Naamah's Kiss (74 page)

Snow Tiger. Xue Hu , in Ch'in.

My skin prickled as we made our way through the endless labyrinth of the Celestial City, trailing a long line of attendants, two of them carrying a tall standing mirror that Master Lo had requested, veiled in silk. There was some question as to whether or not Bao was to be admitted to the women's quarters, where men were not allowed, but once more Master Lo insisted and prevailed.

"What about them?" I asked in confusion, indicating the attendants.

"Them?" Bao glanced. "They have been cut."

"Cut?" I echoed.

He made a slicing motion toward his groin. "Not full men anymore. Serving in the palace is one path toward power," he said thoughtfully. "Not one I would choose."

I swallowed hard. "Gods, no!"

At last we entered a small inner courtyard where gnarled trees grew amid curious limestone rocks. It was a pretty placeor at least it would have been if it were not partitioned by a wall of iron bars, the cage extending into the living quarters beyond.

"Noble Daughter!" The Emperor's voice cracked as he summoned her. He cleared his throat and collected himself. "Master Lo Feng has come to see you!"

She emerged.

Beside me, Bao drew in a long, hissing breath.

Hearing tales of the daughter raised as a prince, I had expected a more imposing figurebut no. Snow Tiger was as delicate as a flower, slender as a reed, and half a head shorter than me. Her natural beauty was what the women on the greatship sought to emulate with their cosmetics and painted brows.

And yet

She wore crimson robes embroidered with exotic birds. A sash of crimson silk was bound around her eyes, the ends trailing down her back. Despite it, she walked across her enclosed courtyard with deliberate, sure-footed grace, her spine as straight as a spear, her carriage proud and unbowed. And I did not doubt, not for one heartbeat, that she was a warrior.

"Truly?" Her voice was low. "After so long, he is here?"

Emperor Zhu's strong hands gripped the iron bars that divided them. "Truly, Noble Daughter."

My diadh-anam flickered and flared. I felt dizzy. I shook my head, trying to clear it, while Master Lo examined her through the bars. He felt the pulses in her wrists, studied her tongue, listened to the sound of her breathing. She bore it patiently, doubtless having been through the like a hundred times before.

With Bao's assistance, he lit a taper of incense that gave off prodigious amounts of fragrant smoke, waving it around her. The smoke writhed and coiled in intricate patterns.

Coiled like what?

"Forgive me, Noble Princess." Master Lo's voice sounded genuinely apologetic. "I must ask you to remove the blindfold." He nodded at the attendants. "Unveil the mirror."

Snow Tiger bowed her head in acquiescence, hands rising to undo the knot. "Step away from the bars, please. You must be sure your people are safe."

"Do as her highness bids," he agreed. "Step away."

I meant togods know, I did! And yet I didn't. Instead, I stood rooted to the spot and summoned the twilight without thinking, breathing it in deep. As the crimson blindfold fluttered to the ground and Snow Tiger opened her eyes, I flung the twilight around both of us.

And a half-step into the world beyond, I saw .

I caught my breath.

Her head turned, unerring. Something not human looked out from her eyes, looked out and saw itself reflected in mine. She was not alone in her body. Silver-white brightness coiled and uncoiled throughout her being.

You see me.

The voice in my thoughts crashed and echoed like mountains falling.

"I see you," I murmured in awe.

You see me ! It thundered, male and triumphant. You see me! I see myself in you !

"What is it?" The Ch'in princess stood very straight and still, her dark gaze with unspeakable brightness behind it fixed on my face. "You are a foreigner. Why are you here? What have you done? Who are you?"

Somewhere, half a world away, alarm was rising. I concentrated on breathing, tuning out the frantic mortal voices.

"Moirin," I said firmly. "I am Moirin mac Fainche of the Maghuin Dhonn, my lady. And I bid you to look." In the gloaming light, I reached through the bars and turned her chin toward the full-length mirror that Master Lo had ordered brought. "Look and see."

There was no lovely Ch'in princess reflected there. There was only the infinite coils of a dragon, twining and untwining, pearlescent white scales gleaming in the depths of the mirror. As I watched, it raised its bearded, long-jowled head with joy.

You see me!

"I see it," Snow Tiger breathed. She put one slender arm through the bars, her splayed fingertips touching the mirror. "Oh! I thought it would be hideous. But it's beautiful, so beautiful."

I didn't know

The memory not my own surfaced. Desire, shuddering pleasure; an awakening onto dawning horror. Blindness. Thrashing panic, soft flesh tearing in the pursuit of unattainable freedom. And bloodgods! So much blood.

I felt sick.

"The dragon awoke inside you while you were making love with your bridegroom," I whispered. "He didn't know. He was only trying to free himself."

Her throat worked. "How? How did this happen?"

I shook my head. "I don't know." The sounds of alarm were growing. My grip on the twilight wavered. "My lady, we'd best go back."

STAY!

I winced at the volume of the dragon's voice in my head. Desire and panic, twined together, roiled through me. Snow Tiger caught my hand, nearly crushing it in an inhumanly strong grip. I forced myself to breathe through the pain. "I'm here," I said to the immortal being behind her eyes. "Be gentle. It's all right. I'm not really going away. It's only blindness, only for a little while. Can you endure it?"

For you, I will try.

The princess nodded in agreement, her grip loosening.

I eased my hand away and stooped to pick up her scarf. "Cover your eyes."

When I loosed the twilight, the world crashed down upon us, filled with chaos and shouting. Hands grabbed my arms, yanking me away from the cage. Bao yelled, his staff whirling as he attacked my assailants.

The dragon

LET HER GO!

The furious roar in my head didn't quite drown out Snow Tiger's high, fierce cry. Driven by the dragon's fury, she dropped the scarf in her hands and flung herself forward, hitting the iron bars with terrible force. The bars screeched and bent. She caught sight of the mirror and froze, then flung herself forward again, howling. With the twilight banished, the dragon could no longer see his reflection, and it maddened him further, the enormity of his rage driving the princess like a goad.

"Cover the mirror!" I shouted. "Cover the bedamned mirror!"

Bao dashed to obey, a wary eye on the princess. Once the mirror was covered, she made a great effort to wrestle herself under control, squeezing her eyes shut and tying the scarf in place.

Attendants seized me again, forcing me to my knees. The Emperor drew a long, curved sword. "You bring a barbarian witch to torment my daughter, old friend?" he asked Master Lo, his voice filled with grief and menace. "What manner of betrayal is this?"

"Father!" Snow Tiger called. "Let her go!"

"Hush, child," he said over his shoulder. "You don't know yourself."

"It is not so!" she said in frustration. "Noble Father, I beg you, spare the foreign woman and let her speak."

Master Lo's face was pale, but composed. He folded his hands in his sleeves. "I urge you to heed your daughter's plea, Celestial Majesty. My pupil's people have a gift for magic and her destiny has led her to this place. If you wish to hear what she has to say, I suggest you let her keep her head. Your daughter's fate may depend on it."

Emperor Zhu hesitated, knuckles white on his sword-hilt. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bao sidling closer, trying to decide if saving my life was worth assaulting the Son of Heaven. I shook my head at him, sure it would be his death sentence if he did.

"Let her up." The Emperor sheathed his blade brusquely and nodded at me. "Speak."

I rose unsteadily, only now beginning to tremble. I breathed the Breath of Earth's Pulse until I could speak. "It's not a demon. It's a dragon." I pointed to the embroidered crimson figures swirling on his robes. "Like that, only white. Like the dragon on Lord Jiang's standard," I added. "It's trapped inside her. I don't know how or why, but it is."

Master Lo paled further, an involuntary sound escaping from him. That shocked me as much as anything that had transpired.

"It's true." Snow Tiger clutched the iron bars hard enough to make them creak in protest, but her blindfold was in place and she maintained control. "Father, I saw it."

"Sorcery," Emperor Zhu said grimly.

"No, old friend." Master Lo's voice was faint, but steady. It grew stronger as he spoke. "I fear she speaks the truth."

A memory that made no sense surfaced in his thoughts. A toddler, plump and merry as any of Bao's imaginary babies, playing with a shimmering pearl the size of a ball. I blinked and frowned, not comprehending.

Master Lo met my gaze for a long, grave moment, then turned to Snow Tiger. "Noble Princess, someone gave you a drink the night of your wedding, did they not?"

"You did, Master," she said in perplexity. "That is, I drank the tonic that you gave to Lord Jiang's physician to hold in keeping for my wedding night." Beneath the blindfold, her cheeks turned faintly pink. I could hazard a guess at the tonic's intended effect.

My mentor nodded. "And you had no cause not to trust Lord Jiang's own physician. It tasted of vinegar, did it not?"

"Yes. Why?"

He took a few steps, turning away from all of us. "It is well known that a dragon hides the essence of his spirit in a great pearl," he said in a low tone. "As it is well known that a pearl dissolves in vinegar. When I was a young man, I did many foolish things in the pursuit of ambition. One of these things was to lull a dragon to sleep and steal his pearl."

Two things came together in my mind.

"Oh, gods!" I blurted out the words without thinking. It made sense. The child. The pearl. "Lord Jiang's physician, Black Sleeve. He's your son !"

Master Lo bowed his head. "Yes."