The Weight Of A Crown [Book 3]

Valerian

A/N: I have decided to update once a week so here goes this week's update.

Kira gathered her trusted group in the defence meeting room. They all wore a grim look on their faces because they already knew that if they were summoned it meant that the matter was grave. Despite securely closing the doors and the windows of the room, Kira spoke in a low voice,

"The Emperor was abducted last night." She informed matter-of-factly not wanting to waste any time. Everyone's eyes widened in horror. They knew it was something serious but they didn't expect it to be this serious.

"Now I don't need to explain to you how sensitive this matter is..." She continued, "...we need to be fast and we don't know who to trust and who to be suspicious of. This is why instead of causing a panic across the kingdom, we need to take care of this ourselves." She summarised her address.

"When did this happen?" One of them asked immediately after she finished.

"Five men attacked us last night. I tried to fight them off but unfortunately, I could not stop them. They somehow made him unconscious and carried him away."

"Were you able to recognise any of them, Your Majesty? " Another one asked.

"No, they did not seem to be from this kingdom or any nearby. They seemed to come from a distant kingdom, someplace we are definitely not aware of." Kira clarified.

Everyone remained quiet for a while thinking of any useful information they could extract from the clues given to them. But for a while, they couldn't say anything except sigh occasionally when they internally rejected another theory their mind presented to them.

"Did you say they made him unconscious?" One of them suddenly asked, almost startling everyone.

"Yes, they did. They covered his mouth with a cloth that appeared to be doused with some chemical that managed to make him unconscious." Kira explained.

"Could it be Valerian?" The man mumbled as he looked at his peer across the table as if asking him to support his theory.

"What is Valerian?" Kira interrupted with heightened curiosity before the said peer could answer.

"It's a flowering plant whose roots can be turned into a sedative and if used in enough amount, may even get someone unconscious." The man explained.

This newfound information made the gears in Kira's mind catch up speed again as she recalled the events of the previous night. She did remember a distinct scent dissolving in the atmosphere as soon as they pulled out that piece of cloth. At the moment she had been too distracted to think something but now that she focused, she was certain she could easily recognise that scent should she ever come across it.

"Let us end this meeting here or else people might get suspicious." Kira declared after a while, "Be on the alert and report anything you find, tomorrow." and with that, the meeting ended.