Karis listened to his scholar, a man he now knew was named Beecher, as he droned on about science. It was a subject that Karis still found incredibly boring and he struggled to pay attention. Adem slipped into the room. “Forgive me for interrupting.” He bowed. “His Imperial Majesty wishes a word with His Imperial Highness.”

Beecher blinked nearsightedly at Adem. “My father wishes to see me?” Karis asked.

“That is what I was told by Otniel, Your Imperial Highness,” Adem told him.

If it was coming from his father’s valet, then it was coming from his father. Beecher sighed. “It seems we must cut our lessons short today, Your Imperial Highness. I will send some lessons to your pad for you to work on this evening, Please see to it that you finish them in a timely fashion, so we don’t have to have a discussion about unfinished work tomorrow.”

“Yes Beecher.” His tutor left. Karis followed behind him a few seconds later and made his way to the Imperial suite.

Otniel let him in, frowning disapprovingly at Karis’ slightly rumpled appearance. Vespasian was sitting stiffly on the couch, reading something on his pad. He tapped a few keys on his pad and Karis heard the familiar whir as he flashed something to someone. Vespasian looked up and scowled at Karis. “Could you not approach me in a more appropriate manner?” he scoffed.

Karis glanced down at his clothing. “I am neatly dressed, my hair is mostly tidy, and I am not covered in sweat, dirt, or food. I see nothing wrong with my appearance.”

Vespasian’s scowl deepened. “You have an answer for everything, boy. Your tongue will get you into trouble one of these days.”

Karis almost said something that would have gotten him into trouble. Instead he bit the inside of his cheek for a moment and then amended his initial instinctive statement. “Yes Father.”

“I am not pleased with your progress. You are not performing to my expectations, and I find myself wondering if you are even trying.” Vespasian regarded his son with narrowed eyes.

Karis glowered at his father. “I believe Trainer Wil has already spoken with you about this, Father. On numerous occasions, unless I am misunderstanding the things she has told me. As you seem unwilling to believe her, I strongly doubt you will listen to anything I have to say.”

Vespasian rose to his feet. He came to stand in front of his son. He towered over the young prince. Karis took a step back and tilted his head back so he could meet his father’s angry gaze. “I was never this weak at your age,” he snarled.

“I am quite certain you were, Father. Every twelve year old boy is as weak as I am, except those that are genetically modified to serve in the Imperial guards. Unless you are saying that grandfather had you modified as well,” Karis snapped back.

Vespasian backhanded Karis, knocking him on his ass. Karis had known that was coming the moment the words left his mouth. He’d back talked his father and that was going to get him hit. It did every time he did it. This time Karis got back to his feet and met his father’s angry glare with one of his own.

“You will not speak such vile words about your grandfather,” Vespasian growled.

“Why? Because you know they are true? Or because you idolize the man who turned you into a monster?” Karis shot back. He anticipated another blow and got it.

He picked himself up off the floor again, his ears ringing. “Do you enjoy pain, boy?” Vespasian snarled.

“Probably far less than you enjoy dealing it,” Karis snarled back.

Vespasian hit him again. This time he didn’t stop. He beat and kicked Karis until he was a bloody heap on the floor. “Call his servant to help him back to his room,” Vespasian ordered in an eerily calm voice. “I do not want to look at him for the rest of the day.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.” Otniel sounded more than a little shaken. Karis was sure he’d never seen Vespasian lose his temper this violently, or if he had, he’d never seen him sit down so calmly.

A short while later, Adem arrived and helped Karis to his feet. He took him back to his room. “You had to antagonize him, Your Imperial Highness.” Adem shook his head. “I’ve called for an Imperial doctor, and I’ve let Trainer Wil know you won’t be at your training session this afternoon.”

Karis couldn’t speak. He thought his jaw might be broken. The doctor and Narin arrived at the same time. “What in the name of all the stars happened to him?” the doctor asked, looking at Adem and Narin.

“You know as much as I do. I just got here,” Narin told him.

“His Imperial Majesty vented his temper on him,” Adem told them grimly. “I’m not sure if His Imperial Highness intentionally provoked him, or if it was something else. We won’t know until His Imperial Highness can speak, and I think he might have a broken jaw, among other injuries.”

The doctor ran a scan on him. “For the love of…yes, he has a broken jaw. He also has a cracked skull, several broken ribs, both his arms are broken, no internal bleeding so there’s a relief there. Your Imperial Highness, go lie down on your bed. I will be back with as many regenerators as I can get. In his current mood, I doubt His Imperial Majesty will be inclined to let us treat you in the med lab.”

“He was frighteningly calm when I arrived,” Adem told the doctor. “I wouldn’t test it though.”

“I’m not going to. Get his shirt off him so I can get the regenerators on him.” The doctor left the room and Narin and Adem got Karis stripped and into bed. Karis whimpered as they pulled his shirt off him.

“Easy, Your Imperial Highness,” Narin told him. “You got your ass handed to you pretty badly today. I’m going to go out and say you provoked him, didn’t you?” Karis managed a weak nod. “When you can speak, I want to know why.”

The doctor returned with a second doctor and multiple regenerators of varying sizes. Karis was covered in regenerators that went to work. It was a few hours later when the doctors pronounced him healed.

“Your Imperial Highness, do not do anything to provoke him again today, nothing too strenuous, and try to rest as much as possible,” the first doctor told him sternly. The doctors left the room.

“All right, Your Imperial Highness. Please explain why you were stupid enough to antagonize your father.” Narin crossed her arms and glared at him.

“He was out to punish me for being weak. I let him get it out of his system,” Karis told her, wincing as his jaw ached when he spoke.

“What?” Narin stared at him.

Karis sighed and told her about the beginning of their interview. “I knew he would not listen to me no matter what I said, so I just sort of let my mouth run. I was going to get beaten anyway so it might as well be for something worth getting hit for. Not just because I am a child with a child’s limitations, but because I deserved it for making him angry.”

Narin pinched the bridge of her nose. Adem stared at him, eyes wide and his mouth open with shock. “Well, it makes a perverse kind of sense,” Narin commented finally. “He was going to take you down no matter what. You said it sounded like Otniel was shocked by how brutal he was?”

“He sounded pretty shaken up, though I do not know if it was because of my apparent death wish or because of my father’s temper.” Karis shrugged. “Either way he was not expecting what he saw today.”

“Your Imperial Highness, I wouldn’t have expected what I saw today and I’m aware of what your father is like,” Adem told him. “We all are. We’ve seen him hit people before. He’s knocked lords out cold for offending him. He’s never done this much damage to someone. Not personally, at least. Usually, he leaves this kind of brutality to the torturers.”

“Well, he cannot send me to the torturers without raising questions about his sanity, so he will just have to do the dirty work himself,” Karis muttered. “I do not know whether to be pleased or frightened.”

“Please do not push him to this point again, Your Imperial Highness,” Narin implored him.

“I will make no promises I cannot guarantee I can keep, Trainer Wil,” Karis told her seriously. “If he continues to act the fool, I will stand up to him. If I stand up to him, I will be punished for it. What you saw today was the result of my not being cowed by him. He does not like that.”

Narin buried her face in her hands. “I had better teach you some more fighting techniques fast. You won’t be able to hold your own against him, but at least you’ll last longer than you did today.” She looked at him. “Please do not get yourself killed by mouthing off to your father.”

“He cannot afford to kill me. He has no other heir, and mother is out of childbearing years,” Karis pointed out. “He can beat me into the ground on a regular basis, but he cannot actually kill me.”

“He can always bring in other courtesans and breed with one of them,” Narin pointed out.

“He will not do that. He does not have the stamina or the energy. I often heard my mother talk to the other women in the courtesan wing, about how that activity exhausts him too much.” Karis was sure of one thing. His father couldn’t get rid of him. He was the only heir his father had to work with, he couldn’t father any more even if he brought in younger courtesans to try with, and Vespasian was eventually going to have to come to some form of equilibrium with his rebellious son or both of them were going to be uncomfortable for a long time.

“That is a dangerous piece of gossip to be in possession of, Your Imperial Highness,” Narin told him.

“Which is why my father will never know I listened in on my mother’s conversations,” Karis told her simply. “Unless it becomes necessary for him to know.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Adem reassured them. “I know better than to betray His Imperial Highness’ secrets.”

“All right, Your Imperial Highness. I expect I won’t see you in the afternoon periodically because of these little discussions with your father. That’s good to know so I’m prepared, not like today.” Narin sighed. “Rest and we’ll work on your fighting techniques tomorrow. We can at least teach you to defend yourself against him.” She got up and left.

“Is there anything I can do for you, Your Imperial Highness?” Adem asked.

“Is there anything in the shower’s long list of choices that helps relieve muscle ache, Adem?” Karis asked. “Or perhaps for the bath? I need to soak away some of the aches from the beating.”

“I know of three things in the shower, but I think the bath would be better,” Adem suggested. “And there are a lot of pain relieving things I can add to the bath. It’s not just the muscle relaxers. You’ve got some nasty bruises. They didn’t leave any bruise salve, but there is something I can add to the water with the muscle relaxers that should help them fade out a bit and make them less painful.”

“That sounds perfect, Adem,” Karis told him.

“Give me a minute, Your Imperial Highness.” Adem disappeared into the bathroom. Karis wondered idly what his father made of his son’s rebellion today and if he felt he’d dealt with it or if he expected Karis to continue. Karis snorted. He didn’t care what his father thought. He was going to continue to push back, no matter how many times it got him beaten, until his father understood that he was not going to become a perfect copy of him.

Adem returned a few minutes later and helped Karis into the bath. Karis soaked until the water began to grow tepid. The pain relieving elements in the water helped immensely. Karis climbed out, dried off, and Adem helped him dress as it was still painful for Karis to use his arms. Karis sat down with his pad and worked on the lessons Beecher had sent him. He ate a light dinner and resumed work. He was up until nearly midnight working on his studies, before finishing and going to bed.

The next morning, he dressed and ate breakfast. Beecher arrived and this time their morning lessons were not interrupted by a summons from his father. He made his way that afternoon to the training room. He did his laps and his stretches without being asked. “If you insist on perpetuating fights with your father, we are moving you up to the intermediate lessons,” Narin told him wearily. “You have the basics down well enough that I feel fairly confident that as long as we drill you on them periodically, you’re not going to forget them.”

“Yes, Trainer Wil.” Karis nodded. Narin began working him through some of the next level moves.

Neither of them realized Vespasian was there until he spoke. “Are you certain he is ready for this, Narin? He certainly could not hold his own against me yesterday.”

“You are not an intermediate fighter, Your Imperial Majesty. As for being ready, the fact that he stood up to you knowing what was likely to happen indicated to me I had better teach him these to give him a fighting chance against you because I doubt that yesterday will be the only such interview between the two of you,” Narin told him with a sigh.

“You think my son will continue being that stubborn?” Vespasian asked with a snort. “He is soft and weak. That little beating will have taken all the spark out of him.”

Karis bit back his retort. Narin glanced at him, sighed, and made a slight gesture. She wanted him to speak up. “The only way I will cease talking back is if you were to undergo a radical shift in personality, Father,” Karis shot back. “As that is not likely to happen, I will not remain silent.”

Vespasian looked at him with some surprise. “Was yesterday’s beating not enough for you, boy?”

“Was it not enough for you? Or do you feel the need to inflict pain on someone again today?” Karis snapped.

“Narin, step aside,” Vespasian growled.

“I’ll go call for the Imperial doctors.” Narin stepped away from Karis and made her way to the entrance of the training room.

Vespasian made a lunge for his son, but here there was room for Karis to move, and he dodged out of his father’s reach. “I will not stand still today, Father. If you want to hit me, you are going to have to try harder than that,” Karis told him.

For the next several minutes, Karis used everything about evasion that he’d learned from the basic moves that Narin had taught him to evade his father. Vespasian took him down in the end and beat him bloody a second time. Vespasian left him gasping on the mats. He spoke briefly to Narin, but Karis couldn’t hear what was said. Then he was gone.

“That was impressive,” Narin commented as she knelt beside Karis. “I’d have thought he’d be better prepared for the basic evasion tactics. Apparently not. I am very impressed, Your Imperial Highness. The Imperial doctors will be here shortly.”

“I still won,” Karis muttered.

Narin chuckled. “I would say you did, even though he beat you into the floor. You proved that a child can still stand up to the emperor. He’s going to get that lesson drilled into him over the next several weeks, I’m sure. We’ll pick your lessons up tomorrow.”

“Yes, Trainer Will. At least he did not break my jaw this time.” Karis was fairly certain he had broken ribs again, and he knew he had a head injury at the very least as well as another broken arm.

“No, he didn’t break your jaw this time,” Narin agreed.

The same doctors from the previous day came in. “Again?” the first one asked wearily.

“Expect it to be a regular occurrence,” Narin told him apologetically. “It seems His Imperial Highness is trying to make a point with His Imperial Majesty.”

“What, that he can take a great deal of punishment and get back up?” the second doctor muttered.

“That’s part of it,” Narin told them. “It runs deeper than that, though.”

The two doctors sighed and carried Karis back to his room. They called Adem, who helped strip him down and the doctors put the regenerators on him. “Again?” Adem asked.

“It is going to happen a lot, Adem,” Karis told him. “I will probably need that bath again.”

“I’m sure you will.” Adem shook his head. “I’ll make sure to keep a ready stock of those additives ready for you, Your Imperial Highness.”

“I appreciate it, Adem.” Karis fell silent and let the regenerators do their work.

The regenerators came off and the doctors collected them. Karis soaked in the bath for nearly an hour before climbing out and drying off. He came out to find Adem with an apologetic look on his face. “Your father is insisting that you have to go to court tonight. He says your discussion earlier today does not preclude you from it this time.”

Karis growled under his breath. “What do I have that I can wear that reflects open rebellion against my father while being subtle enough it is not going to net me another beating tonight?”

“Dark blue, Your Imperial Highness,” Adem told him promptly. “It reflects you’re not in a good mood and because you leave after everyone’s done eating, no one will be able to really ask you about it.”

“I will be pestered about it during dinner though. I will have to be suitably vague. If I embarrass father, the beatings I have had over the last two days will pale in comparison to what I will get. I want to irritate him, not enrage him,” Karis commented. “And thus far all I have done is irritate him to the point of losing his temper.” He sighed. “I will wear the dark blue. I am not in the mood for anything else.” Adem helped him dress and he joined the Imperial guards who escorted him to the antechamber.