The Magics of Rei-Een Box Set

by Georgina Makalani

  ‘Of course,’ he said, his hands still holding hers firmly. ‘But I had to see if you had really survived. The priestess…’

  Lis waited in the silence for him to continue. What did he know of the priestess? Had he stayed with her, or she with them? Was she the connection, the way the magics knew of the visions? But as her head reeled with the possibilities and her mouth failed to voice any of them, the door swung open with a bang, and she moved between Remi and more soldiers than she’d realised had been standing guard over her.

  Chapter 8

  Remi didn’t move as the men entered the room. He knew they were there—he knew exactly what this was—and he rested his hands on Lis’s shoulders. There was a certainty to her, a confidence he hadn’t expected. Her relief at seeing him had filled the room, and he had known in that moment that he had made the right decision to find her.

  It hadn’t been very hard. They had made it easy, and that was why he had known they wanted him to find her and that it was a trap. The priestess didn’t know what he had discovered, or at least he didn’t think so, but it wouldn’t be long. And she would know where his allegiances lay when she learnt he hadn’t snuck in and killed Lis.

  He couldn’t. Lis had filled his thoughts. When he’d believed he had killed her, he had only thought about what he might have done differently, despite her not wanting to be there. And now she had come back. He only hoped it was for more than to pull him into a trap and have his father kill him.

  She rested her hand on his and stepped closer to him. Her back was almost against his chest, and he knew she had chosen to return to help him. He wanted to pull her out of the way, ensure she was safe from the possible danger of these men, but then he knew they would do everything they could to protect her first.

  ‘General,’ Remi said, surprised at how level his voice sounded. There was a slight gravel to it, as though he had burnt himself during the fight. ‘What can I do for you?’

  ‘You could come quietly.’

  ‘To stand before the emperor and die.’

  ‘That is not what we intend,’ Lis said, ‘but you can’t return to the magics.’

  ‘What would you have me do?’

  ‘Why did you come?’ the general asked, stepping further into the room.

  Remi remained silent.

  ‘Could you step away from the princess, Your Highness?’

  ‘I still have a title then,’ he said, anger creeping into his voice. He had thought his father would have disowned him. ‘And the princess appears to have a hold on me.’

  ‘Perhaps you should go with him,’ Lis said, releasing her hold and turning to him.

  ‘To sit in a prison cell and have gods know who try to kill me? The soldiers of the Empire will want to take their revenge, and the magics will fear my returning to you.’

  Lis looked back at the General. ‘Perhaps he could wait here until he is presented to the emperor.’

  ‘Is he to take my head directly?’

  Lis grumbled under her breath and looked up at him with disappointment. ‘We are trying to protect you.’

  ‘Protect me?’ he asked, trying to sound disbelieving, but he couldn’t hide the smile. ‘You have set a trap for me.’

  ‘We pulled you away from the magics to where you are meant to be.’

  ‘The laundry?’

  ‘Seriously, Remi, you want to joke about this after all that has happened?’

  He stepped forward quickly and, despite the movement amongst the guards, he pulled her close and kissed her.

  He half expected her to step back out of his reach, or fight him in some way, but she didn’t. Instead, she pushed herself towards him.

  ‘You called me Remi,’ he murmured when he released her.

  She smiled and then gave him a shallow bow. ‘Forgive my not greeting you appropriately.’

  He laughed as the room filled with soldiers. Hui Te-Sze sighed, and Lis smiled enough to light the room.

  ‘Why are you smiling at the idea of my demise?’ he asked her, but he couldn’t remove his own smile. And he was reluctant to let her go.

  ‘He will let you stay here,’ Lis said.

  ‘How can you be so sure of my character?’ the hunter snapped.

  She was far more confident than he remembered her. Lis smiled warmly at the number of men in the room. ‘Because you know that if you remove him to the prison, I will remain there with him.’

  The hunter sighed again. ‘You will not be alone. At least two men will stand inside this door.’

  Lis nodded before Remi could say anything. Did she fear him still?

  ‘Can you fetch more bedding?’ she asked, and one of the soldiers disappeared without a word.

  ‘What do you propose?’ the general asked.

  ‘Only that we sleep. If we are to face the emperor in the morning, I would rather be well rested, and I haven’t had the opportunity as yet to sleep.’

  The general bowed before her.

  ‘Another favour, General,’ she said as he turned to head outside. ‘Can you keep this from the ministers? If only for tonight.’

  He bowed again and departed without a word. The large number of soldiers followed, leaving Hui Te-Sze and the two guards inside the room. A soldier moved past the exiting crowd with two rolls of bedding, which he carried towards the sleeping platform before stopping. He looked back at the hunter and then at the princess.

  ‘Put them there,’ she said, pointing to the floor by the table. The relief was evident on his face, and it filled Remi’s senses, going some way to calm him. He hadn’t realised until the man had returned that his own tensions were rising.

  ‘Are you to stand by the door as well?’ she asked Te-Sze, who shrugged in response. ‘Forgive me, but it has been a long day.’ She bowed to Remi and then climbed easily onto the platform and disappeared under the covers.

  Te-Sze looked pointedly at the rolled bedding by the table. Blowing out a slow breath to calm himself, Remi unfurled them, slipped his shoes off and climbed in. He felt the distance from Lis, but he smiled up at the ceiling. Not only was she alive, but she had been relieved to find him alive.

  In some ways, he felt he could take on the world, particularly his father and the ministers, if she was standing beside him. Otherwise, he feared his control on his magic might not be as strong as he would like.

  In the quiet room, he could only hear the gentle breaths of the guards standing in the dark. He wondered what they might do if he tried to pass them. There might be some in the ranks who didn’t want to kill him on sight, but he was sure they were in small numbers compared to those who did.

  He was angry with himself for having been so easily swayed to believe that he and Lis couldn’t work together. Some of the magics might have been working to save his brother and the Empire, but too many of them wanted only what would benefit them. And he had fallen too easily into their way of thinking.

  As the edge of the covers lifted, he baulked, pulled from his thoughts as he wondered which of them was going to drag him out and have him killed in front of his own men before his father was even aware of his capture.

  But the movement was slow and quiet, and as Lis settled against him with her head on his shoulder, he was overwhelmed by her. He moved his arm out from between them and wrapped it around her shoulders.

  ‘I didn’t mean to wake you,’ she whispered.

  He shook his head, too afraid to speak. And he rested his hand on her shoulder.

  Chapter 9

  The empress stood beside her husband and tried not to move. Despite the emperor’s efforts, the ministers murmured amongst themselves. The hidden princess stood calmly before the soldiers. Despite her trying to look serious, the empress was sure the girl smiled.

  Remi stood beside her, his hands shackled before him. Although the room was hostile, he looked much calmer than she would expect. She had heard such terrible things about the fight in the square, the words and threats he had thrown around along with his fire.

 
The emperor cleared his throat, and the noise finally subsided amongst the ministers. ‘You have come forward willingly, I understand.’

  Remi nodded, although he moved his hands to draw attention to the shackles.

  ‘You are aware of the danger you have posed to the Empire of Rei-Een.’

  ‘I was misled,’ Remi said.

  The emperor growled, and the empress was sure he would leap from his seat and stride across the room to knock the boy down himself. She wasn’t quite sure how he would react to such a thing from his father.

  The general and the hunter shuffled behind the princess, but after a subtle look from her, they both stood still. Remi’s eyes were fixed on his father, and the empress couldn’t help but look across at the ministers.

  ‘Now that the prince is in custody,’ Advisor Gan said, ‘we…’

  ‘When were you raised to minister?’ the emperor asked without looking at the little man.

  He snapped his jaw shut and glanced at the minister beside him. The man he had glanced at cleared his throat and then stepped forward from the group.

  ‘We have allowed Advisor Gan to speak for us,’ the minister said. ‘But you are right, Your Eminence; we are the officials of the Empire.’

  The emperor waved him forward, and the man cleared his throat again. The empress was pleased to see he had the confidence she had remembered of him. He bowed low to the emperor and then looked at Remi.

  ‘I believe the crown prince has done much for the Empire as a hunter and as a soldier. This should be considered when you decide on his punishment. But as far as the people are concerned, he is no longer the crown prince of the Empire. He is no longer the heir of Rei-Een.’

  The empress was sure her heart stopped. Across the room, she could see the flames leap to life behind Remi’s eyes. At the same moment, Lis looked up at him and the soldiers behind him stepped back. She could see the haze of heat around him. Lis rested her hand on his arm, and it dissipated. He blew out a slow breath, but his focus never moved from his father.

  The empress stepped forward, waiting for the emperor to turn his disappointment on her. She was sure that he blamed her for this mess, and she both wished that Wei-Song were present while feeling grateful she wasn’t.

  The emperor surprised her by reaching out and taking her by the arm, pulling her closer to him. She was momentarily relieved by the action, but then Remi stepped forward and the room became unsettled.

  The ministers talked amongst themselves, the soldiers murmured, and Remi inched further from the group behind him. The emperor’s grip on her arm grew tighter.

  ‘We must do something,’ she whispered.

  ‘And we will,’ he answered. Still holding her tight, he stepped forward. ‘There will be no question as to whether my son is the heir to the Rei-Een Empire.’

  ‘We aren’t questioning anything,’ the minister said. ‘We are telling you what the people want.’

  ‘Have you asked them?’ The emperor faced the group, pulling the empress with him.

  The man stammered and looked back at his fellow ministers. Some shook their heads; others looked at the ground. Still others amongst the group looked defiant, and the empress wondered for the first time if she would survive this.

  ‘He has worked against the Empire,’ someone called from within the group.

  ‘He has magic,’ someone else said.

  ‘As do many,’ the hunter said, stepping forward and standing beside Lis. ‘We were never able to defeat the magic. Maybe we shouldn’t have tried. But in working against it, we have only made it stronger. We have created a divide within the Empire, and it is time to heal the wounds.’

  Lis smiled up at him, but he kept his focus to the front.

  ‘I am not a threat to the Empire,’ Remi said softly.

  ‘You fought your own men,’ Advisor Gan said loudly. ‘You fought against the hidden princess…’ But his voice faded away, as though he was suddenly aware that she had magic and had worked in favour of the Empire. ‘Why is the girl not in chains?’ he asked sternly, looking back at the emperor.

  ‘Because she is the hidden princess,’ the empress said.

  ‘And she did far more to stop this than any of you have done,’ the general said, standing on the other side of Remi. ‘Without the hidden princess, many more men would have been lost, as would your prince.’ He sighed and, without a word of approval, he reached out and unlocked the shackles around Remi’s wrists.

  The ministers, as one, moved back a step.

  ‘We need to focus on what we can do to stop this. It will not stop with your punishing the prince, or your ideas of deposing the emperor,’ the general said, stepping towards the ministers. Several shook their heads while others looked between each other. ‘We need to stop those who actually want to destroy our Empire, and we need the crown prince and the hidden princess working together to do that.’

  ‘She has magic. We heard she had been killed in the fight—how is it that she is standing here before us now?’

  ‘A good healer and good friends,’ she said softly, but the empress noted with pride how her voice carried through the room.

  ‘And when she brings her magic friends here and joins with the others, we will all be doomed.’

  ‘Did you not listen to me?’ the general asked into the room. His voice was thick with his frustrations.

  ‘You have been bewitched,’ a minister called out.

  ‘Enough!’ the emperor bellowed, and the room fell into silence. ‘Take him away,’ he snapped at the general. ‘I would talk with the ministers together. Leave the hunter.’

  The empress was relieved that Remi didn’t put up a fight as he turned and followed the general from the room, with Lis following behind. They had both bowed slightly to her and the emperor, but neither had acknowledged the ministers or the advisor. She blew out a slow breath, relieved that nothing had happened. She only hoped he could forgive Lis for tricking him into coming to her. But then they had all been sure, other than Lis, that he would have done anything to track her down.

  She only wished she had been there. Lis seemed calmer amidst all of this, and despite what Remi had tried to do to her, she had stood by his side. This might end as the empress had hoped it would so long ago.

  ‘You have not talked with the people, and yet you are determined to speak on their behalf. Do they have any idea what occurred here? Does anyone?’ the emperor asked.

  A minister from near the back stepped forward. His headpiece appeared tired and faded, and the empress wondered where they had been staying in the time since the fighting.

  ‘We were elected to act on their behalf,’ the man said, more confidently than the empress was sure he felt. ‘We have been making decisions for generations on what they need. The magic has spread throughout the Empire. We need to ensure it is stopped before it grows to what it was before and there is more than just fighting in the street.’

  ‘I think what we saw was more than fighting in the street,’ another said, stepping forward. ‘Where are they now? That is the question we should all be asking.’

  The emperor sat back slowly on his throne.

  ‘Will the prince tell us where they are?’

  ‘What would you do if you knew?’ the emperor asked. ‘Would you take them on, take up a sword?’

  Murmuring started again amongst the group.

  ‘I fear the general is correct. We are going to need to trust some of those with magic to stop the others from taking control of the Empire.’

  The murmuring increased as the empress turned to her husband with surprise.

  ‘There was a time,’ the empress said carefully, ‘when we worked with magics, when we lived together.’ The emperor nodded for her to continue. ‘If it had not been for the visitors, we may have continued that way. I think we can find a way back to living together.’

  ‘How can we seriously return to what the world was?’ Advisor Gan asked. He strutted forward, and for a moment the empress was sure he though
t himself equal to the men around him. But he had been a highly valued advisor to the emperor for many years, and it might be that he was entitled to feel the way he did.

  ‘You are the one, Your Eminence, who was sure the magics had to be stopped. You were the driving force of the war.’

  The emperor nodded slowly, and the empress felt the weight of the movement. It was hard for him to admit he’d been wrong; this would be even more than admitting an error. This would be admitting a war should not have happened. The ministers had clearly gotten the same sense from his subtle movement, for the level of murmuring increased tenfold.

  ‘What of your first born?’ the advisor called above the noise, and the world fell into instant silence. ‘What of Prince Ta-Sho?’

  ‘We may never know what truly happened to him,’ the emperor admitted. ‘It may be that finding a way forward is more important. No matter what we have done or experienced in the past.’

  ‘You want to forgive them, and then what? Hand over the Empire?’

  ‘That is not what I’m saying.’

  ‘How could you protect the prince for all these years?’ another minister asked.

  ‘He didn’t show any signs of magic. The hunters didn’t sense him,’ the empress said, stepping forward to be more involved in the conversation. ‘This is something very new to him, which is the reason he struggled with what he was and how he fit into the world.’

  ‘He was very quick to side with the magics against us,’ the minister said. ‘There didn’t seem to be any doubts there.’

  ‘He was misled as to what he was, and as to what the princess was.’

  ‘And what is she exactly?’ another asked, apparently braver than he looked due to his colleagues stepping forward.

  ‘Different from the others,’ the empress said. She didn’t want to use the word Hidden, and she certainly didn’t want to use the name of the order. Too many of these men had been involved in the magic war and knew the danger they might pose.

  ‘How can we be sure she will continue to fight for us?’ another man asked.