She turned to her son and curtsied. “I have spoken, but the choice is yours alone, Your Majesty.”
Alexander leaned down and whispered in JingYi’s ear. “It is done. The fox endorses the crow’s hunt.”
He straightened, watching the Dowager resume her seat. He’d be a fool to think the old enemy had become a friend. But she recognized the next best thing.
ShunLi let the silence stretch, giving JingYi a long, considering look. For a moment, Alexander thought he would call her bluff.
Then he leaned back and sighed.
“The law is clear. The price is your lives. But a ruler who knows only law is a tyrant.”
He stood, his presence filling the dais. “Your lives are forfeit to the throne. I choose to spend that currency not on graves, but on loyalty. Your families’ status, wealth, and your very lives are now conditional on one thing alone: absolute, unquestioning fealty to the Crown. Do you accept?”
The relief that washed over the three fathers was profound. They pressed their foreheads to the cold floor, weeping with gratitude.
“We accept, Your Majesty! Thank you!”
The guards led the weeping ladies away. ShunLi returned to his seat and addressed JingYi.
“I cannot grant your request, Sho Meisha. I pray you find it in your heart to accept this judgement.”
JingYi bowed. “Your Majesty’s wish is my wish.” Her face was serene, but Alexander felt the tension still coiled within her.
“Your Majesty,” she said. “There remains one further matter. An older wound—concerning the rot within this court and the safety of its Omegas.”
ShunLi’s eyes sharpened. He gave a single grim nod. “Speak.”
“The Alphas who attacked me when I was fourteen,” she said, voice clear without a trace of the terror she must have felt. “You stopped them, but a weed trimmed grows back stronger. They believed their status granted them the right to take what was not theirs. That belief still festers.”
A different tension filled the room.
“The time for leniency has passed,” ShunLi said, his voice dropping into a register that promised violence. “We are cutting out the rot so a new golden age can take root.”
He scanned the hall. “The days when an Alpha’s birthright excuses monstrous behaviour are over. The sons of HousesShèn, Lân, and Tao will be stripped of their names and titles. Their families will disown them or share their fate. They will be sent to the limyerite mines in the eastern provinces where their worthless existence will finally contribute to the glory of Xûen-Sarai.”
Alexander looked from the resolute emperor to Jing Yi. His hand reached for hers, their fingers entwining.The formalities that followed were a blur of bowed heads and retreating steps. Soon after, they stepped into the late afternoon sun of the courtyard.
“It’s over,” he said.
“It is,” she agreed.
He wrapped her in his arms, pulling her close, feeling the last of the tremors leave her frame. “You carried this burden for so long. You can set it down now.”
She nuzzled into the hollow of his throat. “I feel hollowed out.”
The sun warmed them where they stood. He pressed a kiss to her hair. “Hollow spaces can be filled with better things. Your next performance will have far more flowers and far fewer politics.”
She leaned back, and the smile touching her lips was the most beautiful thing he’d seen all day. “Our wedding. May it be the last performance I do for this court.”
“The court will expect a spectacle,” he said, knuckles brushing her cheek. “But for me, it is the moment the world sees what I already know: I am yours. You are mine. When I look at you, I won’t see an audience. I’ll only see you.”
The last of her weariness left, replaced by a tenderness in his chest. She reached up to pull him down, and their lips met.
In the wake of their kiss, the tension of the trial finally shattered, and in its place: a shared future, bright and certain.
CHAPTER 76
JINGYI
