Chapter 7 - Games People Play

* * *
'Sy
* * *

Lyric still has his room in my house. I never...emptied it out. I never quite thought of it as a way of waiting for him, but I suppose that was what I was doing. I had plenty of space and no reason to change what was in here. I just kept it dusted and...I waited.

I never did get a bigger bed for him. That was going to happen very soon, but then he...left. I suppose he can count himself lucky that he never grew any taller.

"So he's home, then." I don't expect that voice over my shoulder, and I'm in my own house. I glare back at the source of it. I almost dropped Lyric. The person behind me chuckles. "Father, I'm sorry, it's just so funny when I startle you into reaching for a weapon." He peers over my shoulder, short silver hair almost falling over his eyes in a shaggy cut. He and Lyric still have the same eyes, no matter how much the brothers have both changed since they were younger. Lute frowns. "...He should be taller." Lute almost matches my height, after all - the tallest of my children. Lyric's almost a midget in comparison.

"Maybe it's you that should be shorter," I say to him as I slide Lyric into his bed. I pull the sheets over him, then lean down and look over his face. "How did you find out he was back?"

"I watched you come in. 'M off-duty right now."

I snort. Off-duty, so he spies in my house in the guise of keeping it 'secure'. Lute is the family pro at not getting caught, after all. "You're going to keep an eye on your brother?"

"Of course, now that I've got the chance to. I'm impressed as hell that he snuck away from home in the first place, but he's not pullin' a second disappearing act on me."

I nod. "Thank you. Club Gerald in the head if he tries to get up, while you're keeping watch, then."

Lute snorts. "Don't tell me he's sleeping here, too. Doesn't he have his big boy room in the Armed Hall?"

I raise an eyebrow at him, then just let out a sigh. "He needs to be in here tonight. Already got himself into enough trouble. And you'll hear all about it soon enough, so stop giving me that look. I've got to go take care of Katherine."

His eyes widen. "It's true, then? I wasn't gonna believe we had the Jhe o'Audiva Rocale here until you confirmed it directly."

"...A lot of things are true right now that I'd prefer not to confirm. Watch your brother. If he wakes up he'll need someone to keep him calm. I think you'd be one of the best at that." He nods, then watches as I stare down at my son.

"...He gonna be okay, Dad?"

"That's one of the things I'd like to confirm, but cannot. I hope so. Good night." I pat Lute's shoulder, then turn towards the door as he melts into the shadows. It's amazing how undetectable he is, even in my own house.

"Night, Dad. Sleep well, when ya do."

I leave, close the door behind me, and check on Gerald. I consider nailing the blanket down over him, then decide Lute will do it for me if it comes to that. I go.

My responsibility to Katherine reaches just as deep as it does for my own children. Sometimes, deeper than I can even imagine.

* * *

I pause before I knock on Luciprochoros's door. I can hear him talking with Katherine. I can't deny that I want to listen to what's being said, but I also am not keen to interrupt a conversation. Judging by my brother's tone of voice, I should wait here.

"...can't do anything about it just yet, hon. I wasn't even there when he got arrest-"

"You damn well CAN do something about it! You're the King of Radia! What good's a fucking royal title and all the stupid decorations and frippery if you can't control what's going on in your own damn Kingdom?"

Luciprochoros is silent for a long time, then exhales through his teeth. "Katherine. You are my daughter and I respect you and love you. Can you not accord the same respect to me while making demands that would be better voiced in Court?"

"This has nothing to do with your Court. Have you even seen him? He's in a cell in the dungeons. He needs help."

Luciprochoros waits again before speaking. The tension gripping him is so palpable that I can feel it through the wards of the door. "Katherine, have you considered that he invited upon himself whatever afflictions he is currently in the grip of?"

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

"We won't know what any of it means until after his Trial, and that's not a very long wait. Please stop screaming at me, honey."

"NO. You tell me what the FUCK that is supposed to mean, Daddy. You tell me RIGHT NOW."

Silence hangs over the room, the atmosphere thick and volatile. If I touched the door right now, it would explode.

"...Katherine, I am sorry, but you are asking the wrong person to pity him. Please don't discuss this with me any--"

"You're the KING. EMPEROR. But you're putting this aside because you've got personal issues with the Jhe o'Audiva Rocale. Why can't you treat this like it's business?"

His voice is smooth and even. So flawlessly controlled, the most telling signal that he's upset. "Why can't you?"

I take that lull in the volley back and forth to walk in. Katherine whirls to face me. Luciprochoros...has to take this particular moment, of all times, to skirt a bow to me and invoke protocol.

"Judge. If you would, please, your Poet Armed requires an escort, and I must retire." I see her fume from that, but it's a quiet fume, and Luciprochoros takes the moment to lean down and kiss her on the cheek. "Night, hon."

"Night." It's more of a bite than a word, but at least she deigned to speak instead of shout. She grabs my hand like it's about to squirm away. "Let's go, Jud--may I leave, then, Jhe h'Akribastes?"

I sigh. "Yes, if there's to be any rest tonight." I give my own bow in reply to the Jhe o'Radia. It's a mixed blessing that he decided to greet me formally, but at least it reminded Katherine of proprieties. "A pleasant rest to you."

"And to you. I'd offer you wine, but..."

"...But you prefer not to give out your glassware upon exit. Of course. The sentiment is nevertheless appreciated. ...Please--"

He inclines his head. "I'll see to contacting Jhe h'Logos while you see to your own. I'd like to talk with him now, at any rate, so it's no inconvenience. Go on."

"...Thank you." I make another bow, then turn and escort Katherine out of her Father's quarters. She opens her mouth as soon as the door's shut behind us, but says nothing when she sees my face.

"Let's go home." She replies by leaning into my side and wrapping an arm around me. I haul her up into my arms and take the short way into my own home from here. I need to get her into bed. She's too distressed right now to make sense of this mess. Not that a calm head helps me make much more sense of it.

She pulls me down into my bed after that. Katherine is, at the heart of her, very complex and exceedingly simple. What she wants may not make any sense to others, but once she knows what she wants, she pursues it relentlessly.

You could take that to mean that I don't get much of any rest before the night is done with.

* * *
Katherine
* * *

...Shut up. None of you understand me. Nobody understands me, not even him. Not even 'Sy.

But oh, how good it is to be under him...closing my eyes and rolling with the rhythm...so warm. So delicious. It's not like taking shelter, because I'm too open to him to be sheltered.

And it's not like hiding from what's going on, because the Judge is every bit a part of that, as much as I might hate that part right now.

It's exultation. Celebration. Embracing something I can't understand but still just want to wrap myself up in. It is something that can take me completely, and there exist very few things in this world which can do that.

Oh, Daddy. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to be that way. I didn't want to snap at you but--

...'Sy, you always pick the best or the worst moments to distract me.

It's something to be thankful for, right now. I don't want to think of Gerald and how much more I want to kill him than usual. I don't want to think of my fathers and their fighting and where that's gotten them or me. I don't want to think of what the hell Lyric was doing there or why he had to see what he saw or what might be wrong with him because of it...

...Most of all I don't want to think. I dive into that fire that is 'Sy and I close my eyes and just let it consume me.

* * *
Lute
* * *

I can't tell you exactly where I am, right now. Well, I can give you a general idea, and I think that will be enough.

I'm inside all of the shadows of my Dad's house, looking out at anything that might decide to move.

It's a good way to chill. I like chillin'. Really, my other sibs are too high-strung. Even Gerude. He can't just sit back and relax, has to go off saving the world one backwater town at a time. Who's going to take care of things at home? Well, maybe I'm lazy. I do like to chill, as I just said. But tonight I really can't help wanting to be here.

My brother's finally home. My twin brother. That's special, you know? I missed having that other piece of me around. I keep looking down at him and wondering where the hell he's been for the last ten years. Where he's been hiding, most of all.

Audiva Rocale must have been a lonely big place for someone like him.

Look, people don't change. Gerald didn't change any from back when he was five years old and neither did Gerude and neither did I. Jenny might not sleep with a teddy bear anymore but she always tried her hardest to follow Daddy around and do what he was doing. Is she any different now, really? Hell, Lyric didn't even bother getting any taller. He's not any different now. He can't be.

He sure ain't sleeping well, though, that's for sure.

I notice the movement near the door before Dad's wards even do. Ah, but then, the person coming in has enough clearance that those wards won't pay him any mind. I just keep an eye on him as he strolls through. So aloof, such perfect posture, practically gliding through the place as if he owned it all. Then again, that's just the Xaillyndesse way of things, I suppose. Damn snotty.

He looks up as he walks and raises an eyebrow up at the shadows. Whoops. He caught that remark. I keep forgetting what long ears he's got.

He opens the door to my twin brother's room and then pauses. Oh, how polite. As is expected from him. He's waiting for me to manifest. I slip out of the shadows next to the door, then skirt a bow. He makes a quiet chuckle. I suppose it is amusing seeing someone so tall bow from the waist. It actually creates a mild breeze.

"Jhe Akribastes. If you'll forgive the intrusion. Jhe o'Radia requested the services of one of my own, but I preferred to come do the duty myself. May I be allowed to visit your brother as has been requested of me?"

"A'course, Sire." I grin and step to the side. "I'll just be keepin' a watch while you do that."

"Thank you. Such a dutiful boy, as expected from one of Jhe h'Akribastes's own."

I snort, then melt back into the shadows. "If you say so. He just says I'm nosy."

* * *
Luciprochoros
* * *

...No one would believe that I was here.

No. That's not the truth. The truth is that I wouldn't want them to know that I was here.

I reach out a hand, trailing fingers down one of the golden bars. I feel it radiate with power. My power. The power that threads through my entire Empire. Running through these bars, and still-

Still, 'Sy would be needed to hold him entirely at bay. I can't hold the Jhe o'Audiva Rocale on my own. I suppose I tried it before, long ago. ...No, but I like to fancy that I did, don't I, instead of thinking about who was really holding who?

What's the use of standing here trying to lie to myself? Reality's still the same, and so are these bars, and so is the prisoner behind them. Body draped across the couch while he sleeps, hair trailing down his back and to the floor in a long black smudge. I can't help but notice that he still looks so beautiful. This is, in a way, cruel to me. I shouldn't be able to stare at him while he's laid out, unguarded, the veils torn away. It makes me remember a time that's long gone.

I don't want him to be here. I don't want Katherine to hate me.

I don't want this Trial.

...But I don't see what I could have changed to prevent it. Isn't that such cowardly thinking? I have to face things and admit it, just like I told Katherine earlier: what if Ebrellin-i earned this for himself? 'Sy just wouldn't bring him in unless he merited a Trial. Heck, he couldn't.

What the Hell is everything coming to? If Ebrellin-i's found guilty, if...is there even an if? Is there any chance of there being an if? As much as he's wronged me, almost brought both our Kingdoms toppling down from our shaky truce...I don't want him to earn a death sentence.

I sigh. I'll draw 'Sy's attention if I stay here much longer. Not that he won't know I was here. But I'd like him to have some rest tonight, along with Katherine. ...Or whatever they might define as rest. I don't like to think about it too much. I'm her Father, after all. My eyes flick over Ebrellin-i's form again.

Her other Father. Funny. They never told him. He'd have been too angry. I've wondered, from time to time, how he'd react to knowing he had a granddaughter through Katherine and 'Sy.

...It's strange, when I think about it. Jennelcia looks more like Ebrellin-i than she does anyone else in her family. I've picked a rather strange place to come to that conclusion, haven't I? I chance once more look up at Ebrellin-i before I take my leave.

Oh dear. He's looking right back at me. I gulp. Talking to him really wouldn't be a good idea. It never is, in fact. "My apologies. I thought you were sleeping. I hope I haven't disturbed your rest." Which is why I do it, of course.

His eyes narrow. Now they glare holes through me, as opposed to just smoldering tiny holes into my jacket. Those marks on his face warp and contort as I watch, and I try not to flinch. He sits up, posture so perfect that the couch might as well be a throne. "You are not welcome in here, J'Lucipre'."

I narrow my eyes at him. "You have no claim left by which you may call me by that name again." My face flushes hot and my hands curl into fists. I'm not used to dealing with this anger. It's been years since he's tried that sorry tactic, and longer still since he had the right to use that name. It was bad enough when he pinned the title of consort on my nephew and paraded him in front of me. Pinning that title to my name...no, not even my name, 'an endearing' nickname...and according none of my station alongside it, for added insult to the injury...

He grins. No. No, that is no grin. That is bared teeth. "Admit it. You like it." He rises from the couch.

I stand stock-still, even though all reason screams that I should just leave right now. "No, and no. Call me by my rightful title, Jhe o'Audiva Rocale."

Those teeth still flash, but the grimace around them is happy enough that it might now count as a grin. "Call me Ebrellin-i." His voice is smoke running over silk.

I almost shake.

"No." Why am I not moving? Why can't I just leave? He doesn't have this power anymore. 'Sy tried to convince me back then that he never had it at all. Why didn't I believe him, then? The reason is sauntering up to the bars, wrapping one pale hand around one and sliding the other halfway out, stretching towards me. If he held it out much farther, his long nails could brush my jacket. He could feel my heartbeat through the thick fabric, I'm sure. He can hear it now.

"Then why don't you call me Master instead?" I knew it was coming next. Of course. The only way it could get any worse.

I curl my fists so tight that the nails bite into my skin. Maybe that's what reminds me to act like I still have my balls. "You don't seem to have many things to do in there while you wait for your Trial, so why don't you lie back down on that couch and go fuck yourself until the Judge comes?" Ah, the good old bitterness. I'm feeling better. And he's looking sour, which means I've done something right.

"I don't see why you came here, J'Lucipre', if you had no desires to pay proper respect to me." He draws his hands back and steps away.

"Katherine felt that you were ill, and I wanted to make her happy. Fool me. You're the same as you've always been." I turn and start walking out.

There's no reply. I'd say it's bitter proof that something is wrong with him. He's never let me have the last word before.