I set the pen down.
Nine had finally dozed off in my arms, his breath slow and warm against my throat, but my mind never stopped spinning. Something had happened while I was away—something deliberate, cruel, and meant to break him.
And I was going to find out what.
By midmorning, I'd summoned the night staff who were assigned to my wing. Three maids, one handler, and a tech assistant. They stood in a nervous line outside my office door, fidgeting beneath the weight of my silence.
Nyx was coiled like a storm at the back of my mind.
Be calm, I told her.
She snarled. I will be once I rip the truth out of them.
I dismissed the handler and tech assistant first. Neither had even entered my quarters during my absence. But the maids—those three kept glancing at one another like the walls might swallow them whole.
"Again," I said, voice deceptively even, "what exactly did you do while I was gone?"
No one answered.
I stood from my desk slowly. "You were under direct instruction not to disturb Nine. To keep him calm. You weren't even supposed to speak to him unless necessary."
The tallest one—Lina—lowered her gaze. "We didn't speak to him, Supreme."
"Then what did you do?"
She hesitated.
Nyx slammed into the surface of my mind. LIE AGAIN. I DARE YOU.
Lina flinched.
One of the younger ones, barely older than a teenager, broke first. "It wasn't our choice," she blurted, voice shaking. "One of the old lab heads- Dr. Emily—said we had to play it."
My blood turned cold. "Play what?"
"A video. She gave us a data chip and told us to put it on the lounge screen in your quarters. We... we didn't know what it was. Not until it started."
"What was on it?"
None of them spoke.
"I said," I growled, "what was on it?"
Lina swallowed. "Footage."
I already knew. I knew before she said the next words.
"From the surveillance logs," she whispered. "From when Nine was... before. When he was lent out to the previous Supreme Leader's guests."
Everything inside me stilled.
I'd killed the Supreme Leader with my own hands.
But apparently, his filth hadn't died with him.
"You played that," I said, very quietly, "on the screen in my room."
The youngest maid was crying now.
"We didn't want to!" she said. "We didn't know he'd see it. But... the room was set to ambient loop mode. As soon as we inserted the chip, it started. We tried to stop it. But—he'd already—he saw it, Supreme."
They didn't need to say more.
I could imagine it too easily.
Nine, alone in the room where he'd started to feel safe. Maybe looking for something to distract him. And then the screen flickering to life—without warning, without context.
Showing him what they did to him.
What they let happen.
What I wasn't there to stop.
Nyx went completely still.
Kill them, she whispered.
"No," I said aloud.
All three maids flinched.
"I don't kill people for obeying orders." My voice was ice. "But I do kill people who give those orders."
I turned sharply to the guards at the door. "Find this Emily. I want all her details"
"Yes, Supreme."
"And you," I looked at the maids. "Get out. I don't want to see you again."
They bolted like prey.
The door clicked shut.
Silence.
Rage.
Guilt.
And something worse.
Something hollow.
I moved to the far cabinet and unlocked the secure terminal I barely touched anymore. The one I used only for sealed intel.
It blinked to life under my palm.
I pulled up the request logs.
There it was.
Dr. Emily. Clearance override. One-time access to my private quarters' media systems.
Approved under a seal that should've been revoked weeks ago.
I stared at it, breathing through the rising wave of nausea.
Then I entered a code to flag and trace the chip's origin.
The screen loaded slowly, freezing on the confirmation screen.
Would you like to open associated file?
My finger hovered over the screen.
Then I pressed the intercom.
"Bring me the original footage," I said.
The guard on the other end answered immediately. "Supreme—?"
"I want the chip. The full file. Every second of it."
"Yes, Supreme."
I leaned back in my chair.
And when the line went dead, I said softly—almost to myself—
"I'm going to watch it."