Argider peered around the corner of the marble column, her heart thudding like a drumbeat of impending doom. The palace halls were eerily quiet, the kind of quiet that screamed "trap." Esmeralda was out there somewhere, and Argider wasn't ready to face her, not after last day's disaster of a hearing. More wives, more cascade of responsibilities. She couldn't take it.She had been avoiding the thirteen women too by suggesting that while they may rest here until she's able to come up with a solution.
"Where are you hiding, dearest?" Esmeralda's sing-song voice echoed from a distance, sending shivers down Argider's spine.
"Dearest." The word felt like a gentle noose tightening around her neck.
Argider clutched her skirts and darted into an adjacent hallway, her boots barely making a sound on the polished floor.
This was not how she envisioned her life as Emperor. Well, Empress, now.
