But I couldn’t draw my eyes away. I watched how his jaw tightened each time the knife came down, his face locked in concentration as his fingers curled over the handle. The tendons in that arm still bothered him. He had avoided stitching my latest wounds, stating he didn’t trust himself with a needle anymore. He never mentioned the reason, of course. His silences often spoke louder than the words that fell from his lips. There was talk he avoided altogether.
It was a pattern I’d fallen into the past few months—observing his movements, trying to guess at what he was thinking. I used to do the same with Rayyel, but there had always been a thread of irritation over the fact that he left me no choice because he never told me anything. With Khine, even when I was grappling for answers, even when I could feel the uncertainty bearing down on us like a windstorm, I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
“I’m sorry, Khine,” I said.
More silence. And then, “For what?”
For what, indeed? Unsustainable, this dance we had going on. Surely he knew it, too.
“I am queen again,” I said, changing the tone of my voice to something resembling what it was if I was in front of my court. “Should you desire to return to Shang Azi, I can make sure that your debts are paid in full and that—”
“Don’t start with this. Not again. You know that’s not what I want.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Duel you, maybe.” His voice was flat, polite.
“Your swordsmanship has improved, but if you think you can defeat me…” I forced myself to laugh.
“Mmm. I never said I could. But maybe I don’t need a sword. I make your food, remember?” He waved the knife.
“You’d stay here, as a servant?”
He turned to wipe his hands on a dishcloth. “My sister is working for your husband. The pay he’s offered is much better than anything she’ll get in Shang Azi short of becoming Manshi Ziori and running a whorehouse herself. Lo Bahn is—we don’t know what happened with him, but he’s ruined, regardless. Even if he’s alive, I don’t know if he’ll want me back. I made a terrible henchman.”
“What about your younger brother and sister?”
“They’re old enough to take care of themselves. Tali, if I can be honest… I just can’t see myself picking up where I left off. It isn’t—without my mother, it’s just not home anymore.”
“It won’t be the same as before here, either,” I said. “The council will appoint me new advisers in place of Magister Arro and I will return to having my every movement, every action, recorded. Rayyel will be crowned Dragonlord. If we stabilize the nation, they… they will desire more heirs. What happened with Agos… I don’t want it to happen to you. You heard Ryia. I can’t… this thing between us…”
I faltered. I didn’t know what I was saying. Or, more precisely—I knew, I just didn’t know what I expected to come from it.
“I am content as I am,” he whispered, a better liar than I could ever be.
I heard footsteps outside the hall and turned to see one of the guards step in. “Beloved Queen,” he said with a bow. “Messengers from across Jin-Sayeng have arrived. Lord General Ozo had requested they not interrupt until after the trial…”
“So now he’s let them loose, upended on me like a bucket of piss. Typical.”
“They are waiting in the great hall, all but one. He simply asked me to give you this. It’s from Warlord Lushai.” He handed me a sealed letter.
I removed the wax. I read it once, and then again, the words blurring before they struck like a knife. My heart dropped.
“What is it?” Khine asked, drifting back to the tables.
“Warlord Lushai is inviting us to Bara for a feast to welcome his most honoured guest,” I said. I turned to him. “The Fifth Son of the Esteemed Emperor Yunan…”
“The bastard,” Khine whispered. “So soon?”
I stared at the letter without replying. Governor Qun had warned me he was on his way. I wanted to believe it was a bluff, the last-ditch effort of a doomed man to strike fear in the heart of his enemies. At the very least I thought I would have more time to prepare.
Always amusing, how the gods shit on our expectations.
CHAPTER SEVEN
A QUEEN’S GAMBLE
Too many nights I had woken up in a cold sweat, afraid I was back in Yuebek’s dungeon or that I lay on the streets of Zorheng while his wife bled a foot away. And too often I dreamed of striking him with a sword until my own fingers bled. Your father wanted this, Beloved Queen, he would sneer, trading every blow with laughter. Why do you resist? You know you are powerless when it comes to his will.
I tried to remain expressionless while I sat on the throne in the great hall of Oka Shto, listening to the messenger with growing trepidation. He was one of many waiting to seek audience with the newly reinstated queen. This one claimed to have come from the Sougen, the third so far. “Not all the farmers support Kaggawa’s war,” he said. “My master personally wants you to know that he is sincerely waiting for the Dragonthrone to intervene in these affairs.”
“Why not implore Warlord Ojika?” I asked impatiently.
“He has holed up in Yu-yan. He never cared about the farmers, Beloved Queen—only the city.”
“Farmers keep him fed.”
“The Sougen keeps most of Jin-Sayeng fed,” the messenger said with a small grin. “And yet it has been burning all these years. Mad dragons have made short work of much of our fields—has the Dragonthrone sent anyone to take care of them? But Beloved Queen, my master is not looking for reparations for the past. It is all done with, and he has always supported you for the throne. All he asks is that you do something now.”
“Dai Kaggawa believes himself a representative of the Sougen landowners,” another messenger broke in. “This is furthest from the truth. He is an adopted son of the Shoho clan. He may speak for them, but…”
“His mercenaries are wreaking havoc on the countryside,” the first one agreed. “They are foreigners who hold little respect for the people of Jin-Sayeng. They will bring as much destruction as the mad dragons have done all these years. He thinks this will bring us freedom? That he can save Jin-Sayeng from what the royals have neglected this way?”
A woman stepped out from behind the others and walked towards me, baring her shoulder as she did so. There was a long wound there, barely held together with stitches and caked blood. The rest of her arm was covered in a mass of purple bruises. The look in her eyes dared me to show pity, to express my horror in fake sympathy. But the extent of her injuries only numbed me to silence.
“Kaggawa’s mercenaries go too far,” she said. “You’ve let us suffer all these years, Queen Talyien. Now you will let us suffer even longer, all for an argument that could’ve been resolved overnight.”
“All of that is over now,” I said. “We are in the process of finding a solution to—”
“Fuck your processes!” the woman roared. My guards started forward, and I held out my hand to stop them. “Fuck your solutions! Fuck all of you!” she continued, turning around. “You and your eastern cities that have yet to see famine, who haven’t had to deal with dragons razing your fields every day…”
“Both Shirrokaru and Oren-yaro have been burned down by a dragon,” I reminded her.
“Once,” she hissed. “Once in thirty years. Don’t even dare bring up your dead brothers, Beloved Queen. My brothers have been killed by dragons, too, and it didn’t end there. Do I get to go overseas for a year, like you did? Do I get to lie down and give up on my farm? We still have to feed our children, Queen Talyien. We still have to feed the rest of you.”
An official came up to whisper in my ear, something about allowing such insolence to go unpunished. I waved him off. He looked surprised, and only then did I remember why. Last year, anyone who dared speak to me that way would’ve been executed on the spot.
“I am listening,” I said, looking straight at the woman. “I’ve been to the Souge
n. I know what you are dealing with—I have seen it with my own eyes.”
She stared back, unblinking. She didn’t believe me.
“Your mad dragons are mad because of a corruption,” I continued. “A tainted soul, trying to take the place of the existing. Two souls in one body.” I glanced at the official, who now seemed at a loss for words, and pointed at him. “You can write that down, Councillor. What happened to the mad dragons is now starting to happen to the people in the Sougen. Is this not true?” I glanced back at the woman.
She slowly nodded.
“This is preposterous,” the official grumbled. “I can’t write hearsay down.”
“Hearsay, Councillor? From your own queen’s lips?”
“They will think you are talking blasphemy.”
“Ah,” I said. “Blasphemy. Like the agan.”
I think if he could have chosen to disappear into thin air, he would have. He glanced at the others in the great hall before his eyes flicked downwards, as if to see if my fingers were on my sword.
“I will spare you the trouble of pretending you disagree,” I said. “That’s what this is all about. The agan. We deny its existence while it rips our nation apart from the edges. Why do you look so frightened, Councillor? Are you afraid your peers will hold you in contempt for my words? They shouldn’t. It’s about time we start saying things for what they are!”
“What’s happening here?” a voice boomed from the other end of the hall.
“Mind your own business, Ozo,” I snarled.
He stomped in, dismissing the messengers with a snap of his fingers. I bristled at how quickly my guards stepped up to drag them away, but I didn’t want to risk asking them to stay. If they disobeyed me, it would make my already shaky position look even weaker. I had just regained the crown; I wasn’t about to throw it away.
Ozo turned to the official and quickly snatched the piece of paper from his hands. He tore it in half. “Burn it,” he said, handing the pieces to a guard beside him.
“Do you want a duel for the throne, Lord General?” I asked. “You seem to want to defy my authority so much. Why not just fight me, and be done with it?”
“You’d like that,” he said. “You know very well I can’t lift my hand against Warlord Yeshin’s daughter. I still obey our laws, even though you seem to have forgotten them.”
“I’ve no desire for this right now.” I got up and left the dais.
“Queen Talyien,” he said as I walked past him. “You will learn that you cannot change what is just because you want to. Things are the way they are for a reason.”
“Does it have anything to do with your fat rump, I wonder?” I grumbled. He didn’t reply.
I cornered the woman outside the hall, grabbing her by the wrist. She looked startled. “We will liberate you,” I told her. “But understand that I cannot do anything until I’ve gathered my own forces.”
“I understand that you can’t get your shit together out here,” the woman said. “There are rumours that there are Zarojo ships on your eastern shores. Are they making you deny this one, too?”
“It’s true,” I said, after a moment’s pause.
She gave a grim smile. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from Kaggawa’s men, it’s that foreigners don’t belong on Jin-Sayeng soil. I’m just a farmer’s daughter, Queen Talyien. I can’t tell you how to manage your affairs, and it looks like you’ve got more on your plate than you’re equipped to deal with. But I will say that the thought of invaders left and right fills me with unease. I hope you know what you’re doing. I hope you remember you’re our queen. I hope you never forget that your people are at your mercy.”
Apart from Belfang, I met with everyone who had arrived with me from the Zarojo Empire in the false throne room my father had planted in his study. After our last excursion down there, we had learned we could bypass the wards if I cut myself and covered the spell runes with my blood. Rai looked around in wonder, absorbing everything as matter-of-factly as if the knowledge that Yeshin dabbled in this sort of thing wouldn’t set the whole kingdom aflame. For some reason, I now couldn’t get Thanh’s resemblance to him out of my mind. My boy carried the same levelheaded curiosity. Would he look more like Rai when he grew up? If he ever grows up…
“So,” I said, as soon as I heard the door mechanism turn and it shut itself above the staircase. I strode to the middle of the room. “We have to somehow deal with the Zarojo without arousing everyone else’s suspicions about my father’s grandiose plans for my future. We want to get rid of his great Esteemed Prince Yuebek, may he rot in the deepest bowels of hell, without setting the rest of Jin-Sayeng after me, because I will need their support afterwards to deal with the problems in the Sougen. I don’t know if the Oren-yaro army is enough or even that they will follow any of my orders. They’re Ozo’s, as far as I’m concerned. Does everyone agree with me so far?”
“Yes, Beloved Queen,” Namra said from across the other side of the room. Inzali gave a short nod, while Khine grunted in acknowledgment.
Rayyel didn’t reply. He was staring at the glass dome and the mirror. “Is that the Sougen?” he asked.
“Rai,” I said, snapping my fingers. “Focus.”
He turned back to me with some difficulty. “I heard what you said.”
“So you agree we need to accept Warlord Lushai’s invitation.”
He didn’t even hesitate. “Of course. Rejecting such a well-worded invitation would bring more trouble.”
“I see,” I said.
He must have noticed me staring at him, because he suddenly looked like he’d been dipped in hot water. “Unless you would rather not…” he began.
“Oh, I would love to. Chiha and I need to compare notes… on recent events in Jin-Sayeng.” I took a moment of satisfaction in seeing his ears turn red before I glanced at everyone else in the room. Inzali and Namra were both oblivious to the exchange, but I caught a faint smile on Khine’s lips. He scratched the side of his head and finally glanced away. “There is, however, no way we can ride to Bara without Princess Ryia finding out. Woman’s probably got her ear pressed on the walls as we speak. We need to trick her.”
Rai sighed. “I’m not sure how that can be done. Your own father couldn’t defeat her, if you recall.”
“Can you distract her somehow?”
“Our conversation during her arrival was the first time I had spoken to her in years.”
That took me by surprise. I didn’t know what was worse—that he could say it with such a straight face, or that he didn’t think this was important to mention at all. It made me feel ashamed of my recent outburst. “Does she know we are not as… hostile to each other as we make ourselves appear in court?”
“I don’t believe my mother ever looks at me long enough to think such things,” Rai said. “In any case, it is dangerous to rely on this. She will find out, sooner or later.”
“This is where you come in, Lamang,” I said, cocking my head towards Khine.
“Me,” Khine repeated.
“The most brilliant con artist ever to grace the streets of Shang Azi.” I grinned.
He frowned and crossed his arms. “You make me sound so accomplished.”
“You really do,” Inzali broke in. “He’s not even a famous criminal—just a two-bit thief who shakes pocket change out of the occasional gullible fool.”
“You’re so supportive, dear sister. Whatever will I do without you?”
Inzali sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder. I wasn’t sure if she was squeezing it or threatening to throttle him. “Dear brother, if this nation has to rely on you for any reason, it really is doomed. We’re not talking about idiots in Shang Azi here. Princess Ryia is the one woman in history who was able to make a stand against Warlord Yeshin. You have brushed up on your history lessons in your attempts to impress the queen, yes?” She pinched his chin to turn his head towards her.
“Choke on your barbed tongue,” he grumbled. He cleared his throat. “Why do w
e need to trick her? Sometimes the best plans are the simplest.”
I stepped closer. “Go on.”
He waved Inzali away. “A smart woman like that—there’s no sense in hiding it. So have her where you can keep an eye on her. Invite her to come with you as an honoured guest.”
I blinked. “You mean—take her with us to Bara?”
Rai flared his nostrils. “You don’t know what my mother is capable of.”
“What’s that saying? An enemy of your enemy is your friend.” Khine tapped his foot, a thoughtful look on his face. “It’s better than leaving her here, alone and free to roam the castle to her heart’s content. Who knows what else she’ll find? This very room contains knowledge she can use against you.”
“That’s tempting, though,” I said. “I have an image of her in my head with arrows through the face. It’s oddly comforting.”
“Let the cat fall into the mousetrap,” Inzali mused. “I like it.”
Khine grimaced. “Putting aside how frightening it is when you both agree on something, it’s not a good look to have the Ikessar princess dead in Warlord Yeshin’s room, is it? So continue where you left off yesterday. Formally invite her as part of the procession to Bara… I’m sure she won’t refuse. And so she becomes not just a guest, not just a hostage, but a distraction, because this Lushai and your mother are none too fond of each other, yes? Remnants from the war? And this Lushai has an army. Yuebek has an army. Everyone in this jovial land has an army, and assuming they all consider each other a threat and are only out for themselves… you will become the least of their concerns. When buffalo clash, the lowly ant can walk right by…”
The Dragon of Jin-Sayeng Page 11