In the Wake of the Wicked (Veridian Empire #1)

57. Rose

57

Rose

I barged into Theodore’s private study, barely feeling the sting from where I’d cut my hand on the magical portrait.

“I was beginning to think you would not show,” Theodore said, his back to me as he reached for a book on a shelf behind his desk.

Seeing him standing there so casually, so unaffected, when I’d spent my whole day with hands covered in the blood of victims of his empire, made fresh rage surge to the surface.

My jaw ticked. “Well, I’m here.”

He turned toward me and raised an eyebrow. “Are you angry with me?”

Ignoring him, I said, “Why did you ask me to come here so late?”

“I apologize,” he said, shutting the book with a thump. “I know it’s been nearly a week since our last meeting. I’ve been caught up in urgent matters.”

I hummed in response, refusing to look at him, instead running my hand along the spines on a nearby bookshelf. My finger caught a small glass vial, and I watched as it tipped over and fell, rolling to the edge of the shelf and crashing to the hard floor. The sound of shattering glass echoed in the quiet study, but neither of us reacted.

“What kind of urgent matters?” I asked stiffly, eyes still on the shelf as I plucked a leatherbound book from its spot.

“A new king has been crowned in Mysthelm.”

My gaze snapped to him. “Why is that urgent?”

He sighed. “The former king passed unexpectedly and his son has taken the throne under…less than ideal circumstances. Incidents over there have reached a critical point, enough for them to make contact after so many centuries.”

I swallowed, my previous bitterness now at war with my curiosity. “I’m surprised you’re telling me this.”

“Is there a reason I shouldn’t trust you?” he asked, cocking his head.

I felt as if I was being examined under a magnifying glass. Every move, every word was a test. Did he trust me? Did we trust each other ? It was all a mind game—a minefield of hidden traps, each step more precarious than the last.

“What do they want from you?” I asked slowly.

“Well, first and foremost, they wanted assurance that I didn’t have their king assassinated.”

“ Did you?”

His cold gaze pierced me. “You believe I would do such a thing?” His voice was quiet, controlled, but his words slithered across my skin like oil. “Who exactly do you think I am, dear niece?”

“Someone who takes what they think is theirs.” I shoved the book back in its place. “At least, that’s what you told the challengers, isn’t it? That we should be willing to do whatever it takes to gain what we want?”

His eyes narrowed as he crossed to his desk, letting my words hang in the dust and shadows of the room. Only when he pulled his chair out and took a seat did he respond, his attention now on the ink and parchment before him. “I have no interest in gaining anything beyond our borders, Miss Wolff, and I don’t appreciate your insinuation. Now, if that’s the only reason you came here tonight, then?—”

“Fine,” I said, cutting him off and striding to his desk. I gripped the edge of the wood, and it bit into my fresh cut. “What about within our borders? Do you still care about what happens there?”

He met my gaze, something lethal lying in wait behind his mismatched blue and white eyes. “Speak candidly, niece. I grow tired of this game.”

My anger split open. “Your people are being attacked in the streets and you do nothing to stop it. Do you even know what’s going on in the provinces? In your own capital?”

The air chilled several degrees, but Theodore stayed silent, baiting me.

I scoffed. “Allow me to enlighten you.” A warning in the back of my mind told me to stop, to beg forgiveness before I crossed a line, but the words flowed from my mouth unbidden. “The provinces are crumbling . Those with stronger magic think they have the right to invade the weaker ones to the point where people living on the borders uproot their entire lives to find safety in Veridia City. Because that’s what they should find here—protection. A better life. Justice. Isn’t that what you want to give your people, uncle ?” His eyes tightened, and that voice inside my head grew louder, a pounding rising in my bones. “Instead, they’re met with violence. Anyone considered an outsider, anyone deemed ‘less than,’ is tossed aside. Are you telling me you haven’t heard of the attacks happening beneath your very nose?”

A muscle in his jaw twitched. “I am aware of certain extremists taking matters into their own hands, yes.”

“Then why aren’t you doing anything about it? Is it because they’re too weak to deserve your attention?”

He held my stare. “Choose your next words very carefully.”

Taking a breath, I tried to calm my boiling blood, but it was like trying to rein in a tempest. “None of this would be happening if people didn’t think they could get away with it. If they don’t think our own emperor cares, why would anyone else? ”

“Survival thrives on competition,” he said, his voice slow and imbued with power. “I have spent my reign ensuring this empire is mightier than ever before. My people have the strength to fight for what they need. To rise above what they used to be. You may not know what this land once looked like, what weaknesses the Veridians once had to endure, but I made a vow to cut that away.” He enunciated every word, his lips curling as if fighting a snarl. “Poverty is down. Hunger and disease are almost eradicated. People feel empowered. They know how to fend for themselves and pursue their desires, how to openly embrace their magic instead of shy away from it. That is the world I have created, Miss Wolff. That is what I have been doing for the people.”

I felt that same inkling I always felt in his presence, urging me to stop and consider his view, to take a step back and understand his point. But my cold fire chased it away, the memory of the ransacked house burning across my eyes.

“Have you ever thought we might be becoming too reliant on that magic?” I pressed. “What you’ve created is a society based on conflict and superiority. Sure, some people may be better off, but only if their magic deems them worthy enough. And even that comes from this ridiculous tournament.” I gritted my teeth, years of bitterness pouring out as my voice rose. My hair rustled against my chest, but I ignored it, my focus solely on the man before me. “What about the provinces whose magic is dying? Your own home ? Who will fight for them? I’ve seen attacks at our borders. I’ve seen families beaten for nothing less than the type of magic running through their blood. Do we not deserve the same empowerment?”

I broke off, chest heaving, only to find Theodore’s eyes trained on something behind me. Spinning around, the sight before me made me stagger back against his desk. My hand grappled for purchase on the slick wood. I looked down to find blood from my cut smeared across the surface.

“Wonderful,” he murmured. I swallowed thickly, taking in the scene.

Books and loose pages had floated from their stacks and were suspended in midair. Inkwells, glass vials, packets of herbs, dried plants, every item lying around his study was floating of their own accord, hovering as if on an invisible cloud. Even the liquid from the vials was frozen, like miniature waterfalls free flowing from nothing.

Wind swirled again at my hair, and I glanced over at Theodore to find his long locks swaying at his neck.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

“Nothing.” He took a step around his desk. “This is you , Rose.”

“But I—I didn’t even cast a spell. I wasn’t trying to do anything.”

He bore the same look of pride on his face that he had the day I used blood magic for the first time, but this expression was laced with something more. Something that made my feet shuffle backward.

Something like triumph.

“I once told you this is magic unlike anything you have seen. Unshackled. Natural. Free .” He drew closer, brandishing an arm. “Look what you can do with a mere thought , niece. Imagine what you could accomplish when taught how to hone it.” Gripping my shoulders, he met my gaze. “How does it feel?”

I bit down on my tongue hard enough to draw blood, forcing myself to stay silent. To stay in that room with Leo. To not let Theodore’s words get inside my head.

Because I was afraid of admitting how it felt.

“Deny it all you want, but I see it in your eyes.” His voice dropped to a whisper, but that didn’t make it any less potent. Any less searing. “I see the pride . The strength . I want all of my people to know that feeling. To have such confidence in their magic, no matter their province, no matter their bloodline, for that was something I didn’t have until your father and I found it together. I want to help you, Rose. The way he helped me.”

My breaths were ragged as I wet my lips and looked back at what I’d done. I hadn’t thought such a thing was possible with Alchemy—to be able to perform magic without a spell . What else didn’t I know? What else was there to learn about this power I’d had my entire life?

I closed my eyes and shook my head. He was doing it again. Getting in my mind, twisting my thoughts, making me forget my purpose.

“I—I can’t do this,” I stammered, pulling from his grasp and stumbling toward the door. “I don’t know what you want from me, but I’m not my father, Theodore. This isn’t?—”

“Rose,” he thundered, that single word turning into a command and making my footsteps falter. Blindly, I reached for the door handle and tugged it open, but it slammed shut once more. Pressure mounted inside of me, a cascading well of confusion and power and anger and yearning.

“Rose, there is so much you don’t understand. So much I can teach you, if you will?—”

“Let me go!” I screamed, throat hoarse and hands shaking as I spun to face him. Suddenly every book, every vial, every object that had been hanging came crashing to the ground, the sound of shattering glass and deafening boom of tomes hitting the floor splitting my ears.

“I have to go,” I whispered frantically, and to my surprise, the door opened when I turned the handle.

The last things I saw before it banged closed were his white and blue eyes staring after me, and his fingers dipped in red.