CHAPTER 41

“I will give you that chance and since you cooperated, I will give you a chance. Until I find the person who wanted me dead, I will keep you as my prisoner. Don’t even think of escaping or killing yourself. If you do anything of that I will look for every relative of yours and have all of them killed. I doubt you would want something like that to happen,” she threatened the man.
“I won’t do that,” he promised.
“Take him back and let him draw the sketch,” she instructed her secret guards.
The guards took the man away and she looked at the dead bodies lying on the ground. She was going to leave them that way as a warning to whoever sent them that she knew and she was coming for him or her. She wasn’t going to keep protecting the person who wanted her dead like this.
She returned back to the inn as if everything was normal. When she arrived Nora and Qara were already back and had shopped a lot of clothes for Qara. The little girl was very happy and she was glad that she was feeling that way. Since she was out and the assassins found her it only meant one thing. There was a spy in her mountain and it was time to clean up again.
The next day they all got ready to leave for the mountain. Valery took Nora by the side to talk to her without Qara knowing.
“You will return to the mountain with Qara. Guard her with your life,” she said.
“What about you? Where are you going?” Nora asked.
“I have a few things I need to take care of. I will be behind you, don’t worry,” Valery said.
“I can’t leave you alone.”
“You promised to follow my every command. And my command now is for you to return with Qara safely back to the mountain. Don’t worry about me, nothing will ever harm me,” she told Nora and that was a lie.
“If you say so then I will return first with Qara.”
“When you arrive there, shut the mountain. No one should enter or leave. Whoever tires to leave or send out a letter confine them to the prison, understand?”
“Yes, I do. Do we have spies again in the palace?”
“I’m afraid that we do so let’s catch them. Don’t tell Xavier or Daren.”
“I won’t do that. Please take care of yourself,” Nora sounded very worried.
Valery took off her bracelet and gave it to Nora. That was her favorite bracelet, something her mother left for her.
“I will come back and retrieve it from you. Now can you stop being worried?”
“Now, I will put my mind at ease,” she said and hugged her.
Valery hugged Nora back. They went to where Qara was. She hugged her one last time and bided farewell as they left the city for the mountain.
She returned back to her room and closed the door. She had instructed the innkeeper to not be disturbed. She was going to do something she thought she would never do again.
She sat on her bed, closed her eyes and concentrated. She called upon the darkest energy of the golden lotus to guide her. It was dangerous to use it but she had no choice and time for other measures.
She meditated on the words until the darkness surrounded her. She could see some light in the darkness. The golden lotus was guiding her and she followed. She knew where she wanted to go and so she followed the light.
When she opened her eyes, she was standing in the middle of the hall staring at the man who had caused her so much grief these past few days.
“Guards!” he called out.
Valery smiled at the way the man was reacting. She took out her fan and began to fan herself. The guards actually came and surrounded her with their weapons. She didn’t have so much time to play hide and seek, so she shoved them away and walked toward the man who wanted her dead.
“I let you sit there, pretend to rule the nation, looked after your child, took care of your family problems and yet you try all methods to just kill me. I’m very disappointed by you, Your Majesty,” she said as she stood right in front of him.
‘How dare you come here announced and accused me of such things?” he said shaking.
“I’m not a fool, I know you so well. You don’t like me and I don’t either. You can try to kill me even though you will never succeed but endangering Xavier is something I can never tolerate.”
“He is my son and I can do whatever I want with him,” the emperor said and she grabbed him by the collar.
“You can do that to those children that you have here. The second he fell into my hands he went under my protection. Any harm on him is like waging another war against me. I haven’t fought a war after our last encounter, so don’t make me start one.
I came to tell you to stop trying to kill me. You can never kill me. If I want you dead you will be gone and no one can do anything about it. Don’t disappoint your son by doing this,” she said and let him go.
Because of Xavier she wanted to just scare him away and go, which is why she was descending the steps so that she might visit the other person who wanted her dead but the emperor had guts to throw a dagger at her. The dagger actually stabbed her.
She groaned with so much pain as she felt it penetrate her. She saw as blood dripped form where she had been stabbed. The dagger wouldn’t kill her but harm her like it did. She turned around and looked at the man who had just done this horrible act.
She wanted to forgive him but she wouldn’t anymore. She threw a needle at him and watched him fell back to his chair.
She walked back towards him and stopped.