When the sun rose at last, the lock was lifted on her door, and a burly guard ordered her to come out and hold out her hands. Scowling, Abrial did so.

“Isn’t this excessive?” she complained as he chained her wrists with at least three layers of iron chains. “What do you think I am, a monster? Some kind of crazy beast? I can’t break metal, jeez!”

The guard cast her a nervous look and called for twenty other guards to escort her to the Emperor’s throne room.

It was like this — a chained high-security prisoner escorted by a whole squad of guards — that Abrial was led grumbling through the imperial Huo Palace to see the Emperor just after dawn.

The whole way, she complained loudly, annoying the guards. But they were all too afraid to provoke her because of those rumors about her sucking the blood of guards, tearing out their hearts, and knocking them out with a single glance — rumors blow up quickly — so all they could do was twitch and listen to her ramble.

“You know, the hospitality in the imperial palace sucks! First off, I only got one meal yesterday, and it was nasty! A bowl of cold noodles in basically water! The barley tea was all right, I’ll admit, but the Wei camp’s got tea ten times better, and they’re on rations! And then, the bed was pretty hard, but I’ve slept on worse, so that’s no big deal. Still, I feel like the imperial palace could do better. Don’t emperors usually sleep on beds of the softest straw and bamboo, or something? I guess he’s not that generous to let everyone do that, but at least beds of hard straw are better than rolls like wood! Also, there must be some really bad luck or something hanging around this place, because I had the weirdest dreams yesterday! Isn’t there supposed to be good luck around the Emperor? I should’ve had good dreams, not…”

Abrial trailed off, her face suddenly heating up like a stove. Her lips tingled, along with her lower stomach.

…Not like a dream where I kissed Finley.

No…was that a bad dream? It…it wasn’t.

Maybe the luck around the Emperor wasn’t so bad after all.

And whew, it was a good thing she hadn’t said that out loud. Being honest, wasn’t it more like Finley kissed her? She’d just been lying there, and then, all of a sudden…

A shiver ran through Abrial’s body, making her scalp tingle funnily. She shook her head, swallowing to rid her mouth of the warm honey-lavender taste that had suddenly bloomed there again.

It would be…nice to taste that again.

Don’t think about that! Don’t you dare! she scolded herself internally, scowling and gripping the chains hanging down past her wrists. That was the one thing she had always hoped she would never think of deeply: actually kissing Finley. But now, she’d actually gone and had a dream about it! A super vivid one, too! Whatever; you can’t control your dreams! She could just blame it on being stressed about imprisonment. But…

It had just felt so real. To the point of being strange.

Real, like Finley was really there in her dream, telling her to stay put; like their lips had really touched…Was it possible Finley had been there after all? A peculiar hope bloomed in Abrial’s stomach. Could Finley have had the same idea as her, and decided to send her a message through a dream? Could Finley have possibly…wanted to kiss her?

No way! Shut up! Stop it! Argh! Abrial shook her head violently, jerking it this way and that and swearing vulgarly to get that impossibly outrageous thought out of her head.

Around her, the guards nervously glanced at one another. It seemed this crazy prisoner really was as crazy as everyone said. Here she was, suddenly growling, spitting profanities, and shaking her chains like a madwoman! Wow…rumors really did hold a lot of truth sometimes…

What finally pulled Abrial out of her self-directed anger was something glittering in the corners of her eyes. When she looked up, her obsidian eyes sparkled with gold.

“Wow…”

Finally, this was the real, imperial part of the Emperor’s Imperial Huo Palace! Here was the kind of grandness and majesty that was worthy of an emperor!

Without her noticing, they had left the more desolate area reserved for prisoners and entered a courtyard dripping with gold. The wooden pillars and the roofs of the surrounding building were painted extravagantly in all manners of vibrant blues, greens, and scarlets, while every roof tile had its tip dipped in gold. All of the numerous windows and doorways were inlaid with elaborately carved gold figures and designs, and standing in various spots about the courtyard like art on display were various glimmering golden statues resembling a variety of beasts: fierce tigers, majestic scaled dragons as long as several carriages, graceful phoenixes, enormous fish. Each of these statues was inlaid in a white jade fountain, with diamond-like water glistening in each pool. Each fountain was surrounded by gracefully swaying grass and a variety of precious, strangely familiar-looking flowers so colorful they seemed to drip like jewels.

In the rising sun, all the gold in the courtyard flamed with scarlet shimmering light, like the whole place was being filled with a beautiful, fierce fire.

So this was why this was called Huo Palace.

Abrial had hardly had time to take all this in when she was already being pushed into the next courtyard, which was even more extravagant. This one was filled with scarlet bridges and pools of glittering golden and blood red fish that blew bubbles in the diamond water and stared up at her innocently.

They passed through courtyard after courtyard, revealing riches after riches, until Abrial actually began to drool from amazement. How rich was the Emperor?! Did he actually come out to appreciate all this stuff? How unfair was it that a murderer like him could have all of this? But she had to admit, he sure had style, and he sure knew how to use his wealth…which he must have unimaginable amounts of…

After who-knows-how-long of passing through this kind of imperial majesticness, she was at last led into an extremely tall, extremely long hall. It was lined with towering pillars black as obsidian and so shiny that she could see her own distorted reflection in them.

“We will leave you here,” the head guard informed her gruffly.

“Huh? Aren’t you supposed to take me to the Emperor?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“This is the Emperor’s throne hall. He dislikes having visitors, so we have been instructed to not accompany you to him. Don’t think of escaping; His Majesty is not merciful. He’ll probably tear out your intestines if you try anything besides walking to the end of the hall to see him. So don’t get ideas.”

“...Oh. That doesn’t sound pleasant,” was all Abrial had to say in response.

The only other thing Abrial could say was…

What a shitty Emperor!

How did everyone get the idea that he was blessed by the gods and a total blessing to Gongkua if even his own imperial guards knew he was moody enough to just go ahead and tear people’s intestines out if they ticked him off? So immature!

Now alone in this hall, Abrial stood for a moment, glancing around and making puzzled notes. How strange! Everything in here seemed to be built from shining black stone. It was so different from those vibrant, beautiful courtyards outside that it seemed like a dark, lonely cave in here…

Abrial squinted down the hall, trying to see the end of it. About three-qaurters of the way down, there was a black screen that hung down from the high ceiling, obscuring whatever lay past it. Hmm. The Emperor must be sitting behind there. What a strange guy! Making this kind of shadowy room his throne room, and sitting behind a screen all day. It sure did fit that dark, mysterious image of him, and really well at that. This whole place felt dark, murderous, and cold. But…it was still weird. Something about this silent throne room felt…

Really lonely.

Abrial made a sour face. How uncomfortable! With a huff, she started down the hall, dragging her chains and muttering to herself about how this place looked like a pit of depression.

It seemed the Emperor could hear her even from far away. When she was about halfway across the hall, a spiteful, low voice spat:

“Can you shut up already? Just shut the fuck up!”

Surprised, Abrial stopped muttering.

Was that—the Emperor…?! But…

He sounded like a moody young man!!!

Again, that voice spoke, after she’d stopped muttering from confusion. “Good. If didn’t stop insulting my throne room, I was about to tear out your heart and make it into a souvenir!”

By now, Abrial had reached the long black screen. Without regard for any kind of courtesy that might be required when meeting the Emperor, she lifted it and slipped under it with a skip in her step, eyes flashing with curiosity. After all, she’d never been taught specifically about the tradition of the ruler’s screen in Gongkua…so she didn’t know that you were never, ever supposed to touch it or look past it at the divine ruler’s face unless permitted by him. So, she just strolled right past it, assuming it was some kind of formality. They had told her to go to the end of the hall to see him, right?

Lifting her sparkling eyes, she took in the both hilarious and hair-raisingly imposing scene before her once past the screen:

The throne was elevated on a platform that sat at least twenty shining black steps higher than the rest of the hall, so that anyone who visited had to crane their neck to see the Emperor. Though, generally, no one dared to look at him, only prostrating on the obsidian ground like ants. High up on that platform rested the sharply-cut, intricately carved black throne, shining like the most malevolent of shadows and carved into the images of various beasts — tigers, wolves, snakes. Each curve and dip of these carvings was painted with gleaming gold, giving the throne a sleek, imperial, and bone-chilling look all at once. The eyes of the carved beasts seemed to bulge, glaring hungrily out at whoever dared approach the throne.

Seated irritatedly on that throne was the figure of a young man, who must be just somewhere in his early twenties. Or, at least he looked like he was in his early twenties.

Wow…did the Emperor really only look a couple years older than Abrial?! Heh, he would practically have to call her “jie” with how young he looked!

As for the Emperor’s appearance, it was…striking.

His form was lithe and his skin pale as a ghost’s. He was cloaked in robes as dark as shadows, which flowed halfway down the long steps, his sleeves just as long as the hems. His majestic robe was embroidered in places with what looked like finely woven golden thorny vines that seemed somehow familiar, and flecks of gleaming ruby jewels that resembled blood. On his head, he didn’t wear the crown customary of kings and emperors, but instead his long, unruly jet black hair was tied into a high ponytail and pinned with a small gold and ruby ornament. The lower half of his face was quite pretty, his chin and neck pale and slender. On the upper half of his face, much like on White Mask’s, there was a mask of smooth black jade perfectly molded to his features. Through the holes, glittering eyes pierced, flaming with stinging irritation.

So, in all, Abrial’s first impression was this:

The Emperor’s just a grumpy young guy who plays imposing dress-up and really likes the color black!

Abrial continued to approach the throne, not really sure what she was planning to do, but just kind of going along with the curiosity swelling in her chest. After seeing the Emperor in person, she felt a little apprehensive, but not really afraid at all! How was it that this guy had killed a mountain of people and come to be known as the Cold-Blooded Master of Torture and Murder? He was scrawny, almost! And moody, like a teenager!

As she stepped forward, the Emperor’s voice exploded through the hall, reverberating against the floor and making Abrial freeze in her tracks.

“What the fuck?” He sounded utterly revolted. “Who are you to approach my throne? Don’t you know what Divinity Screens are for? You fucking ingrate! Do you know who the fuck I am?! I’m this close to crushing you to pieces!”

Abrial blinked blankly up at the Emperor, craning her neck to see his great feature atop the obsidian steps. “Uh…I’ve never heard about Divinity Screens before…Did I do something wrong…?”

The Emperor’s rage omitted such strong waves that it could practically be felt solidifying in the air. “What, were you raised in a barn? The whole purpose of Divinity Screens is to keep you from looking at the ruler’s divine face! Idiot!”

“Oh…” Abrial swallowed awkwardly, looking back at the large black screen she’d just lifted up. Up close, it was a lot more imposing. It stretched all the way from the ceiling to the floor, and was woven with thin strands of golden string. She scratched her head. “Oops. Should I, uh, go back? I can go back, I guess—”

“No! Whatever! Fuck, I don’t care!” The Emperor snapped harshly. “You’ve already walked past it, what’s the point?”

“Well…it’s good etiquette practice, right? People say I have bad manners. Maybe I should just go back—”

WHAM! CRACK!

Abrial’s words dried up in her throat. She was about to turn around and just go behind the curtain, but before the words could leave her lips, a bloodred flash shot towards her at the speed of light, searing her cheek and exploding into the obsidian tiles at her knees, freezing her where she stood. The tiles promptly burst, black shards shooting every which way. Some of them shot into Abrial’s calf, causing her to grunt in pain.

Her cheek seared with heat from whatever had shot past. It must have been a bolt of fire.

“Enough.” There was a sudden danger, a sudden coldness in the Emperor’s voice that hadn’t been there a second ago. The back of Abrial’s neck prickled. “I told you to stay, so you’ll stay. Entitled people never know how to listen, do they?”

A drop of sweat dripped down Abrial’s brow. The shards of stone in her leg seemed to dig in further.

Turning her face up to the Emperor in shock, Abrial stared at him. There was a slight fear striking through her chest…but as soon as she caught sight of his youthful face again, like a grumpy teenage pretty boy’s, an involuntary snicker shot out of her mouth. She choked and covered her mouth, face white. Oop, definitely too late. There was no way the pretty boy Emperor didn’t hear that…

Up on the throne, the Emperor startled at her snicker and glared in cold disbelief.

“Unbelievable. Unbelievable! This is the person I’m supposed to watch out for? What a fucking joke. What a violation. A fucking violation!”

Though she was busy sweating from the stone shards in her leg, Abrial could still hear everything the Emperor said. It was a silent hall, after all, and every noise echoed. At those words, the person I’m supposed to watch out for, her ears perked up through the pain.

“Hey! What d’you mean by that…uh…” Abrial struggled for a word, grunting in pain. Sir? Your Majesty? Emperor guy? Moody teenager? In the end, she just omitted addressing him directly. “What d’you mean, ‘watch out for?’ How am I a violation? Isn’t that a little too mean? I don’t even know why I’m here! You made me come here! Shouldn’t you be a little nicer?”

The Emperor ignored her words coldly. High above, he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts as a sneer formed on his pale lips.