‘If he is the hunter you feel him to be, could it be that he senses something? And after what happened to U’shi…’
The empress’s face hardened. ‘The girl was silly, clearly a poor choice for the position,’ she said, more to herself than to Lis. ‘Her actions were not due to any magic, only lust.’ She almost spat out the last word.
‘Her de…’ Lis stopped herself. The empress may not know of what had happened, and Lis didn’t want to be the one to tell her. She understood the connection the empress had to U’shi; she had trained the girl for so long. Lis wondered, suddenly, if she would ever feel such a connection to the empress. ‘What are we to learn today?’ she asked Tutor Na, trying to turn the conversation back to where they would all like to be focused.
‘There is much that you already know,’ the empress said, her voice sad and low, and Lis regretted mentioning U’shi at all. ‘We have not worked with you as we should. We have not taken your former training and learning into account. You are not a child of eight to be taught to read.’
Lis opened her mouth in surprise, and the empress nodded slowly as she looked at the untouched cup before her.
‘I have been too hard on you, and not because of what you are or who you are, but due to my own failings.’
Lis stood quickly from her desk and dropped to her knees before the empress.
‘I am right,’ the empress said softly, touching Lis’s shoulder. Lis looked up when she did. ‘It was my own grief and fear that led me to do as I did. It is not an excuse I should search for, but an apology.’
‘No,’ Lis breathed. ‘You are Empress of the Rei-Een Empire. I am only a girl.’
‘You are the empress to be, chosen by the future emperor to work at his side. It is my place as his mother to ensure that you are all you need to be. You already know how to read and write, you know the great families of the Empire—you are from a great family of the Empire.’
‘I don’t know that my father would still think that.’
‘He was a good man. He still is. I would entrust my husband to no other during the war, and I trust my son with no other for his rule.’
Lis felt heat rise to her cheeks under the praise from the empress. What had occurred for her to change her mind so?
‘Do you know the history of the hidden princesses?’
‘A little,’ Lis said, shaking her head.
‘Once, the hidden princess was one of many. Instead of a Choosing at the age of eight, the eligible girls were all hidden away and trained. They were covered, as the prince covered you with the veil, so that they would be indistinguishable.’
Lis sat back on the floor before the empress, although she had heard something similar from Wei-Song.
The empress gulped and took a breath before continuing. ‘They were all trained, all ready and perfect in their own way. Until they weren’t.’
Lis bit down on her lip so as not to interrupt with the questions flooding through her.
‘They were tested. In their knowledge, in their manners, in their understanding of the world. The best were then presented to the crown prince. Usually only two or three made it to that point, and he would select his favourite, usually based on how beautiful she was. He may have asked some questions, tested her himself in some way, and then a single hidden princess became the crown princess.’
‘One,’ Lis said. ‘What happened to the others?’
‘Put to death,’ the empress said, and Lis covered her mouth. ‘There was nothing else that could be done. For they would know what an empress knows, secrets and the like, and they may be a threat to the empress in the future. Of course, the tradition had to change, for a generation of girls lost was too much for the Empire to bear. And the noble families would no longer send their daughters. They lied about birth years and hid girls away.’
Lis nodded.
‘What if the eldest child of an emperor is a girl?’ she asked, unsure why she needed to know.
‘It hasn’t happened.’
Lis opened her mouth to ask another question, but she paused.
‘Ask it,’ the empress said.
‘Has there been magic in the royal family?’
‘Maybe long before it was the danger it became.’
‘Hunters?’
‘Remi is the first,’ she said, standing.
Lis bowed again before her.
‘I think you need something nicer to wear,’ the empress said, her voice soft. She beckoned to the maid, who paused before stepping forward.
‘The crown prince has ordered her to never leave my side,’ Lis said.
The empress smiled and shook her head. ‘Tutor Na will watch over you as you study; the girl will accompany me to select what you need.’
Lis nodded again, more to Mu-Phi than the empress.
They left the room, and Lis sat back, her mind racing at what she had been told of the hidden princesses. Had the prince known of this history when he suggested she wear the veil?
‘Come,’ Tutor Na said, indicating the desk.
Lis climbed to her feet and sat back at her desk.
Chapter 27
There had to be some indication as to how the man had broken into the prison. The soldiers by the front gate were oblivious, and Remi was tempted to make them pay for the man’s crimes. One of the guards had been killed, and Remi had decided he must have had something to do with it.
‘I want to examine their bodies,’ he told the hunter as they met inside the prison doors.
‘They are both in the cell.’ Hui Te-Sze bowed and led the way. The closer they got, the more Remi could feel the magic. It was like it surrounded him, although the cell was clearly the point of attack. He wondered if the man had killed the guard here in front of U’shi and how she might have reacted.
The burn marks on her arm were clear before he even made it inside the cell. Her eyes showed signs of burns as they stared unseeing at the ceiling. Neither body had been covered up. Remi had seen death before, but it saddened him here.
He had hated the woman for what she had done, and he was sure the affair with the tutor had started long before his brother’s death. It was part of the reason he wanted to keep Lis close. They were too isolated in the hidden princess’s palace. Too distanced from the rest of the Empire and the ways of the world. She needed to be around people. Remi shook his head and refocused on the woman before him. She would have been Empress if his brother had not died.
He squatted down beside her and held a hand over her head. He could feel the heat radiating from her still. The material of her gown, although simple and white, had melted to the flesh where a clear hand print was visible. He held his own hand over it to find it was similar in size. The magic still buzzed around it, thick and heavy and hot.
‘Could it be that we can’t sense them when they aren’t using their magic?’ he mused aloud.
‘It may be the case,’ Hui Te-Sze said. ‘I can feel it here, so much of it, and I felt it when he unleashed it. I came running, but he was gone by the time I reached the cell.’
‘How far away were you?’
Te-Sze pointed back down the corridor. ‘In the office at the end,’ he said. ‘It came in a thick wave, but there was no sign and no trail when I arrived.’
Remi sighed. ‘How did he get in?’
The hunter motioned to him, and they tracked back a couple of cells. He opened the door and led the prince inside. ‘There is something here,’ he said.
Remi could feel the magic, faint but present, and he wondered if the man had used it to enter the building a different way. He stepped away from the other hunter and pressed his hand into the wall. It was solid as he worked his way around. He stopped beneath a narrow window with two bars running across it, and he felt it strange that no other cell within the prison had a window. Remi stretched but couldn’t quite reach it.
‘Has this always been here?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know.’ Te-Sze shrugged. ‘It has been too long since I frequented this
place.’
‘Lend me a knee,’ Remi said.
The man knelt before him, one leg out so the prince could use him as a step. When he reached up this time, his hand closed only just around one of the bars before it disappeared in his hand and his knuckles scraped against the wall.
He jumped back down, looking at the damage to his hand. ‘An illusion.’
‘But is it a way in?’
Remi shook his head. ‘Or a diversion.’
The hunter moved ahead of the prince out of the cell and called to the nearest guard. ‘Search every room, every inch of every cell wall, and find where this man entered.’
The man bowed and disappeared. Remi turned back to the doorway as the window disappeared. Why were they back and what did they want?
‘What do you want to do?’ Te-Sze asked.
Where had they come from and why? Was this all to do with Lis, or was there another reason they were here?
‘Sire?’
‘There must be something,’ he whispered, heading back towards the bodies in the other cell. He stood over the former hidden princess and wondered how his mother would take this news. Although it appeared that she was finally starting to consider Lis seriously, he was curious whether they treated all hidden princesses so badly.
‘I need another hunter,’ he said without looking up.
‘If they are back, we are going to need a lot more.’
Remi nodded and wondered how he was going to explain this to his father. Even with what had happened to Ta-Sho, the emperor would not accept that they were back in the Empire or that they were such a threat. The man had seen the war, in some way. Although when Remi thought about it, he had heard more stories of General Long than his father.
‘You wonder what the emperor will do,’ Te-Sze said, and Remi nodded without turning.
‘I’m not sure he will give us what we need to fight this.’
‘Where do we start?’
‘I want a hunter by the princess at all times,’ Remi said. He looked up at the man’s raised eyebrow before he looked down again. ‘I mean another.’
‘Sire,’ the man said with a bow. ‘I would be honoured to watch your bride.’
‘First, send for as many hunters as you can find. We need to search this island completely. I need to find out what they want and what the former hidden princess might have been to them.’
‘She had already been sentenced to death,’ the hunter said.
‘And yet she was to live until the child was born. Could she have let them into the bath house? She was so adamant that she hadn’t. She was focused on her lover and had not considered the safety of the princess. But could it have been more? Could she have really wanted her harmed?’
‘I shall do as you ask, and we can discover them together,’ Te-Sze said, bowing low.
‘Thank you,’ Remi said with a sigh, placing his hand on the hunter’s shoulder. ‘I want to check on the princess for myself.’
The man couldn’t hide his grin as he bowed again and left the prince still looking over the dead before him.
Remi entered the room without knocking and then stopped. He looked at his princess at her desk, her head bent over her reading. Old Tutor Jichun sat at the table, another parchment in his hands, his mother opposite, and Mu-Phi working away in the corner. Then there was a knock at the door behind him.
They all looked up at him as the door opened, and a trail of maids entered with trays of food. ‘I thought we were to limit the number of people entering this room,’ he said, his voice gruffer than he intended. When he glanced towards Lis, she dropped what she was reading and stood to bow to him.
His mother gave him a frustrated look, but she gestured to the table as the girls set the food down and disappeared. The empress then motioned Lis forward, and she stood beside the table. She was not wearing the usual grey the hidden princess had been in before, but a flowing silk gown in vibrant blues. He raked his eyes over her before his mother coughed and he realised what he’d done.
‘Will you join us for lunch, Your Highness?’ Lis asked. He looked back to her face and she smiled, although she didn’t look comfortable. He wondered if she appreciated having so many here.
Despite her uncertainty, he nodded. The tutor stood from the table and indicated his space. He sat opposite his mother as Lis sat beside her. They remained silent for a moment.
‘What have you been learning today?’ he asked across the table.
‘Trade histories with other nations,’ she said, looking at the food in her bowl rather than at him. He realised that she hadn’t yet picked up her chopsticks.
He nodded once to show he had heard. ‘Do not let me keep you from your food.’
She shook her head and slowly poked at the bowl. His mother surprised him with a sigh.
‘Should I bring the healer back? You do not eat enough,’ she said.
Lis turned a friendly smile on her and indicated the empress’s bowl. ‘You should eat more yourself.’
His mother laughed, and Remi stared openly. When had he last heard her laugh? She then picked up some meat and pushed it into her mouth. Lis smiled and did the same, and he wondered what might have happened in the last day for such change to occur. Despite his intent, he had not returned to Lis after checking U’shi’s body, and he hadn’t taken his breakfast with her as he usually did. He had missed her, and he wondered if she had missed him or if she had been given the chance. Perhaps she spent her time with his mother now.
‘I may need to go away,’ he said.
Both women looked at him with the same look of disappointment at the same time, but it was his mother who spoke.
‘You are not what you were,’ she said before looking back to her bowl. ‘You have responsibilities here.’
‘There is a need.’
‘No,’ she said more forcefully. ‘You will send another to do what you think must be done.’
‘Is that what father would do?’
She nodded. ‘It is, and you could do well by spending some time with him.’
Remi tried not to sigh. His father wouldn’t see him, for he knew what Remi wanted and he wouldn’t admit the truth. Would Remi be able to do as he needed to once he was Emperor, or would the world be different?
‘Eat,’ Lis said kindly. ‘Please.’
He smiled, and the small group continued in silence. When they finished and the table was cleared, the tutor handed Lis another book.
‘You may find this interesting,’ he said, holding it out with respect, with two hands and bowing.
She smiled as she took it, then nodded as she read the cover before turning to the first pages. ‘How far away are the Kingdoms of Engla by boat?’ she asked.
‘It depends on the boat,’ Remi answered as the tutor opened his mouth. ‘Why? Would you like to visit?’
Lis held up the book. ‘Although I look at maps and I know where things are placed, I can’t always judge the distances. If I have an idea by boat, such as how long it took us to reach the Palace Isle from my former home, I have a better sense of the world.’
He nodded once, noting that she had stated her island was no longer her home. She did it all while keeping her voice steady, but he wondered if it was an act.
‘Ten days,’ the tutor answered her previous question, ‘by larger ship.’
Lis’s eyes widened. ‘So far. How did we know they were there to trade with?’
‘There are some great stories of early explorers,’ Remi said, and her face lit up.
‘Tales,’ his mother said. ‘I suggest we stick to fact for now.’
Lis smiled and nodded low to the empress before her eyes flicked back to Remi’s. He gave her a subtle nod. What would it hurt if he shared his books with her?
Lis felt actual joy at the idea of learning something new and for pleasure. She was sure the prince would bring her the book he spoke of as soon as he was able, although he didn’t look as comfortable in her room as he had previously. She wondered if it was the num
ber of people.
The empress took her arm with ease and guided her back to her desk.
‘I would like to remain with you today,’ she said softly in her ear, and Lis nodded before she let go.
She was enjoying the woman’s company. Now that she was trying harder, she was kinder and, Lis realised, a nice woman. They could have been friends in another life, and she found a similarity in the empress to her mother. She continued to smile despite the heavy feeling now pushing on her chest. When she glanced up, the prince paused as though he could see her pain.
‘You do not approve of my going,’ he said to his mother, drawing her attention from the book Lis wanted to pick up. ‘There have been some events,’ he said slowly, ‘that need my attention.’
‘There are other hunters,’ the empress said, picking up one of the books before Lis. ‘I thought you may be of use to the princess.’
The prince actually looked a little lost for a moment, and Lis wondered if he would prefer not to be involved, for she had thought he might be.
‘You know your history; you can support what she learns from the tutors.’
‘I thought you didn’t want me involved,’ he stammered, a heat rising to his face. Lis wondered if it was due to his not wanting to help or the fact that he could. She looked down at the book the empress had indicated before her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. It didn’t matter what either of them thought of the other, after all; she would be his wife no matter. But there was something she hadn’t wanted to admit to herself.
She had grown to like these people. The banter with Mu-Phi, and the crown prince of a morning—it was comfortable. She had enjoyed the empress’s company during the day, and she had learnt a lot from her in such a short time. Wondering if it would continue, she reached towards her hand and then stopped. No matter the friendship forming, she was just a girl playing princess until her training was finished. This was the empress of the nation, not her mother.
But as her hand hovered near the empress’s, she felt something, like the faintest feeling of magic she had gotten from the prince. She wondered if this woman was something more. When she looked up, the empress seemed a little annoyed, and Lis pulled her hands into her lap. ‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured.
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 21
