The few steps it took to get me to the elevator felt like walking through quicksand. I've never felt so out of place in my own body. Then Ly's hand went to the small of my back and steadied me like he always did when I went off the rails. The gesture was so familiar I realized how many times I got volatile.

"It's going to be okay, Lesya."

"You were never good at lying to me." It wasn't going to be okay. I was going to be the queen.

I signaled Jazzy to go up to my room. She wouldn't like to be underground, and no one would like an agitated gigantic tiger there either.

My guard was reduced to five including Ly once we entered the elevator. I took off the jacket there and gave it back to him. "It's not my color." And he accepted without complaints.

Now the media had pictures of him in white shirt, and me with his coat. I'm sure they'll play into it instead of the death of Upapa. Young love is easier to swallow than possible war.

So much for trying to hide our friendship.

The elevator scanned our bodies, making sure of our identities before descending the entire three minutes it took to get to the bunker.

I turned at the end of the first minute to see my guards. Aside from Ly, two were a little older than me, and two were my age. "First names."

"Ji Su."

"James."

"Raza."

"Natasha"

"Ilyaas."

Four from four corners and one from home. I inherited the best from my grandfather. "I'm Lizaveta Snezhana Wanika Nadir. I'm going to be your queen... my grandfather was killed as you may know, and I wanted to thank you for your service to him." I bowed my head in respect. There was only silence.

"We will protect you, your majesty." A girl's voice. She sounded concerned. Good. A weak queen. How wonderful.

"We'll kill them for you." A man whispered.

I turned to look at him and I nodded. "I'll do it myself." I said.

They needed to die, if not for the other lives on that vehicle, then for Eurasian pride. The White Ravens were responsible for thousands of deaths and billions in damage for years now, but my grandfather thought they were harmless because they were far south. Obviously, he was wrong or else he would still be king.

Killing people was not an easy pill to swallow, but I reminded myself that the Ravens were barely people.

I've killed before too in the name of my country, so another few in the name of the king wouldn't weigh on me as much. I sighed at that self-lie. Of course, it would.

I fixed myself on the guard I called out seconds ago, reeling myself back into my body.

"You served my father. You're Raza, the spy master." I said, his name finally matching a face in my memory.

"Your majesty." Gray eyes that were almost white, and gray-blond hair. He worked for father for less than a year when he was eighteen, excellent at poisons, secrets and lies. Horrible at hand to hand. I didn't know he was a member of the guard.

"You're fired."

He seemed taken aback. "Your majesty, I've served for six years-"

"It's not a demotion."

Everyone looked at him. They were probably scared of losing their jobs as well except Ly. "When I reach the bunker, the ministers will be there." I swallowed. I didn't like those old people. "They'll tell me everything they think I should know about my grandfather's death and everything else going forward. I need you to know when they're lying, and I need you to tell me. I need to know everything about everyone I meet. You can't serve me if you're by my side, subject to law and the serum. Do you understand?"

"Your majesty." His gray eyes understood. I felt his façade slowly go away. I knew that boy, and I knew that he never bowed even to my father, because he always knew more.

The doors opened to a small hall leading to a door that looked like a safe's opening guarded by four more guards. Another scan went through the room before it opened. There were three doors just like it before we reached the headquarters, or as I liked to call it, the Royal Panic Room.

I only came here once before... I was thirteen years old, and a senator of the Islanders visited us. There were no guards as there was no need for them. The scan recognized me back then. Now the guards were still not stationed here. They were stationed a floor above.

I did not remember why I hid; all I remember was going back up, being pulled away from my mother, and then being brought back from the islands to a dead brother and a dead father three days later.

At least for my second visit, the death already happened. At least now as I entered the room, there was no one left to lose.

We were still standing outside the bullet proof glass when I saw the Prime Minister and the two I asked for from parliament. They all wore the white uniforms they were supposed to wear in session, and their faces looked just as devoid of blood. At least I wasn't the only one scared.

The door opened after another scan and all five of my guards went to each corner.

As my boots entered the room, I felt a certain calm come over me. The vents, they poured in an airborne drug that made people think clearer. It was installed years ago knowing that people won't come here unless they're terrified, and when people are terrified and in power, they cause terror.

I didn't like it. As my heart slowed, my brain kept up and it was as if I was daunted by facts but paralyzed. I remembered almost dying here the last time.

There was a pentagon shaped table in the center, and screens on each surface. The whole room seemed to move. I went to the seat directly adjacent to the main screen showing the map of Eurasia- my newly inherited continent.

Aside from being the first female in over three hundred years, I'll also be the youngest to take this seat. Does incompetence plague my whole demographic?

At my signal, the other door opened to let the politicians inside from the holding room across from my entrance. They bowed immediately. "Your majesty."

"Take a seat." My voice came out sterner than I intended, but as far as I remembered, these people were vipers.

They issued laws upon laws that always seemed to benefit the people a little less than it benefited their own families. They would send troops of young men and women down to North Africa to help with the effort against the constantly warring states and the White Ravens. Those soldiers would die for the people who couldn't care less.

They made a law to conscript everyone at seventeen into the military unless they could pay a certain fee to help the forces. It was a good way of controlling the conflict down below, the population problems in the cities, and of stimulating the economy. No one is unemployed if everyone else is dead.

Disgusting.

When I was sixteen and it was apparent that my grandfather would pay my fee, I volunteered in advance to be with Ly. Unlike these oligarchs, I was at the front lines and I saw the blood. Unlike them, I don't trade lives. These people were served as I served, got kicked out and got back again.

The prime minister was a woman with brown hair, growing gray at the roots, with dark green eyes. I saw her plenty of times but she didn't give me any attention- not even a bow when I was heir apparent.

There was another woman with almond eyes. Then a man with a shaved head, and a blond mustache. I didn't care to know their names, but I saw them before- always at opposite corners of the room.

"A moment of silence for the late King Solomon." Said the prime minister. She didn't have to ask for a moment of silence. The whole room was as silent as a grave.

After counting exactly sixty seconds I put my hand on the table to signal the beginning of the session.

"Your majesty, you will have your coronation three weeks from today after the mourning period. We will have consorts flown in from the empire and from the Americas, Antarctica, the Pacific Islands, and Phobos and the other territories for your choosing." Said the prime minister.

"My party recommends you choose someone from the commonwealth as that could increase morale in the continent. More specifically, someone from New India, the Prince Yudaveer is a fine candidate he is second in line and is eligible for marriage." Said the man, fiddling with his side of the table to project a picture of a handsome boy? Man? On a sandy horse, wearing a cream shirt with the embroidery of a golden compass, the same compass as the flag.

I've seen him before... on the arms of male supermodels and glorified whores. From the look on the minister's face, I knew he knew. I thought they needed an heir?

"The Congress party recommends a marriage to the son of the Chancellor of Antarctica as their technology will greatly help advance the-"

"Shut up." I stood up and walked to the front of the screen, searching for satellite footage of my grandfather's runner exploding. The file title: Death of King Solomon on June 25th, 2350.

And there, it played.

The King George, en route to the Eurasian Capital, fell from the sky because of a tiny stealth drone ramming itself directly at the vehicle. It was almost at the Arabian Peninsula, almost in our territory. It didn't dodge, there was no fight. It just ended like a snap of the finger and burning dust emerged- killing everyone.

That drone sealed my fate as well.

"Who messed up radar? Why did they not do evasive maneuvers? Why were they alone up there? I had about twenty-five guards in the air while they had none."

"Your majesty, the King requested no guards on the thermosphere. There was no known vehicle that could travel at that height with our speed, at least not one released at average altitude, so King's Guard followed orders. As for the radar, we honestly have nothing to go on for an investigation... we don't even have scraps from the explosion." Defended the PM.

They might have used a jamming device, or the pilot was in cahoots, or the maintenance crew screwed something up accidentally on purpose. "Are you sure it was the White Ravens who did this?"

"They claimed responsibility, your majesty-"

"They're terrorists! They'd claim responsibility for anything that makes them look important." I placed the expanse of the room. Drugged air be damned. "You're the best the continent has? You deserve your posts?" The sound of my voice was harsher than I thought it would be, but it was effective.

"Your majesty, we understand that these events might be putting immense pressure on you but" the bald man was stammering.

Don't tell me to 'calm down', old man. He likes his position, he's the first to defend it... he'll be the first to lose it if he kept this up.

"Do you?" I put my hands on my hips the way my grandfather used to when he had arguments like these. "Do you understand what it feels to be the most powerful woman in the world and still not be able to do anything about this because some idiots surprisingly got elected into office?"

Silence.

"You're telling me our only option is to go on with life as if an attack on The Empire of the Eurasian Continent is a daily struggle?"

"We already met with the investigation bureau and central intelligence. There were no threats beforehand. It just happened, your majesty. Our people are peaceful, they accept his death, there's no need for retaliation-"

It just happened. Funny that he said it that way. Like it was a mere coincidence. It was like Upapa was laughing at me from the atoms he left in the sky.

The day I thought I was free and now I'm a prisoner.

"Ji Su, pull up a map of North Africa." She practically ran into action on the table and showed the map full of plains and deserts and tiny dots of cities. "Show me confirmed strongholds of the White Ravens."

"Your majesty, if you plan to attack... my party believes that we shouldn't. We can have diplomatic measures and conversations with the North African government to help them send the accused to be tried in Eurasian court." The bald man had the audacity to interject again.

I chuckled. "You're an idealist. You told me our people are peaceful? Did you not go to history class? Stand up. "He did. He was a few inches taller than me, but I walked towards him slowly and surely the way my grandfather would have done. Upapa was not a good grandfather, but he knew how to make these people dance.

"It would be the only sensible and diplomatic way to handle this." He whispered with his cigar-smelling breath.

When his face was only five inches from mine, I whispered. "A comedian too. The greatest joke our people ever made was electing you."

I noticed him swallow. "Funny. They're rebels and North Africa can't even locate them! North Africa doesn't have a government. How can we trust a crumbling empire to give us justice? And what would they be tried for? Assassination? See, my ancestors thought they were untouchable that there is no law against that unless they killed their kin, unless they're fucking Onus. So, we can try them for common murder? Their lives are too short for a hundred life sentences. Now tell me how that is sensible. Tell me how that gives me justice."

I walked away.

"I don't mean to be hostile to the continent's ideals." He said.

"Your majesty. It's your majesty." I sat back down. I hoped I was putting on a convincing show. "And no, you are not being hostile, you're trying to tell me that I am. I'm simply asking a question; aside from rolling over like a good old beetle, what can I do to secure the country and make sure no attack like this ever happens again without hurting the precious White Ravens?"

He didn't speak. No one did. "So, when I ask for answers, I get none. But when I don't, I hear incomplete, incompetent replies. You didn't even ask me what I wanted to do for his funeral. You're acting like he didn't exist!" I threw the only thing on the table close to me, a glass of water, against the screen. The screen was fine but the man sitting close to it was not.

There was no love lost between my grandfather and me, but no one should be powerful enough to threaten this continent.

"I called you here because I want justice. I will talk about the marriage and the coronation, but not now."

"We're sorry for your loss, your majesty." The prime minister whispered. I was pretty sure it was the first time in her long life that she had to speak that softly and respectfully to someone younger than her. You could practically see the pain in her eyes.

"It's our loss." As his granddaughter, it was not a loss, but as a citizen of Eurasia, it was. I wasn't usually this off-kilter, but I hoped they bought the act.

"What do you want us to do?"

That was more like it. I had to suppress the smirk.

"First, why is this the Empire and I'm not Empress?"

×+×

Someone's feet were shuffling loudly enough for me to hear. It took me a moment to realize they were my own. Courage was something I prided myself in, but as my knees bounced up and down under the mahogany table, I saw courage was nowhere to be found. One icy breath in, one icy breath out.

The continent didn't need a coward.

My eyes focused on the camera as it focused on me. A facade of fortitude at least was what I owed my country.

"My loving people, many of you woke up this morning thinking nothing of the future of our beloved continent, for the future was secure and our King was alive. With his death comes the doubt; the doubt in our safety, the doubt in the continuance of our freedom... the doubt in me." I swallowed. I doubted me.

They didn't give me a speech writer who could make a speech in under three minutes, so I was just making it up as I went. "But the death of one, is not and will not be the death of this continent. The blood that ran through the veins of my grandfather, the blood shed mercilessly by these anarchists, is the blood that runs through me. Blood that will never again shed for their cruel satisfaction but blood that I am willing to shed for you."

I looked at the camera pointed straight at me with the same courage I faked in front of my grandfather each time he ordered my whipping, each time he made me walk in red.

"Their judgement will be under God's domain, but them getting there is under mine." Everyone fell silent in the room. The same response was given to me when I ordered the elimination of three thousand White Ravens in the bunker. I never really loved Upapa, but my people and my country were worth killing for. Damn me to hell, but I was never going to let my continent lose sleep over rebels from across the world.

My eyes trailed down at my fingers, wrapped around the keyhole on each bracelet... they looked like handcuffs. I was picking at them out of nerves. "Semper Invicta." I pulled the corners of my lips into a small and sorrowful smile, saying the words of my family, realizing there was no one left to call that.

The transmission ended.

"That was good." Said the prime minister. "Concise, reassuring to the right crowd, threatening to the other, your imperial highness."

I nodded and gave her a smile. Not like you helped. I changed my style too. I told them I didn't like 'majesty' since I wasn't crowned yet, and so here they were.

We were at one of the media rooms on the bottom floors with assistants and royal media personnel who were currently cleaning up their equipment. Somehow, I knew their ears were focused on me even as their eyes focused on their own hands.

I already missed the days when they didn't care what I did.

They put me in a white long-sleeved shirt, tried to tame my very curly hair and added some makeup to make me look presentable despite the puffy eyes and the blueness of the frostbite I almost got on the Peak near New India. I asked them to make me attractive enough to garner the world's attention but stern enough to let the world know that I knew I had their attention. And with a small purple ribbon in my hair, maybe they succeeded.

I looked at myself on the monitor, seeing a refined version of my usual self. This would be the face I carry for the rest of my life- the face of the first Eurasian Empress.

A breath escaped me.

I spoke with the Minister of Defense and the Prime Minister about my plans, and begrudgingly, they both agreed it was a good course of action- not the best- but good enough. We already notified the remnants of the North African government about our attack. We didn't ask for permission, but they gave it anyway.

In seven minutes, satellite-guided C-nukes will tear through known White Raven bases reducing their bodies to the same dust Upapa became. The towns harboring their nuclear armories will not be treated with the same fast death since nuclear fallout is hard to avoid... but the rebels manning them will soon die of boils. The towns surrounding them already had cures in their water supplies, but the rebels have been cut off from them. A slower death, but death, nonetheless.

My eyes locked on Ly's across the room and a smirk formed on his face. "You did good." He mouthed. I noticed Raza looking at him too. I gave him a wink. I still wasn't sure I could walk without my legs turning into jelly.

"Li... za...ve...ta" I heard the jolly baritone of my uncle's voice from the threshold, only dampened by... was that grief? Leaning against the doorway, in the lightest silk lavender suit, embroidered with colorful tropical birds stood a tall, muscular, dark-haired man. "How are you?"

I ran to him, forgetting the fear for the three seconds it took me to reach him. That was a mistake. When he saw my thermal pants matched with my blouse his face fell. "What in the world are you wearing?!"

We both giggled as I tackled him. I still had some family.

"Doesn't matter." I said. He swayed us side to side and pushed me away to get a better look.

"Yes, it does, your majesty."

"Until I'm crowned, it's imperial highness." He rolled his eyes. I linked my arm around his and went out to the hall.

Uncle Hassan was a beautiful creature. Arabian features with catlike eastern eyes, his skin like slightly burnt caramel. If the royal family lost their kingdoms, they would still be able to make countries fight for them from appearance alone. And of course, eyes like amethysts always deserved stares.

Where mine were darker and pinker, my uncle's were lilac orbs seemingly floating over his face.

Between my mother, Upapa, and Uncle Hassan, he was by far my favorite and despite him living the furthest away in Italy, he was the one I saw most of. "Why are you here, uncle?"

"I heard we had to bury the devil."

"We do." I smiled a little. How much did it hurt him to think of his father that way?

We sighed as the four guards started walking with us. "Would you like my crown, uncle? I'll gladly give it up." I wasn't even joking.

"I would save you if I could, but abdication only goes one way." He shrugged but I knew he was joking. He would have abdicated the moment Upapa died if he were still an heir. He was too much of a free spirit to be locked inside a palace like this. And despite the confidence he exuded, he was a coward just like me.

"Is Jonah here?" I diverted the conversation. His husband, Jonah, was this kind and quiet man. I still didn't understand how they ended up together considering how vivacious uncle was.

He shook his head. "Your mother?"

I shook mine. "I think she knows but it's safe to assume she doesn't care... as always." I didn't think I even remember what she looked like. It had been too long.

There were pictures hidden in a small box under my bed, but the palace forgot her the moment she went out the doors. Her portraits were taken down, her style taken from her as well. All she has left is a comma and a 'Princess of Russia' after her name which people mention when she rises to deliver collegiate speeches. She was nothing to me but someone who delivered collegiate speeches.

"You should change, Lizaveta." He pressed an elevator open. "We have a funeral to attend to."

I crinkled my nose. My throat already felt raw from the tears and the snot that came spewing out earlier in a bathroom in private. Would he understand that I only cried because I didn't want the crown and not because my grandfather died?

The doors opened to the ornate elevator box I rode down to the bunker earlier. I felt dirty here. Underground was better with the concrete, glass and steel. Everything above ground seemed like a lie.

Ly came over to board the elevator first but was met with my uncle's hand on his shoulder. "I need a private hearing with her imperial highness." He had a deadly smirk on.

I should have taken that as a cue to insist going into the elevator with one guard at least, but I caught Ly's eye and told him to stand down despite my racing heart. There was some reluctance, but he eventually backed away and left to board the elevator. The rest followed him, but Ly was the only one who looked back.

Something was wrong.

Uncle Hassan stepped in first and the doors closed just as I stepped inside. All that joking charm was erased from his face, and I braced myself for impact, but his voice said. "I needed you to be alone."

The small room seemed smaller. Instincts were rising up, but I held them down. I was so convinced he was not going to hurt me that I was more upset with myself than him when he twisted his body to pin me to the wall. There was an urge to snap his neck, but I held it.

This man was the last piece of blood-family who cared. Whatever damage I wanted to bring upon him was nothing compared to the need for him to stay alive with me.

"Lizaveta, I love you and you know I will always be by your side as I always promised your father, but you have to tell me the truth."

I didn't struggle against him. What was the use?

"What truth?" I said through clenched teeth. His hands on my shoulders were like vices. I would have to kick him in the groin before snapping his neck if it came to it. Uncle Hassan knew to hold me down, though. Otherwise, he would already be unconscious.

His eyes stared intently at mine. "I won't hold it against you, but I need facts. I can't fight for you or make things disappear if I don't know. I need the truth."

"Is this necessary?!" I heard the exasperation in my voice. I fought the urge to hurt him because if I gave into it, he would die. Both he and I knew that. "You want the truth?! The truth is that you abdicated! And if it wasn't for you doing that, my dad would be alive! My brother would probably still be here, and I would have had a good life! But I don't hold that against you!"

Uncle Hassan swallowed and readjusted his hands on my shoulders. If he put even more pressure, I knew I would bruise. Lilac eyes looked into mine again, with regret, remorse and an apology he never voiced.

"I have a jammer. No one can hear or see you or me, but I need to see your eyes when you tell me. So, tell the truth."

"WHAT IS IT?!" I spat the words at him. His jaw was set, his eyes so frustrated I almost saw tears.

"Did you kill him?" His voice was fainter than a whisper.

A weight lifted off my chest.

"No."

"Are you sure? After knowing what he did to-"

"Stop talking." I screamed at him. No more. I would kill him if he said it, blood be damned.

He bit his lower lip. "I know you know now and that's why you ran, wasn't it?"

I sighed. Of course, he knew. He had spies everywhere... probably more than Raza or including Raza.

"I couldn't find you. I wasn't sure if you were saving yourself or guiding that drone or-"

I got my hands to pry him away. His suspicion was warranted. "I didn't kill him. I wish I had the heart to do it, but I didn't. I would never lie to you." Tears welled up again, but I forced them back into my eyes. "I stood over him one night with a letter opener in my hands and I was so sure I was going to do it, but I couldn't. It wasn't me."

He took a step back. "I did the same thing... did you pay anyone to do it for you?" Uncle's look was weary, probably remembering his own little failed assassination attempt.

"I tried that too, but my funds were frozen the day I confronted him. All I could do was follow through with the plans I had; sold all my jewelry, hijacked a runner and left." My knee was itching for a good kick. "The drone... I studied those in my flight. It looked like a Henri twelve; that doesn't use satellite guidance. Quite old and... every country has it from after the Great Dying. But it shouldn't have been able to do that. On that altitude it should've lost the command signals from the pilot."

He looked at me blankly. He had no idea what I was talking about. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I believe you."

He rested his back against the furthest wall from me. "I wish I did it. I wish I could have done it before he-" Uncle Hassan sighed.

"I know."

"Now you're left with this mess. You're too young-" He started sobbing a little.

"With everything he's done to us, it's hard to believe he was a good king."

"But he was. Good men find it hard to be king, but he wasn't a good man." He slid down to the floor and sat there. It would be a long ride to my quarters. My knees eventually gave out and I did the same. This was a mess. What I did in the bunker would quiet it down for a while, but I knew this was the calm before the storm. "And I don't know why but I feel bad that he's dead."

"Uncle Hassan, he was your father. I understand."

"He was never my father, Lizaveta. He was a sperm donor, but he wasn't a father." He grit his teeth.

He would deny it, but I knew he loved him. Deep down inside I knew Uncle Hassan loved him in spite of everything; wished for the approval he never got. Back then I also thought I loved my grandfather but now... after what he hid, I would have been celebrating his death like the White Ravens if not for the situation it landed me in.

"They call themselves the White Ravens. They're the biggest rebel group in North Africa and have led the civil war. They say they have Onus in their ranks with wings and white hair. That's why they are called White Ravens." My uncle already knew this. Aside from being an international trendsetter who owned the revelry scenes of the whole world, he ran a network of spies- children and whores alike. But what I was about to say had no way of reaching his ears before. "They're gone now."

His ears practically perked up. "What did you do?"

I shrugged. "What do you know of the Onus?"

"Is that what they call themselves now? I much prefer mutants... it has a nice ring to it." The only reason he was still talking to me despite the fear in his eyes was because he wanted to know what I did.

"The short war made them, right?" I read about it somewhere, but all the statements were conflicting. History was written by the winners, but I doubt anyone won that day. "The war that ended in four hours erased the northern hemisphere of the world while the rest suffered nuclear winter for generations." That was what the books said in toto.

"It doesn't matter." Uncle Hassan shrugged. "The Great Dying made sure none of them remained. I've heard that they lead rebellions but... those are mutterings of desperate and frustrated denizens. Those things are unstable. Whatever it is the Ravens say, they're lying."

"Good. I wouldn't know how to kill those things." There were books dedicated to their skin alone. Some had stripes, some had glowing nails... whatever it was they had, no matter how enchanting, the Onus always managed to harm every human in sight.

"They might say you're one of them."

My heart sank a little. "They're lying."

He guffawed. He either didn't know about the nasty things people have said about me or he didn't care. "You're going to be fine, Lizaveta. Whatever happens, I'm on your side."

The doors opened to the floor of my suite finally and I scrambled up to my feet. Uncle Hassan stayed inside the elevator and saluted as the doors started closing again. "I'll meet you down there."

"I killed all the Ravens. I launched the drones myself."

The doors closed before I saw his reaction.