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70 - Flight
Tet paced back and forth. He hadn’t stopped once in the past hour. The palace maids had dismissed themselves long ago, making sure to remain bowing deep at the waist as they walked backward so as not to look upon the Emperor’s countenance. They had taken the ladders with them as well, and the friezes remained half-polished for now. They would come back only after the monarch had taken his leave.
The guard who had scurried off to the dungeons was another story. He had no choice but to drag back the prisoner and stand in the presence of the Emperor upon his return, sweating buckets. He wasn’t merely starstruck, Anzi knew. If the Emperor realized he was the same man who had been guarding Kaizat when it all happened, he was as good as dead.
She didn’t intend to betray him. She would never have trusted anyone but herself to do the job right anyway. As far as she was concerned, Bisset was the only one who needed to bleed for this, and the p
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