Chapter 7: Prince Jai

Excitement built the closer I got to the wall. I could no longer hear my chief eunuch calling out for me and was no longer in danger of being caught as I so often am.

At seventeen I had no fear of being outside the safety of the palace walls on my own. I’ve listened carefully to the stories told by my brother and the children of other noblemen who paid visits to the palace and knew that life beyond these walls wasn’t the nightmare my step-grandmother had made it out to be.

Now I’ve come to believe that maybe she has other reasons for wanting me to believe that life beyond the palace walls are a danger to me.

I felt a shudder run down my spine at the thought of Empress Valeria. Though she had taken the place of my father’s mother, the two women from what little I remember of my grandmother were vastly different in every way.

The grandmother I remembered was the kindly sort who always kept my favorite sweets handy for my daily visits. Her smile never wavered, and there was never a harsh word spoken.

Empress Valeria, on the other hand, was a stern, cold-faced woman who only showed kindness when others were around. I have an instinctual dislike of her, and not just because of the whispers pertaining to her part in my grandmother’s passing.

I shook off thoughts of her lest they spoil my day and went to the secret place where I’d hidden the things I would need for this day’s adventure a few weeks ago, while it was still cold out and no one was about.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I found them still there where I’d hid them, and hefted the bag of snacks higher on my shoulder with a cautious look around.

I grabbed the hidden bamboo ladder and looking around once more to make sure I was truly in the clear, propped it up well against the wall.

I’d never gotten this far before and was afraid that it had been too easy this time. I looked around furtively, making sure that indeed no one was coming. I couldn’t believe I’d gotten this far without being caught.

Excitement mixed with the fear of being discovered at the very last second as I stepped up onto the first rung of the ladder.

I shifted the slipping bag more securely onto my shoulders and climbed with my heart beating wildly in my chest. Any second I expected to hear raised voices calling me back.

I was just about to reach the last rung and freedom when a noise startled me from behind. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes in frustration, sure that I’d been caught once again. But I didn’t hear the disapproving prattle of eunuch Van.

Looking quickly over my shoulder to see who or what it was that had appeared, I came up short at the sight that met my eyes. I had to blink twice to be sure that I wasn’t imagining things.

I stared open-mouthed at the unaccustomed sight of a stranger this far onto the palace grounds. It wasn’t just her presence here where she shouldn’t be that caught my attention though. It was the sheer beauty of her face.

It wasn’t that there was a shortage of beauties in the palace. Beauties can be found in every class in the kingdom. But there was something about this one that stood out.

A quiet gracefulness in the way she walked. An elegance about her, an aura that made my heart beat faster in my chest. The closer she came the more unreal she seemed. The look on her face was pure joy.

She looked like my imagination of a fabled princess from another time. And for a split second, I thought she might not be real. That she was indeed just a figment of my imagination. But her tinkling laugh when it rang out, assured me that she was indeed very real.

I watched spellbound as she got closer and closer to where I stood on the ladder, all but forgetting my adventure. Now my heart beat erratically for a different reason.

The vision had yet to notice me as she stared at the bluebird that seemed to be leading her. My heart trembled when she giggled as she rushed forward and tried to catch her prey.

It was then she noticed me atop the ladder, just as she was about to run into it, which would have sent me tumbling to the ground no doubt. I didn’t care. I was stuck in place, almost afraid that if I moved the vision would disappear.

Her eyes, a more vibrant blue than the feathers of the bird, were wide with excitement as they looked from the bird to me. She stopped in her tracks, her mouth open in an ‘oh’ of surprise.

The sun glistened in her raven colored hair that was far more beautiful than the ornaments that are often used to decorate the elaborate coiffures of the younger ladies of nobility.

She was bare of all enhancements, not even a ring adorned her finger which was virtually unheard of. She needed nothing to add to her beauty. She shone like a sparkling gem all on her own.

My eyes left her face and traveled down the rest of her. Not in a lascivious manner, but in awe that even as the emperor’s grandson, even with my life of grandeur here in the palace, I had never seen anything so beautiful.

She was slender of build, beneath the floor-length gown that almost matched her eyes and the white cape that was tied around her shoulders. It was obvious from her dress that she was from a noble family but I was sure that I had never seen her before.

As I looked at her I wondered how anything that beautiful could be real. Her eyes held me captive for the longest of moments and kept my tongue locked behind my teeth as I stared at her almost in wonder.

She stared back at me with no fear and none of the reverence most reserved for members of the royal family. Not to mention the favorite grandson of the emperor.