The black gate called to Remi, and he headed for the hidden princesses of old. Many unanswered questions remained in the compound and the papers. There had to be more they hadn’t found, and the faces were a worry. Had someone else known they were there? Had the magics found them, watched them? Remi didn’t know what power they might have or ability to change the world around them. He had fire and water, but Lis could make anything grow. She had also made the earth move and the stones disappear. What else might she be able to do?
He moved quickly, seeing no one on the way. When he pushed the gate closed behind him, he wondered how he could prevent others following him. He smelt the hot metal before he realised he had melted the latch. He would find another way out if required.
He walked towards the black gate and reached for the writing hidden beneath the paint. This time, it had a different message: ‘The way forward is together.’
He rushed forward, looking for any sign that Lis had been there without him.
Chapter 22
Lis sat slowly at the table beside the empress after the prince had left the little palace. The anger had been like a flame behind his eyes. It had flashed and burned, growing stronger with every word his mother spoke.
The empress ran her fingers over the fine line across her chest, and Yang sighed. ‘He didn’t mean to,’ she murmured.
Lis nodded agreement, but she knew the anger was too much. It would consume him. ‘It is too late,’ she whispered, looking down at her hands, fearful of the acknowledgement she knew she would see on Wei-Song’s face.
‘I am sorry he could not embrace you as the sister he needs,’ the empress continued, looking up at Wei-Song. ‘But then, we knew he couldn’t. It is his life to hunt out those with magic, so to find that his own sister is one of them…’ She trailed off before turning to Lis and taking her hand. ‘He knows what you are?’
Lis nodded, and the empress grew stern.
‘He is the one who hurt you, not one of the magics.’
She nodded again, only chancing to glance up at the empress and see the sadness on her face. ‘It is who he is,’ she said. ‘But it wasn’t anymore. A hunter with magic of his own. ‘He must be very confused,’ she murmured.
‘I thought I knew all your secrets,’ the empress said.
‘There are too many secrets and very few of them mine,’ Lis answered, pulling her hand from the empress’s as she stood.
‘What does he think you have told me?’ the empress asked, looking between Lis and Wei-Song.
They looked at each other, and Lis indicated with a small tip of her head that Wei-Song be the one to tell, but she shook her head. ‘You are his bride. He shared this with you, so you should tell.’
‘He should tell,’ Lis said with a sigh. ‘The crown prince,’ she started slowly, unsure of how the empress would respond to such news, ‘has magic.’
The empress stared at her for too long. ‘His hunting is a form of magic?’
‘He holds fire and water,’ Lis said quickly.
‘When did you discover this?’ The empress’s voice was calm, calmer than Lis expected.
‘Recently. It appears to be connected to me in some way.’
The empress nodded.
‘Have you heard this before?’ Lis asked.
She shook her head.
Lis opened her mouth to ask more, but the empress turned to Wei-Song and asked, ‘Are you angry that he has lived the life you were denied?’
Wei-Song knelt by her mother. ‘Of course not. The choice was not yours, and it wasn’t mine. The crown prince has only just come to these skills. He is finding his way, finding his skill, finding his place in the world.’
‘You are a good child,’ the empress said, reaching forward and placing her palm against Wei-Song’s face. ‘You are better to me than I deserve.’
‘Why aren’t you surprised by his skills?’ Lis asked hurriedly, and a little harshly.
The empress slowly lifted her gaze to Lis. ‘I dreamt of it.’
‘When?’ they asked together. Lis looked across the room at Yang, who remained still, in his usual place on the floor by the bed.
‘It started just after the priestess died.’
‘Before the next high priestess was raised?’ Lis asked.
The empress shrugged then, looking between the two women, the uncertainty and vulnerability clear on her face. ‘I have strange dreams of you and Remi with magic, working together, and then it is as though you are shrouded in darkness and he can’t see you. He grows angry and hateful, and the world burns around him.’ Her fingers worked over the new scar again.
‘How often do you have this dream?’ Wei-Song asked.
‘Most nights,’ she murmured.
‘You should have told me,’ Wei-Song said, reaching for her again.
‘I thought it was worry that had caused such an idea to form. But sometimes in my dream you work together in harmony, and the people look so happy. Perhaps it is worry for the two of you, that he cares so much for you that he will not separate your needs from the Empire’s.’
‘Is that a risk?’
‘Maybe not. This Choosing has been so different from any other. The age, the timing, the magic…’
‘Others have not always been so easy,’ Lis said softly. ‘I think there are many stories similar to mine, or where princesses have not survived and have been replaced without the Empire ever discovering. Was your own training so event free?’
The empress looked up but stared past Lis. ‘I made some good friends during that time. Friends I can no longer see.’
‘Master Yangshing,’ Wei-Song whispered, and her mother nodded. ‘Was he your tutor?’
‘He was far more than that, but it is no longer important. I can never repay the friendship he gave to me.’
‘What do you think the crown prince will do with his magic?’ Lis asked. ‘Will he burn the Empire?’
‘He is more driven than that. He has worked all his life to protect the Empire. He just needs time to adjust.’
Lis wondered about the dream. Wei-Song had talked of someone having a vision and telling her a similar version of what their future might be. She was key, she knew, to keeping them together and keeping him from himself. She had no idea how to do that, and his behaviour had only renewed her fears of what he might do to her if he felt they were on opposing sides.
‘There is no connection,’ she said to the room. ‘There is nothing that keeps us together.’
‘You are his chosen.’ The empress’s fingers played over the scar again.
‘Yang, would you be able to see to that?’ Lis asked him.
He climbed to his feet and then squatted in front of the empress, this time waiting for her to nod before he put his hands on her skin and closed his eyes. When he opened them, only the faintest red line remained. ‘It will fade,’ he murmured, staggering a little as he stood.
Lis looped under his arm quickly and guided him back to the bed, where he sat heavily on the floor and leaned back. She sat beside him, leaning on his shoulder, trying to share some of her energy with him. He murmured a noise that could have been thanks and closed his eyes.
‘No connection,’ she said again.
‘He cares for you,’ the empress repeated.
‘But do I care for him?’
The empress turned to her, and she bit her lip. ‘I was chosen, but I didn’t have a choice. We have formed a kind of friendship in our magic, but there is a fear of him I’m not sure I can get past.’
‘He would not hurt you.’
‘He already has,’ Lis said, running a finger over her wrist. ‘He may not mean to, but there is an anger he has lived with for so long. He may not be able to get past it. And now he has become the very thing he has fought against. He has no one he can share that with other than me. His choices have been taken away.’
‘Do not put stock on an old woman’s dreams.’
‘I have heard too many visions now, or dreams of my future. What if it is
something different?’
‘What do you think it might be?’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t know. Right now, I can’t guess. I have glimpses of something I think I could live with, and then other times I wonder if I will survive long enough to become the crown princess.’
‘Could we help with training, get you working together with support?’ the empress asked.
‘Who do you propose to help us?’ Lis asked, but she was looking at Wei-Song.
The empress turned towards her. ‘The master knows the situation.’
Wei-Song shook her head quickly. ‘I couldn’t put him in such a position, and it would give the order away. I can’t expose them.’
‘He is your brother.’
‘He is the best hunter in the Empire who has just discovered his own power. He could be a danger to us all.’
‘You don’t trust him,’ the empress whispered, her voice heavy with disappointment.
Wei-Song shook her head once and looked at the floor.
‘I agree with Wei-Song,’ Lis said, watching how hard it was for her to be honest with her mother. ‘He is too volatile at the moment.’
‘He wouldn’t betray you,’ the empress said.
‘He doesn’t know me,’ Wei-Song said. ‘He owes me nothing. When he lost his temper with the princess, he tried to run her through, and then he burnt her arms. What might he do to a school full of Hidden?’
‘I can’t believe that,’ the empress said. Her voice was soft, but it carried the strength Lis was used to hearing.
‘Which is why he must remain as he is until we are sure he can be trusted.’
The empress lifted herself up from the table, clearly exhausted from learning the truth of her son. She rested her hand on Wei-Song’s shoulder a moment before continuing outside. Lis listened to the sounds of the gate opening and the guards arranging themselves around her.
‘Who told you of the prince and princess?’ Yang asked from his position on the floor.
‘A child,’ Wei-Song said, her shoulders hunching. Lis climbed to her feet, but as she reached out, Wei-Song straightened up. ‘A child with visions. They are very rare.’
‘And yet we hear of visions all the time,’ Lis said.
‘The empress,’ Yang whispered.
‘It is strange that she would have a similar dream so often,’ Lis said, still watching Wei-Song.
‘I don’t know what she is or might have been. It could be that the world is changing now that the two of you are together. Those in the world might be changing along with it.’
‘You mean we might be the cause of the magic? We could be the return of magic to Rei-Een?’
‘I don’t know, not without more time with the child. I fear the world is changing far more than I thought it would. There was a child before who foretold your coming.’
‘What does she say now?’
‘She died,’ Wei-Song whispered. ‘And now another child has been found. She says she is called by others, but we have never been able to find them. As things change, as people act to try and change what has been seen, more is seen of the future. I don’t know if enough can be changed to stop what has been foretold.’
‘You said that if we worked together, it would be fine.’
‘That may not be the truth. It may not be the whole story. Even if you manage to save the prince from himself, you may not be able to stop what is to come.’
Lis shivered at the strange sensation that covered her skin.
‘We need to know that you will fight for the Empire.’
‘Of course,’ Lis said. ‘I will do everything I can.’
‘And fight for the emperor.’
‘The man who will kill me for the magic I have?’
‘The man who will be your husband,’ Wei-Song whispered.
Lis couldn’t sleep that night. Once she did drift off, she woke from a dream of the prince with flames in his eyes, hatred burning off him and threatening to engulf her. She found when she woke that she was cold, and she missed the heat of him. How long had it been since he had snuck into her bed in the night and closed his arms around her? It felt like forever, and she wondered what it meant that she missed him.
Yang still remained close, but not as close now that she had healed. There wasn’t the need for him to share his energy with her in the night. But as she sat up in the bed, she couldn’t see him in the dark room. She longed for the ability to raise flames in her hand as the prince did so she could see the dim room.
In the quiet of the night, she heard whispered voices, and she leaned forward trying to hear what was being said.
‘There has to be something on her side for him.’
‘And if there isn’t?’ She thought it was Yang’s voice.
‘Then it may be that the crown prince will lose his way and darkness will follow.’
‘Why don’t you refer to him by name?’ Yang asked, concern thick in his voice.
‘He isn’t my brother. No matter who our parents are, I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me.’
One of them sighed heavily. Silence followed, and Lis wondered if they realised she was awake. She lay back slowly and pulled her knees towards her chest as she curled into a ball and huddled beneath the covers. What would happen if she couldn’t connect with the prince?
She thought about his mother, too calm in the revelation that the greatest hunter of the Empire had magic of his own. The dream in itself was not enough. Lis wondered if the woman had more power than she was willing to share, and if she too had an idea of what might happen in their future. It appeared everyone had a better idea of what was to come for Lis than she did herself.
She felt a little lost and again found herself longing for the prince’s arms around her. Maybe she did feel something more for him than she was willing to admit. If given a choice, she would have preferred Peng’s arms around her, but she knew that was no longer an option for her. There was also no memory to draw from. They had lain together in the field, surrounded by flowers and staring up at the sky, but he had never shared her bed. She felt the loss of him again, the same burning sensation in her heart that she’d felt when the crown prince had knelt before her and announced her as his choice.
In a sense, he had burned her even then. Was that when it had started? Was that when he had first found the fire within? Did he feel a connection to her, some unknown that drew him to her, a prophecy they could do nothing to prevent? The hot tears were a surprise. She knew her lot was set. She had come to terms with that some time ago, and she didn’t need to relive it. But the visions had unnerved her.
When she closed her eyes, the magic man who had reached for her through the prison bars sprang at her. She cried out and sat up again to find a shadow standing over the bed. She squealed.
‘Lis,’ Yang whispered.
‘I can’t sleep,’ she whined.
He ran a smooth hand over her forehead, warm and comforting, brushing her hair back. She lay back down and closed her eyes. He had more power than he realised, she thought as she drifted to sleep.
The dream was vivid. Although she felt as though she was in the hidden princess palace, she knew it was a dream. The stones were neat and level, no weeds growing between them. She waved her hand over the ground, but nothing grew, and her chest tightened with the fear that her magic was gone.
She looked up to find the prince by the black gate. He studied the silver symbols, but from her distance she couldn’t see what they were. He stomped his foot. She could feel his anger grow, the heat moving in waves across to her.
‘Your Highness,’ she called across the gap, but he didn’t respond. She wasn’t sure if he couldn’t hear her or if he was too focused on what he did to look away.
She walked towards him, but she couldn’t seem to close the distance.
He murmured and waved his arms.
‘Remi,’ she called, becoming more desperate. She tried to run, but the gate didn’t get any closer. ‘Remi, help me.’
&
nbsp; ‘No,’ he cried, but he was focused on the gate. The symbols faded and returned, but she still couldn’t make out what they were. ‘It can’t be,’ he cried, the anguish clear in his voice.
And then the black gate burst into flames. The crackle hurt her ears. The paint blistered and the wood cried out under the heat of the flames. As it burned, Lis felt her skin blister as well. She felt her own skin disappear as the black door flared to orange. She was surrounded by the flames.
She tried to call out, but her throat burned as the world around her disappeared in the haze of the heat. She tried to raise her arm and felt her skin split, and then the prince turned towards her. She tried to call his name one more time, but there was nothing there.
As the world turned from orange to black, the prince stepped towards her. ‘Goodbye, Your Highness,’ he said. His grin made her heart stop.
She woke wet, sweat pouring from her and the covers on the floor. She drew a ragged breath, desperate for water. She couldn’t see Yang or Wei-Song, but there was someone else in the dim room as she pulled herself from the bed and searched out water. She reached for the candle just as a flame sparked to life.
The prince stood by the table with a small flame cupped in his hand—and the same grin he had worn when she’d burned in the dream.
She screamed.
‘Lis,’ Wei-Song said softly as she shook her. The morning light slowly focused. ‘You were dreaming.’
Lis shook her head and then put a hand to her forehead. It hurt. She felt dry and uncomfortable, sure that her skin had peeled away in the night from the heat of the flames.
‘I will get you water,’ she said, stepping away, and Lis curled back into a ball, the bed warm around her. ‘Here,’ she said, but Lis didn’t move. ‘The tutors come today.’
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 45