As soon as the Green Dragon landed, three people dismounted. Princess Shareen led the way, furiously charging inside the Diamond Palace and ignoring all the servants that had run out to greet them. After receiving the infuriating news at the Onyx Castle, she was seriously hoping that there was some sort of mistake.
“Mother? Mother!”
The Diamond Palace was awfully quiet, more so than usual. She had noticed little groups of soldiers stationed around the Diamond City on her flight there, but they were in such small numbers that it didn’t seem important. However, now that she was actually inside the Diamond Palace, Shareen felt restless. What the hell was going on here? She had only been absent for a few weeks! The journey to the North Camp was almost like a holiday trip for her. After she was done getting Kairen’s men back to work and up to her standards, Shareen had been almost bored. Truth was, Kairen’s army was well trained - enough to be able to function perfectly well with or without their Commander present. There had been a few attacks from the Northern Barbarians, but it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle. Shareen herself had taken part a few times, having more fun fighting alongside them rather than leading the men. She participated in a few debriefings, had listened to their reports, and made a few minor changes here and there, but really she was not particularly worried about the Northern Army.
As it had been reported to the Imperial Palace, the Northern Barbarians had been attacking more frequently than usual, but it wasn’t as bad as what had been described. She was even shocked at how easy it had been to get rid of them. After a few days on the battlefield, she’d had enough. The General also made sure to have her visit the Mountain Hospital that had been Cassandra’s doing. Shareen wasn’t too surprised to hear them praising the Lady of the Mountain endlessly, but she was surely impressed with her legacy there. Her protocols would certainly be worth implementing in all the Dragon Empire’s armies in the future.
After all of that, Shareen had decided to return to the Onyx Castle. After having spent so much of her time in the Imperial Palace, she found the place to be incredibly boring. The Onyx Castle felt like a forgotten remnant of their Empire, with nothing to do and nothing to see. Sure, she had found a servant who was fun enough to play with for a while, but her mother’s letters had put an end to that fun time.
Imperial Concubine Kareen wasn’t one to ask for anyone’s help, or the type to worry over small things, which is why Shareen had been truly alarmed by her mother’s letters. Once she told Anour, her younger brother had become restless too. The last one she read before leaving had been telling her about her mother’s spies going missing one by one, and that no more news was coming in from the Eastern Front.
Although Shareen wouldn’t have been too worried about Kairen ignoring their mother under normal circumstances, it was highly unlikely that he would ignore his Concubine. Cassandra was quickly approaching her delivery date, and Shareen had witnessed how much Kairen loved her. If he hadn’t come back yet, it meant he wasn’t done fighting, and if a war led by her brother, the Empire’s War God, still wasn’t done, something was indeed wrong.
Hence, Shareen had grabbed Anour and Roun and raced back to the Diamond Palace. She had also decided to bring that uptight old guy with them. The poor Imperial Servant had been left outside to puke after his first flight, but she could worry about him later.
“Mother!”
“Shareen!”
Finally hearing her mother’s voice, the Princess let out a long sigh of relief and quickly picked up her pace. The Imperial Concubine was in one of the gardens with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Sitting like a queen on one of the chairs with a young maid at her feet, she had been still as a stone until her daughter appeared. The little dragon, Srai, was also curled up at her feet, and continuously growling at the unwelcome woman before them.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” growled Shareen, unsheathing her sword.
Of all the people she had not expected to see, Phetra was at the top of that list. However, the Princess was seated in front of Lady Kareen, flanked by no less than six soldiers. She no longer displayed any of the injuries that Shareen fondly remembered and was strutting around in her purple dress like she owned the place. Meanwhile, the Imperial Concubine was flanked by two soldiers and neither of the men belonged to the Diamond Palace’s militia either. Shareen immediately recognized the color of Vrehan’s militia with their red armor. From an outsider’s perspective, it may have seemed like the two women were hanging out in that garden with heavy security, but the atmosphere was as cold as ice. Phetra seemed to be in control, and had an arrogant sneer on her face.
However, as soon as her eyes fell on Shareen, it disappeared in a flash and she turned white, visibly terrified.
“Y... You... What are you doing here?”
“That’s my line, you crazy bitch!” retorted Shareen, heading straight in her direction.
“Do not take another step, Princess Shareen,” warned one of the soldiers, taking out his sword and walking up to her. “We have orders to...”
Shareen grabbed him by his hair and brutally slammed the man’s face against her knee. It probably wouldn’t have made such an atrocious sound if she wasn’t wearing metal knee pads, but alas... The man fell at her feet, his face completely wrecked. Upon seeing that, all the others remained in a religious silence, not daring to risk the same fate.
“Finally,” said Kareen, standing up. “Why did it take you so long to get here?”
“What the fuck is going on, Mother?” asked Shareen, still glaring at a petrified Phetra.
“Can’t you tell? I’m a hostage. In my own Palace, too!”
Shareen raised an eyebrow, turning to her mother. There were a lot of adjectives that could be used to describe Lady Kareen, but not something even remotely close to a victim’s status - she would never have thought to hear her mother call herself a hostage, actually. That woman was probably the most influential woman in the Empire, if not the most powerful.
However, glancing towards the horrified Phetra, Shareen already had a rough idea of what was going on.
“Where’s Cassandra? And the girls?”
Lady Kareen quickly explained everything as Anour arrived in the room just in time to hear it all as well. The Imperial Concubine detailed Vrehan’s arrival in her City, and how he had barged into the Diamond Palace with his men and seized control. Kareen had spent several hours that night agonizing over Cassandra’s crazy jump down the waterfall, before one of the servants interrupted to let her know of news from some of her people in the Diamond City. Not only did they confirm that the Concubine and her sister were alive and well, but also that she was being hidden by them and was about to give birth. After that, Vrehan had spent two nights and two days in an absolute rage, looking for Cassandra everywhere and sending his men left and right to interrogate the local people to find her. They had found clues indicating that the young Concubine was headed North and, fearing Shareen’s arrival, had left in a hurry, leaving only a few of his men and Phetra there.
Shareen and Anour were both in shock over what had happened in such a short time. Not only had there been no news from the Capital or the Eastern Front in weeks, but Vrehan had come to wreak havoc?
“What the hell was Father thinking?” asked Shareen. “He is surely not stupid enough to send Vrehan here!”
“I don’t think so, either” replied her mother, glaring at Phetra. “However, that little rat did come here and claim he was acting on behalf of the Emperor to arrest Cassandra. She had no choice but to flee.”
“Damn it! Do you think Sephir is really dead?”
“It seems so... The official news arrived here early the next day and your father placed the entire Empire in mourning for the First Prince.”
