(Jack's POV)
The Emperor of the Five Kingdoms, my father, looked me up and down, his face contorting into disgust with each passing glance. With no hope for escape I stared down at my bare feet, submissive.
"The tales of your exploits would have been hard pressed to elude my ears Jack." He spat my name with such disdain that I felt myself recoil. As he spoke I felt myself fall back into my routine when I lived in the castle: listen but say nothing.
"You shed your name so easily it almost felt as if you didn't want to be attached to me, you didn't want to be called a Ternac. Do you know how hard I had to work to keep people from realizing who you were? Have you even thought about the hundreds of people I've had to execute to protect this family from your shame? Well boy, have you?"
He stopped talking, and I took that to mean he wanted a response. If it were anyone else I would've told the truth: I had been frightened of what my leaving had caused, but my father would accept no answer other than no, so I obliged him.
"No, I didn't." I said quietly.
"What was that?" He demanded, his voice only a bit louder than mine but filled with stolen authority.
"No sir. I did not."
"Of course you didn't. Why would you? Jack Sentan, the world's greatest assassin, bah! Why would you care for anyone other than yourself? Running around butchering people in the streets, one would think that you'd gone mad."
"It was nothing less than what you've been doing." I don't know why I said it, but I regretted it immediately. A sharp pain in my left cheek alerted me that he was dissatisfied with what I said too. The sting in my cheek was that of a slap rather than a broken bone, he had held back.
"You watch your tongue boy or I'll have it cut out. You're lucky you have it or I'd have killed you the moment you stepped into this castle." From somewhere within his tunic he pulled out a small bundle of wood. He set it on the ground in front of me, and looked at me expectantly.
"What do you want me to do...sire? He snorted but said nothing of it.
"I know you have it boy." He glanced down at the bundle and it erupted into a roaring fire, and with another glance the fire extinguished itself. The sticks were unharmed. That was impossible, not down here. I looked back at my father.
"The magic nullification curse has been lifted on this chamber alone. Your witch friend had some fun with it. She was so powerful, it was a pity I had to kill her."
"NO!" I shouted and yanked against the chains. She couldn't be dead. She was too stubborn to give in, and she had torn through so many men so easily. How would one render her powerless? No this wasn't possible. I looked up at my father, a fire in my eyes. I would tear him limb from limb when he released me, if he released me.
"Yes!" My father shouted and I was about to yank the very chains from the walls, when I realized he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at the bundle of sticks. The sticks were on fire!
I didn't have any magic, this wasn't possible. I knew my father had some power in him, but I had thought... had hoped that I hadn't gotten them.
"That's my boy!" He shouted, not sounding proud at all, but rather satisfied. Like a child receiving a good gift. "Now since you are my son, and you have the power, I am going to give you a second chance. You will serve under me, and you will do everything I ask, when I ask it, or there will be consequences. If I find out that you have betrayed me in any way, I will kill your mother. If you continue I will kill your sister, that you so easily abandoned when you went gallivanting all over the countryside killing people. Is my offer not generous?"
"It is your majesty." I said desperately trying to keep fear from my voice, but when it cracked at the end The emperor smiled. He had beaten me.
"Your first assignment is a simple one. Lord Tiriel has been seen communicating with known rebels. I don't want to take the chance. Your assignment is to track him down and kill him, and if I know you you'll want to kill his entire family too so go wild." I most certainly would not. "You have two weeks to complete the task. You will return his amulet, and his head, to me. Failure to complete either objective will be seen as treason and you know what I will do." My father stepped out of the cell, and a guard replaced him to unshackle me from my seat.
I stood up massaging my wrists, and followed my father out of the dungeons. He led me to the great gardens directly outside of his castle. The greenest grass on this side of the kingdom, my mother once told me. After I left I realized it was the only green grass on this side of the kingdom.
We stopped beside the gate.
"You know what is at stake. Do not fail me." He ordered.
"I won't your majesty." I said softly.
"Do not forget this kindness I have shown you, now get out of my sight."
I stepped through the gates and into the world, free no more. I sprinted away towards the nearby city, found a dark corner, and began to cry.
(Alice's POV)
"What is your name?" He demanded.
"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, and I have been told that your name is mine too." I snapped. I refused to put anyone else in danger by revealing my true name. Despite the fact that my kingdom had fallen a decade ago, there were still people loyal to Spera, and if I died the Emperor would have a revolution on his hands. I had a responsibility to my people, I would not let them die for me. A sharp burst of fiery pain throughout my entire body told me that he was not amused. The fire lasted only a few seconds, but it was not getting easier to bear.
"Do you not wish the pain to end? It can stop if you just tell me your name." He promised.
"Alright… fine… my name is Emperor Ternac and I am a massive-" I proceeded to say some very rude things, and another burst of fire showed me his dissatisfaction.
This had become our routine. He would barge in and repair my jaw so that I could speak, then ask me what my name was. I would answer saying anything but my true name and he would torture me. The agony was unbearable in those moments, but it stopped quickly enough, and he would as again. This would go on for about an hour until he would get infuriated and break my jaw before barging out. Thus was our routine, and I clung to it for survival, for any measure of strength when my people's faces blurred and Jack begged me to move on.
Jack. I had betrayed him and left him to die. Jack, rotting somewhere amidst other corpses, not even getting the honor of a proper burial. Jack, the boy who felt safe enough to rely on me. Jack, I thought about him in the hours when the Emperor left me alone. I used that time to silently greave. Tears fell down my immobile jaw as guilt tore me from the inside out. Death would be too good for me.
"What is your name!" He shouted. I recognized the signs, he was on the edge. I knew the pain that was coming but if I could outlast him for a moment longer he would leave, and I could be alone.
"Why do you care?" I shouted back.
"You care enough to hide it from me, so it matters. What is your name?"
"Brittany Shinebeck" Referring to the popular singer that moved with the caravans of the southern Kingdom. "And I just waaaant you to looove mee." I sang. This sent him over the edge, and a smack in the cheek alerted that he was done with me for the day.
As he left I hoped desperately that I could set him on fire, freeze his blood, suffocate him, but nothing. My magic was useless, and he was too powerful.