Page 9 of The Dragon Wakes with Thunder (The Dragon Spirit Duology #2)

“Please,” I said. “Sit.”

Lotus and Lily exchanged looks of confusion.

“I’ll be blunt,” I said. “Can I trust you?”

“Of course, my lady!” Lotus replied indignantly. Lily nodded, though I noticed a flicker of guilt pass through her eyes.

“I’m sure others have tried to buy your loyalties, given how close you are to me,” I said, eyeing Lotus to see her reaction. Hers was the more expressive face, and sure enough, she blinked in response, glancing away from me. “But I can offer more than gold.”

“We would never—” Lotus sputtered.

“What can you offer?” asked Lily quietly.

I smiled. “Freedom.”

Lily’s eyes darkened. “There is no freedom under a system such as ours.”

Taken aback, I said nothing for a second, realizing the assumptions I’d made based solely on her status.

“You’re right,” I said, recovering, “which is why I want to change the system. You’ve heard the rumors of succession. You know that Sky is the strongest heir. He will be named next in line, and I with him.” I leaned forward. “You want to bet on the winning team.”

Lily smiled, revealing a gap-toothed grin that reminded me momentarily of my sister. “I’ll help you,” she said, “if you teach me how to fight.”

Again, I was caught off guard. I had mistaken her reticence for docility, but now I saw it was anything but.

“Not this again,” groaned Lotus. “We’ve talked about this, Lily.”

Lily ignored her. “Please,” she said to me. “I must learn how to fight.”

My throat tightened at the earnest hope in her eyes.

Other, kinder people would certainly agree.

Xiuying would accept in a heartbeat, and would urge me to do the same.

And yet I had enough on my plate with Sky’s bid for the throne.

If we were caught, I could be jailed once more.

In the dungeons, I would be wholly powerless.

I could never let myself be that powerless again.

“I’m sorry, Lily,” I said. “It’s too risky right now.”

Her shoulders sagged with disappointment.

“But I can arm you,” I continued, though I didn’t yet know how. Lily’s frown deepened—again, that strange flicker of guilt. “Just give me time.”

“What do you need?” Lily asked.

“I need to secure the throne.”

“There are seven princes,” said Lotus, in her best imitation of a schoolteacher’s voice. “The eldest, Prince Keyan, is the crown prince.”

“What’s he like?”

“Dutiful,” said Lotus. “He obeys his father’s every command.”

“He tries to be fair,” added Lily. “Though he lets himself be pushed around by his wife.”

“Princess Yifeng,” I said knowingly.

Lotus nodded. “I’d be careful around her. Theirs is a loveless marriage, yet she has him wrapped around her thumb.”

“The other princesses seem scared of her,” I remarked, thinking of Princess Ruihua.

Lotus nodded. “When Princess Aixia got pregnant before her, rumor has it she made her miscarry.”

I grimaced, not wanting the details. “Who’s next?”

“Prince Daxing is the second prince,” resumed Lotus. “But we don’t need to worry about him. He was exiled last year after attempting to poison the crown prince.”

I raised a brow. So fratricide was disturbingly commonplace among the princes.

“Got it,” I said. “Moral of the story—don’t poison a prince.”

“Moral of the story, don’t get caught poisoning a prince,” corrected Lily.

I smothered a laugh as Lotus shook her head at her friend. “Moving on, we have third prince Yuchen.”

I stilled. “That one means trouble.”

Lily nodded.

“Find out his weaknesses,” I said. “What about the fourth prince? I haven’t seen him yet.”

“He’s often sequestered in his rooms,” said Lotus. “He was born sickly, and his health has troubled him for many years.”

I crossed him off my mental list. “And the fifth prince?”

“He departed on a naval expedition shortly before Ximing declared war,” said Lotus.

“Even if he returns, he won’t pose a threat to you,” said Lily. “He values his independence far too much to ever aspire to the throne.”

That left Winter, who I trusted. I nodded. “Investigate Prince Yuchen and Prince Keyan,” I said.

“Should we approach their servants?” asked Lotus.

“Not the princes’ servants,” I clarified. “Talk to the servants of their wives.”

The princesses, far less guarded and easier to approach, held all the secrets of their husbands, and more. They were the less obvious targets to investigate, and yet I was accustomed to the ways of men—how they so often revealed their vulnerabilities through their women.

“See if you can befriend their maidservants,” I said. “Persuasion is more effective than force.”

The two girls nodded, rising to their feet. I was about to dismiss them when I recalled that flicker of guilt on Lily’s face. It reminded me of another mystery I hadn’t yet solved.

“Lotus, you’re dismissed. Lily, do you mind staying back a minute?”

Lotus shot her a look as if to say I told you so . Lily’s face revealed nothing.

I waited until we were alone. “Do you remember the day I was brought out of the dungeons? My memory is a bit hazy, so I need to rely on yours.”

Her face remained carefully blank. “Of course, my lady.”

“I’m told I experienced a seizure.”

“Yes.”

“I remember faces around me, and then being carried somewhere. I think I vomited.”

Lily nodded.

“Did you help clean me then?”

Another nod.

“What did you do with my clothes?”

“I had them incinerated. They were…beyond salvaging.”

My breath caught. “Before you burned them, did you find anything…of note? In my tunic, perhaps?”

She hesitated, just for a fraction of a second. “I burned only the clothes, my lady. There was nothing of note with them.”

“But surely…”

I paused, meeting her eyes. We were both holding back, each wary of saying something that might tip the other over the edge.

Always the youngest, the least powerful in the room, I was accustomed to silence.

But things had changed. Now I understood it was up to me to set the boundaries of what we could or could not discuss.

If we were to be candid with each other, I needed to lead by example.

“Lily,” I said. “There was an old notebook in my tunic. One that is worth nothing to others, but everything to me. It was my mother’s diary.”

She nodded hesitantly.

“Do you know what happened to it? Sky was with me the entire time, except for that one hour in between.”

Tight-lipped, she shook her head. But I had seen guilt in her eyes.

“Lily, if you help me, I can help you in return. You wish to learn how to fight?” I asked, leveraging her earlier request. With a sigh, I said, “I can teach you.”

Her eyes widened with astonishment. “R-really?” she asked, her voice turning high and breathless.

“Yes.”

She hung her head, her hands beginning to shake. “I’m…ashamed, my lady. I don’t know what came over me.”

“Just tell me,” I said gently.

“Lotus went to fetch clean clothes, and so I was alone with you. I left for only a few moments to refill the water jug, but when I returned, suddenly—”

“Suddenly?”

“There was a man,” she whispered. “I’d never seen him before.

He was moving you away from the fire, even though you were so cold.

I-I asked him what he was doing.” Now that the truth had slipped out, she seemed eager to share the story.

“He offered a gift in exchange for my silence. Of course I didn’t mean to agree, until…

” Red-faced, she blurted, “He offered me a sword! A real one. I don’t know how he knew it was my weakness.

I’ve wanted to learn how to fight ever since—ever since the war began.

My eldest brother was killed in battle, you see.

And, and you—” Her eyes filled with obstinate tears.

“Everyone’s heard the stories. How you slayed a hundred men with the kiss of your steel.

How you rescued the sixth prince with the might of your arrow. I…I wanted to be like you.”

“Don’t cry,” I said hurriedly. “Just tell me—the man’s face. What did he look like?”

She wiped at her eyes. “He was…handsome. The handsomest man I’ve ever seen. His hair was so black it shone nearly blue. And his eyes…they were the palest eyes I ever saw.”

My stomach dropped. “Did he have a scar?” I asked. “On his face?”

Her eyes narrowed in concentration. “Yes…A thin scar across his brow.”

Cao Ming Lei.