Page 70 of Blood Red Woes

“Well, I’m back,” I say, mentally readying myself for another fight. How hard can it be to beat a guy who’s been trapped on a throne? Sure, his physical physique hasn’t exactly withered away, but still.

The Emperor moves his arms off the armrests and sets them on his knees as he leans forward. The jeweled band around his head sparkles in the light. “That you are.” His gaze drops to myfeet, and he doesn’t hide the way he studies my stance. “And ready for a fight.” The laugh that comes from him sounds wrong.

“Cut the act,” I hiss as my hands curl into fists at my sides. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the one behind the shadowstorm over Laconia and the one that’s been raging outside ever since.”

He cocks his head at me, the mischievous expression on his handsome face bordering on deadly. “Am I? My, my, Rey, you think you have it all figured out, don’t you? You think you’ve finally put it all together, but you are just as blind now as you were then… only now you’re more useful to me.”

“Maybe I was blind before, but I can see what you are now—”

His gloved hands lift as he gestures around us. “Oh, really? Do tell. What am I?”

“You’re just as insane as your mother was. Whatever made her lose her mind made you an asshole who attacks with shadowstorms. How do you think this is gonna go, huh? You think you can beat me while stuck to that throne?”

The Emperor grins at me, flashing a set of perfect teeth—too perfect in a world like this; everything about him must be unnatural. “Oh, Rey. So confident. So certain. You’re right about the scourge. I’ll give you that, but as for everything else… nothing is what it seems.” The grin falls off his face. “Take a look around and tell me what you see.”

The last thing I want to do is take my eyes off him; I don’t trust him. Still, something out of the corner of my eye calls to my attention, a shift in reality. My head whips around. Over my shoulder, I see the guards that previously stood, lining each side of the room, now either lay or sit in crumpled heaps. Their helmets rest directly on their shoulders, their heads bent at unnatural angles, their weapons either on their laps or fallen out of their hands.

They’re dead.They’ve been dead this whole time. But how?

My eyes are wide when I look back at the Emperor. “How are you doing all of this? Laconia only has empresses. They pass down their magic to the next empress. You…” I stop when I see his smile.

Handsome, yes, but maniacal. The smile of a villain, someone who’s willing to do whatever it takes to be victorious.

“You still don’t understand,” the Emperor says, “so let me make it clear for you.” Without another word, he stands, and as he stands, it’s as if I’m witnessing a separation of two beings. He stands, but in his place on the throne, he leaves a small skeleton adorned in the same clothes he wears.

The same golden, jeweled crown sits on the skeleton’s head. Judging by the size of the bones, he was just a boy when death took him.

The Emperor stands near the throne, glancing at the skeleton with the absence of pity. “Not everything I told you was a lie. I was trapped here, you see, stuck in this prison that Morimento made for me.” He motions to the room around us again, but there’s something different about him now—and it isn’t because I can now see just how tall he is or how strong he is beneath those royal clothes.

No, there’s something else. Something… familiar.

“She locked me away, but thankfully there was someone else who could help me.” He glances over his shoulder at the skeleton. “Children are so easy to manipulate. It took much longer for me to… persuade Gladus that she was better off keeping me close.”

I try to follow what he’s saying, but none of it makes sense.

The look on my face must tell him everything, because he chuckles darkly. “And then there’s you, Rey. I knew Krotas would always be the most challenging, so I decided to stick with you. I lost you for a while—and then I had to wait until you were so down on your luck that you’d have no choice but to help me.”

My breath comes out short. He’s still a good fifteen feet away, but it’s like he’s close enough to choke me. “You’re…”

The next time he speaks, his voice does not belong to him—or maybe it does, and it’s belonged to him this entire time. Heavily accented, each word laced with venom and derision. “What? Don’t recognize me like this, Rey? Perhaps we need to have more heart-to-hearts.”

No. No, no, no. This can’t be. This guy, he can’t be him. It’s not possible. There’s no fucking way.

The word is out of my mouth before I can stop it, “Rune?”

The way he smiles after that, the way his blue eyes flash a bit brighter… I was so stupid. This entire time, it’s never been the Emperor. The true son of Empress Morimento died years ago, and this thing was trapped in his place.

The truth hits me like a bus.

It was Rune all along.

Rune’s the villain in this story.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rune takes a step toward me, then another. While I’m frozen, reckoning with the weight of the truth, he stalks toward me like an animal on the hunt. He wears a handsome face, but good looks can’t hide the poison in his soul.

“Finally, she gets it,” Rune speaks with a smirk that’s strong enough to knock anyone off their feet. Closer yet he comes, and the closer he gets, the bigger he is. Turns out, having a bit of distance between us skewed my perception of him.

---