“I was hopeful too…” He rested a heavy palm on her knee. “But the man was clearly saying whatever he could to try to save his skin. It was likely pirates—given that the Crescent Continent has abandoned patrolling those waters and has pulled in their military vessels. But ships of mist and infamous pirate queens? Father's—” Romulin choked on the next word “—death can more likely be attributed to run-of-the-mill cutthroats.”
Vi watched as he stood, beginning to pace. The conversation made him understandably unsettled. She hardly enjoyed it. But it was a conversation that must be had.
In the silence, something else struck her—he spoke of Meru like he knew it. He hadn’t even batted an eyelash when she brought it up during her recount of the past few months.He’d already known; he’d found out before her. Vi tried not to be upset, but something about it—about the whole conversation—was beginning to hurt in a way her current mental state wasn’t prepared to handle.
He had known things and hadn’t told her. When had he learned these truths? For how long had he let her stay in the dark?
How many things had he kept from her when she had told him everything?
“I want to believe you.” Romulin’s voice was pleading, but Vi didn’t know what he was pleading for—her forgiveness, or for himself to believe her. “But it’s difficult, Vi.”
“He may still be alive, we can’t be sure. One person claimed he was and he may have a cure, Romulin. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t returned to us and—”
“Forget the fool’s hope of a cure!” Romulin’s voice rose slightly. Vi stared, stunned, trying to piece together why such a suggestion would make him so upset. He mumbled a soft apology as he recomposed himself. “You have more important work to do, now. If father is alive, he’ll find his way back to us.”
“More important work?” Vi rose to her feet and took a step toward her brother. “More important work than reuniting our family and healing our Empire?” Vi balked. As if he couldn’t look at her any longer, he turned, walking back toward the tent opening. “Don’t you even want a cure? Don’t you even want to find him? You grew up with him—you had him. How could you not want him now?”
It was unfathomable to her. Shouldn’t the absence of their father hurt him even more than it did her? After all, he knew what it was like to have a present father and she didn’t. He knew what the loss felt like more profoundly. Or, he should.
Romulin paused, looking in a distant corner of the room. “Our family has never been whole, and will never be.”
“What?” Vi whispered.
“First you were gone, then father left, and now—” Romulin stopped himself short.
“I can find father, and I can bring him back.”
“Are you insane?” Her brother threw his hands in the air. “Find him? What can you do from the throne?”
“I—”
“And even if you found him and brought him back, we still wouldn’t be a complete family. You’d be too late.”
“Too late for what?” Vi wasn’t sure if she even wanted to know the answer. Romulin looked at her with a mixture of hurt and anger—a raw expression she’d never wanted to see from her brother.
“Just focus on becoming the Empress, Vi.” There was a broken quality to his words. A bitter resignation that now laced every sound his mouth made. “I will be with you… even after everyone else is gone. Even when we’re forced into bitter political arrangements. You’ll have me in your corner.”
“Will I? Because you seem to have no problem abandoning family.” Vi regretted the words the moment she said them.
Hurt painted his expression, then anger, then the same resignation she’d seen before, as her brother stormed out and brought an abrupt end to their first real meeting. Their first real argument, too.
Vi’s hands trembled. She stood, staring, until her legs gave out. Vi grabbed for one of the pillows and buried her face into it, screaming out her frustration silently, so none could hear.
Chapter Eleven
The structureof the imperial parade relaxed after the first day.
Vi and her family were still spearheading with soldiers and guards surrounding them. But there was less of a strict structure and more of a mass slowly marching along the seemingly endless road. The vast majority of the soldiers were on foot, making their pace almost painfully slow.
Vi glanced at Romulin from the corners of her eyes. He was talking quietly with Jax, but the words were lost entirely on Vi’s ears.
“So,” her mother started from her right. “Tell me what happened.”
“What?” Vi’s head swung over.
“Tell me what happened,” her mother repeated gently. There was no urgency to the words, no strict demands. Just a calmness that Vi had always seen her mother portray. “It was clear at dinner last night that something has already transpired between you two.”
“I see…” Vi knotted the reins around her fingers and relaxed them before they became tight enough to pull on the bridle. With a soft sigh, she relented. There wasn’t much that she hadn’t shared with her mother over the years during her visits to the North. “I suppose… it was just a difference of opinion.”
