Page 68 of Poisoned Empire

“You’re speaking to Domina Daria Amethyst. You know how this works. Ask her my questions, nothing more, or your minder will activate the collar and you’ll go without supper.” Nicephorus turned to Knight Marius to sign.

“She is only to command the Domina. If she attempts to do otherwise, collar her.

Marius nodded solemnly.

“Sure thing, berserker scum. Wouldn’t want my imprisonment to be barbaric, would you?” the silver-tongue spat.

Marius slapped her up the back of her head. She scowled at him, but all the young knight did was shrug. He was more than capable of reading lips, as the silver-tongue well knew. Nicephorus seated the domina before seating himself at the head of the heavy table.

“Who performed the ritual which took your gift from you?” Nicephorus asked.

The silver-tongue sighed before locking eyes with the noblewoman across from her and repeating the question. Nicephorus felt the pull of the enchanted words, no matter that they were meant for another.

“Father performed the ritual,” the domina replied.

“Who taught your father the ritual?” he asked, the silver-tongue repeating faithfully.

“I don’t know.”

“Did anyone you thought suspicious stay in residence before or after the ritual?”

“There was a man in a mask who visited often before, but I wasn’t to greet him or introduce myself.”

“Do you know why the ritual was performed on you?”

“Father said he needed power that surpassed the emperor’s, and that I would provide it for him in lieu of an advantageous marriage.”

“What became of your sister Milena?”

“Milena hasn’t woken since father used the ritual on her. She was the first. Father said he had fixed the ritual after that. Now we are to call the illegitimate daughter, Selene, by that name.”

Nicephorus sat back in his chair and bit back a frustrated sigh. It was much the same story he’d heard from Magister Sapphire’s daughters. The first daughters had been sacrificed to an imperfect ritual, leaving them in comas. After that, a long pause had taken place before the rest of the women were used as living power sources for the magistri, and, in the case of Magister Sapphire, his adult heir as well. Magister Diamond’s daughters had been the last to be so abused, and had been wholly unable to answer complex questions.

“Does your father know Magister Sapphire has done the same thing to his daughters?”

“Yes. He informed me that he knew I would be able to walk and speak after the ritual because Magister Sapphire had already been successful on his second eldest daughter, Diodora.”

It was the strangest aspect of this investigation. Three separate magistri were conspiring together. Each magister was an ambitious man in his own right, and not known for especially close relations with the others. Why would they assist each other, knowing only one of them would be able to claim the empire in the end? Was it a gentleman’s agreement to return Lethe to the status of separate and distinct kingdoms once more? Did they plan for a free-for-all once the current emperor and prince were out of the way? None of the dominae were any help in discovering the reason behind it all. Thwarted, he turned to the silver-tongued mage.

“That will be all. Ensure she cannot discuss what has occurred here.”

The mage glowered at him before turning to the domina.

“Do not speak of what you’ve exp-” In an unexpected jolt, the silver-tongue mage leapt across the table, grabbing the domina’s head between her hands, locking her crazed amber eyes with the passive purple ones. She whispered too quickly for Nicephorus to follow. The knight hauled her away, snapping her collar shut, sealing the mage’s ability. Whatever had been said, he only hoped they’d interrupted it in time.

“Have you been compelled, Domina?” Nicephorus asked, his heart hammering wildly in his chest.

“I don’t know,” she replied, toneless as ever.

Just what he needed. Yet another complication. Nicephorus turned his rage on the white-haired creature before him.

“What have you done?”

“Why don’t you ask one of the other silver-tongues? Oh, wait, they’re all dead.”

“You will be punished for this, Alexandra.”

“I’m already being punished! I dared commit the offense of being born. What are a few lashings compared to a lifetime in prison?”

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