Sixteen:
Imperator Zale
Sirena had fallen. I had come into the palace just as it had happened. Antero was there with her, and my father was in the process of berating him the way he always did. I stepped forward and came up with some nonsense about trying to seduce Sirena and her being scared off. Before I knew it, I had picked up her unconscious body, and I was carrying her to my room. I reached her room and I walked in and I put her in bed, laying her down gently, and pulled the covers up over her.
There was a knock on the door.
Doctor Banis called, “Your majesty?”
“Come in, Doctor Banis,” I said, “Sirena is here, and I’ve placed her on the bed.”
The door opened and Doctor Banis entered. He was a man with a round fac
