“I thought that was a ‘d’!” I say frustrated and Adonis draws the shape for the fifth time.

“Well, no, a ‘d’ goes the other way. This is a ‘b’. See?”

“No.” I throw down the quill and Adonis winces.

“Alright, new idea, how about I just write them all out and then you can see them all at once.”

Adonis grabs a fresh sheet and starts sprawling. His penmanship is impeccable and my sad scribbles are embarrassing next to it.

There’s a soft knock on the door and Hodges coughs. “Ah, Master Adon, there’s a man here to see you.”

I flinch, but Adonis waves. “No worries, I was expecting him. Show him to the office please, Hodges, I’ll be there in a moment.”

Hodges leaves and Adonis finishes writing the alphabet on the paper before sliding it to me.

“There you go, look that over.” He stands to leave before turning back. “Oh and don’t worry about our guest, he’s step one of the plan.”

He gives a wink and waltzes out. I look over the paper, locating the two symbols in question and seeing the difference. There’s actually quite a few similar looking symbols on the page. How infuriating.

I’m working on copying the letters, playing with the curves and trying to get a feel for writing them when Adonis returns. He seems excited and I raise an eyebrow as he sits back down across from me.

“That went perfectly. Everything is going according to plan,” he says satisfied.

“What exactly is your plan?” I ask after a brief hesitation. Adonis looks ready to explode he so obviously wants to share.

“So Aziron is the biggest threat to the empire, right?”

I nod. The nation of mages is the current focus of the frontlines. Their magic has managed to halt the momentum of the empire, although they seem to have no interest in doing more than standing their ground. On top of that the Azir are a fairly xenophobic and mysterious lot.

“Well, I found out that Azir can infuse objects with magic and those objects can be used by anyone. The imperial scholars have known this for a while and have been working with the Aryi to gather such artifacts. I started following news of any that were found and stumbled upon a big one. It took a lot of bargaining to get the Aryus queen to give it up to the emperor. It's a box that can let you hear anything or anyone you ask for.”

I blink. I’d heard of enchanted items before, but nothing like that. With that the Soli could overhear enemy battle plans, track down rebellions, and spy on friend and enemy alike.

“The box is leaving Aryus en route to Astrix in three months. I know who’s in charge of picking it up and have managed to gather the route it’ll be taking. Once the Aryi meet General Hiket of the coast of Aryus, my plan is to hire a fake attack on the box.”

General Hiket. That was a name I knew. He is one of the Empire’s best generals, ruthless and cold. I’d delivered messages to him a few times, he was always straight to the point and entirely focused on crushing his enemies. He didn’t much care for other people’s lives, even his own soldiers, but he tended to get the job done. If Adonis was planning on messing with the general, he was either braver or stupider than I thought.

Adonis continues, “I’ll board a ship and chase off the ‘attackers’. Given my supposed military aspirations and status, I will be able to make myself a part of the guard and get close to Hiket. That’s when I’ll steal the box and destroy it. But, more importantly, I need to make it look like the General failed and the box made its way back to Aziron. The Aryus queen will be furious which will put strain on that alliance as well as preventing the empire from ever using the enchanted box.”

He gives me a sly grin. “As for General Hiket and Lord Adonis Killex, well they died in the chaos.”

“That’s...actually pretty clever,” I admit. “How long have you been planning this?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Adonis’ excited face dims and for a moment I see guilt before he answers, “About a year. I had a different plan before, but I...I couldn’t go through with it.”

I cock my head, there are plenty of things I doubted Adonis the sheltered Soli noble could stomach. I was surprised he had the guts to go up against Hiket, although he probably planned on hiring a small army to help him. I admit I’m curious as to what exactly put him off his original plan. Luckily, Adonis was more than willing to share. In fact, he stands up, impassioned once again, but to my surprise, his voice is serious as he paces, not laced with guilt and failure.

“Originally, I thought I’d become emperor.”

I choke and Adonis gives a small laugh. “I suppose it probably sounds crazy to you, but it was actually quite attainable. I’m the heir to the House of Killex, in fact the emperor and I are not too distant relatives. He has a daughter and I have the status to court her. I thought if I could become emperor, I could just change things from the inside out. How better to use the position I was born to?”

“But?” I ask, still reeling from the ambition of it.

“Well, I studied politics, did all the training and court pandering to set me up for that path. It was going fairly well until I began to realize there was a wall I couldn’t break through. I could weave all the pretty lies I liked, but there is a powerful group surrounding the emperor, a sort of sect or brotherhood. If I had any chance, I’d have to become one of them and their initiation process and ways of working were...well it wasn’t something I could live with.”

He sits back down and shrugs. “So I disappointed my father and told him I changed my mind and wasn’t cut out for politics after all. The only acceptable way out was to go patriotic and throw myself into the military pathway. My father accepted that and the beginning of my training gave me time to think of a new plan. It wasn’t too hard to change masks. After all, like I said, I’d been doing it since I was ten.”

Adonis gets up again and opens a cabinet, pulling out two glasses and a bottle. He sits back down pouring the amber liquid into the glasses and sliding one towards me before drinking half of his own. I take a sip and it burns my throat. I’ve never had alcohol and Adon laughs at my grimace. “Not to your taste then?”

I leave the glass on the table and cross my arms on the back of the chair. “Not really.”

Nodding, Adonis continues to sip at his drink, watching the fire the burns low in the fireplace. I stare at him, his sharp Soli jaw set in determination. Did he honestly think he could pull such a scheme off?

Despite myself, I feel a sort of respect for the man. He really could have had anything he wanted, prestige, power, wealth. I wonder what made him decide it wasn’t worth it.

“That time when you were ten and broke your leg helping Hodge’s kid, was that when you decided you wanted to change the empire?” I ask, my curiosity no longer able to contain itself. Was that simple act really the catalyst for all...this?

Adonis finishes his glass and slides my abandoned one towards him. “No. I knew things were messed up already. Honestly, I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t constantly at odds with my teachers over something. That was just the first time I realized my family wasn’t on my side.”

Holding up his left hand, he taps the middle finger with his right.

“My father has a ring, large gold one right here. Leaves a mark, that ring does. Of course if you’re healing from a broken leg already, what’s a few bruises?” He drinks again. “He wanted to teach me a lesson, show me that I had a level of responsibility as his son.”

He gives me a wry smile. “I suppose I learned it and for the next fifteen years I made sure my father didn’t see me do anything below my station. Treat the servants like people? Send aid to those whose crops failed? Oh well, how better to make the Killex name well favored with the people. Oppose buying slave labor? Refuse a private army? Well, obviously we wouldn’t want anyone thinking the young Lord Killex wasn’t capable enough to do things himself. Surely that couldn’t be critiqued. It became a careful game—I did what I wanted as long as I could do it with the right spin.” He stuck a finger in the air, punctuating his point.

“Even my sister, Emyris, didn’t understand why I toed the line so carefully. I don’t understand how they could sit and do nothing. Twenty-five years as his son and my father never understood why I cared so much about...well about people. I remember one time we got in an argument and Emryis tried to intervene, ‘Adonis just doesn’t understand the big picture’ she said. I nearly laughed. I watched her and countless others in our circle turn their backs on people in need, justify selling people’s lives for more wealth and power and she says I don’t understand the big picture.”

He downs the rest of the liquor and waves a hand. “But you don’t care about all that and I have nothing to prove to them anyway. Honestly, it’s shameful I took so long to leave.”

I’m not sure what made me say it but without thinking I blurt out, “I met Emryis.”

Adonis nearly drops the glass. Setting it down carefully, he gives me a wary glance. “Really? When?”

“Second day after we met. She stormed in early with a sword and demanded I tell her what you were up to.” I look him in the eye. “I told her I had no idea and that I was using you to get another chance at escaping.”

He holds my gaze for a moment and then sighs.

“Well, nothing to be done about it now. Hopefully she believes you and doesn’t do anything stupid.” He pauses. “I’m surprised she noticed.”

After pouring himself another glass, Adonis stands up. “I’m going to go over my plan for the millionth time. Let Hodges know if you need anything.”

I let him go. Begrudgingly, I admit Nikolie was right—Adonis is certainly different.