Daughter of the Moon Empress

Trigger Warning- Brief mentions of sexual abuse and gore.

I watch my reflection in the mirror as I finish pinning the last braids into place. I couldn’t help but see my mother in the woman that looked back at me. How strange it could be to see the face of someone long deceased, to carry her image with me everywhere I went. Her features so eerily resembled my own, but with one stark difference. Where my mother's eyes were filled with kindness, mine were hardened and cold; filled with something I’m not even sure I recognized myself. 

I open the ornate box on the vanity in front of me and lift out the possession I cherish more than anything in the world. A simple silver hair stick adorned with teardrop opals and a large crescent moon. I held it in my hand for a moment before sliding it through the knot of braids on the back of my head just as my mother had worn, along with my grandmother, and all the matriarchs before them. 

I take in a breath and sigh. “Are you just going to stand there gawking?” I banter as I dip my brush in rouge before applying it to my lips. She emerged from the shadows, hand on her katana. 

“If her majesty allows,” She says with a smirk, the growing smile tugging on the long scar underneath her left eye. A scarred patch of skin over the place of her absent eye. I wrinkle my nose at the comment. 

“You know I don’t like it when you call me that,” I say quietly, placing my brush down. 

She came closer to me and gently put a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m ready,” I say standing and turning to face her. Even scarred and mutilated, she was mesmerizing to me. But it was her gentleness that enchanted me the most. She loved me in a way that was so honest, so true, the likes of which had only been rivaled by the love of my mother and father when they were alive. 

“What if I fail?” I ask in a moment of insecurity.

“You won’t.”  She tilts my chin up with a delicate hand. 

“What if they don’t want me?” I ask, my voice trembling slightly. 

“This is what you are meant for. Everything is changing, the world is changing. It is your destiny to lead it.”

She takes my hand and tenderly places it on her lips. She holds it there for a few moments, her breath falling softly across my knuckles. I take my hand to cup her face and carefully lean into her, pressing my forehead against hers. 

“I’ll see you soon,” I say kissing her, then slipping out the door into the vastness of the palace.

—

My shoes clicked softly across the floor of the hallway. My body is rigid. I fidget nervously with my sleeve. I take a deep breath and relax my shoulders as I approach the set of extravagant double doors. I had to maintain my composure. 

I enter the Emperor's chambers just as I had done a thousand times before. Just as all royal concubines had done before. 

He takes note of my entrance and raises a hand to dismiss the room. This has always fascinated me. Out of all the men I serviced over the years, none had ever seemed bothered by an audience. In fact, many enjoyed it. I stood silently as the cluster of servants flooded out of the room, followed at the rear by the set of royal guards stationed by the door. 

“Hello, my little flower.” He says, rising laboriously out of his seat.  

“You look so beautiful.”

“I know,” I answer flatly, thinking of all the times I’d heard that in my life. From the soldiers that discovered my identity after my family had been executed. Soldiers, who had been charged with escorting me to the Emperor, but who had also managed to take a piece of my innocence on the journey there. I thought of all the diplomats and courtesans I had been instructed to give myself to. Using my physical aptitudes to ensure the security of whatever politics were prevalent at the time. I thought of the Emperor himself, and how captivated he was with me from the moment he laid his filthy eyes on me. Even with how young I was, he was still taken by me. I clench my jaw and meet his gaze again.

He starts to chuckle at my comment, then grabs his chest as he begins to wheeze. 

I stand motionless as he fights to regain control of his breathing. 

“So confident yet so poised.” He says, reaching out to grab me. 

I grit my teeth again.

“No,” I say moving away from him. 

This surprises him at first, but then his expression morphs into something much more sinister.

“You dare defy me.” He spits, his arm raising to strike me. 

“You should've killed me when you had the chance,” I say, blocking his advance. 

“I guess I only have your lust to thank for my salvation.” I produce the dagger hidden inside my sleeve. He staggers in shock as the hilt of my blade buries itself in his protruding stomach. 

“You little bitc-” I turn the blade in the palm of my hand. 

“You’re nothing but a whore. They will never follow you.” He says, laughing through red-stained teeth. He sputters out blood and sinks to his knees. I lowered my face level with him, close enough to smell his foul breath.

 “Men like you do not deserve the power you wield,” I say, pulling my blade from his belly, and slicing it in a single clean motion across his throat. He collapses on the floor and I watch him twitch for a few moments before letting the blade slip through my hand. I tug the heirloom from my hair and clutch it tightly in my blood-stained fingers as I step over his body. I take a deep breath and walk across the room to the large set of double doors. I think of my mother’s words as I pull the doors open. 

“A Sovereign that walks with integrity knows the difference between spilling blood out of requisite, and out of redundancy. One who rules by the hand of fear will never earn true respect.”   

“My name is Mochizuki Izumi. The last remaining child of the clan Mochizuki, daughter of the Moon Empress, and rightful heir to this throne.” I say authoritatively to the men stationed outside the door. They stare at me in bewilderment. My heart is pounding. I’m unarmed, isolated, and have just assassinated the Imperial Dragon himself. I have just made myself a martyr to these men. These next few fleeting moments will decide the fate of this nation for decades to come. They look at each other hesitantly for a moment, then slowly begin to lower their weapons. I take notice of the moonlight streaming in from the window, basking us in bright white radiance. I clutch the heirloom to my chest as they bow before me.