Chinese Touch

Chapter 16-Insanity

"You want to what?"

"Take down the Emperor!"

"He's awful and all, but isn't that taking things a little too far? I mean... Can't we just leave the country?"

"Ming, I'm doing this for the entirety of China. He's cruel, spiteful... Evil! And just think, when was the last time we had an Empress?"

"You want to take his place?"

"No, Ming. I want you to take his place.

~#~*~#~

I lay curled against Ai's stomach. There was a large lump in my throat that, no matter how many times I swallowed, would not go down. Bao wanted to not only take down the Emperor, but put me in his place. This was... Crazy. Yes, that's what it was. This was insane. Bao was insane. But... She wasn't insane, I could see it in her eyes. She was a calm, curious, thoughtful person. But crazy? Insane? No. She was probably the most same person I had ever met.

I thought back to when I had been with the Emperor. He had been so calm, so placid. But his eyes... There had been a spark of glory in them. A hint of power-hungry, glorified, total insanity. But I had not seen it. I had mistaken it for trying to hold back the emotions he thought would scare me.

He did a good job of that.

When we had been escaping, his eyes were full of rage. Like a burning fire, as if a dragon were in his eyes and breathing fire into them. And under that was the insane reality that he would kill Bao if he found her. Or maybe not. I prayed not. But there was, lurking in the depths, the very real hints of pure, undoubted insanity.

The Emperor;

The last hope and saviour of China;

Was insane.