Virgin Guards The: Dictator

Not outside. Inside. Two guards on the floor, cross-legged, eyes open. The Dictator claims this is for security. Former staff whisper it’s because he hasn’t slept alone since a 1997 assassination attempt. The girls are his human nightlights.

— Excerpt from “Throne of Glass Hearts,” an upcoming investigation into the world’s last living absolute monarchy. virgin guards the dictator

He is "The Vessel." They are "The Seals." A Seal who speaks his birth name is stripped, hosed down in the courtyard, and sent to a "re-education farm" in the northern permafrost. No Seal has ever returned. Not outside

Because their families receive housing, medical care, and immunity from conscription. Because the alternative—returning to their villages as "used goods" with no skill but silence—is a slower death. The Dictator claims this is for security

They are the silent statues at the golden doors. The untouched sentinels. The "Daughters of the Absolute."

In the isolated fortress-state of Valdoria, the Dictator’s personal security is not handled by scarred generals or brutish mercenaries. It is handled by the —a unit of 13 young women selected from rural villages before their first blood. Their slogan: "Purity is the ultimate loyalty."

Every morning, the Captain of the Guard runs a white cotton glove over every doorframe, every window latch, every plate at breakfast. If a single smudge appears, the guard assigned to that sector spends 48 hours in the "Quiet Room"—a padded cell with no light, no sound, and no touch.