'Traitor.'
Kel's neck prickled where a hateful glob of saliva had once landed.
Even now, she could vividly recall the unsavory encounter she had in the streets of Mevani the day before her engagement ceremony.
Certainly, the Emperor's prophecy had proved accurate, that spit wouldn't be the only thing aimed at her neck the next time it was bare. The assassins constantly assailing them in Pandreia proved to be far worse than hurled insults and saliva.
But nobody in Pandreia seemed to have a problem with her specifically.
The girl who went from being a proud Mevani citizen to betraying her own country and becoming engaged to the enemy.
The soldier who could blast a hole in a sturdy stone ceiling with the fire produced by her own body.
She was not foolish enough to believe they simply didn't know. The whole continent was probably aflame with heinous rumors about her. But the fact that nobody mentioned it, nobody targeted her, nobody spit at her and called her a traitor..
It bothered her.
"Why.." she trailed off, uncertain what she wanted to ask. "In Mevani, they hated me."
Calix studied her closely while she struggled to find the right words for her question.
"Why did nobody in Pandreia seem to care.. about me?" she tried again.
"What are you talking about?" Calix shook his head. "Did you manage to forget about the hordes of assassin bodies we had to throw off our balcony each night?"
"No. In Mevani they thought I was a traitor," Kel tried to explain. "They feared my powers."
The Emperor nodded, still looking as if he couldn't quite grasp what she was trying to ask.
"But in Pandreia, nobody brought up any of that," she concluded. "They attacked me simply because I was engaged to you."
"Ah.." Calix's expression finally settled. "You've gotten it wrong from the beginning."
Kel scrunched her eyebrows together, giving him a questioning look.
"From the beginning," Calix repeated, "none of the assassins were meant for me. They were meant for you."
Kel sighed. Somehow it sounded like she had turned things into a contest of which of them was more infamous, and Calix was trying to console her in her loss.
"No. I didn't mean-"
"You see, everyone on this continent already knows what I'm capable of," Calix went on, ignoring Kel's interruption. "They were testing you."
"Testing…" Kel froze.
"I thought it would be obvious," the Emperor smirked. "Both remaining kingdoms ran to surrender to my Empire as soon as they caught wind of the fire-wielding woman by my side."
He put his arm around Kel as he continued.
"It's only natural they wanted to test if those rumors were true."
"Wait, but I never used my fire against them," Kel clenched her fist in her lap as she stared into the dancing flames. "I couldn't even start this small campfire."
The orange blaze glowed as it swayed and forth. The center was bright, but as it swirled upward, it slowly gave way to black trains of smoke
"Then the assassins.. the poison.. Lucy.. I could have stopped all of it before it ever started."
As Kel continued to watch the endless glowing swirls, she had another horrifying realization.
"Calix!" she gasped, grabbing both of the Emperor's shoulders. "Is it possible that, in Vitocia, they've laid a trap? Since I won't be there?"
"That's very likely," Calix replied matter-of-factly.
Kel dropped her face into her hands.
"Why didn't you say anything?" she murmured.
Calix reached for her chin, pulling her face up until their eyes met.
"I didn't want you to change your mind."
Kel studied his unwavering red gaze before tearing away.
"That sounds nothing like you," she snorted. "What happened to locking me up and tying me to your side?"
Calix's lips twitched and curled into a smile as if he was observing something small and cute.
"But you are by my side, are you not?" he quipped, wrapping his arms around her. "I said I wanted to tie you to me, not to my Empire."
Kel rolled her eyes, but allowed herself to be embraced.
Honestly, she was surprised Calix hadn't popped a blood vessel or something by letting her have her way instead of forcing her into his.
Unless, by some bizarre turn of events, this was exactly what he wanted.
Perhaps, deep down, he was still just a little boy craving his guardian's love, and he was secretly longing to meet Itzae again, using Kel as an excuse to fulfill that longing.
Still, it seemed odd that he'd allow his soldiers to walk straight into a trap, even if he was afraid Kel would run away otherwise. Didn't he always catch her anyway?
Her heart fluttered as she thought that maybe the words he had spoken to her on the way to Pandreia were true after all.
That between his Empire and her, he would rather have her.
Calix chuckled at her facial expression, which had gone from pouting, to laughing, and now to contemplation.
"You should know me well enough to know I'd never allow my soldiers to walk willingly into danger," he spoke. "I can at least plan ahead for that much, and my knights can handle more than you give them credit for."
Kel's face turned into a pout once again.
"I thought you said you'd choose me over your Empire," she muttered.
The Emperor laughed again and pressed his lips into her forehead.
"I meant it when I said that," he replied. "It simply doesn't apply in this situation."
"Right. Because you aren't in danger of losing your precious Empire just by going with me," Kel tried to push the man away, but he only hugged her more tightly.
"It sounds like my Empress is not satisfied with my love and demands I sacrifice my Empire for her," he whispered.
Kel tried to squirm away as the Emperor moved to plant a kiss on her cheek.
She wasn't actually angry, just feeling a bit playful and embarrassed at her incorrect assumptions. The Emperor seemed to be enjoying her antics however, and couldn't stop grinning as he tried to catch her cheek with his lips.
Kel had almost burst into laughter herself when Calix suddenly jolted back, one of his hands flying to his ear.
"Ugh! That stupid bird!" he roared as Icarus fluttered off his shoulder, the tip of his beak red from a particularly vicious peck at the Dragon Emperor's ear.
Apparently, the bird had not realized the couple was only playing with each other, and gallantly swooped in to save his mistress.
Kel giggled as Calix stomped over to the branch Icarus and Astrid were perched on, only to leap back at an onslaught of gooey white dung falling toward his head.
"I'm sending those birds back first thing tomorrow!!"
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