He could see Ilya even at a distance, a small figure pacing restlessly back and forth in the road.
Mikhail did not feel relief that his journey was almost over. He felt a completely irrational sort of anger that made him want to run at his aide, snatch him by his collar and shake him hard.
He had lost the Princess yet again. That was all the message said.
As Mikhail approached, Ilya finally turned in his direction and saw him. He stopped pacing and waited with his hands clasped in front of him and his head bowed. His posture suggested that he felt humbled and contrite. It did nothing to lessen Mikhail's anger.
The Prince jumped down from his horse the second he reached the road and strode quickly toward his waiting servant. Ilya had still not looked up to make eye contact.
"Speak!" Mikhail demanded.
"I had no word from you for days," Ilya began calmly. "When the Emperor's men came with the summons for the Princess, I had no way to refuse it, and you know it well! I did not think that-"
"How long has she been missing?" Mikhail demaded.
"Just over a day, and she isn't missing. I believe she was taken by the Emperor's men," Ilya corrected him.
"How did this happen?"
"I had no word from you!" Ilya repeated. "Rather than surrender her to the Emperor, I did what you ordered I do in these circumstances. I sent for Fioria and the men from Bludston. I staged an attack on our caravan. I sent her carriage off a little ways so that no one would see when they switched places and the Princess was taken to the safe house, but the Emperor's guard must have been following us. They appeared out of nowhere, slaughtered the men who were disguised and--"
"-took the Princess," Mikhail finished for him.
"I think it likely," Ilya agreed.
"You think?" the Prince repeated.
"I don't know for certain," Ilya confessed. "The Princess must have jumped from the carriage at some point and the brothel girl with her because-"
"Why? Why would she run? She would not run or hide from the Emperor. She would never do anything that would cause him to retaliate upon Vezda!" Mikhail growled.
"She... would not. In fact, she was quite upset with me for preventing her from traveling faster. She had it in her head that the Emperor had sent for her to renegotiate the treaty, and she was eager to meet with him. She likely ran because she sensed something off about the attack."
Mikhail nodded. That sounded like her. If she thought Ilya was trying to stop her from meeting with the Emperor, she would find her own way to the capitol.
"And you searched the woods?" he asked.
"Yes, my Prince. We searched, as did the Emperor's men... and then quite suddenly, the Emperor's men disappeared. I can only assume-"
"What of the maid?" Mikhail demanded.
"We found no sign of either. Our men search still and haven't found a single trace. It stands to reason that they took both the Princess and her maid," Ilya shrugged.
Mikhail glared silently at Ilya, who frowned and shrugged his shoulders again.
"Don't look at me that way! I did what I was ordered to do. How could I not? You know it better than anyone!" he insisted.
Mikhail glanced between the road and the woods as he thought.
His brother's men would not have returned to the palace without the Princess, and if the Princess was conscious and on her feet, she would not have allowed them to take her maid in her place. He could only draw the same conclusion that Ilya had. The Emperor now had both women. He cursed under his breath.
Without another word, Mikhail mounted his horse.
"Wait!" Ilya called, following after him. "You can't just go charging into the palace. Think this through. Go to Grieta's first. If you mean to bring the Princess out of the palace alive, you'd better have an idea of what the Emperor's summons is about. Grieta has more ears in the palace than we do, and she may have some idea-"
The Prince flicked his reins and spurred the horse while Ilya spoke, galloping away before his aide could finish his sentence.
It was irrational to be angry with Ilya, and deep down, he knew it. The man had only done what he was ordered to do should the Emperor ever send for the Princess in Mikhail's absence.
All the same, he never should have left the Princess unguarded, not even for one moment.
If by some miracle he managed to get her back, he would bind her wrists together and chain her to his side. The girl would not draw a single breath without him knowing about it. He couldn't even trust her to Ilya. Twice in a fortnight, he'd lost the girl, twice!
The guilt Mikhail had felt at choosing to find the Princess over returning to the North with his troops had not entirely disappeared. If Ilya learned of it... of how close those creatures were to Pirchburg, he might never forgive him-- especially if they reached Pirchburg before he could secure the Emperor's permission to return and dispose of them.
Mikhail entered Torobirk at midday. His cloak was ragged and filthy from days of travel, and with his hood pulled low over his face, and his sword covered, he rode under through the gates unrecognized.
He crossed the river and headed east, away from the palace. The district he entered was known throughout the Empire for its night life. At midday, the streets were somewhat deserted. He followed the familiar road until he reached a building he knew quite well. It was a four story red brick mansion that kept its windows shuttered firmly during the day.
He did not go to the front door where a sign advertised the name of the place, and several men stood on a long porch smoking pipes and cigars. There was a back door for important clients wary of revealing their identities.
Mikhail knocked there and left his horse with the doorman who hurried out.
Inside the cloying scent of incense and ladies' perfume mixed with the scent of flowers. A short darkened hallway led to a private sitting room, where even during daylight hours, several women in various states of dress relaxed on couches or large thick pillows.
As he entered, their conversations stopped, and all got at once to their feet to bow their heads.
"My Prince!" he was greeted by several voices and bowed heads at once.
"Grieta," he said as if it were a question.
"She is-"
Here, right here, my Prince," Grieta answered as she entered the room, and grinned cheekily at him. "I had not expected to see your highness again so soon!"
Although older than him by a number of years, Grieta was still a very beautiful woman who would turn heads any time she entered a room. She wore her long dark hair in a thick braid she wrapped around her head in the Vezdan style, and the few silver hairs she had seemed as if they were purposely woven in as a decoration. Light rouge highlighted her high fine cheekbones, and her dark, bright eyes had very few lines around them.
"Have you come because you heard we have a new girl?" she teased. "She's exactly your type, you know... blue eyes, small featured... shall I send her up to you? Our clients say she can s-"
"No. No, I have very little time. I just want the usual," he interrupted her.
"Happy to oblige, my Prince," she said and bit her lip as she approached. Grieta slid her hand seductively under his cloak, down his stomach, and grabbed his belt. "Follow me," she said as she tugged on his belt and walked backwards toward the door. A few of the girls tittered and exchanged glances.
Once the door closed behind them, she released him, and motioned impatiently with her hand for him to follow.
He knew the way well. Grieta's private room was on the top floor. Up the narrow stairway, and three doors down.
She did not speak to him until the door was closed and locked behind them.
"I suppose I know what this is about," she said, as she leaned against the door and crossed her arms.
"Has anyone set eyes on the Princess since her capture?" he asked. He knew that Grieta would need no backstory or explanation. There was not much that occurred in the capitol that she was not aware of.
Grieta nodded.
"The royal physician has been at her bedside for the last day and half, according to my girls."
"The royal physician?" Mikhail repeated sharply, his entire body stiffening at the words.
"Yes. The official story is that she took ill on the road to the capitol. Her frail Vezdan body not being used to the cold winters here in the Empire."
"And the unofficial story?" Mikhail asked.
"She poisoned herself. They found an empty bottle on the floor of the Emperor's carriage, right where she collapsed, and it smelled of lanyguin. She likely won't survive," Grieta frowned.
For a brief moment, he imagined the girl dead, the blue-green eyes closed forever, her lips cold... he shook the thought from his mind.
"She wouldn't poison herself... not again," he said simply.
"Perhaps you are correct. My sources tell me that the Princess doesn't look quite the way they expected her to. They say she looks a great deal like a girl who used to work here in this house," Grieta frowned.
"He's got the wrong girl," Mikhail mumbled to himself.
"It would appear so," Grieta nodded.
That means... she is alone and unarmed. I must--"
"Sssh. Now, my Prince... I've helped you. I think you might have a few minutes to spare for me, haven't you? Or did you just come to use me and toss me aside?" The sultry teasing voice was back as she stepped toward him, and lightly reached up to stroke the side of his cheek.
Mikhail flinched.