Page 124 of Empire's Curse

But then, why was Feiyu saying that Muyang’s reign wascursed? Shouldn’t he be happy that Muyang took over, since that meant Yan was killed and his family was mostly wiped out? Or … did Feiyu want to take the throne? Was that why he thought Muyang’s rule was cursed?

She was becoming more confused as the minutes ticked by. How was she going to figure this out? The more she thought about it, the more tangled everything became. The more she couldn’t make sense of what was up and what was down.

“Feiyu … after your brother forced you to take dragon’s blood, what did you do?” Daiyu lifted her head to pin him with a stare.

He didn’t move, only continued to stare at her. “I was in excruciating pain for days. Like my brother had mentioned, my blood felt like it was boiling within myself, my organs felt like they were melting, and my flesh was on fire for days. During this time, I must have lost consciousness at some point and Yan assumed I was dead, so he tossed me aside somewhere. I woke up in a shallow dug grave not far from here.” His gaze flicked over at the mountains in the distance, their spikes prodding up to the clouded skies. “Once I realized I was free, I left the capital and didn’t return for many years.”

She chewed on that for a few minutes, trying to make sense of it all. But when she looked over at him to ask more questions, to prod more into his past, a sudden shame took over. His eyes were so black, so unfeeling, and yet there was something terribly sad within them. Here she was, trying to strip down his memories to figure out his name, and she hadn’t had the decency to even think about things from his perspective. How terrible must it have been to live in the royal palace? To go through so much abuse and torture?

She was a terrible friend for glossing it over for her own selfish purposes. Of course she wanted to save Muyang, but she hadn’t had the decency to even think about how Feiyu felt during this. How traumatic it must have been for him.

“I’m so sorry, Feiyu,” she finally said, unable to look at him as guilt and shame bloomed in her chest. “You’ve lived such a hard life. I’m sorry you had to go through all of that.”

“It was a long time ago,” he murmured, closing those midnight-like eyes.

“Did you realize immediately that you could turn into a dragon? Is that normal after ingesting dragon blood?”

“I don’t know about normal, but I knew I was different than before when I awoke. My blood changed—it became magicked.”

“That’s …”Fascinating. But she couldn’t say that. It would beinsensitive and inappropriate, especially since it wasn’t his choice to go through that kind of torture and to be forever changed. “Muyang also told me his blood is magicked?—”

Everything came to a pause as she uttered those words and something clicked in her mind.

Wait, wait,wait.

“Muyang told me …” Daiyu’s eyebrows came together and she looked over at Feiyu with renewed interest. With different eyes.

There was no way.

“Feiyu …” She curled her hands over her knees. He didn’t change in the slightest and she couldn’t read his emotions at all. “In the library, I spoke to Muyang about curses and he told me that curses can … can split your soul and corrupt them. Is Muyang … Did Muyang cursehimself?”

Feiyu didn’t say anything, only continued to stare at her.

“Oh my—” Her mouth dropped open as she stared at him. All the pieces began aligning together. Everything was becoming clearer. “I … I know your name.”

Four years ago, Muyang took the throne. Four years ago, his magic changed and he couldn’t use it much anymore. Four years ago, his personality changed—he becamedarker.

And it made so much sense. So much sense that it was crazy. Convoluted, even.

“You’re … You’re MuRong Muyang,” she whispered, gasping once the words were out. It didn’t sound real. It couldn’t be real, but it was the only conclusion she came to. “Muyang … corrupted his soul by splitting it in half.You’rethe other half.”

All at once, Feiyu’s eyes widened and something sparked within them. A light shone from his body and he morphed, the shimmering scales appearing brighter as his body uncoiled itself from its sleeping position. The long limbs and dragon wings disappeared, replaced by flesh and blood. The scales sank into his scarred skin, disappearing in a split second as clothes magically appeared over his body. In seconds, he was back in his human form, dressed in his usual silver and green mage robes.

The only difference was that he wore no mask. Muyang’s face stared back at her. Wickedly beautiful, with his usual dark eyes, and his soft mouth, he was … her Muyang. But at the same time, hewasn’t.

A faint scar ran down his eyebrow to his eyelid and under the eye. He had another set of three scars running vertically on his jaw. And there was something in his gaze that appeared so much sadder than her Muyang.

Her knees weakened and if she weren’t already sitting, she would have fallen to the ground in disbelief. He was Muyang, and it made sense, but it didn’t at the same time.

“How … and why would you do this to yourself?” she found herself asking. Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest, the blood rushing to her ears. Why would Muyang split his soul in half?

Feiyu smiled, ever so gently. “When I took the throne four years ago, I thought I would lose my mind. I had discarded my MuRong blood for so long, but I needed to kill my brother and get my revenge. But once I did, and I took his throne, I couldn’t bear to be in the palace anymore. I couldn’t bear to be in the same halls my mother and I had lived. I couldn’t bear the sight of the throne room, where so much of my own torture had taken place.”

“So you … split your soul?”

“Yes.” His voice softened, but there was a spark of anger in his eyes that made her want to cringe back. “I split my soul and sealed my memories withinthisbody.” He tapped himself on the chest. “The other Muyang lost many of his childhood memories, many of the darkest moments of our life that made it unbearable to stay in the palace. Instead,Ibore them. I also took most of the magic, though that was mostly by accident. We had planned on making our magic equal. I also took most of the scars.” He touched his scarred eyelid. “These scars tell stories of torture my brother inflicted, and the other half wouldn’t have known where they came from. So it only made sense …”

Daiyu’s head began to spin. “But you knew it would corrupt your soul to split it in half?—”

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