Page 37 of The Cinders

Before he could talk himself out of the idea, he set down the shoeboxes, tucking them under an azalea bush, and hurried on towards the row of white-bark pines that hugged the manor’s outer west wall.He reached a set of wide steps that led down into a sunken section of the garden.

Lim stood gazing down at the crudely built pond for a long while, hoping he’d spy a ripple stirring the plant-clogged waters; and discover that talk of the fish being caught and eaten, was nothing more than needless and nasty gossip.

An icy feeling held him as he waited.The dark water was visible only in small patches amongst the sweet flag and hornwort, and it lay still as black ice.He edged closer, one step at a time, and almost cried out in relief when one of the lily pads shifted, only to be despondent in the next heartbeat as an unseasonable dragonfly rose from the green platform.

Lim leaned over the pond’s stony edge, the dank scent of stagnant water unpleasant.‘Mercy?Are you there?’

Here he was, talking to the fish, the same behaviour that had half of Yunnan believing the Dancing Prince a lunatic.But there was nothing crazy about a lonely man finding some happiness in an odd friendship.

Those who had taken the fish from Xian were the ones flirting with insanity.

Lim kept searching; for a ripple, a bubble rising to the surface from the gloom, a flash of golden scales, perhaps, for he’d been told Mercy was a true beauty.

There was nothing.Even the dragonfly had abandoned the pond.

Fear prickled at the back of his throat.He’d not wanted to believe what Daiyu had said of the banquet.No one, not even the Lady Tian, could be so terrible.

‘Mercy, come on now.’Lim dipped his hand into the water, wishing to disturb the sickening stillness.

‘She is gone.’

He spun around, his heels slow through drying mud.

Daiyu stood on the last step, tiredness leaving blue-black lines beneath reddened eyes.

‘That fish was a treasure of his.’Lim could barely free the words.But if a man in the taverns had told him a week ago he’d be furious at the death of a carp, Lim would have called him the stupidest of eggs that ever existed.

Daiyu nodded.‘Xian was allowed nothing to treasure in this place.Perhaps it is best they have sent him away.’

Turning back to the pond, Lim shook his head.‘You would not say that, if you’d seen how the captain treated him.He is not an honourable man.’

Now Lim’s anger turned inward.He’d not even been there when Xian departed, to offer a reassuring wave, or a friendly smile.And, worse, he’d carried on about the slippers being made for the prince, but had not even bothered to give him a decent shoebox to carry them in.

‘Is he any less honourable than those in the Governor’s Manor?Men and women both,’ Daiyu said, unaware of Lim’s internal tirade.

A muscle in Lim’s jaw pained with the grinding of his teeth.‘I am not talking of him being struck for not picking the perfect flower for Her Grace’s ugly vases.’

Daiyu glared, moving down the path towards him.‘Shut your mouth, you imbecile.If you truly care for Xian’s welfare then do not seek to have yourself killed with a loose tongue.He has so few allies as it is, do not lower the count by one.’

‘Some ally I am.I was not even here to bid him farewell, when the the marchioness placed him in the hands of those vipers.’

Daiyu rushed at him.‘Hush, you fool.’

She shoved him, striking him hard enough to cause him to stumble against the wall.

A loosened chunk of stone fell into the water with a notable splash, finally creating ripples on the onyx surface, shifting the lily pads and hornwort; parting them well enough for something to catch Lim’s eye in the murky depths.

He blinked.‘Did you see that?’

‘I’m sorry.’Daiyu was too busy lamenting her assault.‘I shouldn’t have struck you.’

Ignoring her apology, Lim leaned over the stonework, using both hands to part the carpet of plantlife suffocating the surface.

‘There’s something down there.’His gaze darted, an urgency gripping him.

There.

Unmistakable.A gleam he could have picked out from all the stars in the sky.