The De Emperor held his face, his eyes vicious, and stared hard at the Xuan Emperor. He said, spacing out every word, "Father Emperor, did that slap cool your anger any?

Tomorrow I'll trouble Father Emperor to take a walk through the city with me... Your child has done everything duty could ask. I hope Father Emperor won't make things hard for your child!"

The Xuan Emperor was shaking with rage. He was about to speak when a guard of the imperial presence came running and dropped to his knees. "Reporting to Your Majesty..."

The guard glanced at the Xuan Emperor and stopped, the rest of it stuck in his throat.

The De Emperor was already seething. "If you've got something to say, spit it out! What are you dawdling for?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, Princess Consort Wu... Princess Consort Wu has disappeared!"

A jolt went through the De Emperor. "What did you say?" he burst out. "Princess Consort Wu has disappeared?"

The guard's voice shook. "Yes... Princess Consort Wu stayed in her room all day today and never came out. By the time we realized something was wrong, she was gone!"

The De Emperor ground his teeth. "You had all those men watching her. Princess Consort Wu is a weak woman. What, did she grow wings and fly away?"

"Please pardon us, Your Majesty!"

"Pardon, pardon... All you know how to do is beg this emperor's pardon! Send people out to find her, now! If you don't find Princess Consort Wu, this emperor will have every one of you killed, you useless pack of trash."

"Yes! This servant will go look right away!"

The guard bowed and scrambled off as fast as he could.

The De Emperor's face was livid. His own men had her under heavy guard, and still Princess Consort Wu had vanished. A weak woman like her couldn't have pulled that off. Someone must have helped her.

Princess Consort Wu's disappearance was no small matter.

He hadn't just lost an important hostage for keeping Prince Wu in line. There would also be no explaining it to…