She stood perfectly still for ten seconds, allowing the cold stone to cool her clammy palm. She forcefully buried the nausea deep down in her gut, locking the pain away behind a mental wall of pure iron. When she finally opened her eyes, the fox-like sharpness had returned, completely masking the dying girl underneath.
"Lead the way," Heena ordered the trembling eunuch waiting respectfully a few paces away.
The eunuch bowed deeply and quickly began to walk, leading her deeper into the sprawling labyrinth of the Imperial Palace. As they walked, Heena mentally prepared herself for the next battle.
The Ninth Prince.
According to the Vanguard's intelligence network, the Ninth Prince was fourteen years old. He was not the Empress's biological son; his mother had been a low-ranking concubine who had mysteriously died shortly after his birth. The Empress had generously "adopted" him, raising him under her benevolent wing.
