He was still watching her with those unsettling eyes. In response, Lan felt something stirring in her belly, somethingdeep and ancient…and then a sudden tingling on her left wrist, right where her scar lay.
“Who are you?” he asked. His question was so broad, so unexpected, that Lan felt a startled laugh bubbling up in her throat. She glanced at the door. Madam Meng was still talking, but she was looking straight at Lan. Those crimson lips curled into a smile, yet those eyes were cold as she lifted a hand and crooked a sharp gold nail.
Come.
Lan whirled back to the Hin boy, her brain working fast. In half a second, a new plan formed. “I can tell you everything,” she said, flipping her voice into a sweet, ingratiating tone. “You just need to tell the Madam that you wish to buy my time tonight.”
The boy’s cheeks flushed with a spot of color. The edges of his eyes tightened, almost as though in disdain. “I have no intention of doing such a disreputable thing,” he said.
Lan barely felt the sting of his words. “Please, mister.”
“Mister?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Ge’ge. Older brother.” She summoned her most sugary smile. “You have money. You could pay out my contract. I promise you, I’ll tell you everything I know about that scroll.” Not that she knew much, but, well, Lan wasn’t about to admit that.
The edge to the Hin’s expression softened slightly. He opened his mouth, and for a moment, Lan thought he might agree.
Then he said, “Forgiveness, but I haven’t the means to do such a thing.” He tapped the scroll. “If you please—tell me what business you had with Wei.”
“Old Wei?” The name fell from her lips in surprise. “I…he’s someone I know.”
She glanced to the door again. Madam Meng’s smile haddropped; her mouth looked sharp enough to cut as she began to supplement her dainty gestures with more aggression.
The Hin boy was watching Lan. “I was meant to meet with him,” he said at last, and in the midst of the growing panic in her mind, Lan suddenly remembered.I think I’ll have somethingreallygood for you next time,Old Wei had told her in confidence, grinning with his mouth full of missing teeth.Source of mine’s introduced a Hin courtdog to me, and he’s in the market—
This…was the Hin courtdog Old Wei had spoken of?
His next words hit her like a punch in the gut. “He’s dead.”
She exhaled sharply, as though the blow had been physical. “He’s—” She couldn’t bring herself to say it.
“His shop was ransacked and much of what was left inside was destroyed. He was dead by the time I got there.” The boy’s eyes were steady as a blade. “If you were involved, be truthful. I will get to the bottom of it all.”
She barely heard him; her mind was still spinning around the fact that Old Wei was…was…
Her thoughts landed on the silver spoon, and just like that, the dots connected. The White Angels who had come barging into Old Wei’s shop. The spoon was the one thing that might have provoked their attention. In this day and age, the Hin knew well the ramifications of being caught in possession of any substantial amount of metal—especially one so precious as silver.
Old Wei.She closed her eyes, throat tightening to the point that she could barely breathe. He’d died because…because she’d thought giving him a stupid silver spoon would help him ease some of his troubles. Buy him enough ginseng to heal that cough of his.
The Hin courtdog leaned in, his gaze pinning her. “If you know anything, I’d advise you to tell menow.”
Across the room, Madam Meng was moving toward them.She cut through the tables like an impending storm, wrath billowing in the wake of her beautiful silken qípáo. By the filigreed screens, Donnaron caught Lan’s eye, winked, and made a slow, obscene gesture.
Lan turned to the Hin courtdog. If this man worked for the Elantians, confessing that she’d been anywhere near Old Wei would only bring her closer to a noose. They could find out thatshehad been in possession of the silver spoon—worse, they might knowshehad been searching for the scroll.
Swallowing, she met his gaze—and in spite of the little she knew about him, she had the strangest, instinctive feeling that he wasn’t here to hurt her.
Help me,she wanted to beg him.
Lan opened her mouth.
“Thereyou are, my little singer.” Madam Meng’s voice sounded by her ear, and suddenly Lan’s shoulders were caught in a viselike grip. The Madam stepped to Lan’s side and ran her eyes up and down the Hin courtdog’s body in a glance that would determine whether or not he was worthy of her attention. Evidently he was. “Heavens, Lan, you’re so popular! Is she keeping you entertained, my lord?”
Something resembling disgust crossed the courtdog’s face. It was gone in a moment, and he inclined his head at Madam Meng. The scroll had vanished. “She is a delight, Madam.”
“Wonderful.”The Madam spun Lan to her, eyes glinting with the look of a freshly minted sale. “I have someexcellentnews for you, my dear. Come, come.”
Without waiting for Lan’s response, she began to steer her away, nails digging into her flesh.
