Time passed in a haze. I was confined in the cabin, only allowed to walk on the deck for fresh air when Talluan deigned to escort me, always after sunset. “All the better to protect the princess from the sailors’ lowborn eyes,” he had sneered. When he knocked on the door one morning to tell me to prepare to disembark, it had seemed both endless and too short for a journey to Shengxin.
I arranged my hair into a simple bun, not knowing how to do a more elaborate style. Over a clean slip, I put on the red and gold gown that I had set aside days ago. It was the best one I had, and there had been no gown provided for my conferral to the Crown Prince.
A small voice chirped in the back of my head to try disappearing again. Perhaps I could sneak out of the vinta, perhaps I could purchase passage back to Silang with the silver in my purse, perhaps—
Consort Mei entered the cabin. I had last seen her two decades ago, before she entered the Emperor’s harem. But she didn't spare time for greetings, and examined me by the sunshine streaming through the door. Her nose wrinkled. “Your grandparents didn’t even provide a maid for you?”
They might’ve, if she hadn’t insisted to my grandparents that they don’t need to send me to Shengxin with anything. In her letter convincing them to appoint me as tribute, she had promised that I would be furnished with everything I could possibly need.
Long, bony fingers yanked the pins off my hair and I bit down a complaint. "While you're supposed to be presented wearing your homeland's costume, you can't pin your hair up. In Shengxin, that’s only for married women." To her maids, she instructed, "There's no time for an ornate coiffure, so just braid it."
They surrounded me, combing and plaiting with such efficiency that I didn’t have time to register the scraping, tugging pain. My veil was reattached to barely cover my head, pinned under my tiara and draped along the sides of the braid like an oversized ribbon.
The change earned an aloof nod from Consort Mei and she started to head out—I nearly bumped into her when she swiveled back. She plucked off my earrings and necklace, the black pearls given by my mother.
My jaw dropped in protest. She knew whom they had belonged to. Even though I was a small child, I distinctly remembered her clucking her tongue and sighing that my mother only had a set of black pearls to show for being a prince’s concubine. "But..."
"It doesn't suit your gown, how could you present yourself to the Crown Prince that way?" She stared me in the eye and pocketed the pearls.
Bile burned in my chest, but I dug my nails into my palms and set my face in stone as I returned her stare.
She swept out on the deck and I followed with wooden steps. Eunuchs were in wait to help us across the plank, along with a guard escort. The bustling harbor sprawled out, far wider than the one in my hometown. More structured, it had walkways and orderly rows of ships, instead of a few spindly docks scattered on the beach.
"This is Xinan..?" I almost stumbled, climbing into a carriage after Consort Mei, my eyes snared by the unfamiliar scenery.
"How could the imperial capital be this provincial?" She sniffed. "This is the city of Hayan Song. The Crown Prince has honored the people with a visit, as the Emperor's envoy."
Hayan Song, in Geunhwa, another tributary of Shengxin. To me, the people here resembled the Sheng; paler than the average Silanganan, with sharper eyes.
A salty breeze blew into the carriage window, the chill nipping through the thin silks of my gown. I hid my hands under the thicker brocade of my shawl. It was colder than the cold and dry season in the Seventeenth Domain of Silang.
The carriage swerved to a road bordered with pink-crowned. I caught one of the fragile blooms caught in the wind. Five petals with notched tips, like the woodblock prints of cherry blossoms I’ve seen in books. That must mean it was springtime.
We entered a grand estate enclosed with high stone walls. From overheard snatches of conversation among our escort, I deduced that we were in the governor’s mansion. Soldiers were stationed in orderly rows along the entrance and in the wide courtyard inside. The mirror plates on their armor were stamped with the imperial sigil of Shengxin, a dragon dancing around a flowering branch—or skewered on it.
As we alighted, a man gave Consort Mei a formal salute. His red cloak and tigerhead pauldrons distinguished him from the common soldiers. “The Crown Prince is currently occupied.”
“Very well, General.” She swanned ahead, not even sparing him a glance.
She looked back as he raised his head. Their eyes met for a charged moment that lapsed in a single blink that I wondered if I had imagined it.
Consort Mei jerked her chin imperiously at the paved stone of the courtyard beneath the steps leading to the central house. Before the main door was a massive chair, lacquered and gilded. And empty.
I kneeled in wait. The sun climbed the sky, and Consort Mei stood in the shade of the parasol propped up by a maid, while the pavement radiated heat. I was grateful for the cooler weather; in Silang, the sun would've baked me.
At high noon, there was finally some movement. The Crown Prince strode out the double doors and took his makeshift throne. He was resplendent in robes of imperial red and gold, but his handsome appearance was marred by the derisive curve of his mouth. Following him was a woman attired in the same red and gold colors surrounded by a retinue of maids.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
"Greetings to His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, and Her Royal Highness, the Crown Princess." Consort Mei curtsied, and the rest of the courtyard fell in obeisance. From my kneeling position, I lowered my head.
"The Seventeenth Domain of Silang sent its tribute late. Was that meant to build anticipation to the beauty they're offering?" The Crown Prince drawled.
The Crown Princess didn't spare me even a nod. She was beautiful but not in the fresh, vivid manner of girls born pretty. It was a cultivated beauty, refined by care and habits, and thus more enduring. I had heard she was of an age with the Crown Prince, past three decades, but it was impossible to glean that from her face.
"Very well, let's get this over with. Your people sent tribute expecting imperial gifts in exchange."
He crooked a finger at a cadre of eunuchs at the edge of the courtyard. They hauled an enclosed wagon to my side and unloaded a few chests. Piles of gold taels and sets of jewelries and silks in rainbow colors dazzled my eyes, though I had been told that this transaction involved even more luxurious gifts. Where were the robes and embroidered shoes customized for my wear, the carved jade items, the porcelain ware?
"Are you disappointed? The caravan that was to transport the gifts claimed they were beset by a dragon that seized their hoard. They were probably in league with thieves, but they seemed to believe their own tale, and are now wandering mad." The prince shrugged.
So much for the lineage of the dragon slayer. I couldn't help but think that he skimped on the gifts and blamed it on tall tales of dragons. Still, I folded my body in a display of reverence. "His Royal Highness is overflowing with generosity. This unworthy tribute is thankful."
"Now, let's see you, tribute," he commanded. A pair of eunuchs lifted me to my feet, numbed from kneeling, and tipped my chin up to show my face to him.
"Hmm, large eyes, a little too plump... pale skin for a daughter of Silang. I heard that Mother Mei was swarthy as a farmer when she first arrived at my Royal Father's palace," he commented, glancing at Consort Mei. His smirk rebounded to me. "Anyway, aren't you a little too old to wear a maiden's braid?"
To my horror, my cheeks glowed hot with embarrassment, and I felt even smaller under the scrutiny of the Crown Prince's household. I was certain they were all sniggering at me with twisted lips and cocked eyebrows.
As I tried to force a polite response through the lump in my throat, he waved it off. "Nevermind, you would've been executed on the spot if you had dared present yourself as tribute while not being a maiden. You are a pure and virtuous maiden, aren't you? Much beloved and pampered by your royal parents that they kept you by their side until they could send you to the most prestigious husband they could imagine."
"Royal grandparents," Consort Mei interjected.
He frowned at the interruption. "What?"
"She's just a granddaughter of the Rajah and Hara. Her father was their only son but was deemed unfit for the position of Crown Prince. Her mother was his de facto wife, but legally a concubine.... my own sister, we're a minor noble house, as you might know."
With my head bowed, I glared at her with abandon. That was unnecessary for her to mention, all that would accomplish was to make the Crown Prince think he need not be delicate with me.
That might be her intention to begin with.
A shiver ran down my spine as his fierce frown melted into an expression no less heated, a terrible elation mixed with curiosity.
"Is that so...?" he lilted. "A spare royal maiden that could be spent on tributary duties without care. You shouldn't have been too honest with me, Mother Mei. Now I know that your niece needn't be exempt from, say, being appointed as a chambermaid."
"We all defer to the Crown Prince's wisdom." She inclined her head. "My niece is untrained in domestic matters, as is the practice of the royal house of the Seventeenth Domain of Silang. But she'll surely learn to serve you, she's intelligent and quick to learn."
I felt both hot and cold, anger and dread in equal intensities. They couldn't do this, I wasn't merely Consort Mei's niece—no matter what, I was still a dayang-dayang, a princess of the highest rank. I took a deep breath, steeling myself to speak against this injustice even at the risk of punishment.
The Crown Princess made a sound: a delicate but disgruntled huff. "Your Highness, it would be unseemly to misuse a royal princess, even one from a tribute state. The great Empire of Shengxin is as a father to all it oversees. The message from the Rajah and Hara refers to this woman as a princess of the highest rank therefore—"
"I know that, my dear wife," the Crown Prince retorted, frowning again. "That was nothing more than playful jesting with the Princess... Saren, was her name. After all, she'll be a part of our household. We had better become familiar with her." He waved impatiently at his cadre of attendants, and a eunuch stepped forward with a deep bow and unfurled a silk scroll.
"The Emperor bestows the title of Lady of Elegant Service upon the Princess Saren of the 17th Domain of Silang," the eunuch announced.
I could've rolled my eyes; the embroidered scroll would’ve been prepared days in advance and the Crown Prince's previous words had been nothing more than empty, sadistic threats.
"And since my dear wife seems to care so much about the tribute's welfare, she'll learn our Sheng ways from the Crown Princess herself."
I could just make out the Crown Princess' nostrils flaring. If she regretted intervening, it wasn't apparent from her decorous assent. "Thank you for thoughtfulness, Your Highness."
"The Crown Prince and Crown Princess are magnanimous," the eunuch declared. "Princess Saren, do you accept this decree?"
As I had been repeatedly instructed in preparation for this day, I shuffled forward with as much grace as possible while maintaining a bow. A few more steps, and my duty would be completed. I would serve my purpose to the Seventeenth Domain of Silang and abide in the grasp of Sheng. For all my life.
Before the eunuch could lay the decree in my outstretched hands, a fierce gust of wind tore it away. Everyone in the courtyard, from the Crown Prince to the foot servants, clutched at their hats and robes.
The veil slipped off my hair and spiraled to the sky. In moments, it looked small as a bright butterfly. A pang of longing seized my heart. How wonderful to be able to just fly free. To ride a breeze to a faraway place.
I squinted at a flash of movement in the distance, mistaking it for shifting clouds. It broke through the voluminous peaks, fast approaching.
A dark shadow fell over the courtyard, stark against the noon glare. Gasps curdled to screams at its descent. Moonstone scales shimmering on its serpentine body, at least twice as long as a warship, lapis lazuli eyes bordered with thick, spiky brows perched on its majestic head.
Around me, the Sheng stumbled in their haste to flee. A voice at the back of my head cried to do the same. But it was drowned by sheer wonder. A creature of legends, a deity resurrected, a living, breathing myth. A dragon.
It glanced over the commotion in disinterest, before focusing on the wagon and the strewn imperial gifts. The dragon clawed at an open chest of jewels and perused the treasure.
The treasure exchanged for my person, to be given to the Seventeenth Domain of Silang in recognition of my honor.
I didn't realize that I had stepped forward until the dragon's keen gaze turned on me.
The sensation of being undersea, pulsing calm and dense silence. My limbs bound in velvety pressure, I froze in my tracks. Like a third eye in the center of the dragon’s forehead, an azure gem glowed.
Fangs bared in a perilous smile. The dragon dropped clawfuls of jewels, and jostled past chests of gold and bolts of silk.
Slithering straight at me.