bookpower Chapter 261 Discovered
Chapter 261 Discovered
Find exclusive stories on empire
After weeks of trying and failing, then trying again, Snow finally managed to infiltrate the highest level of the capital of Aedrider. It took many long nights of scouting and days of lost sleep in order to finally make it there.
Things would have been much simpler if Lady Corva decided to simply make her way to the capital alone. They would have let her and her retainers into the palace at the highest level of the mountain city with no issue.
Despite how easy it would have been for her to do that, Snow understood why. There was currently no way for Lady Corva to visit the capital without being forced to pick a side in the succession. Currently, among Corva's siblings, they were split equally between the two sisters, Letheya and Ayalla. Corva could upset the balance, but that would put her in danger.
Honestly, the safest thing for her to do was remain impartial until one side started taking some sort of lead in the power struggle. However, she did not want to ignore her mother and she needed Snow to infiltrate the palace without her seal to grant entry, to monitor the fading queen's condition.
Snow understood this sentiment and was all too happy to help her Lady out in such a way after the amount of care she took of both Snow and her sister Yue. The only thing she wished she had was Yue to help keep away the darkness.
She had to make do with commercially available light crystals to keep away the darkness at night. Without them, who knew what could happen? Sometimes, it only whispered... but other times, it screamed and demanded her to do horrible things. There was no way to tell which night would be hard or which would be easy, so it was best to treat them all as potentially dangerous.
Sometimes though, Snow did wonder... What would happen if she gave into the voice that came out of the darkness...
Snow shook her head to clear it. There were only a few hours of twilight remaining, and then the sun would rise, and only then could she rest. Sometimes the darkness would trick her like that. It would hint at the what ifs. Instead of asking or demanding... it would sometimes attempt to persuade her like just now.
"I will not have it..." She started to mutter before her thoughts were interrupted by an interesting prospect.
Inside the palace grounds was a woman dressed in beautiful thin and nearly see-through silks. The strangest thing about her and her entourage, though, was that they were all human. Someone granted access to the palace to humans! This was something that never happened unless the humans were extremely important.
"Good, you aren't stupid." Voltara nodded. "She won't have to publicly announce her alliance, but she will need to side with Letheya in reality. That is my condition. Take note when you inform Lady Corva that her mother is not long for this world. Her... Long Sleep, as you call it, is due to start any day."
"I will inform her."
"Ah, that's not all, I have one more condition."
"What?"
"On their way here are more allies for Letheya. One of them is quite volatile. Lady Corva will recognize him. When they inevitably meet, help keep them from fighting, would you?"
Snow could not imagine Corva being driven to violence by the mere presence of someone, but Voltara sounded very sincere. "Deal."
Voltara nodded and stood up to leave. Snow caught a whiff of exotic spices and smells unfamiliar to her nation. For a moment, she felt enraptured by the scent. At that same moment, a small gust of wind teased at Lady Voltara's silk clothes, exposing small bits of her flawless skin.
Though she was not Snow's type, something about the sight still moved her in some way. She had heard rumor of the wiles of the leader of the Wisteria Concord. That among humans, she was one of the most alluring of women. Lady Voltara al Famyn, from the nation of spies, was no stranger to using her natural charms on anyone, including people like Snow.
However, her mind was stronger than that, and she quickly cleared her head of the thoughts invading it. Voltara chuckled at her. "Good, you are able to resist the aphrodisiacs. If you weren't, I would have disposed of you as a typical tool, but you are much better than that. Lady Corva is lucky.
Though, if you and your sister, as you call her, decide to change residence, then I think I can make a place for you."
"I'll pass. I have no desire to serve a human flirt."
"A pity."