It was only when the people had safely left that the Lady turned back inside. Holding her dress off the ground, she walked towards the East wing, with me trotting by her side. The sharp sounds of small arms could be heard from afar. Followers of the Prince lined the corridors, blocking our passage. Only when they had been bribed with the last of her baubles were we allowed to enter the vast darkened hall.
We found the Prime slumped against the far wall, his legs charred to the bone, his arms and chest sprayed with deep phaser burns. Even I could see that he had but little time to live.
"Who has done this to you?" she asked in her raspy voice, looking at him with distaste.
"It has only taken you two decades to talk to me. Have I been such a terrible husband?" A half smile appeared on his lips.
"I was never yours to call your wife," she spat. I thought she would take her phaser out and shoot him.
"You were eager for your son to bear my name, though."
"I couldn't lose him too. It suited you to have an heir and I knew you would protect him. I upheld my end of our agreement and never sought for any of this to happen." She waved at the room and the fracas we could hear outside.
The Prime snarled. "I treated him like my son. What made him turn against me?"
She sat down on her heels, her dress brushing the crimson tiles. "The truth. On his last mission, he met one of my former crew member who recognised whose son he really is."
"A mere coincidence. After twenty years of silence, what did you tell him?"
The Lady bent her head. "The name of his father," she whispered.
"Ah! that was what he hurled at me after he killed the lights." The Prime coughed without losing his smile. "I don't think I ever knew the man's name."
The Lady's knuckles turned pale.
The Prime grabbed her left hand and pushed the sleeve up, leaving red trails behind. For the second time, I saw the lines deeply incised on her skin. "I do remember those very same marks drawn on his temple, though. Why injure yourself so? Guilt for your part in his death?"
"I sought to escape the life sentence you had condemned me to," the Lady said, yanking her arm free of his grip and covering the scars. "But you always made sure that I was revived and patched up again, ready for you instead. Then I realised I was pregnant. I could not endanger the life of our child. He was the only one left. He had a right to live."
"How touching. Protecting what was left of your crew and then your unborn child, so sure you were that it was his son you were carrying. And now, who is going to save you when I'm dead?"
"I never wanted to be saved, and certainly not by you."
He laughed, then his cough came back with a vengeance. For a few minutes, all conversation stopped as the Prime wheezed and spat blood, before his head dropped back against the wall with a small thud. He grinned.
"I always thought it would be you with a weapon and me at the other end of the hall, shuffling in the dark, my silhouette captured in the light of phaser fire. It would have made for a very satisfactory settling of scores. How ironic it was him instead."
"It makes me feel sick to know Chakotay's son—"
"He is my son. There is no doubt about it. I knew the very first time he saluted me and laid his loyalty at my feet that he would make me proud. He will be a worthy Prime, feared by all."
The Lady looked at him, eyes wide then laughed too, icicles dropping from her lips. "Listen to the sounds of your palace falling around you. Your servants have deserted you, your soldiers have fled, your treasures are burning. People are rising against you, and soon, there will be nothing left of the House."
The Prime pushed himself off the floor by pure will before collapsing in a breathless heap. "You cannot deny my legacy. My son will be greater than me. His army will conquer more systems than I ever did. But act against him, long for the destruction of his House, and you will fall with it."
"So be it," she hissed. "My son repels me. I was a fool to think I could bring him up untouched by your savagery and corruption."
"You will not dare touch him," the Prime said, the corner of his lips upturned in a sneer. "Your Chakotay lives in him too."
"My husband was a man who sought justice for ills done to his people, even when justice was not done to him at the end. He would never have sought vengeance for its own sake. He was never blind or brutal."
"How can you be so sure? Where does that anger which lurks deep in your son come from? I did nothing more than stoke the fire in him."
The Lady opened her mouth, then breathed deeply and said nothing, her gaze set firmly on her hands.
Smirking, the Prime closed his eyes, dismissive. "But if you think you can appease him, then go and find him. Tell him of your righteous values, those protocols you so liked to throw at my face when we first met."
She tipped her head on the side, hesitating.
"Or stay here and watch me die instead. I'm sure your heart is rejoicing."
She stood, disgust etched around her mouth. The Prime shouted after her as she left the room: "And when you find him, try and convince yourself he is not my true heir. The blood of many more will stain the streets before he quenches his rage."
When she was gone, he sagged, his breathing laboured. "It's only you and me, boy. Pass me that bottle of wine my son so thoughtfully avoided hitting. I'll tell you a story about a small white ship and its beautiful captain in exchange."
Explosions rocked the floor as the palace burnt, but I stayed and listened to a story of loss, tragedy and doomed love.