Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 6

the depression weighing upon you until it seems there is nothing left but despair?" Chien's words seemed a shout in the silence. "The horror that has gripped you now that you are all alone? This is but a taste of what I have suffered these thirteen years." His sword drooped, and he cradled his aching arm. Trying to block Tuan's blows had seriously injured it.
    "What have you done?" His aunt's voice was hoarse with grief, her hands covered in the blood of her sons.
    "My mother screamed as she died. As that poison made its way through her system, she screamed in pain. It seemed only right that I extend your sons the same courtesy you gave my mother."
    "Everbloody." She brushed one last hand over Tuan's cheek before reaching for his weapon. "You will die for what you've done here today. You will never take a hold of this throne. This Empire is mine. These people are mine!"
    "Perhaps. But I will take joy in the fact that if nothing else, I will take you with me. Whether I leave here or not, the Empire will never accept your rule. You are a failed Empress. You are not worthy of the Throne of a Thousand Swords. Only the strong may take the throne and you have proven time after time that you are anything but. This ends today." He tried to move his arm and hissed in pain.
    "If my sons gave me nothing else, they gave me the power to end this." She flicked the sword, a hateful look on her face. "Thirteen years only to join your dear mother in the underworld. I gave her the opportunity, you know. To take her weak brood and return to her wasteland of a home. She refused. Something about her child's destiny. I did feel bad about An. That was," she paused, "an accident."
    An accident. He had seen the broken, bloodied lump they'd left of his sister. Rage blinded him, but before he could step forward and take her head, an arm appeared in front of him, blocking him. "I will ask you once more, Empress. End this." Chien did not want this ended. He wanted her dead.
    "She must die."
    "You are injured. What hope do you think to have against her?"
    The worst part of it was that Bao was right, but Chien could not stand down. His pride would not allow him. His hatred would not allow him. "Why should I step down, General, when I have the advantage?"
    "Hasn't enough blood been spilled tonight?" His gaze flicked to her sons who still lay prone.
    The Empress's gaze followed his. "Not nearly enough. By the time this night is over I shall see this hall bathed in blood. All of you. I will kill all of you who stood aside while this— this traitor slaughtered my children."
    "Your children killed each other. The prince did not lay a hand upon them."
    "Do not call him a prince! He is not a prince! He is the bastard of an iron my brother left to hang about my neck, and I will be damned if I sit aside and watch as he takes my throne. The throne goes to the strongest. The strongest here is me!"
    "The Dragon has granted him his blessing."
    "And look what good that has done. Look at the man your Dragon has sent you! Weak. Useless. Just like his father. Just like his whore of a mother."
    Chien hissed and stepped forward to find himself once again blocked by Bao. "If you insist on this challenge then, I will accept in the prince's stead."
    The Empress paused. "Barely ten minutes and already you have given your oath to another. I planned to kill you one way or another today, General. The order hardly matters to me. Come, if you think you can kill your Empress."
    Bao pulled his sword and Chien grabbed desperately at his shoulder. "You cannot defeat her."
    "No. I cannot." He shrugged free of Chien's grip. "But I will not watch you die while I stand helplessly aside."
    "You think I could do the same? Stand aside while she kills you?" Beneath his hand, he could feel the tension in Bao's body. He practically vibrated with the urge to do something, to fix this. But this was not Bao's problem to fix. The problem was Chien's. "Have some faith in me."
    Chien could see that Bao wanted to ignore him, wanted to disregard his words, but Bao was smart enough to know he had little chance and religious enough to respect the idea that Chien just might have a god's favor.
    In the end, he stepped aside. Chien squeezed his arm then released him. "I will win."
    Bao did not respond verbally, but he looked over to Chien and there was a wealth of response in his eyes.
    His arm ached, but he could not fail, not here. Not now. The sword pulsed once more, and he could feel the warmth