Sacrifice (21 page)

“I just want to see her—tell her I’ll return to her if she needs me.” Skybright paused. “I’m afraid to meet her again. I know I hurt her.” It was a confession. She needed to say it out loud, and Stone was the one there to listen.

He cupped her cheek, surprising her; she resisted the urge to close her eyes. “For the first time since I can remember, I am afraid too, Skybright. And I feel a rush of so many other emotions.” He dropped his hand and smiled wryly. “I guess this is what it means to feel more human.”

He turned from her and began down the path the others took. Skybright drew a deep breath, then followed him.

Skybright

The Bei manor was indeed impressive, even from the exterior. The outer walls seemed to stretch on endlessly, encompassing the large estate. Lush pomegranate trees, more than she could count, were planted along the length of the front wall with stone benches beneath some of the tall trees. The crowd that had passed stood in a tight knot in front of the grand double wooden doors. Two fierce jade lion statues sat on either side of the entrance. As she drew closer, Skybright saw that large rubies formed the statues’ eyes, and she marveled that Master Bei was rich enough that he wasn’t concerned some passerby would gouge out the precious jewels. She had no doubt the stones were real gems. Two magnificent door pulls made of brass were set into the doors, each with a large bat holding the rings in its mouth—a symbolism for fortune.

She glimpsed Pearl in the throng of people. The girl clutched a rolled message in her hand—probably a letter of introduction from Lady Yuan herself. Stone stood apart from the crowd, chin in one hand, staring at one of the lion statues. A few servants threw curious glances at him. He wasn’t dressed as a rich master but carried himself with natural authority after becoming used to being obeyed over thousands of years. Noticing Skybright observing him, he gestured her over. “Do these lions seem … strange to you?” he asked in a low voice.

She leaned over to peer into the lion’s face, and its jeweled eyes glittered, seeming to follow her movement, causing the hairs on her arms to stand on end. “They barely have a mane, and their fangs look sharper than normal. The eyes have the effect of seeing you.” She hugged herself, chilled, even beneath the afternoon sun’s warmth. “I’m sure it’s a trick of the imagination. But what is that on top of its head?” She pointed, reluctant to touch the statue.

Two rounded points were set in the curved etchings of its mane. Stone drew closer to examine where she pointed, then let out a string of curses about a hag and fallen teeth and warts on the backside—he spoke too fast for her to catch it all. In an instant, he had grabbed her by the arm and was pushing their way to the front of the crowd, pounding so loudly on the brass knocker her ears rang. The servants didn’t resist as he shoved past them, but their animated chatter hushed to low whispers.

One of the grand doors swung open, and a brutish guard stood before them. He had beady black eyes and a nose that flipped up so much at the end it almost appeared to be a snout. She glimpsed a massive spirit wall behind the guard, more than twice Stone’s height.

“What do you want?” the guard growled, hefting the giant axe he clutched for emphasis.

The smell hit her then. This guard was not human; he was demonic. She glided closer to Stone, touching his elbow in warning.

“We are here to see Lady Bei,” Stone said.

“She is occupied interviewing others. Wait your turn.”

“We’re not here to gain positions,” Skybright replied, keeping her words even. Did Zhen Ni know her guard was demonic? Was she trapped inside? “I’m a friend.”

“And him?” The demon bared sharp yellow teeth at Stone.

“He’s my cousin, escorting me.”

Stone and the guard stared at each other; then the guard tilted his head back and sniffed, like a dog would, his nostrils quivering. “Lady Bei’s not taking visitors. Not your kind.” He thrust his sharp axe blade at Stone. Stone didn’t move a fraction but instead glared at the guard. “If I see you again, I’ll bash your skull in,” the guard said and slammed the door in their faces.

Stone raised a fist as if to pound on the door again, then twisted around and drew her aside, walking until they were a fair distance from the entrance. His anger and frustration were palpable.

“He’s demonic,” she said beneath her breath after they had cleared the crowd.

“I suspected,” Stone replied. “You are certain?”

“I smelled it. His poor disguise didn’t fool me.” Skybright paused midstride and clutched his arm so hard her nails bit into his skin. “We have to get Zhen Ni out!”

“The house is tainted. If I were still as powerful, I would have sensed it the moment I stepped within this town. I would have been able to rid the demons just as easily as well.” He scanned the high walls of the estate, as if searching for a different way in. “But I’ve lost most of my magic. I don’t know how it is that they are disguising themselves as human—demons shouldn’t have the ability, but this one does. Are there more within the manor?”

She cast her senses wide, afraid of what the answer might be. “Six total. Zhen Ni is in there with three other humans. But I feel something more evil than the guards. Can’t you?”

Stone gave a humorless laugh. “Not anymore. This is a new breed of demons I’ve never encountered before. Our underworld demons do not appear human, they are also unable to communicate except in the most primitive terms. This one held an actual conversation with us. I don’t know how it’s possible.”

She turned back toward the manor, feeling her body grow tense with fear. “We must find another way in!”

He glanced back toward the main entrance to be certain the guard hadn’t reemerged. “Even if we could scale these walls, it’s too much of a risk. We don’t know what form of opponent we’re dealing with. Not only could we put our lives at risk, we could get Zhen Ni in trouble if we were discovered.”

“Oh dear goddess,” Skybright whispered. How could this have happened? Did her former mistress know that she was in danger? “A note!” she exclaimed. “We can smuggle a note to her, warn Zhen Ni. And hope that she can make a reply. Pearl is still waiting outside—she can do it.”

“Your mistress can read?” Stone asked.

“She was taught the women’s language.” Her heart dropped. “But I don’t know it. I never learned.”

He turned his back to the crowd in the distance and conjured a small piece of rice paper and calligraphy brush. “I know it. Tell me what you want to say.”

It is near time for our game of Go. I await outside. The

guard is a brute and would not let me enter. Be wary.

Please let me see you. Sky

Skybright dabbed a sleeve against the corner of her eye. “We always played Go this time of day. She will know it’s truly me.”

Stone blew on the short message, testing to be certain the ink had dried, then rolled up the rice paper. “Let’s hope this works.”

She took the note and hurried back toward the group of people milling outside the grand doors. The hopeful workers smelled restless, eager. Pulling Pearl aside, the girl’s eyes widened with interest, and Skybright gestured for her to keep quiet. She drew the handmaid to a stone bench far from the others. Bats were carved along its arms, interwoven with a square geometric design. “I need a favor,” Skybright said in a low voice.

Pearl clasped her hands together, her excitement barely contained. “Of course. What am I to do?”

“I need you to pass this note to Lady Bei when you see her. Roll it with the letter of referral from Lady Yuan so that it’s hidden.” There was no risk of Pearl reading the message as she had never been taught either.

“Who’s the letter from?” Pearl whispered. “A lover?”

Skybright was almost tempted to say yes to end the conversation. But the handmaid was such a gossip, it’d be all over town within a day. “No. It’s from me. Lady Bei has refused to see me—the letter is a plea.”

“Ah,” Pearl said, nodding sympathetically. But there was no mistaking her disappointment.

“No one else may see the note. This is a secret between us, understand?”

The girl tilted her head, a glint catching in those dark eyes. Skybright knew Pearl was conniving and no fool. “If you deliver the letter successfully and are able to carry a message back in return, this hairpin is yours.” Skybright touched the enameled lotus hairpin Stone had conjured for her, studded with small emeralds to form the flower’s leaves.

Pearl pressed both hands against her mouth, drawing a sharp intake of breath. “Truly?”

Skybright nodded. “As long as you do exactly as I say.”

Pearl took the small note and rolled it within Lady Yuan’s larger letter. “I will, Skybright. You can depend on me.”

The handmaid strolled back toward the front door and was waved in a few moments later by the unseen guard. She cast a quick glance back toward Skybright, her pink lips forming a small, secretive smile, before disappearing into the manor.

Zhen Ni

That fool girl Pearl flitted into the main hall wreathed in a too bright smile. Her eyes took in Zhen Ni’s dress, her gaze lingering on her jade and gold bracelets and rubies dangling from her earlobes. Once the handmaid had calculated their worth, she swung her neck this way and that, like a hungry crane searching for fish in the water, taking in every detail of the hall, from the sumptuous brocade chairs and exquisite ceramic vases, to the full wall length scrolls of the “four gentlemen” paintings: orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, and plum blossom. Zhen Ni had no doubt they were painted by a master as each piece had a long-dead emperor’s multiple red seals on them, as if to say “I approve, and these are mine.” She had no inkling how her husband came to possess them.

Pearl took her time between bowing to Zhen Ni and taking a seat across from her, actually turning two full circles before Zhen Ni cleared her throat and rapped impatiently on her carved armrest with her closed fan. The handmaid covered her mouth with a hand in feigned embarrassment and sashayed over, proffering a rolled rice paper tied with a gold ribbon.

“From my mother?” Zhen Ni asked, taking it.

The handmaid nodded, but Zhen Ni didn’t miss the faint curl of her lips, like she kept a secret. Zhen Ni unfurled the roll and immediately recognized the clean sweep of her mother’s calligraphy written in the simpler woman’s language. Even this brought the sting of tears to the back of her eyes, and Zhen Ni blinked, then stiffened her spine. She wouldn’t give Pearl the satisfaction of knowing how homesick she was or how afraid and alone she felt.

Or the danger she faced.

Her husband was a demon. Zhen Ni was certain of it after what she witnessed the night before, and even her shrewd, resourceful mother couldn’t save her from that. If she ran home crying for help, she’d bring trouble right to her family manor’s doorstep. Then she caught sight of the smaller note tucked at the bottom of the rolled paper. Zhen Ni raised her head to meet Pearl’s eyes, and the handmaid fiddled with a copper ring on her finger, lifting her chin. “We all at the Yuan manor miss you, lady, and wish you well.”