Chapter 11
Edward Quan ·
Every day, I paced the courtyard, counting bricks to pass the time, listening constantly for sounds outside.
Late one night, a dark figure slipped down from the wall.
Chuntao almost screamed. I quickly covered her mouth.
An old palace maid I’d paid generously years earlier had risked her life to climb in.
She shivered so violently that her voice shook.
“My lady, terrible news!”
“Slowly.”
“His Majesty was lucid briefly today. He summoned the Grand Secretary to the Imperial Study to secretly write a succession decree. The Noble Consort’s spies found out. She’s taken men there to seize it!”
My head rang. Cold flooded my body.
The old maid gasped.
“I also heard she ordered trusted people to forge a decree accusing His Highness of rebellion on the northern frontier, and force His Majesty to order his death!”
“What about the Grand Secretary?”
“He tried to leave with the true decree, but her men stopped him in the study. It’s completely surrounded. No one can enter.”
### Part 14
I clenched my fists until my nails dug into my flesh.
“I’ll remember that you risked your life to warn me.”
I put a purse of silver in her hands.
“Go. Don’t let anyone see you.”
She climbed back over the wall and vanished into the night.
Chuntao held my hand, her palm slick with sweat.
“We’re confined here. We can’t leave or send word. His Highness knows nothing. If the forged decree reaches him first—”
“It won’t.”
“How can it not? We can’t even get past our gate!”
I looked into her eyes.
“There’s a secret passage.”
She stared.
“What passage?”
“When I first arrived, an old carpenter repairing the palace got drunk and let it slip. Beneath the rockery is an abandoned drain from when the palace was built. It runs to the moat outside the city. Only a handful of people know.”
Her eyes brightened, then dimmed.
“Even if we escape, the real decree is still in the study. Without it, what good does escape do? How can His Highness lawfully raise troops?”
“That’s why I must go to the study.”
“You’re mad!” She clutched my sleeve. “It’s surrounded. You’d be going to your death!”
I shook off her hand.
“I cannot sit here and wait for her forged order to reach the frontier and make him kill himself.”
Her mouth opened. No words came.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps and guards’ shouts sounded outside.
“Quickly! My lady orders every corner searched! Check for hidden letters and secret communications!”
Chuntao went pale.
“They’re here!”
I hurried to the rockery and moved several stones.
“Listen carefully. When they break in, stay in the front courtyard and argue with them. Draw their attention to the rooms there. Give me time. Not a word about the passage.”
“What about you?” Her eyes reddened.
“I’ll go to the study and find a way to obtain the decree.”
With a crash, the guards broke through our gate.
“Search everything!”
I glanced at Chuntao, bent, and crawled into the opening. I pushed the stones back to cover most of it, leaving only a small gap for air.
The tunnel was pitch-black, the ground full of mud and sharp stones.
Only one thought filled my mind.
Faster. Faster.
Heng was far away and knew nothing. If the false decree arrived first, he was finished.
Stones cut my hands. I drew shallow breaths in pain but dared make no sound.
Someone outside might hear.
After I’d crawled for who knew how long, light finally appeared ahead.
I pushed a slab aside and emerged into a small abandoned room, just beyond the rear courtyard of the Imperial Study.
Guards were everywhere.
I hid behind discarded things, my heart ready to leap from my chest.
Inside, the Noble Consort spoke.
“A decree written when His Majesty was confused cannot count, Grand Secretary. The Second Prince is the proper choice! Hand it over!”
“This is a secret succession decree written by His Majesty while fully lucid, bearing the imperial seal. I cannot simply surrender it to you!”
“You refuse courtesy and insist on punishment! Guards, find it!”
Furniture crashed inside.
Sweat poured from me. Any longer, and the true decree would be lost.
The rear window wasn’t fully closed. A gap remained.