Part 3, Chapter 7

Jiangou in prison

Ch 7

Jiangou leaned against his cell wall. Moon light dimly illuminated the three small windows that were set too high up for him to look out of. At least it was over. Finally over. He no longer had to concern himself with the running of the realms. If it weren’t for the gnawing fear in his gut over what would become of his family he would almost be relieved. He looked down at the stump where his hand used to be and shuddered. His brother, the Emperor, would never forgive them.

The door creaked as it swung open. Jiangou looked up to see the Emperor standing in the doorway. Speak of the devil and he shall appear, Jiangou thought bitterly.

“Jiangou,” his brother said in the coldest voice he had ever heard. “What did you do to me?”

Jiangou gaped at him. Was his brother channeling some villain out of a bad play? He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but this… wasn’t it.

“I tried to erase your existence and take over the throne. I thought I was pretty obvious about that.” Jiangou tried as hard as he could to sound nonchalant, as if the entire scheme had been something he cooked up with his friends after one too many bottles of wine. 

“Why?” Jianyu said, suppressed fury in the single word.

“To gain more power, isn’t that obvious?”

“Brother, you never wanted power. You complained about being made the Lord of Storms until father locked you in the meditation chamber at the pole because you gave him a headache.”

Jiangou almost smiled at the memory. Their father had been trying to teach him to be a leader like his perfect brother and he had rebelled in the only way he knew how, drinking and complaining. Which had annoyed their father enough that he give his wayward son such a severe punishment. Three days later his brother had been sent to confinement with him because Jianyu hadn’t stopped petitioning their father to let Jiangou out. The brothers had then spent the entire time bickering until the priest in charge of the temple had kicked them out. After that, their mothers had gotten involved and all complaining and arguing was abruptly ended.

Jiangou pushed away the memory. “People change and you never did guard against me well enough.”

“Who else was a part of this?” Jianyu asked. 

“No one,” Jiangou said quickly. 

“It took four people to cast that spell. I know you didn’t do it alone.”

Jiangou laughed, although it sounded hollow to his own ears. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was the only one there that night.

Jianyu’s expression went even colder. “I assume your mother was one of the people who assisted you. Who else? Your wife? The King of the Merfolk? Someone from the Red Desert? It had to be powerful people. People close to you. I have a witness, I’ll find them eventually.”

Jiangou’s breath almost stopped. A witness? There hadn’t been anyone in the room, he was certain. Jianyu must be lying. “There was only me,” he insisted.

A guard appeared at the door holding a bowl of watery rice porridge. At the sight of the Emperor he fell to his knees. “Your Majesty… shift change… I didn’t… Sorry… I…”

Jianyu stared at the guard. If he had been in the palace his personal guard would have kept the fool out, but he hadn’t stopped for long enough to take care of dealing with his usual entourage. His head hurt. His back hurt where the spear had struck him, even though it was mostly healed. Everything hurt. He was too tired to deal with this fool. He was too tired to deal with his brother. He wanted Xun. Wordlessly he turned and left.