“Excuse me? Have you met Blue?”
“Right,” she replies with a lift of her brows. “Because she’s so happy all the time.”
I blink, and Wren opens the door, something closing back over her expression. Following her inside, I send a quick bow in Mistress Eira’s direction before kneeling down beside Aoki. “Thank the gods there’s food left,” I murmur, picking up my chopsticks. “I’m starving.”
She doesn’t look up. Her face is frozen, eyes locked on something small in her hands, and when I peer round to see what it is, my own expression freezes.
Red calligraphy; a scarlet summons.
Aoki-zhi
Slowly, I set my chopsticks down. “Are you all right?” I ask in a whisper.
She gives a jerk of her head that I take to be a nod.
Zhin’s voice pipes up from across the table. “You must be excited, Aoki!” A sincere smile lifts her cheeks.
Still staring down at her hands, Aoki gives another stiff nod. I notice that her fingers are trembling. Underneath the table I press my thigh to hers.
There’s a harsh laugh. “Looks like our little Aoki is finally about to become a woman,” Blue purrs. “And at only sixteen.” She looks round the table, purposefully avoiding my eyes. “That’s all of us now, isn’t it?”
“You’re forgetting Lei,” Mariko sniggers.
Blue’s dark irises flick my way. “Oh, yes. I forgot all about her.”
My fingers knot, but before I can say anything, Mistress Eira stands up. “I wasn’t called by the King for two whole months after our ceremony,” she announces smoothly, giving me a smile across the table.
That makes Blue’s and Mariko’s smirks drop.
“With some girls,” Mistress Eira continues, “he enjoys the wait.” She steps over, holding out a hand. “Come, Aoki. I’ll help you get ready.”
Aoki winces. With a jagged breath, she looks at me, a white tinge to her lips where she sucks them in. “It’s what I wanted,” she breathes as she gets to her feet, a whisper that only the two of us hear, and I’m not entirely sure which one of us she’s trying to convince.
That night as I stay up waiting for Aoki to get back, I write home.
Dear Baba,
It’s been over a month since my first letter and I still haven’t heard from you. I’m hoping this is because the shop is so busy now and you’ve become such a celebrity in Xienzo that you don’t have time for your daughter anymore （remember her?）。 Or maybe Tien’s just been working you too hard （more likely）。 Whatever it is, please write soon. I miss you.
Palace life is highly overrated. There are hours of preparation before you can even leave your room, and there are rules for everything. Tien would love it. Also, the food is awful.
All right, not really. But I’d still trade it all for one of your pork dumplings any day.
All my love,
Lei
My brush hovers over the paper, wanting to add more. But Mistress Eira made it clear that I wasn’t to give out any details about the palace or my life here. Anyway, I wouldn’t want my father and Tien to know how difficult I’m finding things. I set the brush down, waiting until the ink dries before touching my fingers to it. As I trace each character, I imagine Baba’s and Tien’s hands doing the same in a few days. I bring the paper to my lips for a kiss. Then I roll the letter up, fastening it with a ribbon.
At this hour, the only light comes from the lantern in the corner of my room. Pattering rainfall fills the midnight hush. I sit back on my sleeping mat, pulling my legs to my chest. This is the third letter I’ve written to home, and I still haven’t heard anything back. I probably shouldn’t read too much into it—there are so many explanations as to why they haven’t responded yet. But I can’t help it. Maybe Madam Himura found out about the letters and stopped them from being sent as a punishment for my embarrassing her at the Unveiling Ceremony. Guilt wrings my belly as I remember Wren’s warning earlier today. Maybe, if I was performing better in my classes…
The sound of movement in the hallway snaps off the thought.
I get up, tucking my hair behind my ears, and move to the door. A figure passes, footsteps light.
Aoki’s back.
Clutching the silk of my night robe tighter around me, I glide the door open. The air is fresh from the rain, the floorboards cool beneath my bare soles. “Aoki?” I call softly after the retreating figure.
She doesn’t stop.
I hurry after her. She turns the corner, disappearing through a door that leads to the gardens at the back of the house. I hesitate. We’re not supposed to leave our rooms at night, let alone go outside. And if Aoki wanted me to go with her, wouldn’t she have left the door open?
Unsure now, I slide the door ajar. Rain-cooled air greets me. Beyond the house are gardens, graduating from manicured lawns and flowerbeds to a dense pine forest in the distance, moonlight silvering the treetops. I spot Aoki’s retreating figure just before she’s swallowed up by the dark line of the forest.
Only it isn’t Aoki.
It’s Wren.
Under the moonlight, her outline is unmistakable: long-limbed and broad-shouldered, with that slinking, feline prowl.
I stare at the spot where she disappeared between the trees, battling the urge to charge after her. Because while being caught wandering the house at night might earn us a slap and a lecture from Madam Himura, actually leaving the house to go gods-know-where and with gods-know-who will certainly have more serious consequences.
My lips press tight. And after her telling me to be careful.
I tiptoe back to my room. Sleep doesn’t come for a long time. I keep picturing Wren moving through the forest, winding her way easily through the pines, smiling as she spots the person she’s snuck out even in the rain to meet. In my head it’s a tall, shadowy man. He opens his arms and she wraps herself around him, dissolving into his touch, and in the pit of my belly, something dark stirs.
THIRTEEN
I DON’T GET A CHANCE TO speak to Aoki until the following morning. She comes to my side as we head down the raised walkways to the lake in the south of Women’s Court where our qi arts teacher, Master Tekoa, holds his classes. It’s a beautiful midsummer morning, bright and crisp, drops of rain from last night’s shower nestling in the cupped palms of leaves and the wooden buildings still stained dark. Yet the daylight shows how tired Aoki looks. Her eyes are puffy, her lips chapped.
Before I can say anything, Blue looks round. “Little Aoki!” she says, striding over. “How are you feeling after your special night?” Her grin is all teeth. “I’m surprised you’re even able to walk,” she goes on with a glance at Mariko. “I thought the King would have broken you.”
Mariko titters, but the other girls are quiet.
“Go away, Blue,” I snap, threading my fingers through Aoki’s.
Blue arches a brow. “Don’t you want to hear the saucy details, Nine? I’m surprised. I thought, since you still haven’t had any sauciness yourself…”
“Well, you thought wrong. Nothing new there,” I add, and I notice Wren at the back of the group, her lips quirking.
Blue ignores me. “Come on, Aoki. Give us the details.”