by Devin Madson
All at once he let go. I went to touch my ear, but silk caught my wrist, drawing tight. I hadn’t time to move or think, the tightening sash yanking me back against the leg of the divan.
‘What are you doing?’ I said, trying to pull a hand free.
‘That question is a waste of breath,’ Lord Laroth said, his breathless voice behind me. ‘As is this answer.’
His hands touched mine without the ingress of connection.
‘Why don’t I connect to you?’ I said. ‘Who are you?’
He gave the silk one last tug, locking my wrists. Then, looking more dishevelled than I had ever seen him, Lord Laroth straightened. He adjusted his sash and smoothed his hair, his expression slowly settling into impassive lines.
‘Tell me who you are,’ I said again. ‘Tell me!’
Lord Laroth went to the door. ‘Wrong question, Endymion,’ he said, laying his hand upon the wood. ‘I am Lord Darius Laroth. What you should be asking is who you are.’
He slid the door, but before he stepped out into the passage he tapped the earring than hung from his left ear. A silver eye swung, glinting in the light.
Chapter 21
The edge of the wine bowl glistened, and a faint tang of Tishwa hung upon the air. I could only hope that Kin would not notice. It was sweet enough to be mistaken for oil.
My hands shook as I sat the bowl on the table. A lie would make it so easy. I could tell him I had changed my mind and would marry him, so we could drink to our future, but I knew I could not. There had to be another way.
Adjusting my robe, I tried to relax. What had he said of my mother? Restful. Intelligent. A great beauty. I knew I was none of those things. He had never wished to marry a rebel girl.
I shifted the bowl a little closer to the wine jug so it looked more natural. Would he see it there? He might expect me to pour the wine fresh, or send for a serving girl and a second bowl. I thought back to the dinner. Had wine even be served? He was a naturally abstemious man. What if he didn’t drink at all?
The sound of voices floated in from the passage. He was coming. I tried to steady the thundering of my heart.
The door slid on silent feet, but it was not Kin. Councillor Ahmet stood framed in the aperture, a sickly smile upon his lips.
‘Ah, Lady Otako,’ he said, a laugh in his eyes as he bowed. ‘We meet again and under more… appropriate circumstances.’
‘I asked for Kin.’
A fat eyebrow went up. ‘His Imperial Majesty has retired for the night, my lady, but I assure you I will take an accurate message should you deign to speak your mind to me.’
‘I would not speak my mind to you if you were the last man in Kisia!’
His smile widened, or rather he showed more of his teeth. ‘Fortunately, that is not the case.’
The councillor closed the door behind him and I swallowed the urge to call for Shin. I could fight my own battles.
The poisoned bowl winked at me.
Councillor Ahmet sat on the end of the divan, resting his hands on his knees. Those keen eyes travelled over me, from my ankles to my curls, a sneer of distaste curling his lips. His fingers twitched.
‘You know, I think I preferred Regent’s costume,’ he said. ‘How tightly it clung to you. I should have known then you weren’t a man. You’re too young for womanly curves, but…’
Unwilling to look him in the face, I focussed on his hand. It edged a little closer to his groin and I looked away from that too, cheeks burning in an even mix of hatred and humiliation. Regent could have dealt with this, but he had abandoned me, leaving Hana to fight alone. ‘I have nothing I wish to say to you, Councillor. If you would inform His Majesty that I wish very urgently to speak with him I would be most grateful.’
‘He doesn’t want to see you. Are you blushing?’ He laughed. ‘Do you know? I think Councillor Rhim was right and you have become his whore. But it wasn’t clever to send him a message in the middle of a Council meeting. You must need him urgently. Wet, little love?’
Through clenched teeth I managed to say: ‘You are foul. Get out.’
‘No, I’m not finished, because you know what I think? The others might say you are little better than a whore striding around in your breeches, but I say no Otako princess would be a whore.’
‘I’m obliged to you,’ I said grimly.
‘Are you? But you see, I don’t think you’re an Otako at all. This is one of Laroth’s little games, getting us all to dance to his impertinent piping. His father was just as arrogant. He thought he could order everyone around because he was the Imperial Protector.’ The councillor snorted; such an ugly look upon his face I thought he would spit at me. ‘The Imperial Libertine more like. You might be Empress Li’s daughter, but you’re his bastard.’
‘How dare you!’ I sprang up, blood boiling. ‘Get out now before I throw you out.’
‘My, my. It looks like I hit a nerve. No wonder Laroth knew you were alive. Big brother Darius to the rescue, eh? This whole farce is nothing more than an elaborate plan to make Kin bend his knee before Kisia’s most intolerable family.’
I sat back heavily, my fury deflated. I wanted to deny it, to say I was no Laroth bastard, no puppet to be played, but the words would not come. It was all too easy to imagine Darius, the puppeteer, holding all our strings, every word from my lips penned by his hand.
The councillor leered. ‘I know how to keep a secret,’ he said. ‘As long as there is something in it for me.’
‘There’s no secret to keep!’
‘You want me to tell Kin the truth? He has a worse temper than you. You’d be lucky to keep your head. But we have unfinished business, you and I,’ he said, the words thickening in his mouth.
My eyes darted to the wine bowl. The councillor was not Kin, but Kin was not coming. Again, I considered yelling for Shin, but I was no weak woman to be saved by men. I was better than that, stronger than that. I didn’t need anyone.
He slid up the divan and I sank toward him, suppressing a shudder. ‘We can make a deal, you and I,’ he said, resting his hand on my leg. I let it sit there, hot and heavy, biding my time. ‘Kin’s little affairs are always short lived. He will tire of you. The thrill of owning you will not last and then where will you be?’
Did he think I was whore enough to let Kin amuse himself at my expense? Was Kin so ashamed that his councillors were in ignorance of his proposal? If that was true, I found it hard to blame them for their assumptions. Even if they knew I had refused a place at his side, they had to wonder why I was still here, still following in his train being treated more like a mistress than a prisoner.
I felt sick and swallowed hard, trying not to think about the hot hand on my leg. ‘And what is it that you propose, Councillor?’ I asked with forced calm.
‘An alliance. I will take you under my protection when Kin’s interest wanes.’
‘And in return?’
His hand slid up my leg. ‘You’ll be suitably grateful.’
I fought the urge to pull away, pasting a smile to my face. How could he believe I would accept such an offer after the way he had treated me? Was his opinion of himself so high? Or had Kin let them believe I was nothing but a whore who grew hot at the slightest touch, all because I had refused to marry him? Whatever the truth, Kin was not here. It was Councillor Ahmet whose heavy hand crept up my leg, who had to be silenced. It was Councillor Ahmet who would die.
Rising from the divan, I picked up the wine bowl.
‘Shall we drink to an alliance?’ I said.
‘I would rather seal the deal with a kiss. Come here.’
The councillor patted one silk clad knee, and I went to him, no longer afraid of my purpose. I lowered myself onto his leg and he slid his arm around my waist. At his touch I was back in the Pit, struggling beneath Praetor’s weight as my hipbone ground into the stone.
In my hand the poisoned rim shimmered. ‘Come, Councillor,’ I said. ‘Let us drink.’
‘Wine can wait.’ He gripped my thigh. The breeches made it easier for him to touch me, easier to slide his hand up between my legs. I thought I could ignore it, thought I could cope, but the moment he touched that defect that made me so inferior, I knew a shock of revulsion that was impossible to master. Regent stormed to the surface, his rage turning me to steel. Hatred owned me. I slammed the poisoned rim into Ahmet’s teeth. The shock threw him back with a cry, wine splashing over his face and I pinned him to the cushions, digging my knee into his gut. Red-faced, he spluttered, but I gripped his short hair and wormed the edge of the bowl between his lips. ‘The answer is no, Councillor,’ I said. ‘I would rather watch you die.’
He shoved me from him with a snarl. I hit the floor, my shoulder banging into the edge of the table. Broken shards of ceramic scattered across the matting.
‘You little bitch, what have you done? What was–’
His voice faltered. His ruddy colour rose. He lunged at me and gripped my leg, but there was no strength in his hand and I yanked my foot free, crawling away. The floor shook as he hit the matting. The reeds crackled. I turned, expecting to see him lying still, but death had not yet come for him.
The councillor clawed at his throat. Fingernails ripped into his skin as a cry quavered free of dry lips. His eyes bulged. With his mouth hanging open he shuffled slowly toward me. I let out a dry sob and backed into the wall, but still the councillor dragged himself along the floor, his bloodstained fingers reaching for my ankle. His bloodshot eyes rolled. His neck twisted, kinking to a horrific angle like a dying bird.
I must have screamed. All I could hear was my pounding heart, but Shin came. He dashed in, his companion behind him, both men slowing at sight of the councillor twitching on the floor.
‘What’s wrong with him?’ the other guard demanded. ‘What happened?’
I knew how dishevelled I must look, but hardly cared. I could not drag my eyes from the dying man.
Shin knelt beside the councillor. The man was finally still, his lifeless eyes staring up at the dark beams above. ‘He’s dead,’ he said.
‘We’d better send for Master Kenji.’ Shin’s companion eyed me warily. ‘His Majesty should know of this. What did you do to him?’
I knew tears were running down my cheeks, but all I could do was shake my head. He was dead. I hiccuped on the start of a laugh. He was dead. I had done it. Gripping my knees, I gave a crow of exultation. ‘You want to know what happened to him? I killed him! That’s what happens if anyone lays a hand on me.’ I leapt to my feet. ‘I am an Otako!’
The point of a sword slid through the man’s chest. He jerked, blood rising to his lips. The blade was withdrawn with a grunt of effort, and the guard fell, his body shuddering as life let him go.
Shin stepped over the bodies. ‘Tishwa?’ he said. ‘Expensive. Were you planning to kill them all?’
‘Just Kin,’ I said, breathing fast. ‘I will take my throne.’
‘That’s too dangerous.’
‘I will not sit here and wait to be rescued. I have never been part of Katashi’s plans, have I? Are you here to stop me?’
Shin didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. I was nothing to them, nothing to any of them.
‘With or without your help, I will take what is mine,’ I said. ‘Where is Kin?’
‘His rooms are upstairs, but you won’t find him there.’
‘Why? Where is he?’
‘General Ryoji is afraid of assassination, so Kin sleeps soundly in the audience chamber off the throne room.’ For the first time Shin’s expression changed, a grin coming to grim features. ‘As Lord Laroth’s personal guard, I’m informed of these things.’
‘Lord Laroth’s personal guard?’
Shin wiped his knife clean on his thigh. ‘I met him the night you were caught,’ he said. ‘He wanted me to stay and keep an eye on you.’
‘Because I can’t look after myself?’
Again, he did not answer. Taking a knife from the dead guard, I strode toward the door.
‘Not in those clothes,’ he said, putting out his arm to stop me. ‘You’re still too much a woman in that, and you’ll be recognised the second you step outside the door.’
‘This is all I have.’
He jerked his head in the direction of the dead guard. ‘He doesn’t need his uniform. It’s got a hole, but we can hide it. Small man.’
‘You want me to wear a dead man’s armour?’
‘Seems to me Regent would never have asked me that question,’ Shin said quietly. ‘Captain.’
He was right. I swallowed what was left of Lady Hana and began to undress. ‘Strip him.’
‘Yes, Captain.’
Shin did as he was bid, roughly divesting the man of the clothes he no longer required. Each piece was dropped to the floor at my feet, the smell of blood all too strong on the air.
‘I need a bind,’ I said over my shoulder. ‘Find a length of–’
He held out a crimson sash. It showed the man’s rank on one tail, along with the small dragon that proclaimed his loyalty to the Ts’ai. I hesitated, but there was no time to find something else.
‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Tie it for me.’
Taking it from him, I wrapped it around my chest and handed him the tails. He took them without demur, pulling them tight.
‘Tighter,’ I said, and he complied, tying the knot quickly and easily, his fingers more deft even than Katashi’s.
With the bind tied, Shin handed me a linen tunic stinking of sweat, followed by a pair of breeches and leather armour, its fasteners gleaming. Without a word, Shin went out, returning a moment later with a second sash proclaiming Ts’ai allegiance. I tied it around my waist and prised the guard’s helmet off his head. The breeches were too big, but I made do, tying a knot in the waist and hitching them high so the legs didn’t drag under my feet.
When I was dressed well enough to earn Shin’s curt nod, I slid the guard’s knife into my sash and went once again to the door. The old Pike made no effort to stop me. He spoke nothing of the danger, just slid the door, and together we stepped into the passage, leaving the dead men to each other’s counsel.
I felt more alive than I had for weeks. I had missed the weight of armour and the freedom of anonymity. Wearing the uniform of Kin’s guard was like being invisible. The only pair of guards who even glanced our way did no more than nod, not breaking off their whispered conversation.
The Keep was quiet, the only sounds the crackle of torches and the shuffle of our steps. My breeches began to slip, but it was not far before we turned into a wide passage and Shin slowed his pace. A pair of large black doors graced one wall, exactly like the ones in Mei’lian. No light slipped beneath them, but a faint glow emanated through the screen of a smaller door further along the passage. Two guards watched us approach.
‘I’ll tell them about the councillor and you go in,’ Shin said, looking straight ahead and speaking out the side of his mouth. ‘Keep it quick, keep it quiet. I can’t take on the whole of Kin’s army.’
I kept up with Shin’s confident stride, but somewhere deep down, Hana was screaming. But in donning the armour and reclaiming Regent, I had forced her away, left behind her feminine weakness and her heart that had so nearly come to pity the repulsive councillor before the end.
Shin stopped before the guards. ‘Is His Majesty in?’
‘Yeah, he’s in there,’ one of them said with a significant glance thrown at the other. ‘I wouldn’t disturb him. In a right foul mood he is. He stopped raging a while back, and if he’s fallen asleep he won’t want waking. We already sent the general’s man off.’
‘There’s no help for it. Councillor Ahmet’s dead.’
The blunt words sent my pulse racing and I hoped the shock didn
’t show on my face. Neither man looked at me. Shin had all their attention.
‘The old frog? What happened?’
‘We’re not sure yet. We’ve sent for Master Kenji.’
‘Well, go on in. Better you than me.’
Shin jerked his head toward the door in the manner of a man delegating an unpleasant duty. I took that as my cue and went in, leaving the guards plying Shin with questions.
The room beyond was small and dimly lit. There was no decoration and hardly any furniture, but in the middle of the floor Emperor Kin lay beside a small lap table strewn with papers. He must have been working for he was fully dressed, his sleeping mat untouched.
I slid the door closed and the guard’s conversation became muffled. Kin made no sound. One could almost have imagined him dead already but for the gentle rise and fall of his chest.
I peeled the helmet from my head and placed it on the matting. He moved, shifting one hand onto his stomach, his fingers splayed upon the crimson silk. Even in sleep he frowned. Hair had pulled free from his topknot and his sash was crooked.
My fingers closed around the hilt of the knife. I still had some poison, and almost I reached for the vial, but memory of the councillor’s purpling face stayed my hand. Kin deserved to die in blood, not fighting for a breath that would never come, watching me and hating me with every last beat of his heart.
I knelt beside him, and the old matting crackled softly. Again he stirred, just enough to soften his expression. The line of his throat was visible in the dim light, a sheen of sweat glistening upon his tanned skin. And that silvery scar, tracing its memories across his flesh.
Time seemed to stop. Shin would be waiting. It would have taken him a mere instant without thought to stick the knife in and be done, and I could have asked him to do it. He wouldn’t have hesitated, but it was not his job. Shin’s knife would prove nothing.
Kin’s body stiffened. My gaze leapt from his throat and found dark eyes staring up at me. Something like a smile lightened his harsh features and he would have spoken, but the words were lost to eternity the moment his gaze shifted to the knife in my hand.
