The palace guards stopped Yuelan and her group, glaring at Leila and frowning at Yuelan as she sat on Byakko’s back. “Only Miss Long may enter,” one of the guards declared.

Before Yuelan could respond, Willow stepped forward. “How dare you? My mistress is the Dragon Priestess! Who are you to block her path and demand she enter alone?”

The guard snorted and stared at Yuelan. “There hasn’t been a Dragon Priestess in six hundred years. Why would there be one now? And how dare you bring someone carrying a weapon into the palace? Or ride a tiger to intimidate Her Majesty?”

Yuelan sighed and looked over at Leila. “You would think the gates would have sent word ahead of us. I’ll have to suggest the emperor make his palace more efficient.”

Leila chuckled. “It does seem odd that nobody sent word to our destination that His Majesty the Emperor granted permission for me to carry my weapons in the palace. And I’m surprised anyone is dumb enough to try and kick out a Divine Beast. The fact that you’re riding on one should give pretty clear indication that you are who you say you are, too, but this idiot doesn’t seem to realize that.”

The guard’s face had started to flush in anger. “How dare you be so presumptuous as to advise the emperor on anything? You are all just women!”

Yuelan turned to study the guard. “I am the Dragon Priestess. Byakko, the White Tiger, Lord Long He, and the Azure Dragon have all acknowledged me as such. The emperors of both Longuo and Zhongshu have acknowledged me as such. If you continue to cause trouble for me here I will leave and refuse to meet with the Empress again. Should his majesty wish me to attend events in the palace then he will have to forbid his Empress from attending them. The empress requested to meet with me, but she does not have the authority to forbid a Divine Beast from going wherever he pleases nor from forbidding me to bring my maid and my guard in with me.”

A eunuch ran up just as the guard was about to begin shouting and prostrated himself to Yuelan. “Priestess, please forgive this lowly servant for being late. The emperor has sent me to deliver your identification tile. From now on, you should have no more troubles with anyone in the palace.”

“Get up,” Yuelan said calmly to the eunuch. “Willow, accept my tile from him on my behalf.”

Willow stepped forward to help the eunuch to his feet. The eunuch pulled a silk-wrapped object from his sleeve and offered it to Willow, who accepted it with a polite nod.

The eunuch turned to the guards blocking Yuelan’s path. “His Majesty has declared that Priestess Long Yuelan may go anywhere she wishes in the company of whomever she wishes and that she and her company are to be permitted to carry their weapons. Her safety is paramount, more important even than his own. Should anyone block the Dragon Priestess from now on they will be immediately dismissed.”

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The guards lost their belligerence at once and stepped out of Yuelan’s way.

Yuelan studied the guards, but did not move. “What is the punishment for insulting me?” She sounded like she was just curious, but her calm sentence had the guards trembling.

The eunuch bowed. “Priestess, none would dare to insult you. If someone does, you may request they be punished however you like.”

“I want the guard who insulted me and called me a liar given the most distasteful chores in the palace for the next week before he is transferred away from the Empress’ palace. Someone so belligerent toward me cannot possibly protect someone as important as the Empress well enough,” Yuelan nodded toward the guard who had argued with them.

The guard paled and bowed. “Priestess, please be lenient! This lowly guard did not know and was only doing his job!”

“Even after we informed you of the situation you ignored it. I am already being lenient.” She looked down at Byakko. “Let’s go. The empress is waiting.”

Byakko snorted at the guards as he padded past them with Yuelan on his back. Willow and Leila followed right behind the great tiger. Once they stepped into the hallway a maid dressed in an elegant, flowing gown saluted them. Apparently, she’d heard everything going on in front of the palace as she did not repeat the guard’s demands and silently led the way.

Seated on a throne in the grandly decorated main hall of the empress’ palace was the mother of the first prince, the current empress. Her chin was raised and her expression proud as she looked down at Yuelan. The sight of Byakko and Leila’s whip caused her to frown.

“What is the meaning of this, Miss Long? How dare your servant bring a weapon into the imperial palace? And get that beast out of my palace immediately!” The empress’ voice was arrogant and cut like a knife and she trembled in rage. “Have you come to murder me?”

“Willow.” Yuelan turned to her maid, who unwrapped the silk and held up a gold pass with precious gems embedded in it in the image of a dragon. The maid held it up high for the empress to see. “Does Your Majesty have any further objections about Leila’s right to keep her weapons or Byakko’s right to be here?” Yuelan asked. Her light soprano was soft and calm, but still cut through the empress’ arrogant and angry words.

The empress studied the pass and frowned. “Where did you get that? The four empires agreed that Longuo would hold the pass of the priestess until she returned. How dare you steal it!”

“I grow tired of this. I’ll inform the emperor that he needs to do better about informing his palace of current events. Byakko, let’s go find him. Until he has sorted out his palace I will not be visiting it.” Yuelan frowned.

“Don’t you want to know why I summoned you?” The empress demanded.

“Not really. If I were to guess? You want to command me to marry your spoiled son, the first prince. Well my answer is no. I refuse to marry someone who sees me only as an object and not as a person. Goodbye, Empress. We will not see each other again.”

The empress smirked. “That is what you think. But Miss Long, we will be seeing each other for a very long time.”

Willow and Leila started to show symptoms first. They swayed, then collapsed to the ground. Yuelan frowned as she started to feel dizzy and tired. “Byakko…” She slid off his back and onto the ground unconscious.