Chapter 35

He could not lock them away forever. Nagi had immeasurable power, but he wasn't entirely stupid. Nao had a following, a strong one. An uprising would cause three distinct yet vastly difficult problems. Firstly, it would tax and thin out the numbers of his military, something he needed powerful at all times. Secondly, it would stress ties with other countries and conquests of his interest. If they thought him weak for an instant, it would be crippling to his cause.

Thirdly, and most complicatedly, Nagi had no idea how far Nao's own pursuits had spread. His military did prove one point though. Nao was by no means a lonely entity when traveling.

Romulus put a large weight of faith in Nao. He had to assume Remus did too. The nomads surely favored them, and Midori had made it clear on several occasions that any enemy of Nagi, was a friend of hers. She was not an individual manipulated easily, and she alone proved a potent problem to him. Then there was the matter of Mashiro, whom he considered a vastly weak force as the princess she was. Weakness however, was not enough of a reason to overlook any potential danger to his own goal.

Regardless of his personal feelings on the matter, even he knew better than to underestimate such a wide spread risk to his image. Possible conflicts, while only a minor annoyance, served to upset the balance of power. It was pointless to assume otherwise. It was equally true that he wanted Shizuru's favor, or, at the very least have the woman maimed into surrender.

His mercy was chosen for him, the only viable conclusion for his particular reasons…but even that could be staged. For this act he chose the council of Nina, a servant that wisely played both sides of the struggle. She was loyal to Natsuki, but she was also loyal to her father, and thusly to Nagi himself. She would be a tool that far surpassed even the most abrasive hold on Natsuki or Nao.

"So tell me then, Nina, was it you that brought Sergay to coal mining village?" He knew the truth of it already, of course, but still wished to hear it from the girl. He had eyes everywhere, scouts wise enough to put a distance where others had not.

"It was a joint effort, spearheaded by Nao and Midori. They didn't wish my father dead, and neither did I." She reported quietly, one knee bent, she didn't dare lift her gaze. Not while he sat atop the throne looking as that of his true power. "Natsuki naturally aided in the effort."

"I see, so it appears that I'm mistaken?" Nagi seemed to consider this, folding his hands in his lap. "It wasn't Natsuki who shot him?"

Nina licked her lips. "I would claim it to be an accidental discharge."

"You claim…you claim it to be an accident?! Sergay Wong was shot in the side, nearly killed. Your father, the man who raised you, almost killed by a mere accident." Nagi said from between a smile and a grimace. "An accident that you claim to be so, even if it was Natsuki who fired the bullet…or perhaps because of it? How can you, of all people, possibly defend that traitorous wench?"

"It was an accident without question." Nina said after some thought. "That my father still lives proves that…Natsuki was…she was at point blank range."

He was by no means a daft man, and bit the inside of his cheek. This was not going as he had hoped, he'd have to change his game. He let nothing of his ire show, instead, frowning deeply. "So says the report."

"Sire?" Nina asked, wondering at the sound of his voice, oddly compassionate. That sound, at least in in her personal experience, was never a good thing.

"You need me to spell it out for you?" Nagi asked before licking his lips and playing at a very risky hand. "Is this truly that hard to understand?"

"I merely ask clarification." She replied back quickly, fear etching into her words. "There are many forces at play, forces within, and outside of this particular incident. You know of the reports, and dutifully, I mean to correct any and all misinformation. I was to accompany Mashiro for strictly that reason also, to protect Artai's interest. That particular order has not changed, so I mean to act the same now as well."

He could have just beat Nina, then and there, but that wouldn't help him. The simple truth remained that Natsuki was the best shot in Artai. A known sniper that would have been a powerful asset to his military. Beyond that, she was not the type of person who missed her target when the object or person was so close. If Natsuki had truly wanted to kill Sergey, she would have. He would be planning a burial instead of an execution.

Yet, Nagi wanted her dead, somehow, someway. Dead and out of his way, so that Nao could follow soon after.

"Point blank range, you agree with that assessment. Yet, you still defend her. What a sorry day this is. A sorry day indeed! That she points a weapon at one of my men, isn't that not questionable?" He stood from his place, meandering down the long stairway, and bending down to Nina's gaze. "Isn't your father worth more than that to you? That little accident could have stolen his life away. Surely, you can see my concern in this, Nina."

The way her name slid from his tongue disgusted her. She dared to accept his invitation to look at him, and in doing so, she nodded. "It was an accident that he was shot, but not that he was saved. He pervaded the privacy of the campsite, that's what caused Natsuki to act rashly, I'm sure."

"You're sure? It sounds baseless in that perspective." He stood, guiding Nina to do the same. He began to pace, his hands behind his back as he took a few steps to the left, than a few to the right, stopping back in front of the young guard. "Why should your baseless assumption afford her freedom, and further from that, stop her from being hung?"

"Citizens place value in kinship, do they not?" She asked him quietly, appealing to his nature. It was a long shot, but she felt as if it was her only hope. "That a man would spy on a group of women…that he would gaze at them doing who knows what…well, perhaps it was correct that Natsuki took offense."

Nagi seemed to consider this, and sighed. Inwardly, he continued his careful game. He liked where this was going, but found it to be a strange direction. He played it coolly, he words becoming like that of ice. "Are you saying to me, Nina, that you would do the same?"

Nina licked her lips, struggling to find an answer. "I am saying that if it would have been anyone else, I may have in fact acted rashly. I entered the thicket to do strictly that. Under the assumption that an unwelcome entity lingered in the bushes, I was ready to attack. Natsuki merely acted first."

"Even if it had been one of my own men? You would have even then acted in such a way?" Nagi implore, and Nina nodded.

"Men of yours are skilled fighters, loyal to you. That speaks nothing of a caravan of outsiders. The princess Mashiro was with us. The protection of the caravan had to be of the highest order. I believe Natsuki responded to the perceived threat accordingly."

Nagi grinned, and a slap rang out as he knocked her to the floor. "That, my dear sweet Nina, is completely out of line." He turned to the guard splayed out across the floor and shook his head. "You know better than to question any one of my men, and do you know why?" Nina nodded, but said nothing, causing Nagi to sigh at length, seemingly hurt by her lack of an answer. "To question my authority, is to question the very entity that bestows Artai with its power. No one, and I mean no one, questions The Grand Duke."

"Sire, you misunderstand, if it were a woman, I am sure Natsuki would never have acted as she had…neither would I." Nina said on her knees before him, head kept low, even as her cheek began to swell painfully. "You are a powerful person, so you understand that can be a frightening thing. I'm begging mercy in this instance."

What Nina neglected to say, but what Nagi was sure of, was that Natsuki would have likely murdered anyone else. It was why he left Sergey in the position that he did. Ordering the man to tail the wayward caravan. To report every tiny detail. Even in this, Nagi had the power. With a flick of his wrist, he shook his head. "You may stand, furthermore you may speak. Why gift a traitor mercy? Why offer her my kindness? As you know, Natsuki has offered me no such oath of honor or loyalty."

Nina thought on this, the seconds ticking away quickly, and she could not catch hold of them. "It doesn't suit a man of power to weaken his own esteem because of one single woman." Nina took a breath when red eyes fell upon her.

Nagi placed one of his pale hands on his sword's hilt. "I'm listening."

"Loyalists to Nao's cause would not want to see Natsuki dead." She told him quickly. "It would be ammunition, ill placed perhaps, but ammunition none the less."

Releasing his sword and perching his finger to his lip, he shrugged. "That you wish her free is none of my concern. She can freeze in the bitter cold and die that way if she likes." Nagi turned to Nao, who had been standing quietly to the side, held captive from her chains as she listened to the exchange. Walking over to her, he crossed his arms and flicked at the metal adorning her wrists. "You…you are free to go on your way."

"My women?" Nao groused.

"Plural?" Nagi raised his eyebrow at that.

"I've got a deal for you, if you want to make a barter." Nao said then biting her lip between her teeth. "I'll let you bleed Shizuru, but not dry. I'll renounce my name entirely, leave for good. In return for that, I want Shizuru, Natsuki, and the siblings from Black Valley returned to me as my sole property to use at my discretion."

"What of that proposition makes you think I'd take it?" Nagi sneered. "What's truly in it for me that isn't temporary?"

"The Zhang bloodline completely out of your hair." Nao told him. "It would be made public, of course you'd then never have to worry about such a bloodline again."

"I could kill you and gain the same thing." Nagi said with a shake of his head. "You'll have to do better than that, forsaken prince. Do you think me so naive?"

"Let me put it this way, you gain nothing from any of this." Nao was so sure of that fact, that she'd bet her own life on it. "You gain nothing from killing me, either."

"Marry her." Nagi grinned.

"Fuck you." Nao spat.

"Marry her," Nagi repeated slowly. "Do that, and I'll let all of you go."

"Shizuru, Mai, Natsuki…everyone." Nao repeated. "Is that clear?"

"Crystal." Nagi laughed jovially. "But if you don't hold true to the tenets of you marriage, I will prosecute everyone involved to the fullest extent of the law. Furthermore, I will bleed Shizuru for a sample before anyone is allowed to leave here…call it a promise on good faith."

"Just how do you assume we will maintain good on the tenets?"

Nagi looked around for a moment, before settling on a few choice decisions. "Let me put it to you this way. Mashiro will agree to marry me, or see the full weight of Artai's power brought down on to Windbloom. I don't think I need to flesh out what those circumstances mean for you, or what harm could come to Nina and countless others if you fail to comply."

"Do you honestly think Mashiro or Natsuki would agree to this, you self-righteous prick?" Options were limited, what more could be said? What offer could she truly make at time like this, with those sickly red eyes glairing into her.

"Natsuki's your woman, you make her understand. As for Mashiro, she doesn't have the luxury to deny me. Make no mistake Juliet, you are not free from my shackles, married or not. It is you who seeks travel, you who looks upon this kingdom as something important to you, and it is you who seeks to have command of your own will…but you won't be afforded any of it. Not unless you agree to my terms."

"You're a sorry sack of shit, Nagi…"

"I'll take that as a yes." He smirked, turning on his heel, leaving his very throne room to walk the castle grounds.

…

While Nao suffered barbs of ill repute in the throne room, Natsuki suffered at the hands of warm water and a rag. Shizuru tried to be gentle, but the lashes were simply too deep. Natsuki had gotten worse while chained to the wall, and after her most recent collapse had been moved to her own room. The that she shared with Nao, and strangely enough it had been by the orders of Nagi himself.

It was a proposition made dangerous, since Tomoe waited just outside the door.

"I'm sorry." She murmured again and again as she cleaned away the dirt from Natsuki's body. "I'll try to be quick about it."

Natsuki was too weak to talk, grunts and groans of protest were all that she could manage. Tears of hot pain slipped from her eyes when the sharp sting of liquor met the screaming pains of her back. Her front was no better, a mix a red and black. Dirt clinging to dried blood.

Shizuru remained careful until all of it had been washed away and fresh dressings applied. It was only after Natsuki was dressed in a clean shirt and put into bed that Shizuru even once reminded herself of her own exhaustion. "We will be free of this place soon, won't we, Natsuki?" Shizuru asked, hopeful to hear anything slip from those pale lips. "Since you have been freed from the prison, doesn't that mean that things will look up for us soon?"

"You are too high spirited." It was not Natsuki who spoke, but rather Midori. "I've purchased the boy, and sent him to the nearest infirmary. Someone will need to carry him back to Aswad. Thankfully, I have allies in the north able to do that. However, that doesn't answer for his sister…and it doesn't answer when we will be able to break into the archives. It's a waiting game, and little more."

"I suppose you'd think it is impossible to venture out in two groups." Shizuru even suspected that such a thing had crossed everyone's mind by now.

"Nagi is not that forgiving." She pulled the pipe from her mouth and emptied the ashes into the burning fireplace warming the room. "That guard that's so enamored with you, she's a danger I can't even begin to guess at. I'd fall short, I'm sure."

"You think she means to rape me?" Shizuru asked, but Midori shook her head.

"If that were the threat I'd almost be inclined to let her." With that, Midori filled her pipe once more, lit it and drew a deep breath. "Watch as your blood ate away at her skin, just as it did my glove back in Romulus." After a slow and meaningful exhale, she turned to Shizuru then, her words barely above a whisper. "My fear is that she believes herself powerful. She's of a very sick mind to hold Nagi in high regard. Repugnant even, to think she garners his respect."

"It's a sad reality, isn't it?" Shizuru sighed, looking once more over Natsuki's prone form.

"Sad is not the word I'd use for a woman so willing to fall to Nagi's whims." Midori said as she shook her head. "Though, one look at Natsuki, and one can understand that even a sound mind can be crushed under the brute force of her own repression. I'd suspect Tomoe was simply willing to be molded in such a way, and thus, she stands in the exact place she means too."

It was at that the door flew open, an angry redhead storming into the room. Crashing the door shut in a fit of absolute fury, Nao wheeled on the group. "The fucking bastard, I'd take him and skin him alive! If it were not for the fact that he's not even worth the torture!"

"Or for the fact that doing so would upset the very foundation of Artai itself." Midori added with a smirk before becoming serious. "It's good to see that your full of bluster today Nao. Or should it be that my concern wins out?"

"Concern or joy, I don't give a piddle about that worthless shit." Nao spat as she grabbed her cloak off of the rack, and began to fasten it. "I need to see Erstin, we need to bust out of this hell hole tonight, or die trying."