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“You are. Just by being here.” He took her hand and she gasped at the iciness of his fingers. “Lan, if anything happens to me... if somehow, we don’t get there in time...”
“Stop. I won’t listen to that kind of talk. I didn’t come all this way, sleep on the ground with roots sticking into my back, choke down disgusting dried meat, and forgo the gods know how many baths, tofail. I’m going to make you better, even if I have to carry you on my back all the way to the Gray City.” Lan leaned her head against him and smiled when his shoulder shook weakly with laughter. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.”
Bao pressed his lips to her hair.
The rain began to fall lightly, and then in sheets. The soldiers shouted to each other as they hurried to get their horses under the shelter of the banyan trees, where Lan and Bao were already sitting. The canopy of leaves helped a bit, though a few raindrops still managed to find them. Lan hugged herself, looking up at the sky through the treetops, and Bao wrapped the Commander’s cloak around her, too. He felt warm and safe against her.
“Great timing for a storm, isn’t it?” Wren shouted and Lan turned, a bit dismayed to see that she had decided to join them under their tree. The Imperial soldiers were clustered under three other trees, and Commander Wei and Lady Yen had managed to find one to themselves.The noblewoman looked as cheerful at the delay as Bao was dejected by it.
“Hopefully it stops soon so we can be on our way,” Bao said, his face tight with anxiety.
Lightning cracked the sky, and several seconds later, they heard a rumble of thunder. A few of the horses whinnied, rearing up in fright at the loud noise. The Commander was jogging from tree to tree, speaking to everyone. “We may need to camp here tonight,” he said loudly, to be heard over the sound of the torrential rain. “The road is going to be submerged and dangerous for the horses. We will have to be on our way tomorrow morning if this doesn’t stop in an hour.”
“We don’t have time,” Bao protested, but the Commander had already run off again.
Lan squeezed his hand. “We’re going to be fine. It’s just a small delay.”
But it rained heavily all through the afternoon and night, and by the next morning, the skies were still pouring. At last, in the late afternoon, the sun emerged and the tired, soaked company set out again at last. Lan felt Bao’s fear and worry like a second cloak wrapped around him. But she took comfort in the fact that he had slept well and dreamlessly that night. They traveled without stopping, to make up for lost time, but it was slow going on the muddy, rain-drenched roads, and it wasn’t until late that evening that they arrived at Lord Nguyen’s estate, a day later than anticipated.
The home was a grand and sprawling affair, with mother-of-pearl gates, gold pillars, and opulent buildings linked by courtyards, and though Lan admired it all, Bao looked without seeming to see anything. He was still shivering and wrapped in the Commander’s cloak.
“I just need more sleep,” he tried to reassure her. “I don’t care if it’s a swan-feather bed or a bamboo pallet. I could probably get the best sleep ofmy life right here on the marble steps.” Servants came forward to take their horses as Lady Yen stood gazing over the grandeur of the courtyard. The heavy oak doors opened to reveal Lord Nguyen, a short, stout man in his fifties, dressed in finely tailored robes of slate-gray silk. He was bald, with two tufts of gray-black hair over each ear, and a bright, good-natured face. Three wrinkled, sweet-faced dogs with short white hair trailed joyfully behind him as he came out to greet the newcomers.
Lan thought of all she’d heard about this man and the deadly explosives he had created, and could not reconcile his friendly, cheerful appearance with such a dangerous invention.
He went straight to Yen, who looked startled as though she had expected him to greet the Commander first, man to man. He bowed low to her. “Welcome, my dear lady. I’m happy to see you,” he said warmly. “You must be exhausted. I’ll have a maid show you to your chambers.”
Yen returned his bow, then introduced the group. Lan liked that he gave a slight bow of respect to each person, and when Yen introduced Lan, he brightened with recognition. Up close, she saw that his eyes were keen and sharp with intelligence. She wondered if his jovial manners were deliberate, so that anyone who underestimated him as a happy-go-lucky noble would get a surprise when he displayed his intellect.
“I have the honor of calling your esteemed father a friend,” he told Lan kindly. “He must be worried about you. Would you like to send him a message to let him know you’re here safely? I’ll give you a chamber near Wren and Lady Yen and make sure you’re given plenty of ink. A messenger will take the note as soon as you’ve finished.” He waved away her thanks and looked at Bao. “Young man, I think you’ll be more comfortable near the Commander and his men?”
“If you don’t mind, sir, I’d prefer a chamber near Miss Vu,” Bao said, and Lan blushed, wondering what Lord Nguyen might make of thisrequest. She almost explained about the spell, but the nobleman only nodded at Bao without any judgment whatsoever.
“Of course. You must all be comfortable in my home. Which reminds me.” He turned to Commander Wei. “I took the liberty of sending for rice wine from the Great Forest weeks ago. I thought you and your men might enjoy a taste of home before moving on again.”
“That is most thoughtful of you, my lord. Thank you.” Commander Wei had been silent the whole time, averting his eyes from Lady Yen, but now he looked genuinely taken aback.
Lan couldn’t help smiling at how pleased Lord Nguyen looked with himself. She could see why her father liked the man so much. When the servants led Commander Wei and his men in one direction and Bao and the ladies in the other, Lan glanced back to see the nobleman petting his wrinkled dogs and speaking to them as they pressed adoringly against his legs.
“I’m glad he seems so nice, for Lady Yen’s sake,” Lan told Bao softly. “And that was quick thinking, asking to be near me. You need rest, and we don’t want the spell disrupting it.”
Bao turned bright red and nearly walked into one of Lord Nguyen’s priceless vases. “I, um, had almost forgotten about the spell when I asked,” he said, and Lan laughed, their shoulders bumping as they walked. “If I had my way, I wouldn’t stop here at all. I would keep riding on to get to the witch, but it seemed rude to refuse Lord Nguyen’s hospitality.”
Lan glanced at his shadowed eyes. “Not to mention you would fall off your horse if you did any more traveling. You need rest. We’ll leave for the Gray City first thing in the morning.” She spoke in a voice of forced cheer, trying not to think what it would be like if he decided not to come home after they had broken the spell. She had known him foralmost ten years and had wasted it all on someone else, and now they might only have a matter of days left together.
“What is it?” he asked, noticing her change in mood at once. “Why do you look so sad?”
“It’s nothing,” she said quickly. He had enough to worry about without her fretting, too.
Lord Nguyen’s servant led them through a gilded, well-lit corridor and showed Bao to the first chamber, which contained oak tables and a massive bed piled high with brocade pillows.
“I’m going to get some sleep before supper,” Bao told her, looking longingly at the bed, and she smiled as he fairly ran into the room. Her own chamber was just as comfortable and close enough to his that the spell wouldn’t keep either of them from breathing. But even when they got the witch to lift the enchantment, Lan wondered if it would ever really go away, this aching feeling of loss whenever he wasn’t near.
She sank into a silk chair, thinking morosely about what her parents would say if they knew how she felt about Bao now. Lady Vu would have a fit, and her father likely wouldn’t approve, either, despite his affection for the young man. Lan had thrown their differences in station in Bao’s face when she had spoken to him in anger, and it had been wrong of her to do so—but the divide between themwasreality, and these slowly awakening feelings only a dream that she would have to wake up from sometime.
In the gathering darkness, Lan lifted her hand and felt tears on her face.
This journey of theirs would have an end, and that end was a parting of the ways.
