The Empire (The Lover's Opalus) Read Online Free Page B

life begin to evolve.
     

 

 
    Chapter 5
     
    As Raeche grew to love her child, she began to know Lanus in a way that was new and not new. Time in his presence became more comfortable even as the heat and power continued to stretch in the air between them. Most importantly, she learned she had never needed to fear violence from him. After all, he enjoyed punishing men who did violence to their women, a sin against the Balance of the Spirit. She had heard the horrifying stories of her husband in battle, yet he had never harmed a woman or child, even when his failure to do so had put his own life at risk.
    Once, Raeche used Spirit to follow him to the border to the South where he became both a man and a warrior who savored the blood of his Spirit-cursed southern enemy. All knew that no matter how strong his power, how far his reach and rule, the Emperor could never enter the land of the Poachers and Riddlers or he would die and even Valor could not save the Empire from being forfeit. Just outside the Death White Border, the Emperor shed his magic, his clothing and anything that could be poached. He embraced the beast inside him, for the riddles of the southerner would drive a thinking man insane but would do nothing to thwart an animal thriving on instinct.
    There was war and blood and blood-singing by the victors. The Emperor sang the loudest–as his blades had tasted the most blood–terrifying all within range. Then came the southern giant, a poacher by his look, with dark metal covering his head and his manhood, a heavy axe in his hands, and shoulders twice as wide as the Emperor’s.
    The violence of the battle made Raeche ill. She lay staring at the scene against her ceiling as her soul wept. Her emotions were so strong that her Spirit touched him and he fell. The Emperor barely managed to roll so that the falling ax only glanced his shoulder. He came to his feet immediately, sank into a battle stance and laughed before killing the wielder of the ax. He blood-sang as he reached out Spirit across time and distance to touch her with a fingertip, leaving a small print of blood on her cheek beneath her eye. She lifted her hand to wipe at the blood, but her hand came away clean, as if she had absorbed it. It had become a part of her. She had only seen something like this once before, when her own blood had been drawn down into the gleaming white wood of her mother’s vanity so many rings ago.
    Raeche felt brave in the knowing of him and pride in the mark. Her health, vigor and hunger returned. Still, her desire to rebel against the Emperor was bolstered, amplified, though she did not understand the reason. She no longer hated him for making her feel fear but sometimes felt like little Eynow, Imperial Prince of Innov and Rucha’s future husband, who was a boy born for mischief. When the children played together he would pull Rucha’s hair, pinch her, push her. Even though the adults scolded and disciplined with Spirit, Eynow did not stop as long as Rucha continued to be disinterested.
    Was Raeche a child? Did Raeche’s urges, like those of Eynow, stem from a desire to be seen by the Emperor? He did not ignore her. Even as he ruled, he encouraged Raeche into the light, to take her place as a ruler beside him. When she did, he expressed his joy. He confessed that the burden of the Empire turned to satisfaction when shared. He confessed to being weary of court and to craving the escape of war at times.
    Raeche wanted to escape into war as well, but the only enemy she craved was her husband. Her heart raced when she was with him and she chanted in her head, begging the Spirit to save her from doing something utterly horrifying. Sometimes she wanted to stab him in his sleep just to see his eyes when he witnessed her seated above him with the blade.
    This was either insanity or illness.
    After asking Taritana to summon a doctor, Raeche failed to properly describe her ailment and was given a potion to help her sleep. She did