Yu Ying fashioned himself as someone who was neither particularly intelligent nor brazen. And it took that particular type of person to burst into the middle of a royal wedding. So, he thought about it for months.
What could interrupt a royal wedding?
A royal scandal.
It took him months to decide until one of his little spies told him that Chuli was found--alive. She was beaten bloody by El Mahdy guards and found herself in her omega father's arms, in his own arms, the morning of the Sonhrai Princess' wedding. Bowls rushed in and out of their residency, filled with blood, as he dabbed her injuries. His wife paced the hall, mumbling—a sort of trailing and mindless ramble that he associated with her planning.
His hand brushed over her little fringe of hair, and he remembered when she was young. She hopped over stone fences with bravery and a lack of fear and yelled at roaming oxen like they were rats. In another lifetime, she could've been a warrior on the battlefield bringing glory to their clan. The cold breeze of morning had warmed as the sun hovered in the sky.
Today was only the beginning.
"You don't," his daughter winced as the cloth dabbed a thick bruise on her forehead, "need to think about escape plans and other pathways. There's nothing else we can do here. The best plan of escape is to leave."
"Why did you sneak into the El Mahdy compound?"
Silence.
"Where have you been? And why does everyone believe you're dead?"
Silence.
Again.
He nearly spilled the whole bowl over, but as an adult, a father, he resisted the urge. "A-li, you can't--"
"The Empress gave mother an impossible task," Chuli cut in. "Did you know about it? You had to have. The reappearance of the long-lost children of the Athari Clan, appearing out of thin air, sounds like your work."
Yu Ying could see his wife peering around the corner, listening in. He cleared his throat, "I did. We expected it. And I'm still your father. You don't have to like what I do but you should respect it."
"You weren't going to do anything about it. Mother was going to die and for what--?"
An unspoken why hovered in the air.
"Chuli, the politics between our nations are--"
"--it's because of me and my marriage, isn't it?" Chuli said. "I could see it, after the naming ceremony was set, that the Empress wouldn't have made such a decision unless we had lost power in some way. It's always been about balance for her. She means to get rid of both of you. That is the price of a royal title."
"The Carolingian Empire has also made their maneuvers," the Ambassador interrupted, walking into the room and then holding her hand against Chuli's chest to keep her from moving off the bed. "I was put in a tight spot for multiple reasons, even Akira Lin is one of them. Xiaotzi's royal title and name added to their genealogy records is just an added weight to an already burdened cart."
The cool morning breeze of the day swept through the clay house, and their still lit candles wisped. Tension sat between them like static on the eve of a thunderstorm.
"What will you do?"
He shared a look with his wife, and his wife tilted her head before he replied, "We noted some mistakes handled by the Empress' heirs. We hope to offer tit for tat and get some pressure off our backs. Not that the Athari children are our plot either. No point in avoiding a perfect opportunity to stew some malcontent."
"Truly?" Chuli questioned.
He and his wife nodded.
Yu Ying clarified, "But I do think the Zhuong is involved. Our missives gave us a warning yesterday that someone important is to arrive on our doorstep. With wedding gifts, no less."
"Someone important?"
"The Crown Prince of Zhuong."
He saw Chuli's flabbergasted expression and patted her on the shoulder, then added, "It seems things are not going well for him. He's losing against his brother, Dalir, who has relatives somewhere up north of here. It's the only reason Prince Dalir hasn't been made Crown Prince, too. They don't like his foreign features, his foreign omega father, or his foreign name. His omega father comes from a family with good warhorses and good mines, and even better blacksmiths. If the Emperor wants war, this is the Crown Prince he'll choose."
"Should we--?"
"No," he interrupted and then nodded to his wife. "The Crown Prince believes primarily in peace. He doesn't want war or blood on his hands in any way. It's his wife, a relative of Sakai Won and the Sarakhs, that we need to worry about. They'll have a moment for reconnaissance. We can't let that pass."
The Ambassador continued, "His shu husband is the illegitimate son of the Carolingian Empire. The Prince has made quiet connections with his bastard brother, but I doubt his omega brother knows or cares. We can use this conflict to our benefit. And the weaker the Prince is, the weaker the Sonhrai are."
"And the happier you'll be with your husband," Yu Ying pointed out.
Chuli's face twisted, but she said nothing.
The Ambassador said, "We also noticed you've been using the Orellanos for information."
"It was to find out if the Empress' secret had grounds."
Yu Ying sighed. "That secret is the secret no one will admit to, even if proof is staring them directly in the eyes. And it's one that's been on the rumor rounds for quite some time. No one gives it much notice. Besides, I thought this was, in truth, partially your plan. Why else did you find Neal's daughter? Out of the kindness of your heart? I won't believe it."
The only reason he noticed a shift in the function of his spies was when Wuhayb Cordero left for the Carolingian Empire, but Neal Orellano stayed. Those two were like bread and butter. While one worked more closely with Akira Lin and the other worked with Yu Ying, there was a symbiotic nature to how their information web entangled itself.
Akira had been a thorn in his side since their youth.
The man never knew how to give up or call defeat.
So, he would never send the Cordero to leave his post of watching Neal, unless something prioritized it. At first, he thought it was Berman's death, but the Carolingian Empire appeared to have passed over any such repercussions. Then he thought the Empress was ridding herself of his leech-like tendencies, but the El Mahdy Matriarch and Kinya's "sojourn" spoke differently. The only thing left was the opposite.
He caused Berman's death, and the Empress elevated him to some preferred status. But she wasn't one to offer rewards easily. The question was--"What can she offer Akira?"
Chuli scoffed, even as she was wrapped in bandages and bruised, "The only thing she can offer him is things he doesn't want. Everything he wants, he has. So far, she's only interested in gathering people for her rebellion."
Yu Ying exhaled sharply, and his hands unsteadily tightened on the washcloth.
"Not everything," his wife sighed, and her brows pinched. Her mouth unfurled as if reliving an old, distasteful memory. "Did you know your father was betrothed to him at first? But my father handed them a bigger cake and an even bigger bride price. Neither of our families were good people but we don't erase history. Akira's grandfather, Matsumaru, was a vicious man who paid every prick with mass murder. Your grandparent's, my parent's deaths, wasn't an accident. It was murder. The kind of gruesome murder that pushed me to the ends of the borders because people feared getting close to me. And even if we never prove who did it, I won't believe he didn't have a hand in it."
The room was heavy with those words. Akira had always been a buzzing, stinging thing in his mind and he was also one of the cruelest and violent people he's ever known. And Yu Ying was raised among a family that killed people in the way of the Pig King.
"He can't possibly still--?"
"I never believed she wanted the matriarch dead," Yu Ying said distractedly. His eyes stumbled over into the distance, where he knew the palace was. And where things may end for him. "And she gets rid of the foreign Ambassador. Her hands are, for the most part, clean. It's a good plan."
"But it supposes on whether the matriarch lives or dies, still, doesn't it?" Chuli repeated. "Then that is what we do. The plan unravels, the El Mahdy matriarch dies, and Akira loses."
"We can't be the ones to do it," his wife points out, and Yu Ying agrees.
It needs to be someone in the royal family, or the Empress will use said person against Zhuong. And they'll lose either way.
His wife scoffed, as if it were an easy answer, "How about we the Empress' most openly kept secret?"
"Akhutenan," Yu Ying said and then nodded. "Use Neal as a mediator and it should work in our favor."
"His lover is a hand of Akira's. He's going to resist," Chuli adds. "Something has to be done about him first."
One of the maids enters the room and then whispers in the Ambassador's ear. His wife smirks before shooing off the maid. "It seems the long-lost Prince's lover is on the way to the palace to meet Akhutenan for the wedding. And to offer words of support for Akira. It would be so awful if Donte were delayed."
Chuli goes quiet before she darts her eyes between the two of them, and then said, "About the Athari--?"
"We pretend that they were our plan all along," Yu Ying sighed. "I have an idea of whose plan it was and doubt that they care who takes advantage of them as long as someone does."
He would have to speak with Ahanu, privately. But if it's who he thinks it is, then Ahanu will have to be on the lookout as well.
The Atharis were breakoffs from the Mawaddah Clan centuries ago. After how the present-day Empress treated them, it's surprising, in his mind, that they would ever want to introduce themselves. He gestured for his wife to get a move on but Chuli stopped them.
"Why don't I go instead?" Chuli pointed out. "Look at me."
Yu Ying blinked. "Yes, we can see, you can't move."
"I can move, mostly. And Donte doesn't know how to fight," Chuli argued, wincing as she sat her body up. "Have one of the maids drop me off, like a threat or an attempt on my life, or even if I was freed from torture, in the middle of the street. Directly in front of Donte. He would have no choice but to act."
"Fine, but your mother is going to be on watch nearby," Yu Ying scowled. "Do not make this more difficult than it needs to be. We can always leave. There are options. We have options."
"Not if I want Xiaotzi safe," Chuli begged and then hooked to Yu Ying's robes, as if she were a child again. "This won't matter if this ends up endangering him. And this--this scandal could ruin his life. Again. I can't let this happen to him."
Yu Ying hushed her and patted her hand. "No worries, whatever happens to your husband, he's more than well-protected. He's a Prince now. I promise you. You should be worrying more about yourself."
The words did little to move his daughter, so he tilted a nod at one of the maids, Haka
It didn't take long to gather a few trusted servants to pack things away in one of their unused kajawas and settle Chuli inside. He reminded her again that her life was the most important thing and then hurried the coach on.
Maids entered the room with robes, accessories, and jewelry standard to Zhuong. They were primped and cleaned for the wedding, wearing robes of each in the pattern of flying cranes. Yu Ying's was green and silk, wrapping, twisting around his body with a fan tucked at his hip. His wife's looser and more bulky robes were of a thicker but no less expensive fabric and a darker hue of green, closer to blue.
As soon as they stepped out, three figures greeted them.
One of which looked like they were from Zhuong, pregnant and wearing inappropriate clothing for his present state, perhaps because he was taller than the average omega and appeared of the laborer class. The other figure, a female alpha, seemed to be of varying backgrounds but also Zhuong by her appearance, except for her electric green-like eyes, and the third, with blonde hair, appeared entirely of Carolingian lineage.
His wife shook her head.
She had never met them before either.
The blonde introduced herself first.
"I was told there was payment offered to those who could dig their feet down into new ventures, by Portyard Dock notice," the blonde woman said with a flourished bow. She wore the typical, cascading dress of the Carolingian era, but the fabric was thinner and more airy. It was more reminiscent of Zhuong fabric than Carolingian. "We have a proposition for you."
"We're busy," his wife brusquely said with a waved hand and a curt nod towards one of the maids who began ushering the trio away. "We have things to do."
"Ah, but wouldn't you like to know who brought those Athari kids to shore?"
The words stunned them, but with a brief shared look, none of it appeared on their faces. He reread them--from head to toe. There was nothing discernible about them except in how their relative likeness in varying degrees of odd reminded her of Castillo Reviere. Perhaps servants or slaves of the Mawaddah Clan?
But he had taken the bait, with only a fluid turned gesture towards his wife by way of flattening any wrinkles on her robes, he whispered to her ears only, "Take the bait. I'll do the rest."
He told the maids to retrieve some of their guards to return here.
Things could get ugly.
His wife sighed and dragged his hand away from her robes. She said, "You three don't seem to be much more than troublemakers."
"My compatriots and I are opportunists. And the opportunity arose that we couldn't ignore," the blonde grinned. "We found a few spies were still nestled within the Carolingian military, on behalf of the Carolingian Empire. Do you know how?"
"I'm sure you will inform us," the Ambassador sighed.
The blonde continued, with flourishing and gesticulating hands in the air, "They've been searching for ways to cause an imbalance in the Sonhrai. Unable to attack directly and failing to expand their power vacuum, they have two soldiers whose backgrounds are beyond reproach. We know their names."
He could see his wife's patience burn to the bottom of its wick.
"Take them away," his wife ordered the returning servants. "And don't let them in again."
"Not even the Commander could punish them properly," the blonde said, raising her voice as her eyes caught the guards returning, dressed in thin armor and a weapon at their side. "And your husband is all the proof I need."
He cocked his head and then motioned for the guards to stop moving before brandishing out the weapon of the nearest guard, a pin needle thin weapon with a sharp curve, striking it just at the pulse of the blonde woman.
The woman froze as Yu Ying flourished the sword, much like the blonde did earlier with her hands as she spoke, as if sliding, shaving against her skin without a drop of blood was a fun trick. Yet, the blade was close enough that any false move would wound her.
He wasn't playing a game.
Her compatriots fell a few steps back, with the second figure, maneuvering protective gestures over the pregnant omega, shuffling him behind her.
The alpha wasn't wrong. This could be used to convince Akhutenan further that Akira Lin isn't to be trusted. But, there were only a few people who knew Yu Ying was searching for dirt on Akira Lin with the Carolingian Empire.
Yu Ying said, coldly, "I don't appreciate people listening in on private conversations."
"Ah! My apologies," the woman repeated with furrowed brows and raised their hand in surrender. "I only heard because sounds fall from above. My morning table that day was right underneath your room, but I digress, we have already brought these two soldiers with us. Surely it won't hurt to hear what Pastor Cordero is up to. All we ask in return is payment for having brought the bodies and evidence of Carolingian's wrongdoing, for your ease."
"Evidence? Real evidence?" his wife perked up then. "You'll have to show us."
Yu Ying tossed a withering look as his wife ignored his earlier request.
They had been so focused on the Athari, the Sonhrai Imperial family, and their strife with Zhuong that the Carolingian were more than a bit out of their sight. He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled.
It was an oversight, especially with Akhutenan's appearance on the Sonhrai Imperial map.
The blonde's grin widens. "Of course! We'll bring them out." And then the alpha whistled, the signal echoed out into the air, and the shuffling of sharp movements sounded. "They are a, for the lack of better words, bit worse for wear."
Another alpha twisted around the corner in the distance, out from behind the hilled land, wiry but thick muscles in her arms as she yanked the two alphas of a similar size, no less, with ease. Her figure was also that of a foreigner; he could tell by her face and stance that she could have been from any empire but also neither.
He stifled an irritated sigh as he saw that this group painted a drawing of desperation. A jumbled grouping of people adding their skills together to make meaning.
They wouldn't be easily moved or convinced to leave.
Those two tied-up alphas were forced to kneel at Yu Ying's feet. Bruises decorated their body with split lips and a few closed cuts. Rope kept their arms tied behind their backs. The alpha kept her hands gripping the back of their neck like rabid animals and then nodded at the blonde.
The alpha tightened her grasp and hissed, "Tell them what you told us."
One of the alphas begins coughing, and a dribble of blood spills out of his mouth, so the other begins to speak.
Yu Ying couldn't see anything special about them. A bit more muscular and taller than the typical soldier in the Campgrounds, but they didn't stick out. And none of his informants wrote down whether they were exceptionally talented or born into influential families. The distinction was important. Otherwise, how important could they be?
Then the bruised alpha spoke, "It's bigger than us. Bigger than any of us. He chose us to lead the cause. We were right." and then snapped, but the alpha tightened her hold, and the trapped alpha grappled in the air but was unable to break free. "And in our righteousness, given the strength to crush our enemies.
The alpha holding them down looked strong, like a sinewy sort of muscularity, but he couldn't see how she was holding down two alphas with each hand.
"Did you drug them?" He asked and then pointed at their weak forms. "None of their limbs look broken, and they're barely bleeding from the mouth. Little internal damage. And not enough to stun them."
"No drugs," the alpha tossed a toothy, sharp grin and then said, "My alpha father was a hunter, and my omega father knew medicine, basic poultices, salves, and anatomy. I tried knocking them unconscious the normal way, a sharp hit to the base of the neck, but there was something weird about them. It didn't work, no matter the angle. Right where my hands are is an extra-thick layer of skin. Don't fuckin' know what it is but what it is, is a weakness for some burly asses like this. Touched it once, and they started crying. Holding it like this, they can't even move."
His family had never been in medicine or even martial arts but as the underworld's belly consumed his family and they fought for a seat at the table to keep that belly full--well, both the savory and the unsavory was known to him.
This was new.
Perhaps an old war injury they shared.
Yu Ying finally lowered the blade and stuck it back in its sheath, gesturing for the guards to leave. They would stay on the perimeter, but they wouldn't be able to hear the rest of the conversation in case things needed to be handled still.
"It's because of that damned omega!"
"Pastor Cordero was right! The Devil, they are!"
Yu Ying tossed a glance at the blonde alpha.
"It's the omega at the Campgrounds," the alpha replied. "Who lied that he was an alpha. They tried kidnapping him at the Portyard Dock. That's how we found them."
Their words incensed them, and their struggles increased until the blonde had to step forward and help re-tighten the ropes twisted around their wrists.
The blonde continued, " I don't know why but they're one of Pastor Cordero's followers. He teaches them to hate omegas and that alphas are their gods, worthy of being praised. We sent the omega they harassed to a room at the Portyard Dock. These two were sent specifically to cause trouble between the Commander and the surrounding civilians."
The words alone weren't proof that they were spies or working under the Carolingian Emperor's thumb. Recent news of major investments in the church under Pastor Cordero was something he had heard, but he dismissed the whispers. At the time, it sounded like Carolingian business. Disrupting the relationship between civilians and the Campgrounds was typical for the Carolingian military. No one would've blinked. But the Empress' relationship with Akhutenan would have taken a hit.
It seems that until they dug out their claws, still knuckles deep in their ribcages, they would be affected by every twist and turn within the Carolingian Empire.
"What did they tell you? In their missives that were sent, and what was in them."
The blonde scratched her head and said, "Well, that's the thing. We wrote down what was said, but it didn't make a lick of sense. It sounded like they were going to start--The New Cycle, they called it. A new cycle of alphas in power and omegas in the dirt. I can't see how things could be worse for omegas but also--"
"That's enough," Yu Ying snapped and then gestured to one of his maids with a few guards. "Find them somewhere to sleep in the guestrooms. Offer them food and drink but if they cause issues, remove them from the residence." He pointed at the alpha gripping the other alpha's necks. "I'm going to have one of our servants send you to a friend of ours. They're going to handle these alphas and you're not going to speak a word of what you see. Are we all in agreement? Good."
He gestured one of the maids to offer them partial payment.
"You'll get the rest after we return and your information has been verified."
Without another word or cajoling from the blonde alpha, Yu Ying pulled his wife along and into the kajawa as they sped off towards the palace.
His wife sighed as the horses galloped. "Do you think any of that was trustworthy?"
"You read the shipping manifest of who was on Akira's ship."
"It carried the Atharis, one of your people, and two rogue swordsmen by the name of Liu."
"I noticed that one of those investors looked like an old friend of mine," Yu Ying nodded and then added lowly. "The one with the eyes. There was a warrior who once represented the Liu Clan before it fell into disarray with similar eyes. I don't think it's a coincidence that the new pseudonym of Neal's daughter has Liu. Or that they appeared at the same time."
"The Liu Clan were retainers to the previous dynasty several centuries ago," Candise frowns. "You think they want to take back their ancestor's place with the Imperial Family. It was so long ago."
"I doubt it," Yu Ying said with his eyes peering out. It didn't seem there was anyone following them. "I'll have someone look into them. Chuli seemed not to be interested in them."
"Because she trusts too easily," Candise pointed out. "She trusts Neal and the Orellanos, a bit too far in my opinion, and has extended that trust to their estranged daughter."
"Well, it's good that we're here." Yu Ying said and then began fanning himself. "I can't imagine how things would be without us."
"Nothing to think about now."
"Indeed.