Page 39 of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“I may,” Xifeng hedged, though she felt herself thawing at his kind manner. It wasn’t like anyone else was being friendly toward her. Still, something in Kang’s playful demeanor made it difficult for her to tell whether he was serious. “Well. If they wish us at the bottom of this pond, weighed down by stones, at least we’ll be together.”

“Mustn’t say such things too loudly. You never know to whom you’re giving ideas.”

They laughed.

“The concubines aren’t above it, either. Lady Sun would claw Lady Meng’s eyes out if she could, to secure the Emperor for herself only. There’s a whole harem of consorts left over from Empress Lihua’s first husband, but thankfully Emperor Jun prefers only the two of them.”

“Lady Meng seems so unhappy,” Xifeng said. “She came through my town, you know, on her way to the palace, and I envied her good fortune.”

“She’d best improve her attitude or she’ll be shipped off to a monastery. But I admit it’s not a life to which everyone is suited, especially when you are Lady Sun’s direct competition.” A scowl creased his features. “Lady Sun is His Majesty’s favorite because she gave him two daughtersanda son. Her power is absolute. Nowthere’ssomeone I wouldn’t mind seeing at the bottom of a pond.”

Xifeng remembered the gilded palanquin she had seen and the pale, listless girl she had met. “I was stupid to be jealous of Lady Meng. I didn’t think what it would mean for her.”

“No, a concubine’s life wouldn’t suit you, would it? You’d want to be the first and only in a man’s affections, such as that warrior of yours.” He laughed at her shock. “I put two and two together when you mentioned that your friend Wei had first attracted the Crown Prince’s attention.”

Xifeng remained silent, her eyes downturned. Wei was no one’s business but her own.

“Oh, come,” Kang said kindly. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I was only teasing. Let us talk of something else, and we will discuss matters of the heart when we’re better friends.”

They spent the evening walking the grounds. He showed her the bathhouses and rooms full of thread-bound books, inkstones, and sharp pens ready for writing. The music room was as fully equipped with lutes, drums, and pipes.

“People in my town would laugh at the idea of calling books and music work,” Xifeng told him. “How is it some men break their backs farming a dead land, whereas others sit in comfort and ruminate on stars and poetry?”

The eunuch shrugged. “It is as the Dragon Lords will it. You know that.”

They chatted comfortably as they explored, and Xifeng felt she had wasted much of her life cloistered in her forsaken town. Almost as soon as she had left, she had made friends, and Kang might one day be another. His wicked sense of humor and sharp tongue suited her perfectly.

“What are you thinking of?” he asked on their way to the evening meal.

“Of friends. I’ve never had any,” she admitted. “The boys wanted... other things and the girls avoided me. But I watched their friendships come and go. I saw how much more time and trust it took for women to form bonds, and how easily they could break apart.”

“Women are complicated creatures.”

She eyed him. “You may be one of the few men with whom I cantrulybe friends. After all, you don’t want anything more from me.”

Kang gave her an inscrutable smile. “What makes you think that even if I don’t wish to sleep with you, I don’t want something else?”

With his dry, enigmatic humor, she was hard-pressed to say whether that had been a joke.

When Xifeng was young, she had imagined that each day in the Imperial Palace would be special and significant. But she found that time passed just as it had in her town. She had a routine she was expected to follow, one that included plenty of sewing, and she was treated with as much contempt and disapproval as she had known from Guma. The only difference was she slept in a clean, soft bed every night and wore fresh, dry clothes.

Always, she kept her eyes open for signs of the Fool. But she hadn’t seen the concubines or the Empress since she had first arrived, and the other women left her alone for the most part.

The morning gong woke her on the first day of her second week. Dandan and Mei, the two girls who shared her chamber, were already up and washing their faces.

“Good morning,” Xifeng said, but they only blinked at her in silence. She sighed. It had been like this all last week. “You don’t need to be afraid of me, you know.”

She ran a brush through her hair, almost missing Ning’s endless chatter in the mornings. Perhaps Dandan and Mei had been instructed not to talk to her. Only the gods knew what dire warning Madam Hong might have fed them.

“Hateful old crow,” she muttered.

But maybe it was better this way, staying isolated from the others. She needed her wits about her, what with her servitude to Lady Sun looming ahead. She remembered the woman’s cruel, catlike smile when she had needled Lady Meng about her lowly origins. If the best punishment Madam Hong and Master Yu could find was for Xifeng to serve this favorite concubine of the Emperor, they had a reason for it, and she had to stay alert.

The building where the Empress and consorts lived connected to a gate in the wall lining the city of women. The Empress occupied the top two levels, and Lady Sun had the entire level underneath. Xifeng found the concubine’s quarters sumptuously decorated in brushed satin and scarlet brocade. A eunuch directed her through a labyrinth of curtained recesses and corridors until she came to the immense bathing chamber.

Lady Sun glanced lazily up at her from a gilded tub covering almost the entire room. It had been filled to the brim with searing hot water, which was hidden under a sea of crimson rose petals, their perfume heady in the whorls of steam that rose up to the porcelain-tiled ceiling. Elaborate folding screens did nothing to conceal the woman’s nakedness. She didn’t bother covering her breasts as she stretched a languorous arm on either side of her.

“Come closer,” she cooed. “Don’t be bashful, young one. I won’t bite you.”

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