Page 103 of The Cinders
Mandarin Feng regarded his feverish crowd with smug satisfaction.An attendant, the dour fellow who’d escorted Xian earlier, rushed up to him, whispering urgently in his master’s ear.Mandarin Feng’s eyes bulged.
‘The New Year!It is almost upon us!Outside, everyone, outside.We have barely a moment to assemble before the fireworks will begin.’
The atmosphere shifted from one of happy indulgence to mild chaos as the gathering of drunken guests hurried to their feet.Tripping over their gowns and each other.A glass shattered, a table tipped, and attendants were shouted at to clean up the mess.But were also expected to be at the door with their master or mistress’s shoes at the ready; so no one would face the tedious task of bending over themselves to collect them.
Everyone raced against time itself.
All except Xian.He shrank into the shadows at the back of the stage, wincing as his bruised feet protested at being used again so soon.He’d not say a word to Song Lim about the discomfort; the shoemaker had as good as warned him that the slippers, perfect in every other way, might challenge him in the vigours of his dance.
Xian smiled at the thought of the man, even as he shivered with the touch of the night breeze floating in through open doors, his sweat-coated body cooling.The spirit tickled his skin like the brush of whiskers.
‘Yes, yes,’ he whispered.‘It is time.’
The last of the guests hurried out, leaving behind a room strewn with the casual mess of entitlement.A mess that would have been left for Xian to attend to in the past.But he’d never again go to his knees for people like this.
Here was his moment.He was alone.Even the musicians had raced away with their instruments.
Xian turned to the same door through which he’d entered; his wisest choice considering Feng and the others had just left through the main doors.But could he recall the way well enough?
‘Why do you hesitate, Prince Xian?’
Xian jumped and spun around.His heart lifted to the back of his throat.
Captain Duan entered the room, stepping into the messy, abandoned space.‘Come, you are to be at the Mandarin’s side.He likes to keep his favourite treasures close.’
Standing as he was on the stage, Xian drew level with the Captain.Perhaps that was what made Duan seem less frightening; or perhaps Xian simply didn’t have time to be frightened anymore.
Song Lim waited for him.
A new life awaited him.
A chill settled on Xian’s skin; the icy touch of calculation.His spirit lifted its head, cunning and intelligent, taking measure of their circumstance.
‘No.I will stay here,’ Xian said.
‘Is that so?’
‘That is so.’
Duan’s ugly laughter stained the room.He moved forward, following a wavering line, clumsy when he sought to step over a cushion.Xian observed, making note.The captain was as drunk as any of the guests he was supposed to be keeping watch over.And a man like Duan was rarely more pleasant when intoxicated.
‘Then we shall bring in the New Year together, you and I,’ he said, a slur making him sound a fool.‘And I will teach you a lesson for trying to poison my lord’s ear against me.You’ll not be so valuable anymore once I’ve bent you over and broken you wide open.’He belched, swaying as he regarded Xian with eyes of stone.‘All I’ll need to say is that I was spellbound…enchanted by the Cursed Prince into taking him, and ruining his precious purity.You cursed Chen, did you not?’Xian’s heart beat in time with the scratch of the fox against his skin.Not yet, his blood whispered back.‘And already they speak of the spectacle you put on just now, and wonder…is he every bit as unnatural a creature as his sorceress whore of a mother.’Xian listened, as though from afar, to the violent ramblings of a man addicted to cruelty as surely as others were to opium.‘On your knees, monster.’
Xian uttered the one word he knew would enrage this man.‘No.’
A more vicious snarl could not have come from a beast.‘You do not get to tell me no twice, your highness.There’s no shoemaker to hide behind now.Nor will there ever be.You’ll never be in his company again.’Duan was almost at the stage, a predator certain his prey had been cornered.He stepped on a discarded snuff bottle; the red glass cracking beneath his white-soled boot.‘The mandarin will not need to doubt my loyalty, if your precious Song Lim no longer exists to come between us.’
Xian’s vision flamed red at its edges, and deep, deep inside his spirit dug in its claws.‘Touch him, and you’ll not live to regret it.’
The captain let out a roar, and leapt forward, intent on mounting the stage.
New Year arrived in the shattering of the sky.
The first of the fireworks exploded, and the building shuddered, the room filling with a brilliance of red hues.
The thunderous noise threw the captain’s focus.His toe clipped the edge of the low stage, and he toppled onto hands and knees, screaming at his misfortune.Xian raced for the door, muscles bunching, pulse flying fast and high.
Another burst of light and punch of sound arrived.Xian hunched unwittingly, fearing the roof was about to come down on them.The fireworks sounded directly overhead.