She sat back down with deliberate, controlled movents, her conclusion delivered with chilling finality. "It’s Father who’s been poisoning her."
"You can doubt everyone else, but not Father!" Long Chen imdiately protested, his loyalty to their father overriding even his fear of his sister’s wrath and power. "He would never, he loves Mother! He’s always loved her!"
"Why not?" Shuyin’s laugh was bitter and sharp, like broken glass scraping against stone. "You probably haven’t spent much ti back at the palace lately, have you, Azhir? Too busy living your own life, traveling the mortal realms, playing at being free." Her voice dripped with scorn. "Who knows, maybe Father has found himself a new mistress sowhere, soone younger, more compliant. Soone he wants to make the new Queen."
She leaned forward, her eyes boring into her brother’s. "It wouldn’t be the first ti he’s been caught with another woman, would it?"
The venom in her voice made Long Chen physically flinch as if she’d struck him.
"That was a sche!" Long Chen protested desperately, his voice rising with frustration and pain. "You know it was! Father was drugged and manipulated by court enemies trying to destabilize our family. He never betrayed Mother, not truly, not willingly. He’s spent centuries proving his loyalty to her!"
"And yet I saw what I saw," Shuyin said coldly. "I was six years old, Azhir. Six. And I walked into those chambers and saw....."
She cut herself off abruptly, her jaw clenching so hard that Long Chen could see the muscle jumping.
The twins by the wall exchanged glances. Six years old. Their mistress had been just a child when she’d witnessed sothing that had scarred her so deeply she still couldn’t speak of it fully, even centuries later.
"You saw sothing taken completely out of context," Long Chen said more gently now, still on his knees but leaning forward with earnest desperation. "The investigators proved it was a setup. The woman who claid to be Father’s mistress confessed before she was executed that she’d been paid by rival court officials to drug him, to create a scandal. Father was a victim, Kailani, not a perpetrator."
"Is that what you all tell yourselves?" Shuyin’s voice had gone quiet again, which was sohow more disturbing than her anger. "That Father was innocent? That it was all just a misunderstanding?"
"Because it’s the truth!" Long Chen’s hands spread wide in supplication. "Mother forgave him. She investigated personally and found proof of the conspiracy. She knows he didn’t betray her....."
"Mother is too forgiving," Shuyin interrupted flatly. "She always has been. She wants to believe the best in everyone, especially him."
Long Chen stared at his sister, seeing sothing he’d missed before. The grudge she held wasn’t really about their father at all, or at least, not entirely. There was sothing deeper there, sothing darker that had taken root in her soul and twisted everything else around it.
"Kailani," he said softly, "what really happened? What made you hate Father, no, hate all n, so completely?"
For a mont, sothing flickered across Shuyin’s face, raw pain, ancient fear, a wound that went so deep it had never seen light. But then her expression shuttered completely, the walls slamming back into place.
"That’s none of your concern," she said, her voice arctic. "What concerns is that Mother was poisoned, and Father is the only one left who could have done it."
But Long Chen had seen that flicker, and it told him everything and nothing. Whatever had truly broken his sister, whatever had planted this deep-seated hatred of n in her heart, it wasn’t just about seeing their father in a compromising position when she was six. That had been traumatic, yes, but even after it was proven to be a sche, even after their mother had forgiven and the conspirators had been punished, Kailani’s hatred had only grown stronger over the centuries.
Sothing else had happened. Sothing she’d never told anyone.
And that secret was poisoning her just as surely as the toxins had been poisoning their mother.
"Father is really innocent in all these! He loves her dearly! He can’t be the one who poisoned her."
At that mont, footsteps echoed from the corridor, and Long Mingyue appeared, walking with slow but steady steps, supported by i. The Lady’s face was still pale, her movents careful, but she was upright and conscious, a vast improvent from the dying woman who’d arrived less than twenty-four hours ago.
"Your father can’t be the one," she said softly but firmly as they approached the sitting area.
"Mother..." Shuyin’s voice gentled slightly, but the anger didn’t leave her eyes. "It’s because of this stupid, blind love! This foolish trust that he can’t possibly hurt you! You should know when to step back and guard yourself. n are fickle when it cos to their hearts, they always have been. How can you so blindly trust him after everything?"
Long Mingyue settled onto the couch with i’s assistance, servants imdiately appearing with tea and light refreshnts. "We need to investigate this matter carefully, my dear. Jumping to conclusions won’t help anyone. There’s soone who is the real culprit."
"Kailani, don’t think about Father like that!" Long Chen rose from his knees, though he remained standing rather than sitting, his posture defensive. "What happened was a mistake he made years ago. He’s repented. He’s changed. And it wasn’t even entirely his fault, he was sched against, manipulated....."
"A mistake," Shuyin repeated, her voice dripping with scorn. "Is that what we’re calling it now?"
Long Chen felt his heart ache at the depth of bitterness in his sister’s voice. The incident had happened centuries ago, when Kailani was barely six years old, just a child. She was over a thousand years old now, ancient by mortal standards, and yet she hadn’t forgotten. Hadn’t forgiven.
She’d been so close to their father once. The favorite daughter, the one who’d followed him everywhere, hung on his every word, believed he could do no wrong.
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