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Click here"It's time to put up or shut up." Cora nodded.
"Is...is that a phrase?"
"Of course it's a phrase."
"Put up or shut up." Ana repeated. A slow wide smile spread across her face. She knew how to get home. She knew how to get home to Nate. "Yes. It's time to put up or shut up."
###
"Mother."
"My love, did you sleep well?"
Ana had. More so than Cora, who woke red and flushed, unable to look her in the eye. Perhaps Ana had snorted. Nate said she did cute little snores, but he may have been lying to be nice. He was adorable like that.
"Yes, Mother."
"Good."
Ana stood in front of her as she ate her breakfast, reading off her holopad. Mother's delicate eyebrow almost reached her hairline.
Mother scanned the court. It hadn't opened yet. Mornings were sacred.
"Is there something you wish to say, Anariel?"
Ana blushed and gathered her strength. "Mother, I'm not marrying Prince Elathariel."
"I see." Mother dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a napkin and put her holopad down. "Why?"
"I don't believe him to be a good man. I strongly believe he was connected to the bug attack." Ana lied. She sort of maybe believed it could be a possibility.
"Where is your evidence?"
"I don't have any."
Mother paused, steepling her chin on her hands. "I see. And this belief is not purely because you do not wish to marry him."
"I don't want to marry him, Mother." She admitted. "But that doesn't mean he is not a traitor to your Empire."
"Our Empire, Anariel." Mother chastised. She was silent, eating her breakfast, sipping her juice. One minute passed and then three. This was how Mother was. Ana stood still, head raised high.
"Even if you don't want to marry him," Mother said, "Marring him as a traitor could mean he dies as an innocent man. Do you understand that?"
"Yes." Ana nodded her head. But it wouldn't come to that. Mother could kill the Prince without evidence, but she would destabilize her whole Empire on a daughter's whim. And Ana knew that the Empire was the most important thing in the world to her mother.
"The daughter I know and love would not wish death to innocents."
"Then I must be telling the truth." Ana gambled.
Mother stared at her over the rim of her glass, swirling her fruit juice like it was fine wine. She pursed her lips. "He is a man of import. I cannot execute him without evidence, even if that evidence is weak and circumstantial, I need to present something."
"Then I shall go and get some." Ana declared grandly. Hopefully Mother would see it as her little girl reaching out to explore the world as a missionary of the Empire, rather than her rushing back to darling Nate to get even a single more minute with him.
"Ana," She said dangerously, her tone deceptive. "This doesn't have anything to do with that human you have been hanging around with, does it?"
"It has everything." Ana smiled. Admit to everything you can and misdirect. Cora's instructions. "One does not simply uncover a conspiracy on their own."
"Mmmhmm." Mother pinched the bridge of her nose. "And you cannot trust this investigation, this conspiracy, to your own Mother?"
Ana took a deep breath, faintly aware of a bead of sweat running down her back. "It's precisely because you're my mother that I cannot tell you. You would act with the iron fist of the Empress. With a conspiracy, a scalpel is needed, not a hammer, to avoid tipping off all the troublemakers."
Mother paused at that, evaluating the statement. She did as Ana had seen her do with a thousand situations. Riots, protests, wars, taxes, corporate bailouts — Mother would swirl the situation around in her mind, like a mist that would coalesce into a decision. "Very well." She said, finally. Ana almost collapsed. "What do you wish of me?"
Ana pinched her fingernails into her palm. "I want you to tell the Prince that I'm not going to be married yet. That we hold some doubts about his courage, that I need time away to think things over, that you are confident I will come to the right decision. And in the meantime, I will depart to investigate."
Mother waved her away. Ana did her best not to skip as she bounced out of the court. Don't run, don't run, she told herself.
"Oh, Ana?" Mother's voice came from behind, chilling her veins.
Ana turned with a controlled smile. "Yes, Mother?" She said innocently.
"Be careful where you tread, sweet girl. I'm always watching."
- COMMENTS
onecuriousreader2 months agowow so.. nate is useless.. is that what the author really wants to show of his main character? we have already seen the author write isabelle into being irrelevant.. now we just have to see how he handles ana.. because thats the last character the author has yet to ruin.. a truly disappointing work. only because it held so much promise.. goes to show it was an awesome idea, that fell into the hands of the wrong writer.
Whitewaterbumover 1 year agoI think most of you are missing the point with the Judge training. Nate has evolved into a leader mentality. However to be a Judge is a singlural vocation. The training is trying to break him off the leadership role and turn him into a space 007. Only can he take the role as a Judge. I also find the pace slow but if you’re going to have Nate be a Judge then something must change within him. Waiting on nex t chapter.
pk2curiousover 1 year agoNow that Nate is amongst the undefiable powers of the " JUDGES " . He must master his potential . It'll take almost killing him . But he will . With assistance from Isabelle .
Shoopopoover 1 year agoIt feels like we've wandered into one of the traps of serialized writing: treading water. When you're writing the latest chapter, if you don't step back to look at the story as a whole, or at least reread the last couple of entries, you run the risk of repeating yourself. Do we really need this much repetition about Nate's life experience being a poor substitute for Judge training? If it continues, it starts to feel like suffering-porn instead of just porn-porn.
