‘You saw that the hidden princess had to die,’ the empress said.
The high priestess smiled and inclined her head in a slow nod.
‘I fear they have both died,’ the empress whispered.
‘Your love for them will not influence the outcome of this. No matter his love for you, he will do what he will do.’
‘Someone has influence over him,’ the emperor said.
‘He has been shown a particular path.’
‘You were chosen when the last high priestess died,’ the empress said, stepping forward.
‘I was, by the gods themselves.’
‘Who will be chosen when you go?’ the empress asked.
‘It is not my time. And despite your fears, you will not share our secret.’
The emperor nodded once. ‘I have kept it this long.’
The priestess turned, her white skirt flaring up with the movement, and she left without ceremony.
The empress sat heavily on the throne. How could all this have been happening around her and she hadn’t known? ‘They poisoned me, and you knew,’ she said softly, realising he had kept this to himself, and that stories told by a child so long ago had led to war. ‘You know what they have is a form of magic,’ she continued when he said nothing. ‘That the girl you loved was exactly what you fought against. What you wanted your own daughter killed for.’
‘She allowed me to be a boy,’ he said, turning to her, his eyes pleading for understanding. She stood slowly. ‘Not a prince, not an heir to the throne—just a boy.’
‘You were never just a boy,’ the empress said.
Chapter 4
Lis woke from a dream where she was hot, dry and burning. It reminded her of the dreams she’d had when she’d first come to the Palace Isle, or at least when the prince had moved her into the residence. She threw the covers back and swung her legs around at the same time. She blew out a long breath, thankful that for the first time since she had left her little island home, she was alone. Yang was always nearby, but he had taken to sleeping on his own, and she was sure he was better for it. The fight on the Palace Isle had taken a lot from all of them.
She stood cautiously, feeling a little shaky on her legs, and slowly stepped the short distance to the shuttered window. She pushed it open and breathed in the cool night air. The difference with this dream was that she was burning. And burning with the crown prince. Lis hadn’t been hurt by the flames, but she was hot and dry. In some way, she was scared of what he would do to her, yet she knew that she was responsible for the fire and not him.
A shiver ran across her skin. The dream could be another sign that they needed to come together, and in many ways, she could see the sense of it. If they worked together as they had, they might be able to win. Although she wasn’t exactly sure who she would be fighting.
The cloudless night was bright with the full moon and sparkling stars. She felt a moment of longing for her little island. On summer nights, she would lie out in the field and watch the sky, wondering just how far away it was and whether there was anyone out there.
Thinking back on it now, she had felt a sense of loneliness even then, despite having her family and Peng at the time. But Peng hadn’t been what she had thought. He had left her so easily for her sister, and when they discovered the child Ting carried had magic, he had been ready to leave her too. She hadn’t seen him since.
Nor had she seen her sister since she had arrived at the school, and Wei-Song had been less than forthcoming about her welfare. She looked back to the doorway for a moment and then back to the sky. If Ting was still on this island, she would have searched out Lis the moment she had arrived. Wei-Song and Yang had wanted to protect her, but they wouldn’t have stopped Ting visiting.
Lis rested her head against the window frame. Ting must have returned to her father or to Peng. Either way, she was no longer on the island. Was there a risk to the school because someone else knew where they were, or had they had found a way to protect themselves?
The cool breeze over her skin was a relief, as she was still hot from the dream. Could the phoenix be connected to what she had dreamt? Was this another dream she shared with the prince? If he had survived.
‘You don’t think of him as a man,’ a quiet voice said behind her.
‘Who?’ she asked without turning.
‘Remi.’
She turned to the child standing in her nightgown in the doorway. ‘Did you call the crown prince by his first name?’
‘It doesn’t matter what I call him,’ the child said.
‘I have no right to call him by his name,’ Lis said.
‘But you have.’
‘Have I?’ Lis asked, turning to back to the girl as she entered the room and made herself comfortable on the edge of the bed.
She nodded once. ‘When you were at your weakest.’
‘When he tried to kill me?’
‘When you thought you were ready to die.’
Lis wanted to turn from the child again, but she forced herself forward and sat beside her. ‘He called me Lis often.’
‘He knows how he feels.’
‘Does he?’
She shrugged then.
‘How can you know so much and so little at the same time?’ Lis asked her.
‘It is a curse and a blessing.’
Lis wanted to laugh at the way she said it in her sing-song voice, but Lis was sure the child felt it more deeply than she wanted to admit. ‘How old are you?’
‘Old enough to know that what I see is real, even if I don’t fully understand it.’
‘Did you know I dreamed of the phoenix?’
‘We talked of it, and you were concerned as to what it meant, so it was likely that you would.’ Again, she sounded much older than her years.
‘Why did you come?’
‘I dreamt of a death.’ She shivered.
‘Mine?’ Lis asked tentatively.
The child shook her head quickly. ‘I don’t want to talk of it.’
Lis wrapped her arm around the child and pulled her close. The child leaned into her, and Lis could feel the gentle shudder that accompanied her tears.
‘What is your name?’ Lis whispered.
‘I am destined to have no name,’ she sobbed.
‘But you have one now.’
She shook her head against Lis.
‘What if I were to call you…’
‘No!’ she cried, pulling back. ‘Don’t say it. You will doom us both.’
‘With a name?’
The child nodded vigorously, and Lis believed she thought it was true. She pressed her lips together as she pulled the child back against her. ‘Then you remain as you are.’
The girl sighed against her, and Lis looked back to the open window and her small view of the night sky. As she sat in silence, watching the stars move across the sky, the child fell asleep. Lis rolled her over and laid her down before curling against her and pulling the covers over them both. She had thought of Remi as a man, when she had woken in this room not so long ago. She had realised the connection, felt the loss of him, and she wondered what had changed in the last few days for her thinking to return to what it was, for Remi the man to become the prince once more.
Lis felt the same burning sensation again and tried desperately to put it out. If she was the cause, she could end it. Then she focused on a face in the crowd, the little girl who had seen her future. The child nodded slowly. Lis relaxed, allowing the flame to take over, and the world went dark.
Lis opened her eyes, unsure for a moment where she was, and an image of the prince flashed before her. She sucked in a breath only to find he was not in the room, and the child stirred beside her.
‘It is a dream,’ the child murmured.
‘But is it real?’
‘Maybe,’ the child said, sitting slowly and stretching her arms above her head. ‘You have to find him.’
‘The prince?’
The child nodded and pushed herself fro
m the bed.
‘You don’t think there is more I could learn before heading out to meet my death?’
‘I wouldn’t send you out to meet your death,’ she said, ‘but it may be that you die during this.’
Lis stared after the child as she padded out of the room. Did she have any understanding of what she saw, or what influence she had? Lis wondered who the prince might have surrounded himself with and what they were trying to influence him to do. They weren’t concerned with his welfare or that of the Empire. They only wanted power for themselves, and they were going to use him to get it.
She sighed and threw the covers back. Despite all that had occurred, the child was right—she would have to find him. Together they could do so much to prevent the magics taking over. All she had to do was find him without being discovered herself and killed, then convince him they could work together and hope he didn’t just kill her.
The following morning when Wei-Song came in with her breakfast, Lis wondered how she could ask her for what she needed. Then she remembered her sister doing the same.
‘Where is Ting?’ she asked.
Wei-Song paused too long bent over the tray before she stood up and turned around to face Lis, who was still sitting on the bed.
‘She isn’t on the island, is she?’
Wei-Song shook her head.
Lis waited. When Wei-Song didn’t answer, she moved over and sat carefully at the table. The movement still caused her pain, and she wondered how she was going to make it back to Remi when she struggled to make it across the room.
‘It was better for her to return to your father and her home.’
‘She was well enough?’
Wei-Song nodded slowly, watching the water she poured into the cup rather than looking at Lis. Lis reached out and took her arm.
‘She was well,’ Wei-Song said.
Lis released her and picked up the cup. ‘I need some help.’
‘Anything,’ Wei-Song said quickly.
‘I need to know just what I can do, what the prince and I may be able to do together. And then I need to find him.’
‘He will kill you,’ Wei-Song said, sitting beside Lis and taking her hands.
The only thing of certainty the child had seen was that they had to work together. She had seen what had happened and lived what could happen when they worked against each other. And due to the child’s continued reassurances that it was the only way, Lis knew he lived. ‘I need to help him.’
Wei-Song indicated the plates before her. ‘You need to get your strength back so you can hide.’
Lis nodded and squeezed her hands. ‘You will help me?’
‘As will I,’ Master Yangshing said from the doorway.
Yang sighed behind him.
Chapter 5
‘I can’t see the point of this,’ Remi mumbled. He stood in the middle of the courtyard of the hidden princess compound. Nothing seemed to matter as it had before. Not now that she was gone. Chonglin had tried to reiterate just how strong they were, and that they could take control with little effort. ‘I know what I’m doing. I have faced the soldiers before.’
‘But in the end, you didn’t really fight the soldiers,’ a water bearer said, his face scarred from the battle with Lis.
Remi tried not to sigh. He didn’t want to be here. Not now. He no longer had the will to fight, and despite their repeated attempts to convince him there was still a chance, that they would gain the control they had promised him, he no longer needed it. And with Lis gone, they should have taken over the Empire with little effort.
While he had lain unconscious, nothing of the kind had occurred. They had hidden away. He wondered if they were as strong as they claimed to be. They could have skills he wasn’t aware of, but if that was the case, they could have used them.
As Lis had done. When the fight had started, he had no idea what was to happen or how he could even draw the strength to fight against her. And she had skills he’d had no knowledge of. Although when he thought about it, he had know what she could do. She had built a cage of vines and flowers on this very ground not so long ago.
But he’d had no idea she would be able to throw her skills, or that she could use them to trap and slow others.
‘You need to focus on what you can do.’ He thought the words had come from the priestess, but she was nowhere to be seen.
He nodded and focused on the heat surrounding him, the flames licking easily over his skin. He pulled the flames to his centre. The ball appeared between his cupped hands, and he moved his hands around the heat, growing it larger. He pushed it towards the man before him, who deflected it easily, driving it into the ground to his side where it left a scorch mark on the pavers.
‘You need to think about where you are directing it.’
‘I am,’ Remi said through gritted teeth, bringing another fireball to life.
‘Don’t just throw it, direct it.’
Remi huffed as he pushed the next fire ball forward. The man dodged again.
Anger built in his chest, and the fireball that formed in his hands sparked and spluttered. The man before him raised his eyebrows. Remi focused on him, particularly his chest, and without any effort behind the throw, he released the ball, which honed in on its target directly. As the man sidestepped, it went with him, and despite his dodging it managed to hit him in the centre of his chest.
Remi grinned and crossed his arms. The fire didn’t burn the fire bearer, but it had an impact. The man wheezed, winded by the blow.
‘I am only standing before you.’ He turned and looked through the straggly group. ‘That man by the far wall. He is a fire bearer.’
Remi focused on the man, then formed another ball and released it. It moved in his direction, but it didn’t have the force the previous attack had, and although it found the mark, it hit him with little impact on the lower leg.
‘At least you didn’t hit anyone else in the way. You need to practice. Find what drives you.’
‘I know what drives me,’ Remi spat, thinking of the anger he had felt earlier. But now that Lis was gone, he wasn’t as focused as he could be, and he faltered. He didn’t even care enough about these men to learn their names.
‘You were able to defeat her, and she was stronger than we anticipated.’
Remi nodded once and formed another fireball. He tried to direct the same level of frustration he had with the other, but it didn’t reach the target any better than the last attempt. He shook his head and formed another and another, with no better marksmanship.
Exhausted from the constant magic, he sank to his knees.
‘You need to find a way to use it without using all of it,’ the fire bearer said, turning his back on the prince and walking over to someone else. He watched the man twirl the air around them for a moment and then realised they were hiding their conversation from him. Remi wondered just how much he knew of their plans and how big a part he played in them.
He shook his head and climbed to his feet. He worried over nothing. If he wasn’t needed by these men, they would not have sought him out, and he would not have isolated himself from all he knew. The wind bearer glanced at him over the shoulder of the other man, and Remi turned away. He walked back through the black gate, the silver characters still hiding, and he ran his fingertips over the gate as he walked past. A slight buzz of magic moved through his fingers, and he stopped. But the gate still appeared as it had, refusing to give up its secrets.
He didn’t linger. This might be all that was left for him now. He had been so focused on losing Lis, but he had lost the Empire as well. No matter if he sided with these men or not, or against his father or not. The emperor would not accept him now. His side was chosen for him.
Before he realised it, he was again in the small room staring at the painting of Lis on the wall.
Lis flexed her fingers and pushed her hand forward, but nothing happened. She gulped down the rising fear and tried again. ‘It won’t come,’ she said, letting her
hands drop by her sides.
‘You can’t force it,’ the master said.
‘I need to be able to do this; I need to know that I can get to him before they get me.’
‘You gave so much. Give yourself a chance to heal.’
‘It has been a week,’ she said, looking at Yang, who was leaning against the wall.
‘You took a serious beating,’ Master Yangshing said. ‘And your emotions and magic are connected to all that has happened.’
‘I know what I need to do.’
‘But that doesn’t make it easier.’
Lis nodded slowly and tried to allow herself to relax. As the master raised his hands, she copied the movement, pulling her hands in together in front of her chest, her fingers long and tall and pointing upwards. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. She tried to keep her mind clear, focusing only on her breath rather than all she would need to know and face in the coming days. For they couldn’t continue as they were, and the longer she left the prince alone with the magics, the more scared she was of what he would become.
She blew out a soft breath and hid. She opened her eyes as Yang clapped slowly, and she glanced across at him, feeling the magic working over her and keeping her hidden.
An awed gasp drew her attention, and she discovered the child hiding in the shadows. She sidestepped. Yang lowered his eyes, and the girl continued to look at where Lis had been. The child had gifts of her own, but this wasn’t one of them. The master gave a subtle shake of his head, but Lis crept towards the child, whose wide eyes grew wider as she looked at where Lis had disappeared.
As Lis leaned forward to tap the child on the shoulder, she suddenly turned and reached out to grab Lis’s hand. Lis reappeared and smiled. ‘You could see me.’
‘No,’ she said, ‘but I had a flash of a vision of what you would do.’
‘Will I be able to sneak into the Palace Isle, even hidden, if they know what is coming?’
‘How will they know?’ the girl asked.
‘Because we know there are others with your skill, and they are sharing their visions with the magics. Someone will know.’
The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set Page 56
