Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 6

him back down until he lay beside him.
    "Give me this."
    "I might have liked to return to my home, to teach them the things I have learned here in the palace and ensure that they never know hunger or desperation again." His hand hovered over Chien for a moment, and Chien could see in his eyes an emotion so intense it humbled him. But he shook his head and pulled his hand away and Chien knew that he was not the only one who desperately needed distance.
    And still, Chien's hand rose tentatively to brush against Bao's cheek, but Bao pulled back at the last minute. He sat over Chien for a moment, Chien's hand still awkwardly hanging in the air. "This path you're on. It only has one ending, you know."
    "Success. It's the only ending I can allow myself to contemplate."
    Bao did not say anything for a long minute. "I hope it is worth it then."
    Chien thought of what the Empress had taken from him, what he had sacrificed so that he might finally pay back what she was owed. Thirteen years of pain could not easily be erased in a single night, but it had to begin somewhere didn't it? "It will be." He answered, though by that time his answer echoed in an empty room.
    And this time, he had no one to blame but himself. It was not his aunt who had chased Bao away. It would all be worth it, he reminded himself. The goal. The end result, it was all that mattered.
    His heart told him differently.
    ****
    His aunt summoned him to appear in court the next morning. It was hardly surprising. Likely she wished to punish him for his actions the night before. His body ached as he dressed himself. He dismissed the servants, wanting a moment to himself. A time to mourn what he had so effectively ruined. A chance to remember the last kiss he'd shared with Bao, that possessive hunger that had seemed as if it might never be satisfied.
    With a frown, he purposefully dismissed the thoughts. There would be time to linger on such things later. A time to regret and mourn. But right now, he had to focus. The Dragon had been right. There was no room for weakness in his plan. His aunt would capitalize upon any weakness and use it to destroy him. What he faced tonight was a truly dangerous foe, not a courtier caught off his guard. Tonight. Tonight. The word circled in his head. Everything was going perfectly and this would all come to an end tonight. Was that possible? The thought gave him pause.
    Whatever his aunt had planned for him, however, it seemed she intended to make him wait. She busied herself seeing to the petitioners who had travelled to the palace to ask the Empress's favor. Many of them were requests that the Empress speak on their behalf to the Dragon. As the Empress was his servant, it was appropriate that she might hold his ear.
    On the tier below the Empress, the two princes sat. Custom dictated that the day of a duel, the men involved should spend their day in the Meditation Hall, meditating to the Dragon. It should hardly have surprised Chien that the princes had chosen to forgo that particular ritual.
    Chien dug his fingers into his palm and forced himself to calm. Minh looked between Tuan and Chien with a confused look. Likely he wondered why his poison seemed not to be working properly. Chien would have to ensure that Minh could not have a chance to get him alone and demand to know what he had done.
    Before long, court had ended and the room began to clear. Confused, Chien began to stand as well. His aunt's voice cut clearly through the quiet. "Not you my, dear nephew. We must speak." Fear raced through him as the ministers exited and in their place, soldiers filled the room, filing along the wall to block his escape.
    His perfect plan had gone astray.
    He would not show her fear. Chien turned, expression calm. "May I ask what this is for, Empress? I am truly sorry about my behavior at the banquet."
    His aunt tilted her head and for a moment, he was struck by the fact that she truly was beautiful. She also wore his mother's favorite ao dai. "Dear nephew, I find I cannot help but wonder if you have the bad fortune to find yourself as some courtier's pawn. You are, after all, hardly capable of such a plan yourself."
    "I'm afraid I do not understand." Somehow she'd found out. But how much did she know? Why was he still alive?
    "Of course you do not." The Empress sighed, "My poor, stupid nephew, used by those who would see me thrown from my throne."
    "You believe I have played part in some plan to betray you?"
    A small smile played upon