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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The dining room was excruciatingly quiet. Yvette hated it. As she sat at the head of the table, her eyes kept going to the empty seat on the other end. She wondered if that seat would ever be filled again. Taking up her wine glass, she took a long gulp of the red liquid and swallowed, both it and the heartache. A feeling of self-loathing stung in her gut.
A voice interrupted her thoughts. "Feeling melancholy since she left?"
Her eyes darted to the man standing at the room's doorway. "What do you want?"
A pained look came over Mr. Baum's face. "My, I was hoping for a warmer welcome." The look vanished, replaced by a stony glare. "Do we need to have another conversation?"
Fear knifed her in the heart. Even so, she couldn't keep the grumble from her tone. "No. You were not announced, so I was surprised."
Mr. Baum shrugged. "They just let me in."
She had warned her people not to upset him. If he wanted to push his way in, they had to let him. Yvette didn't want them to face his wrath as she had in the secret chamber. None of them deserved that.
"So, what have you come for? You have good news, don't you?" Yvette asked.
A bright smile spread over his face. Yvette shivered at its strangeness. "I do!" he said. Like some kind of magic trick, he reached behind his back and produced a book-shaped bundle.
Yvette stared at it. "Is that...?" Mr. Baum handed it to her. Her pulse quickened. "How did you...?"
"It was quite easy," he said, but nothing more.
Was it the real thing? Yvette peeled away the cloth to see the white leather cover. She flipped through the pages. Her hands started shaking when she realized she was handling imperial property. She could be executed just for touching it if the imperial family ever found out.
As she continued to look through the pages, she said, "So, where is the information we need? How soon can we gather the materials?"
Mr. Baum turned for the door. "For now, I need you on standby."
Yvette rose from her seat. "What do you mean? We have the book now. We need to act as soon as possible. The imperial family will be searching for this."
"They won't be looking for this book anymore."
"But why-"
"I have some loose ends I need to tie up."
"What?"
Mr. Baum stopped at the door. "I will send one of my subordinates to help you with the book. In the meantime, those two bastard royals might become a problem."
Yvette's eyes narrowed. Did he mean the emperor's illegitimate children? "Why should we care about them?" she asked.
