A year ago, in the Occluded City, I was called to meet my father, in one of his audience chambers. I hurried through the Imperial Palace, accompanied by a pair of quiet Shadow Guards.

When Mai reached the third audience chamber, she was excited. But when she walked in, the great room was all but empty. The audience chamber could have held a thousand souls, but before Mai had walked in, it had held but three, the Emperor, and his two guards. Now it held six.

Mai, entering through the grand doors, saw her father sitting on a throne of melted gold, shaped with grand curves.

Emperor Mentis IV wore the red robes of state, and he had upon his head a crown inlayed with more precious gems than Mai could count.

Mai walked up to the throne, accompanied by her two guards, who acted like shadows, hence their name.

When she reached the dais, she stopped, and her father, the Emperor, looked down on her. Mai bowed deeply, her golden dress shining.

“Do you know why I have called you here?” asked the Emperor.

“No, Father.”

“I have brought you here so that you can remember who, and what you are.” He nestled in a bed of his own black hair, braided, and long enough to reach his waist. “You shunned Lord Arei is Reven, of House Karaki. Even after I told you that you were promised to him.”

“I meant no disrespect, great father,” said Mai. She bowed again, deeply.

“Do you know why this room is empty?” asked Emperor Mentis.

“Why, father?”

“Because I ordered it so. Hundreds of people had gathered here only a few hours ago, but I ordered them out, and so they left. You are my daughter. My only child. You are supposed to follow my orders better than any other.”

“I do, father,” said Mai.

“You are a bastard, and a liar. You will never overcome all of your base nature, but by being honest to me, you can try.”

“I, I ran from him, great father, because he tried to take advantage of me. He tried to bed me against my will.”

“That is his right,” replied the Emperor. “I sold you to him, in hopes that one day, you might make me a grandson that might inherit the throne. You are half commoner, and that blood sullies you. You had no right to refuse him.”

“Forgive me father,” said Mai. “I did not know.”

“You knew perfectly well,” said Emperor Mentis. “I made you aware of your status from the day you were born. And now, because of your…antics, Lord Reven has retracted his offer. You have cost me much, girl.”

“I am sorry,” said Mai.

“Shut up,” said the Emperor. “I know everything, and you know nothing. You are worthless, and you are not sorry. Not in the least. I would strike you myself if to do so would not sully my hands. What do you have to say for yourself now?”

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“You are right as always, lord and master, omnipotent one. I am nothing before you, I am worthless. I am not sorry, for that is what you say, and your words are truth, but with your mercy I will survive to be sorry, one day, and on that day it is this worthless one’s hope,” said Mai, “that my Emperor would delight his visage with a smile.”

“That smile is a long time off, girl,” said Emperor Mentis. “For now it is the time I must decide what to do with you.”

I thought he would be happy with me, Mai thought. I thought he would tell me that I was finally growing into my own, and standing up for myself, in his image. But Mai realized those thoughts were blasphemous. She could not believe that before, she had not known. She was truly worthless indeed.

“Your justice is kind, in any form,” said Mai.

“It is indeed, it is indeed,” said Emperor Mentis. “By all rights, I should have left you with your mother, but I was too noble for that.”

Mai became acutely aware of the Emperor’s mention of her mother. She knew not who her mother was, and her father was the only one who knew. When she had asked before, he had always rebuffed her. But, she spoke with her father so rarely, and… Mai stopped. She had no right to ask him anything, and this point, she had no right to do anything but wait for her punishment.

That didn’t stop her from blurting out, “I beg you, please tell me my mother’s name.”

“I do not know why you always ask that, my child,” said Emperor Mentis. His visage softened. “Your mother was a commoner, just like all the rest. To know her name would only bring out more ill in you. It would enhance the lesser part of your bloodline. Half of you is noble, and the other half stands out like a pulsating sore. You do not want that sore to grow into something more insidious.”

“I understand your reason, and accept it,” said Mai. She still didn’t know why her father’s answer just didn’t feel right.

“Good,” said Emperor Mentis. “So that is taken care of. Now, the punishment.” He now spoke to the Shadow Guards at either of Mai’s sides. “Double her sessions with the etiquette instructor.”

The Emperor paused, and Mai dared to think that was all. Doubled sessions with the instructor would mean four hours a day, not two, but that was still bearable, especially compared with some of the punishments she had been dreading.

But, of course, the Emperor was not done. He had been merely thinking. “Confine her to her room for a week.”

Mai breathed. Still tolerable.

“No, two weeks,” said the Emperor.

Mai had trouble restraining herself. Two weeks! She would die!

“No, a month,” said the Emperor.

“Your majesty,” said Mai, able to keep silent no longer. “Don’t you believe that to be a little much?”

“What’s this?” asked the Emperor. “Defiance, after things had been going so well?”

Mai remembered who she was. “Of course not, Your Majesty. Your punishments are true, and wise.”

“There will be no visitors allowed, except for housekeeping servants,” said Emperor Mentis.

Mai looked on the bright side. At least this meant the extra etiquette instructor sessions would not begin until she was released.

“The etiquette instructor must also be allowed in, to teach,” said the Emperor.

Mai wanted to break something. In spite of herself, she really, really wanted to break something.

“Is that all, Your Majesty?” asked the Shadow Guard to Mai’s right, after Emperor Mentis had given a lengthy pause.

“It is,” said the Emperor. He looked directly at Mai. “Do you accept your punishment to be just?”

“Yes,” said Mai, trying as hard as she could to believe it was. But what Emperor Mentis had said just did not feel right. She supposed the feeling was nothing more than her base commoner instincts.

“What was that, girl?” asked the Emperor.

Terrified at the slip she had just made, Mai said, “Yes, Your Majesty. This worthless one apologizes for not calling Your Majesty by his title.”

“Good,” said Emperor Mentis. “You may go.”

Mai bowed deeply, for the third time, and began to walk out, accompanied by her two Shadow Guards. Once in the hall, she wanted to say something, but she knew it would not help.

And what followed came exactly as expected, for me. One month, I spent in a single room, kept away from all I wished to talk to. There was no second opinion to Emperor Mentis’ justice.