Page 56 of The Poet Empress
A wind blew a flurry of wet snow down my collar, and the biting cold of it made me shiver. “I did not know that stories could kill a prince.”
“I would not have expected someone like you to.” Hesin looked out at the square. We could see quite far into the palace from our vantage, the roofs of pavilions, pagodas, and watchtowers covered in white. “But now that I see you have been in contact with the West Palace, it is only adding to my suspicions.”
My mouth was so dry it was hard to speak. “Ah, you mean Lady Song. I admit that we are friends. We bonded at the Mid-Autumn Parade.”
“An interesting match.”
“Isn’t it? I have thought so myself.”
His gaze lingered on me. It was the same measuring look he gave all those men in Terren’s court. My daring lie in front of the empress—in front of all those courtiers and guests—must have changed his opinion of me. If he knew me only as a scared victim of the prince’s cruelty before, he now saw me as someone worthmeasuring.
Had I not been so afraid, I might have felt flattered.
“Forgive me,” he said at last. “I am old, and my thoughts have grown unruly with the passing years. The cold only exacerbates it.” He rubbed his hands together and exhaled a cloud of air. “Shall we go back inside?”
34A CONCUBINE’S WEAPON
You must be more careful, Wei.
What you did today was not very wise.
All this time, I had been focused on defending myself from the other concubines, not knowing that with my wedding, I would enter a much bigger den of beasts. Empress Sun. Maro. Terren. Hesin. They had all been playing the game far longer than I had, and I felt a lark foolish enough to fly among hawks.
Hesin.I had not seen it coming at all.
I am loyal only to the nation,the old eunuch had told me once.I must help the one who holds the Mandate of Heaven become emperor.As long as Terren was heir, he was oathbound to keep him alive. My intent to kill him meant Hesin was my enemy. Why hadn’t I realized it sooner?
“The Aricine River flows east,”sang the opera girl,“without so much as a glance behind it.”
With a painted face and a dress clattering with beads, she twirled from table to heaping banquet table inside the Hall of Heavenly Supremacy. More dancers in flowing skirts trailed behind her, flitting among the wedding guests, weaving between the gold-engraved pillars, incense pots, and pomelo trees growing out of the ground.
“A long pilgrimage to the seas, where no more canyons would bind it.”
Was Jin Veris still scheming against me, too? Were any of the other concubines still trying to overthrow me? Prince Isan and Prince Kiran—what moves were their advisors pulling from the shadows?
Terren.What was he going to do to me once we were alone again? How was he going to punish me for my ties to Silian? I had not forgottenthe malevolent look he’d worn today, or the fact that I had to enter his wedding chamber tonight.
“My dear friend’s sailboat drifts down its misty shore. He does not glance back either, and his shadow becomes no more.”
One of the generals laughed and raised his glass. “A farewell poem by Lao Shan—how classic. But why such a sad song on such a joyous occasion?”
“Yes, yes!” clamored a group of men around him. “Sing a happier song next!”
Had I even done the right thing, I wondered? I might have saved the life of one maid, but in doing so, I had revealed to everyone that I was more than just an unassuming village girl—that I was capable of lying, scheming, and making my own allies. I had just announced to an audience of thousands that I was a real player in the grand game of the palace.
Saving Maya might be what led to me getting caught—and thus the heart-spirit poem not finished, and Terren not killed. Saving her could mean a wicked man becoming emperor.
Maybe,I thought uneasily,I should have let her die.It frightened me that I was even in a position to choose.
A hand fell on mine. “Eat,” said Silian. She kept her eyes on me as I picked up a piece of gao made of rice and jujubes. “People like us only get married once. Regardless of whether you are happy with your husband, you ought to try to enjoy your wedding.”
“O Tensha, motherland!”Pressured by the guests around her, the singing girl had chosen an upbeat, patriotic song for her next piece.“Mountains echo with our poetry. Seas carve our songs in sand.”
The gao was sweet in a gentle, barely noticeable way. “What was yours like?”
“I do not know, Lady Yin. I am ashamed to say that I spent most of it weeping under an ormosia tree.”
“Weeping? Do you not love him?” My eyes went to Maro, who sat across the hall, drinking with his merchant allies and other influential friends.
