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With that, and an entourage of forty guards, Heather and I made our way to Lady Madeema’s dungeon.
“Halt. Nobody may pass.” Two guards in Lady Madeema’s uniform blocked our way.
Despite Heather’s presence, anger flared in my gut at the guards’ audacity. Pleasantly surprising me that I could still call on my temper, even with her at my side.
“Move at once,” I pressed out between clenched teeth.
“I beg your pardon, Your Imperial Highness, but Lady Madeema gave strict or—”
I grabbed the male by the throat and lifted him off his feet, then threw him against the nearest wall. The other guard had enough sense to step out of my way.
“Open the door!” I snarled at the one who stepped away.
The male’s fingers trembled as he punched in a code that opened the doors, while my stomach churned with fury. How dare Lady Madeema enter codes into the walls of my palace, to restrict me from entering. For that alone she would need to be punished.
Heather had remained quiet during the altercation, but she stayed close to my side, staring at the white walls surrounding us.
Another set of guards stood at the end of the corridor. One piercing, glowering gaze from my eyes rushed them to open the doors. “Where is Lady Natoi being held?” I demanded.
“I will show you the way, Emperor,” one of them answered.
Here, doors with small round glass-covered openings were placed on each side of the wall in regular intervals. I didn’t glance into any of the cells they were barring, but I would order Noctus to check on the prisoners to see if Lady Madeema had overstepped here too, holding someone who wasn’t supposed to be held. At that point, I was ready for any kind of betrayal from her.
The corridor split and the guard led us down another hallway. How many prisoners does Lady Madeema hold or expect?
Prisoners were usually moved to specific facilities and not held inside the palace, for security reasons alone.
The guard stopped and opened a door. Without a word, I stepped past him with Heather at my side.
Lady Natoi sat huddled in a corner. She looked as if she had lost a lot of weight in the span of only a couple of days. Her skin was without its usual sheen—dull and lifeless, just like the lady herself.
“Your Imperial High—” She jumped up, but my outstretched hand stopped her from approaching me.
“I don’t care what Lady Madeema scared you with. I have one question and one question only and you will answer it truthfully.” I waited for her nod. “Was it your idea or hers to abduct Lady Heather?”
Lady Natoi’s eyes flew around the room in panic. She stared at Lady Madeema’s guard, me, then Heather, before she screeched, “Mine, it was all my idea.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said, spearing her with my gaze. “You are not her prisoner anymore, you’re mine and I want the truth.”
I gave her a moment to consider my words. “Hers,” Lady Natoi sobbed. “Please. I’m sorry. It was all her. She came to me.”
“Why would she do that?” Heather asked softly.
“Because you ruined everything,” Lady Natoi suddenly snarled, and I grabbed her by the shoulder before she could fling herself against Heather. “You human scum,” she spat. “I would have been empress, I, until you came and turned his head with your… your… whatever it is.”
Heat formed in my veins, but all it took was one glance at my mekarry and my heated blood simmered down. I remembered the day I met Heather, the day she appeared so unexpectedly in my suite, looking for Lady Natoi’s scarf.
Lady Natoi had made her interest in me known that afternoon. I gently but vigorously refused her, but apparently she still had harbored hopes of becoming my empress, no matter how ill-advised.
Heather stood her ground and asked the next question I was curious about as well but wouldn’t have posed, I would have reserved it for Lady Madeema. “What did Lady Madeema have to gain from this?”
At that Lady Natoi laughed. “Ask her.”
We could have made her talk, it wouldn’t have taken much, but I was done breathing the same air as this spiteful merrily.
“You never had any prospect of becoming empress,” I told her on our way out, closing my ears to her sobbing and pleading to be let out.
I didn’t feel much of anything when we left the cell. I had never been the gleeful type, but I thought I would have experienced some kind of satisfaction seeing the woman responsible for the two most miserable days of my life, but I didn’t. I didn’t feel sorry for her either.
