Jade found Zagreus asleep. She pulled a chair up next to his bed and waited for what felt like forever. She was relieved to see him but it was boring waiting for him to wake up. She thought it best to let him to rest for now. With a pat on his head she left.

She wandered aimlessly down corridors until she looked up and realized she didn’t know where she was anymore. Ever since she had found Zaggy she had always had schedules and places she was meant to stay in. But Lilithana and Zaggy were out cold. A smile broadened on her face. “Time to explore.”

She followed smells and sounds one after the other. One strange room held a row of a dozen large circular tanks filled with a hazy liquid. Another room held pieces and parts of golems of all sizes. In another room rows of massive golems, that were many times here height, stood silently. Many rooms were empty and dusty but this was all new territory to her.

She turned a corridor and heard a familiar faint humming noise that she couldn’t quite remember the source. She found the door sealed with an assortment of locks and wards. Moments later she heard the buzz of an eye-drone approaching and cloaked herself. She just about panicked when it stopped almost on top of her.

It turned to the door and quickly released the locks and wards. The door slid open smoothly. It went inside.

Jade peaked inside to find two large combat golems flanking the door like statues. The room contained a large green circle of runes that took up most of the floor. She went inside. No touching, I’m just exploring. She told herself.

She ducked as another eye golem whizzed into the room, then another, then more. Soon she was flat on the floor to keep from accidently bumping into them as they clustered above her. She gave up on crawling out, and just hoped they would leave soon. Then she sensed a presence coming. Shit.

Cinder flew into the room and up to a control panel. She poked at it for a moment then flew up into the cloud of drones.

With a flash of green light the room was gone. Jade lay in darkness waiting for her eyes to adjust while Cinder and her cloud of golems got farther and farther away.

She stood. The floor had a bad tilt to it. The air was dry and dusty. That hum she now realized was the hum of a teleporter pad like the one from the Altar. This was not the lab and she had no idea how to get back to Zagreus. She could still feel him but he was now very, very far way. Farther than she thought she could ever walk.

Jade morphed into her shadowcat form. It changed her ears, her fore arms and feet, and now she had a tail. She wanted to be ready if she was attacked. Jade did not like Cinder but she was the only way back to the lab, so she followed angry orange Bug-Girl’s scent.

The trail was easy to follow at first. She went down long corridors and up winding stairs. She saw several collapsed or damaged halls and rooms. Everything kept the same tilted angle like it had been built level then somehow all shifted. But she continued to her goal. She rounded a corner and was nearly blinded by a bright light. The air here was dank, moist and salty.

She fell back and noticed that there were several men in the bright hall. They were stocky, broad shouldered men with large beards. Dhonzel. They were sweaty and dirty and loud as they pushed carts down the corridor. They spoke words she didn’t understand.

She had to concentrate to find Cinder’s scent. Fortunately the path led away from the light. She waited for a group to pass then followed Cinder. The trail soon went down a side path, away from the working men. A rough cut hole in the wall let up led up some stairs that were level. Up and up she went to find two armored men guarding a large double door. The door was closing fast. She darted inside just before it slammed shut. This was the longest she had ever kept her cloak going and she was straining to keep it up.

This new place had shiny, everything. The door was at a T junction of a large hallway with high ceiling. Columns lined the edges of the hall every ten paces. The polished floors and walls and columns had zigzag patterns in mostly blue and green with gold lines. It was as pretty as the Hall of Endrala. A mix of different races wandered up and down the wide hall.

Most were dhonzel with bright clothing and beards in various types of braids. A Susneran woman nearby was wearing a dress that looked like it was made out of a white sheet. Susnerans are the golden skinned ancestors of remnants.

Jade started as a tall woman walked past. She had clawed feet and hands, light green leathery skin and wings, a long slender tail, two short dark horns curled up from her forehead. She wore a sheet-dress too. An Infernal. Jade thought. They are way scarier in person.

Jade stopped staring and continued on the path that Cinder had taken. She finally found Cinder sitting on a large cushion with her swarm of golems hovering over her. She was at one end of a massive room. The other end had a long table and chairs of dark wood. More of the fancy people moved around and talked. The largest chair sat empty in the middle of the table. Cinder sat and tapped her hand impatiently.

A door opened nearby and a swarm of interesting scents assaulted Jade. FOOD!

***

Cinder waited as patiently as she could manage for the translator to arrive. Only a few were able to speak the old tongue. This palace was built on the top of the ruins of a flying city. Karimere had trained the people how to extract crystals and other salvageable parts from the ruins. They did this in exchange for some pointedly applied violence.

Cinder would much rather face an army than have to sit here and play diplomat. The faces of the nobles kept glancing her way as they all talked about her. Destroying an army would be a good bit of stress relief. Maybe I will ask which country they want eliminated after this is over. Got to keep up good relations…right? She smiled.

Some people seemed to quickly find other things to do, in other rooms.

A tottering old Guanting man came up to her. Guanting were not a tall race and this man was bent over so far he was barely a meter tall. He was still I giant compared to Cinder’s aerial size. He shook and staggered and looked like he would fall over dead any moment.

“I am humbled to meet you again, Lady Cinderella.” He bowed low and long.

Shit. How am I supposed to remember one random asshole I met for five minutes decades ago? What am I supposed to say? Cinder stood straightened her clothes, took a bow. “It is customary to introduce yourself priest.”

“Please forgive me.” He bowed again. “I am Father George. I was a young message runner when the chub toads ravaged our lands some six decades ago. I saw you speaking to the general when I came to deliver a message. That is when I chose to devote myself to the crystals.”

“Your serve well my child.” She bowed again. Damn I hate all this bowing and formality. Get the king out here and let’s get this over with.

Father George leaned in and spoke softly. “May I ask as to why you have come? Many are concerned that we have angered the gods.”

“I have come for a collection.”

He looked as if she had slapped him. “I beg of you, please tell us what we have done wrong?”

“I have come for a collection. Nothing more. This matter does not concern mortals.”

“I thought we had another fifty years. The king will be upset.”

“If the king has a problem with it then he can fight the next horde of monsters or invaders that come to your door. I have come for a collection and that is final.”

The man bowed repeatedly and shuffled away.

The chairs were filling slowly. It looked like they already had some kind of banquet planned before she had arrived. Good timing. No waiting for messengers to go out to all the nobles. With any luck I can be back before…

Someone burst through a door limping with a bloody cut on their leg. There were shouts and much commotion.

Cinder looked around but the interpreter was nowhere to be seen. She found her a target and flew at them. A moment later she had stuck a device on the back of the neck of an infernal slave. The light green skinned woman fell to her knees as Cinder hung on to her shoulder.

“Hello slave infernal. I am Cinderella. You will be my mouth piece for the rest of my visit here.” Cinder said. A thin strand of orange energy connected her to the slave’s new implant.

“I…I am not worthy.” The slave said.

“You are my puppet. Don’t fight me and you might live through this.”

“Yes. Yes. Whatever you say.” She nodded repeatedly. Her thoughts were a blur of fear and rushed prayers which Cinder blocked out.

“Good.” Cinder mentally directed the woman’s body to stand up straight and to extend her wings. “SILENCE!” was projected from the infernal’s voice in the local tongue. The sound shook dust off ledges above.

Everyone on the room froze.

The slave pointed. “Kitchen servant. Tell me what is going on. Why are you bleeding?”

He pointed to himself and it took him a moment to notice the small aerial on the woman’s shoulder. “Oh, I, um, I. There is a…monster. In the kitchen. It’s eating all the food.”

“What kind of monster?”

“I saw a pale little girl with cat claws. But, but, but she disappeared.”

“JADE! YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO GET UP HERE OR YOU WILL EAT NOTHING BUT GREEN GOO FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!” Cinder shouted through the slave.

“TEN!”

“NINE!”

“EIGHT!”

The door to the kitchen cracked open and Jade peaked out from behind it holding a wheel of cheese, bigger than her chest, in her paws.

“What are you doing here? How did you get here? Why are you holding a massive thing cheese?”

“Cheese is good.” Jade took a bite.

Cinder growled to herself and rubbed her temples. “I will deal with you later.” The slave pointed. “Go sit over there and wait until I am done here. If your butt leaves that chair I will take over the rest of your training.”

Jade gripped her prize tightly as she did what she was told.

Cinder walked the slave back over to her cushion and sat down beside Jade.

The lords and servants shuffled around finally starting to form some sort of order. Using the slave to translate the bits of conversation she could overhear didn’t really help much. It was typical political nonsense mixed with fear.

Jade said, “Hi… I am Jade,” to the slave.

“Keep quiet.” Cinder said.

“I am supposed to practice talking to people. I am doing my training.”

“Ok. Whatever. Just don’t bother me.” Cinder tried to ignore her.

“That is a pretty dress.” Jade said.

“Oh, um. My master gave it to me.” The infernal said politely. The infernal was able to use the link to translate as well.

“I don’t have any dresses, just shorts and shirts like this.” She pointed. “Maybe I can make one out of a sheet.” Jade munched on her cheese and looked around. “I thought you looked scary but you seem nice.”

“Thank you.”

“This place is big and shiny. Do you live here?”

“No. My master works here.”

“I live far away from here, far underground. Zaggy takes care of me and Lili teaches me all kinds of things. I like it there. They have good food.”

“That sounds nice.”

“But the food here is really good too. They have so much, I bet you get to eat all the time.”

“I don’t get to eat that food. It is for the nobility.” She said.

“Not even cheese?”

“No.” She shook her head.

“That’s so mean.” Jade huffed.

The room went silent. A large door at the back opened with much ceremony. Drums played, a dozen brightly armored guards marched in and lined up along both walls. Then the king entered. He took a seat on his throne. “Greetings Cinderella. I have been told that you are here for a collection.”

Cinder used her link to have the slave rise and bow. She used the slave’s voice. “Yes…I…mmuu” Then she noticed the slave trying to choke down the chunk of cheese.

The room erupted into laughter.

Cinder glared at Jade who turned invisible behind the cheese.

“You stay where I can see you child.”

Jade popped back into sight.

Cinder launched from the slaves shoulder spawned a power lance twice her length. She flew and drove the lance straight through the king’s chest and the chair. Then she flew high into the center of the room with his still beating heart impaled on her weapon. She shook the lance down and the heart shot into the floor, exploding into bits and sending cracks across the stone.

Cinder drifted slowly down to the slaves shoulder as everyone on the room held their breath. She reconnected the strand of arcane to the slave. The slave stood and spoke loudly. “Defy my will at your peril mortals. Today is collection day. The Queen of Hearts will not be denied.”

No one breathed.

Cinder sent signals to the array of speakers and sensors they had hidden throughout the city and broadcast. “Attention citizens of Ereopolis. By order of the Queen of Hearts, today is collection day. Surrender all relics of the gods by setting them on your doorstep. Anyone who tries to defy my servants will be executed. The collection will begin immediately. The gods have spoken. From the cradle to the grave.”

There were gasps and muttering but no one spoke loudly. The cloud of drones disappeared in every direction. Cinder sat beside Jade.

“Why did you have to do that?” Jade sat with her arms crossed.

Cinder landed on Jades knee and activated a ball of silence around them. “You made them laugh at me. They think we are gods. We cannot allow them to laugh at gods. Why did you have to act a fool?”

“But you didn’t have to smash the heart.”

“I did it to set an example.”

“But the heart is the best part.”

“The best… You want to eat him?”

“Why not? He’s already dead.”

“You can’t eat people.”

“You can kill him, but not eat him. That’s just a waste.”

“Because it’s wrong to eat people.”

“The lessons say it is wrong to kill too.”

“I...” Cinder shook her head and threw up her arms. “Nope. This is not happening. I am not doing this. I am not having an ethical discussion about my life’s work with a child who is pouting because she can’t eat a man’s heart.”

Jade scowled at her.

“You will sit quietly and not cause any more trouble until I am done here. Do I make myself clear?”

Jade growled at her but grudgingly nodded.

Cinder deactivated the ball of silence and flew back up to the slaves shoulder. She ordered them to dispose of the body.

The senators moved around and muttered among themselves for the next few minutes. Then the tottering old guanting Father George made his way up to her. All the eyes in the room watched them intently. They seemed to have decided that a man of the crystal was the least likely to get killed. Or maybe they just picked him so they didn’t have to go.

Father George bowed and said. “Hello…again.”

“Greetings.” Cinder smiled to herself. I should have started by executing someone. It’s so much easier.

“You have executed our king. Is there another you wish to rule?”

Cinder thought on it. What do I care? We won’t be coming back her for another half millennia or so. I could pick someone at random for the fun of it I guess.

“Make her the king.” Jade said.

Cinder looked to see Jade pointing up at her. “I am not going to stay here and rule.”

Jade rolled her eyes. “Not you Bug-Girl. I mean the infernal lady you are sitting on. I thought she was scary but she seems nice and if she is king she can eat all the good king food.”

Cinder resisted the urge to strangle Jade for calling her Bug-Girl in front of two mortals who could understand her. She made the better judgement to ignore the statement in the hope that no one caught it. After taking a breath she thought the annoying child actually had a good idea. Infernals were feared and hated. Maybe it was a good idea to let this one have a go at it.

Cinder sent, *What do you think slave woman? Do you want to take a shot at being queen? I can give the order. They might follow it or they might kill you in a week. I am going to leave and probably not return in your lifetime. You will be on your own. The choice is yours. Think your response to me and I can hear it.*

The slave stared down at the floor. *I have no idea how to rule a country.*

*Being able to admit you don’t know everything makes you smarter than half the people in this room.*

*May I ask you something?*

*Go ahead. Anything you like.*

*I sensed that you didn’t really care. But you took it seriously when Jade mentioned me. Why?*

*I can’t tell you that.* Cinder glanced around the room and everyone was still staring. *What do you say? You want to be the slave who became a queen? You will be a legend. I can even declare your old master as your slave if you wish.*

She smiled and nodded. “Yes.”

Cinder controlled the slave woman to stand, “Come Jade.” Jade followed them around the large table to sit in the largest chair still standing. Jade sat in a big chair beside her.

Cinder spoke through the slave-queen. “I Cinderella, in the name of the Queen of Hearts declare this infernal slave to be your new queen. This slave’s old master is now her slave. This is my word, from the cradle to the grave.”

A chant went up. “The King is dead. The King is dead. Long live the Queen! Long live the Queen!”

With that Cinder removed the implant and left the slave to rule. She escorted Jade back down the long stairs into the ruins of the fallen city. “Did you forget your cheese wheel?” Cinder said.

Jade poked the training collar. “I stored the rest for later.”

Cinder landed on her shoulder. “What else do you have in there?” She checked the device and its internal pocket dimension was crammed with stuff. None of it was labeled or sorted but everything looked like some form of organic matter. “Did you empty the king’s pantry?”

“I didn’t know what was good, so I took a bunch of it.”

“This should cover any shortfalls from the power outage.”

“It’s my food.” Jade slapped her hands around the collar. “I found it.”

Cinder laughed. “I hope you realize you will probably become a legend yourself.”

“Huh?”

“Look at it from there perspective. You turned invisible in front of the royal court. You raided the king’s pantry and survived the wrath of Cinderella with nothing more than a little scolding.”

“So.”

“You never know how a legend will grow and change. But I think there will be stories of Jade, the cheese loving cat-girl who vanishes into the night.”

“Adults are weird.”

“They can be sometimes.” Cinder said. “Now I need you to explain how you followed me through the teleporter pad.”

“I didn’t know it was a teleporter. I was just looking. Then all the drones swarmed in and you showed up and then I was here. By time I knew what had happened you were gone and I had to chase you.”

“And you found me in the kitchen?”

“It smelled sooo good.”

“What would you have done if I had left before finding you? You have no training on how to operate a teleporter pad and this end has a special lockout so we don’t get invaded.”

“I…” She looked like she was about to cry.

“Jade. You are far too important to lose. Tell me if you are in trouble and I will get you to safety first. I can always punish you later.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry Cinder.”

She actually used my name.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and continued along the slanted corridors. Cinder hovered in front of her leading the way. “Now to decide your punishment for what you did today.”

“Don’t take my food.”

“You will eat only green goo until Lilithana wakes up and decides otherwise. She will handle the distribution of the inventory in your collar.”

Jade sighed and slouched.

“Lilithana is out of commission for the foreseeable future. I have to do both our jobs until she is functional. I can’t watch you constantly so I am going to assign a drone to you. You will only be allowed in your room or the training room at all times. If you get more than ten feet from your drone or leave your assigned area I will punish you in the most creative way I can imagine. If you can manage to keep up your training and not cause any more trouble while I am so busy then I will not punish you further.”

Jade muttered to herself as they continued to walk.

They stopped. “A few days of green goo and the chance to learn to take care of yourself is a light punishment for escaping the lab. And you got to go the surface.”

Jade eyed Cinder. “What do you mean the surface?”

“Take a look.” Cinder pointed in front of them.

Jade froze, breathless. They were at the end of the tunnel that had been filled with the sunset earlier. It was covered with a locked gate of metal bars. The night sky was dark and overcast. A light rain fell. They could see the glowing golems darting in and out of buildings across the town.  It wasn’t much to see, but for a little girl who has spent her life under miles of stone it clearly was amazing. Jade held onto the bars and cried without saying a word.

They waited there until all of the golems had finished their work then they went home.