Chapter 61
The air around the Fire Nation royal palace seethed with tension. Every servant could feel it like a constant watcher at their backs, everyone growing more tightly wound as the days wore on. Fire Lord Ozai rarely left his study except to sleep and anyone unfortunate enough to require an audience left with, if they were lucky, singed robes. His mood had been dangerous since they'd first had word of the coup. A handful of older soldiers too stuck in their ways to entertain any ideas of treason had arrived from one of the eastern islands with the news two weeks before and had nearly been killed for their loyalty.
Everyone had heard the rumors of General Iroh's wrath and most expected some kind of attack. A military coup led by the resurrected Prince Zuko had been an astounding shock. The Fire Lord had not taken it well. In the kitchens and the servants quarters, tale of the unlucky woman that had taken Ozai his dinner and not been seen since were spoken in hushed voices.
Every morning, before returning to cloister himself in his study, Ozai visited his new son and bride. The wet nurse, hardly allowed to leave the nursery, said he would look upon the child for only a moment before entering his wife's chambers. From what the nurse said of the noises she heard, the Fire Lady had lost the enthusiastic desire she once had for her husband and now feared his touch. Although Ming was relieved to no longer have to endure it herself, she felt an overwhelming pity for Fire Lady Lei.
Once he no longer had need of her, Ozai had returned Ming to her duties serving his wife. It was her task to care for her Lady after he had ravaged her every morning. The weeks she spent in his bed, bent over his desk or pressed against an alcove wall had been unimaginably painful, but at least Ming had a reason to endure it. Fire Lady Lei had nothing to keep her strong. Seperated from her baby for all but an hour after his morning nap, she wasted away in her grand bed. Ming tended to her bruises and sore flesh, but there was no one to soothe her broken spirit. More and more, Ming worried the Fire Lady would slip away in her sleep, dead of a broken heart.
Just as she was on her way to the servants quarters for her dinner, one of the Fire Lords male servants approached her. He kept his bowed and his voice shook. The hair on the back of Ming's neck stood up at the message this young man was terrified to relay. Fire Lord Ozai demanded her presence immediately.
Despite her dread, Ming raced through the corridors to his chambers. Based on the servant's disposition, whatever he needed her for was not good and tardiness would only make him angry. As she approached, the unusual emptiness of the halls surrounding his office set her gut churning. There were always servants or guards about despite his recent rage. Ming slowed her steps as she rounded the last corner and tried in vain to stop herself from shaking. At her knock, his voice sounded as calm as ever when he bid her enter.
Ozai stood, his hair undone and the front of his robe open, beside his fireplace. He gripped the mantel with his right hand as though he may drift away were he to let go. With the door shut behind her, Ming suddenly felt as though obeying this order had been a fatal mistake. She should have fled. The look in his eye when he looked down at her made her knees weak. It was almost a relief when he commanded her to kneel before him.
"Ming… do you know who I've seen today? One of my Generals that was stationed in the colonies has just returned to the city. While questioning him, trying desperately to understand how my… how that pretender calling himself Prince, and my Agni damned brother managed to slip by him without so much as a word of warning to me I learned something interesting." He knew. Agni, he knew of her treachery. Ming's head swam as she fought to keep from fainting.
"Apparently, more than a month ago this general claims to have sent such a missive, along with a request for how he should intervene. Now, a man with a blade to his groin and fire at his throat will say anything to save himself, but his surprise at hearing that I received no such thing was so genuine that I am inclined to believe him. In fact, as I thought about it more, I remembered I did in fact receive a note from him. Only, that note said nothing of my brother or my dead son or anything of that nature." He was directly in front of her now and she stared hard at the knot in his belt. She could feel his furious gaze burning into the top of her head.
"Do you remember, little Ming, who it was that brought me that missive?"
She opened her mouth but could not speak. Her throat felt as though it had sealed closed and her mouth had gone dry. Running her tongue along her lips to wet them, she tried again.
"I… I did, my… My Lord. I brought you that note."
Calloused fingers gripped her chin and forced her to meet his eyes. They appeared to her to glow, the golden color brightened by his too calm rage.
"Yes, you did. You brought me all of my correspondence while you served me. Isn't it curious. I wonder, could you perhaps be more than you appear, dear little MIng? Not just the dutiful, soft bodied servant but a spy." He slapped her hard across the face, hauling her back to her knees by her hair when she fell. "A spy! You must have been so pleased when I chose you to wet my cock. I kept you so close, always near, always listening. Access to all communication to and from the palace." His grip on her hair had tears leaking from her eyes, but she dared not cry out lest she encourage him. "It's so obvious now, the way you seemed so resigned to my attention, so accepting despite the obvious pain I caused you. Yes, you must have intercepted my Generals missive and presented me with a fake. How you managed to send him orders in my apparent hand… now that I'd like to know. What do you have to say for yourself? I command you to tell me!"
Ming did sob then as he shook her by the hair, shouting so harshly that spittle landed on her face. She had fallen back to the floor as he leaned into her and it took her several seconds to calm enough to speak when he finally stopped shaking her. Her first instinct was to deny everything. Surely he had no actual proof, but she knew it was no use. He knew he had been betrayed and she would pay no matter her guilt. Taking one last second to steady her voice, Ming confessed.
"Yes. I did it. I carefully replaced his wax seal on a note of my own devising and burnt the original. After I gave it to you, you bent me over your desk and while you lost yourself in my soft body I slid your personal seal into my sleeve. I opened every single missive, letter and note I brought you. That was not the first I kept from you but it was the only one I forged."
While he listened, he became eerily calm, his face a blank mask. Ming had learned the hard way that this contemplative silence always preceded something horrible for her.
"I am surprised you did not try to deny it. Foolish of you really, nevermind, I have heard enough." A truly terrifying smile slid across his face. "I will make sure everyone knows what you are. When I'm through no one will ever dare betray me again."
He stood again and pulled her sharply back to her knees. One hand kept his painful grip on her hair as his other thumb traced softly across her face, the gentle touch only increasing her dread. When she felt the heat it was a sudden and blinding agony. He traced along her forehead in slow, deliberate strokes, holding her steady as she fought to pull away. She had no notion of anything beyond the pain, her skin feeling as though it would slough off and leave her skull bare to the world.
At last, Ming thought he had ceased writing across her face, though she could hardly tell from the continued searing pain. She barely had time to breath before he was hauling her to her feet and bending her over his desk. She thought for a moment he was going to rape her but instead of pulling her skirts up he tore her tunic open, exposing her back. Gripping her shoulders, his hands turned to hot irons again as he burned his hand prints along her exposed skin, marking her as his. Once she could hear his cruel laughter again past the sounds of her own screaming, he grabbed her chin and jerked her face so she could see herself in side of a polished bronze ornament. He pressed himself against her, his chest to her tortured back, and spoke into her ear as she looked at what he had done to her. Fesh tears slid down her cheek and onto the hard wood desk as she read the characters for "traitor" in uneven script across her forehead.
"There, now when they find you they will know what you were. Nothing but a traitorous whore who in the end, belonged to me."
So he meant to kill her here then. No trials, no dank prison cell, no public execution for high crimes. No one would know what she had done and no one would remember her sacrifice. She would die alone, in this horrible room, nothing but the Fire Lord's sneaking toy. What would her brother think? For a moment she wanted to weep all over again for him but then Ozai was moving and she could only pray that her precious brother would forgive her.
Ozai pinned her to the desk with one hand on the back of her neck so she could do nothing to fight him, not that she had any strength left. She didn't feel the steel at first, thinking for a moment that he was beating her. Not until he had gone and she tried to move did she realize he'd had a blade in his hand. Warm blood soaked her through her robes and she watched with a detached satisfaction as it spread out and covered nearly everything on his desk. She coughed and more blood sputtered from her mouth onto her bronze reflection. Her last thoughts, as her vision faded, were of a scarred prince and his waterbender and a victory she would never see.
oOoOoOoOoOo
The next morning Ozai did not rise with the sun. Continued poor sleep and incessant nightmares had stolen that ability from him. Instead he woke when a servant brought him breakfast. He wasn't hungry and so singed the man's clothing as he fled his presence. Unable to find the desire to get out of bed, he buried his face in his arm and thought about all the reasons it didn't matter if he did.
Zuko was alive, and there were reports that Azula was as well and that she was with her brother. There was a chance there, he thought, if he could get his hooks back into her when they inevitably stormed the city. Perhaps he could sway her as he always had and convince her to turn on Zuko. That would depend on him having a chance to even speak to her and that was less likely. His own Spirits damned, tea soaked, idiot brother was with them, and at last count two thirds of his own military, never mind the Water Tribe warriors and Earth Kingdom soldiers. By the time they reached the Capitol that number was going to be higher.
If only he had discovered Ming and her treason sooner! He should have seen her for what she was but he was blinded by his own arrogance. Stabbing the bitch to death had been more satisfying than any time he had fucked her. She would serve as an example to the other servants, lest they get above themselves with any ideas of betrayal or espionage. It was a shame really that she had been a spy. Ozai was fairly sure his wife would waste away to nothing any day and now he would have to break in a new girl.
If he lived that long.
No.
No he could not think like that. Of course he, the greatest Fire Lord in history would defeat his fat brother and feeble minded son. It wasn't even a question. He didn't need the soldiers and sailors that had abandoned him by the platoon. It would come down to him and his son alone, he was sure. With Zuko dead this entire, ridiculous coup would die along with him. It was almost too easy.
So encouraged, Ozai flung back the blanket from his bed and rose at last. He would bathe and dress and then assemble his remaining generals after he visited Lei. Yes, today would be a fine day.
Just as he was about to undress, there was a knock at his door. Angry at the interruption, Ozai stormed across the room opened the heavy door.
"What is it?"
There was a guard standing next to a distraught wet nurse.
"Why are you not with my son?"
The guard looked angry but before he could say his piece the nurse exclaimed.
"Forgive me my Lord, its it's the Fire Lady, she's… She.. my Lord she…"
"Out with it woman!"
She sobbed loudly and wrung her hands, calming herself enough to speak when the guard placed a hand on her shoulder.
"The Fire Lady has thrown herself from her balcony. She is dead."
A/N 2. Hope you're not too traumatized. I have already started on text weeks chapter so, barring another life crisis, it will be on time!