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The Dragon Emperor.

Even the idea that the emperor, a man born from the womb of the previous empress, had so much as a drop of Subterra blood in his veins was ridiculous. It wasn\'t worth wasting a second thinking about.

"That has nothing to do with what we\'re talking about," Kel insisted, turning away from Soren. "Don\'t change th-"

"It doesn\'t?" Soren scoffed, cutting her off. "I already knew you didn\'t have the sharpest wits, but have you really not pieced this much together?"

Blood connection. A specific set of genetics. Snow white skin and raven hair.

The pieces were all there, swirling aimlessly in Kel\'s mind as she refused to afford them any concentration. To say the emperor was of the same race as these cultish ground-dwellers was unlikely--no, it was impossible.

"I don\'t know what you\'re talking about," she remarked sternly, keeping her face turned away.

"That guy, the one who seated himself on the emperor\'s throne, is one of us. Plain and simple," Soren snorted.

Kel had already deemed it impossible, but hearing the words out loud still caused her heart rate to quicken. In her waking mind, she had no idea why her body was reacting in such a way. Regardless of the emperor\'s genetic heritage, what did she care?

Somewhere deep inside her unconscious self, however, she knew just how dangerous the idea was. Because if the emperor was like Soren and Lila, there was a good chance he, like those two, believed her to be someone of worth solely based on her hair.

It meant that those words, \'I want you,\' she had unwittingly been holding close to her heart, and couldn\'t help from believing were spoken with pure intentions, were full of a sinister ulterior motive.

Perhaps, above all, it was the possibility that, once again, she had let her guard down and grew to trust a man who only meant to betray her that made her heart race.

"Don\'t try to trick me!" Kel snapped. "He\'s the empress\'s son. He can\'t be one of you."

Shaking her head, she repeated quietly to herself, "he can\'t be."

"Ah, but the empress wasn\'t capable of creating a child by herself, was she?" Soren interjected.

Kel expected the usual hint of amusement at her frustration, but Soren\'s tone was flat and serious. It seemed he found some part of their discussion unpleasant.

"You said yourself that most people don\'t know about this place and few here ever leave," Kel reasoned, as much to herself as the man sitting next to her, "so how could the empress have possibly met a man from Subterra?"

Her argument sounded logical, even to herself. Surely it was enough to put an end to Soren\'s unsettling joke.

"That is a good point," Soren conceded, "but let me ask you this. Wouldn\'t a woman of Subterra have no problem becoming acquainted with a man of Subterra?"

"Well, naturally, but what does that have to do with-gasp!"

The image of the late queen\'s portrait settled behind Kel\'s eyes, even without calling it from her memory. In the flickering candlelight, the woman\'s ghostly skin and raven hair glowed ominously. Kel had thought she was the spitting image of her son, the Dragon Emperor, but that wasn\'t all.

The empress in the painting looked exactly like the other people of Subterra.

"It can\'t be.." Kel trailed off.

Suddenly she whirled back around to face Soren. "You made it sound like-"

"Like that emperor was a half breed?" Soren chuckled sorely. "I was just pointing out the flaw in your logic."

The tips of Kel\'s fingers began tingling. Soon, the breath flowing in and out of her mouth was no longer enough to satiate her lungs.

"S-so what you\'re saying is.." She couldn\'t bring herself to voice the idea aloud.

Soren had to be wrong. He had to be.

"Perhaps I should start at the beginning," Soren smirked as he patted her head. "So you can stop panicking for a minute."

Kel shuddered at his touch and quickly shook his hand off, shooting him a glare. She opened her mouth to protest but could no longer resist the desire to simply know.

Giving in, she nodded toward the man, dropping her gaze to her lap.

She would at least listen to what he had to say, and then decide for herself if he was telling the truth.

"How obedient of you," Soren laughed. "Alright then, let\'s begin with the woman named Euridice. She was born decades ago to a family of mushroom farmers in Subterra."

Euridice, or Euri as she was called, was just like any other young girl living in the underground compound. Alongside her family members, she labored in the farms during the day and sat around the large table in their home learning about Subterra\'s sacred purpose during the evening.

Around the time she came of age, the governing members of the colony decided to send a second infiltration to the palace of Serin. They already had a secure foothold in the palace, but the empire was slowly falling into ruin. They hoped to gain more power by appointing a second spy.

The first foothold was the royal library, overseen by members of a certain family for generations. The family had lived mainly on the surface, intermixing with other people, giving them an ordinary appearance.

A second infiltration would be difficult without such an advantage, but the leaders were determined to do it.

Originally, they only meant to test the waters by planting a concubine in the emperor\'s harem. The emperor was a frivolous man and known to be easily pleased by any beauty.

Euri was selected as the most beautiful and devout woman of age to become a spy in the royal harem. She and her family were grateful to have been bestowed with such a blessing and high position.

And so, Euri parted ways with her friends and family and entered the emperor\'s court as a concubine. Things initially went smoothly, and the people of Subterra rejoiced in another step toward victory.

The peace was short lived, however, as Euri soon caught the eye of the emperor\'s eldest son.

Rumors slowly trickled back to the underground world of the century\'s greatest love story. The prince had fallen so deeply in love with Euri that he challenged his father for the throne and ownership of the harem.

A vicious political battle rapidly ensued, and the people lost contact with their spies in the palace. Euri\'s family could only hope the first infiltration, the royal librarians, would keep their precious daughter safe.

When the dust finally settled, a new emperor emerged, Euri by his side as his empress. The infiltration, now elevated to such an eye-catching position, was regarded as a resounding failure.

Still, Subterra made use of Euri the best they could, sending soldiers back and forth delivering orders and reporting news.

After many years sitting next to the king and giving him several heirs, Euri gave birth to a new little prince, Calix, who looked exactly like his mother. It was apparent as soon as he appeared in the world that he held none of the emperor\'s blood.

Fortunately, Euri was surrounded by members of her own clan, and they quickly whisked the boy back to the tunnels of Subterra, carried in the arms of the very soldier who fathered him. The remaining servants faked the child\'s death and reported the tragic news to the king.

"He couldn\'t stay there long, however," Soren finished. "Eventually the first infiltration family came to retrieve him and raised him in secret on the surface."

"That would be how he came to know Lila then," Kel mused, lost in her own thoughts.

There was precious little doubt left in her mind that Soren was telling the truth. There was still a chance he had just invented the story, but the timeline and details matched up too well with what Kel already knew about the empire.

"There is one thing I\'ve been curious about since earlier," Kel remarked as she studied Soren\'s tanned skin and brownish hair. "Why don\'t you look like the people here?"

"I do, though," Soren replied, slowly standing up. "Or at least I did."

Leaving Kel to wonder what he meant, he grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled it over his head. Then, after tugging it off his arms, he threw it to the floor, revealing his finely-sculpted abs.

Despite his eye-catching muscles, however, Kel was mesmerized by something else.

His golden-brown skin ended abruptly at his shoulders and collarbone, giving way to a milky-white abdomen. She\'d seen his bare torso before, so how had she never noticed such a stark contrast?

"Is the rest of your skin like this?" Kel wondered, subconsciously reaching out to touch his snowy skin.

Soren flinched as her fingers brushed his stomach.

"Oh, I\'m sorry!" she exclaimed, retracting her hand.

"Why?" Soren grinned mischievously, gripping the top of his pants. "You want to see more?"

"Ah! No! No, thank you!" Kel squeaked, throwing her hands over her eyes.

"You can calm down now, Princess. I was only teasing."

Peeking through her fingers, Kel saw him bend to grab his shirt off the floor.

"You\'re sure a jumpy one, aren\'t you?" he teased, tugging his sleeves over his arms.

Kel watched in a daze as he slid his shirt over his body again and flopped back down next to her.

"You said earlier that the little prince couldn\'t stay in Subterra," she said quietly, searching Soren\'s eyes. "Why is that?"

Soren snorted, shaking his head. "Because Mother refused to raise a child that wasn\'t hers. Most everyone saw him as an outcast anyway."

"M-mother?" Kel\'s breath caught in her throat.

"Oh, that\'s right," Soren smiled bitterly. "When you asked me earlier if I had a blood relation out there, I left something out. I have a brother up on the surface, a half brother to be precise."

Kel\'s mouth dropped open. "So you mean that man who was the emperor\'s father…"

"Yep," Soren scoffed. "The emperor and I, we both came from the same man\'s loins."