042 Good Or Evil, A Mark Is A Mark

"Iapetus, the maid appointed to Kitty's room, Sylvia? Get her to the office, now!" Erebus yelled to the phone as he headed to the elevator.

"Right away." Iapetus's calm voice came through the phone before Erebus hung it up.

"Good luck on a FUN interrogation day! I think I might just get myself a date!" Curtis yelled at Erebus as the door of the elevator closed slowly, and satisfied with the murderous look on Erebus's face.

Curtis pulled his phone after the elevator was closed: "Medusa, have you got eyes on the maid?"

"Yes, prince. I'm looking at her as we speak." A cold, sharp voice came through.

"Get what you can out of her and dispose the garbage, cleanly. You know what to do." Curtis's voice was not even bit warmer than the voice from his phone.

"Yes, prince."

"Like I have said before, you don't have to call me prince. You are a princess yourself, my little sister." Curtis softened his voice.

"Yes, my prince." The cold sharp voice had a bit naughtiness in it now.

"Keep me posted." Curtis shook his head with a smile and hung up the phone. The sky was clear with no cloud in sight. Curtis turned to gaze upon the city, with only darkness in his eyes...

"What do you mean she's missing?" Both hands held on Iapetus's desk, Erebus was obviously not happy.

"I'm sorry, my Lord. She left a few minutes before you called, and we found her turned into a dead-end alley with no camera in there, but she was gone. We are looking for her as we speak." Iapetus stood straight behind the desk with his always cool and calm tone, but it was obvious that he was nervous, too.

"Where's Metis?" Erebus nodded. Someone who can hide right under his nose as a spy won't be that easy to catch once she's in the wind.

"I'm here, my Lord." Metis rushed into the door right the second when Erebus asked the question. Looked like she just hurried here from the bar "We are looking into this right now."

"What's her background?" Erebus turned to look at her.

"I don't know yet. I'm sorry, my Lord." Metis lowered her head.

"You don't know your own people?" Erebus asked slowly.

"She's not mine. She came to me on Tartarus's command. He knew he was responsible for the surroundings, but he said he wouldn't be at ease if he didn't know what was going on in the hotel, so I let one of his unit in. There were four of them, including Sylvia."

"You didn't do wrong. Get to the bottom of this. I'll pay a visit to Tartarus." Erebus nodded and put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, "Everyone who have access to her goes through you from now on. "

"Yes, my Lord." Metis nodded, but she quickly turned to face Erebus when he was leaving, "My Lord?"

"Yes?" Erebus stopped.

"Thank you, my Lord." Metis bowed deep towards him, her eyes glittering. It was a serious mistake on her part, so she was deeply grateful that Erebus doesn't punish honest mistakes.

"I didn't 'spare' you. I'm not punishing you because you didn't do anything wrong. I trust you." Said so, Erebus nodded at her and headed to Tartarus's place.

Tartarus owned a billiards "palace" underground. It was a seven-floor-deep enclosure. In the center of it was a ten-meter-tall stage, with enough room for nine pool tables. There were seven floors with no walls surrounding the central stage on all four walls there, every one of them seven meters wide, as if grandstands high above in theatres. On all these floors there are also pool tables, except on the top floor of the east side wall, that was where Tartarus lives.

And where a man was whispering to Tartarus now--

"Lead him right to me." Tartarus's rough voice rose in the empty room.

"Yes, master." The man bowed and left, and soon returned with Erebus.

"My Lord." Tartarus stood up and bowed at Erebus.

"How's the palace?" Erebus nodded at him and stopped by Tartarus's French window, looking at the billiards heaven.

"All well and good, thanks to you, my Lord." Tartarus followed Erebus and answered.

"You know why I came, Tartarus." Erebus waved his hand at Tartarus's praise.

"Yes, my Lord." Tartarus bowed again, "My deepest apologies. I only wanted to keep an eye on The Fort for security reason, and those four people were trusted. She had been with me for years, and I had no reason to suspect her before this. I take full responsibility for this and I'll provide an explanation soon."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. I trust you." Erebus nodded, "What was her duty before this?"

"She was in charge of the security here at the palace, my Lord." Tartarus answered with a frowning. He was grateful that Erebus forgave him, but he couldn't forgive himself as easily.

"How long had she been with you?" Erebus rose an eyebrow. You don't put people you don't trust on security. If this maid was really a spy, then she went really deep.

"Two years after I followed you, my Lord." Tartarus answered.

"You are not at fault. I'm glad she exposed her this way." Erebus put a hand on Tartarus's shoulder.

"My Lord?" Tartarus was now really surprised. He might have understood Erebus forgiving him, but he didn't see Erebus being "glad" about this coming.

"Someone put deep thorn in us, and they reminded silent for so long. I'm glad their first action failed, AND we realized their trace. I'm not gonna punish my own people for the enemies’ scheme." Erebus turned to looking through the window again.

"Yes, my Lord! What do we do, my Lord?" Tartarus nodded his head.

"Now, we wait. Any reaction from us would make them hide deeper." Erebus said, "Give me Sylvia's whole file, her background and every mission she had been in."

"Yes, my Lord. Right away." Tartarus yelled to the door: "Ladon, get everything on Sylvia right now."

"Yes, master." Ladon closed the door and left.

"Tartarus..." Erebus mumbled.

"Yes, my Lord?" Tartarus had never seen Erebus said anything in such a hesitating tone.

"Why do you think they put a spy in your people?" Erebus was still in that hesitating tone.

"I don't know, my Lord! But I, I never--" Tartarus's voice was trembling. He didn't know what Erebus meant.

"It's okay. I'm only thinking out loud." Erebus shook his head hinting there was no reason for Tartarus to get nervous, "I gave you my forgiveness, and that means I don't think you held ill-intention. I need you to think with me, and that's the only way we can catch this invisible enemy."

"Yes, my Lord!" Tartarus nodded his head hard. He was never the talkative type, but he had always been loyal to Erebus no matter what.

"The bartender we hired for Kitty, turns out he is our prince." Erebus told him.

"Prince Charlie?!" Tartarus gasped.

"Yes. And he told me something interesting today. He said according to a witch prophecy, Kitty shall be his queen." Erebus nodded.

"But... marking is never wrong." Tartarus looked up with confusion in his eyes.

"That's what I told him." Erebus turned to look at him: "I want to see that prophecy."

"Yes, my Lord. I'll get on it right away." Tartarus nodded.

"No, let Theia deal with this one." Erebus said.

"Yes, my Lord."

"Tartarus, would you happen to know something about the three princesses our queen gave the King?" Erebus asked.

"You mean the new queen, my Lord." Tartarus corrected Erebus.

"Haha, yes, new queen. You realized she has been on the throne for almost ten years now." Erebus laughed.

"She will always be the new queen to me." Tartarus growled. He was very old schooled.

"I'm guessing you have a special fond to the prince, too?" Erebus rose an eye brow.

"No, my Lord. I pledge my loyalty to only the King and you, my Lord." Tartarus shook his head, "I just don't think it's right to betray a mark."

"I know what you mean." Erebus nodded, "Any progress on the treason of our queen?"

"Some, my Lord. You can take the file with you today." Tartarus nodded, "But it's not much. There was little record of that case."

"Of course." Erebus said, "The three princesses?"

"The queen has been keeping the oldest princess by her side all the time after the second one went missing some years ago. And the third princess is always in and out of the palace. But word is, she was never favored by her mom."

"I see." Erebus nodded in deep thoughts, "When was the second one went missing?"

"That was before I even followed you, my Lord. She must be very young when that happened." Tartarus sighed.

"You have a soft heart, Tartarus." Erebus commented, smiling at his sigh, "Was any effort put into finding her?"

"Yes, of course, my Lord. But no fruit was bore." Tartarus shook his head.

"I see. Well, I'll leave the cleaning of your people to you, then." Erebus pulled back his drifting thoughts and grabbed the files Ladon delivered on the table, "Keep me posted if anything happens."

"Yes, my Lord." Tartarus bowed as Erebus leaving for the door.

"Tartarus," Erebus suddenly turned back, looking at him, "You marked Theia soon after you followed me, right?"

"Yes, my Lord." Tartarus was a bit surprised at the sudden change of topic, "Why, my Lord?"

"Just wondering how you would feel if a prophecy came to compete with your marking." Erebus laughed, "You are the only one of us who marked anyone after all."

Tartarus: "..."

"Well, good day now." Erebus waved his hand and shut the door.

"My Lord, we are not the only ones. There IS one more among us, who has been suffering for a mark, for too long..." Tartarus murmured to himself.