Dinner that night was an interesting affair. He had let his father lead by telling her that Tate would be away for the next five years.
She exploded. "NO! How dare he!" She seethed. Her eyes were on fire and her fists were clenched on the table cloth making the delicate dishes clatter at the sudden movement her action made. The servants' eyes all shot wide in shock as their calm and poised mistress turned into a vicious feral animal in front of their eyes. When she looked at her husband it was with near hatred. "You let that bastard do it again! It wasn't enough that you stole him from me when he was just a boy, that it didn't get to see him grow up, that you and that man sent him to war when he was just a child, that he almost died for this bloody Empire!" She screamed towards their father. "And now that I've finally been able to be with him for the past three years, only three years! You're going to send him away from me again where I can't see him or talk to him?"
She picked up the plate in front of her and mindlessly hurled it in her husband's direction. She didn't mean to hurt anyone but the shattering of the plate on the wall cut a servant girl with the exploding shards. His mother, who was kind to a fault didn't even seem to notice. She was not in her right mind. She stood and threw her chair backward. She charged her husband with her fingernails outstretched. He caught her wrists just in time and restrained her before she could slice his face. "No, no, no, no, no, no!"
"Kira stop!" His father's voice betrayed his own emotion, it was gruff and as he looked at his wife his eyes filled with tears. "Please, stop."
She made a sound like a wounded animal and Dian was suddenly there. He gently took her shoulders and pulled her away from their father and into his arms. She began to sob, the sound of her heartbreak filled the dining room until even the servants were stifling their sniffles and trying not to let the tears fall.
Tate just sat there, his mother's outburst had shocked him so much he had no words. His expression was blank as he looked down at his uneaten food. He didn't know what to say. He had never seen his mother lose it like that, the way she had referred to the Emperor as a bastard or just "him" was enough to get her put away for treason if the right person had overheard her, but she hadn't cared. It was because of him. It's not that he hadn't thought of his mother's pain over the years, after all he'd been homesick for her often when he was a child. In the gurling world of the Academy he'd just been a small child who still needed his mother. He'd never allowed himself to dwell too much on how it had affected her. As much as he couldn't regret the accident that led to him hatching Aquana, he did feel regret for the suffering and pain it had caused his mother in basically having to give him up to the state against her will.
Now was even worse, at least growing up they'd been allowed to exchange letters. Even when he had been at war they'd coresponded as much as they were able to. She was his most loyal pen pal. She didn't know this but every letter she'd ever sent her since he was five years old was kept in a locked chest in his room. His wartime letters were smudged with soot and burns but they had been added to that collection as soon as he'd returned home.
His mother's sobs went on and on, she shook visibly in Dian's arms and their father looked like his soul had left his body. He had slumped back in his chair with a defeated air that didn't suit him.
"I'm sorry, Kira. The good of the Empire comes before all, even you."
He looked around at all the servants present. When his eyes landed on the one who had been cut he handed her his handkerchief then addressed the room. "Please do not repeat what you have seen or heard here tonight. I trust all of our servants but please know that if I hear something of this in places I shouldn't I will have no choice but to investigate the source. As for this one," he gestured with his head calling over the head butler. The older man bowed wordlessly to Lord Delmont awaiting and order. "Have the family physician look to her cheek please." He then stood and left the room. His plate was untouched.
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Tate woke up the next day with a pounding headache. The events of the night before had wrung him dry. After Dian had calmed their mother a bit, he'd taken over. She clung to him shaking like a leaf as he moved her into her favorite parlor. He sat with her on a sofa and the mother and son didn't say a word. He wrapped her in his arms and just held her silently. Her grip on his shirtsleeves was vicelike. It felt like she was trying to hold him beside her physically. His bright, vibrant mother was darting her eyes around the room, jumping at shadows, and mumbling under her breath. She'd finally fallen still against his chest having exhausted herself. A servant fetched his father who came in and without a word picked up his sleeping wife from the sofa and carried her off to their chambers.
Dian had come in after that and poured them both a drink. For a long time, they stared into the fire and said nothing.
Dian broke the silence. "The last time she was like that was when they told us of your condition."
Tate looked at him.
"Has anyone ever told you how your accident was described to us?"
Tate shook his head.
"A messenger came in the early hours, it woke the whole house. Father read it out loud. I don't remember the exact words but it said that you had crashed on your dragon, that your dragon was dead, and that you were half burned alive. The letter said that it had taken three High Healers to bring you from the brink of death since it had taken them a long time to discover that you were missing and then locate you. The letter said that the healers were able to heal your burns but since you had been so close to death there was no way to know if you'd ever regain consciousness." Dian rubbed his hand across his face looking haggard. "I'll never forget the silence. The servants who were there were all crying but I couldn't hear anything. Then mother began to scream. She began beating her fists on the fireplace, this fireplace actually. Before anyone could react she'd already busted up her hands. When father reached for her she turned on him. She tried to hurt him but he was able to restrain her."
"I broke Mother's heart." Tate said lifelessly, almost a whisper in the room.
Dian shook his head. "None of this was your fault. Honestly, I don't think mother is wrong to blame father...for all of it."
Tate's eyes shot to his brother but Dian wouldn't look at him as he continued. "Think about it. He was the one who carelessly left the vaults unlocked when we were young, it's not your fault you thought it would be a good place to hide from me when we were playing. You were only five, it was natural for you not to consider the real danger of going into an open vault. Then when the Emperor demanded you begin training at the Academy right away father didn't protest no matter how much Mother pleaded. You don't remember but I do. I'll never forget the fights they had when they thought we were both asleep. When the Emperor dispatched you to war at fifteen, Father didn't stop it. Now, you're being sent away again, and again Father has done nothing." Dian looked down at his hands. "I understand loyalty to the Empire, as do you. However, when I am head of this house I want to distance us from the royal family once more, like we used to be. When I have a wife and children of my own I don't want to be asked to sacrifice them for the Empire, I just want my family to be happy. I never want to have to make that choice between my blood and my country."
Tate had gone to bed his mind racing. He didn't know what to think, but he admired his brother's final sentiment. Tate had never thought of having a family, there had never been a time or place for him to dream of such a future. He tried to picture it as he drifted off to sleep but it was impossible. He did wonder though if that day ever came would he and Dian be able to choose between family and Empire, or had that decision been taken away for them a long time ago.