The Last Concubine

guarded. There have been no sly trysts by moonlight to despoil her purity—”
    Hüi Wei said in a bored tone, “You will give Wu Min my thanks for his impressive tributes. I am sure it has cost him much pain to part with his sister.”
    “Oh, it has, it has,” the courtier assured him in an oily voice. “If only you would agree to accept these humble gifts, it would bring him such pleasure as to negate the torment—”
    “We will consider these tokens. You have a memorial?” Lord Jiang cut the man off expertly.
    “It happens that I do. Wu Min wished to ensure that your graciousness was aware of his loyalty—”
    “So you had mentioned.” Jiang held out his hand for the scroll.
    The courtier got to his feet and approached the dais, withdrawing the scroll from the sleeve of his robe. He winced as Jiang gripped his arm with one hand while he accepted the scroll in the other. He glanced at Hüi Wei’s face but could vouchsafe nothing and surrendered the scroll without a struggle.
    “The audience is at an end. You may all withdraw,” Jiang announced. “The Princess Lan’xiu is to be conveyed to the harem.” He snapped his fingers at the general’s soldiers, who came forward immediately.
    “But—the princess—her guard—she must not be left unprotected!” the courtier sputtered. “Her guards must—”
    “I am sure we will be able to protect her adequately. The guards you brought may leave with you, while they still can,” Jiang said, his voice implying he would accept no argument.
    “Her servant, then. At least permit her servant to bear her company as she makes a new home here—”
    For the first time Jiang examined the short, slim manservant with a soft, slightly feminine face. “You are eunuch?”
    Blushing, the servant nodded without looking up, taking a tiny step closer to the princess.
    The princess’s beautiful face showed nothing of the emotion to be expected of a noble girl being delivered into an unknown court and a stranger’s bed, but she seemed to sway slightly in the direction of her eunuch servant.
    Hüi Wei waved a hand and his soldiers came forward to lead the girl and her servant from the room. The soldiers who had guarded her made no move, as if they had no idea what to do in this unforeseen circumstance.
    The courtier’s face wore a frustrated expression as he watched the princess disappear, but he seemed to accept his impotence and, once again, pressed his forehead to the floor. “I shall convey to his gracious Lordship Wu Min the fact that the Lord General Qiang Hüi Wei accepted the gifts he chose with much deliberation and thought for the enjoyment and enrichment of your Lordship’s house—”
    Hüi Wei’s shoulders shook as he strode from the room chuckling, accompanied by Jiang. “Do you think he is still speaking?”
    “I gave orders to the guards to take note of what he says, but I fear it is in vain to hope for some indiscretion. He is well versed in spewing many words while saying very little. I have no idea what Wu Min hopes to gain with this display.”
    Hüi’s lips tightened into a grim smile as he walked through the halls. “Have you not? And you so long-headed, unless you flatter me by allowing me to be the one to elucidate. Answer me this: how did a man who governs a landlocked province many miles from the sea come by such a quantity of peerless pearls?”
    Jiang looked much struck as he hurried to keep up. “That is a very interesting question. It would greatly add to his power and control if he had access to a seaport, but I fail to see how selling his sister would gain this for him.”
    “At least, not to me. I am well supplied with wives and concubines. One might suppose that another would be a surfeit.”
    “The emperor is said to have a harem of hundreds of concubines.”
    “The emperor is the emperor and he does not need to ride to war or put down rebellions from upstart provinces,” Hüi Wei snapped. “A plain man like me does not need a different woman to warm his bed every night.”
    “Speaking of peerless,” Jiang said, tactfully turning the conversation, “I have never seen a girl more beautiful than this princess.”
    “I hadn’t noticed,” Hüi Wei lied.
    “Of course you hadn’t, but when you can spare the time, you might have a look at her face.” Jiang sighed in admiration. “Such perfection of form. Her skin is as flawless as those pearls delivered with her. Almond eyes as deep as the night sky, a mouth curved