Fourth Arc (Thorns of The Black Throne) - 471. Power and Temptation II
Angel looked down at the cup again. The tea had cooled just a bit. He drank it anyway. His voice was lower now. "She thinks she can divide us."
"Then she's a fool," Rose said.
He didn't reply.
For a moment, the room went quiet again. Only the soft breath of Jane sleeping, the faint tick of the wall clock.
Then Rose asked, "So… King Darius. Not under her spell?"
Angel shook his head. "At all."
She frowned slightly. "You're sure?"
"I watched them," he said. "Listened to them. When he spoke about her, it was with disdain. Old, tired disdain. Not rage. Not lust. Just… contempt."
"Give me an example."
Angel closed his eyes briefly, then repeated it from memory. "He said, 'I brought her up from a witch to a queen.'"
Rose blinked. "That's not affection."
"No," Angel said. "And when she spoke to him, she said he stopped being interesting."
Rose laughed softly. Bitterly. "Charming couple."
"They don't trust each other," Angel said. "And they're both planning without the other."
Rose leaned forward and refilled his tea from the kettle she brought. The steam rose between them. "And what's his plan?"
Angel sipped again. Then said, "He wants expansion."
Rose stilled.
"But he's failed," Angel continued. "Something happened. Something in the last five years. A campaign that didn't go the way he wanted. Now? He's in survival mode. Territorial preservation."
"Defensive."
"Exactly."
"So he envies you," she said slowly, "because he falls behind."
Angel looked into the cup. The reflection of his own face stared back at him. Calm. Tired. Too young and too old at the same time.
"Yes," he murmured. "He thought I was too young to achieve all that."
"And Seraphine?"
"She's betting on something else entirely. Her own rise. Her own game."
Rose leaned back against the cushion, exhaling through her nose. "So they're not a pair."
"No."
"Not anymore?"
"Maybe not ever."
The silence that followed wasn't empty. It was the kind that carried weight. The kind where thoughts pressed against lips but didn't spill out yet. The tea between them had cooled.
The fire had dipped into a low, slow glow, its warmth pulsing gently across the polished floor. The castle beyond the walls felt asleep, but the air in this room, still sharp. Awake.
Then Rose broke it.
"What about Roric?"
Angel didn't move at first. Just a flicker in his eyes. A shift of focus, like a memory dusting itself off behind his gaze.
"Roric," he said slowly. "I saw him tonight. He had a headache. He tried to hide it, but…"
His brow furrowed. "It didn't feel… normal."
"Meaning?"
Angel finally looked up, eyes catching hers. "I think he's under her spell."
Rose's mouth tightened. Not in surprise, just confirmation.
"But," Angel added, "I don't know the medium. Illusions, charms, even minor psychic binds, they don't last. They weaken with time, exposure, suspicion. But this…" He lowered his voice. "If it's permanent, it's something deeper. Something that changes him."
Rose tilted her head. "Changes… how?"
Angel set the tea aside. "Usually, when mind control lasts beyond the surface, it rewrites memory. Sometimes partially. Sometimes fully. But with Roric, it feels different. Like…"
"Like what?" she pressed.
He paused, then said, "Like the memories are still there. But altered. Fragmented. Not replaced. Just twisted."
Understanding flickered in her gaze.
"You mean," she said softly, "like your Mind Corruption?"
Angel nodded once.
"But different," he added. "When I use Mind Corruption, I twist the truth so deep they stop knowing what part of them is real. Simply, I took all their memory. But with Roric… it's not chaos. It's confusion. Like his mind was… rearranged."
"Selective erasure?"
"Could be," Angel said. "Or someone seeded false memories into existing ones. Not clean. Not refined. But just enough to make him hesitate."
She didn't speak for a moment. Then, quietly, "That explains the way he looked at Jane. Like he wanted to trust her, but something held him back."
Angel nodded.
"He's conflicted. Part of him knows we're not enemies. That you're not a threat. But the other part… the part Seraphine tampered with, that part says run."
Rose leaned forward now, resting her elbows on her knees. Her eyes darkened slightly. "Then we need to break it."
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