Her people had an expression for that. The river may not taste like the sea, but it doesn’t get sweeter. No one could completely be free of its birth condition, and no child born from the Imperial Palace could be born without blood to be shed either. It was an endless circle of vengeance, jealousy and death haunting those golden walls. How could they pave their own way of staying free of all violence in those conditions? Vrehan had been raised under his mother’s madness, and therefore became the monster one woman’s tortured mind created.
“I have done everything... I became the best in everything!” he yelled. “I was the smartest child, the strongest, even the one with the largest beast, and yet, when that bastard came back, all of it was for nothing. My Father only saw Kairen and his dragon, nothing else. None of us mattered. He gave him the best opportunities, the best chances. Even giving him an army, so he could come back after that victory and be acclaimed by anyone!”
Vrehan’s anger shone through in every single word he spat. He had become about as red as his dragon and didn’t bother to control himself anymore. Cassandra looked at him, standing a few paces away, but she was also still nervously keeping an eye on the monstrous progeny. Krai was growling in a low tone, but its arched back and visible fangs made it clear the beast was ready to attack as soon as she gave the word.
That jealousy between the siblings was no different from their mothers’. They all longed for their father’s attention, and a chance to survive. Yet, Vrehan was the one who had gone too far, who had fallen into this hole without any chance of repair. Cassandra knew this tone of voice, it sounded like despair and madness, molten together.
“It was always about Kairen, the prodigal son, the War God, Kareen’s son. Father was blind anytime that woman or her children were in the room. Even his damn sister mattered more than us, his sons!”
Cassandra remembered seeing Shareen stand like an equal amongst her brothers. She was the only princess allowed to do that, but part of it was because she had taken that right for herself. It wasn’t Kareen or the Emperor who had given her a chance to talk and dispute her brothers, to stand above her sisters. The princess had chosen to stand her ground and become as strong as she needed to be. She had made her own way in life. Shareen couldn’t have gotten that strong, or became able to discuss matters of the Empire on par with her brothers or her father’s counsel, simply because she was the favorite daughter. On the contrary, she may have become the favorite daughter because of everything she had worked hard to achieve.
Vrehan was simply blind and deaf to her actions, just like he was to his own sisters. He couldn’t see a woman as a whole human being, only as a thing to be subjected to another man. To a father, a brother, or a son. Just like her mother, Shareen had long decided she was more than that. Cassandra didn’t think it was simply her education that had molded her, it was her nature.
“He didn’t have to do anything, he always came first in every fucking thing! The minute he was born, that damn Kairen became the nemesis of my life!”
“You’re wrong.”
After all of his screaming and whining , Cassandra’s soft voice took him by surprise. The Second Prince looked at her, looking a bit lost for a second. He probably didn’t think she’d even dare talk back, but there she was. The young concubine wasn’t even afraid. She was standing tall, backed up by the strongest dragon alive, and she was not about to step down. She wasn’t impressed or scared by him.
Cassandra had found in herself the very same feelings she had the last time she stood in this arena. She wasn’t afraid to die, she wasn’t afraid to stand in the face of a man-killing monster. A lot of things had changed, and she was stronger than before. She wanted to survive this time, but she was also ready to give her life to save her loved ones. She wasn’t scared in the slightest, a strange halo of quiet was with her.
“You’re wrong,” she repeated. “You saw what you wanted to see. Kairen never had it easy, none of your siblings did. You’re talking as if he had cheated, but you’re the one who took this for a game. You nurtured your own jealousy after what your mother had experienced. You could have ended it years ago. You could even have saved your mother and your sisters, but instead, you played this game of death and you had fun until you didn’t.”
Vrehan’s face was getting more and more distorted with rage as she spoke. Cassandra’s composure was even more of a slap to his face. He couldn’t stand a woman talking back to him, without any fear in her eyes, and he couldn’t stand her being Kairen’s woman. He wanted to gouge her eyes out. Those eyes that looked at him like he was a pitiful thing, or a crazy animal. Those green eyes that judged him.
“You could have led a good life if you had stopped all this,” Cassandra continued. “Your mother was the one who caused the havoc, but you happily followed her into madness, and you even pushed all the blame onto her. You used her. At least she had her love for you and the Emperor as an excuse. But, you? You didn’t have any real reason to inflict all the damage you caused. No one forced you to kill people, abuse your sisters, or even fight your brothers. You could have spared many lives, but you just relished in your power until someone overshadowed it. It didn’t even have to be Kairen or Shareen. You needed a bone to pick and you found one.”
Vrehan clenched his fists and his teeth, so furious he looked like he was about to explode.
“You ignorant witch!” he shouted. “You think you know the ways of the Palace? Do you think you have any idea how cruel that world is? I was merely a child! I only followed the path my mother had...”
“I was a child too when I was captured,” said Cassandra in a very soft and low voice. “I suffered. I saw all the people I loved killed, tortured, raped, and sold by men I didn’t know. I saw dozens of young girls like me, crying and suffering. I cried and I begged, too. I was whipped so many times, I thought I’d die. I was cut so deep I know the color of my own bones. I also experienced despair and anger, and it did not make me into a monster.”
The Second Prince looked at a loss for words for a few seconds. Then, he scoffed.
“You were merely a slave! You were insignificant, you were bound to be killed anyway! You couldn’t rebel! However, if you had the chance, just once, to hold the whip and torture the one who had done this to you, tell me you wouldn’t have done it?! Tell me you would have remained all pure and innocent! Do you think I am a monster? We are all monsters then!”
“No one held the whip for you,” retorted Cassandra.
He blinked, having lost what she meant. This time, Cassandra simply looked disgusted at him, and resolute. The concubine shook her head and put her hand on Krai’s neck as she stepped forward.
“No one inflicted you such suffering, you’re the one who caused it. You mimicked your mother’s craziness. You don’t deserve to even compare yourself to any victim. You and I, we are not the same. You only inflicted pain on others, but you never suffered enough to know the full extent of the pain you caused. You just used it as an excuse to justify yourself.”
“I am the victim! I wasn’t born to be in someone’s shadow! It is my throne! No one knows what I went through, I did what I had to! Don’t judge me, you damn slave! You know nothing! I am the new Emperor, the only one that matters!”
His madness was beyond saving.
Cassandra realized that as she watched him scream, shout, and empty his lungs dry. This man had already sealed his own fate several times. There was no use in saving a fool running towards his end. Even if it wasn’t for all those reasons, Vrehan was not one that could be saved. Cassandra glanced towards the damaged dragons that were still growling at Krai. It was nothing pretty to see. Those things were never supposed to be created, yet they had been born out of one man’s madness and a woman’s suffering. The vision of Phemera’s terrified eyes came back to her mind, giving Cassandra the conviction she needed.
“Enough,” she said. “It ends now. All of your madness, your schemes, and all the pain you inflicted on others.”
The Prince scoffed.
“Ha! Do you think you can stop me? You, the slave woman? The white witch? I knew you’d be a problem, ever since Kairen saved you from this arena, I should have gotten rid of you faster... It’s high time I get rid of you, you’re an eyesore!”
Just as he yelled those last words, the dragons suddenly got more agitated, growling loudly and running towards Krai. The Black Dragon didn’t move, staying close to Cassandra, but when the young dragons reached them, Krai was ready. The sound of the first attack resonated throughout the arena. Cassandra dived down to cover her ears, as one of the dragons growled even louder, right above her. A dragon’s growl could be as soft as a purr, but it could become a deafening siren when they wanted to be heard. She rolled to the side, blinking through the dust clouds the gigantic bodies had stirred.
So it had begun. She could hear Krai’s anger unleashing, but she couldn’t stand around. She could be crushed at any moment by their weight, or get scratched by a dragon’s claw if she wasn’t careful. While Krai had done its best to protect her, the Black Dragon couldn’t focus on Cassandra when it had to fight two of those dragons. She had to get out of there, as the fight was bound to get messy. She struggled to escape, as she was keeping an eye on the fight between all three dragons, while not making the mistake of finding herself in Vrehan’s reach.
