Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 6

her lips, "I know you have played part in such a plan. And even if you have been too simple to know the truth, I still intend to see you punished."
    "Killed."
    "Killed? No! You must think me a barbarian. I would not kill my brother's last surviving child." She sat back fully, her fingers playing along the golden dragon head along the arm of the throne. "No, I have already made plans. What would suit you best is to remove yourself from the palace. Away from where others might manipulate you."
    "You believe that I have been the victim of manipulation? To turn against you and see you destroyed?"
    "Not me. My enemies would not dare attack me directly. They attack my sons instead." Chien's mind raced, but he could only think of one person who would have given her such information. Bao had promised. Twice.
    But what were promises worth in the face of betrayal. A hate like he had never known welled up inside of him, threatening to burst. Underneath the hate he could feel the pain in his chest, spreading through the whole of his body in a slow, steady ache. Even the Empress's betrayal had not affected him so.
    "I have heard that you were commissioned to pour poison into the princes' drinks."
    "And where, my Empress, did you hear such a thing?"
    "That does not matter. I had the poison replaced with water either way. But it is true, is it not?"
    "Perhaps."
    The Empress seemed startled by his half answer. "Now is not the time to play coy, nephew. Answer my question so that we may decide your punishment. I wish to know why you would do such a thing when I have cared for you for so long. Seen you fed and clothed. Seen you guarded. Why would you betray me?"
    It was almost a relief when he snorted in laughter at her statement. Thirteen years of being someone else, and he was Prince Chien, at last, if he could only remember who Prince Chien was supposed to be in all this madness. "Cared for me? Clothed me? Surely you must take me for some kind of fool." His aunt seemed taken aback by his laughter. "You think I would ever be grateful to the woman who killed my mother and sister? To the woman who even now sits upon a throne that was never hers?"
    "You speak of treason."
    "You are the one who committed treason. I speak of justice." He had nothing else. No family, no love. But this he could hold fast to. Justice would not betray him. Vengeance would keep him firm. It was his fault, his weakness, for believing he could trust the general. No one could be trusted.
    "You speak of things you cannot possibly understand."
    "Not understand?" Chien laughed once more. "I sat there hidden amongst my mother's things and listened as you taunted her. Listened as you told her exactly who had betrayed her. The only thing I could not bear to listen to was the end. I covered my ears to drown out the sound of my mother dying."
    There was a dawning realization on his aunt's face. She seemed to know now how she had been fooled. How she had underestimated him. "You hid like a coward while your mother lay dying."
    "I hid under my mother's orders." But her words stung. He had hidden, hadn't he? He could have joined her. He could have fought. He could have done anything, but he had hidden instead.
    "So you came to this complicated plot. You poisoned my sons hoping what? That I might feel the same thing you did? That I might be forced to watch them die?" She stood, "Did you set them against each other as well?"
    "Mother! I cannot be so easily manipulated!" Minh cried. "Tuan perhaps, but I could not be manipulated by this—" Words seemed to fail him for a moment. "This fool."
    "You're the fool, Minh," Tuan raged, his hand going to his weapon. "If you continue to insult me so, I will see you dead."
    "Quiet!"
    "Surely you realize by now that your sons are idiots. The Dragon will not bless them. He has not blessed you."
    "What are you talking about?"
    "You've been sending your general to find the sword. Have you found it yet?" The Empress's eyes narrowed. "You are a false Empress."
    "And you are a coward. Soon, you shall be dead." She sat down once more in her throne and he could see her trying to regain her composure. She could not see around her. Could not see the doubt that had begun to form on the faces of her soldiers. "You thought you would poison my sons and then what? Come for me in the night?"
    "No, my aunt. I will come for you in the broad of daylight. I will challenge you for that throne that has never once belonged to you. And I will take your head. I