nothing, while trapped in here.
It was like being stuck on the Rampion again, but a hundred times worse.
A bell echoed through his suite.
He bolted through the main parlor and yanked open the door. A liveried servant stood on the other side, a boy a few years younger than Kai. He was flanked by four Lunar guards.
“I am not a prisoner,” Kai started, wedging his foot into the door in case it was slammed shut as it had been countless times before. The servant stiffened. “I am the emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth, not some common criminal, and I will be treated with diplomatic respect. I have the right to hold counsel with my adviser and cabinet officials and I demand to hear Queen Levana’s reasons for detaining us in this manner!”
The servant’s mouth worked, speechless, for a moment, before he stammered, “I-I have been s-summoned to escort you to Her Majesty.”
Kai blinked, momentarily baffled, but he quickly gathered himself. “It’s about time. Take me to her immediately.”
The servant bowed and stepped back into the corridor.
Kai was marched through the palace feeling even more like a prisoner with the guards spread out at his back, though no one touched him. He did his best to observe the palace layout, picking out memorable landmarks when he could—an interesting sculpture, an intricate tapestry. Over a sky bridge and down a long, narrow corridor where holographic portraits were lined up like a gauntlet.
His feet stumbled once when he saw the last holograph. He had to look twice to be sure he wasn’t losing his mind.
The final holograph was a woman who looked, at first glance, just like Cinder.
His heart pounded, but as the holograph turned toward him, he realized his mistake. This was a mature version of Cinder, with flirtatious eyes and a vixen’s smile. Her cheekbones were more pronounced, her nose a bit narrower. In fact, the real similarities lay not between this woman and the Cinder he knew, but between her and the Cinder he’d seen at the base of the ballroom steps.
He checked the plaque, confirming his suspicions. QUEEN CHANNARY BLACKBURN.
Cinder’s unintentional glamour, painfully beautiful as it had been, looked so much like her mother.
“Your Majesty?”
He startled and whipped his attention away. He said nothing to the servant as he left the swaying holograph behind.
He had expected to be taken to the throne room, but as they walked through an iron-grated door and into a far less luxurious hallway, he grew suspicious. On his left they passed an elaborate vault door.
“What’s in there?”
Expecting to be ignored, he was surprised when the servant answered, “The crown jewels and regalia.”
The crown jewels. In New Beijing they stored priceless artifacts and heirlooms in one of the most secure underground vaults. There they kept gemstones the size of eggs, millennia-old gold-plated swords, even the crowns of the emperor and empress when they weren’t in use.
It was clear that this wing was not open for general palace tours. Where were they taking him?
They turned another corner and Kai was ushered through a door into some sort of computer control center, full of invisi-screens and holograph nodes. Maps and surveillance videos were flickering on every wall and there were at least thirty men and women analyzing the abundance of feeds and compiling the ongoing data.
Before he could begin to make sense of what they were doing, he was shoved through a door into an adjacent room. The door was shut, locking him behind soundproof glass.
His gaze swept around the new space. A backdrop on one wall showed the city of Artemisia and Earth off the horizon. Two elaborate thrones sat before it.
The rest of the room was full of enormous standing lights and recording equipment. It reminded him of the media room in New Beijing Palace, but without any seats set up for journalists.
Levana stood behind one of the thrones, her hands rested on its back. She was dressed in a shimmering black gown hung with a silver sash. A brooch on the sash had a delicate gold filigree and rhinestones that read Princess Winter, Though Gone, Never Forgotten.
Kai’s lips curled in disgust. This bit of gossip, at least, had reached him in his captivity. Princess Winter had been murdered. Some were saying it was by a guard, some were saying a jealous lover. But after seeing the way Levana had snarled at her stepdaughter, Kai couldn’t help having his own theories.
Thaumaturge Aimery stood by the door, along with the red-haired captain of the guard. An unfamiliar