The dead weren't supposed to linger in the palace, but it's where Mei finds a lot of ghosts who were women with a grand dream once of ruling the empires but succumbed to the unforgiving palace.
Something separated her from Ling'er, and as she floated, she felt a sudden pull towards a specific chamber. Hovering at the edge, trying to defy the energy that was pulling her towards it, she found out that it was a birthing chamber.
Once inside, she felt the air inside was thick with incense and an undeniable sense of grief and dread.
A woman who she later found was Consort Bai lay motionless, her belly swollen, her face slick with sweat as a maid knelt by her side, whispering prayers. Others stayed near the sides afraid to meet each other's eyes.
She had a physician mention that the baby hadn't moved in hours, and her hands automatically went to her stomach. Maybe it was her mind, but she felt a kick in her stomach, just like she felt when she was alive and heavily pregnant with her son.
She moved closer to the woman, and she felt her hand raise automatically paused over her stomach.
She touched it and received a shock. She could feel it as a ghost. Her hand always went through people as she tried to hold them.
When it hit her, it was still too still for her liking. The baby was not moving at all.
Thinking about the child she lost, she whispered, Not yet, please kick.
She didn't know the consort, but she didn't have to. She felt the loss.
Everything went quiet before it shattered as outside, dark energy was swerving. Mei turned sharply.
It wasn't death, it was something else. Something more sinister. Something that hadn't belonged in the birth chambers.
"No son will survive. His line will end with him Blood for blood."
Mei froze as the voice was jarring and then she saw it barely. A ghost with grief, vengeance, and hatred clinging onto her.
"Move!" She had a shout as a pale blur slammed into her.
Mei gasped as Ling'er yanked her back through the door.
"You're not supposed to be near her," Ling'er hissed. "Not when she's close."
"That was the one, wasn't it?" Mei asked. "The ghost."
Ling'er didn't answer right away. She held her lips tightly pressed.
"She used to be a consort too," she said finally. A favourite. Died giving birth. Stillborn. They say she went mad before the end. Blamed the Emperor. Or the Empress and everyone in the palace.
"She's the reason there are no children here," Ling'er said.
Since I have been here, I have heard no laughter. No lullabies. No babies wrapped in silk. Just silence.
It had seemed strange, and I finally learnt. "She's taking them," Ling'er whispered. "One by one."
"Every child born in this palace has died," Ling'er said. "Some before their first breath. Some after. But they all vanish."
Mei stared at the closed doors behind her.
"She'll come for this one too."
"I'll stay," Ling'er said. "We will keep her out."
With the two staying in the chamber, the evil ghost disappeared.
That night, the Chief Eunuch begged the Emperor as the emperor barged into the birth chambers.
"There is nothing more you can do, Your Majesty. Let the physicians handle it."
But the Emperor didn't move.
He stayed beside Consort Bai, his hand shaking slightly as he brushed her hair from her face. His eyes never left her.
She saw him as a ruler when he was alive, but tonight, he just looked like a husband who was worried about his wife and unborn child.
Mei watched him from the corner, silent.
She hadn't expected that.
No one stayed for the dying and she didn't expect to find that in this palace. But here he was watching, waiting.
Mei drifted closer to Bai's stomach.
The baby still kicked, but its kicks were slowly fading.
She pressed her hands there, translucent and trembling.
Hold on, she thought. Just a little longer.
One by one, the physicians came and went. None had answers. All were left with a heavy heart.
"She must wake before sunrise," one whispered. "Or the child won't survive."
Outside, the horizon began to turn red.
Mei's panic sharpened. The flutter under her hands grew weaker.
She closed her eyes.
Please. Just one more chance.
Then
Her hands flickered and she started fading.
"No" Her voice cracked. "Not now." she didn't expect to be a ghost forever, but she didn't want to go, not now.
She pushed harder. Into the belly. Into the child.
"Move. Please. Just let me know if you're still"
A breath.
And then Mei was gone dragged into the light, scattered into the wind.
Her last thought "Please let the baby live".
Outside, the moon vanished.
Not a cloud.
A shadow.
The moon was red, a deep, unnatural dark.
Then Bai exhaled.
Long. Slow. Final.
The physician stepped back. "She's gone."
A midwife cried out. A maid dropped to the floor.
Something cracked.
Not in the room in the world.
A pulse of light white tore through the atmosphere, and with it, another soul came hurtling down like a meteor flung from the sky while cursing like a sailor.
Leonora Velden hit the floor hard. She sprang up, cursing. "Where in the hell?"
Mei turned, flickering at the edges. Looking at the new ghost, and with one look, she knew she was not from their empire. "You don't belong here."
Leonora scanned the room, looking at Mei's form up and down. Her voice was low, steady. "I didn't jump. Something pulled me.
The eclipse deepened. Light bled away into nothing.
And then they fell.
Drawn by the unborn life still fighting, they were both brought to the birth chambers
Mei looked at the woman and muttered" She's dying
"She's already dead," Leonora cut in. "But the baby isn't."
Both of them were pulled into Consort Bai's body.
Gasps filled the room.
Bai's hand twitched. Her chest heaved as breath rushed in, jagged and real.
"She's breathing!"
A scream was heard followed by a crash. A eunuch sprinted from the room.
Consort Bai bolted upright, soaked in sweat. Her hands flew to her belly.
The child kicked.