The flickering torches gave the corridor nothing more than a faint hint of light. Dubhra stood there, just outside Midas' room, before the enormous door.

Their clawed hand made of steel just above the iron handle. They knew it was open, still they wouldn't dare to enter.

"Will she call me to get in? Will she need me?"

Her baths were usually long, so they took all their sweet time to do as she said, they took the knight's heart and put it in a jar and then proceeded to dry all the blood and flesh that remained, which disappeared without a trace.

Now they were there, leaning with one side to the wall as they were waiting for a call that could have never come for what they knew.

Time passed and yet, no invitation came.

They shifted their weight, their leg prosthetics let out a little screeching.

The silence from beyond the door stretched unbearably.

"I swear, the quiet is worse than waiting."

Anxiety pooled in their chest, for apparently no reason, but they still couldn't run from it.

They turned away at last, slow and uncertain, the sound of their metallic feet against the stone echoing as they went through the corridor, down the spiral staircase. In empty halls, they made their way to their own wing of the castle. The air there was heavier, full of solitude, so a little anguish started to claw at their heart, barely perceptible.

A huge arched window let in the pale light of the moon, silvering the vast room where the stoic organ stood, its pipes towered over the tall, slender frame of the creature.

They sat on the bench, their metallic claws resting against the cold keys, the weight of emotion slowly growing, threatening to crush them.

Then they struck the first chord.

A deep, gut wrenching sound bursted out, filling the castle like a cry torn from their soul. Their hands moved slowly, heavily, like they were trapped in mud, trying to exorcise the growing agony. The melody twisted and turned, as their anguish grew, their body moved along with their fingers, their heart threatened to come out their throat and spill all over. Driven by a force so deep and dark that they hoped the music of the organ could, at least, temporarily suffocate.

It echoed through the stone, Dubhra let it speak.

As they were lost in the organ's deep crushing music, they didn't notice that a figure was standing right behind them, only when their shoulders were met with a cold metallic touch, their whole body jolted as if passed by an electric shock.

Their anguish vanished like it had never been there and fingers made of steel stopped hitting the keys.

"Why are you playing the organ in the middle of the night?"

They turned to look at the familiar face behind them, Midas had her red hair cascading over her shoulders and back, still wet. And she was wearing a beautiful light, red nightgown that went down to her ankles.

"I- was I bothering you?"

"I sure couldn't hope to rest if you kept going like that, what is it? You took a nap and don't feel like sleeping anymore?"

In her hands there was a copper cup from which she drank a bit, Dubhra looked at her drinking and forgot to answer, only managed to wake up from their trance when a small hand waved right in front of their eyes.

"Is anyone there? I asked you a question."

"Oh-" they snapped out of it, fast enough to decide they didn't want to burden her with their mysterious anxiety that somehow didn't find a valid reason to exist. "Well, I just felt like playing the organ a bit, I thought you were already sound asleep since there was no noise coming out of your room."

Midas lifted an eyebrow and gave them a little amused smirk. "How long have you been eavesdropping at my room door?"

But the answer from Dubhra never came, they lowered their head and tilted to the side, but not enough to hide their shame.

"Do you want to finish this drink?" She said, handling her copper cup, Dubhra accepted it willingly, but still no answer.

Then the taste of blood pervaded their mouth and its metallic scent ran up their nose.

They didn't know if Midas was once again deliberately ignoring their awkwardness, because she didn't want to embarrass them further, or because she didn't want to acknowledge it for herself.

At last, she decided to speak, if anything to ease the uncomfortable silence that was sitting between them and, for a moment, the creature swore they could have seen a different light in her eyes. "You're acting weird tonight, can't even answer my provocations. What happened to you?"

Dubhra gave her an unsure smile. "It's nothing, just that-"

It felt like they were trying to reach for something in their brain, anything, true enough not to make her doubt their intentions. "You gave me an order, then just disappeared and left me outside. That's not very nice of you, you know, little lady?"

Grey eyes were studying their every micro expression, every movement and for a moment Dubhra felt trapped, not because Midas was holding them down, but because she could see right through the useless excuses they were blurting out, like usual. "Be serious, what's worrying you?"

Dubhra took a deep breath and let go of some of the tension, looking at the Empress with those expressive eyes full of emotion, trying to find the right words to articulate what they were about to say. "I'm worried, yes." They started fidgeting with their metallic hands "It's not anything I can explain to you right now, I just have this feeling in the back of my head- as much as I try I can't seem to shake it off me."

Midas sighed, she shouldn't have been surprised, it was always like that with them.

They always knew things. Not in an obvious oh, I saw the signs kind of way, but in a deeper, eerie way, something like a sixth sense, some kind of clairvoyance that didn't come from logic or deduction. Like it was a different way to see the world that the rest of the people couldn't perceive.

They had a way to look at Midas in the eye and spit out a sentence, a verdict from emotion. And they were always right, they just knew.

Up until then, they had predicted all of Midas' victories, she had been able to burn to the ground anything she wanted. Now her creature was right in front of her, didn't even read their cards, but still had a feeling that something wouldn't be right and not knowing what this vague feeling was directed to, was driving her insane.

It wouldn't lock well in that brain full of lust for vengeance and battle strategies, because how can you argue with someone that's never wrong?

"Well, but you have to." Midas' stare was back as usual, cold as ice, distant. "You better shake it off yourself, there is only one remaining kingdom in this land we own, the last stand of what once was. And we are going to take it down, without any issue like we did the others, got it?"

Dubhra tilted their head in confusion. "But they weren't in any way tied to your father's business, how come you want to burn that to the ground too?"

She looked almost offended, no, definitely offended, as she took a couple steps back to build some distance. "All the other kingdoms fell because they were traitors that mourned my father's passing, this one hasn't raised their sword against me, yet. But you know the truth."

Dubhra didn't, but it didn't matter to them. They would have burned the whole world known to the ground, if Midas had asked.

"Given time, they would" she continued "that's their nature: they bow until they find the strength to stand, until they find the courage to stab your back. I will not wait for that, I won't give them the chance to strike first."

There it went, that was where she snapped. "I will burn their homes, shatter their stones and annihilate them from this Earth before they have the chance to dream to defy me! This is not vengeance, but what's truly inevitable."

Midas was standing there now, all tense from head to toe, gritting her teeth, about to throw up all of her deep rooted anger.

Dubhra got up too and slowly closed the distance that the woman had previously built, carefully using their tentacles to gently play with Midas' red hair and uncover some of her neck.

She let them do, let them get close and capture her golden hand in one of their own, pulled it up and gave it a delicate kiss.

Then they looked back at her.

"And I will gladly be by your side through it all, just like it has always been."