Crave To Conquer (Myth of Omega, #1)(15)
Although her body hadn’t physically reacted, it wasn’t a good sign. Her blocks were still firmly in place and to be having an instinctual reaction to him when he wasn’t even in the room was highly worrying. All she could do was hope that the Mothers had an answer. She couldn’t continue to be an effective spy if her blocks were compromised.
In truth, he still terrified and disgusted her, but there was something else about him—something in his dark eyes, his confident manner, his steadfast conviction. She couldn’t pinpoint it and wasn’t sure if she even wanted to. Every moment she wasted thinking about him was a moment lost. All she had to do was remember what they had discovered at the Records Keep to remind herself of that.
She had always known about the Omegas’ suffering but never had she imagined that it had caused a death rate to such an extreme. It was horrific. That knowledge alone kept her pushing herself to focus. She had been covertly copying relevant files, even with the Emperor in the room. Since he wanted her to make comments on his files, it became a good cover to make her own copies.
Two days after the visit, the communication she had been waiting for arrived. In her stack of fresh blank parchment, one sheet had a very slight sheen, glistening more than the others. Watching the closed door, she headed over to the desk in the far corner and sat on the floor, obscuring herself out of sight in case the Emperor entered.
She placed the parchment flat on the floor and focused her mind. Searching the tightly woven layers of magic threaded into the sheet of parchment, she identified the extremely subtle indicators that showed the correct order to unravel it. As she did so, the message appeared:
Exit strategy not possible. You have his attention.
Routine will impede escape.
When distraction is achieved, create signal.
Cailyn closed her eyes immediately for a short moment and then opened them and read the message again. As her eyes reached the end, it faded and the ink began to flake away. She got up and brushed the parchment until it was clean. She stood for a moment, dismay thudding through her as she thought about the implication of the message. She wouldn’t be getting out of there while everything in the Palace ran routinely. Only a distraction would allow her to slip away unnoticed and signal for help. She sighed, throwing down the parchment. She had told her contact at the Keep that the Emperor watched her constantly and he seemed to think it would still be fine. Why was having his attention suddenly a problem?
She thought for a long while, before realizing she was staring at his damn chair again. She cursed and busied herself copying the last of the important files she needed while trying to think up a plan. She needed to create some kind of distraction, but how? She would never be able to get out of the research room and create it without being noticed. She had studied plans of the Palace but she hadn’t ever explored it, and it was huge. One wrong turn and she could end up anywhere.
Her mood sunk lower and by the afternoon she became angry with herself that she hadn’t thought of anything. This kind of task was similar to the training exercises she used to thrive on. And now she couldn’t think up one single escape distraction.
When Emperor Drocco entered, she actually scowled at him, agitated by the disturbance of her thinking time and annoyed that he had taken so long to come to her today.
He slowed to a stop at the sight of her expression, his eyes narrowing. “Is there something you wish to say?” It wasn’t so much a question as a demand.
“No.” She forced herself to answer in a mild manner when she really wanted to scream at him. “No, Emperor,” she added, politely, before going back to her work.
He remained still and silent for a long while as she moved back and forth to the tables, then she heard him lowering into his chair.
***
A couple of days later, Cailyn stood in her living room by the glass wall, staring out over the city as the burnt orange sun lowered behind the smooth, jagged, uneven skyline. Ashens had been one of the more prettier cities in the Eastern Lands before the war between King Thororm of Ashens and the Lox began. There seemed to be no reason for its destruction. Many theories circled around the Emperor’s dispute with the late king, but nothing had been confirmed by either party. Now it was a city of contrasts; the broken next to the beauty, the loyal among the traitors, the truth in plain sight among those that had been conditioned not to see.
Cailyn sighed and sipped her water while she returned her thoughts to the options for the distraction she needed. She hadn’t come up with any strong ideas, only mediocre ones. She shouldn’t really take a chance when dealing with Emperor Drocco, but she really wanted to get out of the Palace. She had hardly seen Drocco lately and without his presence, she had sped up the copying of the files and sent everything to the Mothers with a note of her own. It was time to go.
A heavy knock fell on the door, startling her out of her thoughts. She made her way over to collect her dinner and found herself looking at an empty-handed young man.
“You have been summoned by Emperor Drocco, Miss Lefroy.”
Cailyn’s brows rose. “Why?”
The man widened his eyes at her question and instantly she realized he wouldn’t know. Of course, no one questioned the Emperor.
“Is he expecting me right now?”
“Yes, Miss Lefroy.”
Cailyn sighed. Taking a moment to ensure she was presentable, she followed the servant through a number of corridors and stopped outside an intricately engraved set of double doors.