Witch Fall (7 page)

As Lilette stared into the space where her mother had disappeared, a longing filled her chest. Already, she desperately missed the music.

I brought a woman back from the dead. Sometimes my prowess astounds even me. ~Jolin

“You knew our company came here looking for her,” said a feminine voice.

After several seconds of silence, a man replied, “Yes.”

“Yet you lead us to believe you didn’t know where she was,” the woman said.

Lilette roused herself from sleep to listen to the conversation. She didn’t know if she’d slept for hours or days, only that it was light out.

Chen’s arms were folded across his chest. “If I’d told you where she was, you would have tried to take her.”

Jolin stood before the heir, fists on hips. “All witches must come to Haven for learning. It’s the law.”

Chen glared at her, his thumb tapping the hilt of his sword. “Not Harshen law.”

“I know what you’re trying to do,” Jolin growled. “I promise you, it will not end well.”

“You know nothing.”

Lilette didn’t miss the bitterness in his tone. She worked her some moisture into her mouth and whispered, “Take me with you.”

Jolin glanced at her, triumph flaring in her eyes. “I knew it! I knew she couldn’t want to stay here.”

Lilette allowed herself a moment of satisfaction, but it quickly ended when Chen motioned to two eunuchs behind him. “Bring me her seed belt.”

“What? What are you doing?” Jolin backed up, kicking at one of the eunuchs as he lunged for her. The eunuchs stripped the belt from her and backed away.

Lilette started to sit up, determined to help Jolin, but Ko held her down. “Stay still,” the older woman whispered. “Anything you say or do will only make it worse.”

Chen took the belt, running his fingers over some of the compartments. “Make sure neither of them leaves the house.”

Jolin’s chest rose and fell as she breathed hard. “You can’t keep me here!”

Chen shot her a withering look. “I’m afraid I no longer have a choice. If the witches know Lilette is here they will retaliate, and my entire empire will be in danger. I cannot allow that.”

Lilette wanted to strangle him.

Jolin tried to march after him, but the eunuchs blocked her way. “Then why bring me here in the first place?”

Chen turned back, considering her. “She was too weak to speak. It never occurred to me that you could tell what she was merely by looking at her. And she was dying.” His voice caught on the last, as if he really cared.

“She’s white! You had to know I’d figure it out.”

Chen chuckled. “It’s not like she’s the only white concubine in the harem. My father has diverse taste in women.”

“Without knowledge,” Jolin ground out, “she’s as useless to you as a falcon with clipped wings.”

After a moment, Chen said, “I see the truth in this. That is why
you
will teach her.”

“I will do no such thing!” Jolin barked. “I’ll not teach your concubine how to fight us.”

He took a step toward her. “You will teach her. I’ll make sure of that.”

“You’re afraid—that’s where all this anger is coming from. Is it because I’m a keeper? Or are you just afraid of anything more powerful than you?”

Chen clenched his fist. “If you had seen the things I have seen, knew the things I know, you would be afraid too.”

Jolin glanced at his fist. “Touch me and you’ll regret it.”

“Your song isn’t strong enough to do any real damage.”

Her hand flashed out as she slapped him. “It’s not just my song that can hurt you!” The eunuchs lunged forward and restrained her.

Chen pressed his fingertips against his reddened cheek. “The law for striking the heir is death. As reward for saving Lilette, I’ll spare your life. But you will have a lashing to teach you better manners. After all, I can’t have another concubine with so little respect for her heir.”

Jolin gaped at him. “You wouldn’t dare.” He tipped his head to the side and gave her a crooked smile before she said, “My keepers would never allow it!”

He shrugged. “You caught whatever plague my concubine had. It causes boils all over the face. Very disfiguring to the body.”

Jolin struggled against the eunuchs holding her. “You have no idea the viper’s nest you’re poking.”

“Don’t I?” Chen laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Five lashes,” he said to the eunuchs, and then he turned and left without a backward glance.

The eunuchs began dragging Jolin away. “Please—” Lilette said as she reached toward them.

Ko rested a hand on her shoulder. “They don’t have a choice.”

Jolin kicked and squirmed. “You will pay for this. I swear it! The witches will bring down a curse on your heads.”

“Don’t fight them,” Lilette said weakly. “Save it for when it will do some good.” But Jolin was screaming and fighting so hard, Lilette doubted she heard.

When they were out of earshot, Ko whispered, “Jolin should be grateful it’s only a lashing.”

“He can’t force her to be his concubine. It’s not right,” Lilette said.

“He can do whatever he wants.”

Lilette knew that better than anyone. “Will the witches believe him?”

Ko’s gaze was fixed on the floor. “I don’t know.”

A eunuch brought Lilette another bowl of rich broth. Though Ko had to help her sit up, she was able to grip the bowl and sip it herself. It was such a relief when her body welcomed the food instead of promptly rejecting it.

“How long have I been asleep?” she asked.

Ko refilled her cup of tea. “Almost a whole day.”

Lilette passed a hand over her face in frustration. A whole day wasted. “Did Jolin say anything about my sister?” She set the empty bowl down. “I saw her with the other witches.”

Ko shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

Lilette finished a few cups of the tea the eunuchs had made according to Jolin’s instructions. Then Ko dismissed all of the eunuchs.

Despite her worry for Jolin and her distress for her sister and the others, Lilette fell asleep. She woke in the late afternoon, feeling as if she was no longer hand in hand with death.

A eunuch who’d been kneeling in the corner kowtowed and backed from the room. Ko came in moments later with more broth, this time with noodles. Lilette pushed herself into a sitting position for the first time in two days. Such a small thing, but it felt like a victory. Though she trembled, she was able to slurp the food on her own. Ko left for a time while the eunuchs bathed Lilette. Then she slept again.

When she opened her eyes next, it was cooler and the light was soft—it was morning. That made it three days since Laosh had poisoned her. Five days since Lilette had left Calden. A pang of homesickness shot through her.

A breeze flowed through the open windows. Another eunuch brought Lilette some plain rice, fruit, and tea. Then Ko knelt beside the sleeping mat and dismissed all the eunuchs.

Lilette slipped a piece of mango into her mouth. Sweet and tart, with a metallic aftertaste. “How’s Jolin?”

Ko sighed. “She’s been fighting, so they gave her the sleeping tincture. She hasn’t woken yet.”

Lilette steeled herself. She would have to be patient, but patience had never come easily to her.

“You need to be very careful how you address the heir. Only the emperor is more powerful,” Ko said bitterly.

Lilette stared into the distance and hoped her song made her stronger than Chen. Her fingers felt big and clumsy as she gripped the chopsticks.

Ko watched her. “Do you remember me finding you wandering the compound, lost and disoriented? My helping you here?” There was a tension about Ko, a tightness to her face, and she looked exhausted.

Lilette swallowed her mouthful. “Han brought me here.”

Not meeting her gaze, Ko stirred the rice. “You were very sick. You must have imagined that.”

“Why are you so afraid that I’ll remember?”

Ko bowed her head. “They kill any whole man who enters the harem, besides the emperor or the heir—and even he must be escorted by the chief eunuch. No man may lay eyes upon the imperial concubines if the emperor does not wish it—even if that man is my son.” Ko finally looked up, pleading plain on her face. “Please.”

Lilette could not deny her. Not after everything she’d done. “Your secret—his secret—will become my secret.”

Ko let out a deep breath. “After you and your family escaped, they took him from me and locked down the harem so even the children could not leave. The night he brought you here was the first I’ve seen him in eight years.” There were tears in her voice, though her face remained a tight mask. “I barely recognized him—my own son.”

“Chief Wang told me they took the children at twelve,” Lilette said. Han had only been ten when she left, while Chen had been days from twelve.

“They wouldn’t tell me why they took him early,” Ko said softly.

Lilette’s determination to escape hardened within her. She would not bear children only to give them up and never see them again.

Gazing out the window, she studied the guards patrolling the ramparts. How had Han gotten inside? How had he found her? “Is there a way out?”

Ko stared at the mat she knelt on. “We are the best-guarded treasure in the whole empire. To leave the compound without permission is to die.”

If Han had managed it, so could Lilette. She wasn’t afraid of death. Not anymore. In fact, a part of her longed for it. Though not eating for the last few days had caused her stomach to shrink, she forced herself to finish her food.

Ko gathered up the dishes and left just before Jolin came stiffly inside and slid the screen shut. Her eyes were bleary, her hair a limp. There were tight lines of pain on her face.

With a groan, she eased down and pressed her ear to Lilette’s chest. “It’s stronger.” Leaning back on her haunches, she pursed her lips. “I could have sworn it stopped beating. I’m not usually wrong—about anything.” She seemed to be trying to convince herself.

Afraid her face would reveal the truth about what really happened the night she had died, Lilette looked away.

“Are you truly Lilette?” Jolin finally asked. Lilette nodded.

“I remember you. Before you disappeared,” Jolin went on. “I went to see you sing once—I had never heard anything like it. You were bound to become the next Head of Light, as I am to be the next Head of Plants. After your ship sank, you became a legend. The only body never found.”

Lilette winced. She suddenly remembered singing for crowds—thousands of them. “Head of what?”

Jolin didn’t seem to notice Lilette’s distress. “The Head of Light is always chosen because she has the strongest song. I should be Head of Plants, a position chosen for proficiency with potions. But Garen is fighting me.”

Lilette didn’t understand half of that. Jolin tipped her head to the side and asked, “What happened to you?”

“I survived.”

“Here?”

Lilette glanced in the direction of her island. “No. They only found me a few days ago.”

Jolin sucked on her teeth in thought. “They couldn’t have followed the same trail we did.”

Lilette shot her a quizzical look. “Trail?”

“Witches, called listeners, are always on the lookout for stray witch song. When they hear it, they send a ship to find them and bring them back. In this case, they heard a very strong song and sent our company to find you.”

So that’s how the Witches had known to come looking for her. If Fa hadn’t forbidden her from singing, they would have found her years ago, and she could have gone home. But then she would have never known the man who raised her—his quiet kindness and iron determination. “So how did Chen find me?”

Jolin’s fingers gently prodded her back, and she grimaced. “Keepers have listeners. Emperors have spies.”

Lilette mulled that over silently, wondering who from her island had betrayed her. “I’m sorry he beat you.”

Jolin’s jaw clenched. “The chances of Chen’s success in this endeavor are diminutive. As soon as the listeners realize we’re here, they’ll come for us. And then the Keepers will force him from his throne and behead him.”