Drakkon

Chapter Thirty-eight

"How's married life?" Jia asked me as we both sat in one of the rooms of the palace. She was sipping on her tea while watching me in anticipation. Kang wasn't with her this time, and instead was with Fang.

"It's going well."

"So I've heard!" She wiggled her brow. "I've heard that you've moved into the emperor's chambers. How did you manage to do that? Everyone's talking about it. They're saying stuff like how the beautiful Empress has somehow ensnared the cold, dead heart of the fearsome Dragon."

Heat rose to my face and I swatted at her hand as she waved it around dramatically. I smiled sheepishly and took a sip of tea. "I only asked him and he said yes."

"Ooh, how romantic," she cooed.

It had been over a week since my things had been moved into Meilin's rooms, and ever since then, people from the palace couldn't stop talking. It was unheard of for the empress and the emperor to share a room together, so the buzz around the palace was only natural.

"You're lucky that Meilin listens to you," she said with a snort. "I asked Fang if he could stay home with me for a week—no work, just me and him and Kang. He gave me his most serious look and said, 'Don't be ridiculous.'" Jia slammed her hand down on the padded ground, rolling her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous? Seriously, that man! I should've slapped him right then and there like the first time we met."

I lowered my cup of tea and raised an incredulous brow. "You slapped Fang when you first met him?"

Jia's dark eyes glimmered with mischief and she bobbed her head. "Slapped him as hard as I could."

"How and why did that happen?"

"So almost five years ago, you know, when Meilin usurped the throne and all, there was this purge going around, remember? Meilin ordered that all statues of the Emperor Yan, and the previous emperor before that, Emperor Guozhi, be destroyed. All paintings, statues, banners of the MuRong family, specifically those two emperors, were to be burned."

"Yes, I remember. It was terrifying with all those soldiers going into everyone's houses and ripping away anything they deemed burnable," I recalled. My village had gone through it as well. The event was something that also tainted Meilin's reign as bloody, since some soldiers had burned more than just a few paintings.

Jia set down her tea and continued her story, waving her hands around as she spoke. "I lived with my older sister, my younger brother, my grandparents, and my parents. Anyway, we had a few things with the MuRong family symbol on them, to respect the royal family. The soldiers threw those things out and burned them and somehow, our house caught on fire. It was an accident by one of the soldiers, but I was furious."

"Your house was burned down?"

"Yes. Fang was in charge of those men and he came to us. He apologized but you know that look he always wears? The serious, angry looking expression he always has? It's his resting face, I know that now, but at the time, I thought that he was mocking us. He looked so serious and uncaring that in my fury, I ran up to him, screamed at his face, and then slapped him."

"I can't believe you slapped the General," I said in awe. "Especially since he was a part of Meilin's army. With the rumors going around about them, no one in their right mind would think to cross them."

She laughed and grabbed her cup, taking a sip before setting it back down. "Trust me, my family was horrified. My sister grabbed me while my brother dropped down on his knees and begged for forgiveness. Fang just stood there, expressionless, while his soldiers were silent and shocked. After a moment, he apologized once more and left. I still thought that he was mocking us."