“The emperor has summoned you,” a soldier said to me once I stepped back into the palace. Jia had gone on ahead with Katsu to play some more, while I had decided to go to my room for a while. The soldier was staring at me bashfully, like he couldn’t believe he was talking to me. “His Majesty is in the hall listening to a few commoners’ complaints right now. He told me to tell you that once he’s done—”

“He wants me to wait for him?” I finished for him.

The soldier nodded. “Yes, you are to wait in his chambers.”

I froze, my entire body shutting down as I absorbed his words. He wanted me to wait in his chambers. His chambers. The emperor’s room. Didn’t that mean he wanted to ravage me and take what was his? I was going to be his wife, sure, but the emperor wouldn’t care for waiting until the wedding night, right? After all, he was the emperor and he could have whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it.

As much as I wanted to run in the other direction, I diligently followed the soldier until I was at the emperor’s door. Slowly, I pushed open the door and slid inside the empty room. When the door was shut behind me, I glanced around the room and waited for the emperor. Paintings, luxurious carpets, tapestries, and military finery were surrounding the first room and one glance at the open door at the far left of the room revealed the bedroom. To the right was the opening to the dining room, and the back of the room held a balcony. There was another door but it was closed, most likely the emperor’s office.

Shakily making my way towards the embellished couch, I took a seat and waited patiently for the Dragon. I couldn’t stop from thinking of the worst, my heart racing and my hands clammy. Would I finally lose my virginity today? I remembered back with Heng when he had wanted to take my virginity, but I stopped him and told him he had to wait for the wedding night. Would I lose my virtue before my wedding night?

It wasn’t that I was too worried about appearances, since I had already given up hope of marriage, but more so that I was afraid of doing it. I didn’t know how to commit the act and I was still new to the art of entertaining a man. From the rumors of Meilin, heads would fly if he was displeased with someone. If he grew bored of me, would he kill me?

After what felt like hours of agonizing over potential deaths that I would suffer at the hands of the emperor if I displeased him, the door to his room flung open and he strolled in. His long hair was tied with a red ribbon and he was dressed in casual clothing, pants, a loose shirt with his chest half exposed, and his hands lazily resting on the hilt of his sword. When he saw me, he paused and stared at me for a moment, his dark eyes drinking in my image. It was at exactly that moment that I realized he was in a horrible mood, his gaze darker than usual, his shoulders tense, and his lips thinned down to a frown.

“I almost forgot that I had called you, my little rabbit,” he said after a moment. To my relief, his frown disappeared as he tried to lighten the mood. He ran a hand through his fringe and walked towards one of the desks, where a glass bottle full of red liquid was. He poured himself a cup and took a sip, his dark eyes flitting back to me. “I have something I need to discuss with you.”

I swallowed, not exactly sure where the conversation was going.

His expression was dark and although he was trying not to look so scary—did he notice the fear on my face when I saw his angry expression?—he wasn’t able to completely mask his displeasure, his lips pulled down into a scowl and a glaze over his eyes, like he was lost in thought. After taking another sip of the liquid, he frowned and placed the cup back. “I had this imported from Arile,” he said as he picked up the glass container. “Pity, really.”

“Is something wrong, Your—” I couldn’t finish what I was saying before he smashed the bottle down on the ground, glass splintering and flying around. I gasped and watched as red liquid seeped through the thick carpet next to him, a puddle around the wooden floor and glass sticking into the carpet.

“Bohai!” he shouted, anger lacing his tone.

The soldier that had assisted me entered the room meekly, fear plainly showing on his face as he saw the rage on the emperor’s face. “Your Majesty—”

“Get Bohai here,” he said. “Or Bolin, or Hai. Whoever is closer.”

“Your—”

“Now.”

The soldier quickly scampered away. I, meanwhile, gaped at the mess Meilin had created, my mind blanking out as I studied the barely-controlled anger on the surface of his expression. It seemed he was already ticked off as it was and something else seemed to piss him off even more.

In moments, Commander Bohai entered the room. He was dressed in military attire as usual and his usually composed expression was replaced with intrigue as he glanced around the room thoughtfully. “Well, you sure made a mess in here.”

“I don’t need your jokes right now,” Meilin said coolly. “I’m already in a bad mood.”

“Right, and I’m supposed to care?”

Meilin glared at him and I wondered how the commander still had his head.

“Ok, so what exactly did you do in here?” Bohai stepped forward and inspected the floor. “This wooden floor is expensive and now you’ve scratched it, Your Majesty.”

“Get serious,” Meilin said with a glower. “And stop calling me ‘Your Majesty.’ It sounds insulting whenever you say it.”

“Alright.”

“I’m already pissed off with Fang, I don’t need you to add to it,” he continued darkly.

Bohai sighed loudly before running a hand through his dark hair. “Alright, so what happened?”

“It’s poisoned,” he said. “My favorite wine is poisoned.”

“You drank it?”

“Of course I drank it, how else would I have tasted it?” He shook his head. “Now I can’t enjoy my drink.”

“We’ll get you another—”

“Where, from Arile? Do you know how long that’ll take? Months.” His expression was controlled but his tone was anything but.

“We can’t do anything about that. Arile is far away.”

Meilin glowered at him. “My drink was poisoned,” he said instead. “Find who did it.”