Chapter 4

Orion waved his hand. "Send Sienna to the Imperial Household Department for questioning. Until this matter is fully investigated, no one is allowed to take any action against Vita."

After Fred and Sienna were escorted out, only Orion and Vita remained in the Imperial Study.

Vita remained kneeling on the floor, her shoulders trembling.

"Get up," Orion said quietly.

Vita stayed motionless.

Orion frowned. "The floor's cold. Get up," he repeated.

Vita slowly got to her feet, her legs shaky, nearly losing her balance.

She didn't feel grateful or relieved at all. Only one thought kept swirling in her mind.

She wondered, 'Why? Why is he helping me? Since the first day I stepped into the Imperial Study, he's always looked after me, even making sure I had food.

'And now he's standing up for me. What's he after? I've got no family, no beauty, and I can barely read. What could he possibly want from me?'

Orion turned his back to her. 'Because your thoughts are the only honest voice in this palace,' he thought.

But Orion kept those words to himself. Instead, he said, "Keep grinding the ink."

In the middle of the night, someone banged on the gate of the Imperial Culinary Bureau.

When Vita crawled out from under the covers, Alyssa had already retreated to the corner of the bed.

The door creaked open.

Standing outside wasn't Fred, but Callie Garrett, the chief attendant to the Queen Mother, Eileen.

Callie wore a stern, unsmiling expression, holding a lantern in her hand.

The lantern's glow sent shivers down Vita's back.

"Vita," Callie said, her voice icy. "By the Queen Mother's decree, you are reassigned to the Imperial Laundry Office. This takes effect immediately."

Alyssa let out a gasp and clung to Vita's sleeve.

Vita was frozen, unable to react for a long moment. She whispered, "Did I do something wrong?"

Callie gave her a cold, hard stare. "Just a servant girl causing chaos in the Imperial Study. What do you think you did wrong?"

Callie didn't even give Vita a chance to gather her things.

Two attendants came over, grabbed her arms, and dragged her out.

Alyssa took a couple steps after her, but one sharp look from Callie pinned her right where she stood.

Vita glanced back at Alyssa. Alyssa's face was soaked with tears.

Vita managed a smile for her. "Don't cry. I'm okay," she said.

Vita was dragged away.

The Imperial Laundry Office was hidden away in the deepest corner of the inner palace, right next to the Frezcold Hall, where the sun never shines.

It was still pitch dark when they arrived.

The old matron tossed Vita a set of dingy, old clothes and a pair of straw sandals.

"From today on, you'll be sleeping in that firewood shed. Every day, you'll have to wash a hundred garments. If you don't get them spotless, you won't get any food," the matron said.

The firewood shed was barely four feet wide.

There was no bed, just a layer of moldy straw on the floor. There were signs of mice in the corners.

Vita sat down on the straw, hugging her knees to her chest.

She didn't cry. She was past the age when crying could change anything.

She kept thinking, 'I don't want to die here. I don't want to die here. I can't die here.'

But nobody heard.

The Imperial Study was so far away from the Imperial Laundry Office.

So far away that not even the king's ears, sharp as they were, could reach her.

Meanwhile, Orion sat behind his imperial desk, unable to make sense of a single memorial laid out before him.

Since night fell, his mind had fallen completely silent. That persistent, chattering voice was gone.

It was as if a string that had always been humming inside his head had suddenly snapped.

Orion stood up. "Aron. Where's Vita?" he demanded.

Aron knelt. "Your Majesty, by the Queen Mother's order, Vita has been sent to the Imperial Laundry Office."

Orion's fingers slowly clenched, tension building in his hand.

'The Queen Mother,' he thought. 'In the three years since I took the throne, she had never once meddled in the transfer of maids in the inner palace.

'But today, she broke her own rule. All for just a lowly maid.

'No, it's not just about a palace maid. She's trying to cut off my eyes and ears.'

Suddenly, a chilling truth dawned on Orion: the Queen Mother knew Vita was valuable to him.

But there was no way Eileen could possibly know about the voices he heard in his mind.

There could only be one explanation. Someone close to him was keeping an eye on his every move for Eileen.

Orion slowly sat back down. His hand rested on his knee, but nobody saw his fingertips trembling.

Three years. For three years, Orion had thought he had at least half the court firmly under his control.

Finally, even the people closest to him weren't really his.

Orion didn't rush to go get Vita back.

It wasn't that he didn't want to. He just couldn't.

If he showed he cared about Vita now, Orion would basically be telling Eileen this maid mattered more to him than he pretended.

And that would only put Vita in even greater danger.

Orion thought, 'I have to wait. Wait until I figure out just how many moles the Queen Mother has slipped into my inner circle.'

Orion opened the medical report that had been slipped to him in secret by a folk doctor.

It read: [I've examined the residue from the herbal decoction Your Majesty provided. There are trace amounts of aconite toxin and arsenic powder extract.

[The dose in each serving is very minimal, not enough to kill outright.

[But if you take it every day, within six months, it'll wear down your heart completely.]