Page 41 of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

Xifeng caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. It was this perfect face that threatened them all so—those wide bright eyes and full plum lips—and what they saw behind it: the gleam of the bladeandthe lethal sharp edge, together in one. That was what they hated; that was what they sought to stamp out of her. But no matter how much Lady Sun hoped to degrade her, she would not succumb; she would not be defeated or intimidated.

She slithered closer to the mirror, the bronze lanterns casting patterns over her body like scales. A shadow like a bruise hovered over the cheek she had healed with lifeblood.

“Careful not to cut yourself when you play with a sword,” she hissed.

Her reflection bared its fangs in a smile of grotesque promise.

•••

Lady Sun sat on her balcony, her robe still wide open and legs propped on the railing. A maid sat beside her, applying something to her face. The horrid beast, Shenshi, curled around her chair and bared yellow teeth at Xifeng when she approached.

“Finished already?” When the woman turned, Xifeng saw the maid had been caking what appeared to be mud on her face. She looked ridiculous, like something that had crawled out of a swamp. Despite the literal dirt on her forehead, she still managed to look contemptuouslyat the dog shit on Xifeng’s clothes. “I’ll have to find something more challenging to give you next.”

Xifeng smiled gently as she imagined choking her with that mud, spooning thick globs of it down her throat to block the air. She felt a tremulous laugh of pleasure deep inside her.

“Go away,” Lady Sun told the maid. “Why don’tyoufinish the job, Xifeng?”

“With pleasure.” Xifeng picked up the brush the maid had been using and swirled it distastefully in the porcelain bowl. From its smell and texture, itwasmud.

“A treatment I learned when I first came to the palace,” Lady Sun said smugly. “Fresh mud mixed with a few ingredients from the Imperial physician’s stores. It smooths and beautifies the skin and keeps me young for His Majesty. You’ll understand one day, when you become a wife like me.” She laughed, as though she couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to marry Xifeng.

“You mean aconcubine,my lady?” Xifeng slashed the brush across the woman’s face. “Empress Lihua is the Emperor’s wife.”

Lady Sun’s mud-caked face stilled. “It is I he visits at night. I have given him three children, whereas she has given him none,” she said in a low voice. “Those three sons from her first husband are nearly all grown. What use is she if she can only give him a Crown Prince not of his blood? He has a son ofhisblood,myson.”

“Yes, my lady. You must be proud the Emperor has chosen to include him in the line of succession. Behind his three stepsons, of course, who are the children of his Empress.” She enjoyed the way the woman’s mouth twisted in anger. Here was a crack in Lady Sun’s seemingly perfect veneer: the knowledge that even as the Emperor’s favorite, she—and by extension, her son—would only ever be second to Her Majesty and the princes.

“Iamproud I have more to offer him than another man’s children,” said the concubine. “Perhaps one day he’ll realize that.”

Xifeng placidly continued daubing mud while her mind raced. It was clear Lady Sun wanted His Majesty to put the Empress and Crown Prince aside in favor of her and her son. But how much of it was blind hope? Hideki had said Emperor Jun was a distant cousin of the Empress and had only married into the throne. He owed his crown to his dragon-born wife; putting both her and his heir aside would surely mean a revolt he couldn’t afford to risk.

And it occurred suddenly to Xifeng that she shared something with Lady Sun. The concubine, too, wanted what fate had dictated for Xifeng: she wanted to be Empress of Feng Lu. Was Xifeng sitting in the presence of the Fool, the enemy of whom the cards had spoken? It took all of her effort to continue calmly stirring the mud as the creature moved inside her, sharpening her growing panic.

Our list of enemies grows with each passing hour,the voice whispered from within.They seek our destruction. They would see us cast down.

Xifeng darted a quick glance at Lady Sun, though it was impossible that she could have heard it speak, too. Still, the concubine was staring right at her, head tilted shrewdly, and Xifeng’s hand gave an involuntary jerk. A few drops of mud splattered the table.

Lady Sun encircled her wrist with one hand. She was surprisingly strong for a pampered, spoiled woman. “I know what you’re thinking. That because my wealthy father gave me to His Majesty, and because I’ve only ever lived in luxury, that life has been kind and easy.”

“I wouldn’t presume to think of you at all, my lady.”

“Life is difficult when you’re born a woman in this world,” the concubine murmured. “You’ve entered a game you can’t win. Men make the rules and we are left to be used by them or claw our way towhatever scraps they’ve left behind. Do you think my father gave me to the Emperor because he loved me? Did he care when he tore me from my mother’s arms? He thrust me into this pit of scorpions to be stung and forgotten.”

She released Xifeng’s arm and reached for a cloth, wiping the mud off. Slowly, her creamy skin emerged, like a pearl revealed in the dirt.

“But I had this.” She touched her face. “This is how a woman plays the game. It makes men weak and forget they make the rules. She becomes the player and they the pawns.”

Xifeng swirled the brush in the bowl of mud, listening in spite of herself. There was truth in these words—she recalled the panic she’d felt upon seeing her damaged cheek.

“That is why, my little flower, I must keep you close. To protect you.”

Or to make sure I don’t snatch your pathetic victory from your fingertips.Stupid woman, confessing her deepest weaknesses. If she chose to underestimate Xifeng’s strength, as Master Yu had, she would be making a grave misstep.

“You speak wisely, my lady,” Xifeng said, though she raged inside at the powerful essence Guma would say resided in this woman. What a shame it couldn’t be put to use by someone who deserved it. She shuddered, but from horror or anticipation, she didn’t know.

“Are you cold, young one?” Lady Sun asked, her eyes glinting at the tremor.

Xifeng shook her head. Let the woman believe she was afraid. “Not at all. Is there anything else I might do for you today?”

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