She sucked in a deep breath, closed her eyes and asked the flower to open.
‘There must be more that you can do,’ Wei-Song said, and Lis opened her eyes to look at the bright flower before her. She snapped her fingers and it withered to dust. ‘Other than food and cakes and plants. You can draw forward what was not really there, but…’
She stopped as Lis waved her hand across the courtyard and the ground shook. A wave of dust moved across the ground, the stones disappearing in its wake.
‘That is impressive,’ Wei-Song said softly.
‘What good would it do?’
‘You could unsettle an army,’ she said.
Lis shrugged. She moved her hand in a spiral, and a small hole opened in the ground by her feet. When she spiralled faster, the hole grew and the dirt disappeared from beneath it. Lis snapped her fingers and it stopped, then began to fill with water.
‘Where did the water come from?’ Wei-Song asked.
Lis shrugged again. ‘I am just trying things.’
‘What about your barrier?’ Wei-Song asked.
‘I don’t know what I did with that,’ she said. ‘I just knew I had to protect everyone.’
‘Can you create a plant that looks like a man?’
‘I could try,’ Lis said. She held her hand out, and a plant sprouted up before her. Its vines thickened and twisted together, and then the tan-coloured flower opened, looking like a face.
Wei-Song started to laugh.
‘You asked for it,’ Lis said.
‘It is so lifelike,’ she said. ‘Take a step back and imagine that the flower man is trying to hurt you.’
Lis took several steps back and studied the flower man she had created. She tried to remember the barrier she had made to protect herself from the magics, and to hide her own magic. There had to be a way to keep her safe. But looking at the flower man, she couldn’t quite muster it.
‘He is trying to kill you,’ Wei-Song said.
‘But he isn’t,’ Lis said. She tried again to muster the same feeling, but she couldn’t.
‘If they find you, they will kill you.’
‘I’m Hidden; the same level of fear is not there.’
‘If they discover you, they will discover us all, and that will put the prince in greater danger than what he already is.’
Lis shook her head. She imagined him being discovered by his father and the hunter who ate so frequently in her little palace. She could imagine him driving a sharp sword through the prince’s chest, causing the same fizzle sound as the magic man who had died in the baths. He might hate her—he might want to kill her himself—but there was something there she had to protect because in protecting him, she protected herself. They fit together.
She heard the crack of the vines before she realised what she had done.
‘I knew there was something there,’ Wei-Song whispered.
‘But I can’t do that on demand. I’m still not sure where it comes from.’
‘We need to find out,’ Wei-Song said, walking over to the remains of the plant. ‘Maybe you could create an army,’ she mused.
‘I don’t think that I can get them moving. I make flowers grow.’
‘There is more that you can do.’
‘I don’t know if that is true.’
‘Think of the cakes,’ Wei-Song offered.
‘I don’t know how I do that, either. I just want. I think of what I want, which is usually flowers, and then they appear.’
‘Even at the end of a jade pin?’
Lis turned and looked over the pond she had created. With a wave of her hand, she moved the earth back. Although the ground was damp, the pond was gone and the flat stones back in place.
‘Could you hide the soldiers in the yard?’
She shook her head. ‘There are too many who visit. There are too many variables. What if I do something that changes the visions you have—changes what has been seen?’
‘I don’t see it,’ Wei-Song said. ‘The child is the one with the visions.’
‘Who else has visions?’
‘That is an important question,’ she said, ‘but not one I can answer. There are too many things we don’t know. And if you are going to fight the prince, we need to be sure of what you can do and who will work with us.’
‘What of the other Hidden? The school?’ she asked.
‘I can’t risk them just yet.’
‘But you will risk me?’
‘You are destined for this. My family isn’t.’
‘Your family is a part of this. They are buried in it. And if your brother doesn’t kill me, then I will be your family too.’
Wei-Song threw her arms around Lis, scaring her for a moment as she pulled her close. ‘You are already my family; you are Hidden. I have a mother, but I don’t have a family here. There isn’t a brother, there isn’t a father and, despite some calling me Princess, I’m not.’
‘You are. You are the hidden princess. More so than I am.’
‘You, Long Lisabet, are Hidden Princess of Rei-Een. You will carry all the hopes of the world on your shoulders. The Empire looks to you.’
Lis felt her heart stop. ‘I can’t perform with such pressure, and I can’t fight the prince. No matter what he thinks of me.’
‘You care for him.’ The relief was evident on Wei-Song’s face.
‘You need me to, I know that. Maybe there is a connection, but I don’t know what it is. And there will always be someone else in my heart.’
Chapter 27
Remi tried not to fidget as he watched General Long walk into the throne room. His father had summoned him without explanation, and Remi wanted to be anywhere but here at this point. The sight of the general was not only a surprise, but it scared him. The man looked older than he had the last time he had visited, more of his hair peppered with silver threads. The two people walking behind him only made him more uncomfortable.
They all bowed low to the emperor, then turned and bowed to Remi. The general gave him a friendly smile, but he couldn’t return it. He didn’t know what he had heard or what he could say. Remi had promised to watch over his daughter, yet he had nearly killed her; and the more time he spent learning who he truly was, the more he thought he should have.
‘It is good to see you again, old friend,’ the emperor said, indicating that they rise. ‘Your daughter is as beautiful as her mother.’
Remi thought she wasn’t nearly as beautiful as her sister, but he pushed the thought quickly from his mind. It no longer mattered what he had thought he felt for the hidden princess. What she represented now was far more important.
‘This is your husband?’ he asked.
‘My new son, Wu Peng,’ General Long said.
Remi made the strangled noise before he realised what he had done. The group looked towards him. ‘You were to marry the hidden princess,’ he said, trying to bring himself to the conversation. The man’s face flushed, and the sister fidgeted.
‘Peng has been a part of our family for some time,’ the general admitted.
‘What brings you to the Palace Isle?’ the emperor asked, barely looking at Remi as he drew the group’s attention back to himself.
The general glanced at Remi before he cleared his throat, and Remi felt his own throat closing. What did he know?
‘I have heard worrying rumours, Your Eminence, and although she is no longer my daughter, I felt the need to check on my… the hidden princess.’
‘What rumours?’ the emperor asked.
‘That magic has returned to the Empire and it is openly used in the streets.’
‘Have you really heard such things so far out on your little island?’
The general nodded and looked again at Remi.
The emperor followed his gaze. ‘What have you done to stop this?’
‘What am I trying to stop? You have been so sure that magic can’t have returned to the Empire.’ The emperor glared, but it only increased the fire burning inside Remi, and it
took all he had not to release it in the room. ‘It is not that it has returned.’
The general opened his mouth and then closed it again.
‘It never left. It was never defeated.’ Remi stood taller, felt warmer. ‘Magics killed my brother, Ta-Sho; they have been hiding and waiting.’
‘The Order of Huans,’ General Long murmured.
Remi turned and stared at the man. Could he tell him his own daughter was one of the Order?
‘I can’t believe that,’ the emperor said.
‘You never have. Not when I warned you, and not when my brother died. You think you won the war, but you lost.’
The emperor turned white with rage and stood slowly from the throne. The general and his family subtly moved back a step. When Peng moved between the emperor and his wife, Remi decided he was a fickle man. How could he love Lis so completely and then her sister?
Remi stepped forward to meet his father. He could take him now before these people without a thought, and with little effort. He clenched his fists.
‘What can you do to stop it?’ his father asked, his voice softer, more desperate than Remi expected.
‘I may not want to stop it,’ Remi admitted.
‘You are the Empire’s greatest hunter,’ the general said, pulling his attention from the emperor.
‘I should take you to your daughter.’ Eyeing Peng, he walked through the room and out the door. It took a few moments before the Long family followed him.
‘What has happened?’ General Long asked, racing to catch up with him.
‘I will let the hidden princess explain.’
‘Is Lis…?’ Peng asked.
Remi stopped and turned to the man, who stopped suddenly and took a step back. Remi grinned despite himself, then turned back and moved quickly towards the palace.
‘This is not the way,’ the general murmured, looking over where the residence used to be.
‘She had to be moved for her own protection.’
‘From whom?’ the general asked, looking him over carefully.
‘She’ll tell you, I’m sure.’
They continued to walk in silence through the streets and into the quiet corner of the Empire where he had hidden the princess. He pushed open the gate, and the general sucked in a breath.
‘What has happened here?’ he demanded, taking in the number of soldiers that still filled the small yard of the little palace.
‘She wasn’t safe,’ Remi said, heading for the door.
‘She isn’t safe,’ one of the soldiers muttered, clearly unaware of who he was in the company of. Remi glared at the man, and he snapped back to attention.
Inside the door, he met Hui Te-Sze. ‘We need to talk,’ he said, bowing.
Remi nodded absently. He had other plans.
‘It is nice to see you again,’ the general said.
‘General Long, how good to see you. Your daughter is always full of fun stories of your little island. I must come and visit with you some time.’
The general smiled kindly and bowed his head. ‘We would be honoured,’ he said.
‘She is very special,’ Te-Sze said quietly as he passed the general, but Remi heard him quite clearly and hid his scowl.
The general pushed ahead of him then. Lis looked up from her reading and jumped to her feet, rushing forward. She threw her arms around his neck, and he closed his arms around her.
‘Father,’ she whispered. ‘Why are you here?’ She looked over at Remi, her eyes hard. ‘It isn’t safe.’
‘It is not safe for you,’ he whispered.
‘We already know what she is,’ Remi said loudly, stepping into the room, and the general let her go and turned to him. Healer Yang, forever in her company, stepped forward.
‘General Long, it is an honour to meet you,’ he said, bowing low. Lis stepped out of her father’s arms to take Yang by the arm and pull him forward.
‘I would like to present Healer Yang, the best healer in the Empire.’
‘Don’t make up stories,’ he chastised her.
‘Ting,’ Lis said, looking up and noticing her sister. She stepped forward and then stopped. ‘Peng?’
He bowed. ‘Your Highness,’ he said stiffly, and she stepped forward and threw her arms around him.
He looked uncomfortable, but she held tight, and something inside Remi snapped. The fire leapt in his hands before he could stop it, but Lis moved quickly, releasing the man and pushing him back.
The general reached for a sword he no longer carried. Lis had somehow moved between him and her family too quickly, and the flame danced over her arm, catching her dress. Remi stood stunned and watched the material burn as she patted at it.
‘Stop,’ she said loudly, her voice carrying. He heard the soldiers moving towards the door and extinguished his flame. He shook his head and stepped back. Again, she was protecting him, trying to contain him, and the heat flared again beneath his skin.
‘Enough,’ she snapped as the soldier stepped inside.
‘A minor disagreement,’ Remi said, his voice clipped as he waved the man away. He waited while the soldier disappeared. He could hear so much more, as though the air carried the voices to him.
In the silence that followed, Ting started to cry.
‘Go,’ Lis said.
He shook his head.
‘Please. This will only make things worse.’
He grinned at her concern.
‘Go!’ she said firmly, and he turned and walked to the door.
He turned back, and she maintained her firm stance. The general looked scarier than he imagined, and he understood the fear the magics had felt when they had tried to hide around the Empire.
‘I will return for you,’ he said.
She only shook her head.
She needed to understand what he knew to be true. She could deny it all she wanted, but they would face each other, the Hidden would be exposed and he would rule the world.
Lis turned back to take her father’s arm as he made to go after the prince. He looked at her, then pulled her into his arms. ‘I was so worried for you,’ he said into her hair.
‘I didn’t think you could visit anymore,’ she murmured into his chest.
‘You are no longer my daughter, and yet you always will be.’
She pulled back from him and bowed before him. ‘Thank you,’ she said softly. ‘But it is not safe for them here. Why would you bring Ting?’
‘I needed to see that you were safe,’ Ting said, but her hand moved across her body. Lis looked to Yang, who nodded once. Her sister had everything Lis had ever wanted and, despite her love for her, it hurt.
‘He will kill you,’ her father murmured, looking towards the door. ‘And all those guards won’t stop it.’
‘There are less of them than there were. And despite their fears of me, they watch over me. No one knows what the crown prince is,’ she said, taking his hand. ‘We are surrounded by secrets, but you cannot tell what he is.’
‘And what is he exactly?’
‘Destiny,’ Yang said, indicating the table for her sister as he waved Wei-Song forward. ‘Find the wine,’ he whispered.
Lis waved her hand over the table, and it filled with bowls of food and rice.
‘Cakes,’ Wei-Song murmured, and Lis added cakes with a flick of her wrist. She reached for one and Lis smiled, ‘Wei-Song, wait for our guests.’
‘Wei-Song?’ her father said, turning quickly to look over the woman as she pushed a cake into her mouth. ‘I…’ But he shook his head. ‘How can you all be so calm?’ he boomed, and Lis worried that the soldiers would be racing back through the door.
‘We have had longer to live with this,’ she said. ‘Much has happened since I came to the Palace Isle.’
‘You told me of the man with magic, but the prince killed him.’
Lis indicated the table to her father, who sat beside Peng and looked over the food. ‘How long have you been able to do this?’
‘A little while. I
discovered it by accident, as I have with so much.’
‘So many rumours have reached us,’ Ting said.
‘That surprises me,’ Wei-Song said. ‘For we have all been very careful. What have you heard?’
‘That the princess was living with the royal family and the prince had broken with tradition.’
‘I did for a while, until there was an attack on the residence, and then I was moved here. The idea being that less people would know where I was.’
‘Did he break with tradition?’ Ting pushed.
‘I was to be isolated until my training finished, but he spent a lot of time with me.’
‘Has that changed?’
‘Yes,’ Lis said, unsure what else she could add to that.
‘How did you feel about him being here?’
‘Ting,’ her father chastised. ‘You shouldn’t ask a princess such questions.’
‘I am asking my sister such questions. He is to be her husband. Would it not be better to know him?’ She looked across at her own husband, but Peng watched Lis.
‘It is complicated,’ she said. ‘Please eat. The food is hot. He was not happy when he discovered what I am.’ Lis’s hand rested on her father’s shoulder. ‘But he grew to accept me, in a way. Until his own magic formed. He blames me, and he is right to.’
Wei-Song scoffed, and the general watched her. Lis knew he had some understanding of who she was, but she was grateful he didn’t say anything.
‘There are many secrets,’ Yang said quietly. ‘Between us and around us. But the world is changing, and I’m not sure what will happen when everyone knows.’
‘He has become what he has been raised to fear,’ Lis said. ‘We are linked in this, and if we could have found a way to work together… But the time has passed.’
‘If the emperor were told…’ Peng started.
‘The line would end,’ Lis said.
‘There may be another way,’ her father added, looking at Wei-Song.
‘The only way is magic,’ Wei-Song said, giving him a nod. ‘I fear if the Hidden are not involved in ruling our Empire, there will be no Empire left to rule.’
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 49
