Page 6 of An Empress of Earth & Darkness

Seconds later, she had moved to her bathing chamber and come back out fully cloaked. She brushed past Gideon’s shoulder, and Artem began to move after her.

“Excuse me.” Artem pulled on her cloak, and she turned to him with fire lighting in her eyes. “Where do you think you are going?”

“I need to see him, Artem. If I am signing any treaty, I need to speak to him first. I need to see it in his eyes that he has truly given up the fight.”

The fight for them.

Gideon moved then too. “You won’t find him.” He managed to put himself in between the door and the Empress. She walked towards Gideon anyway. “Emara, listen to me. You won’t find him.”

She halted. “And why is that, Gideon?” She looked around. “Because you all hide secrets from me?”

“Because you have no idea where you are looking.” Artem grinned dangerously.

That didn’t faze her. “Then I guess I will start with the taverns in the markets. Surely, I will hit a bullseye at one point.”

“You won’t,” Gideon interjected. “It’s not safe in the markets for an empress. Not alone.”

“Then come with me.”

“No,” both hunters said, unified.

She let out a frustrated breath. “I am done pretending that I am some unskilled witch who can’t defend herself and that he is not out there hurting, possibly drinking too much, and on the route to self-destruction after having declared a civil war against his father. I have sat here for months and played the role of the self-controlled empress, and I have been nothing short of miserable. As I was reminded tonight, I am a half-breed, not a full-blooded witch, which means I need to fight a little bit harder than everyone else here for what I want. And I will put up a fight a little bit longer because Torin did that for me when I needed him to.” Her voice broke, as did Gideon’s heart. “I must fight for him. I can’t pretend that he didn’t make promises to me, Gideon; I am sorry, but I can’t. Your father is putting you in the crossfire of that and it is not fair.” She paused. “And if Torin no longer wants to hold up those promises, then my heart will break, but at least I will know for sure and I can fulfil my duty. I need to hear it from his own mouth. If what we had wasn’t real, he will let me go. And if it wasn’t real, then I will let him go too. But you need to let me try and get through to him. Please.”

Artem shook his head and then gave Gideon the eye.

And maybe she was right. She had a huge point. How could he go through with a marriage if Emara loved his brother, chose his brother? How could he sleep next to her at night and give her everything a marriage had to offer if her heart was spoken for? If her heart would never be his? He would have no other way of finding out if Torin just lurked in the shadows of his union. If his brother would always be the other person in his marriage, could he really go through with it? Would that really be the best alliance for his clan?

But what other option did Gideon have?

If the Gods had willed Emara and Torin struck by fate, Gideon had to know too. He had to test it properly.

Maybe he should tell her.

“He’s not in the taverns, Emara.” Gideon hung his head.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Artem placed a hand on his shoulder and patted him down. “Hold on there, buddy, we are not giving in to her that easily. That’s what she wants. I’ve put up a fight for months. I am not going to let you ruin that because she has batted a few eyelashes.”

“Giving in to her?” Emara reeled. “Batted a few eyelashes?”

Artem spun. “Yes, giving in to you. Luckily, my heart doesn’t lie with you and therefore I can think straight and not with little Arty.” He threw a look at Gideon, and Emara pulled a disgusted face. If it weren’t such a serious conversation, Gideon might have laughed. Artem glanced back to Emara. “That’s what Gideon is about to do here, give in to you, because the Blacksteels seem incapable of standing up to you. But I won’t falter. My brain is stronger than little Arty is—which isn’t so little, by the way.”

“You really are revolting,” Emara scoffed.

Artem turned back to Gideon, unfazed by her repulsion. “Torin will fucking kill us if we tell her where he is, never mind allow Little Miss ‘I Want To Wander About Without My Guards Because I Am A Big Strong Empress’ to head into the underground alone.”

Gideon straightened as Artem stiffened.

“The underground?” Emara exclaimed.

“Fuck.” Artem ran a hand down his face that was covered with a detailed skull as he turned ghostly white.

“Well done on containing that top secret information, Stryker.” Gideon clapped his hands. “You did such a marvellous job. Maybe you should worry about yourself next time and not about me since you and little Arty are absolutely shit at keeping secret information secret!”

Artem threw him a rude gesture and looked down at his pants. “He didn’t mean that. He’s just an angry Blacksteel.”

Emara’s hands flew out from under her cloak. “Are we talking about the same underground that runs below the city?” Her eyes bulged from her face. “Where trade dealings the markets won’t even allow take place?”

“Shit, shit, shit.” Artem inhaled and then exhaled, scratching his head. “Can you not just forget I said that?”

---