He wasn't there when their mother died.He'd remained behind on the Terran Empire homeward while she went to negotiate peace.She'd brought herself, plus both Caoimhe and her sister.Bringing the girls had been an act of trust--to show that she was so trusting that they would not harm her, that she took her children with her.
Caoimhe remembered the fighting before.Their mother's determination to make peace.His belief that it was a waste and that she was on a fool's errand.Yet, the Empress was known for her incredible negotiating skills.She had been known to bring peace to many volatile situations at the negotiations table.
Caoimhe only prayed that she had those same skills.
His gaze narrowed on her."And you want to find a way to bring peace?"
She nodded.
"There won't be peace.There never will be.They are nefarious and dangerous, and they will destroy the Terran Empire."The words he spouted sounded like an old recording that he'd made years before.
She needed to change the narrative.And make sure that her father understood that his usual answers would not be enough.She had been working with companions in the Senate to better understand the war and its machine.
Why the Emperor was so against ending the war.
She did learn one interesting fact, though it wasn't from any research she'd found on her end.Bahran had given her this particular bit.Which she analyzed and checked its validity.However, she should not have been surprised that he spoke the absolute truth.
Could machines lie?She didn't know.
That the Rhimodians had never actually attacked the Terran Empire.Not outside of her mother's death.Though even that, she was beginning to wonder about the facts she had.
"There won't be if we keep attacking them."
He blinked, and she saw it.The stock answers didn't work anymore."What do you mean?"
"I went back and looked.They never once attacked us.Not one time.They have remained on the defensive this entire time."
"Good, that is what we want.We can't have them pushing forward.We must dominate them."He waved a fist in the air.
"Is that why you lied to me?"
"What are you talking about?"
She raised her eyebrow."I know about the prisoners of war on the ship that circles the Terran Empire.I found it.And I have seen the manifest."The last part was a fib, but she at least knew where it was now.
But if he could tell lies, so could she once in a while.
"Oh.That."He stood, almost like he expected a different one.
Which only made her wonder--what else had he lied to her about?What did he think she'd caught him in?Now she truly was worried about all her father's nefarious choices.
She crossed her arms."We have to let them go.Return them to their people."
He waved his arms."Is that your big plan?To return some half-dead Rhimodians to their people in the name of peace?"He tossed his head back and laughed."You're not doing this to help the Terran Empire.You just want to save some Rhimodians."
"Why can't I do both?"
He shook his head."You cannot make peace with them.They are monsters that have to be eliminated.As soon as we find a way past that shield."He started to pace around the throne room.
It all came together in her mind, and she understood."That is why you kept the prisoners.You were trying to find a way past that shield."
He walked back and forth for a few paces, then stopped.A rigid, hard stop, like something had just come to him.
An epiphany of sorts.
She froze.
The Emperor's epiphanies were never good.
