She looked up then and caught the prince standing in the doorway, watching her closely. She made to stand, but he shook his head and instead she bowed to him from where she was.
‘I see you are keen to get back to your studies.’ He stepped forward and waved at the maid in the corner. She nodded and bowed to the prince before disappearing from the room.
‘How do you know you can trust her?’
‘She is the daughter of one of my best men.’
Lis nodded once. She too was the daughter of one of his father’s best men, yet she wasn’t what she appeared to be.
‘What were you reading?’
‘A history of the Empire, and an account of the magic war.’
‘I would have thought your father would have told you all about the magic war.’
She shook her head and climbed to her feet. ‘He didn’t.’
‘Oh,’ the prince said.
‘I know the history of the Empire, the line of emperors. It is something else the tutors will waste time reteaching,’ she said, then turned and bowed to him again. ‘I apologise, Your Highness. I do not appear as grateful as I am for this opportunity.’
He opened his mouth and then closed it as the maid reappeared. ‘I thought you might be hungry,’ she said, sitting the food down on a table Lis had not noticed before.
The prince indicated the table, and she stepped forward. ‘Please,’ he said, and she sat slowly, surprised to find him joining her. The maid gave him a dark look, and he waved her away.
Lis looked after her as she returned to the corner of the room and stoked the coals beneath the pot. Was she another jealous of Lis’s position?
Lis turned back to the prince, who was watching her closely. ‘She believes I do not behave appropriately,’ he said in a conspiratorial whisper, and Lis smiled at him.
She looked over the bowls before her and realised there was nothing for the prince. She lifted the empty bowl from in front of her and sat it down before him. He picked it up and sat it back. ‘I am to join you, but you need to eat.’
She shook her head. ‘I’m not hungry.’
‘Do you feel unwell?’ he asked, his voice heavy with concern. ‘Should I send for a healer?’
She shook her head.
‘Then eat a little, if just for me. I need to know you are well after all that has happened.’
‘You trust her,’ Lis said, moving the food around her bowl without picking any up.
‘Completely,’ he said, looking across at the girl.
‘Is she a hunter?’
‘Would it make you feel better if she were?’
Lis studied him across the table and forced a small amount of meat into her mouth. It tasted very good, but it was hard to swallow. She didn’t want any of this, but there was nowhere else she could go now. She would have to live her life as the prince deemed best.
Lis jumped at a loud knock on the door, and a manservant entered. He smiled at Lis and bowed to them both. ‘Your Highness, I am to remind you of your duty and that you are not to harass the princess.’
‘Harass?’ he asked the man, then turned back to Lis with a grin. She tried to smile for him, and she put the chopsticks down.
‘The empress said you were not to…’ He waved his hand in a circular motion. Lis wondered what the empress thought her son was up to.
‘I don’t think I’ve been doing any of that,’ he said softly, and the maid in the corner coughed.
Lis smiled despite trying to stay out of the conversation. And then she looked seriously at the prince. ‘Why does she think you do not behave appropriately?’ she asked, looking towards the maid.
‘Your Highness,’ the manservant grumbled.
‘I never,’ he said to the man. ‘I looked at your feet,’ he said quickly.
‘My feet?’
‘When you were burned.’
‘My feet,’ she repeated slowly. ‘Is it not appropriate to look at someone’s feet?’ She looked down at the table, feeling the heat of her embarrassment burn through her face. She ran barefoot around the island often, and her father had never once ordered her to put on shoes when Peng visited. She chanced the opportunity to look back at him, but he looked a little pink himself. ‘You mean the bath house?’
‘Oh my,’ the manservant said, bowing hastily and backing out of the room.
‘You did not look,’ she said, trying to hide the lump that had formed in her throat. She was coming across as the country girl. The harder she tried to understand what she should be doing, the worse she was making the situation. She so desperately wanted to disappear and run. But, she reminded herself, she had nowhere to go.
He shook his head.
‘You were only in your undergarments,’ the maid said. ‘The crown prince looked over you in this state of undress to assess your burns. He is childish and impulsive.’
‘And she was injured,’ he snapped back at the maid. He sighed and looked back at the table. ‘You still have not eaten,’ he said.
‘I am not hungry; my stomach is unsettled.’
He nodded slowly and waved the girl over. She set a cup down on the table before Lis.
Lis took it and sipped at it. It contained a sweet tea that soothed her somewhat. ‘I think I need Tutor Na,’ she said, setting the cup on the table. ‘She would be best to explain my behaviour.’
‘I do not think you have misbehaved,’ the prince said, his smile sad, and she looked back at the tea.
‘But I do not behave as I should,’ she whispered.
‘You have been perfect,’ he said, anger apparent in his voice. ‘It is I who have spent too long pestering you. The girl is right, of course; I do not act as I should.’ He stood quickly, and she jumped at the movement, wondering if she would ever settle in this world. Would she always be waiting for him to run her through? ‘I am sorry,’ he said with a sigh and turned for the door.
‘Wait,’ she called after him. ‘I appreciate what you have done for me,’ she said quickly. ‘You have saved me, again.’ She smiled when he turned back from the door. ‘I like your company,’ she added. ‘Perhaps you could visit soon.’
He grinned and bowed low before he turned back for the door and left.
Lis dropped her head into her hands on the table at the relief. Although she wasn’t sure what she was more relieved at, that he had left her alone and alive or that he would be coming back.
‘Do you feel up to eating now?’ the maid asked, looking over the table, and Lis nodded slowly without lifting her head. ‘You are very lucky to have a such a man choose you to be his wife,’ she said.
Was she? The one man who could find her out and finish her. But he had not sensed her yet, although she was sure she had sensed something around him. ‘Are you a hunter?’ she asked the girl, who smiled and shook her head. ‘Will you sit with me?’
The maid opened her mouth to protest as Lis nodded.
She smiled then and sat where the prince had.
‘I don’t have any friends, and there are few who will visit with me,’ Lis said carefully. ‘I would like someone I can talk with.’
‘Of course, Your Highness,’ the maid said.
‘The tea is very good.’
‘It will settle your stomach. My mother is a healer of a type, and I learnt a little from her.’
A strange feeling overwhelmed Lis as she looked over the cup. What if they did something to her?
‘He only wants you safe.’
‘So he says,’ Lis mused.
‘You do not trust him?’ the girl asked, her eyes wide.
‘It is not that,’ she said, but the girl was right. ‘I’m not sure who to trust,’ she said honestly. ‘Everyone has their own agenda and their own idea as to where I fit within their world.’
‘You are the hidden princess,’ the maid said with a broad smile. ‘The world revolves around you.’
Lis laughed out loud. ‘If only that were true.’
‘The prince’s world revolves around you,’ she sa
id.
‘I think the prince has much to worry about without me adding to his woes. You have known him a long time?’
She nodded then. ‘He is a good man.’
‘You said that,’ Lis whispered. ‘I hope it is true.’
The door opened, and she jumped despite her best efforts. Tutor Na stood in the doorway, a frustrated look upon her face. The maid was quick to her feet and bowed before her, but would not allow her to enter the room.
‘You are to knock, please, Tutor.’
‘She is my student.’
‘The crown prince insists upon it. She has been through a terrible ordeal, and she is frightened.’
The tutor looked around the girl at Lis and nodded once.
‘The princess is eating. She is still weak.’
‘The prince himself sent me,’ Tutor Na said in a tone that made Lis sit taller.
‘The prince himself has placed me here.’ The maid’s tone carried a similar weight, and Lis knew this girl was far more than she appeared to be.
‘I have a need to talk with the empress. Eat and rest, and I shall return.’
Lis nodded, and Tutor Na bowed before leaving.
‘I wonder if they have replaced the history tutor with someone nice,’ Lis mused aloud.
‘I think the prince has thoughts on that as well.’
‘It seems that he takes on more than he should.’
The maid sat back at the table, a friendly smile lighting up her face. ‘He does,’ she said as she indicated the food.
Chapter 24
Lis woke with a fright to find the empress standing over her. There was no sign of the new maid, and she was yet to find out just why the prince had placed her there. Although, if she could allow the empress to enter without telling her or preparing her, it may be just as it had been with U’shi.
‘Are you unwell?’ the empress asked harshly. Then she sighed and stood back. ‘I have heard too much of your time away from the palace,’ she said, a little kinder. ‘And my son assures me you have not been treated as someone of your station should be.’
Lis stared openly at the woman before her. Was the empress actually saying she should have treated her better? Lis had not really told anyone what had occurred outside of the palace, so she wondered what the empress had been told.
‘You look well enough, although still tanned, and you appear thinner than I remember.’
‘Because she does not eat,’ the prince said, entering the room behind his mother. Lis looked from one to the other. She still sat in her bed rather than greeting them both as she should, yet she was only in her underclothes. She glanced towards the window and wondered if the sun had even risen.
‘We will keep you safe, for the choice is made, but we must act now.’
Lis bit down on her lip. Did they know what she was?
‘What are you talking of?’ the prince finally asked.
‘The baby,’ the empress whispered.
‘What baby?’ Lis asked, feeling even more confused.
The empress opened her mouth and then closed it again. ‘There is no need to deny it. We will keep you safe.’
The prince looked just as confused as Lis felt, and Lis looked at the worried face of the empress before she pushed the covers back and threw herself to the floor before the woman. What lies had been told this time?
‘I am not with child,’ she hissed, bowing low.
‘The healer is on the way; he will confirm.’
‘Mother,’ the prince said. He sounded lost as he looked between the two of them. ‘Whose child do you believe it to be?’
‘Not yours, or we would find a way to ensure the child survives. He would be heir. Unless it is a girl.’
‘There is no child.’ Lis could feel the magic burning beneath her skin with her anger. ‘Who has told such lies, and why would you believe them?’ she asked, and then she sat back on her heels. Who was she to speak to an empress in such a way? She glanced up and saw the woman wore an even darker expression.
Lis sighed. ‘I can’t continue to do this. No matter what I do or where I go, I am not what you want me to be. And you have made it very clear that I will not be what you want me to be. In fear I may embarrass you as the former hidden princess did, I ask that you take my life now rather than play with it any further. You can claim me an accident, or another victim like the former crown prince.’
‘Mother, apologise to the princess.’
The empress turned on her son and glared at him. ‘It has come to me from a secure source. I know what she has done.’
‘And yet I do not,’ Lis said. If she was going down, she might as well go fighting. ‘Was this done while I was held against my will, or did I run away with a lover?’
She noticed the pain flash across the prince’s face then, before it was replaced with doubt. And then the maid was there, rushing forward with a gown and trying to cover her up. Lis shrugged her off.
‘Who told you?’ Lis asked again, more forceful and determined than she should be with the empress of the world.
‘The high priestess.’
Lis looked at the floor. The priestess was determined that Lis was more than she was willing to say, yet she struggled to find the evidence of it. She had told Lis she would tell the world the truth, or her version of it, when the prince had arrived and interrupted her.
‘The same woman who threatened the hidden princess?’ the prince asked.
‘When you had her hidden away,’ the empress said, turning her angry words on her son. ‘She is not yours yet. And if she carries the child of another man, it may be that we should do as she suggests and kill her now.’
‘I was only gone a few days, and I have only been back a few more. I wouldn’t know it myself if I was with child.’
‘I knew the moment the prince was conceived,’ the empress shot back, then glanced at the maid.
‘So how and when was this child conceived?’ Lis asked, trying to determine what the priestess thought she was to gain from this.
‘Do you not want another empress? Do you want this Empire to end with you?’ the prince asked, too loudly. A guard looked in the door and then disappeared again.
Lis wondered if she could disappear before them. Would they notice? Mother and son glared at each other. Lis felt ill, but she knew there was no child. The prince was right; she wasn’t eating enough.
The door opened again, and a healer entered. He bowed low to everyone in the room and waited. Lis sat back on the bed, unsure what else she could do or say, although she was certain this man would prove her innocent. She was tired. Tired of the lies and the way of life, and the fact that she had nothing else. If the empress took her head here and now, she would at least have the chance for rest.
The healer stepped forward and sat beside her. He placed a small cushion down across his lap, and she placed her hand on it. Without glancing at the empress, he gently touched his fingers to her wrist.
After a moment, he nodded and Lis took her hand back.
‘She is weak and unwell. I recommend rest. No excitement, no lessons and no visitors.’
Lis glanced at the prince, who studied the man rather than her, and she knew any friendship she had thought they might be forming was finished, whether she was with child or not.
‘Her condition?’ the empress asked, her voice reedy and stretched from the strain.
‘She is not with child.’
The crown prince actually sighed with relief, and Lis glared at them both.
‘I shall make tea,’ the maid said. She had been sitting beside Lis, and Lis hadn’t realised it until the girl stood up. She nodded, but she couldn’t find a smile. ‘A little breakfast is in order, and I have a treat,’ the maid whispered, bowing low and then moving over to the little stove in the corner.
‘An excellent idea,’ the healer said, ‘and then you must rest.’
He bowed low to the princess before turning to the prince and the empress. He left the room as quickly as he had ente
red it.
Lis carefully lifted the covers and lay back down in her bed. She rolled over, with her back to the royal family, not caring that it wasn’t how she should behave, how a princess should behave. She wanted nothing more to do with them. She would get her strength back and then she would disappear again, only this time she would go far away from the Empire. Far away from all of them, somewhere she could be herself.
‘I thought…’ he said quietly.
‘I know what you thought,’ she said without turning back.
‘I thought the priestess could be trusted,’ he said, and as she heard the door close, she rolled back with a sigh to find him sitting on the edge of the bed.
‘You are the reason these rumours start,’ the maid said from the corner.
He sighed and shook his head. ‘I did not know she would talk to my mother.’
‘You sent her to the cell?’ Lis asked.
He shook his head. ‘No. Do you not trust that I will keep you safe?’
‘You do not trust me,’ Lis whispered, turning back again.
‘I knew it was a lie,’ he said, but his voice wavered a little. Lis sensed something else behind it, although she wasn’t sure what.
‘I saw your face. You really thought I had returned to Peng, in such a way, when I was promised to you.’
‘You did run away.’
‘Why would I do such a thing when my life here is so good?’ she murmured.
‘It will become easier, the more time you are here. One day you will be Empress, and then you shall have all the freedom in the world.’
‘Will I?’
‘Do you ask about the freedom, or whether you will be Empress?’
Lis squeezed her eyes closed and wished him away.
‘Sire, you do not help,’ the maid said.
‘Where were you?’ he asked harshly.
‘Sleeping,’ she said.
‘Your instructions were to never leave her side,’ he snapped.
‘For the princess cannot be trusted,’ Lis murmured.
‘You are the only one I know I can trust,’ he said, then stepped towards the door.
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 18
