my family line and a traitor,” I answered with a shrug of my shoulders.

“I did not ask to be born,” the usurper said quietly, voice quivering with either emotion or pain. “I did not ask to be a Yser and I probably would have chosen anything else if I had been given a choice. How am I a traitor when I did not ask for any of this? An abomination?” He let out a dark laugh and shook his head. “Probably that I am, as are you, we are tainted by demonic blood.”

I furled my lips into a concerned frown, I didn’t like that he knew anything about our family’s demon connections. “Who told you that?”

“Our aunt,” he replied.

“Truly traitors,” I growled, “I suppose they are the ones that started training you in your powers then as well.”

“They are, unfortunately. They consumed my whole recent existence, preparing me for the crown, they claimed. Though I know that they are after it for their own gain, for whatever the Church wants with it.”

“For being a very young man, you seem to have a good grasp on the situation,” Feros commented. He moved closer to my brother, standing off to the side to cast a glance between the two of us. “It seems like you both have something in common. You both thought your seat on the throne was assured and someone went and did things outside of your control to snatch it away from you. Different situations, but you both have been wronged by family members seeking to change the succession of power.”

There was as long silence in the throne room as I considered the situation I was in. I still badly wanted to launch another fireball now that the usurper was distracted and his guard was down, just be done with the whole question of who sits on the throne, but I could also annoyingly see the point Feros was trying to make. I did not really care that we both had experienced unfair situations, that didn’t change my feelings about that he should have been a mistake I tossed into the fire when I had the chance, but he did perhaps hold potential in being an asset. If I could manipulate him into handing over power to me he could be useful in the future as a pawn and he did have personal experience with the twins which could be valuable later on when they eventually needed to be dealt with.

“Do you concede that I would be the eventual victor?” I asked, making direct eye contact with him for the first time. It was a mistake, I could clearly see Evonia’s genetics in his eyes and facial features. If he was a few years older and female, he could easily have been my twin.

He let out a bitter laugh and nodded. “You do not yet know how silly it is you even ask that.”