The Last Concubine

before Ning returned.
    Ning sank down upon the chair where Hüi had been sitting and took Lan’xiu’s hand. Jiang thought he meant to hold it but instead, Ning felt for her pulse. He nodded as if satisfied and laid her hand down gently.
    “She will do,” Ning said in a relieved tone.
    Jiang realized for the first time how drawn and worried the eunuch looked, and wished he might do something for him as well as for Lan’xiu. He noticed the boy in the bed licking his lips and went to him, raising him up against his shoulder. Divining his intent, Ning was there immediately, carefully spooning a little water between the parched lips.
    “He doesn’t look very well,” Jiang said softly.
    “ She is resilient. She heals quickly. Lan’xiu will surprise you. Tomorrow she will be out of bed, demanding to stand on her own two feet,” Ning said defiantly.
    Jiang hid a smile. “If she is well enough to get out of bed tomorrow, I will give you five hundred tael of silver.”
    Ning’s eyes gleamed. “I hope you have it by you, for tomorrow I shall be hounding you to pay what you owe me.”
    “How can you be so sure?” Jiang laid Lan’xiu down on the pillows, noting the small wrinkle between her brows had smoothed out. “Has she ever been injured before?”
    Ning gave him a sidelong glance, apparently deciding if he could be trusted. “She fell off her horse once as a child and broke her leg.”
    “Her leg? I thought I saw a scar on her back.”
    With a secretive face, Ning said, “That was another occasion when her strength saved her life—and mine.”
    “What happened? Who did this evil act?” Jiang recollected what he had learned about Wu Min’s court. “Did the murderer who slew her mother attempt to assassinate Lan’xiu too?”
    “It was her brother. He tried to rape her. It was then he discovered that she is—not all she seems. He stabbed her and nearly killed me, but Lan’xiu managed to get us both away. She was not able to save her mother in time, however.”
    Jiang gasped at the horror of the story. It was not that such things were unheard of, but Lan’xiu seemed so beautiful and gentle. A pity that something so heinous should happen to her, but the gods sometimes laid out a difficult path even for those most deserving of kindness. “I am glad you both survived.”
    “Only to fall into this fix,” Ning said with a sigh. “Lan’xiu used to run and ride through the mountains around her home. First her brother jails her, and now she is kept trapped within a gilded cage, with no sight of the mountains or lakes she loves.”
    Jiang hesitated. “Hüi Wei thinks she loves him.”
    “She does, truly. I have never seen her like this before,” Ning said. “And for love of him, I am sure she will stay here, waiting for her lantern to be lit, taking what few crumbs he offers.”
    “I am sorry,” Jiang repeated, but he had much to think about.
    When Hüi Wei did not return, Jiang grew worried about what could be keeping him. It could be nothing dire, but then perhaps another calamity might have claimed his attention. When the sky grew light, Jiang deemed it safe to leave Lan’xiu in the care of the faithful Ning and took his leave. To his relief, Lan’xiu’s color was better, and she seemed to have fallen into a natural sleep.
     
     
    N ING was grateful to see Jiang go. To have these men pushing in where it had always been only him and Lan’xiu was unsettling for him. He could not deny that they had been helpful, and it had even made him feel safer while guarding her, but he could relax now. The secret he had held for Lan’xiu for so long had become sacred to him, and he wasn’t sure he liked that now these two men were privy to it. No telling if or when they might make a slip, and he had no power to constrain their tongues.
    After Jiang left, Ning locked the bedroom door and made sure the door to his adjoining room was locked to the hallway as well.
    Lan’xiu looked perfectly beautiful and relaxed, asleep on the bed with her hair in one thick plait. She had turned onto her side, lying with her cheek pillowed on one hand, her mouth slightly open.
    Ning yawned. He had been awake more than twenty-four hours at this point and felt exhausted himself. Secure in the knowledge that no one could get in, he settled himself on the window seat and nodded off.

Chapter 16

    L AN ’ XIU stretched with her eyes squeezed shut. She knew she was in her bed and alone, but something did not feel right. She