AllFreeNovel
Share Us
For what is the gleam of the sun on bright metal
Without the strength of its sting?
There was a long silence in which she feared she had overplayed her hand. Would he recognize her insult in choosing the poem he had stolen from? He had an ego large enough to throw her out of the city of women entirely. She chewed on her lip as the silence stretched on.
Master Yu uncrossed his arms. “Well, I must say, the Crown Prince’s choices are astonishing but usually right, in women and warfare,” he said at last. “You are indeed clever to recognize the poem to which I alluded earlier. Your person is pleasing. Your manners are acceptable. What is your opinion, Kang?”
“I rely upon your judgment, sir.”
Master Yu turned his attention back to her. “You’re fortunate I’m a man of reason. Someone more prejudiced would have turned you away. But when I see potential in a young woman, I must consult with a few trusted others before she can be accepted officially.”
The ones who actually make the decisions,Xifeng thought.
“Follow me,” he ordered.
She had made it through the first gate of the city of women.
Xifeng clasped her damp palms together as she followed Master Yu and Kang into a reception room. Painted lanterns dangled from the ceiling, lit despite the hour, and cast a warm rose-gold light throughout the chamber. Jasmine blossoms floated in bowls of water, and petals sprinkled on the floor emitted a heady fragrance with each step she took.
In the center of the room stood a wooden dais scattered with brocade pillows, on which sat four women sewing. Their eyes immediately shifted to Xifeng.
She wondered which was the Empress, the one she was destined to replace, and her stomach clenched. Here in this splendor and elegance, her fate seemed painfully like a delusion in the face of reality. She was, after all, nothing more than a seamstress in the presence of a descendant of the Dragon King, and no amount of preparation from Guma could have kept her hands from shaking.
“Your Imperial Majesty.” Master Yu bowed until his nose nearlytouched the floor. “I am honored to bring you the maiden of whom your son spoke.”
“Thank you,” said a gentle, musical voice. “Come closer, child, and tell us your name.”
Xifeng prayed her own voice wouldn’t falter. “Your Majesty, my name is Xifeng.”
There was a long silence in which she felt the ladies’ intense scrutiny. Her cheeks warmed, but she lifted her chin in determination. Why should she be ashamed? According to Kang, some of them came from humble origins, too. It was certainly true of the newest concubine, and she may not even have had Xifeng’s education.
There was an intake of breath from one of the women, and without thinking, Xifeng met their eyes.
Two of them were too young to be the Empress: one was about thirty, with pomegranate silk robes and hair like charred wood, and the other was closer to twenty, with a peach-shaped face. Xifeng felt instinctively that the thin, sour one to their right was not Her Majesty. So it was the fourth on whom she focused, and she was rewarded with a smile.
“I am Empress Lihua.” The great lady spoke with an elegant inflection, the words crisp and clear.
She looked like everything a queen should be and more. Silver streaks glinted in her hair, and the dangling ornaments she wore caught the light as she moved. She wore robes of a fine brushed silk the color of a sunrise and held herself and her white, white hands with a regal air. Xifeng ached with envy at the sight of her. What was it like to be born to such grace, such innate privilege? Here was yet another woman with a destiny greater than hers.
For that is the way of the world,Guma’s voice echoed.Some are given a rope to the moon, and others claw up the sky.
Xifeng looked at her soiled fingernails, imagining the dirt was shreds of night sky, ripped down by her fingers as she climbed.
“Tell me, Xifeng, how did you come to meet my son? He seemed taken with you.” Beside the Empress, the youngest lady with the peach face stirred restlessly.
“Lift your head when addressing Her Majesty, girl,” Master Yu barked.
“The Crown Prince was taken with my friend, not with me, Your Majesty.” Xifeng’s eyes flickered up to the Empress’s face, which wore a look of friendly but intense scrutiny. The woman’s odd, engrossed expression seemed to take in her every feature and movement, but it relaxed at Xifeng’s words.
“Your humility is admirable. But though my son was taken with your friend, it was you he could not stop talking about.”
The peach-faced girl shifted again, her eyes on Xifeng sharp and mistrustful.
“The prince is always correct in his judgments,” the Empress added proudly. “He has an eye for potential. That’s why they call him by his childhood nickname, the Little Fisherman.”
“His Highness is ever discerning and wise,” Master Yu interjected smoothly. “This girl lacks refinement and polish, Your Majesty, but time at court should change that. She has an education and knows a bit of poetry.”
Xifeng felt, again, the intensity of the Empress’s gaze upon her. With one word, this lady of the cultured, honeyed tone could decide the course of her life.Oh, to have such power.The world would not deny a thing to such a woman; even thetengaruclearing and its mystical tree might be hers for the taking, if she wanted them. The thought prompted a slow stirring deep within Xifeng, and two words floated up like leaves in a still pond:the Fool...
