Page 136 of The Princess In A 'Prince' Disguise

A STORM OF RAGE AND THE BEAST OF COMFORT

Mistress Sinai paced her gilded cage, a whirlwind of fury barely contained within the lavish confines of her chambers. Two days of forced solitude felt like an eternity, each moment a fresh torment in her soul's descent into madness. At this rate, she was truly going to go insane!

Home confinement was a living hell, a cruel mockery of her former freedoms. She abhorred it with every fiber of her being.

To be denied her whims was unbearable enough, but to become the butt of every whispered joke, every pitying glance from the other mistresses in Ravenshadow's royal estate... it was the ultimate humiliation.

Yesterday, Mistress Gaille had come to "check on her," her syrupy concern a thinly veiled insult. Sinai could practically see the woman's barely suppressed laughter behind her false smiles.

All this because of a human.A mereboy.

Vladya had moved heaven and earth to protect the worthless creature from her wrath, even threatening to cast her into the Hole.The Hole!

A fresh swirl of betrayal and anger through her veins, hot and acidic.

Had Emeriel been a girl, Sinai might have entertained the possibility that he was Daemon'sSoulbond. But fate was not that cruel, was it? It had played a different hand; the little thing was a boy. Thank Urai for small mercies.

All day, she had been forced to languish here, pacing the extravagant prison of her chamber, staring at her own reflection until it blurred with rage. Her once-spacious room felt suffocating, the air thick with her frustration. Boredom gnawed at her like a relentless beast clawing at the edges of her sanity.

"Emeriel will pay," she hissed, her words like venom dripping onto the pristine mirror. "He. Will. Pay."

Desperate for a distraction, she sank into a plush armchair. "Nora?" she called, her voice sharp as a whip.

The maid scurried forward, her head bowed. "Yes, Mistress?"

"What's the gossip out there? Are people still buzzing about Emeriel and his little miracle?"

Nora's eyes lit up with a morbid glee. "Yes, Madam! King Daemonikai must hold the boy in great favor. Why else would one be in the territory of a feral for three days without being torn apart? Oh, the boy must be truly special."

Sinai's lips twisted in disgust, and she shot the girl a disapproving glare.

The girl, oblivious to her mistress's displeasure, continued, "I crave more wonders like that. Half the town is still talking about it. Even Grand Lord Vladya was so impressed that he—"

"Spare me the details. I already know what he did," Sinai snapped.

"—moved the human prince to Blackstone," Nora finished.

Sinai's eyes went wide. "Wait a minute, what did you just say!?"

Nora's face paled and she clamped her mouth shut, clearly regretting her loose tongue.

Sinai surged to her feet, her eyes blazing. "Tell me,” she demanded, her voice dangerously low. "Now."

"Grand Lord Vladya moved Emeriel to B-Blackstone," Nora fumbled nervously. "He's been tending the estate's gardens for days now. Has his own chamber and everything."

Sinai's vision swam, red with rage.

"And, um... last night, his sister was also relocated to Blackstone. She has her own chamber there too."

"That conniving little—" Sinai grabbed a crystal lamp from the dressing table and hurled it at the mirror. "How dare he! How dare he,how dare he!"

Amie arrived for her shift, relieved the sight of Slavemaster Gaine alone behind the tavern bar, Master Boris notably absent. The feeling lingered as she finished her work for the night and stepped out into the darkness.

Eager to return to the fortress, she took the shorter route through the barn.

A bloodcurdling scream pierced the silence, and her steps faltered.

More screams, more pleas. The slave, whoever it was, was begging a master for mercy. She recognized the masculine voice.

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