Page 86 of Between Ghosts and Gods

“Red cups only, I know. The maids have been informed,” someone replied. Arun couldn’t see their face, only their hands as they snatched the glass container from the guard.

“Make sure you do. Without Lady Camellia, there won’t be another batch if you mess up.”

Arun threw himself back against the wall as the guard turned around and headed back the way he had come. Before he could be discovered, he scrambled back down the hallway and ducked into the library.

An eternity passed as Arun stood there, silent, listening to the guard’s footsteps fade into the distance.

Lady Camellia. A bottle. Arun had not got a good look at it, but he was sure it was the elixir. General Shusa had said he would send someone to fetch it, but why was his guard handing it to the kitchen staff? What was this about red cups?

Being born a prince meant being aware of certain things other people might never give a second thought to – which spoon to use for dessert, the exact number of inches one was expected to bow to a king compared to a prince. Border crossings, peasant uprisings and assassination.

Arun had seen what the elixir had done to Kasu, and she had only had one or two drops. An entire bottle … well, an entire bottle might drive the gods mad. Or even destroy them.

Chapter Forty-Three Kasu

THE PLAY on stage ended with a polite smattering of applause. Kasu clapped until her hands stung. The gods truly were masters of the fine arts. As she’d suspected, the plays in the heavens were countless steps above the vile slop they put on in the under-realm.

Kasu turned to General Shusa. “Do the heavens perform plays often?”

“Only for special occasions such as this.” He winked at her.

In the corner of her eye, Kasu caught sight of Ruo bounding their way towards her.

“I liked the entertainment,” they purred. “Though it’s not as good as General Shusa: Life and Love of a Loser God.”

“Ruo!” Kasu wished the ground would swallow her up right then and there.

“Do you know it?” Ruo asked the general, oblivious to Kasu’s mortified expression, and then they began to sing, out of tune:

“Little flower, dressed in red, left alone to wither and rot –

When the young man returned, he cast her aside

And into the mud she sank.”

They weren’t even words from the right play. They weren’t words from a play at all, but from a song that was popular in the under-realm. “The Song of Shusa’s Lover”.

“That’s … interesting.” Kasu could tell that he was trying very hard to be polite, but General Shusa’s smile was strained.

“It’s just meaningless slander. You know what the under-realm is like,” she hurried to assure him.

“I’m aware of the under-realm’s opinion of me. As much as it pains me, I must admit some of it is true. When I was a human, I had a lover. When the war broke out, we were forced apart. Once we reunited, I discovered she had done terrible things. She had killed people, robbed people, hurt innocents. As much as I loved her, I couldn’t condone it. I left her and ascended to the heavens, and I have never thought about her since.”

“You did the right thing.”

“I know I did.”

At the edge of the courtyard, the crowd grew agitated. Kasu craned her neck to get a glimpse of what was happening when an attendant suddenly announced:

“Her Holiness, the Celestial Empress!”

Kasu swore her heart stopped for all of two seconds. In the midst of the crowd, she could just about make out the whisper of a pale-gold dress. The click of heels against the stone path.

General Shusa gestured for Kasu to accompany him and strode forward to welcome the head god. Her legs shook as she followed.

As the crowd parted, Kasu found herself standing mere feet away from the Celestial Empress.

She was shorter and younger-looking than Kasu had expected, though her youthful features disguised her true age. The Celestial Empress was the first and eldest of the gods in the heavens. Upon her snow-white hair, she wore a crown in the shape of a sun. Her golden dress was adorned with strings of pearls that encircled her wrists and waist, clinking against each other with every step she took.