Page 80 of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

And there was Guma’s continued silence, despite how hard Xifengtried to reach her. The dwindling supply of incense and growing pile of dead rats in the water were proof of that, but no amount of lifeblood seemed to push aside that veil between them again. She had allowed herself to contemplate, just once, the possibility of finding another human heart, but the risks were too great. Besides, Lady Sun had been a threat and had deserved her fate, but Xifeng couldn’t justify finding someone innocent to use.

What had happened to her mother? Had Guma died in that run-down house, alone with only Ning, the hired girl, to help her? Alone and forsaken, as Xifeng herself was.

Not alone,the whisper came.Never alone.

But she did not wish to speak to the Serpent God just now, with his knowing eyes, so she rose and left her sanctuary. She passed through the entrance into the city of women, tugging her fur cap around her ears. It had been another gift from Jun, who was too preoccupied these days to meet her more than once a week.

News had come from afar that mercenaries had captured the Empress’s second son on another continent. The Crown Prince insisted on going himself to lead the negotiations for his brother’s life, and it took all of the Emperor’s power to keep him at home. The youngest prince was deathly ill, and if the Crown Prince should go, Jun would risk losing all three of his heirs.

“How joyful you must be,” Xifeng murmured, imagining Lady Sun listening from her watery grave. “If all of Lihua’s sons die, yours is next in the line of succession.” Unless, of course, a fourth legitimate heir were born—provided Empress Lihua delivered her child safely.

Night had fallen in the frozen garden and Xifeng had missed supper, but she decided to have a servant bring a meal to her chamber. Maybe Kang would join her. He had grown more popular since attaining hishigher position, but he would gladly leave the gambling and gossip of the other eunuchs to keep her company, if she wished.

She spied two of Bohai’s assistants on the walkway to the Empress’s apartments. One of them was the well-trained young man Bohai had agreed to send into the Imperial City once a week at Xifeng’s request, to attend to Akira. It amused Xifeng that in doing so, the physician was unknowingly caring for his own daughter.

Back in her chamber, Xifeng shook the snow from her cap and cloak. “You there,” she called to the guard, “bring some more candles to light my room.”

But the figure that moved from the shadows was not a eunuch. It held a long kitchen knife in its hand, the blade gleaming in the dim light, and she hardly knew what had happened until the tip of it had stabbed her once, twice, three times.

She was prone on the floor before she felt a burning sensation and the warm gush of blood. A blinding, tearing pain roared in her chest and shoulder, and then the world went black.

When Xifeng returned to consciousness, she found herself in bed, her robe lowered over one heavily bandaged shoulder. A bloodstain flowered through the cotton wrappings, and an anxious lady-in-waiting hovered over her. Two eunuchs talking quietly in the corner approached when they saw her eyes flutter open.

“How are you, my lady?” one of them asked. “Bohai gave you something for the pain before he left to attend to Her Majesty.”

Xifeng sat up, testing her shoulder. Whatever Bohai had given her had worked, for she felt no sharp pain—only a dull ache that throbbed every time she moved her arm. “I’m all right.” She swung her feet to the floor, seeing blood-soaked cloths piled on the table. “Where is Kang? And did they find my attacker?”

“Kang was coming to see you,” the eunuch explained. “He saw her attacking you and shouted for help, then ran after her. It’s been almost an hour and they still haven’t returned.”

Every muscle in her body went rigid at the feminine pronoun. “Who was it? Who did such a poor job of trying to kill me?”

The eunuchs exchanged glances. “Lady Meng. She was drunk and barefoot in the snow and I don’t believe it will take long to find her. She’s as... troubled as everyone says. We heard her screaming something as she ran,” he added, flushing. “I don’t recall what it was.”

Xifeng rolled her eyes. “Tell me.”

“S-she said you weren’t satisfied with just the Crown Prince, so you had to make yourself His Majesty’s new... whore. And she said you had poisoned him against her and influenced him to get rid of her.”

“She gives me entirely too much credit. I need to find Kang. Alone.” Xifeng tugged on a thick robe and slippers, ignoring their protests as she stormed back out into the frigid night.

Another inch of snow had fallen, showing clear tracks: one larger and heavier, and the other smaller and barefoot. They led to the underground passageway, where no guards stood, and Xifeng felt a stab of foreboding as she descended.

She knew where they had gone... as improbable as it seemed, for she had never told a soul about the hot springs.

The lanterns were all lit in the cavern, illuminating the scene: Kang with his back to Xifeng, standing over the body of Lady Meng. He gripped a knife in one hand, and when Xifeng came closer, she saw the woman had died from multiple stab wounds. Her chest had been torn open and bloomed like a flower, the jagged petals of her ribs reaching for an impossible sun.

The springs bubbled and roared as she gasped out, “Kang?”

A monster turned around.

There was no sign of her friend in his face. He wore a feral, predatory expression, and his smile was an obscene blood-red slash. Thelidless eyes had no whites; they were two black holes glistening in the darkness. He was the monk from the encampment, from her dreams, from the nightmarish bronze mirror at the trade market. She had once thought Guma might have sent him to follow her—how wrong she had been, for no human could possibly control this creature.

Xifeng stood her ground, though her palms moistened and her heart thundered, making the wound in her shoulder sting. “You,” she uttered. “You’ve been with me all this time?”

The monster stared back without blinking. “I am your slave, dark queen. Your steward and confidante,” he said in Kang’s voice, and indicated Lady Meng’s corpse. “And now I am your huntsman as well. Don’t you remember the last time you saw me?”

A figure robed and hooded, eyes glittering as he tore viciously into Lady Sun’s ribs...

“You’re the Serpent God’s servant,” she gasped, and his ghastly mouth spread wider.

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