The Last Concubine

way—too?”
    “I have never cared for women,” Jiang said softly. “I follow the passions of the cut sleeve.”
    “Is that why you never married?”
    “I have never married a woman. I have a comrade—a partner. We have loved each other for ten years now.”
    “Do I know this man?”
    Jiang laughed. “You should. He is one of your highest-ranked commanders, Zheng Guofang.”
    “It is like you to praise him, but he ranks after you, my friend.” Hüi clapped Jiang on the shoulder. “A good man! You have chosen well, my friend. I’d wondered—but never mind that!”
    Soberly, Jiang looked at Hüi. “The one regret of my life is that I have had to keep this secret from you, my closest friend.”
    Hüi made a pained sound. “You didn’t trust me?”
    “You didn’t trust me !” Jiang pointed out. Then he sighed. “It was not simply a question of trust. When I discovered the truth about myself, I dared not tell you. I fell in love—with someone completely unsuitable—”
    “It was with me,” Hüi said in a flash of insight. He covered his eyes with his hand. “Oh Jiang. I am so sorry.”
    “Don’t be. It was only puppy love. I got over it,” Jiang said. “It would never have worked.”
    “Not that. What a tragedy that you have had to hide this secret from me all these years,” Hüi said sorrowfully. “This is my failure. I was not a good enough friend for you to trust me with your true self.”
    “We were both too reticent. Perhaps we both had much to learn before we could speak freely,” Jiang suggested. “We have shared our secrets now.” He grasped Hüi’s hand and their fingers tightened in a strong clasp. “Now to the matter at hand. Do you love him?”
    Hüi shook his head in bewilderment. “I don’t know. I think so. Perhaps it is too soon, just a novelty that will wear off.”
    “You need time to get to know him better,” Jiang said.
    “Ning said we must call him ‘her’—”
    “Who is Ning?”
    “Lan’xiu’s eunuch, her servant. Ning refers to Lan’xiu always in the feminine. He says that it is safer.”
    “Very well, no doubt he has long experience in guarding her secret. We will call her ‘she’.”
    “Thank you,” Hüi sighed.
    “First of all, what are you going to do about her brother?”
    “Last night—”
    “Can’t resist giving me a blow by blow, eh, dear friend?” Jiang jabbed Hüi in the ribs with his elbow, relieved when his friend’s expression lightened.
    “I was not going to share what passed between me and Lan’xiu,” Hüi announced with great dignity. A beatific smile spread over his face as he looked down upon his palace fortress to the inner household square, picking out the seventh house once again.
    “I’ll bet much passed between you.” Jiang snorted with ribald laughter.
    “Have your joke, you deserve it.” Hüi chuckled too.
    “I have never seen you react to a night of pleasure with any of your other wives this way,” Jiang observed.
    “That is partly what troubles me,” Hüi confessed. “When I first discovered she was a boy, I threatened her with death. It was then Lan’xiu informed me that if I put it about that I had killed her in a righteous rage after finding her with a man, it would provide her brother with an excuse to attack. If I send her back, Wu Min will kill her in the slowest, most tortuous way possible. He enjoys that sort of thing. If I simply throw her out, her brother will make it his business to inform the emperor that I was fooled by a man dressed as a woman. None of these options redound to my credit, and I would avoid them if I could.”
    “It is rare that a pawn is aware of the possibilities of which it may be put to use,” Jiang said. “Of course, no doubt, she also wishes to keep on living, so it is in her best interest to point that out to you. Are you sure she is not here as his spy?”
    “One day you must speak with her,” Hüi said with a faraway expression. “She waited for me, thinking that I would kill her when I discovered her secret. I admired her courage when she faced me and admitted the truth.”
    Curiously, Jiang asked, “How did she convince you to spare her?”
    “We fought,” Hüi said, chuckling at Jiang’s doubtful expression. “With swords. She has been well taught.”
    “I assume you won, as you are not dead.”
    “Naturally. Even though she fights well, I am stronger and have more experience.”
    “It is not merely her beauty that attracts you?”
    “Age