Page 53 of Empire's Curse

“That sounds awfully vague. Can’t you just teleport here and help me instead?”

“I’m unable to leave the royal palace grounds, unless His Majesty allows it.”

“But—” She stared at the jade bracelet; how was it going to help her? Would it make it so no one could spy on her? Like Yat-sen was saying the other day? “But what does it do, exactly?”

“It will protect you,” he said simply. “I don’t have much time?—”

“When can I see you again? What if I need your help?”

“I can’t help you when I’m so far away,” he said, and there was a touch of sadness in his tone. “We’ll meet again in the palace. Until then, stay alive and stay safe.”

“Feiyu—”

Before she could ask any more of him, something jolted her. A loud blaring sound.

Daiyu’s eyesflew open and she instantly covered her ears as a horn blasted in the fortress. She threw the thick covers off her body, but the motion caused something to skid across the hardwood floors. Hurling the curtains of the bed aside, she spotted a jade bracelet on the floor a few feet from the bed. She blinked at it in astonishment. So it really wasn’t just a dream.

She didn’t have much time to think about everything Feiyu had told her—not with the constant horn sounding all around her—so she scooped up the piece of jewelry, slipped it on her wrist, and quickly began to dress herself from the discarded pile of clothes she had left last night by the dresser. She combed her hair with her fingers and created a simple, low bun with her two hairpins.

Daiyu peeked out the latticed window for signs of an invading army or a fight ensuing down below, but the courtyard was completely empty. The blood drained from her face and she jammed her feet into her silk slippers. What in the world was happening? Were they going into battle?

When she scrambled out of the emperor’s chambers and into the hallway, it was hauntingly empty, mimicking the courtyard. She hurried down the flight of stairs to the level below it, but it was the same—no soldiers in sight. She kept continuing down until she reached the first floor. There, she spotted dozens of soldiers rushing down the hallway, all of them chattering with one another. Their faces were grim, and she swallowed down her burgeoning anxiety.

“What’s going on?” she asked the closest soldier as she followed the mob down the broad corridor.

The soldier didn’t even glance her way. “His Majesty is calling everyone to the main hall.”

“Why? What does the horn mean?”

He finally looked over at her and his eyes widened as if realizing she wasn’t a soldier. He cleared his throat, turning away. “It usually means he has an announcement to make, or we’ll be attacking soon.”

“No,” another soldier from behind them said, his voice mingling with the chatter of the crowd. “I heard a spy was caught.”

“A spy?” Daiyu breathed, her eyebrows coming together. This was a turn of events she hadn’t expected and it wasn’t her place to be involved in any of it, but curiosity kept her following the groups of soldiers.

They entered what she had thought was the banquet hall, but all the tables were gone and there was nothing inside the room except for the sea of soldiers who stood in front of a dais at the end of the hall. All conversations ceased the instant they entered the room, and as if she were entering a different dimension, a shudder ran through her when she stepped through the double-doored threshold. Her breath caught in her throat at the denseness of the air, like something was trying to suffocate her. She wasn’t the only one who noticed—everyone markedly stiffened.

Drakkon Muyang sat on what looked like a makeshift throne, but what Daiyu realized with mounting horror was a pile of corpses dressed in military attire. He was leaning back, his fingers drumming over the leather hilt of the gleaming, blood-stained sword sitting on his lap. At his feet, blood pooled around the bodies and dripped off the dais in a macabre fashion.

Daiyu reeled back and nearly bumped into the soldier behind her. She had never seen such a horrifying image. Something within her—an instinct that made every hair on her body standstraight—told her to run as fast as possible. And yet a morbid curiosity compelled her to remain rooted in place.

Raw power radiated from Muyang, so thick and bone-rattling that Daiyu wasn’t sure if it was his magic causing such a reaction, or simply becausehewas that powerful.

Off to the side of the dais stood Prince Yat-sen, Atreus, General Liang Fang, and a handful of men Daiyu recognized from Muyang’s dinner table from the night before. They all wore stoic expressions as if used to such a horrifying display.

“Bring in the traitor,” Muyang spoke calmly and quietly, and yet his voice seemed to echo off the walls.

All at once, the soldiers parted ways and Bohai entered the room. He held a long chain in his hand, which rattled off the polished floors. A few feet behind him, a bruised, battered, and bloodied man limped forward. The man’s face was a map work of purple and blue, and fresh blood dribbled down his chin. One of his eyes was swollen shut and even from the distance, Daiyu could see that his fingers were missing. His hands were covered in dirty, maroon-colored gauze that oozed with blood and pus.

Daiyu’s stomach churned and she swallowed down the bile clawing up her throat. Bohai bowed in front of Muyang, straightened, and yanked the chain until the man collapsed toward the dais.

“The traitor, Your Majesty,” Bohai said with a wave at the prisoner. He wore a pleasant smile as if he wasn’t carting around a half-dead man. “We caught him conspiring with those soldiers.” He nodded at the dead bodies Muyang sat upon so brazenly. “They were planning on storming this fortress.”

Muyang peered down at the prisoner with barely veiled disgust. “So I’m to assume there are more of these soldiers waiting close by to attack us?”

“Correct, Your Majesty.”

“Hm.” The shadows of the room seemed to warp and grow darker, and Daiyu watched with bated breath as he tapped his fingerover his sword’s hilt.

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