Nanowrimo 2022 - Day 28 Word Count and Best Bit

This is it, folks! Today I added 2,999 words to my project, completing nanowrimo with 51,186 words! The story is far from over though, and I'll continue updating here with more word counts and best bits!

Jin Xia slammed her palms into the doors in the same way she’d pushed the minister from before, the doors slamming open with a thunderous sound. On the throne sat a thin, balding man in silk robes, surrounded by thinner servant girls in loose-fitting gowns. Guards stood at the base of the tall dais, spears at the ready.

This did not stop Jin Xia.

“The imperial princess, Jin Xia, greets the northern emperor Mu Yi,” Jin Xia greeted with her practiced political smile. “And requests he step down from his position of power that he has greatly abused.”

“Abused?” Mu Yi repeated, his voice shrill with indignation and fear. “You are the one who abuses your power, coming in here uninvited and demanding my throne from me!”

“Oh, but you did invite me,” Jin Xia corrected, playful in the way a predator plays with its prey. “You invited me by being so blatantly stupid.”

“How dare you!” Mu Yi shrieked. “To insult an emperor is to insult the land itself! I will have your head for this!”

“Oh, I don’t think that will be the case today, Emperor Mu Yi,” Jin Xia said, smile growing wider as fog covered the floor. “My head will remain exactly where it is. I can’t say the same for yours, however. Not when the people learn that you’re the one who’s been ordering the deaths of every decent general you’ve ever had.”

Mu Yi paled, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face.

“Oh yes, I am well aware of your proclivities when it comes to poisoning,” Jin Xia informed him. “You want to argue you aren’t stupid? Explain to me why, instead of rewarding and maintaining the loyalty of your best and brightest, you shunt them away and kill them? Do you want your people to die at the hands of bandits? Or are you more keen on the slower deaths by starvation they’ll face after the raids? A nation’s greatness is measured by the lives of their poorest citizens. And by my calculations, you’re hardly even a competitor.

“So, by what merit do you believe you deserve the thrown you sit upon?” she demanded. “By what standard do you measure above the men you send to an early grave? By what blessing do you earn the crown upon your head? Answer me, Mu Yi!”

“Merit? Standard? Blessing?” Mu Yi spat the words as if they tasted bitter on his tongue. “This is my birthright! This throne is mine by blood! I have ruled this land longer than you have been alive, and I will not have some upstart princess lecture me about statecraft.” He turned his attention to Li Lan with a snarl on his face. “General! Seize her!”

Li Lan did not move, ruddy gaze steady on the shaking hand that pointed disdainfully at Jin Xia.

“Did you not hear me?” Mu Yi shouted. “I said seize her!”

“I heard you,” Li Lan informed him. “But I cannot, in good conscious, follow the orders of the man who wanted me dead simply because I protected my people.”

Mu Yi stared at Jin Xia and Li Lan, his body shaking like a leaf caught in some great wind. His face seemed to pale and flush at the same time, as if fear and anger warred over which would make itself known. “Is this…?”

“Yes, Mu Yi,” Jin Xia said, tone cruelly chipper.  “This is a coup.”