Page 97 of Empire's Curse

A soft laugh escaped from her lips. The first crack in her barrier. “I’m not thinking of destroying anyone, Your Majesty.”

“Muyang.”

“Muyang,” she added in a whisper.

Seeming satisfied with that answer, he turned to stare at the people enjoying their wedding. She could see thePeccatain the distance, congregating around one of the tables stacked with food. They ate and laughed amongst one another. A few tables away, she spotted Commander Yao Bohai, General Fang, and his wife Jia, and a few other familiar faces. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the drinks, the foods, the entertainments. In the center of the hall, dancers bedecked in colorful, vibrant costumes danced whilst telling the story of the victorious dragon empress who defeated the Kadians decades ago. Musicians filled the edges of the hall, their music filling the spaces harmoniously.

Muyang nodded his chin toward the people. “What do you think when you see all these people, Daiyu?”

She looked back at the scene in front of her. “I see people who are happy.”

“Happiness is what you see?” His dark, inky brow rose. “I see people who will eat us alive if given the chance. I see people who will bury a dagger into our backs if we turn away from them. I see people who will greedily open their hands for whatever we give but would never do the same. I see people whose loyalties are so flimsy I can tear them with a single flick of my finger. These people, Daiyu, are nowyoursubjects as well.”

Coldness swept over her, even though the room was warm with body heat. Her fingers inadvertently curled within his hand, her throat closing. She noticed Atreus, Nikator, Vita, and the rest of thePeccatasmiling at something the demon-child was saying. “But not all of them are disloyal.”

“Certainly not all.” His gaze seemed to follow hers, and she noted the way his midnight eyes seemed to soften for a split second. But there was a steely edge in his tone as he spoke next. “But people change. Times change. Power changes.” He rubbed his thumb in slow circles against the palm of her hand. “You will learn much about being in the helm of power, Daiyu. What it means to have people bow down at your feet. To know what it feels like to be backstabbed. To feel the burn of betrayal from those who you thought were your closest allies. There is much you will learn by my side. I hope it isn’t selfish of me to expose that all to you.” He placed a gentle hand on her cheek, studying the blush that crept up her face. “If I were a better man, I would shield you from all of that, but I think that would be a disservice to you. As an empress, you will be stronger and more prepared.”

Somehow, all the people seemed to blur away until it really was just the two of them—or at least, in Daiyu’s perception, it seemed that way. She didn’t notice the stares, or the music, or the loudness of everything else. He was clear and she was somehow caught in a moment of clarity.

“You …” Her voice tapered off with astonishment, losing its strength. “You wish to make me your empress?”

“Yes.” He brought her knuckles to his lips again, watching her the entire time. “I would like for you to be by my side for all of eternity. For as long as I rule. For as long as I take breath.”

The empress role was usually left off to a woman of great noble birth, someone who was bred to rule the empire. Someone who had power to use. Someone who … wasn’t her.

And yet he wanted to make her the empress of the empire.Hisempress.

It was almost too much to take in. Her head felt like it was ready to burst. Like a thousand ribbons had been stuffed inside her, overwhelming her, and were about to explode in an entertaining array of colors. And through all the messiness of her feelings, she could pinpoint a singular thread ofhappinessthatcoursed through her. At the giddy excitement that both terrified her and thrilled her.

“I … I don’t know what to say,” Daiyu finally whispered. “I would need to think about it, Your Majesty.”

“Think on it a moment longer.”

“I … I will.”

Muyang, true to his word, held her hand for the rest of the evening. Even when the food was laid out in front of them, and when the drinks were poured out, and when people came up to greet them, he didn’t release her. He would rub circles against her knuckles, her palm, and the back of her hand slowly as if telling her he wasn’t going anywhere. It had a calming effect on her, surprisingly, even though a few months ago she would have felt unnecessarily tethered to him. But now it felt intimate, gentle even.

At one point, in the back of the hall, she spotted Feiyu. He wore his dragon mask as usual, this time gold and red, clashing with his emerald and silver mage robes. He gave her a wave at one point, which Muyang didn’t seem to notice, before he disappeared minutes later in a swathe of dark shadows.

“Lord Wang,” Muyang said. “I’m glad to see you could make it here.”

Daiyu’s attention swiveled to the tall, slender man kneeling in front of them below the dais. Clad in expensive, bright-purple silk robes, with sharp eyes and an even sharper smile, Lord Wang appeared just as wealthy and irritating as she would have expected him to. A young woman kneeled beside him. With sweeping black hair that was pulled into an intricate updo with various gold dragon-engraved hairpins intertwining through it, and garbed in vermillion and gold silks, she was dressed just as luxuriously as Daiyu was. A sapphire-encrusted necklace dazzled against her chest, glimmering in different shades of blue every time the light shone on it.

That must have been Wang Yanlin. The woman who everyone thought Muyang would marry, and who had likely spent herwhole life training to be a royal woman. And here she was, dressed like she was a bride herself.

A surge of unexpected rage and jealousy rushed through Daiyu’s system and she clenched her hands together tightly.

“Congratulations on your union,” Lord Wang said, oblivious to Daiyu’s razor-like glare that was honed in their direction. “You both look splendid together.”

“Congratulations, Your Majesty,” the woman said in an overly saccharine voice. She batted her eyelashes up at him from where she was kneeling.

“What’s your name?” Daiyu asked, unable to keep the edge out of her tone.

The woman’s gaze cut over to her and she shot her a sweet smile. “Wang Yanlin.”

“I hope you enjoy the rest of our wedding,” she continued with forced politeness. “Lady Yanlin.”

They both bowed once more and dispersed into the crowds once more. The entire time, however, Daiyu couldn’t stop from glaring daggers at the cursed woman. She was the one who had burned her family’s rice fields. Who had poisoned Daiyu and had her kidnapped. Now that she had a face and a name, she couldn’t stop the swell of pure hatred that burned her chest.

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