Chapter 73
Edin shoved Zerga with such force that Zerga’s jaw slammed against his arm, sending him sprawling to the floor. They’d brawled plenty as children, using training as an excuse, but this was a first as adults. Of course, Edin hadn’t meant to actually hit him. The blow stunned Zerga; he clutched his jaw and shook his head hard.
“You lost Sei?! Damn it! I told you to watch her!” Edin’s voice trembled with barely controlled rage. He was already past the point of explosion; the self-control he’d maintained as emperor, the careful avoidance of profanity, shattered. “Who gave you permission to lose her?!”
He raged, a madman consumed by fury. He snatched a vase, nearly as tall as himself, and hurled it to the floor.
It shattered near Zerga, the sound piercing. He instinctively covered his ear. A shard of porcelain sliced his cheek, and the spilled water soaked his trousers.
Still, the rage wouldn’t abate. He’d broken things, hurt his oldest friend, cursed, and yet the fury burned. He felt as if he would die if he didn’t release it somehow, consumed by the grief, despair, and unrelenting anger.
With a rasp of steel, he drew his sword, the emperor’s blade, and pointed it at his friend’s throat. Edin’s eyes, sharp as the sword, glistened with tears.
Zerga blinked slowly, his expression not one of resignation, but of deep sorrow.
“Tell me why she’s gone.”
“Who orchestrated this? Tell me! Who’s behind it?” Edin demanded. He was beyond reason, accusing him, the emperor’s own man, of being in league with someone else. Such an accusation was unthinkable from the Edin Zerga knew. It showed how completely he had lost control.
“What happened this morning? Where is Lysei?” Edin’s cry was almost a wail.
Zerga, realizing he had to calm Edin, relayed what he’d painstakingly learned from Trey. “She had seen it.”
Edin’s eyes widened, his gaze flickering.
“She came to the Imperial Palace the night before she disappeared.”
The sword clattered to the floor.
“She had seen… Your Majesty…and Lady Luigia…”
“Why?!” Edin’s anguished cry tore from his throat. “Why?! How?! I explicitly forbade her from leaving the Rose Palace!”
“My fault.”
“How…why…”
“We need to determine what happened. Why you and Lady Luigia woke up in the same bed…”
“I told her!” Edin roared, his face contorted in pain. “I told her not to leave! That it was dangerous anywhere outside the Rose Palace!”
“If she had listened…this wouldn’t have happened…this agonizing misunderstanding…”
Edin raised a hand to cover his eyes. Zerga’s own eyes widened as he saw the tears streaming down Edin’s face.
Zerga closed his eyes, the weight of his failure crushing him.
***
“I truly don’t know anything, Sir Zerga.” Luigia stood before Zerga, fresh from the Emperor’s study, tears streaming down her face.
It was certainly strange: the two of them, n4ked in the same bed. Stranger still was that Luigia had fallen asleep immediately upon arriving at the Imperial Palace, and that every door he’d tried to find a room for her had been locked.
He should have realized something was amiss then. He’d been so focused on security, given Luigia’s presence in the Imperial Palace, that he’d overlooked other details. It was his fault.
Lyse arriving at the palace at dawn, witnessing the scene, and then vanishing without a trace—it all felt too smooth, too perfectly orchestrated.
Zerga suspected the Empress was behind it, but he lacked proof. He resolved to investigate thoroughly, even enlisting his brilliant younger brother.
“I understand. I will look into it.”
“Truly? You believe me?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, thank goodness. What is going on? Where could Lyse be? I need to clear up this misunderstanding.”
“I have no interest in His Majesty. And nothing happened between us.”
“I don’t want anything to do with him. This is so unfair.”
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