Empire’s Curse (Drakkon #1)

Chapter 29

All four of them—Princess Biyu, Princess Liqin, Nikator, and Daiyu—were seated around a circular wooden table with clouds and dragons engraved along the surface, and with carved snakes climbing up the legs. The chairs were similarly designed. Beside them, cherry blossom trees swayed with branches heavy with pink blossoms, their petals and sweet cherry scent carrying over to the somber mood hanging over the group.

Princess Biyu hugged her cat to her chest and petted her from time to time, while Princess Liqin picked at a loose, silver thread in her periwinkle-colored sleeve. Neither met Nikator’s steely gaze as he bored holes into them. The guards were a dozen or so feet away, close enough to spring into action when necessary, but far away enough that they couldn’t eavesdrop.

Daiyu traced the scales along the dragon carving closest to her and cleared her throat. “I’m terribly sorry for interrupting both of your time,” she said with a broad smile that she hoped conveyed friendliness and openness. “My name is Yin Daiyu, and you both are … Princess Biyu and Princess Liqin, correct?”

Biyu bobbed her head shyly, her wide-eyed gaze flicking between Daiyu and Nikator before she tucked her chin inward and stared at her cat intently. Liqin pasted a strained smile and pointedly ignored Nikator.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Liqin said. “My sister and I have heard about you. Congratulations.”

“Ah, thank you.” Daiyu wasn’t sure what the cheers was for—the fact that she had somehow been chosen by the emperor, would marry him, or was about to be the wife of the most powerful man in the empire? While at the same time straddling the anxiety, fear, and responsibilities that came with such a position?

She shifted on her seat and laced her hands together to keep from fidgeting. She needed to come across as a well-put-together lady, not someone who had no idea what she was doing. The more confident she appeared, the more likely these two would open up to her. Or so she hoped.

“I actually wanted to talk to you both about something related to the royal selection.” She kept her voice level and watched the two of them carefully. “Ever since I was chosen, I’ve actually been targeted twice. Once by a poisoning, and the second time by a kidnapping. Both of these events may be linked. I was wondering if either of you know anything about them?”

Liqin’s brows pulled together in worry. “Oh. I had heard about the kidnapping—which I’m so very sorry to hear about. But I didn’t know someone also tried to poison you. That sounds awful. I’m glad to see that you’re doing fine.”

“Thank you.” Daiyu glanced at Biyu, who simply watched her below long lashes. “I’m doing much better now, but I would appreciate any insight into who could have done such a thing.”

“We don’t know anything, unfortunately,” Liqin continued. “We’re rather cut off from society, actually, so we don’t really know what goes on throughout the palace or the empire. It’s been that way for a few years now … But if we come across any information, we’d be happy to let you know. Right, Biyu?”

Biyu jumped in her seat, turning between Liqin and then Daiyu. She shrank in her seat. “Ah, yes. I’m sorry.”

Was she being tense because she knew something or because Nikator was close by? Daiyu wasn’t sure, and by the way Nikator was glaring at her, she was even less unsure. If she had to judge the situation on its own, she’d assume the princesses were telling the truth and had no part in this. After all, what did they gain from pushing her down the ladder? Only a noblewoman interested in the emperor would want to keep her from Muyang. And these two women were very clearly terrified of the emperor. But the way Biyu was acting was suspicious.

“Do you know of any noble lady who would want to hurt me?”

Liqin laughed softly but stiffened when Nikator shot her a look. “Pretty much every noble lady who’s single?” She straightened in her seat, her smile twitching. “I’m … really sorry that we’re not very helpful.”

Daiyu opened her mouth to speak, when something out of the corner of her eye grabbed her attention. It was a blur of color among the trees and when she turned her head, she caught sight of light blue clothes. Nikator sprang forward, grasped the edge of the table and shot something from his hand at the trees. Daiyu barely had time to blink—to breathe—before he lunged over the table and threw another blade at the assailant.

She scrambled back in her seat and one of the princesses screamed. The two guards swarmed them, shoving the princesses to the ground and holding their spears in front of them protectively. Everything happened so fast that all Daiyu could do was kneel behind one of the chairs, her wild gaze sweeping over the gardens.

What just happened?

Nikator grunted and rose up from a few feet away by a copse of cherry blossom trees. He frowned down at the light-blue-clad individual and cast a narrowed, suspicious scowl at the princesses. “Seems like we had some company.”

“A spy?” Daiyu hoisted herself up on shaky legs with the help of the chair and inched closer to Nikator.

“No.” Nikator leaned down and pulled something from the crumpled person on the ground. He raised it up for her to see—it was a short knife with a circular design with a bolt of lightning running through it on the hilt. “An assassin.”

“A wha—” Daiyu’s words died away on her lips when she came to stand beside Nikator. She grasped the rough tree bark for support when her legs wobbled further. The man was twisted into an unnatural position, a dagger buried in his forehead and slick blood coating his face in a vermillion mask. Her stomach twisted and she quickly looked away. It was the last thing she had expected—for the man to be dead and to come across the corpse so easily. “Well, Nikator, it appears like you’re a good marksman,” she somehow managed to say through the queasiness. “What, um, makes you think he’s an assassin?”

“This.” He handed her the knife that had been on the man. “This symbol belongs to Lei Sheng, one of the most infamous and largest known assassination group in the empire.”

“Ah.” She felt even more lightheaded with that new piece of information. She turned the knife over and ran a finger over the embossed design on the leathered hilt. Her reflection from the blade appeared calm, but she felt anything but that. “An assassin? Wonderful.”

“If you ever had any doubts that someone was targeting you,” Nikator said, frowning down at the corpse dressed like a servant, “then this should definitely resolve them.”

So someone most definitely was after her, and by the looks of it, they weren’t planning on stopping until she was dead.

Daiyu paced in her room for the hundredth time that week. Feiyu was casually sitting on her couch, ankles crossed and propped on her tea table, and an open scroll in his hands he was reading from. Nikator sat across from him, sharpening his daggers against one another. It was becoming more commonplace for the two of them to be in her room like this, doing their own thing while she lost herself in her thoughts.

“Feiyu, are you sure no one is after my family?” She spun around to face the mage, who wore a sapphire dragon mask today with snarling teeth at the mouth.

He didn’t even bother looking up from the scroll. “I checked in on them earlier today. Nothing amiss.”

“And the protection spell is still intact?”

“Like I said earlier, yes.”

She chewed on her lower lip and continued pacing again. “Someone is after me.”

“Yes, you mentioned that.”

“You don’t sound concerned.” She pinned him with an accusatory glare, but he continued to read from the scroll and didn’t bother meeting her gaze.

“Daiyu, I work for His Majesty, whose life is always in danger. I’m quite accustomed to threats and danger.”

Nikator raised his head from sharpening his blades. “His Majesty will probably be able to investigate once he returns.”

She wrung her hands together and continued to walk in circles around her room. She didn’t like the idea of relying on Muyang to help her, especially when there was no guarantee that he would care. She was becoming more and more uncertain about this whole marriage in the first place—was all of this hassle worth it? Would she and her family forever be in danger so long as she was married to Muyang?

“You’re safe here,” Feiyu assured. “Nikator is a great guard and Vita will be here shortly, so you’ll be even safer. If I had to make a bet on who’s a better warrior, I’d put my money on Vita—” Feiyu raised his hand just in time as Nikator’s dagger flung toward him and stopped it midair, inches away from his dragonoid mask. “Now that’s not very nice, Nik.”

“I knew you’d catch it.” He snatched the dagger away and began sharpening it once more, his scowl ever present. “Vita is not better than me.”

Daiyu sighed and flopped down on the couch beside Nikator. She had grown accustomed to the thorny banter between Feiyu and Nikator and the various attempts from both parties to attack the other—though, it seemed to be in jest, much to her horror the first time around.

“You both love to talk about random nothings, but when it comes to actually pressing matters, you have nothing to say.” She gave them both a pointed stare and covered her eyes with her arm. “Someone is after me. Someone tried to assassinate me. Does that not matter to you both? Or are you so used to the people around you being attacked that this is nothing special?”

“I think the latter sums up our reaction.” Feiyu’s tone was cheery and she chucked an ornamental pillow his way, which he—as she had annoyingly expected—dodged with a short laugh.

“You’re safe within these palace walls.” Nikator eyed the fallen pillow. “Even in the gardens, I protected you, and when Vita comes over, you’ll be even more protected.”

“That’s all well and dandy, Nikator, and I’m grateful you were there to help me, but just being within these palace walls isn’t enough to protect me. Need I remind you that I was kidnapped during my stay here?”

Feiyu unraveled his scroll further, the crinkling of the parchment filling the sudden silence in the room. “About that, the guards that were guarding your room that night were interrogated, and they were actually drugged with magic before the attack happened. What that tells me is that this was definitely planned and whoever is after you has a mage on their side and is probably the same mage who burned your family’s rice paddies.”

“Do you think they’re also the same person who employed that assassin?”

“Maybe?” Feiyu lifted his head from his reading. “Lei Sheng assassins are some of the best—if not the best—assassin groups out there, and to pay for their services, one must be wealthy. Especially if it’s an assassination attempt that requires sneaking into the royal palace.”

“So whoever is after me is probably a noble,” Daiyu said with a long sigh. They had expected that much, since mages only worked under affluent patrons. She still guessed that whoever was after her was a bitter, jealous noblewoman—or her family—who had wanted to marry the emperor.

“Probably.” Nikator began sharpening his blades once more, the sound of the two blades smoothly grinding against one another filling the air. “But I really don’t see what they would gain going after you.”

“This is the world of politics,” Daiyu grumbled, pushing herself onto her elbows. “There could be hundreds of women who want to kill me so they can be the first to marry the emperor.”

“I don’t see why it matters who the first is.”

“Well, I don’t know either, but I doubt it’s someone from my hometown going through all this trouble to off me.”

Feiyu chuckled softly. “Can you imagine that? Old farmer Chen is actually behind all of this.”

Daiyu made a very unladylike snort. “That would be hilarious. And horrible. I actually like everyone back home.”

“Now that’s hilarious.” Feiyu snickered.

“Everyone?” Nikator added.

“Yes, everyone.” She rolled her eyes and sat upright. “Unlike the circles here, in smaller, rural villages, everyone is sort of friends with each other. You kind of have to be, since we all have to have each other’s backs when things get rough. Like if there’s a storm and you need to shelter somewhere. Or when you run out of eggs, who else do you go to? Or when you have too many carrots in your garden, who else do you trade with? Life is much simpler back home.”

“Do you prefer it there than here?” Nikator lifted one of his daggers and inspected the edge of it. It gleamed menacingly and even she could tell that it was deadly sharp. “I can see the appeal if you do.”

“At times.”

“Do you still want to go back home?”

“Sometimes,” she murmured, her gaze flicking over to the window.

For a moment, they all remained silent. Feiyu undid and wrapped his scroll, and Nikator continued sharpening his blades, the zing of the blades joining the crinkling of aged paper. Daiyu breathed out deeply, hating the sudden spike of anxiety churning in her stomach, making her want to vomit.

“What—” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. She turned to the other two, who paused in what they were doing. “What ever happened to Prince Yat-sen? Atreus told me he was sent to the palace, but I haven’t seen him anywhere. Is he in the same place the princesses are kept?”

“No. The princes are kept in a separate wing than the princesses.” Nikator spun the now-sharpened daggers in the air, caught them, and slashed the air. Seemingly satisfied, he tucked them into their black-scaled sheaths. “Prince Yat-sen is currently locked away in the eastern tower as punishment for using magic.”

Daiyu cringed at the imagery. She had heard the eastern side of the palace was where the royal mages frequented, so it was likely he was being held captive and watched by those same mages. It only made sense since he harbored powerful magic, she supposed, for him to be guarded by those who practiced even more potent magic than he did.

“It’s my fault he’s even there. I … I had hoped His Majesty would show him more grace.”

“His Majesty is strict with his rules,” Feiyu said quietly.

“Yes, but Prince Yat-sen was only helping me and now he’s …” She balled her hands together. “How long will he be trapped there?”

“Until His Majesty says so.” Nikator shrugged, not seeming concerned at all.

“That could be … years, couldn’t it?”

“I doubt it. Probably a few weeks.”

“You think so?”

Nikator nodded. “Yes, but if you want my honest opinion, it doesn’t really matter if he’s in the eastern tower or his bedroom. Because either way, he’s still a prisoner here.”

That deflated what little hope she had left of the young prince and she sagged against the couch. It was all her fault that he was being punished and there was nothing she could do about it. Sure, she could try to sneak into the eastern tower to help him, but she was sure that would only make his case even worse. And besides, with the mages frequenting that place, she doubted she would make it far.

“Is there any way you can help?” she asked Feiyu.

He was already shaking his head as if he knew what she was going to ask. “Forgive me, but I’m not going to go against His Majesty’s wishes. Although I might help you from time to time, and one can even say we’re friends, please don’t forget that I work directly under His Majesty.”

She sighed, her shoulders dropping even further as she sank into the cushions. “All right, I understand.”

“You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you?” Feiyu asked, his tone sharpening.

“No. I think I’d just make it worse for him.”

“Good.”

“But—” Daiyu’s tone lifted. “Do you think there’s anything I can do to help him?”

“Ask His Majesty to forgive him, maybe?”

Nikator sniggered. “That could also backfire and make His Majesty keep him there even longer. In my opinion, you should just stay away from the prince. It’ll be better for you both.”

Daiyu scowled but couldn’t deny that. Maybe it was better for her, like Nikator said, to keep from meddling, but it was hard to sit there and do nothing when she was the reason the prince was being punished so severely. But maybe that was what she needed to learn how to do—to be a member of this court and to mind her own business.

She didn’t like the thought of that at all.