The winds of the Western Sea whipped around the white mourning dress of the Empress of Derita. It kept away her smile. She had to remember that this was a time of sadness. Sadness for her family and the entire empire over which she and her husband now ruled. The Emperor was dead. The seventy-two year old Andeja II of Derita had passed away in the night, having fallen asleep in the great Obsidian Throne, never to rise or wake up. His death had been discovered by Marijani, the new empress, herself. She had grown suspicious of the actions of Amélie Hollande, now Empress Dowager, in the hours before her departure to Great Hyruke.
This left Marijani’s husband, son of Andeja II as the new Emperor of Derita, under the regal name of Andeja III. Andeja and Marijani now ruled. And that brought a smile to her face. The power of the crown at her fingertips, she had risen higher than had ever been expected of her. Her elder sister had been designed to be queen of Great Hyruke, but plots and schemes and the failure of their parents had ended such dreams. But now Marijani was the Empress. Her children would rule after her, her son, her eldest, Andeja would no doubt rule after his father, while Ziyanda, her precious daughter would be made to sit on a foreign throne.
But now all was well with the Crown that now sat atop Marijani’s dead. When the dead Emperor had been discovered, so had been the empty chambers and tents and pavilions of over half the Celestial Court, supporters of the Empress Dowager, the stepmother of the new Emperor, and with so many missing, amongst them the princesses of the Imperial dynasty, who were all, save the elderly Princess Alara, Countess Dowager of Fionete hated by Andeja III. Now to be confused with the recently married Princess Alara, Duchess of Rossendale, Andeja’s sister. The two Alara’s, the elder and younger, aunt and niece, were out of the reach of Andeja, either out of love or for fear of war, for the latter was married to the heir presumptive of the King of Great Hyruke.
That still left four imperial princesses for Andeja’s hatred. The Empress Dowager, the scheming stepmother who Andeja had never loved, was aboard with her daughters; Princess Mamela in Great Hyruke, still there after her younger sister’s marriage; Princess Amélie, the most hated by Andeja, in Colfico were she had taken asylum in the home of the King and Queen there. Closer at home, the young aunts of Andeja by his grandfather’s winter marriage Anaressa and Yonela were in hiding, believed to be still within the borders of the empire. Their Hollande relatives, for they had had Hollande mothers and thus had many Hollande cousins were in hiding, at home or abroad. Lord Louis Hollande, the prime minister, alone remained. For now.
And it was not to just women that Andeja’s hatred and mistrust extended to. The old Iron Duke, the famed General, the Duke of Alençon and his four sons were a ever present threat from their homes in Aukusa City. The Duke of Alençon had risen up in rebellion against emperors before, his own father and grandfather, and many suspected that he would not hesitate to do the same against his nephew. But those were perhaps battles to be fought another day. For the now the empire mourned and the reign of Marijani’s husband was still in its infancy and it had sent ripples of concerns, condolences and curiosity across the continent. He was the newest monarch, and few knew of him, and now he ruled the largest empire.
Which was why, as the country mourned and prepared for the funeral of the late Emperor, Marijani and her ladies waited on the docks of Aukusa City for the arrival of what she opened would be great allies in the time to come.
