The Dragon's Kiss

"What about after we got back to the palace?" Kel asked. "What happened that night?"

Lucy blinked a few times, her heart rate quickening as she thought of the emperor's reign of terror that night. Thank goodness the princess had been locked away from all the chaos, or she may have become one of the many targets of His Majesty's anger.

His closest aides barely managed to keep him from slaughtering the guard accused of stabbing Sir Barclay. After exhausting all of their breath and strength holding him back, the two aides were able to convince him to hold a proper trial.

The emperor, of course, wanted to hold the trial immediately, but most of the officials had left for the night and wouldn't return to the palace until the following morning. Throughout the sleepless night, all servants like Lucy could do was pray the sun would rise quickly and then do their best to stay out of sight.

"Even during his infamous coup, I've never seen the emperor that way," Lucy explained to Kel. "He usually has this aura of complete control, both of himself and everything around him."

But that night, he was an entirely different person.

Behind the demonic rage covering his face, however, Lucy thought she caught a glimpse of something like a child--a child who had, for the first time, experienced things not going their way.

"Then what of the trial?" Kel prodded. "I missed most of it."

"No." Lucy's eyes darkened. "You didn't miss very much."

Messengers had been sent out in the wee hours of the morning, tasked with gathering all the officials to the palace nearly two hours earlier than they usually arrived. Those who didn't make it in time were to be demoted at best and imprisoned for defying a direct order at worst.

Since Lucy had been lingering around the main palace, worrying for the princess, she'd been dragged into helping prepare the throne room. As she cleaned and assembled chairs, she overheard the emperor arguing with an advisor.

'But Sire! In order to hold an official trial, we need a testimony from both sides!' the small, red-nosed man had insisted.

'Then go find someone to give the other testimony,' the emperor growled, waving the man away as if he were a pesky fly.

Undaunted by the emperor's annoyance, the advisor continued, 'You don't understa-'

'Use whatever means you must!' the emperor raised his voice. 'Find a suitable candidate and tell them they'll be thrown into the dungeon if they don't agree!'

'That's exactly the problem, Your Majesty!' the man wailed. 'The hostage princess of Mevani is the only suitable candidate!'

'No. Not her,' the emperor aggressively insisted.

'It has to be!' The advisor rolled his eyes. 'Shall I relay the message exactly as you said?'

With a loud clapping sound, the red-nosed advisor was suddenly on the ground, the emperor standing over him threateningly.

'Did you not hear me?!' he roared. "I said not her!'

"P-p-please have m-mercy,' the rabbit-like man whimpered underneath the dragon's shadow.

'Sire.' It was Ira who cut in, one of the only two men able to keep the emperor's fiery temper in check. 'He's right. She is your only choice if you are to hold a trial.'

'Then I won't hold a trial,' the emperor snarled.

The throne room was filled with officials all waiting for the trial to begin by the time the emperor conceded and motioned for a knight to go fetch the princess.

At the same time, Lucy left to go fetch clothes for her miss, silently scolding herself for not thinking to go prepare the princess for the trial when she first overheard them speaking on the matter.

She'd heard from a few of her coworkers later on that the trial had only begun a few minutes before she came back.

At first, the emperor seemed to be officiating a legitimate trial. His rage was clear, but the words he spoke were impartial and unaccusing. Perhaps they would have gotten to the bottom of what really happened in those woods--why Sir Barclay was there and why the guards stabbed him without a second thought--if the emperor had remained that way.

Things at the trial took a sudden nosedive, however, when His Majesty spied the ragged princess stumbling through the door.

"You pretty much know the rest," Lucy sighed. "The emperor ended the trial abruptly, claiming your appearance was the reason (which more or less was the truth) and executed that man immediately."

"So what you're saying," Kel hesitated, "is that the only three people who actually know what happened… are all dead?"

"That's right," the maid groaned. "Both of those guards and Sir Barclay."

A heavy silence settled over the two women as they both pondered the situation. How careless of the emperor to kill both guards without getting proper information from them. It was a mistake only a man completely controlled by his emotions would make.

"I don't mean to pry," Lucy spoke up, "but I heard you went to see Sir Barclay before his death. Did you, by chance, ask about-"

"I didn't," Kel lamented, dropping her head to her hands.

When the emperor sent her callously to put her companion out of his misery, was he giving her a chance to find out the truth? Or at least information that would help her get closer to it?

Kel snorted at herself. To think she was criticizing the emperor for getting carried away by his emotions when she had fallen victim to the same circumstance.

Both of them, it seemed, had squandered precious opportunities in pursuit of their own feelings.

"... Are you certain, then, that the emperor didn't purposefully cause my comrade's demise?" Kel asked quietly.

The maid stopped to think for a moment before replying.

"If he had done it on purpose," she remarked, "then he chose the wrong career as a monarch."

Kel gave the woman a questioning look, but she responded with a smirk.

"Because if that were the case, he would be wasting the most incredible acting talent the empire has ever seen."

It certainly wasn't the time to be laughing at such a silly joke, but neither woman could hold back her giggles. Several days' worth of stress and extreme emotion had piled up in both of them and was bubbling over in any way it could manifest itself.

"Princess," Lucy smiled, wiping tears from her laughter, "I'm so glad you're alright."