Page 35 of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“How does a girl from a poor family learn poetry?” the sour-faced older woman asked.

“Never mind that, Madam Hong,” the Empress responded. “I’d like to hear a poem, Xifeng. Would you please recite one for us?”

Xifeng clasped her hands together, mind racing through the lines Guma had forced her to learn over the years. She thought of the light in the Empress’s eyes when speaking of her son, and a homely little piece appeared that had always caught at her motherless heart:

Threads of silk in careworn hands

Become clothes for a wild boy

And tear against the rocks and branches

Only to be mended once more.

“But what care I,” the mother sighs, “of toil when spring ends all too soon?”

Master Yu was staring at her with overt displeasure, but the Empress’s eyes shone.

“A sweet poem. It’s true of all mothers whose children grow up too fast. It seemed my boys were no sooner out of swaddling clothes than they began commanding armies.”

“It’s a poem all mothers should hear,” cooed the woman in pomegranate robes, with a sidelong glance at the peach-faced girl. “What is your opinion, Lady Meng?”

“I am not a mother, as you well know,” the girl said in a curt, oddlyfamiliar accent. Xifeng noticed how she tugged at the snagged threads in her sewing with restless vigor.

“Allow me to introduce the two favored consorts of the Emperor.” The Empress gestured to the woman in pomegranate. “This is Lady Sun, whose twin daughters you may meet at some point. And this is Lady Meng, who came to us a month ago.”

“We are fortunate to have her.” Lady Sun’s lips curved with sly, feline pleasure. Every word she spoke seemed sugar laced with poison. “Remind me whichlittle villageyou hail from again? His Majesty spoke so feelingly of traveling through it... and seeing you.”

“You wouldn’t know it if I told you,” the girl replied, but Lady Sun’s smile only widened, unaffected by her rudeness.

Xifeng lifted her eyes, startled. Sothiswas the newest concubine, the girl who had ridden through her town in a palanquin. She still spoke in the cadence of the common villagers, which explained why her accent sounded familiar. Shewasvery pretty, Xifeng had to admit, with her round, pink cheeks and lips like petals. It was easy to believe she’d caught Emperor Jun’s eye out the window of his royal litter. But her eyes were dull and her movements listless; she sewed like someone who would rather be doing anything else, anywhere else in the world.

“This is Madam Hong, my chief lady-in-waiting.” Empress Lihua indicated the sour-looking woman. “You will get to know her better, as all of my ladies are under her care and supervision.”

Xifeng’s heart leapt at the implication that she might stay, but she kept her expression neutral and bowed low to each of the women. When she straightened again, she noticed for the first time a magnificent tapestry on the wall behind the Empress. The piece was woven in shades of fern, emerald, olive, and moss, and she let out a quiet gaspwhen she saw the scene it depicted: a clearing in the woods, with a pond from which sprouted a flowering tree.

“Do you like it?” Empress Lihua asked, glancing from Xifeng to the tapestry and back. “It was commissioned by my grandfather in honor of our kingdom’s five hundredth anniversary.”

“It’s b-beautiful.” Xifeng hated herself for stammering, especially when she saw Lady Sun’s smug expression. She made an effort to speak slowly, in measured tones. “It reminds me of a clearing we passed on our journey here. I saw a tree similar to that one.”

Lady Sun laughed contemptuously. “There have been no such trees on Feng Lu for a thousand years. Her Majesty hasn’t time for your fanciful stories.”

But the Empress brushed away her words like fleas. “You needn’t trouble yourself to speak for me, Lady Sun, especially on matters of which you have no knowledge.”

The concubine stiffened at the Empress’s rebuke, though the eyes that returned to Xifeng still wore a predatory gleam.

Empress Lihua leaned forward in her seat. “I’d like to hear your story, Xifeng. Alone,” she added. “Kang, stay behind a moment.” The others rose at once and departed in a reluctant, colorful parade of silk, Lady Sun leading the way with an air of distaste.

Xifeng felt a drop of sweat slide down her neck as the Empress continued studying her. There was only Kang, and then she would be alone with the Emperor’s wife. Her mouth was dry as sand, and she felt hopelessly ill-mannered before the woman’s polished elegance.Breathe,she told herself.The whole of your fate hangs upon this meeting.

“Would you send for tea?” the Empress asked Kang, and the eunuch gave Xifeng an encouraging nod before he scurried off. “He is most efficient, is he not?”

“He has been very kind today.” The words sounded insipid even to Xifeng as she spoke. She twisted her hands, searching for something clever to say, but her thoughts slipped like clumsy threads. It had been easy to speak to the Crown Prince. Why did it seem so frightening with the Empress?

“Unfortunately, Master Yu seems to underestimate him.”

“Being underestimated can be a blessing in disguise,” Xifeng said. “That is to say, it gives us a chance to astonish those who doubt our true worth.”

“Well said.” The Empress indicated the cushion beside her, which Lady Meng had vacated. Xifeng felt acutely aware of this as she sat, remembering how she had envied that girl in the palanquin only to be sitting in her seat weeks later.

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