Determined to take control of their fates, Arjen and Arien escape Derolina Castle at the age of sixteen after their cruel mother dies. They adopt new names and find a home in the city of Aramore, while the Emperor of Yuriana searches for his missing...
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Eiji washed his hands in the basin, using a brush to get the blood out from under his fingernails. The soapy water turned pink. He grumbled to himself.
"Bastard, bastard, damn fucking bastard." He scrubbed harder.
"Do you want me to tell her that you'll be late?" said Kirra behind him. He leaned against the door frame to the bathroom.
"No, I'll be on time," Eiji said.
Kirra looked him up and down, appearing doubtful. "Alright."
Eiji had several blood stains on his uniform. It wouldn't take long for him to change into something new, but he wondered if he might need a bath. He noticed a red streak in his hair when he looked in the mirror and rinsed it out with the water.
The prisoner had not begged him to stop, which had encouraged Eiji to continue beating him until the man stopped responding. Eiji hadn't meant to go that far, but his memory of what happened to Zemerri fueled his rage.
Then, just as he had turned to leave the jail cell, he heard the man stir. The bottle of poison was already at the man's lips. Kirra managed to knock it away before the bottle was emptied. But by then it was too late. The man had collapsed. They called for the best doctors and healing mages they had at Adylia Palace, but there were few, so ultimately they had needed Alec.
"All that for nothing," Eiji said. "He said nothing!"
"It wasn't all for nothing. He said their leader was a man from long ago," said Kirra.
"But that's all he said! What does that even mean?" Eiji snatched up a towel to dry his hands.
"I think you were too angry to hear him. He also said this man is both known and unknown to the palace."
Eiji threw down the towel. "I don't want riddles! He was messing with me!"
"Well, now that Prince Alec has healed him, we can get this guy on the second try."
"I want to know how he got that poison. He didn't have anything on him when we put him in there, and the guards were supposed to be watching him every minute!" Eiji growled. "Looks like it's time for me to thin the ranks."
"I suggest we use a wing of the jail and close it to outsiders," said Kirra, "make it so no one except us and imperial guards are allowed to enter. The jailers go through every day. It could be that one of them is a traitor."
"Or it could be one of the guards."
"True. But I'm certain the ones we placed there are loyal to us. We know them personally."
Eiji nodded. "Yeah. You're right."
In the bedroom, the servants had laid out his clothes for the evening dinner with the princess. Eiji shed his soiled uniform while Kirra peered through the window curtains to see outside.
