Had Lei tortured him to extract a confession? Just as he’d once tortured me?
“Your Majesty!” Lord Xu cried, pressing his forehead to the floor. “Please forgive this most loyal servant for his shameful weakness. I was coerced into this—I had no choice—”
“Who?” Sky’s father demanded, anger reinvigorating his pallid face. He leaned forward, hands clenching the arms of his throne. “Who did this?”
Trembling, Lord Xu rose and turned. Prince Yuchen started to back away. But Lord Xu searched the princes’ faces, settling on the one I least expected.
He pointed at Sky.
Seventeen
But the dragon does not lower his head for the stream; the stream rises to meet him.
—Legends of the Mountains, 754
“No,” I breathed, as Winter’sface drained of color. Sky, meanwhile, looked blankly back at Lord Xu, too bewildered to process fear.
“The seventh prince Sky, Your Majesty,” said Lord Xu.
Liu Zhuo took this in, his frown deepening into the grooves of his face. With an almost imperceptible shake of his head, he sat back in his chair. “Guards,” he ordered.
“You fool,” Winter hissed at Keyan, his eyes like shards of ice. “Did you really believe I wouldn’t make copies of the reports I gave you?”
“By then,” Keyan said quietly, so that their father would not overhear, “it will be too late.”
The Imperial Commander rose to his feet wearily. Consort Caihong rushed to help him, but he waved her off. “Call the executioner,” he said to his advisor. “We must make haste, before news reaches the standing army.”
I felt my knees buckle. Because the standing army, most ofwhich had fought during the Three Kingdoms War, would be loyal to Sky.
Everything was falling apart. My carefully crafted plans, which had taken months to engineer, were being dismantled in seconds. Winter could find his copies of the security reports, but would the Imperial Commander listen to words and numbers over the visceral confession of Lord Xu?
I could try to reason with Sky’s father, but experience had taught me he would not listen to common sense. No, concerning the treachery of his beloved son, his was an emotional response. There was no reasoning with a man like this.
But I had another way to compel him.
My thoughts racing, I surveyed the throne room, the myriad people surrounding us. The imperial guards, approaching Sky like little boys approaching a wild bear. Some of them had fought by his side, or served under him, and their reluctance was evident in their manner of approach. Then there were the servants, making themselves scarce; the consorts and wives, plotting their own lines of defense; the imperial advisors, whispering and pointing; the princes, distancing themselves from Sky; and the Imperial Commander, who stood like a captain before his ship’s helm, scanning the gathering storm beyond.
The storm was about to get worse.
Will you help me?I asked silently.When our goals are one and the same?
Qinglong’s response was slow, as if coming from a great distance. But when he spoke, I felt his power thrumming through me, the thunder of his voice. “It’s about time a true dragon took the throne.”
Emboldened, I stepped forward. I needed to find a way to get the Imperial Commander alone; compulsion was most effective when focused, and controlling the minds of this great an audiencewas beyond my power. But securing a private audience with him was no simple task—and he would not agree to it unless I first earned his trust.
“Your Majesty,” I said, as the guards reluctantly took hold of Sky.
Sky’s glare shifted to me, fear clouding his eyes. “Meilin,” he warned, his voice tense.
“You,” said Liu Zhuo with a sneer. “I have no use for you anymore. Take her—”
“The traitor is not Prince Sky,” I interrupted, and covertly, I drew from my powers to ensure that my voice carried throughout the hall. “The traitor is Prince Keyan, who has been carrying out his own deceptions for over a decade.”
Prince Keyan shook his head wearily, seeming to expect this, but I forged on.
“Lady Caihong,” I said, meeting her troubled gaze. “Please come forward.”
Caihong rose timidly from her seat, her head bowed and her hands tightly folded.
