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."

"Were you terrified of Meilin?" "Of course. He had killed my family, and although I hated them and was happy they were gone, I was positive he was going to do the same to me." He smiled thoughtfully. "Later on, though, he was really nice to me and he made me feel like I was someone. He's the first person to tell me that I'm important."

"Yat-sen, you're important," I started.

I wasn't able to finish everything I was saying because Minos strode towards us, his tan skin as golden as ever and his sharp blue eyes as vibrant as usual. Nikator was trailing behind him, his red hair messy and his bright blue eyes darting around the garden.

"Morning, Empress, Yat-sen," Minos said, placing a hand on the hilt of his dagger before yanking it out of the hooks on his belt. He held out the dagger to me. "Empress, mind holding onto this for me?"

I blinked back at him in surprise before turning to inspect the plain dagger, unimpressed by it since I had seen Meilin's pretty dragon one. "Of course," I said, surprised that he was asking me to hold onto it.

When I had it in my hand, he grinned. "That's just in case someone tries to come and take you. Swipe them in the face and take them out."

I frowned and looked at the dagger a bit more closer. The hilt was black and was leather-bound, while the blade was long and sharp, the metal reflecting my image as I stared into it, my brown eyes staring back at me. "Alright," I said just as Yat-sen rose from his seat.

"Will you be teaching me here?" Yat-sen asked as he looked around the garden.

"Sure, why not? Change of pace." Minos backtracked until there was enough space to move around freely without disturbing me. "Show me your stance."

Yat-sen raised his hands in a defensive position, changing the position of his feet. I watched in fascination and held onto the dagger, knowing full well that I wouldn't need to use it since Minos and Nikator were with me.

"Have you ever fought before?" Nikator was standing next to the bench I was sitting at. He watched Minos for a moment before turning his attention to me.

I shook my head. "No, I've never had the need to."

"Do you want to learn?"

My eyes widened. "Learn how to fight?"

"Yes."

"But I'm a woman," I sputtered.

His brows came together. "So is Thera and Vita."

Heat colored my cheeks. "I didn't mean for it to come out rudely. I'm just . . . I've never done much physical activity and I would just embarrass myself." I laughed uncomfortably. "I'm not as graceful as those two."

Nikator smiled, his teeth gleaming. "That doesn't matter. Everyone starts somewhere. I can at least show you how to hold a dagger."

"Alright then."

I brushed down my hanfu with my free hand as I came to my feet, the other hand loosely holding onto the dagger. In all honesty, even if Nikator taught me how to use the dagger, I wasn't sure how effective I would be in a fight. I was pretty scared of confrontation and I wasn't sure if I had it in me to hurt someone; I would probably hesitate.

"Broaden your stance," he instructed. "Hold the knife firmly, but not so loose that it can easily be knocked out of your hand and not so tight that you injure your wrist."

I tried what he said, holding the dagger a bit more securely and widening my stance so my feet weren't too close together.

"Relax your shoulders." He came towards me and repositioned my hand on the dagger. "Hold it like that and when you strike, strike like this." He moved my hand with the dagger towards his neck, then to his heart, and lastly his abdomen, all the while twisting my hand in different ways to be the most efficient in hurting the other person.

"Foot work is really important too, but that's more advanced right now." He sighed. "I'm actually not that good at teaching. Atreus and Minos are better."

"I think you're doing fine."

He perked up. "Thank you."

"So if someone came from behind me, what should I do?" I asked, remembering how a week or so ago, a man had come and grabbed me from behind. If Remus hadn't been there, I would've been kidnapped once more, or even killed that time around.

"If they has a blade pressed to your neck, there's not much you can do since you don't know how to fight. You might get yourself in more trouble than actually helping yourself out, especially if the person is much stronger than you." He thought for a moment. "If it was me, I would slam my foot on their foot while simultaneously breaking their wrist. Just grab their wrist and punch upward in a swift motion. It'll break easily. Then, I would take the blade and cut their throat, or maybe their heart, or slash at their intestines. Basically, whichever is easiest."

"Break their wrist?" I tried to envision myself doing that in my situation, a frown tugging at my lips. I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull it off.

"I wouldn't recommend it since they might cut your throat by accident or on purpose. If you slip up, it could mean your life. The only reason I could pull it off is because I'm really fast and I'm a fighter."

"How about—" I started.

I couldn't finish because Atreus broke through the clearing, shoving past the tree branches that snapped at him as he violently pushed through. He was breathing heavy, his eyes a darker shade of rage as his gaze flicked towards Minos and Nikator.

Minos, who had been in the middle of teaching Yat-sen a type of kick, paused mid-way and lowered his foot. He placed a hand on his hip and narrowed his sharp blue eyes when he saw the stricken, angry expression coloring Atreus's face.

"What happened?" Minos's tone lost the cheerful narcissism in a split second, a hard undertone in his voice. Although it was inappropriate for me to think it at the dire situation, I realized that Minos was in charge of the Peccata. His way of ordering around and his inner leader seemed to spark through his jokes. His eyes were hard.

Atreus inhaled sharply, his lips pursed together. "There are . . . still many assassins from Keung out here. Empress was attacked two weeks ago, and even kidnapped before." He motioned towards me, and I could see that his muscles were tense, his jaw set firmly.

Nikator stepped forward. "Was someone attacked?"

Atreus swallowed.

Yat-sen looked lost, looking between everyone in a daze. I was the same, staring around confusedly and trying to figure out what was happening. Keung was the General of the previous emperor, the one that had retired over a decade ago. He was also the one that had been fighting Meilin in the small revolt up north.

"Who was attacked?"

Atreus hesitated, his shoulders stiff.

Images of Jia, Kang, Fang, Bohai, Bolin, and my family flashed through my head, my breath caught in my chest at the thought of someone I cared for being hurt.

"Master Drakkon was stabbed," he finally said, his voice trembling slightly. In rage or horror or sadness, I wasn't sure.

Meilin . . . was stabbed?

My heart trembled at that thought. Dark ebony colored eyes came into my mind and I remembered the way his lips would quirk into a smirk, the way his lips would form the words my little rabbit. The fear of him and his imposing strength, the way he would strike me with enough terror to make me whimper, and the gentleness of his hands as he stroked my face.

His lips were soft and his touch was warm.

Meilin couldn't be . . .

"No," I breathed, my body shaking as I stumbled forward.

Nikator quickly held my shoulders as my knees buckled and I almost crumpled on the ground. I held onto the front of Nikator's shirt and inhaled sharply, my breaths coming quick as tears welled in my eyes. Meilin was strong; he had the blood of the dragon running through his veins. I'm stronger than all of you. Hadn't he said he was strong?

"Empress!" Atreus shouted out as he lunged towards me.

Minos and Yat-sen crowded me as well.

"How is he?" Minos said, his grip on Atreus's shoulder. His eyes were hard but his tone was strained and he was clutching onto Atreus too tightly.

"How did this happen?" Yat-sen murmured, tears streaming down his face. He didn't even try to wipe them. "U-Uncle . . . is strong."

"He's not dead," Atreus whispered. "There were five soldiers and Prince Daewon was standing nearby. Master drew in Prince Daewon and tried to protect him and in the flurry, he was stabbed. He killed all the men, but . . . he was stabbed."

Minos cursed under his breath, his eyes wide. "Master is strong, he will—"

"He won't allow the healer to touch him." The pain in Atreus's eyes were enough to break my already crumbling heart.

"Why not?" Minos's words were laced in anger as he took a domineering step forward.

Nikator's face was contorted with rage and he was trembling. Yat-sen was frozen, his face losing all its color. I, meanwhile, swayed on my feet as I clutched onto Nikator's forearm for support.

"He . . . He's angry. He insists on finding every single soldier in the palace that's a traitor. There was apparently another man that was with the five that attacked Master, and he wants to find him first."

My hands shook at the absurdity of his rage. "He'll bleed out," I whispered, my eyes wildly flying to Atreus and then to Minos.

Atreus's expression said it all.

"He'll bleed out," I murmured, weaker this time, my entire body trembling and my knees weak. "No, no, no—"

"Empress—" Nikator started.

"Take me to him," I whispered, grabbing tightly onto Nikator and staring deeply into his eyes. My voice broke. "Please."