"What do you mean, he disappeared?" Empress Valeria's voice was laced with irritation as she sat at the head of the council table, her piercing eyes focused on Lord Vrator, her nephew .Normally, the fate of the little bastard wouldn't have concerned her. He was nothing more than a stain, a reminder of a long-buried indiscretion. But the audacity—the insult—of someone daring to make a mockery of her authority within her own city made her blood boil.