Prologue:
There was a psychopath on the throne.
Nuri kept his hands folded in front of him, his expression docile to help hide his swirling thoughts as the ceremony progressed to the speech portion. He stood on the large stage, at the far back in a row with other people on the royal staff, looking out over a massive crowd.
Reporters flooded the front, cameras flashing, lighting up the otherwise dimly lit throne room. The middle and back of the crowd were made up of important people in the government, such as the generals and the high council, as well as the upper-level employees of Rien Inc., the largest technologies corporation in the Dual Galaxy.
The CEO and newly crowned emperor stood at the front of the stage, currently in the midst of his speech about how he planned on following in his father’s footsteps to ensure Ignite remained the universe’s top technologically advanced planet.His smile was charming as he spoke, his inflection upbeat and confident. When Nuri glanced back at the giant screen displayed behind them, showing the blown-up live footage of the new emperor, even he was almost convinced they’d gotten a caring and devoted ruler.
But he knew better.
The speech may flow perfectly and genuinely from Silver Rien’s perfectly sculpted lips, but Nuri had been the one who’d written each and every word of it. Silver smiled like he was honored to be there, humbled even, but he’d been complaining to Nuri all morning about how ridiculous and irrelevant having an official ceremony was.
As the only child of the late Emperor Sij, there weren’t exactly any other candidates around to take the throne. The crown was always going to be his, whether they broadcast him accepting or not.
Silver had always been like that. If it wasn’t work-related he didn’t care, and it was rare to get him to partake in anything he didn’t care about. The only reason he was even here now and hadn’t gone through with trying to cancel the entire thing was because Nuri had reminded him how important this all was to his late father.
Nuri hadn’t been certain it would work when he had, was actually a bit surprised that it’d changed Silver’s mind, but he wasn’t going to overthink it. What mattered was they were here, on stage, in front of the entire planet—and much of the galaxy, since it was being broadcast throughout—and Silver was now officially the Emperor of Ignite.
Which meant Nuri had fulfilled his promise to Sij Rien.
His resignation letter burned in his jacket pocket, almost as if he could feel the thin paper searing over his heart. It was rare to write things on physical paper now, but he’d wantedto be sure there was proof that couldn’t be deleted. Something tangible he could place down on Silver’s desk later.
Nuri Narek was quitting.
Silver wrapped up his speech and Nuri clapped along with the rest of the crowd on autopilot. He’d been planning this day out for months, ever since they’d been told that Emperor Sij’s health was deteriorating and he didn’t have much longer to live.
When Nuri had been a desperate youth, he’d made a deal with Sij for the betterment of his family. Now that they’d all moved off planet and it was just him remaining, there was no reason for him to stick around other than his job. He’d been unable to quit beforehand but now that his promise had been met there was nothing left to hold him back.
As soon as the ceremony was over and the two of them returned to the office, he’d hand in his resignation letter and that would be that. Most of his belongings had already been packed, his desk left neat and tidy for the next person who was assigned his position. He’d carefully organized all information about how to do his job in a digital information packet that he would send directly to the main office once he’d left. Since he’d been the secretary to an Imperial Crown Prince, and now Silver was an emperor, he assumed duties would alter, and the best thing to do was leave before that happened.
Staying would only make it harder to leave later on.
And he would be leaving. Nuri had already decided. No matter how secretly frightened he was about starting a new life elsewhere, or how his heart clenched whenever he thought about not seeing Silver every day, he was going.
He had to. His family needed him, and Silver…Silver didn’t. Not anymore. Maybe not ever, even taken into consideration that Nuri’s job could have been done by any number of grunts over the years.
He’d been clinging to a place he didn’t belong. It was far past time to move on.
The speech ended and everyone clapped again, Nuri mindlessly joining in as his thoughts continued to race and his anxiety threatened to boil over. Change was never easy, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t necessary, a fact he’d been constantly reminding himself.
Security went to escort Silver off the stage, Nuri and the others there falling into line to exit with him. Before they’d taken more than three steps, however, the lights in the room flickered, followed swiftly by a piercing sound through the loudspeakers.
He slapped his hands over his ears and cringed. The images on the screen behind him changed, going from them on the stage to footage of a hospital room.
Nuri instantly recognized the VVIP room, having visited enough times with Silver this past year. It was spacious and filled with sunlight that lit up the pale blue walls, the camera angle capturing the old scene tucked high in the corner, capturing everything from the bed to the entrance.
The late emperor was lying unconscious in the bed, hooked up to machines, the soft sound of them beeping trickling from the auditorium speakers. Even with their advancements in the medical field, his doctors had exhausted all possible solutions to his illness and he was succumbing to it quickly. His skin was sallow and his hair, which was usually a thick, deep brown, had gone completely white on his head. Sticking out, two shiny dark blue horns protruded.
As a Swift, snow-white hair and horns were normal. But not during the day. It was the biggest sign of them all that Sij was dying, and it was being broadcast to the entire galaxy right now. His final moments laid bare.
Nuri felt sick.
The reason this video was being shown became apparent, however, and it wasn’t to expose how weak the once proud and strong ruler of Ignite had become in the end.
Silver was in the room as well, standing next to the bed, arms lax at his side. The camera had captured his expression perfectly, all of his features clear to those viewing the video.
He was staring down at his dying father, completely blank-faced. There was nothing in his eyes, no sadness, no worry or grief. He could have been staring at a wall for all the emotion he was showing.
