18 Years Ago

 

Ta-Vet was bitter.

In the span of several months, he had learned many horrible truths. The first was that he was a bastard. That many others around him possibly were, and that he would possibly never be free.

No one would ever set free a slave that could easily return and take what was rightfully his. Ta-Vet was angry that his mother and brother knew, and hid the truth from him.

He learned that his dead brother was his father and that his living brother was his uncle, his mother his grandmother. Ta-Vet told himself that it could be worse, that he could stay quiet and everything would be fine.

Ta-Vet learned the truth and did nothing, and that was what hurt the most.

Every morning he woke up and would read.

He was a favored servant, and now he knew why he was allowed to read, not because he was polite or smart, but because he was of purer blood. Since he could read he would instruct others on what to do. He was in charge of a section of the house, and oftentimes he would go to the library when he was free.

The Empress had an expansive library, collected over generations, with tales of other places so strange one would think it was fiction. Ta-Vet was in the library when his brother ran in.

It was Tamuz, and he was breathing hard, shaken up.

“There’s been a fire,” he rasped. “They found children.”

Ta-Vet and the servants had seen many strange things living in Hearth Castle. Some claimed they saw ghosts, others said they heard whispers from empty rooms. Mint, Ta-Vet’s mother, swore up and down that she heard a laughing watch while dusting a room once.

This however was not strange or scary, but just unseemingly brutal.

In one of the older buildings of Hearth Castle, a fire was started, and corpses of young infants were found. Rumors went wild that someone did it on purpose, that the Empire was trying to kill the bastards of nobles all at once, but this time they were caught.

Someone claimed they saw the High Prince nearby when it started, that he had simply ignored it, and continued on his way. There was no proof of any of the speculations, and even if there was there would be no consequences for the royal family. No one claimed the infants, so there were no charges to be filed.

Everyone was already fearful of High Prince Leofric. He was once a sweet child, but as he aged he seemed to slowly go insane. Many of the servants thought that the royal family was cursed.

Their eldest son was a maniac, the eldest daughter weak and timid, the younger daughter thought she was a boy, and no one simply paid any attention to the youngest son, as only women could rule the Empire.

The truth was that they were not cursed, but years of inbreeding simply made Leofric deranged. Coupled with an opulent lifestyle and simply, a horrible personality, Leofric was a product of his environment and genetics.

It was easier to believe in curses though than to admit that maybe marrying your cousin was a bad idea for every generation.

Their family tree was a circle, and their life was trapped inside it.

One day Ta-Vet was called into the Empress’ day room and he went reluctantly. He did not have a choice but to go, and he was truly afraid after the many rumors he heard about how the infants had died.

He arrived at her dayroom, a simple quiet place with thin, sheer curtains, relaxing blue wallpaper, many books, and a large antique rug to cover the floor. Ta-Vet had been to her room many times, but this time something was different.

He saw babies.

The Empress held one of them and grinned. He was grunting over and over, and Ta-Vet was worried the baby was in distress.

The Empress saw his face and laughed.

“Don’t worry,” she smiled. “He is a strange one! The other one is quiet, but this one is very loud!” The baby flared its nostrils, angry that someone dared to pick him up and not feed him.

“Good day Mother Empress,” Ta-Vet mumbled. He bowed, forgetting his manners.

“Do not call me that,” she sighed. “Things are different now.”

Ta-Vet did not believe that things were truly different, because he still had to clean every day while the Empress got to do as she pleased, which is what happened before he learned of his lineage.

“You do not have to call me mother,” she lamented. “I do not deserve it after all this time. Call me Aeris, Invictus.”

Ta-Vet grimaced at the name. He did not like the name he gave him, as it was given to someone else entirely, a person who was supposed to be sleeping in the castle instead of cleaning it.

“I don’t like that,” he mumbled.

He stared at the ground, nervous that he had disagreed with her. Aeris rolled her eyes.

“I brought you in here to tell you something important,” she boomed. Her demeanor had changed back to her regular self, authoritative and demeaning.

“You need to leave here soon,” she told him. “You’re going to die.”

Ta-Vet was afraid he had insulted her by arguing about the choice of name that he never used.

“Don’t hurt me,” he whispered. “I’ll take the name and-”

“No! It’s not about the name. It’s Leofric.”

Ta-Vet was now truly terrified. He was a skinny man, after years of work indoors unlike most slaves, and was not quite athletic. He would not win if a trained swordsman like Leofric decided to kill him.

“Why would Leofric want to hurt me,” Ta-Vet asked. “He does not even know I exist.”

“The babies were all bastards like you,” Aeris admitted. “I know he killed them. He told me himself, filthy thing.”

She spat out the word thing, long disgusted that she had ever created her son, ashamed that she had cursed the world with his madness.

“He will soon look for more. He might learn of you and kill you next, as you are older than him.”

Ta-Vet rubbed the back of his neck and looked around the room, unsure of what to do. Aeris sighed and walked over to the crib. She put the baby in next to his brother and he grumbled.

He didn’t want to be put back down, and his brother was too quiet for fun.

Ta-Vet feebly walked over and saw them both.

“These are the only ones that made it from the fire,” he asked.

“Yes,” Aeris grimaced. “Eight of them died.”

Ta-Vet saw Leofric as a monster. He wondered how a monster like him was considered better because of simply the nature of his birth.

Life was cruel.

Ta-Vet thought the babies were quite charming. One had green eyes, the other blue, both with wispy red hair.

“How could he do such a thing to them,” Ta-Vet whispered.

Aeris saw the look on his face and had known that he would believe anything that she said. She was ready to bring up her lie.

She began to feed it to him, slowly.

“I want to disown him,” Aeris admitted. “I’m afraid of what he would do if let loose upon the world, so I keep him here.”

Ta-Vet closed his eyes and shuddered.

“You are a smart woman, Emp-, Aeris."

. She grinned big, happy that she had finally made him relax around her.

“I want you to help me, Invictus,” Aeris pleaded. “Leofric plans on killing them. We shall leave from here, and you will take them somewhere.”

“I, I don’t know what to do with children. You should return them to their parents,” Ta-Vet replied.

“They don’t have any,” she lied. “They are the last of their line.”

Ta-Vet felt guilt that such a heavy burden was placed on two very unaware infants. The one with green eyes stared at him. He was very quiet, while the other one shifted around, kicking its legs and grunting.

“I want to make sure no more children die,” Aeris continued. “You don’t have to keep them. Just promise me you’ll keep one safe until we can leave.”

Ta-Vet stared at the one that kept kicking.

“Is he fine,” he asked.

“He will do that all day until he tires himself out! Pay him no mind!”

Ta-Vet worried that the baby had the mind of an animal instead of a person.

“Why are you telling me all this? Why must I help you with this,” Ta-Vet asked.

Aeris tried to hold back her usual smirk of victory, knowing that he would agree as she tried to remind herself this is not a battle, but a simple conversation.

“I want to protect all my children,” Aeris admitted. “I am not a good mother, but I will try to at least do good things.”

Ta-Vet felt that her new gesture was a little empty. Ta-Vet didn’t want a baby pushed onto him. He didn’t understand how Aeris thought what she was doing was being “ a good mother”.

“I will give you enough money for a long time,” she told him. “ I will not send you off into the world without a thing.”

“Truly?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you,” he said softly.

“Tonight we will leave. I will give you some important items, and you must keep them safe for me, do you understand,” she explained.

“Yes."

“You will take one, I will take the other,” she continued. “You will meet me at the red tree, outside the walls of Hearth.”

“I don’t think I should take a child with me,” Ta-Vet said. “I don’t know anything about them.”

“If you have one child, there is a better chance of someone living. Leofric knows there are two others left. I’m trying to get you and all the other bastards out before he finds them all.”

“I am not the first to leave, am I,” Ta-Vet asked.

“No, and those children were not the first to die,” she replied.

I have no choice, Ta-Vet thought. This poor babe is at the mercy of Leofric as well.

Ta-Vet nodded quickly. “Why tomorrow,” he asked. “My mother-”

“Mint already knows,” Aeris lied. “She wants you to leave as soon as possible for your safety.”

Ta-Vet was not a very forward person. He could not say no very well, and now his biological mother had told him that he had to leave the place he had lived his entire life.

He was unsure that it would work, afraid that he was being tricked. Aeris saw him, afraid and confused. She embraced him, and Ta-Vet went stiff. She told him all the things a mother tells her son.

That he was handsome and good, and he would always be hers.

To her, Ta-Vet was her son, but to him, she was a beautiful woman, and he was alone with her, and he was flustered. She had a big grin on her face when she saw Ta-Vet’s red face.

“You are so modest,” she chuckled.

She picked up the green-eyed baby and kissed him. She told him he was going on a trip, and he merely stared at her, hoping that she would feed him.

“Take the other one,” Aeris said. “He has enough spirit for the two of you!”

Indeed he did. He finally had tired himself out with the kicks, and instead was drooling, staring at everything and everyone fiercely.

“This child is not all right,” Ta-Vet observed. “You are giving me a simpleton.”

“Don’t say that to him,” Aeris shouted. “He is too young to be treated so!”

Ta-Vet mumbled a quick apology and picked up the baby. It stared right into his eyes, and Ta-Vet quickly put him back down.

Why did I touch that baby? It is not mine.

“Ta-Vet, I want you to come with me,” she commanded. “It’s not very far. Take the other one.” “

I.. I’m sorry I cannot,” he replied. “That child is clearly of higher-”

“I cannot leave them alone or else Leofric will kill them.”

Quickly he picked up the baby, who started to grunt for no reason. They went down the hallway, her white dress and luminous cape dragging on the floor, her heels click-clacking, briskly navigating the large castle.

Her flame-red hair was curled, and she had an intense look in her cerulean eyes. Aeries never spoke quietly. She never did anything quietly. She had nothing to fear.

Ta-Vet on the other hand was the complete opposite of his mother. She was a star and he was the moon that could only shine because of her light.

He walked quietly, praying to every god he knew, hoping that no one would see him holding a baby that looked nothing like him and thinking he was the one who killed all the others.

They stopped in front of a simple black door.