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“It is impossible to break me.”
“Good. I knew you had spirit,” he said warmly. “Intimidating new girls is how they assert their dominance. The Empress has given them power over us and they never want us to forget.”
“Why do you speak so freely of them?” Xifeng asked, arching a brow. “Are you hoping to catch me off my guard and report my careless words to Master Yu?”
Kang’s eyes widened. “My dear, no. I speak my mind because I want to be friends...neverto trap you.”
Xifeng stared at him, unnerved by the earnestness in his expression. If this was a ploy, he was a very good actor indeed. All of her instincts warned her not to trust him—but then again, an ally could be useful. “I would like to be friends,” she said carefully, and his face lit up.
But a roar of laughter from the adjacent building dissolved his cheer. “Eunuchs,” he muttered. “They’re playing one of their table games again.”
“Why aren’t you with them?”
“They despise me. They hate the young and ambitious and, above all, the talented,” he said matter-of-factly. “They don’t know where I come from, but they know where I aspire to go because I have the capacity to do so.”
“Where would that be?”
“I would join the Five Tigers, the most powerful eunuchs in the Empress’s household. That fool Master Yu is the worst of them. They’re getting old, but they must hope to live forever, because they guard their positions jealously. They haven’t asked any younger men to join.”
Xifeng frowned. “What real power do they have?”
“You’d be surprised. Empress Lihua’s father was often away fighting in the wars, and his favorite eunuch, Tao, would rule in his absence. Tao was the one who drafted the treaty about the Unclaimed Lands between Dagovad and the Sacred Grasslands.”
“The lands near the Gulf of Talon,” Xifeng recited automatically, as she would to Guma after a lesson. “A barbarian horde swept out of the Shadow Sea and populated those lands for a century. The queen of Dagovad and the king of the Grasslands joined forces to muster up an army large enough to roust them out.”
Kang grinned. “I should have known you’d already know all about it.”
“I don’t know much about the treaty,” she admitted. “Or the invaders themselves. Guma told me they originated from Kamatsu and the Great Forest many ages ago.” She had often wondered about these warriors who spent their lives on the wild sea and were spoken of with such fear and awe. They were called barbarians, disparagingly, though their clever methods of shipbuilding and even their musical instruments had been adopted by the mainlanders. Perhaps, she reflected, they intheirturn thought of people on the continent as barbarians.
“After they drove the invaders away, as you said, the two kingdoms turned against each other and fought over those lands. Rich soil and a port, you know. People have killed for less. So the eunuch Tao stepped in as an impartial third party on behalf of the old Emperor and drafted a ten-year treaty to split the wealth between them.” He paused significantly. “That ten-year treaty ended last winter.”
“What happens now?” Xifeng asked, fascinated. “Do they draft a new treaty? Or will one of them claim the land for themselves?”
“The latter, I’m afraid. The queen of Dagovad grows bolder every year, especially now that her elderly husband has died and she has come into her own. She has made enemies of many, including her own sister.”
“Her sister?”
“The queen of Kamatsu. They’ve been enemies since they were girls, and Emperor Jun’s treaty with Kamatsu does not sit well with many—Dagovad in particular.” Kang pursed his lips. “This eastern conflict will be a problem for Emperor Jun. At least Tao’s actions secured peace for a decade, something Dagovad will not forget.”
“How intriguing that someone else can rule in the Emperor’s place.”But a eunuch is still male,Xifeng thought.Would they feel the same about a woman?
Kang led her away from the building, his knuckles white on the painted fan. “You’ll learn that the eunuchs are every bit as powerful and conniving as the ladies. It’s all a game.”
“Why have you decided to trust me? How can you be certain I won’t repeat your comments to Master Yu, for instance?”
“Because that’s not who you are.”
“But how do you know?” Xifeng persisted. “We’ve only just met.”
“I’m a good judge of people, and perhaps a bit lonely, too.” He gestured to their surroundings, his silk sleeve billowing. “This is a placebuilt for secret alliances. Everyone has someone to eavesdrop and whisper with, and I long for a friend of my own. And to be honest, Xifeng... if anyone were to make themselves a success at court, my wager would be onyou.”
They paused beneath a wooden archway with letters etched into the base:Pride, prosperity, perseverance.“You are so confident in me?” Xifeng asked lightly, running her hands over the last word.
“I sense a ruthlessness in you. An unwillingness to be refused or defeated. Yes, my dear, I want to be your friend, and I want to be there when you make it.”
His stark honesty astonished her—but gratified her, too. “You hope to use me,” she said, only half jokingly.
The eunuch twinkled at her. “In time, you may come to trust me, too.”
