ЦАРЬ KAISER - A Race to Conquer (Countryhumans)

Persuasion

One way to make my son obey is to scare him. 

That is what I was doing. 

"Otetz, please!," he backed away from me. "maybe we can deal with this tomorrow, uh, after you've calmed down."

I whipped around and glared at him. "No! Never! You spend your precious time hanging around those Germans, you smell like them! Why can't you do anything?" I screeched. 

"I don't...know?" 

"Stop belittling my statements," I growled. "Listen."

"I always listen to you,"

"No you don't!" I scremead louder. "all you do is act on your stupid instinct! It's not even the correct instinct!"

He bit his lip. "I just think before I jump into a fight," he said. "And this is a losing battle on both fronts."

"Weakling," I spat.

He looked offended. "Listen, I don't even know what you want, never mind what they're masterminding," He stood straighter. "maybe if you told me what the primary goal is, we'd have a common language."

"Useless proletarian lover," I hissed. "There is no common language between us."

He grimaced. "I mean, you're understanding me now, right?"

I picked up a picture frame and flung it at him. He ducked just in time.  The wood and glass frame smashed against the wall. It was the fifteenth object I flung at him today. Broken glass, wood splinters, gold leaf, and porcelain littered the floor around my son. I turned away from the scene in disgust at how useless he was to me. I had my back to him, so I didn't know what he was going to do next. If I did, I wouldn't be surprised to find his face mere centimetres from mine. 

"Get your disgusting visage out of my view," I snarled, now a bit afraid of what he was going to do next. He could be very unexpected. I always underestimated him, until he smashed a battleship into my Winter Palace. It took years of renovation. 

Instead of yelling in my face as I had thought he'd do, he veered me towards a table outside the room. 

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded, trying to hide the squeak that issued through the indignation. "I order you to stop." He stopped in an empty room, devoid of objects to throw. 

"Papa," he sighed. "Over the years, I've tried to hate you." he started. "But I can't."

"Not trying too hard then," I sneered. "what's stopping you?" I could see his hands contract in anger. 

"Experience," he said evenly. "I'd probably end up just like you if my children didn't listen to me."

"How nice," I snapped. "Thank you for the kind words."

I wondered where he got his patience. It was almost scary how intent he was on reaching out to me. "Papa. Please listen to me," he begged, almost sinking to his knees. "I don't want to fight you anymore. We're first-line family. The Germans don't fight this way."

"You want me to sink to their level," I raised my eyebrow. "Is that how you feel? You want to be like them?"

"Well I don't want to be like you," he looked at me. "you won't even admit that you're wrong to me, here, where nobody can hear us."

"I don't want to reveal anything because you're too soft," I said. "you'll let it slip out to your children."

"Why should I keep anything from them?"

"Because they'll make sure to pass it on to their own friends," I kept on. "and then it will be a secret no longer."

He jumped on the information. "It's a secret? What is it?"