steaming bath, but her muscles remained knotted and anxious. What could Li Tao possibly want from her? She considered all the possibilities, even the blandly obvious one: desire. But a powerful warlord wouldn’t seek a courtesan nearing her autumn years, or go across barricades to do so. Not when there were younger, more easily attained comforts within his borders.
In the imperial harem, a concubine who had not caught the Emperor’s eye by the age of thirty would be cast out to a convent or given to a lower minister for marriage if she was fortunate. She was nearing that age now. Besides, Li Tao didn’t look at her the way her admirers always did—with lust and yearning. Perhaps a touch of awe. Men couldn’t hide it, not even before the August Emperor. She would catch it in their heated stares before they looked away.
They were never truly looking at her.
There was no such shame in the warlord’s eyes. His gaze fixed on her so intensely, as if trying to pierce into her and pry her secrets loose. He’d find nothing there. She could fill the shell of her body with whatever spirit she needed.
The cooling water told her that her mind had wandered. She rose and dried herself without calling for Auntie. With her hair still damp, she pulled on the pale sleeping shift and crawled into the alcove of the bed, succumbing to the exhaustion of the journey.
Her body didn’t care that she was trapped in a tiger’s den, though her mind churned throughout the night. It ran with no destination.
When morning came, a shuffle of movement in the outer chamber awakened her. Her muscles ached from the restless slumber.
She sat up and eased her feet into a pair of slippers before going out into the outer chamber. ‘Auntie, what is all of this?’
The sitting room resembled a flower bed with a dress in every colour draped over the chairs and tables. Auntie lifted an armful of rose-coloured silk, vibrant and layered like the petals of an orchid.
‘The lady will look very beautiful in this.’
Suyin found an empty space among the wardrobe to seat herself. The gowns were as exquisite as the ones she had worn in the palace. Trade had dwindled in the marketplaces over the past year. Checkpoints and barricades had been erected between the provinces, stifling trade. Such finery was unseen outside of the twin capitals of Changan and Luoyang.
Strange that Li Tao would have such a collection waiting for her. She thought again of her initial suspicion, but nothing about his behavior indicated he wanted her in that way—excerpt for that one, brief flash of heat by the river.
She could never be another man’s mistress—even if she outlived the late Emperor by a hundred years she would belong to him only. It was imperial law.
‘Auntie must think the Governor and I are already lovers,’ she prodded.
The old woman pursed her lips as she laid a gown carefully over the painted screen in the corner.
‘Your master didn’t tell you that I was coming, did he?’
The loyal servant wouldn’t answer. ‘Which would the lady prefer?’ Auntie asked.
The old woman’s eyes flickered over the sea of colours. Auntie had been a young girl once. That part of her must still long for delicate, pretty things.
‘It would be quite a scandal, a former concubine and a military governor,’ Suyin went on.
With a sniff, Auntie moved to draw the curtains open. Her laboured footsteps scuffed against the rug on the floor. ‘Master Li wishes to speak to the lady this morning.’
Sunlight streamed in a wide band through the centre of the room. Suyin curled her legs up beneath her and watched Auntie as she returned to the sitting area.
‘What if I told Auntie that the governor has brought me here as his prisoner?’
‘The lady asks too many questions. She must get dressed before Master Li leaves.’
Apparently, Li Tao was not one to care about scandal and Suyin could do nothing to penetrate Auntie’s unquestioning acceptance of her master’s actions.
She selected the rose-coloured silk and followed Auntie behind the dressing screen. Auntie’s hands were slow as she tied on the embroidered bodice and pulled the outer robe over it. When Auntie bent to smooth out the layers of the skirt, Suyin wanted to urge her not to make such a fuss. There were no younger girls in the household staff to help with the task. No wife, no family. The mansion was so empty that one could hear every creak of the floorboards.
Much like her own home by the river.
Auntie evened out the ends of the crimson sash and tied it around Suyin’s waist, leaving the ends trailing down. Then the old woman beckoned her before the mirror.
‘The lady’s hair is thick and black as ink.’ Auntie ran a brush through in long strokes. ‘She is fortunate.’
One day she might live to be grey and bent like Auntie. Her skin would wither and she would be unrecognisable. Perhaps then the empire would grant her peace.
‘Auntie should know I am not the Governor Li’s mistress. I only met him a week ago. We’ve never spoken.’ She tried to catch the old woman’s eye through the reflection in the glass, but Auntie’s head remained bent at her task. ‘I am loyal to the memory of the August Emperor.’
Auntie sniffed again. ‘Master has always been loyal to the August Emperor.’
‘But not to Emperor Shen.’
Suyin winced as Auntie tugged at her hair to wrestle it into a knot. The point of the ivory hairpin jabbed into her scalp. She would have no ally here.
The claws of the familiar game were closing in, the one she had mastered in the imperial court. Who could she trust? Who would help? She had played it ever since being taken away from her home as a child, bought for the bride price of a hundred copper coins.
Watching Lady Ling was like watching a well-crafted opera. She sat before him in the parlour, shoulders lifted in elegant repose, a peach blossom against the colourless walls. The curve of her lips as she sipped her tea was too perfect to be unpractised.
‘I have been thinking.’ She glanced at him over the rim of the cup. ‘It’s not me you want.’
‘What is it that I want?’ he asked.
‘I’m nothing but a symbol. Capturing me must be as significant as—’ she looked at him with a sideways glance ‘—capturing a flag. Why else would a warlord have any interest in a lowly concubine?’
‘Lowly,’ he mused.
He leaned back against his chair to study her. Suyin was undeniably beautiful. So much so that it was both hard to look at her and hard to look away. Soft, sensual mouth and skillfuly expressive eyes wide. The ivory-pale skin at her throat alone made his fingers itch.
‘You were once a courtesan in the pleasure district of Luoyang,’ he remarked.
‘A long, long time ago, Governor.’
‘Many secrets flowed through Luoyang.’
She
