Lis sat at the desk in the classroom early the next morning trying to focus on her lesson rather than what had happened in the bath house the day before. She had heard U’shi return in the night, but she was yet to see her. The maid hadn’t appeared with her breakfast and hadn’t helped her dress. Lis was thankful for the peace, but she wondered just what U’shi had been up to and what it meant for her future. She wondered if the prince had spoken to his mother about the event, and whether there was a chance of another servant being sent.
Lis had instructed that the coat be laundered and returned to the prince as soon as possible. She didn’t want to give him an excuse to visit again just yet. She had wrapped herself up in it during the night and allowed herself to cry. She had imagined Peng lying beside her, his warm body pressed against her, his lips against her skin as she drifted off to sleep, only to be woken by U’shi returning.
The cane smacking the desk made her jump, and she focused on the angry face of the tutor. ‘This will never do,’ he snapped. ‘There is not enough time in all the world for you to learn what you must, and you waste the time we have.’
‘I am sorry,’ Lis said softly. ‘I was thinking about…’
Tutor Jichun smacked the desk again. ‘I do not care what you were thinking about unless it was the start of the magic war, as I was discussing.’
‘It was the visitors,’ she said.
He glared at her. ‘What visitors?’
‘The travellers who came from a faraway land and asked to stay. Then they talked with those who had magic, twisting them and training them to work against the Empire.’
He stared at her for a moment as she chewed her lip. She was sure her mother had talked of the visitors, though her father rarely talked of the war and what had happened, despite his position and instrumental part in winning it. She didn’t know what that was, but she did know it was the reason behind the gift of their island from the emperor.
Tutor Jichun nodded once.
‘My father is General Long,’ Lis said softly.
He nodded again. ‘Do you know what he did in the war?’
She shook her head.
‘It does not matter,’ he said. ‘Yes, the visitors caused the uprising and then disappeared before it started.’
‘Are there still pockets of magic in the Empire?’ she asked.
‘The magic was vanquished,’ he said matter-of-factly.
‘What does that mean?’
‘All those with magic were driven from the Empire. Those who stayed were killed.’
‘Really?’ she asked.
‘If you were paying attention to my lessons, you would know this.’
‘I thought they were all pushed out. Why would they stay if they knew they would be killed?’
‘Some were too young or too poor to make the journey to another land, and they chose to fight instead.’
‘Too young?’
‘Children can show signs of their magic early, and they can be just as dangerous as adult magics. They were all put to death.’
‘My father killed children?’ Lis asked, her voice catching.
‘When he had to, I’m sure. They are not safe,’ he insisted, and she realised why her father would never talk of what had happened—why he had moved them so far away and why she had to be so careful now.
‘Were they really such a threat?’ she asked. ‘They had worked with those without magic for generations.’
‘It was difficult to see how it could have happened in the beginning,’ Tutor Jichun admitted softly. ‘I knew those with magic, and they hadn’t wanted change or power before the war started.’
‘Do you think there are those who still want things the way they were?’ she asked.
His face hardened. ‘There is no magic in the Empire now. If it were to appear, then it would be stamped out immediately.’
‘They would be killed,’ she said softly, thinking of the dead man at the baths, his blood spreading across the floor.
‘You do not need to worry, Your Highness. I understand the prince has inserted a hunter nearby to ensure your safety.’
She nodded slowly, panic closing her throat. ‘Where?’ she whispered.
He shook his head. ‘The general wouldn’t say, only that you were safe.’
She looked down at the desk and the map before her.
The tutor smacked the cane down again, the tip almost hitting her hand. She looked up at his serious face, his thin, pointed beard and his old, tanned, leathery skin. ‘You will not have to worry about surviving if you do not learn all you can to prepare yourself. There is too little time and you are too far behind.’
Lis sighed. She was tired of hearing these same words from the tutors. She knew more than they gave her credit for. If they spent less time lamenting what she couldn’t learn in the next few years and taught more, she might actually learn what she needed.
Chapter 11
The time was getting closer for Lis to leave her palace again, and although she had been assured she wouldn’t be left alone again, she didn’t want to go. She regretted sending the prince’s coat back, wondered if it would not have been better for him to visit and tell her himself what he had put in place.
It was only when she looked over the dress that morning that she realised it wasn’t her usual uniform and her heart stuck in her throat.
‘Temple,’ U’shi said quietly. She had been very subdued since the incident in the bath house and also seemed to move more slowly around the palace.
Lis had learnt very little at her last visit to the temple. She wasn’t sure about the high priestess, but the idea of getting out of the palace was both exciting and unnerving. As she walked slowly towards the gate, she felt even more nervous. She had been very careful not to allow a hint of her magic to escape, and yet there was a hunter now watching her every move. Or at least watching over her. What could she do if they felt the magic that flowed within her?
When they moved through the gate to find a larger number of alert soldiers, all with their backs to her, she glanced between them to see if she could determine which was the hunter. She couldn’t distinguish any of them, and she wondered if the other men in the group knew who he was.
She took U’shi’s hand and climbed the steps, the maid climbing up behind her. As she pulled the curtain aside, her heart caught in her chest. The prince held his finger to his lips and motioned her forward.
‘Are you settled, Your Highness?’
‘Yes,’ she said, pulling her legs in beneath her as the carriage lurched forward. ‘What are you doing?’ she whispered.
‘I was concerned for your safety,’ he said.
‘I thought you had a hunter amongst the soldiers?’
‘Who told you that?’ he asked a little too loudly, his face hard, and she gulped down her rising fear.
‘A tutor,’ she whispered, looking down at her hands.
‘I wonder who told him,’ he said softly.
‘Surely you have more important things to do than watch over me,’ she said.
‘Perhaps watching over you helps me with another problem.’
‘What problem?’ she asked, but he shook his head.
The carriage stopped, and the steps were pulled into place. Lis was more nervous than she thought she should be. ‘Princess,’ came the call from U’shi, and she took a deep breath. The prince gave her hand a squeeze. But when she looked up, he was looking away. She pushed through the curtain, relieved to see the same number of soldiers surrounding the carriage and the high priestess standing in the doorway of the temple.
Lis stepped forward without looking back, but she wondered if the prince would wait for her to return, to be with her while she travelled back to the palace. Would he do that for every journey she took? Not that there were many, only the temple and the baths—and she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to see the baths again. She smiled at the high priestess and followed her into the temple.
‘You have had a difficult time,’ the high pries
tess said as she led the way towards the statues of the gods.
Lis watched her back but didn’t say anything.
‘You want to go home,’ she continued.
Lis stopped. ‘It isn’t an option,’ she said softly. ‘I am the hidden princess.’
‘You are. But it does not follow that you want to be here. Others before you have shared your apprehension.’
‘Have they?’ Lis asked too quickly.
‘This is not an easy position to hold,’ the woman said, turning to her. ‘Some may wish for such a thing, but it is a hard life, with no time of your own. Once you are crowned and released from your training, very little will change.’
Lis looked down at the ground.
‘Why did he come for you?’ the priestess asked softly.
Lis looked up then, trying to read the woman’s features, then shook her head once.
‘What did he say to you in the bath house?’
Lis shivered. She wanted the high priestess to mean the prince, but she didn’t. How did the woman know what had occurred in the bath house?
‘He did speak to you,’ she whispered.
Lis remained unmoving. She tried not to focus on the scary face that appeared before her every time she blinked. She clenched her fists, remembering the magic building in her veins when he chased her out of the water. She held it back, trying desperately to keep the feeling hidden from the world. The crown prince, a hunter, was just outside in her own carriage.
‘You are to teach me of the gods,’ Lis said, looking up into the hard eyes of the priestess.
‘You are not to tell me what I am to teach,’ she said. ‘I am to learn from you what I can, to ensure you will be the best empress.’
Lis nodded once. The high priestess swung around, her robes moving smoothly around her. What did the priestess want to know, and what might she do with the information?
As they entered the centre of the temple, Lis again wondered what the space would be like filled with people. Would they make any noise, or would the silence be maintained? The high priestess clapped her hands once loudly over the top of her head, and the lamps around the space lit up.
Lis held her breath as the light played against the statues. She turned slowly, looking over each one and then towards the ceiling where the candles hung. As she turned quicker, the priestess stood smiling in the middle of it all.
‘You have…’
The priestess held up her finger, silencing her with more than the motion. Lis put her hand to her throat, feeling the tight band that suddenly kept her silent.
‘I know the prince waits outside for you,’ the priestess said softly. ‘I know his power, even if he does not fully understand it himself.’
The band tightened further.
‘Do not fight it. There is no need for us to fight each other. We are the same, are we not?’
Lis shook her head.
‘I know what you have. I know what you are. I know that you are the only chance to reunite this Empire.’
Lis shook her head again.
‘It is the reason I whispered your name to the empress, and why she raised your name with her son.’
‘No,’ Lis managed to push out.
‘You are much stronger than you realise,’ the priestess said, a friendly smile on her face, but the band tightened again around Lis’s neck. Lis wondered if she would die as she tried to suck in a breath. ‘But you will work with us, or I will expose you for what you are.’
‘That would be exposing yourself as well. For how could you know if the crown prince does not?’
The high priestess glowered as Lis sucked in a deep breath.
‘How does he not know?’ the high priestess asked, but Lis simply shook her head.
‘What do you want?’ she asked, her voice scratching the inside of her throat.
‘I want you to be empress, to bring magic back to the Empire. Allow us the freedoms we had before.’
Lis shook her head. ‘How do you think I can do that?’
The older woman shrugged.
‘If I am always at threat of discovery and death, how will that change for me to bring magic back?’
The priestess grinned at her.
The prince appeared in the doorway then, a guard directly behind him, but as soon as they hit the main temple, the man turned his back on the room.
‘Your Highness,’ the high priestess said sweetly. ‘This is my time with the princess.’ She bowed her head. ‘Is there something you need?’
He shook his head and turned for the doorway, tapping the soldier on the shoulder as he went.
When the priestess turned back to Lis, she smiled. ‘He senses you.’
‘Or is it you?’ Lis said, trying to look more confident than she felt. ‘I think I have learnt enough today.’
‘The empress wants you to learn all you can of the gods.’
‘Is that what she thinks you do?’
‘It is something you must learn, for you too shall be a priestess of sorts once you are Empress. You must be advisor and confidant to the emperor as well as the mother of his children.’
‘Then it can wait until next time,’ Lis said, walking towards the door.
‘There is not enough time for you to learn what you must,’ the high priestess said quickly.
‘And yet you waste the time we have. Everyone spends more time telling me that there is no time than they do trying to teach what they think I need to know. This is not my choice,’ she said, her voice louder than she intended, and it echoed around the temple. ‘This is not the life I wanted, but it is the life I have. You chose me. The empress chose me. And, whether he intended to or not, so did the crown prince. You need to start helping me be what you all chose me to be, or let me go.’
The priestess surprised her by kneeling down before her. ‘Forgive me, Your Highness. You have not been treated fairly.’
‘I know that I am nothing until I am crowned and connected to the prince. But I cannot get there with the constant reminders that I am not worthy, that I shall not be ready.’
The priestess bent forward, her head touching the floor, and Lis wondered if she had ever made such a show before.
‘I cannot be another U’shi,’ she said softly.
‘You shall not be,’ the priestess said, standing slowly. ‘Come, let me show you the secrets of the gods.’
Lis nodded once and followed the priestess to one of the statues, taking in her flowing gown and the fruit at her feet. ‘Today I shall teach you all you need to know of Goddess Ba.’
When Lis lay down that night, her head was full of yet more information, but she felt she had a stronger grasp on it. The prince had been gone from the carriage when she left the temple, and Lis was sure that one of the many soldiers who walked with her was a hunter.
U’shi was still uncharacteristically quiet, but she seemed to walk taller, more naturally than she had for some time. Lis wondered what her punishment had been, although she had not been replaced as Lis had hoped.
For the first time since she arrived, Lis had the feeling that she might be able to survive this. That despite her hopes for her life and the fear of her magic leaking into the world, she might be able to do as they wanted her to do and bring honour to her family.
Chapter 12
Lis sat at her desk as the tutor droned on. The sound of the gate made her look up, but the empress coming through the doorway was a surprise. As was Lis’s father behind her. Lis leapt up from the desk and threw herself into his arms. There was something about him, something uncomfortable, and it was a new experience for her.
‘You are dismissed,’ the empress said curtly. The old tutor turned and shuffled from the room.
Lis was so overcome by excitement that she wasn't sure what to do with herself.
‘Lis, my darling.’ Her father sucked in a deep breath, and she saw how much he had aged since she’d seen him only a few months before. ‘I must…’
She indicated the seat she had leapt
out of. It seemed an effort for him to lower himself into the chair. When he raised his dark eyes to hers as she stood beside the desk, she saw far more hurt there than she had ever thought possible.
‘Your mother has been ill,’ he said softly. Lis chewed at her lip, knowing what was to come would be far worse than she had anticipated. She wanted to ask to see her mother. She wanted to return home. But she knew that could never happen.
‘She’s gone.’ The last of his composure slipped as he drew a ragged breath, and large tears rolled down his cheeks. Lis looked to the empress for confirmation or clarity that a mistake had been made, but the usually confident woman only looked at the ground, her hands held too tight before her.
Lis fell heavily into the desk, the ink splashing across the work she had painstakingly done that morning. She worried about the tutor’s anger, the swish of his cane at the mess she had made. What would her mother have thought about the life she was living?
Lis sat heavily on the floor as the loss of her mother overwhelmed her. Yet in some ways Lis had already lost her, when she was taken—chosen—to be the hidden princess. Her father's words confirmed that there was no way back. In her mind, she had always felt there was an escape, that despite her hard work and the unrelenting pressure of the Empire’s traditions there would somehow be a way for her to return home.
Now, with this terrible news, it was as though more than just her mother's life had ended. Any chance for Lis to end this way of life had gone with her.
Her father's arms closed around her, and she breathed in the scent of him, feeling the familiarity of his embrace. She allowed herself to cry for all that was lost, clinging to his robes and feeling his wet tears on her skin. When he pulled back from her, U’shi stood in the doorway, her face serious. Then she turned away.
‘We have provided a shrine for your mother,’ the empress said. ‘You and your father are welcome to stay as long as you need to.’
‘Thank you, Your Eminence.’ Lis wiped her sleeve across her face and looked up into her father's devastation.
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 8