Page 86 of The Poet Empress
Serpent’s Tongue.Master Ganji’s voice echoed in his head.A little-known poison, and nearly undetectable. It does not show up black on silver needles, and its symptoms are generic and indistinguishable from a common illness.
So long as you get him alone, far from his advisors and food tasters, you will be able to kill him.
Terren still looked suspicious, but there was confusion in his expression now, as if the situation had deviated from his predictions.
“Remember?” Maro made himself smile. “When we were really little, you could never reach the banquet tables. I used to have to steal these for you. Every time I gave you one, your whole face would light up. You would look at me like I was a hero, and I would feel…” He had gone back to his journals to remember what it was like, to have a brother he loved so dearly. “I would feel important. Enough. Like I could do something right, even if I had to be a disappointment to everyone else.”
Terren still didn’t move, but the blades at his side wavered where they were suspended.
“I also brought our oakwood swords.” Maro took them out from the chest and set them onto the bridge, next to the cakes. “In case you wanted to spar. I don’t think I can win against you anymore, but it was never about who won. I think you knew that too.”
“I use steel now,” he said.
They were the first words Terren had spoken to him in years, without going through his eunuchs. Maro felt his throat suddenly tighten, unbidden.
It’s progress,he told himself. The West Palace didn’t have much time left. The Aricine Ward was almost completed, and Terren had all but secured the throne. The future of Tensha depended entirely on whether Maro could gain his brother’s trust.
But why couldn’t he be happier about the progress?
“You promised a line,” Terren said, into the silence. There was no humor in his voice.
“I have it.” Maro drew the last item from the chest: a scroll inked with half a quatrain. He held it out for Terren.
If he wanted it, he would have to come closer to get it.
Terren eyed the scroll. For a brief moment, Maro thought he saw a spark in them, the same one he always had as a child before a game of “dueling couplets.” Then it was gone. His swords followed him as he took seven slow steps forward, until he was halfway over the bridge. He seated himself across from Maro, on the wood, just close enough to take the end of the scroll but no closer.
He unrolled it in his lap, eyes flickering as he read the words.
From one branch, two azaleas blooming,
Fighting for a piece of the dawn.
“I admit the metaphor is a little transparent.” Maro managed a small laugh. “But this is just one poem. We can write many more together, starting today, and they will be even better than this one.” It wasn’t true, of course. If everything worked as intended, this would be their last. Maro pushed the plate towards him and said, “Here, have a mung bean cake as you think.”
Terren set down the scroll and eyed the sweets, but did not reach for any. “You didn’t bring me here just to play ‘dueling couplets’, I presume.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Say what you came here to say, then.” There was impatience in his voice, mixed with cold contempt. “Tell me I’m stupid, shameful, and a disgrace, and be done with it. I’ll kill some birds and we’ll part ways.”
Maro took a deep breath and met his brother’s eyes. “I’m not here to condemn you this time. I’m here to apologize.”
That caught him off guard. His swords jerked once in the air before righting themselves again.
I’ll gain his trust,Maro had told all his allies,until I manage to kill him.
“Over the years, you’ve said sorry to me a hundred times, maybe a thousand. Even more, if we count the times you said multiple sorries atonce. But I have never once said it back. I want to say it now. Terren—I’m sorry.”
He had gone as stiff as ice.
“I’m sorry I kept myself from you, after you wrote your first Blessing. I should have brought my books to the garden and let you teach me how to write mine, but I was too proud and wanted to do it all alone.” Maro took a deep breath. He didn’t know why, but it was getting harder to speak. He forced himself to anyway. “I’m sorry that I stopped playing with you, after our father’s birthday banquet. The world wanted us to be against each other, and I was young and foolish enough to listen.”
Terren was still silent, but his bottom lip had begun to tremble.
Keep going,Maro told himself.The fate of the nation is at stake. The Aricine Ward is days away from being complete.
You must kill him before he becomes unkillable.
