"You needn't concern yourself further," Xander said, glancing coolly at Ethan before addressing the guards. "Place them under house arrest. They are not to leave the castle grounds. I want them monitored at all times."
A hush fell over the room.
"House arrest?" Lola echoed, stepping forward with indignation. "And who, may I ask, granted you such authority to imprison us?"
Xander chuckled softly, as though her words amused him more than they angered him.
Gabriel raised a brow, folding his arms with evident pleasure. "You truly don't know who he is, do you?"
Lola blinked. "Should I? It's not as if it matters."
That earned her another chuckle from both men.
"You are standing before Emperor Alexander Rykhard," Gabriel said at last, his voice smooth and deliberate. "And, my dear intruders, you are in the imperial heart of Aldovia."
Gasps rippled through the group like a breeze through silk curtains.
"Emperor?" they all cried in disbelief.
Xander's eyes never left Lola as he spoke again, his tone deceptively calm. "Have you anything to say now, maiden?"
Lola straightened abruptly, then dipped into a rather clumsy curtsey, laughing nervously. "Of course not, Your Lordship. No protest here. House arrest sounds… lovely. Most merciful indeed."
Gabriel bit back a grin while Xander laughed openly.
"So quick to bow once the truth is revealed," he mused, clearly entertained. "There's no need to grovel. You'll be taken to the East Wing. It holds a master suite and I trust you'll find it comfortable."
Lola kept her head low, but a small smile crept onto her lips. A royal chamber? After tonight, she could sleep for a week.
"We shall speak properly in the morning," Xander said, turning on his heel.
Gabriel lingered for a beat, glancing over his shoulder only to meet the eyes of the quiet maiden he had noticed earlier. For the briefest moment, she looked back.
Outside the chamber, Gabriel fell into step beside Xander.
"And what plans, may I ask, does Your Majesty have for the bold little intruder?"
"None," Xander replied with a smirk. "Not yet. But I intend to find out who she is... and what exactly she's doing in my castle."
Gabriel gave a nonchalant shrug. "If we're speaking of curiosity, then I too have questions. That girl with the violet eyes is fascinating."
Xander turned his gaze on him with raised brows. "You were staring."
"I was not," Gabriel said quickly, turning toward the opposite wall with exaggerated indifference.
"You've never been good at lying, Flynn," Xander said, chuckling.
In the East Wing, Lola stood at the threshold of a room unlike any she had ever known.
The ceilings soared above her, adorned with golden latticework and chandeliers. Velvet drapes caressed the windows, and the hearth glowed with a gentle warmth. The bed, vast, inviting, and impossibly soft, called to her like a siren.
She spun once in place. "If this is house arrest, then perhaps crime does pay."
Still, her thoughts wandered to her friends. Were they safe? Were they given rooms like this? Or locked away? But the concern soon faded as exhaustion overtook her.
The moment her head touched the pillow, sleep claimed her.
She did not stir, not when the heavy door creaked open in the dead of night, nor when a shadowed figure stepped softly into the room.
The bed dipped beside her. A warm body slid under the covers, arms slowly wrapping around her waist.
And as the moonlight filtered through silk curtains, the two forms lay still entwined in silence.
Unaware, or perhaps pretending to be.