Chapter 25
Daiyu was a foolish, foolish fool.
It was the conclusion she had come to as she hastily folded the dozen or so dresses she had received from Muyang—or more specifically, one of his servants. She shoved the silk clothes into the wooden trunk with dragons carved along the edges of it. Even though she was in Muyang’s room, she hadn’t seen or heard from him since yesterday, when he had told her she was leaving for the palace. And this morning, when a servant had abruptly woken her up, ushering her to hastily get ready for her departure, she realized just how na?ve she had been.
Had she actually thought Muyang would change his mind? A small part of her had foolishly thought he would. Maybe he would think about that moment they had shared together in the woods, amidst danger, where they had opened up to one another just the briefest moment. But whatever rainbow-like dream Daiyu had was shattered that morning.
Just because she had accepted her fate to marry Drakkon Muyang didn’t magically make him the perfect suitor. He was still crude, unapologetic, and terrifying—and she was just one of his many women. He might have “favored” her right now, but that wouldn’t last forever, and it certainly wouldn’t be enough to keep her alive in his court. And that was her number one priority right now—surviving and making sure her family was well taken care of. She wasn’t marrying Muyang because she liked him, and this was the reality check she needed.
Slamming the lid of the trunk shut, she spun around to call for a servant, only to find Atreus standing at the threshold of the room. She bit back a startled yelp. “Oh, Atreus!” She laughed unexpectedly. “You scared me half to death.”
“Apologies, Lady Daiyu.” He lowered his head with a sheepish grin. “I knocked, but you were so lost in thought and I didn’t know how to intercede without startling you. It appears I’ve failed either way.” He motioned a tan hand toward the chest sitting on her bed. “May I?”
Daiyu nodded, moving aside as he came to take her small box of belongings—fancy things that she was somehow now in possession of, like the luxurious dresses she had just folded, metallic and jade hairpins with trinkets hanging on the ends, and pretty fur-lined shoes and cloaks meant for travel through the wintry landscape.
“I’m sorry to have you leave so soon.” He hoisted the trunk easily off the bed and walked to the doorway as if the box weighed nothing. “You’ll be in good hands, though. Nikator will offer more entertaining company than I ever could.”
“No, you’re entertaining enough,” she said with a small smile as they entered the hallway. Although the youth had been a stoic companion during their travel after the kidnapping incident, it had been reassuring to have someone by her side. “Truthfully, I’d be more comfortable if you came along since I actually know you.”
“I’m flattered. But you’ll become accustomed to Nikator; he has a way of making the people around him comfortable.” He frowned as if realizing he was complimenting his brother, who he seemed to have a playful rivalry with. “But don’t tell him I said that. He’s also the type to let those things get to his head.”
Daiyu laughed and was reminded of her own brothers Ran and Qianfan. Soon, her smile faded as she wondered how they were doing. It had been so many months since she had last seen or spoken to her family, and it was rare for her to be away from them for so long. Were they eating well? Were they still bickering about whose clothes belonged to who? Were they sleeping enough?
The biting wind jolted her out of her thoughts when they stepped inside the chilling courtyard just outside the fortress gates. Daiyu tightened her fur-lined cloak around her body as Atreus loaded her trunk into the back of the closed carriage. Half a dozen soldiers surrounded the horse-drawn cart with their own horses. Nikator poked his head out of the carriage window and waved down at her.
“Morning!” he called out. “Did you get everything you needed?”
“It seems like I’m the last one to arrive,” she said, eyeing the soldiers clad in leather and armor, the dragon emblem emblazoned on their breastplates. She searched the crowd for Muyang but couldn’t find him. Disappointment filled the pits of her stomach and she tried not to show it.
Nikator swung open the door to the carriage and hopped out smoothly. His red hair appeared even brighter in the morning light, and his blue eyes shone like a sparkling sea. He clapped Atreus on the back. “I wish we could have spent more time together, but I’ll be heading off before you.”
“Send Vita my greetings.”
“Sure, sure.” The two embraced, and Atreus eventually slugged the other in the abdomen playfully. While they quipped with one another, Daiyu turned to stare back at the looming fortress. It had been her home for the past few weeks and she found she was somewhat sad to leave it behind, but even worse was the fact that there was no one—other than Atreus—to see her off.
Her mood soured and she examined the windows of the fortress, hoping to see some movement, some sign that Muyang was watching her leave. But she spotted nothing of that sort.
“Lady Daiyu?”
Turning back to Nikator and Atreus, she could only strain a smile. “I’m ready.”
Traveling with Nikator was unexpectedly more entertaining than it had been with Atreus—just like the youth had warned. The red-haired young man would point out different pieces of landscape and tell her random stories of a crazed fight it reminded him of, or he would talk about stories he had heard during his travels, or anything to fill the silence between them. By the fifth day, Daiyu was more comfortable around him. Enough to probe with her own questions.
“So”—she stretched her legs out in the spacious carriage floor and leaned back into the velvet cushions behind her—“how long have you known His Majesty?”
Nikator, who sat across from her and was humming to himself as he stared out the window, turned to her. “Hm. For as long as I can remember,” he mused, drumming his fingers against his thigh. The scenery of snow and slush passed them in blurs of white. “Maybe twelve years? I’m about eighteen, not sure of the exact age, but I would say twelve or so years.”
“How did you meet him? I noticed Atreus is, well, foreign, and he told me he’s from Sanguis. I just find it hard to imagine His Majesty meeting two foreign boys at such a young age?—”
“Oh, he didn’t find us here in Huo.” Nikator grinned and rubbed a strand of his bright hair between his fingers. “You really think he’d find a red-haired kid here?”
Daiyu canted her head. “Where else, then?”
“In Sanguis, of course.”
“He traveled all the way there?” Maybe it was because she was from the countryside, but she had never met anyone who had traveled outside of the empire. It was mostly unheard of, especially since Huo didn’t have good relations with either of its neighboring kingdoms—Sanguis or Kadios.
“All members of the Peccata are from Sanguis,” he explained with a wave. “I’m originally from Lebel, though, and was sold into slavery at some point when my village was raided by slavers. Atreus’s mother was a slave, so he naturally became one too. Minos as well, if I remember correctly. And as for Vita and Thera, I believe they were sold into it by their families to pay off debts. Or something along those lines. Remus, like me, was stolen during a raid. Or so we believe.”
Daiyu didn’t know what to say, so she only stared at him. She had heard that slavery was common in Sanguis and Kadios, but she had, once again, never had experience with it before. She had heard tales as a child that those who lived on the border of Huo had a higher chance of being attacked by raiders, but she had chalked that up to silly stories to scare children into behaving.
“Did His Majesty … purchase you and the others?” Even saying the words aloud sent an uncomfortable prickle beneath her skin, and she cringed inwardly.
Nikator’s eyes widened in shock and he shook his head profusely. “Oh, no. His Majesty freed us.”
“Oh.” The awkward, itchy feeling seemed to subside, but not entirely. She shifted in her seat and fidgeted with her sleeves, unable to look away from him. He didn’t look like he was mistreated in any way, and she assumed he was well taken care of if he was a part of Muyang’s special forces, but a part of her wondered if he was forced to be this way. Forced into this lifestyle of being a special warrior. Surely, Muyang hadn’t freed him and the others out of the goodness of his heart? For all of them to end up like this?
“His Majesty freed us and helped raise us,” he continued, resting his chin on his closed fist as he leaned toward the window. A glassy, faraway look entered his eyes. “It was fun up until four years ago. We used to travel all over the world. There was no place we hadn’t visited—or at least it felt like that as a child. But now we’ve settled down here.”
“What happened four years ago?” She laced her hands together. “Isn’t that when His Majesty took the throne?” She would have thought he would be thrilled that Muyang achieved his goal of taking the throne, but the youth appeared jaded.
Nikator sighed loudly and his breath fogged the ends of the window. When he turned back to her, his smile was faint. “Many things have changed since His Majesty took the throne. The dynamic of all of our relationships is different now and we’re no longer children running amuck in a faraway adventure.”
She wanted to ask more, but something in the air told her not to push it. She folded her hands together and let the silence envelop them both. The carriage bumped along the path, jolting them both with every rock or uneven ground it rolled over. The only sound from outside was the clomping of horse hooves and the crush of snow from the wheels of the carriage.
After a moment, Daiyu quietly said, “I think … someone is after me.”
“What?”
“I think someone’s after me,” she said, louder this time.
Nikator blinked at her like he had heard wrong and then shifted his attention to the window, squinting through the glass panes as if to find someone lurking in the trees. “Here?”
“At the palace.” She picked at something beneath her nail and tried to calm her nerves, all of which screamed at her to keep this to herself. He hadn’t shown her any signs that she couldn’t trust him, but with so many enemies around in the palace, she didn’t know who to trust with information and who not to. But she was going off on a limb here that maybe he’d be okay to talk to about this. “I was poisoned a few weeks ago at the palace, so there’s clearly someone out there who wants to kill me. Maybe they’re jealous that the emperor chose me? I don’t know. But it’s just too much of a coincidence for me that I’m poisoned and then a few weeks later kidnapped from the palace. And, to make it worse, my family’s rice paddies—our livelihood—are then burned down. I truly think someone is after me.” She blurted the words out in one sentence, and even to her own ears, she sounded slightly deranged and fearful. “I know it sounds crazy to think that someone would be after me—I mean, I’m a nobody—but I really do think?—”
“You don’t sound crazy.” A tiny wedge formed between his eyebrows. “That is a matter to be concerned about. Like you said, there are too many coincidences. If I had to give my input, I’d say it’s probably a noble family that wants you dead because they wanted their daughter to be the first to be chosen by His Majesty. Or maybe it’s a noblewoman who’s jealous that you gained His Majesty’s favor instead of her.”
Hearing the words out loud made it seem all the more real, and Daiyu’s stomach knotted itself together like tangled thorns. “I assumed that too, but why would they target my family?”
“Maybe so you pull out of the royal selection?”
She couldn’t help herself—she snorted. “As if I have that kind of a choice.”
“Don’t worry too much about it,” he said with an easy grin. “Vita and I will be there to protect you. Now that you’ve brought it up to my attention, I’ll be extra vigilant to look out for any threats. So worry not.”
Even though he said it so chipperly, Daiyu couldn’t ease the anxiety clawing up her throat. Because as much as she liked Nikator and Atreus, they weren’t loyal to her. They were loyal to Muyang, and once Muyang’s circle of women grew, they wouldn’t prioritize her safety—only the safety of whoever His Majesty favored at the time. Right now, that might have been her, but who would it be months from now?
She needed to figure this out herself, she decided as she stared out the window at the colorless scenery, her mind traveling to the palace. If she wanted to survive in the royal court, she needed to be just as vicious and cunning as its emperor.