"So you're telling me that Julianna Emore left a message for you in the past. And that was to avoid your mother's home baked cookies?", Canien asked a small smile evident on his face.
Julie blushed angrily. "I swear it's not a prank. The letter seemed so ominous-"
"Oh please. Everything sounds ominous to you. What's a letter and a few cookies?"
Julie hit his shoulder as hard as she could. Lucky for Canien, Julianna's body was quite weak-built.
"I knew I should've visited Reynolds instead", Julie rambled. "You don't seem to understand my situation Canien. I had absolutely forgotten what happened during the evening Reynolds came to visit me. It's like my memory just went poof- Like there are these gaps which both in my brain and in my old room which I had no idea about -"
"So you think that Lady Emore is trying to drug you?"
Julie nodded her paranoia getting badder by minute. "Maybe she must have often drugged the real Julianna. That would explain how I had no recollection of the secret drawer."
Canien thought over it for a minute. "Do you think the real Julianna must have known about it? Considering the note you found....and the key. Did you find what it opens to?"
"Not yet. I think I'm under constant surveillance at the Emore mansion, so I haven't had the chance to look around just yet. But next week when the Crown Prince arrives it is sure bound to get busy at the manor. I'll will use that time as an opportunity."
Lily suddenly came into the room startling them both.
"Do you think I may have a chance to avoid going to Demure if I try talking to the emperor?", she asked Canien.
Demure was the region the dragon Reirs currently ruled over.
Lily froze halfway seeing Julie here. From beside her she felt Canien stiffen up too.
Canien sighed shaking his head. "I've told you so. It's not going to happen. So don't worry"
Julie stared at the huge bandage on her forehead. "I'm guessing the dragon took a liking to you?"
"Oh he took more than a liking to me", Lily said with an edge in her voice.
Julie couldn't hide her smile. "That sounds romantic"
Lily's eyes went dead suddenly.
Canien then asked suddenly changing the topic.
"Anyway tomorrow is the day right? When you will get an audience with the Emperor?"
"Yes", Julie murmured. She had been trying to avoid thinking of that subject, worrying that she'll get nervous before hand.
"Don't worry. You did a great job convincing the crown prince. I'm sure the Emperor will be easy to persuade too", Lily told her with a weak smile.
Julie raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you making fun of me right now? You saw how Canien and Reynolds had to help me convince the Crown Prince. Even you had to point people to take notice of me", she reminded her, feeling glum suddenly as she said it out loud.
Lily sighed sitting down next to Canien. "You're overthinking it. Just tell him what you saw in your vision. Tell him why you think it's not safe to continue with the Ceremony. Also put in a few points that highlight the part where Nobles are absolutely in danger ok?"
Julie bit her lower lip. "It sure sounds easy"
Lily groaned. Then rolling up her sleeves she pulled Julie up pushing her towards Lily's room.
Julie tried to ignore the sudden construction work going on there as Lily muttered something to herself in an unknown language.
That was when Julie caught a whiff of it.
The smell of blood.
She paused in her tracks nearly knocking Lily down. The room had been decorated with fresh flowers but it still wasn't enough to hide the smell.
"What happened here?", she asked eyeing Lily suspiciously.
"Here?", she asked pointing at the table near the balcony. "That is where I hit my head. Ohh the smell of blood must make you feel uncomfortable. Want to go to another room?"
Julie nodded feeling slightly nauseous.
She was led to a smaller room then. Lily propped down on a sofa full of small cushions and made Julie sit opposite her.
"Ummm what are we doing again?", She asked hoping that she won't give her a weird drug or something.
"Exercises. I'm going to tell you a few exercises to calm you down and I want you to practice them as you attend your meeting ok?"
".....ok?"
**************************************
Julie's hand fidgeted unconsciously. She was dressed in her best attire and her dark hair had been pulled back into a neat bun. Lily had told her about a few exercises that would make her seem more confident but her nerves kept getting halfway through her attempts to calm herself.
The meeting with the emperor had finally arrived.
The room she was currently seated was richly furnished, it's corners shining gold from the floored carpets to the shining chandeliers. There were a few guards placed in specific positions so as to avoid any possible entry for an escape and even more situated outside.
She wondered how Kale managed to live here.
Julie had been here for only 5 minutes but she was already feeling suffocated. The extra protection made her feel like she was a bomb about to explode.
Sure, she had held audience with the emperor before as 'Julianna' but each of those meetings were accompanied by her family where her father did most of the talking. She wondered what will happen to her once she ran out of topics to discuss about.
There was the sound of shuffling amoung the guards suddenly and before Julie could finish her 25 times breathing exercise, the Emperor entered the room.
Just like the room and the extravagant palace, he was also richly dressed with golden rings on each of his fingers and a tall crown,(this one for casual occasions) on his head.
Julie could literally hear the room stop breathing.
The Emperor's movements were followed by the sound of sharp boots clicking on the floor and Kale followed pursuit.
He was wearing clothes that looked plain compared to the Emperor's but it was probably just as expensive. He locked his golden green eyes with Julie once before moving to stand beside his father.
Julie took a strangled breath. She pulled her skirts and neatly bowed glad for Julianna's etiquette and met eyes with the Emperor before looking onto the floor.
A chill passed through her body at the moment her eyes met the Emperor's.
If she had thought that Kale's eyes were empty, then she was sure that the Emperor's eyes were black voids, having the power to crush anything and everything living.
He was a Ruler first and foremost.
"Be seated", he commanded and Julie sat down at the cushioned seat prepared for her. Kale sat opposite her and The Emperor, next to him.
Julie couldn't lift up her head to look the Emperor in the face. She crushed the small towel in her hand and hoped that the Emperor wouldn't notice the small bead of sweat trickling down her face.
"You may begin", The Emperor commanded when Julie didn't speak for one whole minute.
Julie opened her mouth and her mind went blank. She just sat there confused where to begin first. Lily had said that she had to put importance to the fact that the nobles were in danger. But then again she had advised to talk about the vision first. But probably both Kale and the people in the temple must have told him about the vision before her. Should she try talking about Canien's plan to sacrifice the prisoners having death sentence? or should she begin with how many nobles support she had first-
"Lady Julianna tell us about your vision.", Kale said out impatiently. Julie looked at him to see his full glare on her face.
She found him rubbing his wrists and frowned.
On another day she would've loved to annoy him but she suddenly caught the meaning behind his glare and his actions.
In other ways he was telling her to hurry up.
She noticed that his face seemed a bit tensed and her eyes went back to the Emperor again. He still had those dark pits looking at her soul. Gathering up courage , she managed to speak up.
"Your Royal highness. As you must have been informed, the noble clans wish to abort the Annual Ceremony this year"
"And your reason is your vision seen from the temple", The Emperor said continuing her speech. "But that's not why you came here to discuss with me right now, is it?"
Julie nodded. "On the day of the ceremony, your Empire is going to be attacked"
She saw Kale's eyes widen before regaining his composure. He apparently hadn't thought that she would be telling the Emperor about this.
But this was a topic she, Canien and Reynolds had discussed over and the three of them had felt that it was important that the Emperor knew about it.
"So the enemy would begin the war by attacking the nobles....", the Emperor muttered slowly. "And they wish to attack on our auspicious day, of course"
"Yes. According to the vision a terrible sandstorm would hit the kingdom during the time of the ceremony and the nobles would be wiped out"
"What about the Royal family?", The Emperor asked, his eyes showing waves of disinterest.
Julie thought it over. Of course the Royal family with the exception of the queen would escape easily. The queen due to her weak constitution would die by the time the first sandstorm hits.
But she couldn't tell all that to the Emperor.
"The Royal family were led to an underground passage. I... couldn't see anything beyond that.", She lied.
The Emperor's eyebrows lifted up. "I'm sure that this is a matter of great concern. But it is the future after all and no one can predict how the outcome will be correctly. If we were to focus on your vision, the attack would occur only on the day of the ceremony and not before that. But what will happen if they decide to attack beforehand? What happens if they decide to go directly at your manor? At your family?"
Julie thought it over. "I can only provide you information regarding the vision I saw. The church has been constantly trying to see the different outcomes till the day of the ceremony. But no matter how many times the date of the ceremony was changed, the nobles were still attacked"
"On the day of the ceremony?"
"Only on the day of the ceremony", Julie confirmed.
Atleast that's how the story went.
"Do you understand why we do the Annual Ceremony, Miss Emore?", he asked leading back suddenly.
"To draw out the power within the phoenix's flame so that you can strengthen the eternal lamp's everlasting fire", Julie said as if she was reading out from a book.
"And?"
And? And what? They burnt the lamp, the fire was made strong, the empire was kept safe using the fire's protective barrier. That was all Julie knew. Unless.....
"Tell me miss Emore, where do you think the source of our magic amoung the mages comes from? How our communication system works and how the underground maze under your house is alive? Have you ever thought about it?"
Julie bit her lower lip unsure of what to say.
"The Eternal Fire does more than just protection Miss Emore. And you wish to avoid the yearly strengthening of the lamp. Don't you think that would weaken our defenses more than a few nobles disappearing?"
Julie frowned. The king did not like his nobles very much. Nor did he seem to understand the situation that half of his army commanders would disappear. Julie wanted to see how he would lead a war all by himself.
"The people are not going to be silent about the vision", she suggested hoping that Kale would speak up now. As per their agreement, Kale would speak on behalf the people's protests to the Emperor.
She looked at the Prince to see that he had a disappointed look on his face. He turned his face away when she looked at him. Soo much for helping.
"The people can always be convinced Miss Emore", The Emperor added. "Of course it's not like I'm completely disregarding your opinion. The Ceremony will definitely go on and The lamp will be lit. But it won't be made public. No one will ever know it even happened"
"What do you mean?", she asked feeling apprehensive.
"What I'm suggesting is that we'll conduct a private ceremony with a few members intact. One representative from each noble family and me ,Reirs and Saule included. The fake ceremony however will occur on the preferred date. Those who want to visit even after the warning can come. The attack may or may not happen. And the nobles can stay in their homes if they want"
Julie thought it over. It was a great idea. This way the actual ceremony could be conducted privately and maybe they could even capture and manage to shock the enemy during the fake ceremony.
And somehow she couldn't help but feel that someone else besides the Emperor had come up with this plan.
She caught a look at Kale and he was smirking at her now, his head tilted to one side.
The bastard. He had double crossed her. With this move, he had both the people's support and the Emperor's.
"And the representatives who would appear during the actual ceremony? Are you willing to risk their lives your highness?", she challenged.
"Your family can choose not to come Miss Emore. But if you do, then I would consider it as anything less than treason", the Emperor replied maliciously.
"It's as you said. We're saving the lives of many by sacrificing few", Kale added opening his mouth finally. "Besides, who knows maybe the representatives all will get to go home or maybe not"
Julie wanted to throw something at his face.
"I hope you won't tell about this arrangement to anyone Miss Julianna. The other families will be informed separately a day before hand. With this, I hope you won't cause more trouble by declaring about your visions to the crowd", The Emperor warned.
Julie gritted her teeth wondering how the situation had turned out to this. Damn that stupid Crown Prince for making her plans into a mess. With this, she won't be able to leave the capital to search for the dungeons or find a way to counter the villian. She'll probably have to stay here as her family would probably send her as the representative.
Like they always did.
There was suddenly a knock on the door and an attendant arrived.
"Your highness Sir Reirs was looking for you"
The Emperor looked at Julie with an amused look that marked his win. "Tell him I'll be there in a few minutes"
"Sir, about that. Sir Reirs has already-
The door suddenly opened with a bang and a man with Sandy brown hair stood in the doorway looking frantic. He seemed oddly familiar and Julie wondered where she had seen that face before.
He walked into the room with a proud gait and suddenly stopped in his tracks when he approached them.
"You!", he shouted pointing a finger at Julie.
"You just can't enter our meeting like that Reirs", The Emperor warned, his tone icy.
Reirs. The Dragon of the South.
Reirs ignored the Emperor. He moved closer and Julie saw that he was wearing odd clothes in yellow and creme colour.
"Weird eyes, here you are" he said loudly, his jewel like yellow eyes looking at Julie with a smug look.
Julie opened her mouth again not knowing how to respond.
"Do you two know each other?", Kale asked with a confused look on his face. Apparently he didn't like what was happening here.
The dragon ignored him too.
He took a chair from the nearby table and sat on it heaving as if he had come here running.
"I finally found you", he said with a dashing smile. "Had another vision without me?"