According to the Captain of Kareen’s guards, even the dumbest soldier could use it with confidence. The girls had come up with a compartment system and little images engraved in it, so the soldiers could find what they needed in one glance, even if they opened that box for the first time. The longest part had been to find out how to make everything in a tiny size, but Missandra was the one who found a way to make all the medicine into small and colored pills that wouldn’t be crumbled by any rough movements. Cassandra had to come up with the improved medicine, compared to the Empire’s old ones, and Missandra took care of finding out how to fit them inside. They also included some bandages and little bottles of alcohol to disinfect, making sure the smell was not the kind that would make the men want to drink it.
The Imperial Concubine Kareen was most helpful in gathering the resources for all that. She spared no expenses to have all the bandages, medicines, or plants Cassandra needed be brought to the Diamond Palace. Even paying for the metal the boxes were shaped in, and every worker who participated in their large-scale production.
Soon enough, news came from the Imperial Palace that the Emperor knew of their project and would shoulder all the costs, which made Kareen laugh. She didn’t dismiss the chests of gold bars that arrived in her garden the next morning, though, and even sent a personal letter to thank the Emperor. Cassandra could easily picture the old man jumping around upon receiving a letter from the usually cold concubine.
Even after everything was finalized, they didn’t stop producing more. The first feedback from the front was very positive, but Cassandra read every letter very carefully to see where and how they could improve the kits. She realized they could even send bigger containers, and the army accountants could spread the contents depending on the situation. However, Missandra, Dahlia, and Kareen all stopped her from working on that new project. Cassandra’s pregnancy was starting to make it too difficult for her to keep working like she was.
Hence, Cassandra was almost locked away from the next steps of the boxes’ preparations and found herself bored again. While Missandra worked hard in her stead, the sweet Dahlia stayed with her, or more exactly, watched her. Cassandra couldn’t complain, however. Her belly was big and hindering her in many ways. She felt tired no matter how long she slept, and her back was aching constantly. Kareen gave her some hot balm to calm her pain, but even if Dahlia massaged her, it would only numb the pain for a short while.
The only thing Cassandra was still authorized to do was taking care of her garden, and keeping her correspondence with her friends from the North. All of them answered her quite fast, and she was happy to get some news from Nebora and the girls, and from the camp. Evin was surprisingly diligent in telling her everything that was going on there, including how the Red Room had evolved. They now had a fully dedicated team taking care of it and applying all the instructions she had left in the letter. He would even include some more questions from them, compiling any issue they encountered for Cassandra to take care of from where she was.
Orwen was now a full-time blacksmith and quite busy, but he never missed a chance to tell Cassandra about whatever happened on his side of the camp. The men there still called her the Lady of the Mountain, as if she had been some royalty by herself, instead of just the Third Prince’s Concubine. He even let her know about how Shareen’s command had changed the camp, and how the young Anour was doing under his older sister’s harsh training. It looked like the youngest Prince wasn’t particularly cut out for the military.
However, no matter how fast they all tried to send their replies to her, it would take ten to twelve days for the letters to be delivered, and that was a long time for Cassandra to wait. She hadn’t realized how the dragon flights had modified her perception of distances, but now, it was cruelly showing.
“Lady Kareen, you called for me?” asked Cassandra one morning.
For once, the Imperial Concubine wasn’t interested in her brunch. Instead, she was walking in circles in the room, looking very disturbed. That wasn’t like her at all, and Cassandra immediately knew something was wrong. Missandra arrived behind her sister, looking as confused as she was. On the side, a soldier was waiting, his head lowered, probably one of her spies. Finally, Kareen sighed.
“There is some bad news from the Imperial Palace. Prince Sephir died.”
“What?” exclaimed Cassandra, astonished. “What happened?”
“Nothing is certain at the moment, the Emperor has closed down the Imperial Palace for an investigation.”
“That doesn’t sound like something they’d do for a natural death,” whispered Missandra.
“No, it isn’t. Either the Emperor suspects Sephir was murdered, or he wants to be sure he wasn’t. Either way, the Emperor will get to the root of it. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Do you think he could really have been...?” asked Cassandra.
Kareen hesitated a second, looking lost deep in her thoughts. She shrugged.
“The timing is really off. Only two Princes are in the Capital at the moment, two are at the front, and the fifth went back to his own Palace days before that. There is no way Opheus has anything to do with it, that little idiot doesn’t give a damn about becoming the Emperor. The main suspects would be Vrehan, someone close to him, or one of the other concubines.”
“You really think one of the Imperial Concubines could be behind his death?”
“I am not too sure. They might have thought it was a good time to get rid of him, with Kairen, Shareen, and Anour gone. Sephir doesn’t have many allies inside the Imperial Palace. Even Opheus’ mother could have acted without her son’s knowledge, but those are all assumptions. I think Vrehan is preparing something.”
She turned to the soldier who was waiting to the side.
“I want another report as soon as possible about this investigation. And don’t lose Vrehan or his sister for one second!”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The soldier rushed outside. Cassandra already knew Kareen had an impressive network of spies, but she truly had no idea how it worked, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know either. Kareen had probably dirtied her hands several times to protect herself and her children, and if she didn’t talk about it with Cassandra, it meant she had no intention to.
“Anyway,” sighed the Imperial Concubine. “We will know more about this soon. The Imperial Palace will have to make an official statement. This is truly too sad. Sephir wouldn’t have become an Emperor, but he was a smart and gentle boy. His mother would have been... Oh, poor Saphia.”
“You knew his mother personally?” asked Cassandra.
“She and I got pregnant around the same time, and we both lost children. She was gentler than me, and way too nice. She died in childbirth, sadly.”
Cassandra immediately thought about her own baby. She couldn’t imagine her child growing up without her around. She had seen it many times, though. The streets of the Capital were filled with orphan children, too young to fend for themselves, resorting to beggary or slavery to survive. Cassandra was well aware that even if no one attempted to kill her, she could die from childbirth, or natural causes. She only hoped that if anything happened, Kairen and his family would take care of her son.
“Have you heard anything from the concubines,Hinue?” asked Missandra. “Didn’t you exchange letters with them lately?”
Cassandra nodded.
