IV

It didn't take long, only a few minutes before Adrian and Isi could make out the sounds of two sets of booted feet making their way down the hall toward them. Adrian took the short amount of time he had before his father was upon him to look around at the palace. He had of course been here before, only once or twice, there was not much need for a Commander to be called upon by either the emperor or the royal staff of the complex. His father, however, spent a good deal of time here, conferring with the Consul of Nobles and planning strategies with his staff back when he had been a general himself. Now that he had retired and joined the Consul he had spent more time here than he had in his own home.

The walls and floor were scarlet accented with gold leaf that shone in the light of a single lit electric chandelier. The tiny bulbs cast much more light than a flame could ever wish to. Adrian’s sense of unease deepened as the sound of multiple sets of boots echoed on the marble floors in the room beyond.

That was not something he had expected, several options of who was with his father ran through his mind, but he dismissed them all. He would know who it was soon enough. He took a deep breath, feeling the cold air that had been trapped in the room when the door had opened to allow them passage into the Arx-Heim to fill his lunges.

Large lavishly carved oak doors swung open, gliding on silent hinges allowing Adrian to not only see the room beyond, in just as opulent taste as the one he was currently in, but also two people striding purposefully towards him, one of whom he expected, the other, well he had been hoping to not see her for quite some time yet...

Adrianus Von-Tori may have been an imposing man, and even in his supposed retirement, he was still at his core a military man. There was something about how he bore himself that set him apart from the nobles of the Consul who had never served. Even though he was not in his military uniform he radiated the command authority he had once held. He was just into his fiftieth year, with silver hair and a neatly trimmed beard that still retained a hint of brown, it was beaded in a single strand that hung two or three inches off of his well-defined chin and cheekbones. His skin was darkened by the sun, though he could never hope to reach the level of golden brown skin Adrian had acquired these past few years. There were deep lines at the corners of his mouth and at the eyes that Adrian didn't remember. And though he didn't wear his soldier’s uniform had he done so it would have borne a silver general’s star pinned above the heart with four golden service stripes sewn on the right breast. One for every ten years of military service in the Helheim army. He looked odd in civilian clothing like a man pretending to be something he was not, but somehow he managed to make it work.

As he looked at Adrian there was a moment of incomprehension and confusion before recognition of who he was hit him he stumbled his eyes going wide. In an instant, it was like ten years of aging had vanished from his face. Adrian thought for a second he even saw a hint of moisture in his father's eyes. Adrian felt the sting in his own eyes, he blinked it away with ruthless efficiency.

Adrianus stepped forward and grasped Adrian by the upper arm holding him there at length, his fingers digging in as he squeezed slightly as though he was making sure Adrian was really there and not going to disappear. Neither man said a word, each just basking in the feeling of the other’s presence. It took Adrian several moments before he remembered that another person had entered the room with his father. He glanced over and was only slightly surprised to see who it was.

Emilia Vos Turi was both like he remembered and completely different. She, like Adrian, was wearing the uniform of a mage, minus the tricorn hat. Her golden brown hair was elegantly braided and coiled up on top of her head. A functional yet attractive way to keep longer hair out of the way while in the heat of battle. In the five years since he last saw her, she lost some of her girlhood angular features and grew into the ideal form of a female battlemage.

He smiled at her, glad to see her, while also a little disappointed that it wasn't just his father, Isi, and himself. She did have a right to be here and perhaps it would be for the best to get this over with quickly. From the age of five she had been selected to be his bride, well to be more accurate she had been selected to be his father’s daughter-in-law. She had shown quite a bit of promise when they had tested her for magical aptitude. It had been quite the rise in stature from street urchin to nobility and future daughter-in-law of the former General.

He glanced at her wrist and to his relief, he found that on it lay a golden bracelet, studded around with diamonds and a single sapphire the same color as her eyes.

So, in the past five years, she had become married, had she? Ema followed his gaze down and gave him a sad smile. "We will discuss it later,” she silently mouthed to him from behind his father’s back, her hand reaching out to grip him on the shoulder. “It’s really good to see you alive Adrian,” she said aloud.

“It is good-” his father paused and dragged in a breath, showing more emotion than Adrian had ever seen him express except when Adrian’s mother had passed away.” Good to see you-” he stood there for several seconds before removing his arms and looking at Adrian up and down his face showing a whole host of emotions.

“It is good to be home,” Adrian answered, taking a step back, allowing Emilia’s hand to fall from his shoulder. “Definitely a step up from my previous accommodations,” he said with a laugh. Isi for her part snorted and rolled those sparkling amethyst eyes of hers. All three of them glanced over at her and Adrian detected the slightest reddening of her cheeks before his father and Ema turned their attention back to him.

“And where exactly was that?” His father asked, once again returning to the stern face that Adrian had grown up looking up to, both physically and otherwise. For the first time in his life, he realized he was not shorter than his father at some point without his noticing he had surpassed the man in height by a good three or four inches. He didn't know why, but it shocked him to realize that he was the bigger man now, someone his father would look up to.

“A Kurtz work camp, where I spent the past five years as a slave.” Adrian delivered those last words in the most deadpan voice he could, then watched his father’s face grow red with rage as his blood pressure spiked. “Escaped barely a month ago, didn't make it to Irkstead until this last week, we had to sneak out of Kurtz on foot.” His father glanced down at Isi and away before what he saw registered and he looked again at her.

“A savage? From the Scraeling tribes to the east?” He asked, and Adrian looked over at her as well. Her spine was straight and she was holding herself in such a way that even if you didn't see the pride and challenge in her eyes you would have seen it in her stance.

“Her name is Isi, which she tells me means Deer-like, and she escaped the workcamps with me,” Adrian felt a little spike of anger at his father for calling her a savage, only to have it morph into guilt, he had called her a savage before as well hadn't he?

“Is that so?” He gave Isi a smile and a slight bow to which she responded with a proper courtesy. “I hear that your people have magics that are strange to us here,”

“Ish,” she said simply and Adrian had to hide a smile at the rather confused look that flashed across his father’s face. It was not often that someone could throw Adrianus Von-Tori off balance.

“She said yes,” Adrain said with a slight smile pulling up the corners of his lips. “And before you ask-” he said interrupting as his father opened his mouth to speak. “Yes she does know our language she just chooses not to speak it, and no, I have no idea why that is, and before you ask yes, I have asked her.”

“I see,” he said, looking back and forth between Isi and his son. “And have you asked her if she knows of anyone that could perhaps tell us about these strange magics? They could prove quite useful.”

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“If anyone could tell us it would be her,” Adrian said with a shrug then explained further. “She is a Skraeling mage, I've seen her kill men with her magics, and it is just as strange as you were told.” The memory flashed behind his eyes but he focused choosing not to dwell on the past, not today, with a steadying breath he looked back at his father.

“Have you asked her?” Adrian tried not to feel a little annoyed that his father had latched onto this subject, he had always been like this. Seeking every advantage for Helheim he could find and seize upon it.

“I have,” Adrian said, nodding to his father.

“And?” he asked, turning to his son.

“And her people have words and concepts to explain their magic and how it works that we have no equivalent words for,” Adrian said with a shrug. “How do you explain something when the person you are explaining it to has no frame of reference to understand what you are saying?”

“Really?” He asked before looking back at Isi again. “Well, it was a pleasure to meet you,” he said, giving her another bow. “Adrian, I really do have to return to those worthless fops in the Consul, if I don’t they are likely to pass a bill in my absence that reduces our empire to a nation of beggars, tell me you are staying and we can talk again later after this blasted meeting is over?”

“I will stay,” Adrian said with a nod.

“Good, It is really good to see you, son,” his father said, squeezing his shoulder once more, before glancing between Emilia and Adrian, “I am sure the two of you have a lot of catching up to do, I will leave you to it, Adrian, I need you to report to me after the Consul is over, I wish we had more time to talk,” And just like that he left, heading back to the business he had been attending. Adrian watched him walk out of the room in silence and continued to stare after him for some time.

“Adrian,” Emilia brushed her hand against his arm, her voice soft and more than a little wary.

“It's fine,” he said, glancing over at her, or more specifically at the band of matrimony on her wrist. “I didn't expect you to wait, not for seven years, not when you thought I was dead.” it had been a foregone conclusion, and even if by some strange chance she had not been wed to another man then he would have had to break off the marriage, as Isi was his lover now, and if he had anything to say about it his wife before the week was out, “I just wish father wasn't so wrapped up in work.”

“He has a lot on his mind right now, I don't know how informed you are of the past few years-”

“I have been in a slave work camp, I know literally nothing of what is going on politically,” she opened her mouth to speak but he continued "and honestly, I don’t care.”

“I am sorry Adrian, I would have waited had we known-”

“Ema, it's fine, two years apart then five years thinking I was dead is much too long, honestly I am relieved, it would have been much worse had I come home and had to break off the marriage myself.” he smiled at her.

“Break off?” she looked confused, “Why would you break off-” she glanced over at Isi. “The savage girl?”

“Her name is Isi, and I would appreciate it if you used it,” he said, his previous mood souring slightly.

“Father is not going to approve of this, she is not a Helheimian an-,” she breathed out.

“Father will love Isi, I can guarantee it,” if for nothing else than the fact that she was one more mage to help defend the country. He was about to explain this to her when what she had said penetrated his mind.

She had just called the General, Father.

He looked up at her face slowly, it had drained of all color and she had covered one hand over her mouth, eyes wide as though she was horrified at what she had just said. There were only two situations in which a woman not of the family would call a man father. The first was adoption, but Emilia had always resisted that, wanting to keep her own family name, and wishing to keep her family alive as long as she could. The other was when a woman married into the family...

“Father?” he asked, a part of his brain not running through the implications noted that his voice sounded hoarse all of a sudden. “You called him father,” she took a step back, still looking horrified. “He didn't, no'' he shook his head. “He wouldn't, would he?” Adrian knew the answer before he could even ask it, it was painted all over her face.

He had, and in a sick sort of way, it made sense. His father did everything for the empire, every effort to stride forward. Of course, he wouldn't let such a magical talent as Emilia go to waste after the death of her fiance, his son.

Of course, the former High Hand didn't have just one son, did he?

“Adrian-” Emilia softly put her hand on his shoulder, he looked down at it and felt the anger building like a boiler with its relief valve tied down. He examined his rage like a man would a strange and potentially dangerous animal. He found that it was not directed at Emilia or even about her. He had no claim on her, nor did he want one. Instead, his anger was directed at his father. A man who had dedicated everything he had ever done to the ideal of Helhiem, and damn the consequences. He closed his eyes, feeling his face go impassive as his breathing started to hitch, almost coming in gasps. It wasn't just this moment, it was a lifetime of moments, a lifetime of wrongs committed against him all condensed down into the last five years not just by his father, even if he was the central figure in his mind at the moment.

There was a limit that a man could take, a moment when the world had kicked and kicked and kicked while he lay wounded on the ground where a man found that enough was enough. He was done being kicked. Five years, he had been gone for five years and his father had just realized he was not dead and he couldn't spend more than five minutes with him. Helheim demanded his time more, and like a man with an addiction, he gave into it, as he always did. This was nothing new, ever since Adrian’s mother had died when giving birth to his younger brother Adrianus had grown rapidly distant. At the time the younger Adrian hadn't understood why his father had done this, as a man himself now he knew that it was his father’s defense mechanism. He could understand the want to throw yourself into work to distract but it also showed exactly how selfish his father was. He only considered himself in that instant, not stopping to think about his young son who was sad, scared, confused, and now bereft of not just his mother but also his father.

He was done with his father being distant and only sparing him the time of day before going back to work. He was done with this woman who had neither the spine nor honor to say no to his father who would foist her on his brother. He was done with his brother who would accept such treatment from his father. He was done with everything, everything except Isi.

Fine, the world wanted to break him down? Then the world would see what happened when you kicked a man one too many times. Here he stood, torn and ragged, half a man, but that would have to do.

“Adrian I-” he opened his eyes and looked at Emilia and something in his own eyes must have registered, for she shut her mouth with an almost audible snap and he felt the tremor that ran through her body from where her hand rested on his shoulder.

“Don't.” He growled the sound from low in his stomach, from somewhere deep. She jerked her hand away like it burnt and clutched it to her chest. He took a few shallow breaths before he growled out, he was shaking now. Every muscle and tendon was as tight as a bowstring pulled tautly.

He examined Emilia and felt both anger and sadness both at and for her, she could have said no to his father. Told him that she didn't think it was right for her to marry her fiances’ brother, but she never would have. He knew this, she owed everything to him, and she could no more have refused him than a river refused to flow. He might have no official control over her or her actions, but the reality of the situation was much different from an intellectual examination of it. Especially after he had raised her and taken care of her when she had just been a small orphan on the streets.

It looked like despite Adrian’s supposed death his father had gotten the daughter-in-law that he had wanted. “ Of course, Father would do that, he would do anything for Helheim wouldn't he?” Adrian, his voice had gone flat, emotionless. Had she married any other man, any other it would have been no problem, no issue. He didn't want her, he had Isi, it was just the damned callousness of the entire situation. That a man could look at the bereaved fiance of his son and instead of comforting her for his own son’s sake he would make the best political move possible. “I’ve been gone for five years,” his voice was rising in volume and even he caught a bit of the manic edge in it. “Presumed dead, and instead of comforting you he goes and marries you off to my brother because it would be the best thing for HELHEIM!!!” He started pacing back and forth the thoughts running through his head jumbled and clashing.

“Adrian I-”

A growl of pure anger grew deep in his chest and escaped from between his lips. Something about the look he sent her way had her scurrying back, cringing like she was afraid he was going to hit her as a few tears streamed silently down her face. Adrian didn't move any closer to her, the way she had backed up checked his movement even if it did not abate his growing rage. He simply turned on his heels and began running after his father, both fists curled with a fire in his heart burning all reason away.

“I'm so sorry-” Ema whispered as she slid down the wall and sat with her knees drawn up. She sat there, her breath hitching as she rocked back and forth, her face buried in her arms. “I'm so so sorry-” Isi spared her a pitying glance for only a second before she was off after Adrian.