Then they walked into a bedroom. He’d never been in this room before. The robed figure walked towards a panelled wall. They pressed against two points on the wall. The panel swung inwards. A hidden passage lay beyond.
Without pausing, one of the Zephyrian soldiers entered, carrying a torch. The empress followed. The others, including Elias, came along after. They walked and walked, twisting and turning through the tunnels. No one spoke. Eventually they came out into an alley with a carriage.
They climbed in. The empress, Beau, and the robed figure sat opposite Elias. One Zephyrian soldier sat beside Elias. The other got onto the front of the carriage.
The carriage rattled through the streets.
“Your desire to turn on me, and I’m assuming Voltaria, is not unexpected,” Elias said. “However, I’m surprised you’d work against the peace treaty. You always argued for its creation. And you always despised Warden Flint.” Those were the main reasons Elias had never thought her part of the conspiracy.
It rankled how wrong he’d been.
She huffed, smoothing her skirts with long, elegant fingers. “I never worked with Warden Flint. He was an arrogant fool, blinded by his desire for a total victory against the dragons.” She sniffed. “No. I couldn’t stand the man.”
“So you aren’t working against the treaty?”
“No.” She shook her head. “But sometimes opportunities arise. I am doing this to put Zephyrias in its rightful place.”
Elias scoffed. “And what is its rightful place?” Although, Elias did not need to ask.
“Above Voltaria.” Her cold gaze met his. “Voltaria will still have a place, of course. It will just be as a part of the Empire of Zephyrias. As it should always have been. There will be no joint and equal kingdoms or some such nonsense. Zephyrias will once again be in its full glory.” She lifted her chin.
Elias almost laughed. The battle with the dragons was only just over. The peace treaty wasn’t even finalised. And already the empress was trying to bring Voltaria down.
“Moving forward, there will be just one true ruler. Me.” She leaned back, resting her hands in her lap. “The Empire of Zephyrias will happily enter into this peace treaty.”
Elias scoffed. “You took the dragon warrior prisoner! You think you can still make a peace treaty with Draconia?”
“But that wasn’t us.” She laughed. “That was bandits. Did you not see? Bandits found a way into the Draconian quarters. They ransacked the rooms. They killed the guards. You saw them.”
Was that what those ruffians were meant to be? Bandits. “Did you hire actual bandits to do your bidding?”
She waved a hand at him. “You don’t need to concern yourself with the details. At the end of the day, the story told to the world will be that bandits killed you all.”
Elias kept his face still. So that was what she had planned. “Is Gerard still alive?” he asked, unable to stop himself.
“He is. For now.” Emmeline glanced out the window. “I thought that maybe with you in Draconia, I could move ahead with my plan for Zephyrias and Voltaria. But alive, you would always be a symbol for Voltarians to rally aroundand revolt. And of course, you could plot with your husband against me.”
She shook her head. “No. It is better if you and your father are both dead.”
“My father?” He’d assumed she’d keep him around. After all, she could probably manipulate him into anything, even making Voltaria part of the Empire of Zephyrias and to give up his throne.
“I am so tired of having to deal with him. Manipulating him is wearisome. I’d prefer him dead.” She pressed her lips together. “I’ll make it look like a suicide. Perhaps a result of the grief caused by his son’s extremely violent and painful death.”
She smiled, grey eyes dark and hard. She stared at Elias, as if imagining all the horrors she’d enact on him.
She wants me to suffer.He’d wondered why she’d not killed him immediately. It made sense now. She’d spent years hating him. Now she wanted him to feel agony before he died.
Well, if it bought him time, he’d take it. He needed to find Gerard and get him free. He needed to work out her plans and thwart them. And before she died, he’d make her wish she’d disposed of him straight away.
“And who else are you working with? Who is this?” Elias jerked his head in the direction of the robed figure.
The individual turned their masked face to look at the empress.
She sniffed. “You don’t need to know that.” She looked out the window.
Elias stared at the two of them. She’d revealed a lot to Elias so far. No doubt because she wanted to boast and make it clear to Elias how she’d beaten him.
But why not tell him everything? Why hide who this person was?
