The Golden Cage

[Omi]

Justice?, she wanted to say. You can start by razing your own world to the ground, and finish with yourself. Enma's words were testing her patience, although Charlotte couldn't tell if the provocation was deliberate or simply bad diplomacy. Was that how these people meted out justice? The other woman on Valetta had been a hateful creature, but Enma had confirmed something the princess had suspected all along - her callous, deadened attitude had been brought on by the Maltese people themselves. It was a stretch to call it pity, but something had washed in to dilute the white-hot hatred she'd previously felt towards that pathetic creature. The idea of a punishment setting anything right for her was entirely the wrong line of thinking.

"I choose nothing," she said carefully, her tone strengthening for the first time. Her voice was still laden with suspicion - there were still far too many questions unanswered, where she was and by whose authority being the main two - but if this Loyola wanted to play games with her, then she'd better go along. "There's no punishment you can give that can set things right." Those were the truest words she'd said all day, and they came out rather more bitter than she'd intended. "Instead, could you please answer my questions? Where am I-" she gestured around her to indicate the room as a whole "-and who owns this place? Is it you, or are you just the spokeswoman for some lord?" She thought about stopping there, but something in the other woman's demeanour spurred her just one step further. "And after that, I would like you to leave me and my- these two friends of mine alone. I would prefer to eat with them alone, if it's all the same." I've seen enough of you Maltese bastards for a lifetime, and if I have to eat dinner listening to you I'd rather go hungry. In the end, it still wouldn't matter what she wanted - if Enma told her to jump, Charlotte would have asked how high - but the leash had slackened for a moment, and she was only too happy to let her caution lapse a little with a few choice words. It was good for the soul, and a calculated risk - the 'good cop' act Enma was putting on would stretch further than a few barbed words, Charlotte was sure of that.

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