My eyes misted over when I saw Vita lying on the bed. There was a stump where her arm should've been and it was wrapped around with thick white bandages. In a pile on the ground next to her bed was a pile of red stained old wrappings that someone must've forgotten to throw away. Vita's expression was void of emotion and she was staring at Minos as he tried talking to her. Thera was in the back of the room assessing the situation silently, Remus was in the corner of the room staring at the ceiling, Nikator was standing a few feet behind Minos, and Atreus was glaring at the ground. The room was tense and I could practically cut the tension with my hand if I wanted to.

"Vita, we killed all of them," Minos said softly. He cleared his throat and glanced over at Atreus, who was still looking as glum as ever. Minos's blue eyes went back to Thera and he attempted to smile. "I didn't get a single drop of blood on me. Clean and pristine. So unlike these guys." He jerked a thumb at the three guys. "Remus was a mess. We had to send him to the bathing grounds immediately—"

"Minos," Remus said with a frown. Unlike the image I had seen of him earlier—with blood covering up to his elbows, spatters over his face and clothing—he was fresh and clean. He traced the floor with his finger. "I'm scary, aren't I?"

"Remus, sweetheart, this isn't about you," Thera said in a sweet voice. "This is about Vita."

Nikator rolled his eyes. "Thera, Remus is the baby of the Peccata. You can't treat him poorly."

"I'm not treating him poorly."

"You're not treating him good."

"I'm treating him just fine."

"No you're not."

"Nik—"

Vita raised her hand to halt them of their conversation. She turned to Remus, who was staring at everyone with a neutral expression on his face. He didn't look troubled or sad like he had a split second ago, instead he looked calm and curious. Vita spoke in a somewhat raspy voice. "You're not even that scary, Remus."

Remus sighed. "Yes, but I, um, did something I shouldn't have done . . . "

She cocked a brow. "And what's that?"

"Um, Lanfen saw me . . . before I took a bath. I was covered in blood. She hates me now." Remus continued to trace circles on the ground.

I winced at that information. With all the progress they were making, it was a shame that it was all dashed away in an instant. Though, knowing how adorable Remus was, it wouldn't be that big of a deal to start from scratch once more to vie for Lanfen's attention.

"Don't worry about her," Atreus ground out, annoyed. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Thera's right, we can't talk about stupid stuff, Remus. Be serious."

Remus frowned. "Why?"

"Because Vita . . . " Minos trailed on.

"Vita's alive," Remus said with a shrug. His gaze flickered from her to her stump before he glanced back at the rest of everyone in the room. "Besides, we killed the people that hurt her. Her arm is gone but Vita's alive."

"I—"

"Remus." Vita's voice was cold and cut through the thick air in the room. Her eyes were a dark shade of sin as she stared him straight in the eyes. His black-red eyes narrowed at the sight of her seriousness. "Tell me, Remus, what did you feel when you killed them?"

Remus paused and thought for a moment. He tugged at the ends of his gray hair and mulled over the question for a moment longer. When I thought he wouldn't speak, he finally spoke, his voice monotone and his expression emotionless. "Cold. Dark. Empty. Lost. Rage. Sorrow. Regret." He stopped. "They were feeling many negative emotions, but the most prevalent one was fear."

A satisfactory glimmer set in Vita's eyes and she nodded. "I see."

"Vita, I'm glad to see you're here with us," I said, picking my words carefully. Her eyes landed on me and I hesitated as I approached her. Her skin was pulled tight over her face and her cheekbones were sticking out prominently. It looked as if she hadn't eaten properly in a while, her face gaunt. Dark circles shadowed under her eyes and her skin was a sickly pale color, so unlike the rich gold her skin normally exhibited. "I was very worried," I continued.

"Empress." Her voice was flat as usual and she didn't let a shred of emotion show on her face. "You shouldn't have to worry about me."

"Vita—"

"I can no longer serve you or Master." Her fingers curled together into a fist and she glowered. Her expression was dark but when she raised her eyes to meet mine, I couldn't read anything within those lightly colored eyes of hers. I quickly realized that she must've learned to hide her emotions from Meilin—whose dark eyes I rarely could read. "I will find a way to be useful. It will take time before I can serve either of you, but I will find a way. I am not weak as to let this slow me down."

I swallowed. "Vita, you shouldn't think about serving me. Focus on recuperating. Meilin doesn't want you to think as though you're serving him. He's family, isn't he?"

"Yes, but he is still my Master."

"Why can't you call him by another name?" I asked. "He's not your Master. He's . . . like your father, really. You all call him Master, but I don't like that. I don't want you to think of yourselves as his servants. You're like his children. He raised you, you're not his slaves or his workers. Vita, you shouldn't be thinking about being useful to the both of us."

"Master is Master. We don't call him that because we think that we are his servants," she said in a soft voice. "Calling him Father would be . . . odd. Calling him Uncle would be false. Calling him anything else will not do. Nothing fits better than Master."

"And we don't dare disrespect him by calling him by his first name," Nikator chimed in.

I frowned but nodded. "Alright."

Remus continued tracing the floor with his finger before raising his head to me. His eyes narrowed and he abruptly stood up. "There's something . . . wrong," he said, breaking the ice around the room. Minos's and Atreus's hands went straight to the hilt of their blade and Nikator already had his weapon drawn and ready to attack. Remus stared at me for a moment too long. I froze, unsure of what was happening.

"You'd think Keung's army would be completely dead after that," Nikator cursed, spinning around. "What's wrong, Remus? Who do you sense—"

Remus went straight towards me and pressed a hand against my stomach. "You have a heart growing inside. It beats and it feels warm."

Silence hung in the air before Nikator jumped towards me and dropped to his knees, pressing his ear against my stomach. "A baby? Remus, really? Master is having a baby?"

Minos shoved Nikator out of the way. "Nik, shut up—"

"Empress, is this true?" Atreus stared curiously at my stomach, his brows pulled together and his green eyes scanning me carefully, as if searching for changes in me. When I nodded, a smile broke across his face. "That's wonderful news."

"Master will have a baby!" Nikator said from the ground. He spread his arms around the ground and laughed. His red hair was messy but his bright blue eyes were practically gleaming as he looked up at me with a wide grin. "We'll have someone to run around and teach."

"Nikator—" Thera started with a sigh.

Remus's ears perked up and his eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yes," Nikator answered as he sat upright, bobbing his head excitedly. "We will teach him everything, Remus!"

"Guys, that's enough—" Minos started once more.

"I will teach him to fight," Atreus announced.

"No, I will," Nikator said, jumping to his feet until he was in front of Atreus. They both stared at each other heatedly. Nikator pressed a finger on Atreus's chest and gave it a flick. "I'm faster and stronger—"

"You're not stronger," Atreus ground out.

"I'll teach him to fight," Minos said with a laugh. "He'll be—"

"We don't want you teaching him anything," Atreus and Nikator said at the same time.

At that exact moment, Vita let out an uncharacteristic laugh, startling all of us. My heart froze and the rest of the room held its breath as we listened to her laughter. It was a sweet sound that I had never heard before. Vita was always beautiful and cold, but seeing her laughing face made my chest swell. She looked stunning when she was happy.

"That child will be loved by so many people," she said once her laughter subsided. "We have a lot to teach her."

"Her?" Thera raised a brow. "I like the sound of that."

"Her? It should be a him," Nikator said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"It's clearly a girl," Vita countered. "She's going to be beautiful and strong."

Nikator opened his mouth to say something but Atreus elbowed him. He keeled over while Atreus nodded in agreement to Vita, his green eyes flicking from me to her. "Yes, it will be a girl."

"I'm fine with either," Nikator wheezed as he rubbed his abdomen, casting a glare at Atreus. "Girl or boy is fine."

I smiled softly at all of them and rested a hand against my growing stomach. "We will see."

"Oddly enough," Minos started with a shake of his head, "I just remembered something, Empress. Master didn't destroy those three villages for nothing. This might be random, but it's something I wanted to tell you about."

Vita nodded slowly. "Master destroyed those three villages because of his rage and because those villages were housing Keung's remaining faction. They were supporters of the rebellion and since Master was angry that Keung's soldiers had hurt me, he destroyed the villages that were with Keung."

"It's a political strategy as well," Nikator added. "It's a lesson to those who decide to go against the Emperor. They will be killed if they go against the Drakkon dynasty."

"The start of the Drakkon dynasty," Thera said as she sashayed over to me. She draped an arm around my shoulder and placed a hand against my stomach. She flashed a smile at the rest of everyone in the room. "Is right here."

The start of the Drakkon dynasty.