Drakkon

Chapter Thirty-One

When I awoke that morning, Meilin was gone from my bed. Even after I bathed and ate breakfast, he didn't call for me or anything. I had at least thought that he would call me to his room to have breakfast, or even for tea time, or something. After the intimacy we shared last night, and the realization of his royal blood, I had hoped that he would take the initiative and do something.

On the other hand, I could've done something as well, but I wasn't that bold right now.

"Aunt Daiyu!" Yat-sen called out when he saw me sitting on a bench outside in the garden. He waved over to me and stopped when he was in front of me. He had a wide smile on his face as he took a place next to me. "How are you?"

Staring at the dark haired youth, I couldn't help but try to see resemblances between him and Meilin, since they were actually kin—though I didn't think Yat-sen knew. Though, as much as I tried, I couldn't see any similarity to brand them as blood relatives.

"I'm fine," I returned. "And you?"

"I'm great," he responded cheerfully. "Minos is helping me with sparring. I'm actually waiting for him."

"That's wonderful. You've taken a liking to Minos, haven't you?"

"He's really nice and helpful. Thera is really nice too."

"Yat-sen, have you seen your sisters around?"

He stilled, his dark eyes suddenly becoming unreadable as he stared at me blankly. "No," he said with a dismissive shrug, turning away from me. "They're in the palace somewhere."

I shifted in my seat. "They're imprisoned, right? The two princesses and the youngest prince."

He nodded.

"And two of the other princes already died during the usurpation and one of the princesses killed herself, right?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me about the royal family?"

He stared at me for the longest moment before speaking. "The oldest prince was fifteen, he died because he swung his sword at Uncle Meilin and then Minos killed him instantly. The second prince was fourteen, and he died because Remus . . . tore into his chest. He had been screaming too much and was trying to hurt General Fang, so I suppose that's why Remus did that. The third princess committed suicide because she couldn't handle seeing her brothers die and she thought she would be next. Princess Biyu, who is now fifteen, and Princess Liqin, who is eleven, are both locked in one of the rooms of the palace. Prince Daewon, who is nine, is being held in a separate room than his sisters."

"And the previous Empress?"

"She was killed."

I thought of the two little princesses and how scared they must be. Locked away and terrified of their uncle, whom they didn't even know was their uncle.

"Is Meilin going to kill them?"

"The two princesses?"

"Yes."

"I don't think so," he said with a shrug. "He doesn't really know what to do with them. On one hand he wants to be rid of them, but on the other he doesn't want to kill them."

"And the little prince as well," I mused. "I wonder what will become of him. He was only five when all of this happened."

Yat-sen tugged at the ends of his hair, a faraway look entering his obsidian colored eyes. "It was pretty scary because Minos, who was fourteen at the time, killed the oldest prince, and then it was even scarier when Remus tore the other prince's chest open. I mean, Remus was eleven and only one year older than me, so it scared me so bad and made me wonder just how powerful the rebel army was."