Luciana landed on marble floors. She was on one knee but the world was spinning so she didn't dare move. She closed her eyes and opened them again almost immediately; the darkness had only made her dizziness worse.

While looking for something to focus on, she noticed that the marble in front of her seemed to spread out for hundreds of meters. Unsettled, she stood up, ignoring the stabbing pain in the back of her head. 

"This is the Imperial Palace's main hall." Igarov's rich bass voice cleared Luca's head almost immediately. She wasn't alone, it reminded her. "It crosses the entire length of the palace building and spans a total two hundred and eighty five point seven meters." His glance at her became questioning when noticing her blank expression.

In response, she said. "I've been in many countries smaller than your palace."

There it was, the pull of the corner of his lips. "You haven't even heard of the size of the Imperial Palace's grounds."

She sighed. "And I don't want to." She turned from him, "Where to?"

Igarov let himself smile a small smile, then returned to his usual stony expression. "To the princes."

Lux followed behind as he walked once again. 

"How many princes do you serve?" She asked.

"I serve none." He answered coldly. "The Empress keeps twelve."

"You make them sound like pets."

"It is she that acts more like a master than a mother."

"Is it alright to say such things out loud? The walls have ears, you know?"

"Their ears might hear, but their mouths dare not speak against me."

Lux decided not to press the issue. "Where did your companion go?"

"Probably to find a hole to his wounds in."

"Is he wounded?"

"He is tired enough to make him seem crippled."

"From what he did? From that sorcery?" She probed, curious.

"You don't seem very surprised by it." When he didn't receive an answer, he continued. "If I hadn't lent him some of my energy he would have died upon arrival. He did transport the Queen on the way there, after all."

After a moment of silence, Luca laughed. "You don't seem the helpful type. Or the type to talk this much." She realized that, since before she was even trasported, she had been rambling.

"What can I say?" He shrugged, veering off into one off the smaller corridors that branched out from the main hallway. "You bring it out in me, Princess."

She smiled, but, as he was walking ahead of her, he could not see it. "I'm honored."

"You should be." He stopped in front of the door that