“Ah, this room sure brings back memories,” Rhona said as she leaned back against the desk of the unused study, hands wrapped around the front edge, speaking as though she was taking part in friendly conversation. “It was here where I learned His Majesty Emperor Halsten was poisoned and Empress Consort Ilmatar was deathly ill. And it is here where I would ideally like to find out where their dear daughter has gone.”

  Brin and Moller each remained silent, their gazes lowered and away from Rhona’s venomous eyes as four soldiers stood behind them. Though nothing was uttered, the silence was like a thousand blaring sirens raining down on the General’s ears. Yet despite this, she kept the same eerie composure she had almost interrupted since she entered the Palace.

  “You don’t have to share the burden of Ninon’s… digression. But as someone who’s had the pleasure of knowing you two for nearly a decade, I hope you can trust me as well I trust you. Ser Brin Rigo, you remember when you first walked into this palace with your gardening kit, right?”

  “…I do, General.” Brin answered after a pause, barely audible.

  “I remember it so fondly. You were recommended to us by your previous employer, Marchioness Elvire. But I didn’t want to just rely on my friendship with her to trust you blindly. I gave you a chance to show your skill, and, oh my… you’ve kept the most gorgeous garden I have ever seen, the most gorgeous in the entire Empire! It’s as if you cultivated a shard of Mother Pizna’s essence itself! I know I was right to have conferred the title of Knight upon you.”

  “I’m proud of the work I’ve done for this palace.” Brin said, selecting his words carefully.

  “I know you are. Who wouldn’t be? And you, Count Moller, how could I forget what you’ve done! You’ve been serving us since your late father passed on, and not only have you continued his work, but you’ve also surpassed him! Not even the Military Headquarters is run so efficiently. Having you in charge of the affairs of this palace has taken so much weight off my shoulders and allows me to breathe so easily. Your family has worked under mine since even before my grandfather ruled, but I’m certain that no one’s done this job as well as you do. And you know what I like about you especially? You work not for the sake of your family’s history, but for the sake of getting a job done well and fully! Now…”

  Rhona exhaled, tilting her head back to take a breath. She then looked ahead and stepped away from the desk. She calmly approached the two men, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

  “We all know that we’re friends, right? And we all care so dearly for this Palace and everything it stands for, right? Would you tell me what you know about where the Princess and Alda have gone now?” Rhona’s voice was soft and tender, like a mother reminding her child not to make a mess.

  Another word was not spoken for a while, another silence that was tempting Rhona to squeeze the men’s shoulders so hard they’d crush—something she could easily and certainly do. And before it got too tiring for her composure to hold, the men glanced at one another through the corners of their eyes, exchanging a knowing look.

  “Alright, then, General Karesti. We’ll tell you what we know.” Brin spoke first, looking Rhona directly in the eye.

  “Her Highness is just barely a woman, yet so close to being one. We’ve seen her grow up, and through this lens, we could see that the things she does are controlled and limited and have been this way for years. One would expect this for a little girl, but she isn’t one anymore!”

  Rhona’s eye twitched as she heard Count Moller’s voice.

  “Count Moller, I don’t think that at all pertains to what I’ve asked you.”

  “Yes, General. It does, actually. It’s why she isn’t here anymore. It’s why she’s left the Palace! The control and limitations on her life were so restrictive that she had no choice but to flee! And it certainly wasn’t Alda who was responsible for this. She did her best to nurture Her Highness in the boundaries that someone else set for her. We saw it with our own eyes.”

  “A cruel person led Her Highness to this daunting decision, indeed. One who sees people as pawns and tools. Someone who will kill a pretty flower so that it doesn’t spawn plentiful, beautiful fruits. A person who claims to be the executor of Mother Pizna’s will, yet slaughters her Children and hardly giving a second thought to it—

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “A person whose wretched claws cannot be contained in one world, so they allow it to drag and rip across others. A person whose mouth waters at the sight of a river of blood and prays that it flows even heavier!” Moller continued their joint tirade. “Who has that power? Who has the power, will, and greed strong enough for an Empress to have to run from the throne promised to her? That would only be you, General Karesti! A woman whose lust for clout outweighs the love for her family, a false ruler whose cruelty has surpassed that of any true Emperor!”

  “I’ve heard enough,” Rhona said, furrowing her brow so hard that a vein became visible on her forehead. “To the bathroom across the hall. Take them, men!”

  All comforts were spared as the four soldiers dragged the two royal employees in the very short journey to the bathroom. Maedoc had been standing by as ordered by the General and shifted his position so that he now stood outside the bathroom.

  The soldiers threw Brin and Moller to the ground, eliciting a few groans of discomfort—but not cries of backing down.

  “You gentlemen are being awfully quiet now, aren’t you? You were talking your heads off just a few moments ago.” Rhona spoke with a sinister giggle.

  “Because you said you’d heard enough,” Brin scoffed as he pulled himself to his knees as Moller did the same, right before the bathroom’s elegant bathtub, handcrafted by commissioned artisans generations earlier but still appearing brand-new. “So we’ve said enough. Now… do what you will.”

  “For a couple of nation-hating traitors, you two didn’t do a terrible job. You’ve caused me one more mess to clean up. Oh well, there’s only one way to deal with your type.” Rhona said as she stepped behind both men, who faced the bathtub.

  “So do it, you bitch! Turn us into martyrs! But let it be known that others will—

  Brin spoke no more as a polished magenta blade sliced through his neck, causing a river of red to gush out of the wound. Rhona pushed him forward onto the tub using her knee, where the blood would settle.

  Moller’s body trembled as he saw his companion dead beside him, his blood quickly filling the pool.

  “My, my, Count Moller. Your metaphor about a river of blood is so accurate!” Rhona cackled as specks of blood landed on her face, the rate of gushing slowing as Brin’s corpse was drained of its blood. “Now, would you like to call me a bitch as well?”

  “Y-Yeah. You’re the greatest bitch this Empire has known and will ever know. There is no world where I can live without my Brinny, so be quick! Let me reunite with him! Long live the blood of Halsten!”

  Moller’s life left him as unceremoniously as Brin’s as he slumped forward, further filling the tub with even more metallic-scented red liquid. All while a vile grin was plastered Rhona’s face.

  “You four, take these fornicating treacherous fools' remains away,” Rhona said as she gazed into the tub of blood. “Lieutenant Colonel Antelius, stay outside for a few minutes. I’d like to show you something.”

  Maedoc watched as the four subordinate soldiers removed the corpses on stretchers. He got a glimpse of them and their wounds before the bags they were placed in were zipped up. The cuts across their throats were deep yet precise, so much that the vertebrae had been broken through, nearly decapitating them. To cut through impervious Titanian skin and bone so rapidly and so skilfully was nearly unheard of, even for Titanians. The extent of the wounds were intentional—Rhona wanted to drain them of their blood. Rhona Karesti’s nickname of the Demon Princess was not unwarranted, and after seeing what she had done with Kallista Laine’s head, he knew it was no rumour. It was reality.

  He didn’t know either man very well. He had in fact only briefly spoken to Count Moller just before his first meeting with the General. From that small interaction, he knew the steward to be a genuinely kind man who took care of everything within the Palace walls, not excluding the safety of its most important permanent resident. He felt a pang of sadness, not just for him, but for Brin and Kallista Laine as well.

  “You may come in, Lieutenant Colonel!” Rhona said in a singsong tone, revolting considering what she did just minutes earlier.

  Stepping inside and closing the door behind him, Maedoc’s eyes immediately caught the General’s uniform folded and stacked meticulously on the counter. They drifted to the side and down, where he saw her boots. Pulling his eyes he found Rhona sitting unclothed in the tub, her body submerged in the red liquid except for her knees in front of her, and her upper body down to her mid-chest. Only her eyepatch remained on her body.

  “General Karesti…?” he spoke after dragging his eyes down to the floor before the perfectly sculpted but wicked woman’s form distracted him.

  “Did you know that your skin can directly absorb the Reserve from fresh blood? I’ve always wanted to try this. Oh, it is so warm and fuzzy, like getting a full-body massage!” Rhona squealed, her shoulders shaking from pleasure. “Mother Pizna is a generous, generous mother indeed. She punished two of her disobedient Children and has rewarded me with this boost of strength for carrying out her will!”

  But you took their lives. You had to take them, maybe. But you enjoying it isn’t what Mother Pizna decrees, Maedoc thought as Rhona’s giggles battered his ears.

  “General Karesti, would you like me to begin organizing the search party for Her Highness Ninon and Ms. Silje?” he asked instead, politely stepping around what she told him.

  “Oh, please don’t worry about that. I let Major General Brose know the moment I knew they were gone. He’ll handle that,” Rhona spoke with a mumble as she sucked blood off of her thumb, before using the same hand to point to the outer side of the tub, closest to Maedoc. “Sit here. You and I need to have a little one-on-one.”