‘We don’t need to publicly announce anything, but I’m sure the people wonder why nothing has been done to capture his killer.’
‘The people know nothing of his death,’ the emperor said sternly.
‘They know he died unexpectedly, in a way that rattled the palace and closed the gates.’
‘You have other tasks now.’
‘But this is what I do. This is what I can do, Father. I can seek them out.’
‘You are heir to the Empire,’ his father said sternly.
‘I am a hunter first,’ Remi pushed, despite his father’s tone.
‘No, you are not,’ the man said sharply, stepping forward, and Remi held his breath. ‘You are the crown prince of the Rei-Een Empire, first and foremost. Your preparation to become Emperor is more important than anything else, more important than the girl locked away preparing to be your bride, and more important than whoever was responsible for your brother’s death.’
‘But if we do not find them, they could kill again. Magic is back in the Empire.’
‘Never,’ his father said, swinging around and stepping back to his desk. He sat slowly, smoothed out his tunic and looked seriously at his son. ‘Magic cannot find its way back into the Empire, and it hasn’t. I promise you.’
Remi bowed his head once, knowing he would get no further in relation to any discussions of magic in the Empire. He turned for the door and tried to maintain an air of calm, for it would do him no good to lose his temper.
‘You keep any investigations discrete,’ his father called after him, and he nodded again without turning back.
‘There is too much for you to learn,’ U’shi snapped, ‘and you aren’t doing very well.’
‘I am,’ Lis threw back sharply, despite promising herself that she wouldn’t bite. It didn’t matter what she did or how well she did it; no one in the palace seemed to think she would make it.
It had only been a few days in the hidden princess’s palace, and she’d sat at the desk learning all she could for hours at a time. After the evening meal was cleared away and U’shi left her alone, Lis continued with her studies or practiced what she had been taught that day, but it was never enough.
‘I am only a year away,’ U’shi continued.
‘You were only a year away,’ Lis said before she could stop herself and regretted it instantly, particularly as she was trying to agree with U’shi.
‘You will never be Empress,’ U’shi said.
‘I don’t want to be,’ Lis said, sitting at the table and clenching her hands before her. She was so tempted to allow the magic to build and push her out of the palace. Although there was very little her magic could do. I could hide myself, she thought, and then they would never find me.
‘It does not matter what you want,’ the empress said, and Lis jumped at the sound of her voice. ‘You have been chosen.’
‘But I will never be ready,’ she said too quickly. ‘U’shi is correct; it should be her. She should be Empress.’
‘Tradition dictates that the empress must be two years younger than her emperor. U’shi is the same age as the crown prince.’
‘I’m sure she wouldn’t be the first to lie about her age,’ Lis said quietly, an idea forming in her mind. ‘She could marry the prince and be the perfect empress.’
‘She was not the prince’s choice.’
‘Then let him father his children via his concubines.’
Silence followed and, by the stern look on the empress’s face, Lis knew she had gone too far.
‘I will never be good enough for him,’ she said with a sigh.
‘We must make you so.’
‘Why did you select me?’ she asked. ‘I am clearly not the best daughter of the Empire.’
‘Your father was a strong man, instrumental in our win during the magic war. You are beautiful, caring, bright, and my son chose you.’
Lis hung her head and dragged in a deep breath.
‘Your previous life is nothing now. Who you were before, where you lived, what you might have planned as your future. It no longer matters. You are the hidden princess.’
Lis nodded slowly.
‘U’shi,’ the empress said softly, and Lis glanced up at the expectant look on the young woman’s face. ‘You have no place now except to serve the hidden princess, and you would do well to remember that.’
U’shi bowed deeply before the empress and remained so as the empress left the room, waiting for a release that would never come. She turned a dark, cruel look at Lis and then left the room. As the door opened, Lis could hear the empress talking with the tutors. She stood slowly and waited by the door as U’shi closed it behind her.
She struggled to make out what they were saying. She thought she heard longer classes, or was it longer time? She wasn’t sure, and she didn’t have any longer than the three years allocated. Once the prince reached the required age, she would be announced whether she was ready or not.
Chapter 8
After four long weeks, Lis had finally started to accept that she would remain on the Palace Isle forever. There was no chance for someone else to step in. She was exhausted, working long, hard hours to prove herself capable of being what they wanted her to be.
She had seen no one other than U’shi and her tutors, with the exception of one visit from the empress. At times she hoped for the prince to visit, if only to gauge a better idea of him as a man. He had almost seemed friendly when he had escorted her to the palace, but Lis was desperate for her family and her own home and Peng—and she knew she would never see any of them again.
When the clothing laid out on the end of the bed was different from her usual uniform, Lis baulked, thinking it a new test she wasn’t sure how to face. As U’shi silently helped her into the flowing silk, she couldn’t help but run it between her fingers. It made her feel even more homesick than she had.
She would not let them see her tears, though. As Tutor Na entered the room, she bowed her head while U’shi tied the sash tight between her shoulder blades.
‘You are called to see the high priestess,’ Tutor Na said.
‘I thought she would come here.’
The tutor raised her eyebrows, and Lis bit her lip. She would never remember that she was not to speak until given permission. She had always been free to speak her mind at home. And if she was to be empress, after all, surely she would speak freely then.
‘You are to go to the temple in the centre of the Palace Isle.’
Lis felt a sudden nervousness at being seen by the rest of the world. She had opened her mouth to say so when the tutor held up her hand.
‘You shall not walk through the palace,’ she said quickly. ‘You will be carried, and the temple will be empty except for the high priestess and her attendants.’
Lis bowed her head.
‘Come,’ Tutor Na said, waving her towards the door.
In the laneway outside her new home, there was a carriage with a single horse, a driver and four guards. All of them faced away from the gate so as not to lay eyes on the princess, and she felt a moment of isolation. Even the horse looked away.
U’shi moved to the steps leading up to the carriage and held out her hand. Lis moved forward slowly, taking U’shi’s hand and stepping up to the front of the carriage behind the driver, where she moved through the heavy red curtain into a comfortable space. She sat on the large cushions, pulled her legs beneath her and leaned back. The curtains were the same deep red on all sides of the carriage, and she couldn’t see through them.
The steps slid loudly into place against the thick wall of the carriage. Lis waited, but U’shi didn’t enter the space with her. Instead they lurched forward, the horse’s hooves clopping over the stone streets and the guards’ boots keeping time. Nothing else, only silence. Lis tried to feel the movement of the carriage to determine which way they might be going through the Great Palace, but she didn’t know it well enough to guess where they might be.
The Palace Isle was so
much larger than she thought it could be. It took longer than she had expected to reach their destination, and she waited, eventually listening to the sound of wood against wood as the steps were pulled down.
‘The hidden princess,’ U’shi announced. Lis took a deep breath and pulled the curtain back.
They were outside the temple, and again the guards had their backs to her, the horse and driver looking away. U’shi stood at the bottom of the steps holding out her hand. Lis moved quickly to take it and step down.
The priestess stood in the temple doorway and, although she didn’t dare glance around, Lis knew there was no one else within the vicinity who might see her. The high priestess turned her back and stepped inside the temple, and Lis followed. She thought U’shi might join her, but she didn’t.
The quiet whispering inside the temple died as she entered. She looked around her then at the wonder of the space, the bright white stone. The smell of incense, blossom and fruit filled her senses. Statues of the gods lined the walls, with small bowls of offerings at their feet. They only had a small shrine within their home and, other than when they visited Fourth, Lis rarely had the chance to visit any temple.
Her mother made offerings and prayers to the gods every day. Her father would pause at the table, but he rarely offered more than a nod.
Lis felt somewhat overwhelmed. The space was big enough to hold hundreds of worshipers at a time, and there must have been thirty gods lining the walls, each of them different.
‘You will have many questions,’ the high priestess offered kindly.
Lis nodded slowly, looking up at the high ceiling and trying to take it in.
‘You are familiar with the gods?’
‘Not all of them,’ Lis murmured.
‘Do not worry; we shall ensure you learn all you need.’
Lis bowed to the woman before her.
‘Today we shall just familiarise ourselves with the temple, the offerings and each other.’
She held out her hand, and Lis stepped to the feet of the god across from her. The statue was carved from the white stone in the wall, as though she were stepping from the wall itself. Each panel met with the next to form the circle in which they stood. It was only broken by the entrance and another doorway two thirds of the way around.
At the feet of this goddess were several bowls, each holding oranges, lemons and limes. Lis allowed herself a smile, as she knew what they were. Oranges had been new to her when she had first arrived, and she had been learning about a lot of fruit and foods she had never seen before. Growing up, if they didn’t grow it, she didn’t know it.
‘Aga, goddess of the people. She ensures the royal family continue strong in their hold over the Empire. That they are good to the people and make sound decisions for the continuation of the Empire.’
Lis feared another attack, that the priestess would be yet another voice to tell her she wasn’t what they needed her to be.
‘You are here. It is your turn, whether others want that or not. There is always doubt,’ she said softly, raising her hand towards Lis’s forehead, but then she pointed at the fruit at Aga’s feet. ‘Citrus fruits are thought to please her, and so her guidance will be thoughtful.’
‘You mean that people have left oranges at her feet so she will guide the royal family to choose a hidden princess who will help the family continue in strength?’
The high priestess nodded, and a broad smile lit up her face.
‘What would happen if they chose incorrectly?’
‘I know this is not your choice, Your Highness, but you are the princess.’
‘You wanted them to choose me,’ Lis said, looking into the dark eyes that had stared at her so often during the Choosing.
‘She may whisper in my ear. I am a priestess of the gods, after all. I am to be of use to gods and man.’
Lis waited, and when the high priestess said nothing else, she moved to the next statue and looked over the rice left at his feet. Not only was it a simple dish, the bowls in which it sat were simple wooden bowls. Lis doubted there were any like them at the palace, except maybe in servants’ quarters.
‘I have seen something in you,’ the priestess whispered in her ear, taking Lis by surprise. ‘Something special.’
Lis turned to her seriously.
‘There is much for you to learn. You will learn to pray.’
‘My mother prayed over the shrine in our home,’ Lis said.
‘I want you to listen first. Listen for the voices of the gods within the temple.’
Lis nodded and, turning back to the statue of Aga, she found herself alone. She walked slowly around the temple, looking over the statues of the various gods. From the offerings at their feet, she wondered what aspects of their lives they ruled over. Leaning forward, she ran her hands over the smooth stone. It was cool beneath her fingers, and she traced the patterns etched into the gods. At the feet of some gods were small bells, yet she left those alone. She listened, but she heard nothing. No whispers, no voices, no gods. She wondered if she would ever hear them, if she should hear them, yet she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear what they had to say.
She could sense U’shi before she saw her appear in the doorway to indicate they leave. She took a deep breath, hoping that she wasn’t pushing her magic out as she had before, and she pulled it tight within her before she followed U’shi out. Lis found the sunlight startling when she stood atop the steps. As she adjusted to the light, she found the world looking away from her just as they had before. She glanced around, looking for a sign of something familiar or another living soul. In the distance, she could make out the tall royal residence, and she wondered if the prince stood at one of the windows.
She climbed back inside her carriage. Then they were moving back towards her little palace, and it appeared to take too little time before they were there.
The high priestess watched the hidden princess’s carriage disappear into the growing crowd. She knew what she was and what she would become, yet she had been unable to sense it on her. There was magic there, she was certain of it, but she had felt nothing as they had walked in the temple. She longed to touch the princess and see if she could sense it. Perhaps there had been a mistake, a misunderstanding of what she had been shown.
Perhaps the girl was able to supress it or hide it away, but then she hadn’t met anyone who could manage such with their magic—at least not from a priestess.
The girl had been so disappointed when she had been chosen, not at all the reaction she had expected. Every other girl in the line had been hoping it was her. If she had magic, it would have flared then. Even the prince would have seen it. But he appeared to have seen something else in her.
The high priestess needed to pray, to sit with her sisters and allow the gods to tell her what they planned. They had waited a long time for this moment. Too long. She tried to remain calm as she headed into the chamber to kneel with her sisters and listen to what the gods might tell her.
The empress had given her full access to the princess, so she could work with her in private. She would be back at the next full moon, and she had until then to prepare the next lesson.
Chapter 9
Lis stood at the gate and waited. It was such a beautiful garden, but she had no time to spend in it. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been able to sit in the sun. Now she was waiting for the second outing in a week, and she didn’t know what this one involved or where she was going. When she heard the horse shuffle and snort on the other side of the gate, she wondered just how far she would be able to travel.
And when U’shi appeared with a basket, she was even more intrigued.
The lane outside the palace was silent and empty as the soldiers looked away. Lis noticed two soldiers by the gate who turned as she walked by so that their backs were to her at all times. She wondered if they had been there before, as she couldn’t remember them.
Would she get used to the idea that no one could look at her? It would only be a
nother three years of this until the crown prince was of age, but that felt like an eternity.
U’shi gave the driver the instruction to move on, and Lis wondered if she found the change in people’s reaction to her unsettling. She had endured years of no one looking at her, of limited contact with people, and now she was seeing more and being seen by more.
The smell of steam and soap penetrated the curtains of the carriage long before they stopped, and Lis felt her heart jump. Her mother had told her stories of the baths, the women all washing together, the steam, the chatter, the peace. She had hoped they could experience it together during their time together on the Palace Isle, but there hadn’t been enough time. The baths were fed by a natural hot spring, and her mother’s eyes misted over when she talked about them.
Lis smiled for the first time. She might actually get the chance to meet with others.
At an impatient cough from U’shi, Lis pulled back the curtain, lifted her skirt and descended from the carriage to come face to face with Tutor Na. This was not going to be the freedom she had hoped it would be.
She followed the tutor beneath the red gate into a beautiful garden. Bamboo lined its edges, hiding the wall and giving the impression that they could be in a forest somewhere. A pebbled path wound its way through short-clipped grass, and flowers she had never seen before grew in small pots. She longed to reach out to them, but she held her hands tight before her.
A small bridge ahead of her led into a warm steamy mist, and she felt as though she were walking through a veil to another world. In the large space they entered, several baths were sunk into the stone floor.
‘The baths are open to all,’ the tutor said. ‘But they can only be used on certain days by certain people.’
‘I’m here alone,’ Lis said.
‘Of course you are,’ the tutor said softly. ‘And you will use the royal bath.’
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 6