Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2195

Chapter 2195 Dollhouse

The Queen remained silent for a few moments, looking into the distance. Cassie could not really imagine what was going on in her head. It had to be hard to be a general who had been driven into a hopeless situation. The Song Army was already at a great disadvantage, driven back to the western part of the Collarbone Plain and besieged. The only hope of salvaging the situation and restoring a semblance of balance to the war was to hold out long enough for Revel to conquer the Citadel in the spine of the dead god… and for Mordret to take Bastion. But now, even that hope had been shattered.

If Ki Song was troubled, though, she did not show it.

Instead, she lowered her gaze and peered at Cassie.

"Well, well. The secret you told me is indeed valuable, young Cassia."

The dead boy fell silent. His counterpart, meanwhile, spoke in a clear voice:

"You have my gratitude. It is time for you to depart, though… go and rest, for a little while. Seishan, please stay."

Cassie wondered briefly if she would really be allowed to walk out the throne room on her own two feet without being escorted by Seishan. That… would be problematic, actually, since her Aspect was suppressed. Was she supposed to bump into the walls of the Song keep blindly until she found a place to rest?

A few moments later, though, her hesitation was dispelled in the most disturbing way. Her body moved on its own, rising from its knees and performing an elegant bow. Her mouth moved on its own, as well, and words she had not meant to say left her lips:

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Then, her body turned around and headed away from the throne with graceful, confident steps. The tenuous connection she had established to Seishan's senses was cut, and she was left in the darkness. Cassie was blind once again… but her body behaved as if it could see. It left the throne room and walked somewhere calmly, taking turns when needed and using her hands to open doors. She did not know where the body was headed, and could only memorize the number of turns and count the steps in her mind out of habit. As Cassie walked, she escaped from the horror of not being able to control her own body into thinking about the many mysteries that had been solved today, and the many secrets that had been revealed to her by the Queen. 'It is all starting to take shape.'

Cassie was genuinely surprised. 'I wasn't even tortured.'

She exhaled slowly. Well, the day was still young… and there were more such days in front of her, as well. Now that her audience with the Queen had come to an end, Ki Song seemed to have released the strings binding Cassie's body like a marionette, somewhat — enough to cut her some slack, at least. She was still in that dizzying state of not being entirely in control of her own body. In fact, she was barely able to move — just enough to change her posture, but not enough to take a step.

Her Aspect, too, remained almost entirely sealed. Cassie remained motionless for a few moments, then shook her head subtly. There was no way of knowing if Sunny was somewhere near, but she believed that he was. In fact, he had most likely been keeping an eye on her from the moment she entered the Greater Crossing Stronghold… just not in the chambers of the Queen. If so, she had to prevent him from trying to contact her. Now that Cassie had become a partial puppet, approaching her was tantamount to revealing his presence to Ki Song. So, she hoped that he had seen and understood her signal. Sunny was both observant and smart. He would know that it was dangerous to contact her, and stay away.

Still…

Even unable to see or hear him, Cassie was glad to know that she was not truly alone.