Chapter 12
Daiyu walked through the now-empty halls of the Lotus wing, her footsteps padding against the polished wooden floors. She peeked into the rooms as she went by, her gaze glossing over the embroidered couches, the spacious sitting rooms, and the unoccupied beds. True to his word, Muyang had dismissed all the women in the wing—save for her, of course.
“My lady, where exactly are we going?” her guard, an older man with a gravelly voice and a long beard, said gruffly as he joined her in glancing into the perfume-infused quarters like he might find something.
“Nowhere in particular.” Daiyu shrugged and continued down the corridor. She did feel slightly bad for forcing all the women to leave the opulent palace and all its luxurious wonders—like the soft beds, the fancy furniture, the maidservants who were at their beck and call, the arrays of food, and the expansive gardens—but anytime she remembered the horrible night of her poisoning, her resolve hardened and she knew this was the right choice to make. It was probably better for the women anyway, to not be tied down to a vicious monarch like Drakkon Muyang.
It had been a week since the emperor and all the women left the palace, but the palace still felt as ominous as it did with or without Muyang’s presence. It was like power oozed from every wall and tile, regardless of whether the owner of the place was here or not. She had thought she would find some peace in his absence, but the halls felt emptier and creepier like they were watching her every move.
And maybe they were. Maybe Muyang had asked his mages to watch her with magic, or maybe there was something sinister within these walls. She had no way to figure it out, and she didn’t plan to stay long enough to find out.
“Where do the mages stay?” she asked.
The guard gave her a strange look before staring straight ahead. “Wherever they please, I suppose.”
“You don’t know?” Daiyu laced her hands behind her back. “In my village, there are rumors that they live in towers.”
“Maybe they do.” He lifted his shoulders and shifted his spear into his other hand. “But I try to steer clear of the mages, and I suggest you do the same. Nothing good comes out of interfering with them.”
She thought of Feiyu and a shiver ran down her spine. “I never … I never said I would interfere with them. I’m just curious.”
“It’s best to keep yourself sparse around them,” he said with another shrug. Another shudder crawled through her body when he spoke his next words, “You never know what they’re thinking of or what they’re capable of.”
When Daiyu arrived in her room after her lackluster walk through the gardens and the Lotus wing, she was surprised to find a maidservant waiting for her with a trunk with clusters of multicolored crystals along the base and lid, and another similarly bejeweled small box in the woman’s hands.
“Good morning, my lady,” the older woman said with a low bow. “His Majesty has sent these gifts to you and a note.”
“Oh?” Daiyu couldn’t hold back her surprise or her apprehension as she eyed the case. It had only been a week since the emperor left for war, and already he had war prizes that he wanted to gift her? Would he give her a severed head of his enemy? Or the decaying corpse of a traitor? She swallowed down the sudden nerves buzzing in the pit of her stomach.
“Here you go.” The maidservant handed her a crisp, yellowed paper with swirling ink writing etched into it.
Daiyu stared at the elegant handwriting and turned the paper around. “I …” Embarrassment flooded her and she tried to smile at the older woman, who was watching her expectantly. “I’m … I’m actually unable to read. Would you mind reading it for me?”
Now it was the maid’s turn to look surprised. She nodded quickly and took the note from Daiyu’s hand. “I’m terribly sorry about that. I didn’t realize.” She blinked at the note and read, “To my dearest wife-to-be. I’ve noticed that you wear clothing that wash out your beautiful skin and make you look haggard. I’ve picked colors that I believe will suit you better. I believe they’ll look better on you—and even better—” The maid gasped, her cheeks reddening as she looked between Daiyu and back at the note. “Do … Do you wish for me to continue, my lady? This seems a little … private.”
Daiyu’s face flushed with color and although she hated that the maid was privy to the note, she had no other way of reading it, so she bobbed her head slowly. “Only if you can.”
The older woman cleared her throat. “I believe they’ll look better on you—and even better when I … take them off you. I’ve also gifted a set of hairpins that, similarly, will look splendid on you. And even better when … taken off. Yours, Muyang.”
The maid nearly thrust the small box in her hand to her, like she didn’t want any more part in this. Daiyu tentatively cracked open the box. There were six hairpins nestled inside velvet inserts. There were two gold hairpins embossed with swirling designs that, upon closer inspection, were tiny cranes. Two jade hairpins with dangling pearls on the ends. And two silver hairpins encrusted with sapphires. Her hands shook as she held the box; she had never received such a fancy gift before, and the idea of keeping something this luxurious made her heart nearly stop.
“Do you wish to look at the dresses, my lady?”
She set down the box of hairpins on her dresser and turned her attention on the trunk, her nerves getting the best of her as the maidservant unlatched the lid and threw it open. Daiyu was unprepared for the silk dresses inside. The shades of dresses ranged from fiery red to deep sapphires, lush emerald, creamy pearls, and rich golds. It was more than she could have imagined, and when she placed the clothes against her skin, they seemed to go well with her tan skin. All the pale dresses that were currently in her wardrobe seemed plain in comparison to these.
“These are stunning,” she breathed, running her hands over the gold embroidered threads of a dark purple dress. In truth, these did seem to suit her more than the other clothes that had been assigned to her, and the thought of Muyang picking these out made her blush deepen. She shouldn’t have been swayed by these expensive gifts, and yet … she found her heart swelling with excitement.
“They are stunning,” the maidservant remarked with a wide, toothy grin on her leathered face. She patted Daiyu’s hand. “You’ll be his bride and soon, all these gifts will seem so small compared to everything you’ll have!”
Daiyu’s smile faltered and she could only nod. The older woman had no clue she was planning on leaving, and the idea was like a slap of reality to her face.
She couldn’t be too happy with these dresses, especially since she likely wouldn’t wear them for long. She needed to go back home, where life was simpler. Where she wore worn-out clothes with too many patched up holes, where her grass-sandaled shoes were so thin she needed to make new ones, and where her family was patiently waiting for her.
“Would you like to try them on, my lady?” The maidservant held up a dark green dress with swirling gold dragons dancing along the skirts.
“Maybe tomorrow,” she replied weakly.
When the maidservant left and Daiyu was alone with all her gifts, guilt weighed heavily on her conscience. She shouldn’t have been here. She was supposed to be home. She was supposed to tend to the family garden since Lanfen didn’t have a green thumb, and make herbal tea for her grandmother to help with her aching body, and scrub the grime off her twin brother’s clothes after they helped Father in the rice paddies. She was supposed to milk their family cow early in the morning since Mother liked to drink milk tea before setting to work. She was supposed to braid Lanfen’s hair since she did her hair better than her. She was supposed to do more than sit here and be a pretty doll. Her hands were roughened with tough work, and they weren’t meant to be idle.
She twiddled her fingers together to keep them from fussing over the dresses and to keep them from snatching one of the hairpins. She paced her room again, her mind growing more tangled with every step, every breath, and every thought. Her chance of escape seemed even slimmer than before. What could she do to leave this place?
Perhaps she could ask Feiyu to spirit her away and ask her family to move far, far away as well? But she shook that thought away the instant it formed. She couldn’t burden her elderly parents like that, nor her siblings, who had friends and ambitions in the village. It would be too much for everyone to throw their lives away—everything they had worked for—and run because she had been na?ve and unlucky enough to catch the wicked emperor’s attention.
Daiyu tossed and turned, her gaze flicking up to the roof of the bed and then to the carved wooden lattices along the four-poster frame. The only sound in the room was the flickering fire in the hearth, the howling of the wind outside her shuttered windows, and the occasional booms of thunder. Even though she had lit a spiced incense stick an hour before bed, she couldn’t sleep.
She pulled the silk sheets over her face and breathed in the sandalwood smell clinging to them from the incense. Nights were truly the hardest in the palace; it was also when she felt the most alone.
She turned her focus on the pitter-patter of rain hitting her shutters and tried to force herself to be lulled to sleep by it. Right when her eyelids began to feel heavy, the sound of wood creaking just outside her door and the jangle of her door handle snapped her awake. She sat upright in bed, and all of a sudden, the fire in her room died.
Everything became dark in an instant, and she knew that something was very, very wrong.
The door slowly swung open and if she wasn’t awake, she might not have heard it clicking shut behind the intruder. Her heart hammered in her chest and she narrowed her eyes into the darkness of the room. Everything was too dark for her to make out anything.
Her heart hammered in her chest and she slowly reached for the emperor’s dagger that she kept under her pillow. The smooth handle of the weapon seemed to fit perfectly in her hand as she brought it in front of her.
Footsteps padded through the room, and Daiyu carefully pulled the blankets off her now-clammy body. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the shadows in the room, and her stomach dropped to the floor at the sight of a figure approaching her, his arms spread out like he too couldn’t see that well in the dark. But just as her eyesight was adjusting—his likely was too.
Daiyu eyed the doorway and then the man that was slowly creeping his way here. She couldn’t easily run past him, but if she caught him off guard, then maybe … maybe she had a chance.
Without wasting another second, she leaped off the bed and sprinted to the door. The man grunted and lunged toward her. She was only a few feet away, but her vision blurred and a scream ripped through her throat as a body slammed into her. She crashed onto the floor and rolled with the man, who struggled to clasp his meaty hands around her throat. Daiyu waved the dagger in front of her body defensively and the blade was met with resistance. She yanked harder, and the man cursed loudly. Splotches of warm blood splattered her face and she continued flailing the weapon in front of her.
“Stop that!” the man growled, grasping her neck tightly.
Daiyu continued to thrash, her already-dark vision growing dimmer. She kicked him hard between the legs and he inhaled sharply, his hold on her loosening. It was all the time she needed to crawl out from under him.
“Feiyu!” she screamed, rushing to the door. “Feiyu?—”
The intruder grabbed her ankle and yanked her backward. The room spun and she slammed to the floor once more, her chin cracking against the hard tile. She reached for her dagger, but it had skidded a foot away from her.
“Get off me! Help!” She clawed her way forward, her hands gripping the edge of her rug as the man continued to pull her. Her gaze was locked on the door, waiting for guards to bust through, or for Feiyu to teleport to her room like he had a few weeks ago. “Help!”
“You bitch.” The intruder smothered a cloth over her face and she struggled against him, her limbs growing heavy. “Stop moving so much, or I’ll accidentally cut that pretty neck of yours.”
Something cold touched her throat, but she could barely keep her eyes open. He was saying something else too, but the words were muffled, like there was a barrier between them. In seconds, her world became a black void.