Page 123 of Empire's Curse

The prince waved the glass vial in front of the youth’s face. “Do you know what this is? It’s dragon’s blood. Said to be the most painful way to torture a man. Your blood will boil from within you. Your organs will melt, your skin will peel, and you will feelunimaginablepain until you die days later.”

“I’ll kill you one day,” the shadow-faced youth whispered weakly.

“No, no, you won’t.” Yan took ahold of the young man’s jaw and tried wrestling his mouth open. They both struggled, the chains smacking into the walls as the shadowed youth tried to wriggle away. But he was tied up, beaten and bloodied, and he was no match against the other prince, who smashed the vial into the youth’s mouth. The shards cut into his mouth and tongue and cheeks, the thick blood coating his tongue.

“There!” Yan breathed out deeply as his half-brother writhedagainst the wall, trying to spit the blood and pieces of glass from his mouth. “Now I’ll finally be rid of you, you cursedrat. Do you know how much of an eyesore you’ve been all these years? How incredibly embarrassing it is to see such a disgusting lowlife like you reach the same position as me? You arenota prince. You will never be anything more than a lowlife.”

Once again, everything began to change. Daiyu was blinded by a bright light and she blinked back at the new memory. Except, itwasn’ta memory. She was back where they had last been. Her hand was still placed on Feiyu’s dragon face and she was in the clearing in the mountains, the sun bearing down on her. Birds tweeted in the background, insects chirred, and there was an early morning dew still clinging to the grass.

Daiyu backed away, her legs weak. “Wh-What?”

That couldn’t be it. There were still so many memories she had to go through, so many more clues she had to figure out.

But Feiyu was staring at her now as if expecting her to have an answer.

“There … There must bemore,” she said quickly. This couldn’t be it. She had to see more. She couldn’t guess anything by what she had seen. “Feiyu?—”

“What is my name, Yin Daiyu?”

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She openedher mouth and clamped it shut. Was she supposed to guess based on those snippets of memories? He had lived a terrible, terrible life—she could see that. But it wasn’t enough for her to knowwhohe was. She didn’t know the names of Emperor Yan’s siblings. She didn’t know anything other than that Feiyu was an abused prince.

She cursed herself for not knowing the names of the royal family and she partly wished she could rush back to the palace and ask Prince Yat-sen or the princesses the names of all their uncles. But she didn’t have that kind of time and she doubted Feiyu would allow that—after all, this was a test, wasn’t it?

“Let me … think,” Daiyu said after a moment, choosing to sit on a smooth, unfaceted rock. She drummed her fingers over her thighs to keep them busy. She should have been more shocked at the fact that it was morning—and that she had spent the whole night flicking through Feiyu’s memories—but the adrenaline rushing through her veins and the pressure of answering correctly kept her from thinking too much about the morning. Or the magic. Or the fact that Muyang was likely in critical condition at this point. Or that everyone must have been worried about where she had been all night.

Daiyu tried clearing her thoughts of everything except what Feiyu had shown her. What did she know about Feiyubeforethese memories?

He wore a mask to protect his identity—apparently, because he didn’t want anyone to know who he was, which now made sense. He was the high mage of the royal palace and worked closely with Muyang. He used a fake name to hide his identity even more. He had a few scars she had spotted through the eye slits of his mask and when he had lifted his mask to eat. And … that was about it.

What did she know about Feiyuafterseeing his memories?

He was severely abused by his brother Yan. He was the child of the emperor and a maidservant. He watched his mother brutally be tortured and executed. He had ingested the blood of a dragon and somehow survived.

She tried wrapping her mind around more. There must have been a reason Feiyu had shown her these memories, but how did they tie in with his identity? How was she supposed to figure out who he was with these glimpses of his life?

She was missing something, she was sure.

Did Muyang know that Feiyu was a MuRong? She couldn’t see any reason why he would keep Feiyu around if he knew the truth, so he must havenotknown. Feiyu must have worn a mask around at all times in order to hide his identity from Muyang. Because he likely knew that Muyang would lock him up similar to how Yat-sen and the princesses were locked up. Or maybe Muyang would execute Feiyu since he was much more of a threat than Yat-sen and the princesses.

Or maybe …

Daiyu kept going in circles. She tried wrapping her mind around Feiyu and Muyang and the rest of the royal family, but she couldn’t figure out what any of it meant.

Tears of frustration pricked the corners of her eyes and she blinked them away. She stared down at her hands. None of thiswas making any sense to her. She didn’t know how any of this tied together.

Why was Muyang’s soul dying? Why was he a curse to this empire? What did this mean for Feiyu? How were they tied together?

“Take as long as you need,” Feiyu rumbled, his black eyes boring into her like he knew she wouldn’t be able to answer correctly. “But Muyang will die in a matter of hours, and then his cursed reign will finally be over.”

“N-No! He can’t—” Her lower lip wobbled and her throat closed up as the realization hit her. Muyang was going to die. He was going to die in a few hours. She didn’t have time to waste here, thinking and thinking and unable to come up with an answer. She needed to figure this out, she needed to find Feiyu’s real name, and she needed to do itquickly.

All the pressure seemed to land on her shoulders, making her tremble and fold in within herself. She curled over her knees and rested her head on her lap.

Think. She needed tothink.

Muyang took the throne four years ago. During that time, was Feiyu locked away in the dungeons somewhere, or had he escaped at some point? Muyang had killed Emperor Yan in order to take the throne, so did that make Feiyu indebted to Muyang? Was that why he stuck around in the palace and worked under Muyang? Or did Muyang free him from Yan once he took over?

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