Chapter 4

Willow just laughed in his face. “There is only one reward you can pay, and now it is too late for that. Be warned, if not for these two, I would have already started to skin you a strip of skin at a time while still alive, as slowly as I could. You raped my sister four years ago while she was on her way home from the palace.” The Duke’s eyes grew large as his lips began to tremble.

Willow hooked a small metal clip to the bottom of his balls. As he wondered what she was doing, she clipped a small, soft metal clamp around his cock just behind the head. “Now, I will ask you, Gregor, and I WILL enjoy what comes next if you don’t answer. WHAT PART did you play in this?” She gave him a short jolt before she looked back. The bastard seemed to like it! “Grrrrrrr okay,” she cranked up the voltage halfway, “enjoy this, you sick fucking bastard!”

As the current began the flow, the Duke howled as it felt like his cock was on fire. Still, he refused to talk. Again, she turned it on, slowly increasing the voltage. This time, he began to shriek and scream as Willow evilly laughed at his discomfort. “You like it? It’s a little invention of his,” she nodded to Jim, “a most effective form of torture he and I discovered that works just as well on women, something I am surprised you didn’t come up with.”

After he started to scream to stop, Willow shut it down, watching the slobbering, crying, and begging figure of the Duke sag as the current was discontinued. Jim stepped forward and stated, “Now, you will give us the names and the plans of all involved.” Dickie started recording, and he spoke into his com. “Compliance,” it droned. For the next three hours, the Duke confessed, surprising the Princess with who was involved and who wasn’t.

Over the next five months, of the sixty council members, forty began to disappear, one at a time, until three days before the sixth month of the disappearance of the shuttle, when the Princess appeared at the gate of the capital city. As she made her way toward the Empire Capital building, word began to spread quickly that there was a survivor of the royals. Jim rode beside her in the speeder as they approached the building. The last twenty council members were there to greet her. Standing up in the speeder, she announced, “I am Princess Amber, the last surviving daughter of Emperor Kenneth. I stand before the council to claim what is the birthright of my family.”

As many crowded around, a huge cheer went up from the crowd. The council stepped forward. The eldest said, “We must have confirmation of your identity.” He said as he bowed (though he was certain it was her; it was always better to be safe than sorry). A special scan unit with the DNA samples of the royal family was brought from a locked and secure vault. As the female tech started to scan her, then over her stomach, the tech’s mouth dropped open, and Amber looked at her and did not say a word. The tech smiled in understanding and stepped back. Straightening up, she stated, “It is Princess Amber, daughter of Emperor Kenneth.”

A huge cheer again went up from the crowd as the remaining council members all bowed low, followed by the rest of the crowd. Amber leaned back against Jim as a wave of nausea swept over her, and she stifled a feeling to heave up all over the speeder, he held her close as many of the council stared open-mouthed and cleared the way to let her make her way into her old home.

Amber walked into her chamber, Jim trailing close behind her, “feeling better?” He inquired a worried look on his face.

“Yes, Jim,” she sighed, “I’m not a baby.”

“No, but right now, you need to take it easy,” he replied

“Jim, I am about to be crowned Empress. I can not afford to take it easy or relax, we have a mess to clean up after this council business is over with.” She sighed as she sunk into the plush chair at the desk.

Jim also sighed, his tall form sinking into a chair next to her. “I know, Amber, we opened a huge can of worms when we “removed” over half of the council; it’s left many questions about their disappearances, and unfortunately a lot of fingers are pointing at you. We’ll answer those soon; after all, they did commit treason toward the Emperor and his family trying to eliminate all of you and end the Joltaline line,” leaning close, he whispered, “By the way, I happen to like the Joltaline line.”

Amber smiled, reaching over to caress Jim’s face and kissed him. Jim stood up, pulled a small black box from his pocket, and began to scan the room. Amber looked at him questionably as he began to pull devices from lights behind furniture, in furniture, out of light switches, and even many lines in the carpet itself. “Okay, so far so good,” he said, as an hour later, he had pulled over one hundred listening devices from the room. “Now for the real exam.”

Next, Jim pulled an even smaller device that Amber did recognize, switching it on, and he breathed out, “It’s clear enough now; I got the basic ones and a few of the advanced ones. This beauty can block and disable anything left here. It’s a sonic scrambler and em pulse generator, a tight beam, of course, something I used at the station.” Amber collapsed further into the seat, breathing another sigh. “Can it keep anyone listening in from outside with an electronic ear?”