Chapter 76: Chapter 76

Arius Pov

I cannot believe that I slept through the period where my country was hijacked and my brother was possessed by an evil spirit that eventually killed him. Kastav was not evil, all he was, was greedy. Maybe I could have prevented this if I had listened to Gwenn warning at first. Gwenn thinks the death of others were on her but she could not be further from the truth. They were on me.

Gwenn was Alal, her role was to keep the peace, mine was to fight if the peace was threatened. She was a foreigner and she had no vested interest in saving Northshore but she still did. She had nothing to feel, no weight to carry.

I was supposed to carry them all because I could have prevented the death of my sister and Sorens and my councilors too but I did not. I chose to ignore the words of a seer. My fault but now, things are strange and Northshore us not as we know it to be. Old records are being dug. The forgotten world is not so forgotten. I knew I would need to talk to Gwenn about it but not yet. I have to repair Northshore first. Themis was right when she saw me. It was time for me to exert my reign and do my part. Gwenn has done hers.

The first thing I did was to go through the records and select the list of potential new council members, Gwenn did the final selection and then I went around creating new legions, I did four more because I knew we would need more warriors to help with the new dangers that were arising. These warriors were sent to deal with the occasional sighting of a creature thought to either be extinct or mythical. When it was too much to handle, my wife was called.

Adela was no longer around, going back to wherever she came from and I was a little bit glad about that but it just meant that Gwenn was to go alone for her missions because her companions were gone.

And speaking of those who were gone, Kastav was dead but his accomplice was still alive. I could still punish her and that was what I was going to do.

I did not want to punish Catia but I did not have a choice, never will I allow people to think that it was okay to get away with endangering the kingdom and killing their siblings, because of her whispers to Kastav ears before he did the abomination which he did, I lost three of my siblings, my two full siblings and one of my half ones which I got along with, not to mention Kastav himself.

“Do you know why you are here?” I asked Catia, she was kneeling at the foot of the throne, facing me. The council members were beside me, each commander of the wrath of Yama were there, her siblings and the foreigners were also around. Gwenn was the only one missing but it was understandable. She had witness enough horrors to last a lifetime, if she could escape any, she will.

“I do, Yama.” She whispered. Tears running down her cheeks.

“By default, I am supposed to pin all of Kastav crimes on you as in line with our customs and laws.” I said and when she flinched I continued. “And I would not feel bad about my judgement because he made you the queen to his king. Any last words before your sentence.” I asked.

“I thought he was normal, I did not know that he was possessed. It was just normal palace intrigue to me, I never knew he would take it so far as to invite something malicious into him.”

“You were the malicious thing to him. You pushed him to make his decisions.” Themis said softly but her words were heavy. A queen of another empire with powers of visions and whose ancestor was one of us. Her words will forever have weight in Northshore.

“Catia daughter of the former Yama and sister to the last traitor. You are sentence for the following crimes, destruction of the kingdom, killing of thousands of individuals, plans to overthrow the current king, the death of the former Yama who was your father. Death to the mother of the supposed first child of the current Yama, death of your siblings, three brothers and a sister and finally the resurrection of a mavolent spirit.”

“Father?” Catia asked.

“Yes.” I responded, feeling sympathy for my sister who looked every bit like the fragile babe she was, the very first time I saw her. “Sorens was aware of that fact, that was why he smuggled me out of the palace with his brother and the information and he confronted Kastav, Kastav killed him.”

Catia broke down crying and I gave her a few moments to calm herself down. “You have the option of choosing your sentence since you are of the royal blood. Death by poison or exile to the wild mountains of White. The place with the most prominent sighting of creatures.” I read of the paper that was in my hands as I frowned. I had not gone through it before this judgement session and apparently, nobody listened to my orders of softening the sentence.

“This was not was I ordered.” I announced looking at my council, none decided to meet my gaze. “The sentence should have been reduced.”

“It was.” Elise replied, one of my newest commanders, the only one with guts to talk back yet. The rest will grow into their power soon enough and start giving me head ache but for now, only she challenges me. Her aunt was Isolde and she was groomed to take over from her aunt although she had not taken the oath of warriors yet. “Whipping to death, death by hanging or by slow blood loss… those were her options.”

I turned to look at Catia helplessly but she smiled sadly. “I choose death by poison and I would like if it was done this night. I need to grovel at father’s feet.”

“Don’t you think I have lost enough of my siblings.” I growled at my council but Catia was the one who answered me.

“Please brother. I need to pay and beg for forgiveness. I would never be able to live with myself after learning that I indirectly caused the death of my father.” Catia begged. I looked back at her, I looked at her eyes and through them I saw her soul broken. She did not want to live and so I gave a nod to her, putting my approval of her death. Within seconds, a black cloth was over her head and she was dragged from the room. I bent my head as I shed tears for my sister.

That was the last time I cried. Later that day, everybody including Gwenn was present as we paid our last respects for the sister we lost. This time, I shed no tear and I held her gaze even as I life bled from her eyes.