Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 6

spreading through him again, the dragon's blessing making him forget about his aches and focus on the battle before him. The Empress did not wait for him to raise his weapon, she attacked and though his dodge was clumsy, he managed to move quick enough to avoid being caught by her sword.
    "When you die, you will be the last in a line of pathetic rulers loyal to an invisible ideal." They circled each other carefully, each looking for weakness in the other's stance. He attacked and she blocked.
    "Only cowards and fools feel the need to taunt their opponent once the battle has begun." She attacked and he blocked.
    "You will pay for those words." She attacked once more, a series of relentless strikes that he could barely defend himself against. Just when it seemed as if she might let up, she stabbed forward once more, this attack breaking through his defense to catch him on the arm.
    Chien made the mistake of reacting to the sharp sting of pain, and in his distraction, her sword stabbed into his stomach. There was a pause. Then there was the pain, the vicious claw of pain that stole his breath. This far, this long, to fail. His eyes fluttered open to see her staring at him, victory in her eyes.
    "Your father wore that same startled expression in his eyes when he realized I had poisoned him." Chien's jaw clenched hard against the pain, determined not to give her the satisfaction of a single sound. "I have plotted, planned, and killed to acquire this throne. It is mine, no matter what some ancient belief claims."
    "It will never be yours." He fought the urge to loosen his grip on the hilt, shifting his hand subtly while she continued to stand close to him, so sure of her victory.
    "And who will stop me? You? How are we so different? You've murdered my sons, you've killed."
    "Only in vengeance."
    "What makes you so different from me? What makes you better?"
    "I don't let my guard down because I think I've already won." He thrust upward, the sword at an angle. For a moment, just a terrible second, he thought he had missed. That he had lost his opportunity and now she would rise like some mythological monster.
    But she gurgled something unintelligible and stumbled backward. There were arms around him, warm and familiar. He turned his face into Bao's neck, letting him take the sword from him and fell back against him. Bao kept saying his name, and Chien wanted to explain to him just how bothersome that was when he was trying to sleep.
    ****
    Mai was dead at last. His mother and sister would rest peacefully. And maybe, finally, he could dream without the nightmare. The questions, the demands, the confusion, it all faded away into sweet, comforting black.
    Odd how everything seemed brighter, more intense, after touching heaven. The doctor had ordered rest, but what did rest mean in the face of cleaning up the mess Mai had made of the country. There were questions to answer, governors to see to.
    Chien ran court from his bed, keeping both the doctor and courtiers reasonably pleased. He refused to sleep in the Hall of Dragon's Rest, not while Mai's things were still there, not while her presence still lingered. The first matter to tend to had been Mai's body. The moment he had regained consciousness, they had expected him to deal with the matter.
    When his mother had died, Mai had hung her body in the pavilion so that all could see the absolute power she held. Chien had ordered them to give the former Empress and her children a proper burial, however. Let the Dragon sort it out. He wouldn't damn his soul along with hers. After that came the question of the famine, and Chien had learned the cause of it. Mai had mismanaged the agricultural areas, causing the majority of crops to die out. It would take years to undo the mess she had caused.
    At the very least, Chien could begin by sharing what resources the palace had and encouraging those provinces that still flourished to share with their neighbors.
    Ruling was different than the ambition to rule. In his head, everything had come easily because he had known the answer to every question. In reality, he found that too often there were questions he did not know the answers to. Regiments of the army were dispatched to assist in efforts to distribute resources. Bao had been among the first to volunteer, and though Chien had worried that perhaps Bao wanted the distance from him, he had not said a word.
    Early one morning after he had dismissed the courtiers and governors, he received a