by Devin Madson
‘I will never renounce my claim. I am the true heir to the Crimson Throne, as you will discover before long. There is no mercy for my father’s murderer, but if you release Hana and abdicate your throne, you will save the lives of thousands.’
‘I will never give the Crimson Throne to you or anyone.’
The heavy silence seemed to suck sound away. No one spoke. No one moved. There would be no compromise, not for these men so steeped in their enmity. Old wounds had never healed and now here they sat, two scabs on the page of history.
Wine bowls twinkled merrily in the lantern light.
Katashi let out a snort of mirthless laughter. ‘If you have nothing else to say, I think it is time to abandon this pointless attempt at mediation,’ he said, throwing back the last of his wine. ‘I should have known better than to expect sense from you. You detest all Otakos as much as we detest you.’
‘I do not detest all Otakos.’
‘No, you were in love with Empress Li, weren’t you? And Hana looks just like her. Have you fallen in love with her, too?’
The words came out a sneer, but Kin kept his countenance. ‘I will not deign to discuss Lady Hana with you. But you may be sure it is only you I hate, as I hated your father for what he did and what he was.’
Katashi gripped his wine bowl and slammed it on the table. The thin lip shattered, shards of earthenware skittering across the wood. ‘And you will suffer for what you did to him,’ he snarled. ‘I will watch them slice your flesh into a thousand pieces and feed you every one.’
Kin did not flinch, but the tension grew tenfold. With surprising calm, Kin said: ‘There is a saying: “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves”. If you succeed in killing me you will not live to enjoy it, I promise.’
‘That we will see.’
Kin looked down at the broken wine bowl. ‘You have until the morning to think better of your rash decision. If you bring the Hian Crown to the castle you have my word you will not be harmed and we can continue this discussion like sensible men. If not, you have until morning to remove your rebels from my woods or not a single man will wake from his mat when the sun rises.’
‘Your kindness is without equal, Usurper.’
Emperor Kin grunted and rose from the table, the tendons in his hands sticking out like whipcord.
Lord Laroth joined him, rising with stately grace. Still he did not look at me. I wanted to shout at him, to lunge across the table and grip his skin, but I stood my ground and clenched my fists.
Look at me, I shouted in the silence of my head. Look at me. Look at me!
Emperor Kin strode into the night, but Lord Laroth paused. For an instant he lingered on the threshold and turned those violet eyes my way. His lips tightened into a smile and he touched the smooth skin of his cheek with a single, manicured finger. It was recognition without remorse, and did nothing to quell my fury.
I am coming for you, Lord Laroth.
The minister vanished into the night and the Imperial Guards followed, the tent silk shifting as they passed.
‘It’s time to go.’ Katashi gripped my hand. The connection was immediate, his anger prickling my skin.
I will have my revenge. Stinking kasu, how dare he sit on my throne? How dare he speak so of my father! I will see him rot.
Screams sounded from the darkness. With fine robes torn men ran through hallways littered with the dead, blood running in rivulets across old floors. It was Katashi’s dream, the deepest desire of his soul. And there, staring at the point of a drawn arrow, was Emperor Kin, his face crusted with blood.
They will die. They will all die tonight.
Chapter 17
The castle was quiet.
I had no memory of Koi, but it had once been Katashi’s home – this great sprawling place with its maze of walls, gardens and outbuildings. The Keep itself was old, made gloomy by a profusion of square pillars standing in every room, each a blackened timber. The roof had the same dark skeleton, with a central spine and dozens of branching ribs. In contrast, the paper screens that delineated the rooms were so fragile, painted with delicate birds, blossoms and branches that seemed to tremble in even the gentlest draft.
As though giving voice to this susurrus, the guards outside my room continued their desultory conversation. They were ostensibly there for my safety, but locked away in this great Keep I felt more like a prisoner than ever. Kin had barely spoken to me since our ill-fated dinner, but I often felt his eyes on me, those dark orbs having a weight all their own. And while he watched me, I watched him, increasingly curious. He hadn’t half of Katashi’s charisma, yet people followed him with the same fervour. There was ferocity there, a force of purpose, a temper, and yet that mercurial temperament brought with it such charm. It was a triumph to make him smile.
I stared at my dinner – salted fish and plum, Kin’s standard fare. Would I eat this for the rest of my days? Emperor Kin had made it clear that my freedom was available only through marriage, a prospect I found impossible to contemplate. Marriage might be the goal of every proper young woman, but I wanted to be more than a man’s adjunct. There had been a time when I would have given myself to Katashi without question, but it was no longer so simple. He was just out there beyond the trees, yet he was also a lifetime away, back under the Kissing Tree where he had left me breathless. I wasn’t the same person anymore.
A cluster of lights appeared beyond the gatehouse. They shifted like fireflies, joining the road that led from the castle. Kin had returned. It felt like he had been gone for hours.
I finished my meal while watching the constellation of lanterns meander up the path and over the bridge. They came through the second gatehouse and then the third, twisting through the maze of walls and dark gardens, a group of shadowy figures on horseback. As they passed beneath my window, I pushed my tray aside and stood, peering down in time to catch a glimpse of crimson silk before it disappeared.
Had Kin really believed diplomacy could save Kisia? Katashi wouldn’t. I sat back on the divan. Kin would come. He would come to rant about Katashi’s behaviour and take his anger out on me. I was so sure of it that when he did not immediately appear, I slumped onto the cushions with a sigh.
‘Lady Hana Otako languishing in despair? I never thought to see it.’
I hadn’t heard the door slide, but Kin was there, framed by the heavy timbers. Dressed in his imperial robes he was once again the Kin of Mei’lian, not the armour clad warrior I had known of late.
‘I do not languish,’ I said, sitting up. ‘I am just bored.’
‘Finally you appear ladylike,’ he said, sliding the thin screen closed. ‘I hope you have everything you desire.’
‘No, you have provided me with absolutely nothing to do and I have only my maid for company. Why can’t I walk around the castle? It is well enough guarded, is it not?’
‘It is,’ he agreed. ‘But for now you will stay here. Once the area is safe, I have no objection to you walking wherever you choose.’
‘You mean once you are free of Katashi?’
He did not immediately agree, just looked at me as though trying to read my thoughts. ‘I have just been to meet him,’ he said after a time. ‘He is calling himself the one true heir, and had the audacity to describe in detail the death he has planned for me.’ He stopped speaking, a scowl darkening his already fierce features. ‘Although no doubt you are already aware of such plans.’
‘I could have told you it would be pointless,’ I said.
‘Perhaps, but it is as well to see him for myself, to meet this man who would take my throne from me.’
‘As you took it from his father.’
‘And his father took it from yours.’
I looked away from that set jaw. Once I had been so sure of everything, but now I had only doubts for company. Too long had I been captive, too long without liberty to kn
ow my own mind.
‘You achieved no compromise?’ I asked, disliking the silence.
‘No.’ Then as though the words were drawn from him by force, he added: ‘Perhaps it will please you to know he asked after you, although he made no attempt to bargain for your release. It seems he does well enough on his own.’
Katashi had never needed me. I turned toward the window, rapidly blinking away tears and hating the depths of such self-pity. ‘At least you have one thing in common,’ I said bitterly. ‘I am just a woman after all, what use can I possibly be?’
I heard the rustle of his skirts as he neared, the smell of horsehair and leather clinging to his silk. ‘I’ve told you what use you are to me, I don’t see the point in repeating myself.’
‘A wife? As the bearer of your children?’
‘Isn’t that enough? What do you want to be?’
‘More than that. Katashi taught me how to fight.’
‘Katashi Otako is no gentleman.’
There was silence. I let it wallow awkwardly around us. Every encounter ended like this, too prone were we to speak our minds.
Marriage. The word was beginning to stick in my throat. Katashi had only ever joked about marrying me because, stained by Regent, no other man would take me. He had been wrong. Emperor Kin had offered, but only because marriage to an Otako would strengthen his claim to a stolen throne. I tried to swallow my tears. I wanted neither of them. I wanted to be worth more than a marriageable prize.
Kin had not moved, just stood with his heavy gaze fixed to the back of my head.
‘If you have nothing else to say, I would ask you to leave,’ I said, trying to assume a haughty dignity I was far from feeling.
‘You’re crying.’
‘I am not crying.’
‘You’re a bad liar.’
Bitter tears trickled down my cheeks. ‘Oh, just go away!’
I heard him move and expected footsteps heading toward the door, but they didn’t come. What was he doing? The tears would not stop. Katashi would have scolded me for being childish and brushed them away.
‘Lady Hana Otako should not cry,’ Kin said. He sat beside me, the soft divan shifting under his weight. I sank toward him, and had to put out a hand to steady myself.
‘Look at me.’
Pride stinging, I kept my face averted and rubbed the tears away with the back of my hand.
His fingers closed around my wrist. ‘Hana.’ I had expected a strong grip, crushing my bones, but I had never felt a man more gentle. ‘Just like your mother, you are beautiful even when you cry,’ he said, brushing my tears away. ‘Marry me, Hana.’
I looked up. There was no smile upon his lips or in his eyes, just a hard gaze that burned into me. As though in a trance, I tried to hold it, tried to think, to speak, words vanishing from my tongue. One word could change everything, could stop this war before it began. But this man had stolen Kisia. He had executed my uncle and exiled my cousins, and, by his own admission, had failed to save the lives of my murdered parents. General Kin of the Imperial Guard. A soldier. A commoner.
Kin let me go with a little snort and turned away. ‘I never knew an Otako to be made of ice. I will leave you now, my lady.’
The divan sprang back, a cold space opening beside me. He strode to the door, fists clenched tight, and for one mad instant I thought to call him back. I held my tongue and he was gone, leaving the air considerably chilled behind him.
The urge to cry was almost overwhelming. Burying my face in the divan, I screamed into its feathery depths, pounding the pile of cushions with my fists. Why wasn’t he cruel? Why hadn’t he been the Emperor Kin of my childhood dreams? I wanted to be Regent again. I wanted to know his certainty. I missed the Pikes, their crass jokes and their noise. I missed the laughter in Malice’s eyes and the way he dug a fingernail into the page whenever I interrupted his reading. These were the memories of another life. A simpler life. Everything was easy with Katashi. He led and men followed.
With an aching heart, I thought of him, of his smell, of the touch of his hand and the sound of his voice, and that single dimple peeping out whenever he smiled. I needed to see him again. I needed to remember what we were fighting for.
‘I thought Kin was with you.’
Darius was in the doorway. His searching gaze took in the scene at a glance and I glared back. ‘No,’ I said. ‘You’ve just missed him.’
‘So I surmise. No doubt you are aware that your eyes are red and swollen.’
‘I hate you, Darius.’
He was unmoved. ‘The feeling is mutual, Hana, but as you are yet to release me from my oath, we will just have to endure.’
I had forgotten about the oath. Darius had always been a god, an idol, a big brother to follow and adore, and it had been years before I understood what bound us together.
I stood, hope suspending my tears. ‘I’ll release you from your oath if you get me out of here,’ I said.
‘You have great faith in my abilities.’
‘Are you saying you can’t do it?’
A cleft appeared between his brows. ‘I didn’t say that, but you would find it hard to convince me that such an escape was necessary.’
‘You need a better reason than for my safety? You swore to protect me.’
‘Kin won’t harm you unless you harm him.’ Darius stepped suddenly closer, the change in his expression frightening. ‘What do you know?’
All the air left the room.
‘I don’t know anything.’
‘I wish I could believe that.’
‘Will you get me out of here?’
‘Will you tell me Katashi’s plans?’
‘No.’
His pretty lips curled into a sneer. ‘Then my answer is also no.’ Dark silk swirled about his feet as he turned to leave. I let him go, glad to see the back of him, but unlike Kin he stopped in the doorway. ‘You still have time to grow up, Hana,’ he said, with one hand resting on the screen. ‘Think about it. Is the true emperor the one the empire wants? Or, the one the empire needs?’
He gave me a meaningful look, then went out.
Long after he had gone I sat staring at the thin paper screen, watching the shadows of the guards sway gently. The castle’s mood had changed. It had grown quiet, smothered beneath the blanket of Kin’s discontent. If Katashi went ahead with our plan then the mood would sour further still. Our plan... it had never really been our plan at all.
My third visitor for the evening was the first to knock upon the frame, the quick staccato tap of a practical man on a mission.
The door slid and Shin was there, still dressed in the guise of an Imperial Guard. Upon the journey north he had never been far away, ever my silent sentinel, his presence keeping my dream alive. Under my skin Regent still lived, brought to the surface by Shin’s lidless stare. For him the world was black and white, enemy and ally, clear cut and simple.
‘My lady,’ Shin said, bowing as though he did not know me. Another guard stood behind him, blocking the way into the passage.
‘A change of guard, my lady,’ he said. ‘If there is anything you need, let us know and we will send for your maid.’
‘Thank you.’
Emperor Kin would take the oath tomorrow. If Katashi was coming then he was coming tonight. Had Shin been able to contact him without jeopardising his position here? It seemed unlikely.
The second guard bowed, preparing to leave, and in the moment he was not looking, I signed my desperate question. Monarch?
The movements came back to me easily and I felt more alive than I had in days.
Shin could not reply, had to turn and leave with his companion, but as he walked away he lifted his hands behind his back. Forget him. There is worse coming. Stay safe.
The door closed again and I could feel myself trembling. All I was to them was
a woman, a weakling, sure to get in the way. But I was not so weak, not made to be a wife and nothing more. The rage of Regent rose through me. I was an Otako. I was Emperor Lan’s daughter. The Crimson Throne belonged to me, not to Kin, not to Katashi or anyone else. Malice had been right. Only he had been right. If I wanted it, I would have to take it with my own hands.
‘Leave Monarch to his plans,’ I muttered, beginning to pace across the matting. I could stop the war. I could take the throne.
If I could kill Kin.
So many assassins had come close to ending Kin’s life, but they had all been men. My heart thumped loudly. Kin would come if I called. The knowledge was exhilarating. I had a power that only a woman could have, and under the burning joy of it, his every kindness melted away to nothing.
I went to the door. Out in the passage, Shin turned his scarred eye upon me. ‘Yes, my lady?’
‘I wish to speak with Emperor Kin.’
Shin’s unnerving stare lingered on my face, but his companion bowed. ‘We will convey the message, my lady.’
Not favouring Shin with an explanation, I went back inside. There, I stood in the middle of the floor, the shadow of my hand trembling like an aspen leaf.
Tishwa.
I balled my fists and strode to the travelling chest, throwing back the lid to dig through its silken contents. Tili had folded my tunics and robes, but she knew nothing of the hidden vials Malice had given me a lifetime ago. A leader does whatever evils are necessary, he had said.
Regent clawed at my skin, fighting to be free.
Kill him. Take back what is yours with your own hands.
Chapter 18
Malice was waiting. He stood in the shadows at the edge of the forest watching dark figures walk the castle walls. Moonlight scattered around his feet and speckled his robe, shifting with every movement of the clouds.