The Tiger Within Chapter 46

The Palace of Repentance was quiet, and seldom used . The Emperor had never been one to send the girls to the palace, it had been left untended and uninhabited for nearly eight long years . As Adela walked up the path to the palace, she sighed realizing that the years had not been gentle to the structure of wood and stone .

From the outside it was still fairly pretty, the structure was st.u.r.dy and kept well enough, but the plants on the sides of the walkway had grown wildly . Leaves and fallen cherry blossoms gathered on the cobbled path seeming to make it almost a sad landscape painting . The cold energy surrounding the place was befitting its name .
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Adie couldn't believe the Emperor had sent the Empress here . Empress Evelyn had always been so loyal… and now cast aside as though it meant nothing . Sorrow built in her heart, she opened the door expecting to find the Empress on the bed in despair . What met her eyes was a shock .

At first she didn't spot the Empress and was a bit alarmed . The silhouette of a woman with her hair tied back in a cloth and a simple dress was in the process of wiping down the counters . For a moment Adie was enthralled by her . She spun and sang softly as she cleaned the room . Tossing one now blackened towel into a pile and grabbing the next clean one from the band of the dress to continue her mission . It took several minutes listening to her sing and watching her move before her eyes widened in shock .

"Empress?" Adie asked tentatively calling out for her lady without her eyes ever leaving the fair skinned woman . The woman turned and smiled brightly at her . Confirming Addie's suspicions .

The Empress's kind eyes looked back at her, stray strands of black hair wispily hung into her face . She looked years younger, as though many burdens had been lifted from her shoulders . Even dressed as a maid and cleaning the neglected palace she seemed happier than Adie had seen her .

"Adie, darling girl it isn't nice to stare . " The Empress corrected with her gentle, motherly tone . Gone was the pretenses of Empress and standing before Adie was a loving mother, and gentle Grandmother Evelyn had never had the privilege to be .

Her words snapped Adie back to reality with a smile on her face . "This is a pleasant surprise, Miss . " Adie greeted, setting a tray on the counter . Upon turning back around, she allowed herself to take in the inside of the palace .

It was small, smaller than any of the other palaces on the Imperial lands . However, inside it seemed huge . It was a open floor plan with a plain, stretched leather part.i.tion between the bed and the rest of the room . A single desk against one wall, and a table at the front of the room with two chairs at it . A cupboard being the only other item in the room . None of the items remotely matched in wood or style . They seemed to be cast off pieces that had been discarded by queens over the years . The floor was coated in dirt .

She could see every movement her Lady had made since she entered the room . There were also 2 piles of rags, one on top of the table, clean and ready to go and the other mounded on the floor waiting to be washed . Actually, she realized with a start, there were three . A more precise pile of prettier rags formed a pile near the bed, and on it lay the great cat known as Tears .

"I was as well . A little dirty, but with a bit of work this place will be more of a home than my own palace ever was . " The Empress replied with a hint of excitement in her voice . "I mean the garden will need a lot of work, but it'd mostly just taming it . Tears had already gotten rid of most the pests that made this place so difficult to live in . Didn't you my little beauty?" her voice was filled with affection for her new found companion . The beast raised her head and chuffed softly in acknowledgement .