Sacrifice (11 page)

She nodded, uncertain if it was a question or a statement.

“You are tired. And I have much business to attend to.”

She thrust her head up and down again, mute with relief. Then suspicion. Did he find her undesirable? Lacking in some way? Or goddess forbid, did he know that she preferred women?

He bent down and gave her a perfunctory kiss on the cheek. His skin was rough and his lips hard, like he was hitting his mouth against her face. It was almost as if he had never kissed anyone before. He was a man of thirty years—that wasn’t possible. But perhaps his previous liaisons hadn’t required gentle kissing. Master Bei straightened, silent. He smelled of fire burning. Had he made one in another bedchamber within their large, empty manor?

“Yes, Husband,” she whispered.

Then he was gone, disappearing into the darkness of the reception hall beyond, as noiselessly as he had entered.

Zhen Ni rose shortly after dawn the next morning. She had not slept well and pulled on a robe and slippers to wander the manor. Her manor, now that she was Lady Bei. Tian Kuan Mountain was thick with morning fog, and she meandered down unfamiliar garden paths as buildings and halls loomed over her, emerging from the mist. The place seemed even more enormous when she had no notion of where she was or where she was headed. Master Bei had spared no expense in the construction of their new home. She saw it in the details, from the gilded calligraphy of
Bei
worked into the carved lattice doors of the main hall to the jade animals that perched in the corners of every building’s eaves. There were lions and frightening dogs with their fangs bared, horses and bulls and goats with unusually long and sharp horns.

She spent so much time looking upward, squinting at the elaborate animal carvings that she began to get an ache in her neck. The sun had risen to the usual time that Skybright—no, Rose—would come and prepare her for the day, but Zhen Ni doubted that her handmaids would bother to come to her until late morning, if not until midday. Had her husband already risen? Was he taking his morning meal alone? She knew that he had inherited his family’s wealth—they had all died in a terrible fire, the details of which were scant, so what business was it that he tended to?

Zhen Ni climbed up the steps to quarters that stood empty. She had heard no other person during her explorations this morning, even the birds seemed muted in their song. Sliding the door aside, she peered within. The spacious reception hall was empty except for a pair of guardian dog statues set on stone pedestals. She drew the lattice windows open so she could examine them better. Gray morning light spilled in, and the new stone floors actually gleamed. She padded over to one of the dogs—the pair appeared to be identical.

The guard dog was exactly like all the others she’d seen set outside a manor or hall’s entrance as a symbol of protection, but these dogs had giant rubies set in their sockets for eyes, and the facets were cut so there seemed to be depth there. It created the illusion that the hound’s eyes could see her, track her every motion. The effect was so realistic that she shivered in her thin silk robe, pulling it tighter across her chest. It was when she broke her gaze from the ruby eyes that she saw the tiny horns protruding from its head; no longer than the length of her index finger, they were thick and carved from jade.

She touched the blunt end of one of the horns and snatched her hand back, before gliding her fingertips over the beast’s giant paw. The stone was warm as if it had sat under the hot sun for hours instead of being stashed away in this cold, deserted hall. Zhen Ni turned to examine a side door off the reception chamber, perhaps a bedchamber or a study? Unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched, she whipped her head around, only to see the dog statues, still as ever, their ruby eyes shining too brightly in the dim morning light.

She threw the door carved with a hunting scene open and ran in without looking first. The chamber looked as if it were built to be a study, with one single wall lined with dark redwood shelves. But nothing sat on the shelves, and they were so newly built not even a layer of dust touched their surface. A strange scent lingered in the air. It tugged at her memory, yet she couldn’t place it. She was shuffling in her slippers back toward the door, preparing to run past the eerie looking hounds, when her toes tripped over something on the smooth stone floor.

Stooping, Zhen Ni gazed at the culprit. What looked to be a silver ring lay on the ground, too big for her to wear it on her finger. She reached for it. The metal was cool and smooth, but could not be lifted from the ground. It had been attached to the floor somehow.
How strange
. Zhen Ni tugged harder at the ring and felt the floor lift a fraction, heard the sound of stone scraping against stone. Stunned, she pulled her arm back, as if the ring had burned her. Running her hands along the cold floor, she felt the faint lines that formed a square. What was it? A hidden compartment to hide Master Bei’s most precious items? Whatever it was, her husband hadn’t had the chance to hide it yet. Would he have thrown a rug over it after furnishing the study?

This was something she never should have discovered. Zhen Ni was certain of it.

A rooster crowed loudly, and she jumped to her feet, feeling the sweat that had collected at her hairline. It was well past dawn now; she needed to return to her bedchamber in case Master Bei chose to visit this morning. How could she be so foolish? She’d been gone for too long.

She quietly slid the empty study chamber’s door closed as she had found it and tiptoed past the seeing dog statues before peeking outside into the courtyard. Deserted. She slipped out and closed the reception hall’s door too, then hurried down the cobbled path from where she came. But she had not taken notice of her exact route and went from one grand courtyard to the next. One had a man-made mountain built from rough rock that stood more than twice her own height. A gentle waterfall cascaded from it into a large, clear pond below. Another courtyard had a lovely garden pavilion with a jade green tiled roof. The pillars appeared to be hewn from jade and carved with dragons intertwined with clouds. But Zhen Ni didn’t have time to stop and admire the view; she so desperately wanted to return to her own quarters.

She was in such a rush that she rounded the corner of a corridor and nearly slammed into the broad chest of her husband. Throwing her hands up, she let out a frightened cry before she could stop herself.

“I was looking for you, Wife,” Master Bei said. “Have you been admiring the grounds?”

She pressed a hand to her chest, feeling the wild gallop of her heart. “Yes. It is beautiful. You’ve done an admirable job, Husband.”

“I am glad it pleases you.”

He grimaced in a grotesque imitation of a smile. She forced herself to smile back, her cheeks feeling too stiff. Master Bei was dressed in a simple dark blue tunic and trousers today, with no embellishment at all. Even the button at his collar was a simple black. He dressed plainly for all his wealth.

“I had the fruit trees hauled from the south. All the exotic kinds that are more difficult to find in these mountains. They brought soil as well, so they could be planted in the best earth to help them thrive.”

It took him a long time to speak those few sentences, and Zhen Ni waited, a tight grin plastered on her face. She nodded and turned toward the courtyard beside the covered corridor they stood beneath. The trees and flowers truly were flourishing, looking full and lush instead of newly planted. “You have done well, Husband,” she said.

His brutish face relaxed. “I have always wanted a garden.”

She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. How could he never have had a garden, being from such a wealthy family as his? Master Bei stared at her with those umber eyes that almost seemed to glow. “Well, you have more than a few gardens now.”

He looked beyond her, and the soft scent of fire drifted to her again. “Yes. I am pleased.” Then as if remembering his original task, he asked, “Could I speak with you in your quarters?” He glanced at the thin silk robe Zhen Ni wore, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “You have not taken your morning meal yet?”

“No. I went out for a morning walk and fear that I’ve gotten a little lost.” She hoped that her tone sounded natural.

“Look for the lotuses.”

“Pardon?”

“Your mother said it was your favorite flower. I had the craftsman carve a lotus on the corner of every building, with an arrow pointing to the direction of your quarters.”

“Ah. That was very … thoughtful.” And a little disturbing—the notion that anyone could find her at any time within these large, empty grounds if they knew how to look. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was prey in her own home.

He began leading her down the covered pathway, then stopped and pointed at the corner of a building. “See?”

A beautifully carved lotus rested on a leaf with a stem that served to point Zhen Ni to her quarters.

“Your mother said that you aren’t very good with directions. But you will become used to the layout of the manor in time.”

She was certain that her hapless new husband had misunderstood her mother when Lady Yuan had divulged that her daughter wasn’t so good with directions. A laugh bubbled up inside of her, and she had to feign a cough to disperse it. “You are too kind, Husband.”

He reached out and patted her awkwardly on her arm, hard enough she could have winced. But she kept her face smooth, and he didn’t seem to notice.

“Here we are,” he said, and she could detect the pride in his gruff voice. “The Lotus Pavilion.”

Master Bei had led her to her new quarters in the dark the previous evening, and although the path had been lit by red lanterns, she had not been able to see the full magnificence of her new quarters. The curved roofline had been tiled in a deep red, edged in gold,
real
gold, she had little doubt. And fierce jade tigers perched at the corners of the eaves, ready to pounce. Zhen Ni had been born in the Year of the Tiger. The two pillars that stood on either side of the grand entrance to her reception hall were painted with lotus from faint to dark shades of pink in various stages of bloom and surrounded by the deep green fan of lotus leaves. The geometric pattern that edged her doorway was carved from jade and also accented with gold. “It is too much,” she whispered.

It was then that she glimpsed the large rectangular lotus pond, nestled among trees and flowers in the courtyard beyond her quarters. The flowers had not yet begun to bloom, but she had a feeling the display would be gorgeous come summertime.

They stepped into her reception hall together. The walls had been papered in pale green and the room decorated with accents of pink and gold; the entire effect was romantic and feminine. “You have exquisite taste, Husband.” She couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice. Zhen Ni couldn’t have decorated much better herself.

Master Bei laughed, brief and emphatic. “I know nothing about architecture or beauty. I hired all the best craftsmen.” He pivoted to take in the entire space. “There is nothing money cannot buy.”

Zhen Ni flinched, for hadn’t she been purchased in a fashion? Master Bei had showered her and the Yuan family with extravagant gifts that impressed even her discerning mother and well-traveled father. As a merchant, Master Yuan had seen the best there was to offer in Xia. She frowned, but her husband made no note of her displeasure. Instead, he sat down in one of the curved backed seats with a deep turquoise cushion and nodded to the one beside him.

Rose had set a tray of tea, fruit, and rice porridge with various pickled dishes and vegetables for Zhen Ni’s morning meal. Her stomach grumbled at the sight. She was starving.

She sat down and poured a cup of tea for her husband and for herself, but he waved a large hand. “I have dined. You eat.”

She breathed in the fragrance of the tea leaves before taking a long sip. Lukewarm but still delicious. Selecting her favorites from the small dishes, she ate the rice porridge ravenously as Master Bei watched on in silence.

“You are pleased by your new manor, Wife?” he finally asked when she set her bowl and eating sticks down.

Zhen Ni took another sip of tea before dabbing her mouth with a silk handkerchief. “I believe it would be beyond any new bride’s expectations, Husband. I am more than pleased.”

“It is a large manor that will require a big staff to manage it. You will see to the hiring of them?”

“Certainly, Husband.”

“Good.” He nodded to a large chest set against the wall. “I believe that will be enough coin for you to work with.”

“Thank you. I will start on it immediately.”

His unkempt eyebrows drew together, and his large eyes seemed to bulge out even more than usual. “And there is the matter of the marriage bed.”

Zhen Ni’s face flushed hot despite herself. She clutched her hands tightly in her lap. “Yes, Husband.”

“I have my own quarters and will not be visiting you … for that purpose.”

“Do I not please you?” She spoke the words before thinking, parroting her obligations as a new wife. Anxious or not about copulation, this was a very strange and unexpected turn of events. Zhen Ni was curious and suspicious by nature. This entire scenario smelled like rotten cabbage to her.