My breath caught. “Before you burned them, did you find anything…of note? In my tunic, perhaps?”
She hesitated, just for a fraction of a second. “I burned only the clothes, my lady. There was nothing of note with them.”
“But surely…”
I paused, meeting her eyes. We were both holding back, each wary of saying something that might tip the other over the edge. Always the youngest, the least powerful in the room, I was accustomed to silence. But things had changed. Now I understood it was up to me to set the boundaries of what we could or could not discuss. If we were to be candid with each other, I needed to lead by example.
“Lily,” I said. “There was an old notebook in my tunic. One that is worth nothing to others, but everything to me. It was my mother’s diary.”
She nodded hesitantly.
“Do you know what happened to it? Sky was with me the entire time, except for that one hour in between.”
Tight-lipped, she shook her head. But I had seen guilt in her eyes.
“Lily, if you help me, I can help you in return. You wish to learn how to fight?” I asked, leveraging her earlier request. With a sigh, I said, “I can teach you.”
Her eyes widened with astonishment. “R-really?” she asked, her voice turning high and breathless.
“Yes.”
She hung her head, her hands beginning to shake. “I’m…ashamed, my lady. I don’t know what came over me.”
“Just tell me,” I said gently.
“Lotus went to fetch clean clothes, and so I was alone with you. I left for only a few moments to refill the water jug, but when I returned, suddenly—”
“Suddenly?”
“There was a man,” she whispered. “I’d never seen him before. He was moving you away from the fire, even though you were so cold. I-I asked him what he was doing.” Now that the truth had slipped out, she seemed eager to share the story. “He offered a gift in exchange for my silence. Of course I didn’t mean to agree, until…” Red-faced, she blurted, “He offered me a sword! A real one. I don’t know how he knew it was my weakness. I’ve wanted to learn how to fight ever since—ever since the war began. My eldest brother was killed in battle, you see. And, and you—” Her eyes filled with obstinate tears. “Everyone’s heard the stories. How you slayed a hundred men with the kiss of your steel. How you rescued the sixth prince with the might of your arrow. I…I wanted to be like you.”
“Don’t cry,” I said hurriedly. “Just tell me—the man’s face. What did he look like?”
She wiped at her eyes. “He was…handsome. The handsomest man I’ve ever seen. His hair was so black it shone nearly blue. And his eyes…they were the palest eyes I ever saw.”
My stomach dropped. “Did he have a scar?” I asked. “On his face?”
Her eyes narrowed in concentration. “Yes…A thin scar across his brow.”
Cao Ming Lei.
eight
Under the corruption of the Quan Emperor, the land was plagued with ceaseless drought, until even Zhonghai Lake had dried to its sediment. In desperation, the scholar Wang Qi ordered the fishermen to bring their boats onto the cracked lake bed. Some mocked him, while others grew enraged. Yet when the scholar raised his hands to the heavens, the Azure Dragon was moved to mercy. He wept great tears of rain, which filled the lake and returned the boats to shore. Thus, the Tianjia people celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival to honor the dragon, who saw the people’s plight and gave them rain.
—Book of Rites, 829
I did not know how tofind him. Lily claimed that the prince of Ximing was both everywhere and nowhere. Technically, he was under house arrest, forbidden from leaving his quarters. And yet, through bribery and blackmail, it was an open secret that he did not remain confined to the guest rooms reserved for political prisoners. Some servants claimed to have seen him at private dinner parties with notable advisors and magistrates. Others professed to have seen him enjoying the botanical gardens, or even sunbathing at the moon-viewing pavilion, always with a beautiful lady in tow. But of course, no matter where I went, he did not make himself known to me.
I had no choice but to turn to other avenues. In the days following, Lily proved an invaluable resource. Every morning before sunrise, we met for an hour of sword practice. I had made Lily a promise, yes,but there was another reason I was particularly soft on her. With her gap-toothed grin and her cleverness, she reminded me of my little sister. My little sister, who I was forbidden from visiting.
Though I had not fully recovered from my time in prison, I could still demonstrate proper technique, albeit at a slower pace than I was used to. At first, it was just the two of us. Lily kept pestering me to include others, and while I was hesitant at first, the idea of using them as additional spies eventually won me over. Two of Lily’s close friends joined us soon after. Three became four, and then five.
After every session, Lily and Lotus brought me scraps of palace gossip. Through them I learned madness was catching in Chuang Ning, just beyond the Forbidden City walls. Allegedly, the spirit gates had begun spreading in the north, suspiciously close to when Sky and the others had departed for the south. As if the spirit summoner was baiting them, luring them out just to strike close to home.
Common folk had taken to wearing iron around their fingers and wrists, until the demand for iron had risen to such heights, even a market for replica iron had sprung up.
I too was growing superstitious about my iron. Recurring visions haunted my sleep, dreams of qi being drained from the land, sucking the earth dry. At the growing lixia imbalance, birds dropped from the sky. Rivers turned to sand. And all around me, everyone I loved went mad.
