Sticks & Stones

The rain beat against the window as heavily and with as much vengeance that was expected by this time of the year. The Raining Season, as it was called by the weather experts of Lyvera, was not only going to be one of the worst ever recorded in history but was going to be a long one. As Timothy Augustus stared through the window, he couldn’t help but wonder whether the rain was showing exactly what he was thinking in his mind, or whether it was just behaving on its own accord.

“Timothy you need to rest, you have to.” His Mother said from the corner of his room, watching the rain fall with him.

She was one to talk. They had both just witness something so horrendous that threatened to throw everything they had known out the window and into the vengeful rain, and yet she wasn’t ready to go to her bed chambers not to talk of sleeping. “I will sleep eventually Mother, I just, I want to process my feelings about your plan to save us.”

His mother sighed at his response before she slowly got up from his chair and walked towards him until they were standing side by side, looking out the window and into the dark clouds of the night that brought the heavy downpour. “Your father is dead, the youngest Emperor to ever die in the history of Lyvera, but that is not the problem here Timothy, it’s the fact that you are not…” She trailed off as she bit her lips and looked down to her feet. “I thought there was still time to find a solution a permanent one.”

“I know why we must do this, I just don’t know whether it will work the way we think it will. If the truth ever came out at the coronation… we are both dead regardless of the wife I choose for myself.” Timothy said as he turned to look at his Mother with his undivided attention. “This is a gamble, a heavy one at that.”

“A gamble we must take regardless.” His Mother said as she looked up to his face and placed one hand on his left cheek. “We can’t run from this, we can’t hide from this. We have only two choices, we either push ahead, consolidate your power, get that powerful wife and be married before the coronation, or we let your uncle and aunt as well as the rest of the three kings come together, expose us and burn us at the stake for our crimes.” 

The way his Mother put it, he had to admit she was right. He didn’t really have much of a choice, not when the alternative was his death and her death. It wasn’t really his fault that he was not his father’s son, but in the eyes of the laws of Lyvera, no bastard could inherit his father’s or his mother’s property or wealth. His place was not in the capital leaving a life of luxury and having power over the three kings while being the king of the Crownlands. No his place was supposed to be in the dredges of society at the bottom of the food chain, below the servants even. The best he was supposed to hope out of life was by joining the army and not dying throughout his career as cannon fodder.

The fact he had lived his entire life as the Prince of Lyvera and the Crownlands, while also on the verge of becoming the King of the Crownlands and Emperor of Lyvera, was already grounds to have him executed. He would die, but so would his Mother for having a child that was not the Emperor’s.

He was already between a rock and a hard place with no alternative before him, no alternative other than to follow his Mother’s plan and keep them both safe and powerful for the rest of their lives.

“Have the scribes already sent out the letters to the Kings about Father’s death?” He asked as he let out a deep sigh.

“They will be here as early as possibly by dawn to see for themselves that the Emperor is dead, they will see to his burial and then begin the plan to have you crowned before they also witness that and return to their kingdoms.” His Mother said as she let go of his cheek and hugged herself. “You will have to choose a wife among their daughters and marry her before the Coronation Day which would be held two moons from today.”

“Will the kings know that their daughters could marry me before the coronation day?” He asked his Mother before he bit the inside of his mouth nervously.

“They can read between the lines.” She said before she let go of herself and pat his shoulder. “Get some rest so that you won’t be tired tomorrow morning.”

“Yes Mother.” He replied before he turned around to watch her walk slowly towards the door to his room and stop. “You don’t have to sleep in your room tonight Mother, you know that right?” He asked her.

“Thank you, but I need to show strength even in the midst of my mourning.” She said. “Your father’s suicide was unexpected, but I have to show strength, and so must you.” 

With those words, she left the room and walked out the door, leaving Timothy to ponder on the night’s events that still had him rattled. He was not ready to be King & Emperor, he wasn’t ready for that kind of power that would have him fighting a war on multiple fronts, he just wanted to be the Prince for as long as possible before he later learned how to rule an Empire as big as Lyvera and then take over.

He may be twenty years of age, but that didn’t mean he was old enough to be in charge of Lyvera while also ruling over Kings that had much more experience an self confidence than he did. Men that didn’t give a flying fuck about him, men who were ready to take power from him should he waver, men ready to burn his Mother should he be anything but strong.

The beating rain that calmed down to a drizzle was the only reminder he needed that the night would come to an end at any time now, and dawn would come upon them. He had to rest, he had to sleep because come dawn, his war would only just begin.

********************************

The next day came swiftly, almost too swiftly for his liking, but the day had come and his enemies were fast approaching, it wouldn’t do to be caught sleeping when his enemy were already armed and ready for him. With a sigh, he got out of the bed just as his servants rushed into his room and bowed to him as low as possible before the silently went to his bathing area to get the tub filled and warm for him.

He didn’t bother to greet them, as he was wont to do, he didn’t even bother to give them a grateful look, why would he when he was still shit scared at how his day would go.

He had lived his whole life thinking he was his father’s son even though it was obvious to him since he couldn’t perform Grey magic and could only perform Green magic which was his Mother’s magic. Multiple times he and his father had just written that fact off and claimed that he was a late bloomer, it happened. But with the revelation from his Mother last night, a revelation he would have rather not found out about, his entire world had come crashing down.

When he was down his bathing, he didn’t know, all he knew was that he had gone from the bath tub, to his garment area, gotten dressed with the help of his male servants and gotten ready for the day.

“You’re late.” His Mother began as she walked towards him from the other end of the hallway.

“Yet we meet at the hallway at the same time.”

“You are the Emperor, you should already be in the throne room to welcome the three kings, not in you room doing whatever it was you were doing.” His Mother said as they both walked down the huge stairs lined with servants and guards at both sides.

“I’m still the Prince until I am crowned, which means you as the Empress are supposed to have already been in the throne room by now.” He replied with a smirk.

“Hold up, are you really talking back at your mother? You my boy, need a beating.” His Mother said with a playful frown that broke a smile across his face.

“Thankfully it’s against the law for the Emperor to be struck.” He said.

“Well then, thank the heaven that you are still a Prince.” His Mother said with raised brows that had him chuckle and then laugh out loud, laughter she joined shortly after as they reached the bottom of the stairs. 

“Good to know you’ve still got a good sense of humour Timothy.” His Mother said as they walked hand in hand to the throne room to await the arriving Kings.

He simply smiled in reply as he kept his eye ahead. That little moment they had just had was a good distraction, a good way to remove his mind from the fear that was moving up and down his spine with a vengeance.

“The Queen of the Crownlands, Empress of Lyvera, and Lady Protector of the Four Kingdoms, Anastasia Augustus and her son, the Prince of the Crownlands, Crowned Prince of Lyvera and the Heir to the Lord Protector of the Four Kingdoms, Timothy Augustus!” The Imperial Herald shouted at the top of his lungs before the great doors were opened by the guards.

Deep breaths Tim, deep breaths. He whispered to himself as he walked into the throne room with his Mother by his side.

As was expected, the throne room was already filled with people from the Cronwlands, Lords and Ladies who frequently wined and dined with their King and Emperor, while also being filled with Chief Servants and Head of the Guards that were there to bear witness to the body of his ‘father’ that was set before the throne in a glass coffin for all to see.

Of course there was also his family. His uncle, Prince Andrew Augustus who gave him the dirtiest look ever while also look at his Mother condescendingly before looking back at his brother’s corpse, was there being his usual nice self. His Aunt, Juliet Augustus, whose husband had died in a recently fought war with the Rexulon Kingdom to their east, was also there being her usual breath of fresh air self as she gave him and his Mother her trade mark frown.

His cousins were also there, daughters of Andrew whose names he never bothered to find out due to his friendly relationship with their father.

As he and his Mother got to the glass coffin, his Mother simply laid one hand on the glass before she let out a sad sigh and then looked at the people who all gave her sad and sympathetic looks. “I will miss you.” She whispered as she looked back at the corpse in sadness.

His Mother was good at this, he had to admit, pretending to be this loving wife to the now dead man was a skill he didn’t possess. He and his father had never seen eye to eye, he may have been understanding about the fact that he had been a ‘late bloomer’, but even he could tell his father hated him for that and probably feared him becoming Emperor after his father. His father was never outright harsh towards him, but he could tell he was ashamed of him and had tried so many ways to keep him away from the very Kings that would walk into the throne room any minute now.

“The King of Salama, Sylvester Baron!” The Imperial Herald shouted. “And his daughter, Princess Violet Baron.” At his words, a short man walked into the throne room with his royal wear that would have rivalled the Imperial wear if they had enough money and the balls to do that. Beside him was his daughter, a really beautiful girl he had seen many times when he had undergone training on Green Magic at the Salama Academy in the Crowlands. Said girl looked at him with so much awe and adoration, one would think he was her god.

“The King of Brexia, Jonathan Ganda!” The Imperial Herald shouted once more. “And his daughter, Elizabeth Ganda!” At his words, a tall strong looking man walked in with his royal wear. Beside him was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life, a girl who looked like she was unable to ever do harm to even a fly, a girl who once they locked eyes looked at him like he was the one. If there was anything like love at first sight, this was it. He was in love.

I will marry her, no debate no question.

“The King of Valys, Abraham Faroe!” The Herald shouted once more. “And his daughter Zelda Faroe.” In walked the man who was as tall as Jonathan but by his side was a girl that the moment their eyes locked, he detested.

The way she carried herself like she owned the room, like she was the Empress when his Mother was right there. The way she careless looked at him like he wasn’t worth the hype or the breath he was using, the way she dismissed him as quickly as she saw him made him want to grab her head and smash it through a wall as hard as possible.

If there was anyone he was going to marry, it definitely wasn’t going to be her. Someone like her would look for his weakness and then use it against him in her own favour, he couldn’t have her any where near him or she could figure out that he was bastard and end not only his life but his Mother’s life.

With an angry huff, he looked away from her and instead looked at the two women who wouldn’t hurt him, Elizabeth and Violet, one of them would be his wife, one of them would help him on Coronation Day so that he wouldn’t be found out as his Mother’s bastard. The only question was who would it be? 

Elizabeth, the Green Mage, that was the daughter of the third most powerful House, or Violet, the Grey Mage, that was the daughter of the third richest House? He was a Green Mage so it was only obvious for him to choose a Grey Mage as his wife, however he didn’t have to, not when power was involved

The Gandas were also the second richest with the third biggest army. With them, he had both more money and more soldiers, but the high likelihood of having a child that couldn’t use both Green and Grey Magic like every Augustus before him.

The Barons on the other hand, were the third richest with the fourth biggest army. With them he didn’t really have much in the case of money or army since the House of Augustus was first in every category, but with Violet he could have a child that would use both Green and Grey Magic thanks to the little Augustus blood in his Mother from her ancestors.

Both girls were great, both had their pros and cons, but he could only choose one of them. Who would he choose, what would he follow, his heart or his head. He had to choose wisely if he wanted to protect his Mother and himself, but who would it be?