"I don't understand," Talia muttered. "She had the love of the people. She was growing her allies. She had influence, spies-- she had achieved so many things. If her goal was to take the Emperor down from the inside, then why would she throw everything away?"
Grieta did not meet her eyes. There was a long pause, as if the woman were carefully considering her next words. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet and gentle.
"Because Vezda attacked the Unarian guard north of Gelt. Vezda sent word to the council of seven kingdoms that Queen Ora had been kidnapped and held against her will. Vezda ended the ceasefire," she said.
Talia gasped in disbelief. Was this woman attempting to say that Queen Ora's death was somehow... her fault? She might have said 'Vezda attacked' and 'Vezda ended the ceasefire' but it was clear to everyone in the room just who had led Vezda at the time, and who had given that order.
"I understand, of course my Princess, that you were acting in what you thought were the best interests of your sister and your country, and Queen Ora would say the same. However, the Emperor declared that the Princess of Vezda had illegally seized the throne while her sister still lived, and demanded that Queen Ora declare you a traitor, and send an order for you to be executed for treason."
Talia could feel that her hands were starting to shake, she slid them off the table and folded them neatly in her lap.
"Queen Ora refused, of course, and she was secretly imprisoned in Glibau Tower for that refusal. That's when everything began to fall apart. The Duke of Yevin learned of her imprisonment and spread rumors of it to the common people. Although he was not ready in terms of either resources or allies, he decided that public sentiment would help him to gain momentum and support for a coup.
"However, Queen Ora believed that to move so soon was to sacrifice everything that they had achieved to that point and so... and so she chose to sacrifice herself before the Duke of Yevin made his move.
"She begged an audience with the Emperor, and once before him, she confessed that she had secretly sent orders to Vezda to attack. To convince him of this, she confessed that she alone was plotting a coup, and that she had used the Vezdan attack as a distraction.
"At first, the Emperor simply returned her to the tower. He believed in the prophecy, and although the Queen had betrayed him, he believed that she carried his child, and would end his curse. Yet because she was locked away, she could no longer access the herbs she needed to fake her condition, and it was soon discovered and reported to the Emperor that she was not pregnant."
Grieta sighed and again paused. Her face appeared troubled. She was about to tell the end of Ora's story, and it clearly made her very uncomfortable.
Talia did her best to keep her own emotions from showing. The realization that her actions had brought about her sister's downfall was actively causing her pain. She wanted to deny it, to argue, to force Grieta to say that she was lying, but at the same time, part of her immediately knew it to be true. Already, she could feel the heavy weight of guilt settling on her shoulders. It would crush her the first moment she found herself alone.
She clutched her hands together and did her best to ignore the tight and uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. She wanted to beg them both to give her a minute-- to let her step outside and deeply breath the cold air, or maybe to cover her mouth and scream into her hands until all the jittery awful feelings twisting her stomach into knots were expelled, but the Princess of Vezda had long ago learned never to show weakness.
She turned her gaze to Grieta's nervous face and nodded coldly.
"Go on," she urged.
Grieta cleared her throat and swallowed. She glanced toward Prince Mikhail once again and it almost made Talia want to scream- that quick exchange of a look between the two, as though they were wordlessly communicating something important.
"The Emperor has never been known for his cool logic or calm reason," Grieta began. "Even as a young man, he had a volatile nature-- a mercurial temperment, if you will. He trusts no one. He sees plots against him even when there are none. When he learned that Queen Ora had tricked him, that there was no child and never had been, his response was... extremely harsh. He had her dragged from her cell and beaten severely. For many days after, she hovered between life and death."
Talia could feel the blood drain from her face. It left her light headed. Her hands curled into fists in her lap.
"Not long after that, Vezda attacked again and burned the Drail look-out tower to the ground. Spurred on by the rumors the Duke spread, the people were gathering in larger and larger groups outside the palace gates every day-- demanding to see Queen Ora. There was horrible gossip at court and the Emperor could sense the tide was turning against him. He could not bring Queen Ora before the court, after what he'd had done to her, and he feared admitting that once again, there would be no heir."
"He sent his army into Vezda, thinking to quickly crush the fighting there, but found that he had underestimated the Vezdan army's capabilities. With a large part of the Unarian army engaged in Vezda, the Duke of Yevin marched on the capitol, launching a full rebellion.
"We don't know exactly what happened next. The Emperor was not seen for several days. Some believed that he had fled the capitol in fear, but I believe that like his father before him, when pressed, he turned to the oldest allies of his house. I believe he went to the north and struck a bargain with what lives in the shadows of the mountains there.
"I was one of the last people to see Queen Ora alive. I was called to the palace and ordered to bathe the Queen, clean her wounds, and prepare her for travel."
Grieta paused again, her face contorted painfully and she took several deep and staggered breaths. She was indeed in terrible pain.
"It was not... not the first time... our Emperor has made... a sacrifice of blood...to them. Ora knew... she knew... where she was being sent. She knew why. It was three days after... she was taken... that... that..."
Gritting her teeth, Grieta groaned and clutched at her stomach. Talia could see the woman struggling to force the words from her mouth and failing at it.
"The Duke of Yevin's estate burned to the ground," Prince Mikhail filled in. "Almost overnight, a plauge tore through the ranks of the rebel army at Yevin, decimating their numbers. The common people who had joined their ranks fled in fear. The rebellion was over before it truly began. The Duke of Yevin was forced to retreat and go into hiding. This is common knowledge in the Empire, but it is often whispered that it was dark magic."
"And when the capitol was again... deemed safe... the rebellion put down... the Emperor announced that Queen Ora had died in childbirth," Grieta finished. "There is... there is more I would say... the last... the last words she spoke... all the times she mentioned you... her... orders... her.... forgive me, my Princess. I have not... the strength at the moment."
Talia held very still in the silence that followed. Grieta's labored breathing was the only sound in the room. She should say something. She should ask questions, or nod gravely or swear revenge-- or do anything, anything at all to drown out the voice in her head screaming the accusation that Ora's blood was on her hands.
"I don't understand...." Talia frowned, her voice, even to her own ear sounded weak. "The Emperor sacrificed Ora, even though he believed in the prophecy? He went to war for more than a decade just to bring her under his roof-- and yet he sacrificed, what he believed, was his only chance of ending his curse... the only chance he had at an heir, just to defeat the Duke of Yevin?"
Grieta nodded gravely.
"It is difficult to know the mind of the Emperor for certain, but yes, we believe so. At the time, the Emperor had severely miscalculated the threat from inside. He sent too many of his soldiers to Vezda and his guard was heavily outnumbered by the rebel army. He must have believed that his only choice was between the possibility of an heir and his own life, and of course, he chose his own life," she explained.
"Perhaps... he no longer believes in the prophecy," Talia mumbled, more to herself than the others.
"No, Princess. I would not say that. I believe that the Emperor has convinced himself that Queen Ora was not the woman which the prophecy referenced," Grieta disagreed politely.
"Nonsense. The eldest daughter of a slain king of Vezda, who else-"
"Prophecies are never that straight-forward," Grieta argued. "King Oleg also fell under a Unarian sword, perhaps he-"
"My brother had no time to sire a bastard-- indeed multiple bastards at that, for it is the elder daughter, is it not?" Talia scoffed.
"Or maybe your father-"
"Had a secret, older child?" Talia laughed harshly at this. "The way you suggest such a blasphemous thing, and so easily, causes me to wonder if perhaps you believe in such childish things as prophecy!"
"I do," Grieta said simply.
Talia stood up from the table abruptly. The room had suddenly grown unbearably warm, and in Grieta's eyes she saw something which made her very uncomfortable. As if the woman knew some secret she would not say.
"Nonsense," Talia repeated. "It's nonsense, and even if it wasn't, the eldest daughter of the slain King is gone now and there will never be an heir."
"The prophecy never promised a child. It promised an end to the curse of the royal family," Grieta answered swiftly.
"A curse of childlessness!" Talia reminded her.
"There was always a child... always an heir found, be it a nephew, a distant cousin, a baby bought with blood sacrifice. For hundreds of years after Queen Tasha spilled her own blood, the Unarian royal line continued to exist, though it did not thrive. The curse was never so simple as childlessness," Grieta countered.
"You have an answer for everything!" Talia hissed, narrowing her eyes. "You call yourself a friend and ally of Queen Ora, but it was you who bound her wounds and cleaned and dressed her for her death!"
Grieta recoiled as if she'd been slapped, and even Talia was shocked by the venom that had spewed from her mouth. Her hand flew to cover her lips, but it was far too late.
"I did not... I spoke in anger... I am... I have no excuse..." she stuttered, and turned away.
"The Princess needs a moment to compose herself," Prince Mikhail said and frowned at Grieta.
"But I-"
"Leave us," he ordered.
Grieta glared daggers at him over the table.
"There is more I would say," the woman insisted. "Things I must show her. Things she should know and-"
"Not now. Get out," he commanded as if they did not sit at Grieta's table under a roof which she owned.
Grieta scowled and set her wine glass on the table.
"I will return shortly," she insisted, standing up. "Please excuse me, Princess. If I have caused you pain, it was not my intent." She bowed and left the room.