Sharon Shinn - Gateway

Now he was grinning broadly, since it was clearly his partiality for Daiyu that was making Mei so happy. “Yes, Mother,” he said. “Daiyu, I will seek you out later in the evening, when such attentions do not seem so-obvious.”

She smiled in return. “Yes, Quan. Thank you, Quan.”

Mei’s sister, like Mei herself, was small, well-groomed, and avid for details, studying Daiyu closely by the light of the lanterns and asking searchingly personal questions. Daiyu answered serenely, giving very little away. The daughter was younger than Daiyu and quite pretty, though not particularly discreet. She stared at Daiyu during the whole conversation and asked in a loud whisper, “Is she the girl who’s going to marry Quan? Why does he like her?”

It was a relief to be able to excuse herself when one of Mei’s friends joined the group, and Daiyu was in no hurry to seek out Quan or Xiang again. Instead, she took advantage of the fact that full dark had fallen to wander unobserved toward the back acres of the lawn. No colorful lanterns were strung over this portion of the yard; the technicians on the fireworks stage were working by torchlight to line up their canisters and time their fuses. While Daiyu stood in the shadows, almost completely invisible in her black dress, they shot off another practice round, and this one decorated the sky with whistling spirals of red and gold. There was laughter and polite applause from the crowd.

“Do you like fireworks displays, Daiyu?” asked a voice at her elbow, and she turned in some surprise to find that Chenglei had approached her in the dark. Perhaps she wasn’t so invisible after all.

“Ilovethem,”sheconfessed.“Notjustthecolors-Ilovethe sounds as well.”

“You like detonations,” he said. He sounded amused, but they were too far from the lanterns and the torches for her to see his face clearly. “So do I.”

She laughed. “My mother always said it was impossible to understand how such a sedate child could be so fond of loud noises,” she told him.

“Perhaps you are not so sedate after all,” Chenglei replied.

Daiyu considered. “Or perhaps it is the very tranquility of my nature that allows me to endure the explosions. A woman who was more high-strung might find that all the noise put her greatly on edge.”

“I would agree that you have a certain tranquility to you, but I would add that I sense an adventurousness in your soul as well,” Chenglei replied. “Or have I misjudged?”

She was having a hard time believing they were having this conversation at all. She had to concentrate on the words, the bantering tone, and smother the voice of outrage in her head: This man just tried to murder hundreds of people. This man tried to murder Kalen. “It is only recently that the adventurousness has come to the fore,” she admitted. “It is not a trait that many people admire in well-brought-up young women, and I am trying very hard not to disappoint my aunt. But you are astute, Prime Minister. That spirit is definitely there.”

“I find myself wondering,” he said in a soft voice, “just what adventure you were pursuing this afternoon when you went running from my house.”

She turned to stone and said nothing, merely peering up at him in the dark.

Another firecracker went off, this one gold and blue. I tpainted Chenglei’s face with vivid colors and quickly faded, but for a moment she had a clear glimpse of his unreadable smile.

Did he know what she had done? Was he merely curious about her sudden flight, willing to believe some innocent tale?

Her voice was remarkably composed. “Not so much an adventure as an insane attempt to make a purchase before the deadlineofyourparty.Quanverykindly-andveryrapidly!- drove me to the river shops so that I could fulfill an obligation. I was only glad I remembered in time.”

It was so vague as to be ridiculous, but in this polite society, it would be rude for him to press for more details. If he believed her. If he was not suspicious. From his answer, she could not be sure, and her heart began a slow, heavy pounding.

“Ah, and was Quan then allowed to know what this secret obligation consisted of?”

“It was a purchase for my aunt, and no, he was not allowed to know!” Daiyu replied. Bad enough if Chenglei suspected Daiyu, but to embroil poor Quan in this mess as well…!

“I was curious,” Chenglei said, his voice still light and agreeable. “Because a very short time after you fled, someone broke into the bell tower on the western bank of the Zhongbu River and called the stonepickers back to shore two hours before their normal time.”

Daiyu merely gaped at him, the looming shape of nemesis in the imperfect dark.

“And I wondered if you were the person ringing those bells,” he went on. “And if so, why you felt compelled to do so.”

She did not reply. Words would not come to her lips; air would not come to her lungs. He knew, he knew, everything was lost…

She was staring at him, trying to make out his features, but even so he put his hand out and pushed her head up, as if to make sure she could not look away. “And I wondered if perhaps you lingered outside my office longer than I supposed and overheard-something-in my conversation that alarmed you.”

Still she said nothing. Still she did not move. Her heart was a laboring knot of pain and her mind was a chaotic swirl of horror.

“If you do not answer me, Daiyu,” he said, still in that pleasant tone, “I will consider you guilty, and the consequences will be dire.”

“What consequences?” The words forced themselves past her lips.

His head tilted to one side as if he was thinking that over. “I will have you arrested for treason. I need not be specific about the act. You are practically a stranger here. No one will believe you innocent if I declare you guilty. And-I want to be very plain-no one will get a chance to ask you for your version of the facts.”

Imprisonment-maybe torture-exactly what she might have expected from a tyrant. Exactly the reason Aurora and Ombri had given her the rose quartz talisman. She would not be incarcerated very long. But she would have to make sure she used the stone before she was bound or stripped or otherwise restricted.

She would have to use it now. Without having a chance to explain to Aurora and Ombri what she’d learned. Without saying good-bye to Kalen. At the thought, her heart protested; for a moment she didn’t think she would be able to do it. But there was no choice. She flattened both hands on the front of her dress, awaiting her moment.

Chenglei was still speaking. “Xiang will be disgraced, of course. Her niece in prison! After Xiang has introduced her into every important home in Shenglang! Her property will be forfeit, she will be beggared. All because of your actions.”

“No,” Daiyu whispered.

“Mei, too,” Chenglei added. “And her son Quan. And all their relatives. Dishonored for their stupidity in foisting a traitor onto Shenglang society. I already have in mind the faithful council members to whom I will award all of their estates and belongings.”

“You can’t,” Daiyu said, her voice still faint. “Please. Don’t hurt anyone but me.”

“Why did you ring the bells, Daiyu?”

“You were going to let all those people die.”

“Ah. So you did hear my conversation with Chow. I thought you had.”

“All those people. Just to get rid of one man.”

“One very troublesome man, let me point out,” Chenglei said reasonably. “Feng must die, and I’m sorry that makes you unhappy, but I really cannot endure his attacks on me any longer. And, Daiyu, I cannot stomach soft-hearted girls who do not understand why I must silence the rebels.”

“I don’t care about Feng,” she said flatly.