-crown of thorns-

[https://i.imgur.com/Lc3JDtl.png]

The rusty scent of recently spilt lowborn blood befouled the pristine granite floor in my throne room.

I swept my hand through the air dismissively and a slew of faceless attendants hurriedly collected the mess of decapitated heads and their useless corpses, pulling them out of view.

“Such failures.” I lamented, and called out to the man kneeling before me, “Sebastian, explain what happened. Or, your head will be buried along with this trash.”

Hauntingly beautiful wisps of purple mist rose up from behind my throne. They fluttered through the air, stopping just above the man’s head.

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty, Great King Renault! I’ve prepared a report.”

Sebastian Bernard, the self-titled ‘Commander of the Royal Guard’, nervously slicked his ash-blonde hair back with one hand, while producing a roll of paper from a jacket pocket with his other.

The paper unfurled as he cleared his throat, and began reciting the words stiffly—his boyish monotone voice reverberating through the room in an annoying way.

“Around midday on the fourteenth day Tauri’æni Ix, members of Forward Brigade’s seventh regiment sent confirmation that the Vanixian heir was returning to the ruined city. At the same time, we also received a missive requesting immediate assistance from the collaborator, Bashir. After an in-depth investigation, it was revealed that the Vanixians had caught onto Bashir’s schemes very early on and had played him like a fool. Forward Brigade Commander Masson deemed the mission a failure and denied the request to dispatch additional forces. Bashir and his underlings were purged by the heir herself shortly after.”

Sebastian inhaled in a huff before unwinding the paper further and continuing.

“The next day, an unknown woman appeared within the ruined city and sought out the heir. She apparently requested a sort of duel. Seventh regiment agents were unable to identify this woman before the purge, but Forward Brigade did gather an eye-witness statement from a newly injected agent embedded within the Citadel’s forces that both the unidentified woman and the heir were wielding power beyond any of our internal estimations deemed them capable. In the following days, Your Majesty’s bladedancer, the Azure Rose, was to be dispatched to the ruined city to clean up any liabilities, however…”

Sebastian hesitated.

His face twitched as he looked over the words, which I suspected detailed the failed mission, further down the scroll. His blue eyes lifted up from the paper, locking with mine for a split second before the man trembled slightly.

The purple mists descended, coiling around his neck like a nest of vipers ready to strike.

“Ah,” he stumbled over his words, “H-However, an unknown fault with the enforcement curse seems to have occurred and the Azure Rose was relocated within Lady Renaire’s laboratory for diagnostics testing. Since then, Forward Brigade has reported that all embedded agents have gone dark, including their newly minted Citadel agent. Lieutenant-Colonel Fenn believes the loss of contact suggests they’ve all been made or captured.”

Sebastian fumbled with the paper in his hand, wrestling it back into a tight roll and tucking it back into the jacket pocket it had been stowed in.

I leaned back in my gilded throne and breathed out my nose with loud annoyance.

The purple mist clung ever tighter to the man’s clothing, enveloping his whole upper body now.

“That”, I started, “was supposed to explain what went wrong? An unknown woman appeared, an unknown issue with the binding curse occurred, and the fates of our spies are also unknown.”

Sebastian remained kneeling, but now his head was tilted in a sharp decline—his eyes boring a hole into the ground.

“Unfortunately the s-seventh regiment has been unable to p-provide a more expansive report, Your Majesty.”

Hah. You’re mostly a failure as well.

I released my hold over the void-addled Aethermist and waved the idiot man away dismissively.

“Have whoever is in charge of that regiment removed. Immediately.” I commanded.

The mist abated, and Sebastian rose with a quickness.

He bowed and turned to leave.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“Ah,” I called out to pause his retreat. “Remove whomever is overseeing that regiment from Forward Brigade as well. Lieutenant Fem, or whatever his name was. I grow tired of suffering fools.”

“I shall see to it personally, Your Majesty.”

“No.” I denied his foolishly transparent attempt at garnering some redemption, “Don’t overstep. Inform Masson of my orders. They’re his troops. If he can’t manage it then I’ll just strip him of his beloved consular status and title of Rose. Now, begone.”

I waved the blonde-haired eyesore away.

Once the door to the throne-room had closed, I ordered a nearby attendant, “You, with the stylus clutched in your hands. Bring me Renaire.”

----------------------------------------

“Ah, there you are Jacques.”

A wistful greeting which lacked any shred of decorum crept its way down the chamber as a guard opened the door.

The owner of the doleful voice was Valerie Renaire, a sour woman who only wore dark-in-color clothing that made her bright, almost white, golden-blonde hair stick out.

“Have I not warned you against calling my name so informally?” I questioned as she approached the throne.

Renaire wore a pensive look for a few seconds before responding, “Indeed you have, Jacques.”

She waved a hand out before her, and a bright burst of purple quickly faded away to reveal an elegant chair made of solid magicka. The irritating woman took a seat and stared through me with her unnerving violet eyes—a pair of lifeless orbs which radiated an unnatural glow.

“I was in the middle of fixing the ‘Azure Rose’ that you don’t seem to care enough for—” she started.

“What I don’t care for, are your superfluous expositions,” I interrupted. “They are tedious. I only wish to know the state of the thing. What’s wrong with it?”

Renaire glowered at me with a fierce anger for only a moment, her eyes flashing in recognition ever so slightly, before her gaze dulled again.

“It would seem that the curse you implanted upon the girl has begun to degrade. The cause is unknown to me, but if you look at all possible external factors my best guess is that it’s to do with the Vanixian heir.”

A tightness formed in my chest—a cold dread spread itself through my body as what felt like an icy hand gripped my heart.

The whispers of the Void permeated my mind.

YOU’VE FAILED US TWICE.

WE HAVE LET YOU LIVE DESPITE THIS

THERE SHALL NOT BE A THIRD TIME.

FINISH OFF THE REMAINING HERETICS.

KILL THE VANIXIAN HEIRS.

SLAY THE PROGENY OF HEROES.

YOUR INEPTITUDE RISKS ALL.

THE GRAND DESIGN RISKS FAILURE.

WE WILL RIP YOUR SOUL TO AVER’TERIA.

IMPRISONED FOR ETERNITY.

DO. NOT. FAIL.

As the last of the aetherial whispers stung my ears, the torturous cold abated and my lungs gasped for air.

Renaire raised a brow at my abrupt wheeze, but looked otherwise uninterested.

“I’ll take that as a satisfactory confirmation to my speculation. It would seem your master imparted some… wisdom, upon you.”

“Be silent,” I ordered while recomposing myself. “Do what you must to fix the Azure Rose. And do not let that caretaker you assigned skip punishment for failure. If there truly was a degradation in the curse, even that lowborn should have noticed something. Or did you place something unworthy in a position of such great importance?”

Renaire waved her hand dismissively, “It is thanks to that very caretaker that the issue was discovered in a timely manner. Had the girl left to fulfill your orders she may have failed outright and gotten captured, or worse.”

I paused. Letting her words ring in my ear. Something felt off about the way she seemed to deflect the attention towards the caretaker being the one to discover the issue.

She’s lying. But about which part, I don’t know.

I held back from accusing her, as the vixen would just waste more of my time spinning one web of lies after another. Instead, I redirected to admonish her for something she could not skitter from.

“It’s not a girl. It’s a tool. You’d do well to stop fussing over it every time it gets damaged.”

That nasty look returned and Renaire’s eyes flared.

“As you have said. Regardless of your thoughts on that matter, I shall endeavor to correct the issue with the binding curse.”

I motioned the woman away.

Her chair dissipated with a wave of her own hand and she sauntered out the hall.

“Vincent.” I called out, and the shadows behind my throne stirred. A raven-haired man in a dark suit manifested into view on my left side.

“I’m having a harder time trusting that bitch each day that passes. Follow her and report back if she does anything suspicious with the Azure Rose.”

Vincent inclined his ever-so slightly in a nod before he simply vanished back into the shadows.

I slumped slightly in my throne.

“All this trouble because I didn’t just kill the girl when we caught her… Haaah.”

Perhaps I should remove the commanders of sixth regiment as well for letting her escape.