'See here, this is the family device and under it is the character for ambition, the Rat Dragoneye's area of special influence. The robe tells the story of the bountiful summer, but if you look closely you will see that worked into the waterfall and peacock is a hint of winter — the Lin and Gan encompassed in —'
'Lady Dela,' I said tightly, breaking into her obvious digression. 'Why does the Emperor give me a gift he received from Lord Ido's family?'
She glanced at Ryko.
'Tell him everything,' the guard said flatly 'This is not a time to play games.'
'It is the most important time,' she snapped.
He glared across the space between them. 'No. Even a leaf in the wind settles sometime. You knew this choice was coming.'
She opened her fan and closed it, fingering the polished bamboo ribs as she watched Ryko walk the length of the open doorway, surveying the garden.
'Well?' she asked.
He nodded. 'We are alone. Tell him.'
All right, all right,' she said, holding up her hands. 'The robe is the Emperor's way of sending a message to Lord Ido and, through him, to High Lord Sethon, his royal brother.'
'Lord Ido serves High Lord Sethon,' I said, remembering the snatch of conversation between my master and the official at the arena.
'Yes, you are very quick,' she said, lowering her voice. 'Together they have built a base of power that, in all truth, exceeds the Emperor's. It is no secret that Sethon covets the throne and now, through Ido, he owns the Dragoneye Council as well as the armies. With the Emperor ill and Prince Kygo of age but still living within the protection of the harem, Sethon was near making his move. That is, until you came along.' She touched my shoulder. 'The awakener of the Mirror Dragon. A Co-Ascendant Dragoneye. But more importantly, a potential split in the Dragoneye Council. And the Emperor is not wasting any time claiming you and your dragon as his own.'
The horror of her words rolled down over me. Without having even seen High Lord Sethon, I had made an enemy of the most powerful man in the land. And the Emperor saw me as his way back to supremacy. I was the rabbit caught between two ravenous wolves.
'It is why the Emperor is keeping you close,' Lady Dela said. 'Why you were brought to the palace. Granted, there is no Mirror Dragon Hall at the moment, but you could have gone to one of the other halls. And tonight, when you walk into the banquet room in the Harmony Robe, the Emperor will have made his intentions very clear to his brother and to the I) ragoneye Council.'
I pressed my fingers over my mouth, trying to keep the terror from screaming out of me. My master had not reckoned on me becoming the focus of royal attention — I was only supposed to be an apprentice. Ryko crossed the floor and laid his hand on my shoulder, the heavy weight of it keeping me from gathering up
the misnamed robe and running as far away from this deadly struggle as I could.
'Courage, my lord,' he said gruffly. 'There is nowhere to go. You are locked in this game until its end play'
'Do you know where my master has gone?' I asked urgently 'I need to see my master.'
He would know what to do. How to tread softly between these two mighty forces.
'Heuris Brannon,' Lady Dela corrected gently, 'has returned to his home to dress for the banquet.'
A cold realisation washed over me. From now on, my master would not always be there to protect and counsel me.
'This is too big. Too big,' I said. 'What do I do?'
'You follow your destiny' Ryko said. As we all do. With honour and courage.'
Lady Dela rolled her eyes. 'What kind of piddling answer is that to give the boy?' She grabbed my arm, her long fingernails digging through the silk. I felt the man's strength in her grip.
'Listen to me. You are no longer a penniless candidate. You are a Dragoneye lord. The court is abuzz with the sight of the other dragons bowing to you. You have power that frightens even Lord Ido. So use it.'
I could barely sense my dragon, let alone use his power. Lord Ido had nothing to fear from me. But even if he knew that, it would not stop him. I remembered the look on his face as he watched the dragons bow to me. That was what he wanted: all of the dragons bowing to him.
And I was in the way
I pulled my arm from Lady Dela's grasp. She was a man living as a woman; a survivor. She would not align herself with a hopeless cause.
Who do you think will win this struggle, Lady Dela?' I asked. 'Who do you follow?'
She sat back, eyeing me silently. I stayed very still, not even blinking under her scrutiny
'The Emperor,' she finally said.
'Why?'
'Because Lord Ido and High Lord Sethon despise what I am.'
'And because the Emperor is the Heavenly Master,' Ryko admonished.
We both looked at him.
'No,' Lady Dela said softly 'Because the Heavenly Master now has the most powerful Dragoneye on his side.'
CHAPTER 8
'Welcome, Lord Eon,' the Emperor's whispery voice said above me.
He was seated at the top of a tiered dais and I could see his foot, swollen and bandaged, resting on a small stool under the banquet table. Beside it, a matching stool had been placed in front of an empty chair; a ghost setting for the Empress, dead almost a year.
'The Harmony Robe suits you well,' His Majesty said. 'You may rise.'
I lifted my knee and painfully slid my foot forwards, rocking up into the crouching stand that Lady Dela had shown me. I chanced a quick look at the Heavenly Master. His shoulders were hunched in pale blue silk, and the sallow loose skin of his face left the impression that he had recently been a much bigger, more vigorous man. The huge Imperial Pearl, easily the size of a duck egg, filled the hollow at the base of his throat. Unlike Lady Dela's black pearl strung on a piercing rod, this pearl was held in a gold setting and sewn into the Emperor's skin. It was a symbol of his wisdom and sovereignty — his descent from the ancient dragons and would only be removed on his death to be sewn into the throat of his heir. I could see that the Emperor's skin had grown over the gold base, melding man and gem together.
My eyes flicked up to his face and, for a frozen moment, the Heavenly Master's gaze met mine. I looked away as required, but not before I saw his eyes cut to Lord Ido at the table below. His Majesty had also caught the Dragoneye's tension at the sight of my robe.
One of the eunuchs in charge of banquet etiquette appeared at my elbow.
'This way, my lord,' he murmured through the rise of whispers behind me. I bowed, preparing to retreat.
'Lord Eon.'
The voice was young and forceful.
I looked up and saw the Prince Heir leaning forwards in his seat on the lower level of the dais.
He had the same determined jaw and broad forehead as his father. His eyes, too, held the same watchful intelligence.
'My esteemed father has suggested you may wish to study statecraft to prepare for your new position as Co-Ascendant Dragoneye,' he said. 'I am tutored in the mornings by the most excellent Prahn. Would you care to join us tomorrow?'
I gripped the edges of the robe tightly and bowed again. 'It will be an honour, Your Highness.'
There was a brief glance between father and son. Lady Dela had predicted a very public manoeuvre to draw me quickly into the Imperial circle. It will not be a command from the Emperor, she had said. It will be an invitation from someone known to be his supporter — that way you will be seen to be declaring your colours.
But even she had not imagined it would be the Prince Heir.
The eunuch touched my shoulder and we backed up the length of the huge room, between the two lower tables full of courtiers and administrators. The richly dressed men and their women sat along the gold walls lined with bright oil lamps, and I felt them watch me as we made our slow progress. Some were just curious, some hostile, some afraid. Halfway along, I saw my master. Until I confirmed him as my proxy the next day, he could not sit with me. He nodded and smiled, but even that did not give me heart.