Page 61 of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“The useless prune doesn’t know anything about it. Our challenge is how to get you past the guards in the city of women.” Kang chewed on his lower lip. “I have a few ideas...”

Xifeng’s veins hummed with anticipation as she envisioned the hole in the garden. If she could climb the stones jutting out from the wall on her way back, as she had last time, she wouldn’t need to confront the guards at all. “Don’t worry about that. If you can promise to have Chou asleep, I can get there.”

The eunuch beamed. “For heaven’s sake, don’t let anyone see you.”

“I’ll have an excuse ready in case anyone does.”

A soft, lilting melody came from where the court musicians had set up on the terrace. The riverbank was now aglow with the light emanating from the flame-lit boats.

“Thank you, my friend,” Xifeng said quietly. “I will not forget how you’ve helped me.”

They watched in silence as the bamboo boats began drifting away on the river. Soon the water was filled with dozens of twinkling lights floating along until at last, one by one, they vanished into the trees.

The following night, Xifeng waited an hour after the Empress and her ladies had gone to bed. She tossed and turned and ran her fingers over her near-invisible scar, alternately burning with impatience and feeling cold with worry that Wei would find her changed... and not for the better. She didn’t know whether she could hide the shameful thoughts poisoning her mind lately.

“They’re not your thoughts, they’re Guma’s,” he might say.

But would that argument work now that Xifeng was on her own, far away from her aunt? Would it excuse her cruel hunger for Lady Sun’s suffering? Or her muddled feelings for the Empress’s husband, a man so out of reach, and yet...

Xifeng covered her eyes and let out a slow sigh. The search for poison on the concubine’s person had of course turned up nothing, but still the Emperor had pardoned the Crown Prince. And aside from the fact that Lady Sun hadn’t left her apartments all day—no doubt sulking and embarrassed—it seemed things had gone back to normal. Still,Xifeng had her doubts, remembering His Majesty’s fury. She suspected he wouldn’t let the prince off so easily. She wouldn’t have, in his place.

There was no sound but the snoring of the others as she slipped on a robe and ducked out of the ladies-in-waiting’s entrance. She took care to stay in the shadows of the building, avoiding the sentries stationed outside Her Majesty’s apartments.

The night was as clear and lovely as the last. Moonlight shone on the tunnel entrance, where she could make out the outlines of two guards. She crept into the darkness and slipped through the hole in the garden. Though the thick, warm air of the springs called to her, she found her way through the tunnels to the main passageway.

Kang peered into the darkness, his face anxious in the torchlight.

“It’s me,” she whispered.

His shoulders sagged with relief. “I feared Chou had awakened from his drunken stupor. I can give you one hour, but please be back by then.”

Impulsively, Xifeng kissed his cheek and he reddened with pleasure.

“Be happy,” he said as he shut the door gently behind her.

Her earlier worries faded as she stepped back into the evening’s embrace. The lush palace garden soothed her with its arching willow trees, frogs and crickets singing in the reeds of the pond, and the perfume of night-blooming jasmine. The warren of buildings that made up the main palace loomed nearby, and she dared not call out for fear of guards. But no sooner had she reached the shadow of a tree than she felt arms around her and heard Wei’s soft, joyous laugh.

“It’s you,” she said, in half bliss and half disbelief.

“It’s me.” He pressed a smile into her hair.

She clung to him like a drowning woman as he kissed her, his mouth tasting of salt and metal. How could she have forgotten this fire racingthrough her veins, charging her entire body like a lightning storm? His burning lips moved to her neck, tasting her like he had been starving for weeks, and he gripped her waist as though fearing a stray breeze would take her from him.

Heavy footsteps rang out across the walkways of the nearest building.

She tugged at his hand and they raced across the grass.

“You’re beautiful,” he breathed, and she could no more stop the smile on her face than she could the moon shining in the sky. They ran deep into the refuge of the gardens, a jungle of trees, tangled vines, and heavy-headed flowers shielding them from view. A pagoda stood close to the edge of the pond. It was not entirely concealed, for there were pillars instead of walls.

“There?” Wei asked. “But someone might walk past and see us...”

Xifeng’s only answer was to grin and pull him toward it, and he followed without protest.

He lifted her in his arms and pressed her against one of the pillars. There was a low bench he had to sidestep, and she enjoyed the image of someone prim and proper sitting there in the afternoon, only to have her and Wei make ferocious love there in the evening. She locked her arms and legs around him, closing her eyes as he crushed his mouth against hers. The skin of her back felt raw as it scraped against the pillar. Tomorrow, there would be bruises, and none of the Empress’s well-bred ladies would guess it as she sat among them, sewing demurely.

Voices rang out on the palace walkway, and Wei stilled, burying his face into her shoulder. She noticed him shaking uncontrollably as the garden grew quiet once more, and when she realized he was laughing, she had to bite her tongue to keep from joining in.

He lowered her to the ground, his arms still around her. They leaned against the pillar, foreheads pressed together, his slowing breath warmingher face. Xifeng couldn’t believe she had ever forgotten the freckle beneath his eye or the faint scar along his smiling mouth.

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