Chapter 22: The Gaze of Thrones
The palace halls were alive with murmurs again.
Not with the kind that echoed swords clashing or kingdoms falling—but the far more dangerous kind. The whispers of nobles.
Sirius Farah Von Ross, the youngest to ever be named a Pillar of the Empire, had been summoned to the Imperial Capital for the first time since his appointment. Only thirteen years old, yet spoken of in the same breath as generals twice his age and scholars who had lived through five reigns.
He walked through the silver-carpeted corridor of the palace in silence. The imperial crest—an eagle cloaked in sunlight—loomed high above the marble doors, but Sirius paid it no mind. His crimson gaze remained forward. Unshaken. Emotionless.
Two knights, fully armored and decorated with imperial sashes, flanked him like shadows. Even they struggled to meet his eyes.
"His Excellency awaits," one said, voice stiff with formality.
Sirius gave a polite nod. Nothing more.
Inside the Grand Assembly Chamber, nobles stood like vultures in expensive robes. The Emperor sat atop the golden dais, his posture one of subtle authority. Sirius's father, the Grand Duke, stood beside him, arms crossed, nodding faintly at his son.
But Sirius didn't look at them. Not out of disrespect—but out of disinterest.
What was there to admire in men who bowed to the sun when the moon still watched above all?
He stepped forward. He didn't kneel.
Instead, he gave the shallowest bow possible, just enough for political etiquette—but not a drop more.
The Emperor chuckled, breaking the tension. "Young Lord Sirius. A rare sight indeed."
Sirius said nothing.
"Your silence is both impressive and unnerving," the Emperor continued, his voice laced with amusement. "You've grown taller since your last appearance. And stronger too, I hear."
"I study what must be studied," Sirius replied coolly. "And train as needed."
A few older nobles exchanged glances. Some smiled. Others frowned.
The Emperor leaned forward. "Do you wish to be seen as a man already?"
Sirius paused.
"I have no wish to be seen at all."
A long silence followed.
But it was the kind of silence that demanded reverence, not clarification.
The court moved on. Reports of border skirmishes, magical disturbances in the east, a minor drought in a distant province. Sirius stood through it all, saying little, observing much. His mind, though here, was never truly present.
Even now, even in this golden room surrounded by power and politics, he felt the pull of the moonlight. A hum against his soul. Abylay. Her name never left his thoughts. His heart was already hers—it always had been.
He didn't smile. He didn't laugh. He didn't falter.
And he didn't care to notice the women who tried to whisper his name. Not once.
Because what did their voices matter, when his soul already belonged to something divine?
That night, as he returned to the Grand Duke's estate, the moon was high. His footsteps echoed softly in the hallway. He passed a young noble girl and her mother in the corridor—visitors of the court.
She blushed. Curtsied. Whispered something foolish to her mother.
He didn't look at her. He never would.
Behind his chamber's sealed doors, his world was untouched.
Paintings. Poems. A shrine of devotion built in solitude. Only the moon filled that room.
And no one—not the Empire, not the court, not even his own parents—would ever be allowed in.