by Jeannie Lin
“You know how he is,” Mingyu replied absently. She busied her hands with stacking the teacups and implements back onto the tray. “This and that. Nothing of importance.”
Madame snorted. “He isn’t trying to redeem you like he did your sister, is he? He may be from a high-ranking family, but from what I hear, he’s failed to secure an appointment. He doesn’t have the money to afford my Mingyu.”
Everything was always a transaction with Madame. She was the headmistress of the Lotus Palace and foster mother to all the girls who resided there, which meant they were all indentured to her.
“I wouldn’t go with him even if he had the money,” Mingyu replied. “He is already married to my sister. Procuring me would only lead to scandal.”
“And you have more freedom here than you would ever have as a servant in a rich man’s house,” Madame added.
“Of course.” Mingyu was ever so obedient and practical. “Here we control our own fate.”
Those were Madame’s favorite words. She’d taught them to Mingyu just as she’d taught her how to play music and dance and look at a man in a way that would make him wonder. And want.
“A courier came by today on behalf of General Deng to deliver four bolts of the finest silk and a hundred taels of silver. A gift to the Lotus Palace.”
“Payment,” Mingyu corrected.
Madame Sun waved a hand, as if to say gift, payment, money—they were all the same. “He must be eager to see you. The Lotus will miss you while you’re gone.”
“How long did the contract specify?”
“At least a week, my girl. He must really be in love with you.”
Mingyu snorted, a mannerism she realized she’d adopted from her den mother, along with the same willowy figure, high cheekbones and expressive eyes Mingyu had become known for. The two of them were mirror images of one another in so many ways.
“The general doesn’t want to bother with the games of courtship, that’s all.” Mingyu reached to gather a stray teacup from the low table.
Deng Zhi was twenty years her senior. He had been stationed in the capital and an important figure in the previous Emperor’s court when Mingyu had first encountered him. She had managed to catch his interest at a banquet, but the general hadn’t bothered to court her with pretty words or gifts. He’d gone directly to Madame Sun the next day to negotiate an exclusive price.
“This is a good opportunity for us!” Madame had whispered to Mingyu as she guided her to the bed chamber where the general waited.
Always “us.” There was no Mingyu. There was Madame and there was the Lotus Palace and everything that Mingyu earned went to the house except for the personal gifts and small allowances she stashed away at the bottom of her wardrobe. It would be that way until she was able to pay off her debt.
“Wait.” Madame stopped Mingyu as she was about to carry the tea tray away. “Let me see.”
Dramatically, the headmistress poured the last dregs from a teapot into a cup and peered at the flecks of tea leaf. “You are about to face a decision. A great temptation.”
Mingyu sighed. “Mother.”
“If General Deng asks you to be his concubine once more, you must refuse,” Madame Sun instructed.
“I know. At least three times to drive the price up.”
Madame nodded with approval. “Good girl. But of course, we must make no mention of price. That would insinuate that we are open for negotiation. Let me be the villainess here. Your greedy den mother refuses to let you go.”
“Even though I hold him in the highest of regard,” Mingyu intoned.
“You think of him every day even though you know you must not,” Madame Sun suggested.
Mingyu had to smile. “Mother, you are a master.”
Madame patted her hair, visibly preening. “Experience, my daughter. Years and years of experience.”
Though they called each other mother and daughter, Mingyu never forgot the truth. She had a true mother once. Her birth mother had sold her and her sister for a small handful of coins. Madame Sun, her foster mother, would never let her go for so little. At twenty-eight, Mingyu had spent more of her life in the Lotus Palace than she had in the village of her birth.
“Is that your plan?” Mingyu asked somberly. “Once the price is high enough, you’ll negotiate a deal to sell me off to General Deng?”
“I would never do that!” Madame insisted fervently. Her hand was pressed to her bosom to express the depth of her emotion. “You’re mine, Mingyu. Like my own daughter, worth more than all the gold in the capital.”
General Deng’s payments over the past fifteen years had only bought Mingyu’s time, not her person. And Madame Sun had been generous enough to grant Mingyu a portion of her earnings, enough to finally redeem her sister, Yue-ying.
As much as Mingyu owed Deng, she had breathed a long, deep sigh the day he’d finally left Changan to serve as military governor in a remote province. Whenever Deng returned to the city, there was no question that Mingyu was to return to his side. She prepared for it as if preparing for battle.
“Do you wish to go?” Madame asked her.
“I would never leave you,” Mingyu replied, equally emphatic. She touched a reassuring hand to the headmistress’s arm. “The Lotus Palace is my home.”
Madame Sun regarded her with a sharp eye, trying to pierce through the illusion created by silk and jewels and powder. Perhaps they both lied to one another. Perhaps they both knew it.
CHAPTER FOUR
IN THE DAYS after his brief exchange with Mingyu there were no more visits, official or unofficial, and no more talk of dismissal. Kaifeng continued with his duties as prescribed, but remained on guard. When a scraggly figure appeared at the end of the street during his morning patrol, Kaifeng’s defenses were immediately raised.
The boy was panting when he came to a stop before Kaifeng. “Are you Constable Wu?”
“Yes,” he replied warily.
“Come quick.”
Kaifeng remained where he was, staring down at the street rat. The child would have to be a bold one to try to lure an armed constable into some trap. The boy paled beneath his scrutiny. “Please, sir.”
Kaifeng started toward him, but the boy turned to weave through the pedestrians.
“What is this?” Wu demanded, following easily with his long stride.
The boy shook his head and kept on moving, twisting through alleyways and side streets as he led Kaifeng farther away from the main market. Just north of the walls was a residential area dotted with small tea stands. They passed by a public bathhouse and a local temple on the corner.
Finally the boy came to a stop at a wooden gate. “Here, sir.”
It was clear that he didn’t intend to enter and Kaifeng once again considered the possibility of a trap. The gate was plain and unmarked. Kaifeng pushed it open to reveal a small, empty courtyard graced by a single willow tree. Its branches dipped to form a canopy over the space. The interior of the house was still and quiet.
Kaifeng didn’t reach for his sword, but he made sure his hands were ready as he entered the courtyard. The walking path was laid with stone and kept tidy. There was one entrance into the main part of the house and Kaifeng ducked beneath the doorway to find himself inside a spacious room.
Light filtered in from the courtyard. The first thing he saw was a desk in the corner, followed by a violent splatter of red. It took a moment for his mind to register it. Blood.
“I found him like that.”
He spun around at the voice. Lady Mingyu was pressed into the corner beside the window. Her usually sensual voice came out thin and strained. She looked entirely different from when he’d last seen her. Her lips had been tinted red and her complexion was moon pale in contrast, giving her an unearthly appearance. Even scared out of her
wits, she presented a vision.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
She shook her head, though her eyes appeared dull. She clutched a silk handkerchief in her hand as if her life depended on it.
Kaifeng left her in the corner to approach the desk. At his first glimpse of the scene, his mind had receded. His natural instincts refused to accept or understand that what he was seeing was real, but he forced himself to look closely now.
There was a body seated in the chair dressed in a brocade robe. The head was missing and there was blood everywhere, splattered over the papers and staining the floor and walls.
“He was alive when they took off his head,” Kaifeng observed.
A gasp came from behind him. Mingyu was staring at him incredulously. Then her gaze returned to the headless body. If she could have disappeared into the wall, she would have.
“Do you wish to be elsewhere?” he asked.
A strangled sound escaped her lips, halfway between a cry and a laugh. Finally she nodded.
Kaifeng spared one final glance at the body, noting its position and taking quick stock of the surrounding items, before going to Mingyu’s side. He didn’t know if he should reach for her, but she seemed unable to move or look away. Taking a firm, yet careful grip on her arm, he directed Mingyu toward the door. After a moment’s resistance, she surrendered and went with him.
Once outside in the sunlight, her knees gave away. Kaifeng caught her in both hands. Mingyu’s soft weight momentarily sank against him, but she shoved him away to sink onto a wooden bench beneath the willow. He stood back while she struggled to find her breath. This was the Lady Mingyu he’d come to know—stubborn and determined not to show any sign of weakness.
“Who is that inside?” he asked.
“General Deng Zhi.” Her voice wavered despite her efforts. “He had just returned to the capital.”
“The general is your lover?”
She looked like she was about to break into pieces. “Not any longer.”
If what Mingyu said was true, one of the most highly ranked men in the empire had been killed not twenty paces from where he stood. He had to investigate the details of the death and report his findings to the magistrate immediately.
He looked down to Mingyu. “Did you send that boy to find me?”
She nodded, her hand trailing to her throat. Some of her color had returned, but she was far from composed.
“Do not leave this house,” he commanded. “If you flee now, I will have to consider you suspect in this murder.”
“If I wanted to run away, I wouldn’t have called you here,” she said irritably. Pressing the handkerchief to her nose, Mingyu presented him the hard point of her shoulder. “And I know that you consider me suspect, anyway.”
Her directness caught him off guard. If he knew anything about Mingyu, it was that she was unpredictable. After making sure she wouldn’t faint or lose her stomach, Kaifeng returned to the chamber.
He had seen death before. He’d witnessed it in battle as well as at public executions. The macabre scene was in many ways more shocking now than it had been on first sight. This time, Kaifeng noted the minute details he’d overlooked before. The body had fallen back against the chair and remained sitting. The neck protruded in a bloody stump. The headless torso seemed to be reclined comfortably in the chair, his last pose before leaving this world.
It was hard to believe a fighting man like Deng wouldn’t have managed to stand and defend himself in any way.
The blow had to have come from the front with the attacker facing the general. He noted the splatter around the chair and desk, and the lurid, metallic smell of fresh blood assaulted him. Gritting his teeth, Kaifeng walked around the desk and searched the floor. There was no head or murder weapon to be found.
Glancing up, Kaifeng could see Mingyu out in the garden. She remained on the bench where he’d left her with her head bowed. The position emphasized the graceful curve of her neck and the slenderness of her shoulders, making her appear vulnerable through the frame of the door.
Her robe was made up of shimmering layers of yellow silk and gold embroidery. The bodice was enticingly low, leaving her shoulders bared except for a shawl of the thinnest gauze wrapped around her. She had certainly come ready to visit a lover. His stomach twisted at the thought.
Her mere presence distracted him and he couldn’t allow that to happen. This was his duty and his calling and he needed to remain sharp to solve this puzzle, a puzzle that the courtesan was inexplicably a part of. A puzzle that Mingyu was making more complicated.
Kaifeng returned to the courtyard and breathed in the clean air, letting it fill his lungs and clear his head. Lady Mingyu didn’t raise her head even when he went to stand immediately before her. The pearl ornament in her hairpin caught his eye. A similar piece of jewelry had implicated her in another murder a year earlier.
“Once again I find you connected to a dead body,” he said.
“I know how this must seem.”
Mingyu wouldn’t look up at him as she spoke. It could be a sign of guilt, but it could be a sign of many things. She had belonged to the general and everyone in the Pingkang li had known it. Was she grieving for him now? Or had she somehow been involved in his death?
“I must notify Magistrate Li and summon my men to come retrieve the general’s body. Then you will need to come with me for questioning.”
“Of course, Constable.”
Her head tilted back slowly as if it were weighted down with lead. When she met his gaze, her eyes were fathomless. “I knew you would track me down regardless. That was why I sought you out.” Yellow silk whispered around her as she rose. “To save us both the trouble.”
* * *
MINGYU REMAINED BENEATH the shade of the willow tree as Constable Wu sent for a prison wagon to transport the body. When the other constables arrived, he instructed them to seal off the front gate and begin a search of the surrounding area. He was undaunted and efficient, an inhuman force, as if he had seen death a hundred times before.
By the time Wu Kaifeng came for her, Mingyu had stopped shaking. As she followed the constable into the street, she pulled her shawl tight around her shoulders even though the midmorning sun rose high in the sky. The chill that encased her came from within. It couldn’t be banished by the thickest of cloaks.
A covered litter was waiting outside the gate. Four bearers sprang to their feet and moved into position beside the poles while Mingyu glanced at Wu in surprise. He’d summoned transportation for her rather than requiring that she ride in the prison wagon. The gesture provided her with a measure of privacy and could have been considered thoughtful. Wu said nothing of it as he drew aside the curtain for her.
Mingyu climbed inside the compartment and the curtain fell over the front, shielding her away from the world. The litter then rose, hefted onto the shoulders of the bearers outside, and Mingyu let her head sink onto her hands.
Deng Zhi was dead.
She didn’t know what to feel. The general had been her patron for so long that it was impossible not to feel an emptiness in her chest. The general had been invincible in her eyes. Untouchable even by the Emperor.
Deng had barely spoken a word to her the first time she’d come to his bed. She hadn’t been a virgin, but she was young. Mingyu had been afraid there would be pain, that the general would be rough. All things considered, he hadn’t been careless with her, but Deng had held his hand over her throat the entire time, with her pulse beating frantically beneath his hand.
Deng had wanted no doubt in her mind that he owned her. Whenever he returned to the city, she still felt the weight of that hand, ready to bestow life or take it crushingly away.
And now she was free of him, but what did that freedom truly mean? Mingyu pulled aside the curtain to peer outside. Wu Kaifeng walked along
side the litter, his long stride keeping pace easily with the carriers.
Wu’s focus was on the road ahead, but he must have possessed the instincts of a wolf. He turned and caught her watching him. His expression was grim.
“We will arrive shortly, Lady Mingyu.”
The litter turned down a side street and stopped at the western entrance of a large gated compound with walls built of rammed earth hardened into stone. Wu Kaifeng bent to help her from the litter, offering a hand which she pointedly avoided. Without a word, Wu withdrew it, letting his arm fall to his side.
“I had hoped to never come back here,” she said, staring at the guardsmen stationed at either side of the entrance.
“Death seems to follow you.”
A shudder ran down her spine. “What an awful thing to say.”
“I apologize, then.”
Along with his wolf’s instincts, he had the manners of some wild creature. Wu Kaifeng unnerved her. He always had, from the first moment she’d seen him. The constable looked at everyone around him as if he would expose all of their secrets, but she had to trust him now.
Mingyu didn’t know who had killed General Deng or why, but she knew that this was Wu’s domain and he wouldn’t let anything happen to her until he uncovered the truth.
She entered the compound under his charge, with Wu walking slightly behind. At every step, she was aware of his considerable height towering over her. There was a quiet fierceness in the way he held himself, as if Wu Kaifeng feared nothing in this world or beyond it. His intimidating presence was an odd comfort at the moment. Whoever had conspired against General Deng, whoever might also mean her harm, couldn’t reach her while Wu stood watch.
The yamen guards raised their spears and stepped aside as they passed. She could feel their gazes raking over her while she kept her head held high. Everyone who was brought here was assumed to be a criminal. Even those who had been wronged were considered tainted.
It had been a year since Wu had led her through this very entrance. She clenched her hands to keep them from shaking and tension gathered in her shoulders as he approached the dark corridor where the accused were locked in prison cells to await trial.
