With your arms crossed, you sat as straight as a tree trunk.

The beating of your own heart echoed inside your ears while the noise of the camp mixed with it.

The emperor stood opposite of you.

It was hard to tell in what mood he was since his eyes seemed as hard as ever yet his posture told that he was calm, relaxed even.

With narrowed eyes, you watched as he looked up and almost gifted you a kind of expression that probably only his closest people got to see once in a while.

"I appreciate your showing.", he said, the vibration of his voice less harsh than usual.

One of your eyebrows rose.

"Did I have a choice?", you asked, slightly bitter.

His face didn't move. But his eyes gave away that the answer was no.

"Your disrespect towards my orders turned out to be an advantage for the empire. I should have seen that coming."

You rolled your eyes. A sigh rolled from your lips as you turned to avoid his gaze.

This conversation tested your nerves.

There was still the fear of being hung from a tree lingering in the back of your mind. It just wasn't possible to have smalltalk with the man who was able to end your life with a flick of his wrist.

"With all due respect, your majesty...", you had to stop yourself to gather all your remaining composure. "I don't see how this situation can be used to my advantage. I'm basically dead, am I not? Or did you change your mind and decided to let him disrespect be dismissed?"

A flinch chased through his face.

It seemed like he was about to let words of heated anger rain down on you. But he didn't. Instead, a growl remained stuck inside his throat.

"My mercy knows boundaries.", he reminded.

"Everything about you knows boundaries. Everything except your interest in coming out at the top. Emperor.
You seem rather displeased that I let you live. Despite the fact that you are the first and only one to disrespect me straight to my face."

Slowly, you glanced upwards to meet his gaze.

It was easy to tell that he thought of himself to be very generous. He thought that letting you live after saying one thing that didn't sit right with him was something out of the ordinary.

It annoyed you.

He annoyed you.

Yet, you wanted him to speak his offer and then decide if it was worth it or not.

Perhaps death was easier.

In one swift movement you rose from your chair and walked up to face him just the way you had done multiple times.

Taken aback, he remained motionless but his face slightly flinched back to give himself more space so that the tip of your nose wouldn't touch his.

Any other person would have been beheaded for coming this close without his consent.

But not you.

In that moment it struck you that ever since you had arrived at the palace, he had given you more freedoms than other nobles.

Maybe it was because of the deal that the two of you had. Or maybe it was because he still owed your family a lot.

Yet again, the emperor wasn't a man who kept others in good memory. All the dept he had with your parents probably was long forgotten and not worth paying back.

But despite everything it didn't explain why he seemed to treat you differently.

"Emhyr.", your voice was a firm and clear as possible, so that he would understand every word of it. "I'm here because if I wouldn't, you'd have me killed. I disrespected your orders and you yesterday and yet I'm here. Alive."

His brown eyes moved over your face. They seemed cold and as emotionless as usual.

But at a closer look you believed to see something in them. Something that was almost human.

"Are you unsatisfied with my mercy?", he asked.

You rolled your eyes.

"There is no mercy in you."

"What makes you think that?"

"My parents. My legacy. You took everything within the breath of a second while I was at my lowest. Where was your mercy then? You want something. Speak your mind."

He took a deep breath.

As he did so, his chest rose and made him look fitter than expected for a man his age.

All of a sudden you wondered if he was well build underneath that black leather coat of his.

"Very well.", he said and crossed his arms behind his back to put on the same cold exterior that he always had when talking to people. "Let's be honest, shall we?"

"Honesty or plain facts, I don't care as long as you are kind enough to tell me why I'm here."

A low sound of annoyance made his chest vibrate. He almost rolled his eyes, but managed to catch himself.

"You disrespecting my orders made way for new options regarding the rebels.", he said and tilted his head to get rid of a black strand of hair that annoyed him in his field of vision. "And what you had expected turned true. The merchant turned against the empire."

You raised your chin.

"Surely you didn't call me to say I was right."

"And with that you are correct. Your abilities are needed, that's what I came to realise."

One of your eyebrow rose.

"I thought you're not a man for mages?"

"I don't mind them. But I see that they are useful.", he moved his head to take a glance at the map.

As he did so, a piece of his neck was revealed between the veil of black and silver.

Somehow, it struck you by surprise to see it.

The position he was in, his head tilted and his neck exposed, made him seem vulnerable.

If you would have wanted to you could have launched at him and dug your teeth in his flesh until the taste of blood filled your mouth.

But that wasn't what you desired.

Strangely enough, you felt the urge to have a taste of his skin.

He must have tasted clean, of soap and noble perfume, probably.

Quickly, you shook off those thoughts.

"Let's discuss the details then, no?", you turned your eyes away from him. "What's in for me? Besides my life."