SHADOW

The City of Light

Sha had dark circles under her eyes when she stepped out of the boat. She could not understand how Sonya succeeded in dragging her into the cabin after they had strolled along the deck, telling her that the Count was not inside the cabin and that they had a better chance of meeting him on the deck than in the cabin.

Well, it was true—he did not come. She did not see him at all, even in the morning when they departed. He was absent. Only a modest black carriage came and took them from the port to the palace.

The City of Light was amazing. She had never seen such wonders and magic on their continent—floating islands, floating lights, huge twisting towers of metal and glass intertwined with gardens. There were gardens everywhere, and loads of gleaming metal statues of silver or golden dragons, dragon-shaped fountains, statues, and more. Even lamp posts shaped like dragons holding glowing spheres.

The mix of magic and technology here was overwhelming. It was like they lived in another time, hundreds of years ahead of them.

"This city is nothing I could even imagine," whispered Sonya, pushing her head out of the carriage door.

"Keep your head inside, miss. We are going at considerable speed. If another carriage comes, they may lop off your head," yelled the driver to Sonya.

"Sorry, sir," she replied quickly.

"It is wonderful indeed. I am happy to see it too. I wonder how this court will be. I once read in a history book that this emperor has ruled for hundreds of years and is an immortal embodiment of light. They say he is some kind of shapeshifter—he shifts into a dragon, a golden dragon."

"I heard that too," said Sonya. "But nobody has seen it. They say it is just mythology, and people exaggerate to make him look grand or something. He is probably just a long-lived wizard, not some kind of mythological demigod."

"I think they are very invested in this theme," Sha replied. "Looking at how many statues they made for him, we'd better keep our mouths shut so we don't offend anyone."

"Well, I also heard he has over a hundred concubines. Different people say different things, but he has no children of his own. Only some adopted distant relatives. They say he adopts new ones every hundred years or so."

"Where did you hear that, Sonya? There was nothing like that in the books."

"It's maid's lore," Sonya giggled. "One of the maids I worked with was previously a maid to one of his concubines. The concubine disappeared overnight, so she got scared and moved to another continent."

"Oh my," sighed Sha. "More reason to keep away from this emperor. I agree—let's just become invisible in the palace. Eat well, sleep, and live peacefully. It would be great if the Count would forget about us—just send money, and we would live our lives in a library and a bakery," she said dreamily.

"Lol, that sounds too good to be true," replied Sonya.

Would the Count forget about her after last night?

Her feelings were conflicted. What would he do about her? Marry her? Certainly not.

Maybe it was better to keep her wits about her. This should never repeat itself—it had been a total scandal.

And she knew well what happened to women in scandals. She did not want to end up a nun with a shaved head and other body parts cut off.

No, no—that was a no.