The Hidden Princess Read online

  © 2019 Georgina Makalani

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design by Deranged Doctor Designs

  (www.derangeddoctordesign.com/)

  ISBN: 978-0-6483372-7-0

  Chapter 1

  Lis closed her eyes and enjoyed the cool breeze blowing across her tanned skin. It pulled at her skirt, the fine material lifting up around her, and whipped through her long jet-black hair. The smell of sweet grass and blossom surrounded her, although the flowers had yet to bloom. She stepped through the field and felt the flowers open beneath her palms as she held her hands over them. She lifted her hands out wider, until her arms were level with her shoulders, then opened her eyes to watch the flush of colour wash across the field as every flower opened.

  ‘I love how you do that,’ Peng said, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, his breath hot on her neck before he gently kissed it.

  ‘Father doesn’t love it as much as you do,’ she said, her happiness dissipating somewhat. Her father allowed her to use her magic, to be who she was, but she was nervous doing so. There was always the underlying fear that they could be discovered at any moment, despite being so far from rest of the Empire here on their island home.

  ‘You are safe with me,’ Peng said as she turned in his arms and smiled into his dark eyes.

  ‘I always feel safe with you,’ she said, running her fingers through his hair. Unlike the other men of the Empire who wore their hair tied in smooth, neat buns on top of their heads, Peng let it fall free and long down his back. Lis pulled his face down to meet hers. ‘If only we didn’t have to wait for the summer festival to marry.’

  ‘We don’t have to wait to do everything,’ he whispered in her ear. His breath tingled across her skin as he pulled her closer, holding her tight against his hard body.

  ‘Someone is coming,’ she said, reluctantly pulling away from him.

  Peng looked around, then grinned as he looked back at Lis. ‘We can wait,’ he murmured.

  ‘Someone is coming,’ she said again, feeling an urgency and uncertainty she hadn’t felt in some time. With little effort, she could sense the boat moving closer to their island. She lifted her skirt and moved as quickly as she could towards the house, eager to reach her father’s side. It would have been easier to use her magic to create a path through the stalks, but she knew too well the dangers.

  She was halfway to the house when the boat bumped against the side of the jetty. It was larger than their own family boat, but smaller than she would have imagined for the Empire—yet it carried the seal of Emperor Rei Shoashu on its sail. A small, stocky man disembarked, dressed in the golden colours of the advisors, and four soldiers joined him in heading towards the house. Lis slowed her steps as fear closed around her chest.

  Why would these men come from the Palace Isle? What does the emperor want of Father now?

  She waited for them to enter the house before she picked up her pace again. As she followed them into the house, a wave of uncertainty made her shiver. She moved slowly around the pond that filled the centre courtyard, and she heard them talking before she reached the main room. Lis knew she needed to stand beside her family, but she waited outside the door.

  ‘General Long, you have done so much for the Empire of Rei-Een. Emperor Rei Shoashu respects your wish for solitude and peace after your years of service. Unfortunately, we have grave news that will impact all the Empire.’

  ‘Speak, man.’ Her father’s impatience was apparent, and Lis waited.

  ‘We cannot continue until all your family is present. You have another daughter, do you not?’

  Lis slid the door open just as her father nodded. The large room contained a long table, one wall open to the courtyard and pond beyond, with images of the Empire painted on various screens on the opposite wall. It was familiar, yet it all looked so different with these armoured men standing amidst it.

  ‘Excuse me,’ she said, bowing low to the short man, who wore the slanted hat of someone high in the emperor’s advisors. Two guards stood unmoving at his back as she walked to stand beside her sister.

  ‘We are all present,’ her father continued. ‘Tell us this news.’

  ‘The crown prince, Rei Ta-Sho, is dead,’ the little man said without any emotion at all.

  Her mother’s hand flew to her breast, and Lis took her sister’s hand.

  Her father waited.

  ‘The crown prince was due to be wed this very summer, his bride trained and waiting,’ the little man continued.

  ‘This is very sad news indeed,’ her father said. ‘How did he die?’

  The little man shook his head so slightly that Lis would not have noticed had she not been watching him closely.

  Does he think we were involved in his death? she wondered.

  ‘I thank you for coming so far with this sad news,’ her father said, standing slowly from his chair. ‘Please pass my condolences to the emperor and his family.’

  ‘You may do that yourself,’ the man said, bowing a little. ‘For your daughter is of age.’

  Lis looked at her sister and then her father. His features hadn’t changed, and he stepped towards the little man.

  ‘Explain yourself.’ His voice carried a dangerous tone, making Lis want to take a step backwards.

  ‘In this trying time, the young prince, Rei Remi, must step into his brother’s place as heir. He will be of age to be announced in three years. Your youngest daughter would have been offered for selection if he had been the eldest.’

  ‘Tradition dictates that the future empress is chosen as a child. We presented our eldest daughter for the Choosing twelve years ago,’ he said, and although he did his best to keep his voice level, Lis heard the strain. ‘She is too old,’ he said.

  ‘There is little choice, General Long. The Empire has decreed that the new crown prince will be treated as the former was, and a bride must be chosen from amongst the daughters of the Empire’s best men.’

  Her father bowed slowly before the little man, and Lis’s heart stopped.

  ‘But I am to marry Peng in the summer,’ she said, then looked down as her father turned angry eyes on her.

  Her mother slipped a warm hand into Lis’s and squeezed gently.

  ‘You are not married yet, child. You will present yourself for the Choosing on the next full moon.’

  ‘Next week?’ Lis said too quickly. She chewed on her lip as she looked down again at the polished floor rather than meet her father’s disappointed eyes.

  The little man bowed and turned on his heel. He shuffled towards the door, the guards only a step behind, and the whole family followed them out to watch them sail away from the small island. The mountains of Fourth, one of the main islands of the Tei-Emi Chain, loomed in the distance and they stood in silence as the little boat moved slowly across the waters towards its shores.

  Peng joined them in standing to watch it disappear as he put his arms around Lis and pulled her close.

  ‘You can’t let her go,’ her mother begged, turning to her father and grabbing at his arm. ‘They will find her out.’

  ‘There is no choice,’ her father responded, his focus on the disappearing boat.

  ‘What has happened?’ Peng asked.

  ‘The crown prince is dead,’ Lis’s sister, Ting, said. ‘Lis must present before the emperor for the Choosing.’ br />
  ‘She is too old,’ Peng said quickly, ‘and we are to marry.’

  ‘But you are not married yet,’ her father said, turning from the water, the tone of his voice making it clear there would be no argument. ‘Lis is of age, or at least she would have been when the new crown prince was at the age of the Choosing. I will tell the emperor of the match. She is a country girl; she will not present as well as the daughters of those living on the main islands. We will go as requested and return with stories.’

  Lis sighed with relief as Peng nodded against her head.

  ‘Go home now, boy. We must prepare for the journey, and you shall see her again soon enough.’

  Peng bowed low to Lis’s father and then to her mother. Lis walked with him towards his little boat at the end of the jetty. As she took his hands, she allowed him to kiss her, even though she was sure her family still watched over them.

  ‘See you soon,’ he whispered before kissing her forehead and stepping into the boat.

  She choked down the threatening tears as she waved him off. His little boat disappeared quickly against the blue-grey waves of the ocean, and yet she continued to wave.

  She walked slowly back to the house, thankful that her family weren’t watching her. The field of pink flowers was still in full bloom. She wanted to run back through the colour and remain wrapped in Peng’s arms, but instead she walked back into the house.

  Standing in the doorway, Lis watched her family in silence. Her father sat at the centre of the table as her mother served his evening meal. She poured rice wine into a small cup, and he drank it down, then nodded at the cup without a word. She refilled it and he drained it again before she sat beside him.

  Lis stepped forward and dropped to her knees before them. ‘Is there no other way?’ she asked.

  Her father shook his head without looking at her, and her mother put her hand on his arm.

  ‘Do you really think they will not choose me? That I will not present well?’

  He sighed then. ‘I do not want you to take offence at my words,’ he said softly. ‘But you have been raised to do as you please. You run free in the fields, working your magic.’ As Lis opened her mouth, he put up a hand and looked at her with friendly eyes.

  ‘This is the life I wanted for you,’ he said. ‘You are the reason I asked for this island, so that you would be safe and free to live. You do not know what I have done in the name of the Rei-Een Empire, nor do I want you to know. This was our chance at freedom, your chance. When you stand before the emperor and empress of Rei-Een, you will be standing amongst young women who have trained their whole lives to make good wives. Peng would be lucky to have you, and he would treat you well, but these other girls were bred for different lives in a different world. The empress will look over you to the next in line. When I talk with the emperor about your connection, it may be that he will excuse you from the line before it is formed.’

  ‘Thank you, Father,’ Lis said. Holding her arms out before her, fingertips to elbows, she bowed low and touched the floor.

  ‘We will go together, to offer our condolences for the lost prince and congratulate the family of the next hidden princess.’

  ‘Yes, Father,’ Lis said, bowing again.

  ‘I do not need to tell you that you must be very careful with your magic. If there is even a hint of it, they will kill you. Without a thought as to who you are or your connection to me. Do you understand?’

  She nodded quickly.

  ‘The law is to kill everyone with magic. Everyone.’

  Chapter 2

  Prince Remi paced the balcony outside his room and tried not to think of his brother, Ta-Sho. But he couldn’t do anything without thinking of him. He stopped, leaned on the thick rail and looked across the Palace Isle towards the neighbouring island. The second island of the Empire was much closer to the palace than he had realised before. Despite the number of times he had stood on this balcony, looking across at the trees and red-tiled rooves of the large houses that covered its slopes. Many of the nobles who spent their days at the palace had homes and estates on Second.

  Remi preferred Third and Fifth, perhaps because they were further away from the Palace Isle. He wouldn’t have the same chance to travel now that he was the crown prince. He had sometimes looked out from his ship to the tiny islands further from the main islands with a sense of envy. Most of them were uninhabited. One was a hospital for the mad, and another had been gifted to a general who had fought in the magic war with his father. Remi had heard many stories of the great General Long, but he had not seen the man since he was a child.

  Not that the magic war had really been won, despite what his father told him. Remi felt the magic in the Empire every day. He always tried to seek it out, to do his father’s bidding. When he had found Ta-Sho, bent and burnt, the reek of magic hung in the air. But his father hadn’t believed him then. Believing him would mean believing magic had found its way into the royal residence, into the centre of the Empire, and the emperor couldn’t have that—or admit it.

  All Remi wanted was justice for his brother, and now his mother was insisting on the Choosing. Insisting that, as the new heir, it was imperative he have a bride. He thumped his fist on the railing. He didn’t need a bride; he needed his father’s men so he could find Ta-Sho’s killer.

  That was what Ta-Sho would have done, if things had been reversed. If Remi had been killed, his brother would not have waited for his father’s approval. But the emperor was hesitating in a way Remi had never before seen.

  Remi jumped at the sound of the door, then balled his fists in frustration that he could be so easily spooked. Princess U’shi appeared in the doorway to the balcony dressed in white, her eyes red and her face damp as she wrung her hands before her.

  ‘You shouldn’t be here,’ he said.

  ‘I have nowhere to go.’ She sniffed loudly. ‘I am nothing without your brother, and I have heard rumours of another Choosing.’

  He nodded once and turned back to the view.

  ‘I am trained,’ she whispered, standing beside him. ‘I am ready to be his empress and yet he is gone. Why choose another? I could be your empress,’ she said softly, placing her hand on his.

  He pulled his hand from beneath hers and sighed. ‘Traditions must be followed,’ he echoed his mother’s words. Not that he wanted to follow the traditions himself—but U’shi had been trained to be his brother’s wife, hidden away since she was a child. She should still be hidden, he thought. He had no preference for his own bride, but he didn’t want his brother’s. She was beautiful, with a round face, pale skin, light brown eyes and hair blacker than the night. But he didn’t like her. He only hoped his mother would choose better for him.

  He wondered then, for the first time, if his father had liked his mother.

  There was more to worry about for the Empire than whether Remi had a bride he could like. She would be whatever was best for the Empire, he hoped. He glanced again at the woman beside him. Large tears tracked down her cheeks, marking her pale makeup. He wasn’t sure what had inspired his mother’s choice, but he couldn’t picture this woman as Empress.

  ‘You should return to your palace,’ he said softly. ‘Mother will know what is best.’

  ‘By starting afresh with some girl who has not enough time to become what you need her to be?’ She sucked in a breath.

  He waved her away without looking up and tried to ignore the sob as she shuffled towards the door. What did she hope he would be able to do for her? He had no say in any of this, and he wanted to be out searching for his brother’s killer.

  After waiting long enough for the princess to be beyond the residence, Remi headed for his father’s throne room in the hope of persuading the man to send him out.

  Many of those he passed on the way were dressed in white to honour his brother. As he drew closer to the throne room, he wondered if he should have checked his brother’s room first, for his parents might be there praying for his soul. He was almost disa
ppointed to find his father sitting on the throne, giving instructions to soldiers. Remi stepped forward and bowed, then stood to the side while his father continued with his instructions.

  ‘Let me go,’ Remi finally said as the last of the men left the throne room.

  The emperor shook his head and waved forward another man from behind him. Remi turned to see the short advisor, Gan, his angled hat tied firmly beneath his chin. He bowed low before the emperor.

  ‘Your Excellence, I have informed every family with a daughter of age to present before you on the appointed day.’

  ‘Did you experience any problems?’

  ‘There was one daughter already wed, but we were aware of the match. Another, General Long’s younger daughter, is promised to another, but they are not yet wed.’

  ‘If she is promised to another, she is ineligible for the Choosing,’ Remi said.

  ‘They are not married,’ the little man repeated, ‘and she is the daughter of General Long. I think it worth her attending. They have become country folk,’ he said. ‘She is outspoken and the empress may not approve, but tradition calls for all eligible girls to attend.’

  ‘Indeed,’ the emperor said.

  ‘Can this not wait?’ Remi asked.

  ‘She is already missing years of training. The sooner your bride is chosen, the sooner we can get on with the business of discovering the cause of your brother’s death.’

  ‘We already know,’ Remi muttered under his breath, and his father stood tall.

  Remi dropped to his knees, crossing his arms and holding them out, he bowed his head.

  ‘The whole Empire cannot fall apart as we search for one man,’ the emperor said. ‘Traditions must be maintained. The killer cannot get far; the whole world is watching for him.’

  ‘And if it is more than one man?’

  ‘Magic has been destroyed in the Empire,’ Advisor Gan said. ‘Your father has seen to it.’

  ‘Many years ago. What if it has returned?’

  ‘When you have your bride hidden,’ his father said sternly, ‘you may use your gifts to find the killer. But not until she is hidden. One more week is all you must wait.’