I never played outside as a child. It was too dangerous for "royalty" to venture out. Instead, I studied diligently under mother's tutelage. Father continued to threaten combat instruction under Amolot, now General of his army. But Savis deferred each attempt by another year.

So I practiced speech and maths, developed my literacy, and learned the history of my people. At the end of every session, mother repeated the same phrase, "Heathen you might be, but one day you'll make a King. I am proud to call you son."

I don't think she would be, today.

One afternoon, I was disturbed from my studies by the deep lament of horns. My mother took extra care to face me away from the windows and sat so she blocked my view. "Bene..." an endearment we hid from my father, "...May I see?"

Savis stiffened and a shadow cast over her eyes. "I need to shelter you from some of this world. Please, ask no more."

Cries and shouts of voices below beckoned me. "Bene, if I am to be King, the world needs me to see."

She rushed to her knees before me and gripped my arms. "Down there is an atrocity. I will lose you to adulthood if you witness it. Can we not stay like this a while longer? You and me learning together?" Sweeping my hair from my face, she sniffled and tried to hide her tears.

I wanted to hug her. Kiss her. Tell her it'd be all right. I wouldn't ask. I wouldn't look.

I walked away from her and peered out the window, ignoring the choked sob behind me. What I wanted must wait. My people needed me to see.

Father scaffolded an execution stage on the viewing platform. Too high for wingless Icari to reach, Amolot led the guilty to their fates. Twenty of them.

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"Bene, who are--"

Uncle Vinco's grandson fought in his bonds. They dragged him onto the stage.

"You chose to see this. Now I will hide nothing from you." I turned to find her holding a book I'd never seen. "Those are your cousins. Your father is executing them for establishing factions to fight against his tyranny. Only four remain, now. Do you understand?"

I looked back to the scene. "Yes. They keep me from playing outside."

"No, son. Your father endangers us with his aggression. He never bends to help our people. They rise against him, and--"

"This is what happens when they are caught." I nodded below.

"Yes." Savis kept away from the window.

The crowd silenced when Umbra flew onto the stage. "I serve execution to traitors, myself. From hereon, I decree this a formal ceremony. Learn from the wicked that Icarean sins are punished forthright."

My father approached uncle Vinco's grandson. The man seethed and foamed at father from his great height. In a futile attempt to rile the crowd, the accused man cried, "Elden would kill you--"

Umbra punched his fist into the man's chest. I'd never seen so much blood before. Mother stomped across the floor and tried to tear me away. But I was fascinated by the spectacle. A blue mess sprayed onto father's face and chest. He twisted and jarred his arm. Took his time while my cousin choked and gasped.

Umbra sneered as he removed the nacre and turned to the crowd. My cousin dropped to his knees before collapsing face-first on the platform. Father roared, "Each of you stare at me with hatred and scorn. But I understand the animal you are." He held the retrieved nacre high. "Who wants an upgrade?"

A million voices cried. Half of them broke the line of the crowd to rush the secured castle. All begging for my cousin's nacre.

My mother breathed against my hair, her voice strained with horror, "How could he?"

Only then did I turn to her with my arms outstretched. I wanted to comfort her. Instead of reciprocating, she stared at me with her eyes wild. Without another word, she left my chamber.

Now, I understand my response to the bloodshed unnerved her. But at the time, a mounting wave of loneliness overcame me, unlike any form of isolation I'd felt up to that point. I hated the vulnerability it exposed in me, so, in defiance, I watched my father execute my remaining kin. And wondered what it would feel like when I did the same to him.