The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set

by Georgina Makalani

  ‘What news do you bring?’ Remi asked.

  ‘She has been found.’

  He stood quickly from the desk and came around to the man still bent before him.

  ‘Well, tell me,’ he snapped.

  ‘We have kept it secret, like you said.’

  ‘You are sure it is her?’

  ‘She was still wearing the veil, which is how she was identified.’ He looked nervous.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked, fearing the worst.

  ‘She was dressed in her undergarments.’

  ‘She is alive?’

  The soldier nodded.

  ‘Then take me to her.’

  He followed the soldier out of the room and along the hallway. They travelled out into the city, where no one noticed him. He was somewhat disappointed that life had returned to normalcy so quickly, despite the hidden princess’s disappearance.

  The old prison stood silent along the wall of the Palace Isle, and the prince faltered before following the soldier inside. He had wanted her hidden from the world if she was found—but to keep her safe, not to lock her away. He wondered how she would react to such a place. She had not been happy about her confinement in the hidden princess’s palace, and now she was behind bars.

  The section of the prison they entered was deserted and oddly silent as they moved deeper inside. They would need more soldiers, without drawing attention, if they were to keep her here. She had to be safe, but they couldn’t alert anyone to that part of the building being used again.

  ‘Could we not make this more comfortable?’ he asked, looking through the bars into a large cell. It contained a single cot against one wall, on which the princess slept. A table and four stools sat in the middle of the room, and he realised this was probably the most comfortable cell in the building. It would have been used for a high-ranking political prisoner. He had seen it used in his childhood, but not since. Although he was sure there were those who should be locked away. Any fear of magic, and prisoners were put to death.

  She lay still and silent as he carefully lifted a stool from beside the table and sat down beside the cot.

  Her face was red and burnt, and she shivered beneath the blanket. He glanced up as Mu-Phi entered carrying a tray. It held a bowl, ointment and a silk cloth. She looked at the prince sternly, and he indicated she sit the tray on the table.

  ‘Where was she found?’ he asked in a whisper.

  ‘In a boat that had knocked against the wall of the isle,’ the soldier said behind him.

  ‘How long was she exposed?’

  ‘I do not know, Your Highness.’

  ‘Too long,’ Mu-Phi mumbled.

  Remi chewed his lip and nodded slowly. The girl had served him well over the years. Despite being dressed as a maid, she was a good soldier and a good friend. He waved her away and dipped the cloth into the bowl of cool water. Then he wrung it out and placed it carefully over Lis’s forehead. She shivered beneath it. He wondered if he should send for a healer, but then word would be out that she was found, and he didn’t know who else might come for her.

  It had been his idea for her to go back into the veil, yet he wondered if there was more history to this that he didn’t know. Her hair was loose, but she still wore the pins that held the veil in place. He carefully withdrew the closest one and pulled the veil back from her face. She was pink beneath it, for it had done little to keep the sun from her. Reaching across her, he removed the other.

  When he turned with the veil in his hand, Mu-Phi stood waiting, her hands held before her.

  ‘Fetch another cloth,’ he instructed, handing her the veil and pins.

  She bowed before him and disappeared.

  ‘What were you doing?’ he whispered to the sleeping princess as he carefully pulled back the covers. Her neck was just as pink as her lower face—partially covered by the veil, he assumed. Her hands were crossed over her stomach, just as bright red as her face.

  ‘Your Highness,’ Mu-Phi said with a sharp intake of breath. ‘She is only in her undergarments.’

  ‘She is covered,’ he said, standing and pulling the cover off completely.

  ‘But you shouldn’t,’ the girl said.

  He held a finger to his lips and waved her out. He had seen far more of Lis. Her bare feet were also red. How many days had she drifted in that boat?

  Taking the cloth, he dipped it into the water, shook some of the ointment over it and gently wiped at her face and neck. Then he sat back on the stool, took each hand and did the same. And then he squatted at the end of the cot and wiped over her feet.

  He noticed the guard on the other side of the bars, his back to them. Remi stood slowly and walked over to him. ‘Has she woken at all?’

  ‘No, Your Highness,’ the guard said softly without turning. ‘I fear she has spent too long in the sun and may perish.’

  ‘She is strong,’ Remi said.

  He wet the cloth, wrung it out and replaced the one across her forehead with it. He would stay as long as was needed.

  He must have drifted off with her hand in his as he wiped cool ointment across it, for he woke to her pulling against him. He cleared his throat as she looked around and sat slowly. He felt a wave of relief as she looked at him, before she burst into tears and threw her arms around his neck. She almost pulled herself from the bed and onto his lap, and he closed his arms around her as he held her close, breathing in the scent of the sea in her hair.

  ‘You are safe now,’ he murmured. ‘And I promise to keep you safe.’

  She released her hold and sat back on the bed, looking around the room, but her eyes had grown wide and her lip quivered. She had seemed so strong, but now he just wanted to hold on to her. He felt the absence of her in his arms.

  ‘You have locked me up,’ she whispered, wiping a hand across her face and then wincing. ‘I’m on fire,’ she said, looking over her hands.

  He held out the cloth, and she looked up at him before taking it and pressing it to her face. The cloth that had been over her forehead had fallen into her lap, and she moved away from him when he reached for it.

  ‘Let me wet the cloth for you,’ he said, indicating the material. She nodded, allowing him to pick it up and take it.

  He stood slowly, feeling the fatigue of sitting on the stool for so long, and dropped the cloth into the water. He noticed it was fresh and clear, so he poured more of the ointment into it. Mu-Phi must have refreshed it. He wondered if he could convince his mother to place her with the princess as a maid. He stretched, rolled his shoulders and turned back to her. She moved the cloth to the other side of her face and watched him as though he might run her through at any point.

  He sat down again and held out his hand for her free one. She took a moment before handing it over, and he could feel the tension in her, as though she might run at any moment. When he put the cool cloth down on her skin, she sighed and closed her eyes, allowing her hand to rest in his.

  ‘Can you tell me what happened?’ he asked, trying to keep his voice level and calm.

  She shook her head.

  ‘You have been gone for some time,’ he said softly. She only looked at him, her brow creasing. ‘Did you not know how long you were gone?’

  She shook her head again and then pulled her hand out from beneath his. She indicated the cloth that he had in his hand, and he handed it to her. She pressed it to her forehead with the hand he had just held and offered him the other cloth. He went back to the table and wrung it out in the water. When he returned, she was lying back with her eyes closed. He sat as quietly as he could on the stool, and she held up the other hand.

  He smiled as he took it carefully in his and pressed the cloth to the burnt skin. It was looking less red already.

  ‘Did you take the veil?’ she asked.

  ‘I needed to see your face,’ he said, and she opened her eyes to look up at him. ‘I needed to see how burnt you were.’

  ‘From the boat,’ she murmured, closing her eyes again.


  ‘How did you end up in the boat?’

  ‘I ran away. It was dark, and I didn’t know where I was or where to go. I just got in the boat.’ Her voice cracked a little, and he held tighter to the hand in his.

  ‘Did they have magic?’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Those who had you. Those you were with.’

  ‘I’m not sure. There was fire and…’

  She shuddered again, and he released her hand to pull the covers over her, noticing that her feet were still red. He sighed and moved the stool to the end of the cot. After covering the rest of her, he carefully covered her feet with the damp cloth.

  ‘Thank you,’ she murmured.

  His mother was going to be furious. But he couldn’t leave the princess’s care to anyone else. She hadn’t been safe where she was. He wondered if there was somewhere she could be truly hidden away, so the tutors could finish their work.

  ‘Your Highness,’ another soldier whispered through the bars.

  He nodded, covered her feet with the cloth still in place and then moved to the bars.

  ‘The empress wishes to speak with you.’

  He tried not to sigh. ‘Tell her I’m busy searching for the hidden princess.’

  The soldier nodded and disappeared.

  Remi turned back to find Lis with her eyes closed. Her hand slipped from the cloth at her brow. He lifted it carefully and turned it over. She looked so peaceful in her sleep, yet he could only wonder what they had done to her, where they might have taken her and who these people were.

  He had tried, during the time she was gone, to search out an idea of magic within the Empire, but there was nothing. Until a few nights ago, he had sensed something in the distance, but it had disappeared as quickly as it had flared up. He wondered if that was the fire she had spoken of.

  He wanted desperately to close his own eyes, but instead he sat beside the bed and rested his face in his hands with his elbows on his knees. He closed his eyes for just a moment, still remembering her clinging to him as though he were the most important thing in the world. Then he remembered the look on her face when he had chosen her, and the man she loved.

  Would she return to the other man if he freed her from her obligation? But he couldn’t, even if he wanted to. The choice had been made. She had been named, and it would destroy more than his ego if she left.

  Just as he thought it, she sat up, her eyes wide. ‘Peng,’ she called.

  ‘Lis?’ he asked softly, the word causing him more pain than her disappearance.

  She looked at him for a moment, as though trying to work out who he was, and then her face crinkled as the tears flowed again. He moved easily to the edge of the cot and closed his arms around her.

  ‘I am sorry,’ he said, unsure what he was sorry for. That he had put her in this place to start with, that he had taken her away from Peng.

  ‘You didn’t kill him,’ she murmured into his shoulder, her hands tight around the front of his shirt.

  ‘Of course I didn’t kill him.’

  A sob escaped, and she pushed her face into him. Then she pulled back, her fingertips touching the sore skin.

  ‘I’ll get you another cloth,’ he said, making to get up, but she clung to him.

  ‘They told me you had killed him,’ she said, her voice thick with tears, and she sniffed.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Tutor Nizen,’ she said, closing her eyes and leaning into him.

  He closed his arms around her again.

  ‘Why would he tell you such a thing?’

  ‘They don’t want me here. I’m not good enough, not smart enough. I cannot learn what they want me to learn.’

  ‘Is that what you think?’ he asked.

  She leaned back from him and sniffed. She studied him, then looked at her hands as though realising she was clinging to him. She let go. ‘I am so sorry, Your Highness.’ She put her hands together to bow to him and winced as the skin touched.

  ‘You have nothing to be sorry for. Why did you believe the tutor?’ he asked carefully.

  ‘He said Peng had magic, but he didn’t, and I thought…’ She chewed her lip and looked down. Despite the burn, he gently lifted her chin to look at him.

  ‘What did you think?’

  She gulped, clearly unsure how to continue.

  ‘Tell me,’ he coaxed.

  Her eyes flittered around the space before resting on him again. ‘That you killed him to keep me here.’

  A shiver crossed his skin, and he tried to smile. There was no way she could return home, whether she wanted to or he deemed it possible. ‘You are the hidden princess,’ he said instead, and he stood from the edge of the bed.

  ‘They said that you care for me,’ she whispered.

  ‘Who did?’ he asked, but it sounded harsh and accusatory, as though she had been told a lie. As another large tear rolled away and she brushed quickly at her face, wincing, he regretted his words.

  Mu-Phi reappeared with some clothes, and he nodded at her before heading for the door. ‘I will give you time to rest,’ he said without looking back. ‘We need to talk more of those who took you.’ As he strode out, he indicated for the guard to move with him.

  He stopped just beyond her cell; he couldn’t be far away.

  ‘Let me help you, Your Highness,’ Mu-Phi said to the princess. ‘Here, we must be careful with your face.’

  ‘They all want something I cannot give,’ she murmured, and he wondered what it was she couldn’t give him.

  ‘The prince only wants you safe, Your Highness.’

  ‘He wants me for his Empire,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know that I am any good for it.’

  He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. What had they done to her in all those days she had been gone?

  Chapter 22

  The Empress of Rei-Een looked over the two kneeling before her with bitter disappointment. She had made all the excuses she could for the girl, but the emperor was determined to make an example of her. And Remi was furious. He had always been a serious boy, but there was something angry about him now, something dangerous, and she wondered what he would be like as emperor.

  ‘You said that you pushed her too far.’ Remi’s voice was level, but she could hear the power behind his words.

  U’shi continued to stare at the floor as the tutor huffed.

  ‘Your prince has asked for an explanation. It is only at the grace of the empress that you are both not dead already,’ the emperor said.

  The empress gulped, despite her best efforts. She had chosen this woman. If her son had remained alive, she would nearly be the crown princess. She understood that the time as hidden princess was hard; she had endured it herself. But it was necessary, and she was a stronger, better empress for it.

  ‘She had mentioned a man from her island,’ the tutor said reluctantly, glancing at U’shi as he did.

  ‘Peng,’ Remi said clearly.

  The empress looked at her son. How did he know? Did he remember her words from the Choosing, or was it something else?

  The tutor nodded once.

  ‘That is not the whole story,’ the prince continued, and she could feel his strength filling the room. He would make an excellent emperor.

  The man at least looked somewhat ashamed before he continued, ‘I told her you had killed him. That he was someone with magic who had fizzled as you drove your sword through him.’

  The prince actually growled, and even the emperor looked at him.

  ‘After just learning of her mother’s death, and the attack in the bath house where she saw such an end to a man. Why would you do this?’ Remi stepped forward. For a moment, the empress feared he would kill this man here and now, without waiting for his father’s edict.

  ‘She tried to tell me what to teach her,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Because you do not teach. You lament at the lack of time rather than helping form the next empress. You are no tutor. You are an imposter, hiding in the palace to get close t
o a maid.’

  Tutor Nizen opened his mouth and then closed it again, clearly realising that no matter what he said, the crown prince was not going to be easy on him.

  ‘You were together when you should have been helping her in the bath house,’ Remi said more gently to the girl.

  She nodded once, her hands never moving from her stomach.

  ‘Did you send the man to kill her?’

  She shook her head vigorously.

  ‘You have already made it known that you thought you should remain as the hidden princess, that you should be my empress,’ Remi said, his voice harsh. ‘Were you planning on pretending that this man’s child was my own?’

  She chewed on her lip and closed her eyes. ‘The child was unexpected, but I could not have kept it secret from you. It was conceived after the new hidden princess was hidden away.’

  ‘Are there others?’

  She looked up at him sharply.

  ‘Other lovers? Other children?’ Remi glanced quickly at his mother. ‘What might someone do to protect the hidden princess?’

  ‘What do you do to protect this one?’ U’shi asked, her voice cracking, her face ugly.

  ‘When she is found, I will do all I can to keep her safe. For she is the next empress.’ He said it slowly. The dangerous edge to his voice made the empress shiver. ‘Do as you will to them, Father. I have a princess to find.’ He strode from the room.

  Without looking at his wife, the emperor stood from his throne and stepped forward. ‘You have endangered more than the hidden princess. You have brought danger and instability to the Empire.’

  Both of them dropped their heads to the floor in a show of respect, but the emperor’s eyes were hard and glassy, and the empress knew it would do them no good. They had endangered what he had spent his life building, and the whole Empire was searching for a girl they had treated terribly.

  The empress sucked in a breath. She had not done the new hidden princess any favours herself. The princess was needed to ensure this Empire continued, that her son would be the strength of the world and have fine sons to carry on the Empire. When she was found, the empress decided, she would help her become what she needed to be.