I knew it wouldn't last.

Having my heel pressed against someone's throat felt both sickening and empowering at the same time. It had been a while since I got to flip someone over my shoulder or break some bones, and I guess I kind of missed it. I wasn't the best at it, but it helped clear my mind for a few seconds.

As the remnants of danger dissipated, I felt my adrenaline recede as well. Who knew my ball would be this exciting?

He was right here. Right here. The boy with the curly hair.

The morning when the East Garden's pyramid exploded, Raza told me that the people he believed were the Ravens would attack the Chinese fields. There was no attack on China - not then, not now, never will be, but there was an explosion in a Chinese Field - the field in Lesya.

The boy who walked into my ball, invited, with a white raven's feather proudly in his hair was a killer and... he was inches from me. He could have killed me.

He didn't.

The curly-haired boy made me hide when I was thirteen. When I got back up to the surface, my brother and father were both dead.

Then he almost killed hundreds of people right in front of me by folding the fire into itself under the pyramid. But he didn't.

A White Raven.

He won't kill me. I thought as I shoved the bottle back into my pocket, rising from the bar stool I was sitting on, mere minutes before my fist first made contact with his jaw.

If he wanted me dead, I'd already be.

Distracted by the constant booming of music, I rose from the stool to find somewhere quiet, to go where he wanted me to go... once I figured out where that was.

I was glad and anxious for a reason to leave the party.

"Your imperial majesty!"

It was a girl who called. "Lady Yamanni." I nodded my head to her giving her a smile to be polite, wondering why she was coming at me. She was a distant cousin of mine, a billionaire of diluted royal blood, but we rarely talked these past few years as she was married to an MP of the opposition, and I wasn't allowed by Upapa to take sides.

"Have you met my brother, Empress Lizaveta? This is-" Of course. He was a famous cricket player, and one of the thirty.

"I have somewhere to go. I'll meet him tomorrow." I smiled and ducked away only to be haggled by more of the strangers. I had the entire imperial tour to meet all of the thirty. They were staying after tonight anyway, so why the rush?

Another woman blocked my exit. This one I knew. "Senator Morgandez."

She smiled at me, raising a glass of dark red wine. "Pity that darling Theo couldn't make it... but have you met my son, Ender?"

I just ducked out that conversation before it got worse.

Many people came to me, mostly women trying to be wingmen for their sons or brothers who apparently did not have the guts to introduce themselves. I blocked Lady Maebh with President Leibling, hid behind Princess Lyton, evaded the hug of the drunk Lady Jhessa of Wales with the help of a shocked Minister Mandela who I shoved against her.

Somehow, I even managed to stumble on to Princess Mika and her cousin, Princess Jhade as they were talking to the Pakistani billionaire sisters, Heisha and Hannah. Even the Empresses of Amazonia Malae, Rea and Penelope tried to block me from going out, but they were no match against my will to disappear.

They needed their sons to marry me for the status, but I knew what they said about how I looked. I heard it day in and day out. Every state visit, every charity opening, every goddamned birthday party. She's pretty, pity she looks like Onus. Her grandfather is marrying another bride, she won't be important by then. Once I even heard Let's just wait until she loses it... Myth says they always do.

I couldn't hold it against them, though. I'd say the same things if I were in their shoes.

Shoving the feelings I had for the people who stood at the precipice of need and hate for me, I walked away. The guards pursued me, though.

Somehow, I made it to the servant's entrance. With all the alcohol-free flowing in the party, most of them got too lost to keep track of my movements. Here, though, the servants stared at me, sober.

"As you were." I mused, walking past them to the nearest exit, squeezing between stainless steel and porcelain.

"Where are you going?" Ilyaas was already there. He probably followed me from the Great Room.

"I don't feel so good. I'm taking a nap." I said in a lie so blunt Ilyaas almost laughed.

"Good, I wanted a nap too." No. Stay here!

"Enjoy the party. I'll be fine." I tried explaining, keeping my voice level even as his eyes lit up in amusement.

"But it's my job, Lesya."

"And I command you to enjoy the party! But not too much. I winked. Smiling, I walked away, knowing he wouldn't push against that at least. I wondered why I didn't use that more often.

The Imperial Guard, even the whole military, was subject to my command. As much as parliament wanted a regency or wanted my death, they were no match for the millions of soldiers who vowed to answer only to me. I hoped never to use them, though.

I left with a smirk.

Meet me where you went.

"Meet me where you went." I whispered as I descended through the servant's passages. He could have just told me. I hated riddles. "Where you went, meet me. Meet. Went. Where? You?" My dress caught on my heel, and I almost plummeted down from the steps, luckily holding on to the railing. Unbelievably graceless when I used my brain.

The waiters rising through the stairs with the empty trays tried helping me, but I just said. "I'm fine! Go on, don't mind me!" I laughed hysterically at them, trying to touch the metal of their trays and tipping them a little, making them wonder if I was still sane, making them think I was just drunk.

It wasn't much of a challenge as I was barely sane with the adrenaline running through me.

"Where you went. You went where... Went where..." And an epiphany hit as the cold trays brushed my fingertips. They felt just like the thick doors hidden floors below me. "The bunker."

×+×

Getting there was not the problem. I went into my own elevator and waited as I descended the layers of the neoclassical skyscraper that was the House. The Pentagon League knew where I was, most probably, but my command for Ilyaas to stand down included them. No one stopped me.

Then there came the feeling in my chest which I'd forgotten after it was replaced with the dread and heavy responsibility of the crown. Was it excitement?

I knew I should have grabbed at least a knife from the kitchens while I headed down. Knowing Eurasian security, the Raven probably didn't have a weapon either, though. I cracked my knuckles. No weapons was a bad idea... but I had my fists.

And if I die, I die. I laughed at myself. Nope. Not an option. You're empress now.

Rolling my shoulders, cracking my neck, I readied myself for the fight of a lifetime. Murderer, terrorist, momentary savior from the unknown... That didn't mean I wouldn't wring his neck if I needed to.

I took my tiara off and held it like a karambit. Bigger than a normal karambit but good enough. The gold and diamonds could cut flesh.

I breathed in and held it, preventing the possible panic attack coming in. Then I breathed out.

One thing I didn't account for was the darkness. There were dim lights here and there but so many spots free for ambush. No guards as usual here. If I screamed, no one would hear. I had to give it to Curly, he knew how to choose the perfect murder site.

"Where are you?" I whispered, hearing my voice echo as if I screamed.

No one was around from my first sweep. Walking around for a while with my heels click and clacking, I realized no one was there at all. Bunker was empty, halls were empty. Was I wrong? Was it not him? Not here?

It had to be.

Then my eyes strayed to the only hall I hadn't walked in yet, hidden in the cloak of shadows.

But it couldn't be.

I found myself pressing my back to the wall since Ilyaas wasn't there. No one was guarding my six. Slowly, I moved into the hall leading to the gate. There was nowhere else to hide here except the crypts.

I stretched my legs a little, doing some yoga in the darkness. Skirts were best for kicking. There was never a pull. But what if he just wanted to talk? I pushed the thought aside.

Kill or be killed.

It was getting darker and darker as the lights from overhead failed to reach my spot. Soon enough my shoulder touched the cool metal gate. Running my hand to the smooth center, I felt the small indent and rise of the needle protruding from it.

It was wet.

Pushing against the door, feeling it's small incline, I felt that the lock had already been opened. Uncle Hassan was upstairs so it couldn't have been him, and so was I until a few seconds ago...

With one step in, I saw black. "Where are you?" I asked the darkness.

I stepped down the winding stairs cautiously, keeping my hand to the wall.

"Ah, you can't see in the dark." A voice reached out to me, amused. Onus.

"How'd you get in here?" I said as my heels touched the solid ground of the crypts. As I walked, the wall disappeared under my hand, letting me know I was at the tombs' level. Everything was black in every direction. The darkness was so thick that closing and opening my eyes made no difference. "I went to the bunker, not the crypts, remember?"

It was pitch black and dusty, with the smell of motor oil hanging stale in the air.

"The empress remembers me." He chuckled. "What a compliment."

"Stop toying with me. Let's go where I can see you to keep things fair." I backed up a little, searching for a wall to guard me. "How the hell did you even get here?!"

Another low chuckle. "A needle... and morbid curiosity."

Somewhere to my right, I heard his footsteps. Swerving there, I felt nothing. "It let you in." A statement, not a question.

"It lets all Onus in." My blood ran cold at his words. How did he even come to that conclusion? Only royals-

"And you're implying what?" I asked, stepping forward, feeling nothing but the ground on my heels.

"I'm implying that being Onus is genetic..."

I snorted. "We're not related, Curly."

"No." He said in a smiling voice, a hair's breadth away from my ear, his whisper sending chills down my spine. Judging from his voice, I knew where his body was. He was so close. "But you and Kaz are."

Big mistake.

My right arm clipping under his, with my back to his hip, I bent my torso to flip him over me in a seoi nage. His body hit the floor half a second later, but half a second after that, he was up.

I felt him try to throw a cut at me, but I dodged quick enough. But just as I did, I felt a small blade come across my left shoulder. It stung. Things hadn't stung for me for a while now so that was how I knew something was dead wrong.

Luckily, he was close enough to hug, and thus close enough to kill.

Hands up, one, two. Both punches connected, and at once my hands were up to shield my mask. I'm sure my two was more lethal as I heard him grunt. It cut straight through his nose with the gold piercing his skin. The Romanovs surely knew how to make a crown.

Duck, and one, two, pivot, three, four to his chin.

He cursed as his jaw rang his skull, throwing me his best right hook only to be met with another stab with the tiara. "God." He spat.

"It's god-dess." I said as I changed my footwork to throw a hard seven to his ear. "Come on. Raven face, block me."

"You mean pretty Raven face." He said, his voice straining, malice replacing the humor.

I jabbed his stomach and it hit hard. I wanted him dead, but not just yet- "You bombed the garden and almost killed everyone there!" I gave him an eight.

"Emphasis on almost." He tried pinning me with a forearm and failed. "And correction, no bomb was involved-"

"Hit me." I taunted.

I did a mawashi geri aiming for his head and even as I felt his hand cover his temple, I curled my toes upward and hit the ball of my foot to the target. "You took my brother away!" I slashed the air between us with the tiara. "Block me!"

That was when he threw the fastest right roundhouse kick, I've ever felt, that the air sang as his leg barreled towards me. But I caught it. I twisted his ankle in my hand as I did an ankle sweep with my leg, hooking my it right on his standing ankle and pulling him towards me. He slid, his head hitting the floor. "That's for my grandfather, Raven."

His body lay flat on the floor, and he stayed there, his breath catching.

"God." He spat. "-dess."

As I lifted his twisted ankle close to my shoulder, determining where his head was at, and my heel against his neck, he did something...

One by one the candles left by the queen lining each tomb lit up in a calm orange fire, down the cavernous tunnel to the direction of Beijing. Each face of every ancestor was now lit in yellow light, the same yellow light illuminating a boy, lying on the floor, waving his white pocket square in the air in surrender.

"You're-" I felt my blood rush to my feet as I saw it glimmer in the newfound light. My hand went up to my shoulder where the big gash was, a silver blade imbedded in it, keeping it open. I pulled it out with a gasp, and it started healing instantly.

"Onus, yes." He rolled his eyes at me. "Like you." The cut on the tip of his nose stretching to his right cheek slowly closed as he wiped his face with the pocket square.

I stared at the feathered mask with the white raven feathers. He didn't even try to hide, did he? "You're a-"

"White Raven." He said, pulling off his mask to look me in the eye. Red orange like the fire.

"You... kil-"

"We didn't kill your grandfather." He said, sitting up and massaging his ankle a little "Though judging from the keloids on your back, someone should have." Throwing his mask at the camera sitting on the floor, recording the whole conversation.

Shit.

"Your brother sent me."