Strings of Jade

Why did I have to do that? It has been two hours since he ran away. He should be coming for his classes anytime soon. I breathe as uncertainty comes over me. He's adolescent. This won't be easy. 'If someone could get me my mention, if was that boy, 6 years younger.'

No, he's not going to be a sacrifice. I want to say I'm sorry, I want to tell him that I lie to him, that I used to think of him as a tool, that what happened now was nothing but rash thinking. I want to tell him...

I make my way to the familiar passage, winding. His room. I need to speak to him. I open the wooden doors, to find it empty and bare. Though he lived here all his life, it was as empty as ever, he never thought of it as a home. Neither did I. I sift through his belongings. Where? Clothes, that are more familiar to me than my own. Books, though I never thought he read. I did deeper. Turning his mattress, an object falls. A brooch, beautiful jaded green. I never gave it to him. Who did?

He is not here, that is sure. I walk to the center wing, where I hear the commotion. The priest's chamber? What could it be?

I push through the crowds or maids and servants. Some nobles gather around a point, like a tree of gold grows there. Not gold, but rubies. It's red. Not rubies, but blood, I realize. The High Priest's. Disbelief comes and goes to make way for satisfaction. Stabbed to death. He got better than he deserved.

'Pretty women do not belong in courts of nobles. Don't try to start a revolution. We all know how that might end.' he said to me. I hate him so much, I wish his soul never finds peace. 

'Well, He is no more, unfortunately. He was of an age' one noble said.

'Oh whoever did it, I wonder?' came a statement, dripping with mock-innocence. 

Nobody cared. It was just their title that demanded them to be here.

'Succession.' I said. They all stared at me. 'We need a Successor. Has the Emperor been informed?' I demand. 'We have sent a herald.' one woman remarked. I scoff. I mean something else. 

'Where is he?' I ask. 'My pupil. He was taken for this purpose' 

'Oh, I thought those were just rumors.' a man remarked. A margrave. 'You were serious?' 

'I know an heir when I see one' I say 'Where is he?' I ask Margrave Sernius. 

A voice comes, startling us all. 'R..ran away' the boneless body remarks. Isn't he dead? 'He... did it..' said the Priest as he breathed his last. 

'I am sure, you know an heir when you see one.' smirks Sernius. That rascal. 

'He couldn't have. Never' I breathe as I turn to leave. 

'Make arrangements for the Final Honoring.' I hear Sernius behind me.