by JC Kang
Was there really more to Lilian’s betrayal and subsequent death at Jie’s own hands? Whether she gave the contents of the safe to Fixer Zhang to find out, or surrendered it to the clan, she needed to make sure the steward didn’t make it back to the house while Tian was still cracking it.
The steward was a good-looking man in his thirties, with smooth skin, a strong chin, and a prominent brow. Dressed in a brown silk robe which did little to hide his brawny physique, he was now working his way through the rows of stalls. Roots of varying sizes and scents lay in neat lines in some bins, while dried leaves of differing colors and shapes sprawled haphazardly in others. Twigs, barks, dried fruits, and more were interspersed in boxes. An auctioneer’s voice on the central stage boomed above the din of hawkers and buyers, inviting bids on the latest shipment of myrrh and frankincense from Ayuri lands.
Keeping her tapered ears exposed, she’d brushed by him three times already. It was enough that she could have swiped his purse, returned it, and swiped it again, but he still hadn’t taken notice of her. At least she’d been able to sneak a glance at his shopping list. He’d picked up goat weed and steamed red ginseng, both aphrodisiacs, and was looking for a third, morinda. Perhaps Lord Shi had trouble getting aroused, or maybe he’d planned a particularly amorous night with a lover in the capital. Either way, the realm’s economy seemed to run on men’s urges and women’s vanity.
She sucked on her lower lip as she planned her next approach. If the steward finished shopping in the next few minutes, he’d make it back in time to find Tian, and the boy’s budding disguise skills wouldn’t be enough to deceive someone who saw Young Lord Shi Han on a daily basis. It looked as if the steward wasn’t going to take notice of her, so it was time to initiate contact. He was now leaning over a bin of morinda, picking up individual pieces of the long, flat grey root, placing some on a sheet of paper and throwing most back.
Here was her in, to play the role of the ditsy girl that men loved to help. All she had to do was ask him about the herb, and they’d waste ten minutes while he showed off his knowledge. She started toward him.
“It’s top-quality morinda,” the vendor said. “From the mountains of Nanling Province. I just got it in this morning.”
Shit. The chance meeting would have to wait, for it to be plausible that she hadn’t heard.
With a dismissive snort, the steward handed the vendor the herbs, who weighed them out on a hand scale. He then looked up. “Two silver jiao.”
The steward lifted his left arm, revealing a string of coins in his hanging sleeves. Some people carried money this way, mistakenly believing that cutpurses and pickpockets wouldn’t be able to steal it as easily as a coin purse. There were surprisingly few coins—mostly silver and copper—for the steward of a heredity lord. Yet that didn’t catch her eye as much as a cylindrical key which looked to be made of a bluish metal, strapped to his forearm with a common thong. Readily available, clan members used them to quickly flick hidden daggers out. Maybe it was her imagination, but the key seemed to vibrate almost imperceptibly.
When the transaction was done, Jie sidled up to him, brushing against the pressure points in his left arm. It would slightly desensitize the limb for several hours, hopefully enough for him to not notice when she snagged the key. “Excuse me kind sir, this is morinda, right?”
“That’s what the bin says,” he said in a deep, annoyed voice. He didn’t even bother to turn away from stringing his change.
Jie bowed her head, to make sure her ear appeared in his peripheral vision. “Thank you, I was looking for it. Can you tell me how to choose the best quality?”
“Look, miss,” he started, turning his head and looking down at her.
She brushed a lock of hair over her ear, and tilted her head in a demure manner. Lilian had been an expert at this coy look. Jie, on the other hand…
His eyes widened, and he put his hand on his chest. “Oh, my. You’re the Floating World half-elf.”
“My notoriety precedes me, I see.” She flashed a smile, waiting for him to expose his arm again.
He smiled and waved his hands back and forth. “No, no. My lord placed an early bid to uh, pluck your blossom.”
The way he said it bordered on distaste, as if she’d been a common streetwalker, and not a budding courtesan of one of the greatest Houses. She bowed, the motion lacking a Blossom’s grace. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s an honor to receive any bid.”
“Oh, I meant no disrespect. I...I am going to shut my mouth before it gets me in more trouble.” He put a hand over his mouth in the cutest manner.
She let out a girlish giggle. It looked like her plan to stall him would not only work, it might also be a way of trawling for information. “If I may ask, who is your lord?”
“I’m not at liberty to…”
She drew a light finger over the four-petal wen emblem on a white patch stitched to his shoulder, desensitizing him even more. “Lord Shi of Jinjing County.”
“You know your wen.” His shiver at her touch said she had him where she wanted.
With a conspiratorial smile, she leaned in and pointed at his herb list. “I see you’ve chosen aphrodisiacs. Does your lord have difficulties saluting the moon? Or does he have a big night planned?”
“Saluting the—?” His brow furrowed before his lips rounded. “Oh. Oh, my. I am sorry, I am not at liberty to say.”
His prim and proper attitude did not fit his stature or his warrior’s build, the mismatch being rather endearing. It might even be arousing, if Yuna’s death didn’t weigh so heavily on her now. She shook fond memories out of her head, lest they cloud her focus for the mission. He’d taken the bait; now it was time to reel him in. She pressed up against him and whispered in his ear, “Would you like to taste what your lord could not?”
He took several steps back, eyes large like a shocked doe. He looked up to the Iridescent Moon. “I must be getting back.”
No, no, she’d been too aggressive. What would Lilian have done in this situation? Jie jutted out her lower lip and hung her head. “Am I not pretty?”
“It’s not that. I’d love to find out how you keep your skin so clear. Asking for his lordship’s lady.” He gave an apologetic smile. “I just don’t have the coin.”
She swept a finger over his thumb, a trick that always worked for Lilian. “I didn’t ask for it. I would like you to recommend me to your lord.”
He pulled his hand back. “Well, I can do that.”
How was this not working? Even if she’d never really practiced the art of seduction, what man would turn down a tumble between the sheets with the realm’s only known half-elf, and a pretty one, at that? She scuffed her toe in a circle on the ground. She kept her voice low and wounded, and maybe some of that tone wasn’t contrived. “You don’t want to have a taste yourself?”
“I’m afraid that would not be appropriate. I really must be going.” He pulled away, bowed, and scurried off.
Somewhere on the ground, Jie would have to find her ego. Just not now, because the Iridescent Moon now waxed to its third crescent. The steward would make it home in a quarter of a phase, and Tian would most likely still be there.
The steward paused, gaze shifting to the ass of a young man bent over a bin of herbs. A smile flickered across his face.
That might be the reason he’d shown little interest in her. Still, he continued on his way. If he were taking the fastest path, he’d cut through an alley.
There, she could use a different skill set, a reliable one she’d hoped not to resort to.
Chapter 6:
Wen rubbed her face from where something hard on Young Lord Shi Han’s chest, beneath his robe, had dug into her cheek. Tian had estimated she needed to keep the young lord occupied for an hour, in order for him to crack Lord Shi’s safe and leave the plausible scenario that Shi Han had stopped by home before going to the Floating World. Now, six minutes from the time she’d brought him to the room, the kid was already pulling his
pants back up.
Well, if there was one reliable thing about teenage lords, besides their oversized egos and quickness to anger when that was challenged, it was that it didn’t take long for them to recover from spilling their seed. Actually, there were many more reliable things about teenage lords, all things Wen had planned to teach Yuna.
That was neither here nor there. What mattered was the clan mission. Up to now, the niggling question of who had set all the things in motion that had led to Lilian’s and Yuna’s deaths had distracted Wen from the goal at hand, and she’d failed at the most elementary of tasks.
Shaking all those thoughts of her head, she sat up and folded her knees beneath her. She crossed her hands over her chest, leaving a hint of her cleavage visible. She made a point of studying the Dragonscribed painting on the wall. “Young Lord.”
Shi Han’s eyes followed hers. Then his fingers froze on his drawstrings, and his gaze fell on her.
Baited. Using her most breathy voice, she said, “You are the most well-endowed Hummingbird I’ve ever been with.”
A grin twitched at his lips. “That’s what Tang Li said.”
Almost hooked. She cast her eyes down, but then looked up through her lashes. “I was so close to reaching Heaven.”
“Oh?” His smile slipped. “I thought you did.”
She fiddled with her pinkie. Oh, the poor boy. What had Lord Shi’s maid done to misinform him so? Perhaps she’d just wanted him to get it over with, and faked it to the point where he couldn’t read her body language. Wen beckoned him closer. “You are so large, and I was so close.” She held her thumb and index finger at a distance where a sheet of paper could barely slide between them. Never mind that he was of average size, and that the largest men were the most artless of the lot, thinking that length and girth with a few good thrusts were all it took.
Shi Han took a tentative step closer.
She took his hand, then drew him knees-first onto the bed. She leaned in and whispered, “To tell you the truth, I’ve never reached the Heavens with a man.”
His eyes went wide as a kite taking in the wind. “You have with a woman?”
“And what if I did?” She let out her most titillating laugh.
Eyes glazing over, Shi Han gulped. As expected, his member bulged through his pants and robe, as he no doubt let his imagination run. Of course, no matter how much he adored this Tang Li, he was imagining several Blossoms entertaining him at the same time, as many wealthy Hummingbirds requested.
Let him believe that, and not the truth that as early as Florets, they’d explored each other to learn about pleasure; and as Blossoms, receiving selfish men day in, day out, it wasn’t uncommon to find comfort in another Blossom’s arms. Maybe, just maybe, Jie and Lilian had found that in each other. A twinge of jealousy, mixed with sadness, pulled at her heart. She still smiled and bowed her head. “Young Lord, may I?”
He looked at her, like a doe staring down a hunter’s bow. “May you…?”
She pulled one of his shoulders while pushing the other, the torque thrusting him back-first onto the bed in a technique that, in the Floating World, only the embedded Black Lotus sisters knew. His pants drawstrings weren’t yet tied, so it was easy to lower them to his knees. His breath came in labored pants. Maybe he’d crest the wave again, right now.
She reached beneath his robes, but he pushed her hands away. “Don’t look at it.”
Oh, the poor boy. Had this Tang Li said something to him? “What’s wrong?”
His lip trembled, and the way his eyes glassed over, it looked like he was about to burst into tears. “My father. He called it…called it… Have you fucked him before?”
“Yes,” she lied. “Have you heard the adage, ‘What happens in the Floating World, stays in the Floating World?’”
He cocked his head.
“It means that whatever happens here is a secret. A Blossom will never repeat what they’ve seen or heard.” A Black Lotus sister, however…
“And?”
“I’m going to break that rule now.” She leaned in closer. “You have to promise you will never tell anyone I did this, or else I might be punished.”
His eyes searched hers. “All right, I promise.”
“Your father is a selfish lover.” Whether that was true or not, Wen had never heard. “He doesn’t know how to please a woman.”
Shi Han’s eyes brightened. “That’s what Tang Li said, too!”
“So you have nothing to worry about.” Wen flashed a smile.
His hands shot down to his manhood. “Well, don’t look at it.”
What had the boy’s father said to traumatize him so much? What could possibly be wrong? Was it small? Misshapen? It hadn’t felt that different from any of the others she’d taken. Maybe a disease? She suppressed a shudder—the herbal medicines they drank, and washed with before and after receiving a Hummingbird, prevented most sicknesses.
She’d respect the poor boy’s wishes. At least while he was paying attention, so that he’d never know she’d seen whatever he was so ashamed about. After all, a Black Lotus’ thirst for knowledge was never sated.
Holding his gaze, Wen took hold of him and pushed his robe to the side. Straddling his hips, she guided him inside of her. His eyes widened and mouth rounded. Unless his true first, Tang Li, was trained as a Blossom, she wouldn’t know how to evoke the look of wonder that so many lordlings got with their first encounter with a woman. More likely he’d done the work, without any idea of the art of lovemaking.
Unlike the first time, when she was dwelling on Yuna, she concentrated on Shi Han’s reactions. Keeping her fabricated moans light, she rocked gently most of the time to avoid overstimulating him, and paused whenever he appeared to come close to cresting.
Time trickled on, and Shi Han was coming close to the point of no return. Wen glanced at the dwarf-made water clock. Just a little longer. Arching her back, she threw her head back and let out a well-practiced scream. She pitched forward, letting him slip out of her, and panted as she lay on his chest, her hand between them and right over whatever had stabbed her when their roles were reversed.
It was cylindrical with nubs, and the way it had felt on her cheek suggested it was metal. A key. Maybe the one that opened Lord Shi’s safe, which poor Tian was probably trying to pick at this very second.
She turned and rested her ear against his heart. It pattered as his breast rose and fell, and she chose that moment to sneak a glance at his manhood.
A black birthmark, shaped like a worm, marred the shaft. The poor boy, to be taunted by his own father. She looked up and met his eyes. “Thank you for taking me to Heaven, my Lord.”
He patted her on the back; such a gentle motion, unlike every other Hummingbird. “I can make Tang Li crest many times.”
Wen buried her laugh. No matter how much credit she wanted to give the boy, he always said something to ruin it. In the corner of her eye, she found the water clock. An hour had passed, and she could send him on his way now.
Still, with such an awful father, maybe he’d enjoy a good memory. He was still hard, so she took him to Heaven. At least someone should reach there today.
He collapsed back, arms splayed out. Frowning.
She propped her head up on one elbow and drew circles on his chest with a finger. “What’s wrong, my Lord?”
“Father made me come here today. He’s got some kind of rivalry with Lord Peng, and we’re going to see him at Lord Wu’s moons-viewing reception tonight.”
With that kind of Father, the kid might grow into a monster himself. Wen leaned on his shoulder. “He made you come… Am I not beautiful?”
“Yes! You are! But…but… I love Tang Li.”
Heavens, the passion of young men. She let out a sigh. “You are a young lord. You’re expected to buzz from flower to flower.”
His face scrunched up, as if he were tasting a strange fruit and deciding if he liked it. “But I love her.”
Ah, the poor boy. Of cours
e, he’d never be allowed to marry a simple maid. She sat up and held out her hand to help him up. “Come, let’s take you down so you can go back to your Tang Li.”
He gave a quick, enthusiastic nod.
She’d held up her end; now it was a matter of waiting and seeing if Jie had been able to delay the chamberlain, giving Tian enough time to crack the safe.
To give him just a little more time to complete the clan’s mission, she took her time dressing. No matter his professed love for this maid, Shi Han’s gaze weighed on her naked form from where he sat on her bed. She flashed a sultry look over her shoulder, teasing him with a last glance at her rear.
When she was done, she took the young man’s hand and guided him out of her room. On the mezzanine, she looked down into the common room.
Lord Shi was gone.
Chapter 7:
With someone entering the front gate to Lord Shi’s courtyard home, Tian set his back to the courtyard tree. Realizing he was too broad for the trunk to conceal him, he turned to his side and peeked around.
Lord Shi. He was pulling his scabbarded dao from his sash.
Tian’s chest squeezed. Maybe a near-sighted old woman would mistake him for young Shi Han; but his own father? It wasn’t very likely. Not only that, but Lord Shi would’ve been with his son at the Peony Garden. If he saw Tian now, he’d wonder when his son had either learned to run fast, or travel back in time.
“Steward Zhu!” Lord Shi’s voice boomed across the courtyard.
Guilt twanged in Tian’s stomach. Jie delaying the poor steward meant he’d probably be punished. Then again, Tian was trespassing, and Lord Shi wouldn’t recognize him as a great lord’s son. And maybe that was better, because Tian wasn’t supposed to be in the capital anyway.
The man’s boots echoed across the pavestones. “Steward Zhu!”
He was close now, only three paces away. Hands sweating, Tian drew a knife. Not like that would have much of a chance against a dao. He circled the trunk, keeping it between him and the lord. Still, the chance of him catching sight of his robe—