[vl!fantasy] Skeletons in the Closet

[coronaviridae]

When the twins were twelve, and the younger children eleven and ten, their eldest brother finally died. It was a quiet affair and it was better for the tsesar's household to assume that he hadn't suffered. (Even the children were of the opinion it had been a mercy, though--for the last few weeks their eldest brother had done nothing but sit in one spot, drool, and stare at the wall. This was slightly less functional ability than he had shown throughout the rest of his life.) The body was just as quickly taken off and interred in the family plot; the tsesar didn't believe in funerals for "failed experiments".

Declaring Rubedo--now the eldest of the remaining four--to be tsesarevich was only slightly more formal. Yuriev amended his notes, patted his son on the head, and congratulated him on surviving as long as he had. (Albedo had bristled inwardly at the show of favoritism, but kept this fact well hidden from his siblings, even over their psionic connection. Rubedo knew, however.) More valuable were the several history lessons that they learned from their brother's death.

It started when Chitrina, ever a precocious child, noticed one of their nurses muttering about their mother. Curious, she relayed word on to Nigredo, who straightway fetched the twins. They converged on the unfortunate nurse like a pack of borzoi on a deer, catching her in the hallway. Remembering their status as monsters, despite the fondness she and most of her class had for the children, she very nearly panicked. Nigredo's silver tongue and Albedo's empathic charm came to the rescue, and they managed together to hustle her off to the room they shared.

Rubedo took the foot of the bed, with Albedo sitting at his feet. The other two arranged themselves on chairs, with the unfortunate nursemaid trapped in the middle. "Tell us about our mother," Rubedo demanded, as soon as they were settled. He was still fingering the sash of the tsesarevich around his waist, as if he could scarce believe the promotion.

The nurse looked at that selfsame sash, swallowing hard and wringing her hands together. The tsesar's children were monsters, but the man himself was the mad alchemist who had dreamed them up, and he was ruthless with those who crossed him. On the other hand, the children presented a very real threat, and what the tsesar didn't know could hardly hurt him. (She would later have mixed feelings about the veracity of this idea.)

"Your mother," she began. "Yes--yes. Your mother. She was a good woman, a kind woman. She loved everyone--yes, even your father. She was very good to us. We tried to help her as much as we could, tried to keep her alive."

Nigredo and Citrine glanced at each other, then the twins. Albedo was frowning. It's true, what she's saying about Father. At least, she thinks it is, he murmured, puzzled and hurt. These were the days back before his trust was broken, along with--they say--his mind, and he became the Rogue Prince feared throughout Milshya today.

"Keep her alive?" Rubedo asked aloud, voicing the question all four wanted to ask. "What do you mean, Mashka?"

Once more, their nurse swallowed heavily, looking at all four sets of those unnatural eyes. Even if she had helped raised these children after their mother died, had even nursed some of them, they still never failed to disturb her en masse. Monsters, she thought fleetingly, and didn't realize all of them heard it--though only one took it to heart so deeply he was cut by it.

"Y...yes. Your father has told you how he created you--yes? Born of a woman, but made with his magic and alchemy." She shook her head. "He--stole your mother from her rightful husband. Stole her to use her in his experiments, after killing her first husband for treason."

The children stared, wide-eyed. Once more, Albedo took these things to heart, mulling over them. "On what charges?" Rubedo asked, awed. To think, Father could have a man killed just by saying he was a traitor!

I'm not sure this is a good thing, Nigredo replied, frowning. Citrine echoed the frown, looking back at the nurse.

Albedo looked down.

"I--I don't know, I don't follow you father's politics, children. All I know is that he stole his wife, and he did not love her. He used her as a brood mare for his experiments--I...I was shocked, to hear from the midwife that he asked her how soon after childbirth could your mother get another child." Mashka shook her head, disgust and horror plain to all of the children. "It was inhuman. He timed it, two weeks to the day, and started his experiments all over again. With you two," she nodded to the twins, both now still and mute with shock, "after your poor brother--merciful Bogdan rest his soul--was born, and then little Citya, and Nishya. One right after another, like she was some kind of animal." She choked on the word, tears running down her face now. "She couldn't...the strain, it was too much for her poor heart..."

Monsters they may have been, but some small human sympathy still existed in the children's hearts. Nigredo fumbled through his pockets, fetching out a hankerchief to pass on to Citrine, who went to comfort the woman with soft words. The boys glanced at each other then, once more exchanging their thoughts on the matter--this wasn't out of line with how their father thought of them, but it was much more than they ever thought possible. He killed Mother, Rubedo reflected.

He said she died giving birth to me. Nigredo's expression was miserable--unusual, for him. Even at a young age he had already learned to hide his feelings behind a mask of stoicism.

Albedo hugged his knees to his chest, staring at Citrine's back and chewing on his lower lip. He killed Mother--by making her give birth to us. To monsters.

Citrine's shoulders stiffened. Mashka was too busy dabbing at her eyes with the hankerchief to notice the change in countenance. Don't say that, Albedo! she rebuked, hotly. She had to close her eyes to hide the flash, cursing her powers inwardly for a moment. Don't say that about us, or about Father! We aren't monsters!

We are monsters! Everyone says we are, so we must be! Albedo snapped back, miserably. What else could we be?

Rubedo looked up from studying his hand. You two, stop it! Stop being stupid! He kicked Albedo in the back, eliciting a squeak of pain from his twin. It doesn't matter what we are or aren't, only what we do! Now let's get her out of here before Teacher comes and yells at us for skipping lessons.

Nigredo nodded once, standing up from his chair and smoothing a hand down the front of his frock. He went to Citrine's side, resting a hand on her shoulder and speaking in a low voice: "Thank you, Masha. You have served us and our father very well. Thank you for telling us about Mother."

Their nurse swallowed, then gave another loud sob, burying her face in the hankerchief. "Oh, children--you sweet children, so forgiving. I'm so sorry, not all of my story is true, not most of the last part. Your father--he didn't kill your mother by breeding her to death. I--"

Albedo sat bolt upright. So did Rubedo; both of the twins could tell what was coming, even if the younger children, unfamiliar with the same pulp fiction their older brothers so loved, couldn't hear the dramatic revelation in the offing.

"--I killed her, I pitied her so I slipped a little wormwood into her tea. She went very quietly." The nurse swallowed her tears, looking up at the children with puffy eyes. She was oblivious to the shock and betrayal echoing between the four; if this woman hadn't done something, their mother might have been alive. They might have known who she was.

"I couldn't stand to see her like that, being bred to death by your father, kept alive by magic and his--his technology; I had to do something, you see. I had to. It was the merciful thing to do."

Sometimes--the most merciful thing you can do for someone is to kill them? Albedo asked, in a tiny mental voice.

None of them could answer that question. That, too, they would all regret later.


muse

Comments

AIE!

[kyootulu.livejournal.com]

Awesome. So very, very awesome. The poor kids. The poor nurse.

[theeternalmind.livejournal.com]

Ooooooh. Very nice. <3 I like it a lot. n.n