Despite the soul-shattering revelation of the lettersādespite the grief that should have paralyzed himāthe Jaguar of the North had moved with impossible speed and did what the other knights and guards couldnāt have done.
"Ah, a pity, you ruined things," Julian mused, his voice smooth and unaffected. He turned his head slightly, his lips curving into a smirk. "But hey, we meet once again."
Alaricās eyes widened. The touch, the weight of the arm, the physical presenceāit was Julianās body. He knew it. He hadnāt known before, but now that he was this close, how could he not know the body he had held in his hand no more than an hour ago?
But the voice, the mockery, and the chilling lack of warmth were entirely alien. This was the stranger he had met a week ago. The one who claimed he was Julian Von Astrea.
He was creating chaos with
this
body.
"Do not let him escape!" a knight roared.
The ballroom transformed into a forest of steel as the nobles had mostly cleared out in fear of being the next whose throat would be threatened by a blade.
Knights and Golden Guards swarmed the dais, surrounding the Duke and the assassin in a suffocating circle. Aurelian slowly reached up, his fingers touching the wet, warm blood on his neck. He looked at the red on his white, gloved fingertips, then at the man wearing Julianās everything.
Across the hall, Seraphina was being wrestled to the ground by four knights. She didnāt struggle. She just knelt in her blood-soaked lace, laughing like a maniac, her eyes fixed on the ceiling as if she could see the gods laughing back.
"So, what will you do now?" Julian asked Alaric, his tone peculiarly thrilled as he trailed his free hand over the Dukeās exposed chest, tracing the line of his shirt. "Will you let them take me?"
The tension was heavy, so much so that no one knew what to do. The knights didnāt trust Alaricānot after his roar of betrayal, not after heād drawn his own blade in an attempt to lunge at the Emperor.
So, they waited for the Emperorās word, their halberds leveled at both men.
Aurelian looked from his brother to the masked assassin. His golden eyes were hollow, stripped of their usual glint of dark glee.
The weight of the Empressās death wasnāt that heavy because he had already been preparing himself for it. He never truly loved her to begin with and had her out of āobligationā to sire heirs for the throne.
But then there was the Dukeās hatred that seemed to have aged him in seconds.
In one night, Alaric had attempted to kill him twice in one night.
How pathetic.
"This is such a mess," Aurelian whispered. He couldnāt bring himself to look Alaric in the eye. "Escort the Duke as he takes the assassin to the cellar. Watch them strictly. Until I give further instructions... nothing shall be done to the
body
."
He didnāt mention the assassin, as if he was being considerate of Julian, who was probably unaware of the mess someone else was making with his appearance.
"Your Majesty?" the head knight stammered in disbelief. "He tried to kill you! To simply escort them is..."
They couldnāt understand. Assassins aiming for the Emperorās throat were never treated with courtesy. Escort the assassin? With the Duke who nearly rushed at him?
What if they were accomplices? They needed to both be taken away and put under strict interrogation immediately.
But that didnāt seem to be happening.
They just couldnāt make sense of it, but the Emperor snapped.
"Do as I say!" Aurelian said, his voice cracking.
He looked at Julian, his brow furrowed with a sick, growing skepticism. This was a manipulationāa trap designed for reasons he didnāt know yet. If he executed this body now, he would be doing exactly what this ādemonā wanted.
"Wow, what a letdown," Julian laughed as the guards moved in to bind his arms with heavy hemp and coarse ropes. "I wouldāve definitely liked to have seen this body be subject to torture. What a waste of a good cage."
Aurelian winced at the words, turning away as he was led toward the Royal Wing for treatment.
"And what about Princess Seraphina?" the head knight asked, gesturing to the deranged woman.
Aurelian didnāt even look back. His voice was a flat, dead iron. "Seraphina has spilled the blood of the Moon. She shall be executed immediately. Hang her, and leave her body to rot under the sun for a month."
And with that, he made his exit, giving no deep thought to the fact that he had just issued an execution to his very own sister.
The knights obeyed, dragging a laughing Seraphina away and then, after binding Julianās hands, moved to strip the mask from Julianās face, but Alaric stepped between them, his hand on his sword hilt.
"The mask stays." He growled and they all stood at alert, reaching for their own weapons. "No one is allowed to take off the mask while I am taking him down. Now, move."
The knights were skeptical, but they gave way and watched Alaricās back as he led Julian away.
Julian hummed, delighted and very much pleased.
Then, he said to Alaric.
"You saved him," he mused, and Alaric looked down at him. "Any more than this, if you had just let me finish what I started, he wouldāve definitely been a gonner, haha. No amount of intervention could possibly save the man who killed the Emperor,"
Alaric was vexed, so much so that he wanted to find the culprit behind this and rip them to shreds.
So, was his plan to ruin Julian? Or was there something else?
Either way, he was a threat in his loverās body.
"Really," Alaric began, barely keeping his voice down as his veins crawled up in his neck in anger. "Who are you? And who are the people behind you?"
"Demons." Julian purred, tilting his head forward with a fantastic light in his eyes. "I work with the demons. And as for who I am... I already told you, I am..."
"Shut up!" Alaric snapped at him, and Julian shrugged.
"Well, itās up to you to believe it or not. But itās true." He said, and then they got to the cellar.
As the knights finished binding Julianās limbs to the heavy chair, Julian let out a short, melodic chuckle.
ā"I understand that you donāt believe me," he said, his voice light, almost airy. "But hey, anything is possible. So, instead of asking me who I am and not even taking a word I say, why donāt you ask that other guy who he really is?"