The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu Page A

considered him weak. That was why he had been assigned to this project in the first place: You must learn how the strong make the weak do their bidding .
    â€œWe must go to the emperor and ask him to explain this.”
    Pulo sighed. “Once my father’s mind is made up, it cannot be changed. He must have decided that my little brother is more suited to being emperor than I am. He’s probably right.” Gently, respectfully, he rolled up the letter and handed it back to the messengers. He emptied the content of the sachet into his palm, revealing two large pills, and these he swallowed in one gulp.
    â€œGeneral, I’m truly sorry you chose to follow me instead of my brother.”
    The crown prince lay down on the ground as if to sleep. After a while he closed his eyes and stopped breathing. Tonyeti knelt down and held the young man’s inert body. Through his tears, he saw that the messengers had all drawn their swords.
    â€œSo this is how my service to Xana is repaid,” he said.
    His cries of rage echoed in the tunnels long after they cut him down.

    â€œIs Pulo here?” the emperor asked. He could barely move his lips.
    â€œSoon. Just a few more days,” Pira said.
    The emperor closed his eyes.
    Pira waited for an hour. He leaned down and felt nothing emanating from the emperor’s nostrils. He reached out and touched the emperor’s lips. They were cold.
    He came out of the tent. “The emperor is dead! Long live the emperor!”
    PAN: THE ELEVENTH MONTH IN THE TWENTY-THIRD YEAR OF THE REIGN OF ONE BRIGHT HEAVEN.
    Prince Loshi, a boy of twelve, ascended the throne and took on the new Imperial name of Emperor Erishi, a Classical Ano word that meant “continuation.” Prime Minister Crupo was his regent, and Chatelain Pira took over as the new chief augur.
    Pira announced an auspicious name for the new reign: Righteous Force, and the calendar was reset. Pan celebrated for ten straight days.
    But many of the ministers whispered to one another that something was improper about the succession, that strange circumstances surrounded the emperor’s death. Crupo and Pira produced documents proving that Crown Prince Pulo and General Tonyeti had been plotting with pirates and black-hearted rebels to seize Rui Island and found their own independent Tiro state, and when their plot was discovered, they committed suicide out of fear. But the evidence seemed to some of the ministers and generals flimsy.
    Regent Crupo decided to ferret out the doubters.
    One morning, about a month after the death of Emperor Mapidéré, as the ministers and generals gathered in the Grand Audience Hall to discuss the latest reports of banditry and famine with the emperor, Regent Crupo came in late. He brought with him a stag taken from the Imperial Zoo, one of Emperor Erishi’s favorite places in the palace. The stag had huge antlers, and the ministers and generals milling about the hall backed away, giving them ample berth.
    â€œRénga,” Crupo said, bowing deeply. “I have brought you a fine horse. What do you and the assembled ministers think of it?”
    The boy emperor’s tiny figure seemed almost swallowed up by the giant throne he sat in. He didn’t understand what sort of joke the regent was playing. He had always had trouble following his old teacher’s erudite, complicated lessons, and the boy did not feel close to the man, certain that his teacher found him lacking as a student. Crupo was also such a strange man—the regent had come to him in the middle of the night to explain that he would now be emperor, but then the regent had given him almost nothing to do, telling him to just enjoy himself and play games with Pira and be entertained by an endless stream of dancing troupes, acrobats, animal trainers, and magicians. The emperor tried to convince himself that he liked the regent, but in truth, he was more than a bit intimidated by him.
    â€œI