Amara of Xeris

Chapter 39

"It was fun, wasn't it?", Pax asked his older brother.

"It was. I quite enjoyed it.", Victor said.

"You just talked to Amara the whole time.", Rex said, "You should talk to other people more."

"Don't tell me what to do, Pax.", he scolded light-heartedly.

"Not everyone here wants to hurt you.", Pax said, "I am happy you found a friend in Amara, but you can't go around disgusting the entire court forever."

"The Court doesn't deserve to be trusted, and both of us know that."

"The times have changed, haven't they?", he said.

"Not enough to get me to trust anyone here.", Victor dismissed, "Now, do me a favour and stop worrying about me."

"I would but someone has to worry about you sometimes. You clearly don't."

"So what? That's not your job.", Victor

"Brothers worry about each other. It would be concerning if I had no worry for you."

"Thanks but I didn't ask you to care, did I?"

"Don't act like that.", Pax yelled at Victor, "You are so annoying, you know that?"

"I know and I don't care.", Victor glanced back at him and walked away, leaving Pax seething in anger. He just had to get the final word in, didn't he?

******

"You sound mad today. What happened?", Amara asked Victor that night, that night was the last night Amara was going to spend in Othrera. Two days after the coronation.

"It's nothing, Pax has just been particularly irritating these few days."

"Little sisters are the same are the same if that is any consolation."

"I guess it is the duty of younger siblings to annoy their older siblings."

"That explains a lot.", Amara said, drawing a chuckle from Victor., "So, what do we do today?"

"I don't know, there's not much we can do.", he explained, "We can't leave the Palace and the gardens are way too chilly for a walk right now."

"Why don't we just explore the inside of the palace?", Amara asked.

"I don't think there will be anything interesting here.", he answered.

"There has to be something interesting in here somewhere.", Amara tried to convince him, "I read about the North Tower somewhere. It seemed interesting."

"The North Tower only seems interesting in legend. There's nothing there in real life except for a few tapestries."

"It's still better than sitting out here."

"Fair point."

**********

The pair walked through the long, winding hallways of the palace, avoiding everyone else who might see them. While the common populace of Otherea didn't care much about the Emperor's personal life, the nobility certainly did.

The Tower wasn't that far from the palace's main building but it wasn't very near to it either, being a short walk away from the palace's main building and located near the Northern Gate of the Palace.

Carefully, Victor and Amara trudged the cobblestone path to the tower. Victor would often turn around to check for anyone else following them while Amara just focused on suppressing her aura.

"It's easier for me to check the surroundings and keep my aura suppressed simultaneously, you know? I have had practice back home.", Amara said.

"I'll handle it, you just keep walking ahead.", he said.

"Why don't we take turns? I'll start keeping watch when we reach that tree in front of us."

"If you insist.", he agreed begrudgingly.

And thus, the two walked peacefully to the legendary North Tower, walking the grey cobblestone path and crossing endless bushes and trees.

Amara had heard legends about the place in a book about Othreran folk tales. Initially, a residence of Othreran royalty, it was later used to contain treasonous nobility and royalty. About 20 executions took place there and legend said that the Tower was haunted by the ghosts of the executed. Something like that just had to be explored once, an experience that one had to see with their own eyes. Just once in their lifetime.

Eventually, they reached the tower. Amara had only seen the tower in its prime in her books. Now, the tower looked like it had seen better days decades ago. Its whitish grey had turned dark, its gargoyles had lost some of their features to time and vines covered a huge portion of the tower. Now, it looked like a haunted home, one that has seen a good amount of death and violence.

"Shall we go inside?", Victor said opening the heavy metal door.