She had to talk to Ludwig, get his side, and explain it to Captain Rosen. Without warning, Liane threw open her doors, startling her guards for the second time that morning. They chased her as she stormed down the hall, out into the garden, and across the courtyard to the midnight tower.
A pair of guards blocked the entrance to the tower, and she marched straight over to them.
“Let me in. I demand to see Ludwig,” she said.
“No one can see the traitor. Not even you, Princess,” the first guard said, with a sympathetic look. They all knew and pitied her, but she didn’t need their pity; she craved justice.
“Either you’ll let me in, or I force my way in.”
They shared a look, doubting her ability to do just that. Anger rose in her, flushing her skin. If she wasn’t careful, she’d break out with a fever. When they didn’t move, she lurched forward to shove her way past them, but they caught her by the shoulders and gently pushed her back. What resulted was an awkward standoff between her guards and the Midnight Guards. Both parties watching the other warily. If she asked them, would her guards fight their way inside for her? If it were Ludwig, he would.
“Do not make this difficult, please,” the second guard pleaded.
Liane huffed in frustration.
“Then do as I ask, as I will not ask again.”
“We cannot, captain’s orders,” replied the first guard.
“Let her in,” Captain Rosen said, opening the door from behind them.
They snapped to attention, bowing slightly for Captain Rosen, who stared at Liane with an inscrutable stare. Liane stared back, not ready, or willing to back down.
“Ludwig is innocent,” Liane told her.
“I think you should talk to him.” She stepped aside to allow Liane in.
“Thank you,” Liane replied and strolled past her into the tower’s interior.
Captain Rosen personally escorted her through the door at the far end of the circular room. A spiral stairwell led down, lit by torches that flickered orange light on dark stone. An inhuman roar echoed up from the bowels of the tower and sent a chill racing up her spine.
“Keep close; this is not a place for a princess,” Captain Rosen said, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword as they descended the stairwell into darkness.
Their footsteps echoed off the walls, and apart from her panting breaths, that was the only sound for a very long time. It was colder beneath the ground. The walls were slightly damp to the touch, and the deeper they went, the louder the rumbling growl became. After several flights, they stopped on a landing where a guard sat at a desk. He jumped to attention, saluting Captain Rosen. The stairs went further down from that, and Liane suspected that’s where the growling was coming from, but she dared not ask more about it.
Captain Rosen greeted the desk guard before removing a keyring from her hip and unlocking the door with one of the large iron keys. The door swung outward and revealed a hall lined with cells on both sides. Most were empty, except the one in the center. Ludwig sat inside it, his knees drawn up to his chest and his back to her. Liane gripped the bars tightly, as if she could bend them by sheer will and set him free.
“Ludwig!” she said, but his name came out as a strangled gasp, guilt over doubting him choked her.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said, without turning to face her.
“I shouldn’t? Ludwig, you’re behind bars; they say you’ve committed treason.”
“I’ve done all they said and more. I’ve done awful things.”
A hand clenched around her heart, and she wanted to deny it.
“Don’t say that. I know you, you’re a good person…” she started to say.
“But I did.” He rose to face her; his eyes were haunted and vacant.“I’ve killed people.” In the dim candlelight of his cell, his face was gaunt and menacing.
Her throat clenched closed; she couldn’t breathe properly, and her back prickled as warmth spread out from her scar tingling to the tips of her fingers. This must be a nightmare, one she’d wake up from any second. Ludwig wasn’t capable of violence.
“I know Heinrich made you do those things; tell me everything, and I’ll make sure he’s punished. I know he’s plotting something with the elves…”
Ludwig clenched his hand into a fist and stared at it. “What does the prompting matter when it was by my own hand?”
“Why? Tell me why and I can fix it.”
