Page 65 of Empire's Curse

“Like … walk?”

“Yes.” He turned to her sharply, the blacks of his eyes appearing all the more starless and glittering against the backdrop of barren trees and crystalizing snow.

She canted her head. “But that will take us forever.”

“You’ve only been gone for half the day. If you’ve made it this far by yourself, I’m sure we can make it back in one piece,” he said dryly. “Unless you disappeared during the night, in which case, we will likely have to walk quite the distance.”

Daiyu licked her lips nervously, not wanting to tell him that was exactly what she had done. “Why can’t you just use your magic to teleport us to the fortress?”

He grimaced as he pushed himself up to his feet, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the pain. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“It requires too much magic. I don’t have enough to warp both of us.”

“You don’t have enough?” Another head tilt. Wasn’t he supposed to be all-powerful? Completely unmatched? It was plausible to think that she was completely out of touch with how magic really worked and how much energy it required, but she would have thought after seeing him display his deadly magic on several occasions that he was powerful enough to domore.

But perhaps that was her inexperience talking.

“Let’s go.” Muyang turned his head as if sniffing the air and stared off at the distance with narrowed eyes. Finally, he jerked his chin to the side. “The fortress is this way.”

“How do you know?”

“I can feel it.”

“How?”

“The magic of the fortress.” He shifted his weighted gaze to her, and a flash of mild irritation passed over his face, quickly overshadowed by his frown. “Come on, let’s go.”

Daiyu followed him as they headed off in the direction he had pointed to. His breaths came labored as he trudged forward, his normally neutral mask slipping to reveal pain every few seconds. Daiyu subconsciously reached forward to help him, but he waved her off.

“I can handle myself.”

“Are you sure? You don’t …” She let the sentence hang, not wanting to say what she was thinking. Was it treasonous to tell him he appeared weakened and likely needed help? He hadn’t liked it the last time she had mentioned it to him.

“I’m certain,” he said in a clipped voice.

They both walked in silence for a few minutes. With him plodding through the snow like his legs were leaden, and her trailing behind him slowly. After the fourth time of Muyangalmost tripping and falling to his knees, Daiyu touched his lower back and came to stand beside him.

“Let me help,” she offered. “You can lean on me?—”

“No.” He tried pushing her away, but she didn’t relent and stood her ground.

“Your Majesty, forgive me for saying this, but you’re not in any condition to be walking alone. You need help.Myhelp.” Daiyu squared her shoulders and stared up at him levelly. The wind blew against their faces, making her already stiff face feel tauter. But this time, she tried to lean into that stoicism. “You may not like the idea of being helped, especially not by aweak little thinglike me, but we both need to get out of here as fast as possible, so I suggest you take my help.”

Muyang’s lips flattened into a thin line, but he didn’t disagree. He only nodded ever so slightly and turned his head away from her. A shiver ran down her spine at the small win and she pushed forward with him. He didn’t lean on her too much, not at first, but after ten minutes of silently walking, he put some of his weight against her shoulder. His arm was slung over her, and she had to keep her arm around his waist to help him up. The smell of jasmine and blood intoxicated her senses, and she had to keep her face as far away as possible so as to not accidentally lean into him and breathe in his scent like it was a powerful drug. It was tempting, and she blushed over her lack of control.

Meanwhile, Muyang seemed unaware of her struggle. He seemed to be fighting for every breath he took. His forehead quickly dotted with sweat the more they traveled and his breathing became more ragged. It became too much for her to simply ignore.

“Are you poisoned, Your Majesty?”

“I hope not. Why?”

“You appear …” She struggled with a polite way to say that his injuries didn’t seemthatsevere, and yet he was completely winded. But any way she twisted it, it came across as rude and inconsiderate.

“Weak?” he finished with a snarl.

Daiyu shrank within herself, avoiding eye contact. “I didn’t say that.”

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