Page 66 of The Cinders

What must it be like to be looked upon that way?Or to have someone to look at with such a gaze.Lim cleared his throat, seeking to clear his mind of Xian’s image.Fool.From what he had gauged, the prince wasn’t inclined towards such obvious affections; and an older shoemaker with a work-worn body was hardly likely to change that.

‘You have indeed, and I’ve never doubted it,’ Jung Ming said.‘It just seems an odd meal for fish.’

‘Perhaps, but the results cannot be denied.’Mai stepped closer, a sprig of white jasmine twisting lightly between her fingertips.‘Do you remember that carp he gave us for our anniversary?’

The guard made an indistinct sound and touched his belly.‘I’ll not forget it, if I live to one hundred.You could taste the hibiscus in their flesh, I swear.’

‘I’ve never seen a man so overcome by a meal, you were drunk on happiness that evening.’

Mai laughed, but Lim’s blood chilled at hearing talk of carp.A fresh surge of urgency pulsed through him, and the pouch lay heavy against his thigh.

‘Master Song?’Mai watched him.Had her gaze just drifted to the slipper’s hiding place?‘Is everything all right?’

He nodded too emphatically, perhaps.‘Yes, yes.I just…’

She cocked her head, stilling the jasmine.‘You are troubled.’

He doubted a mind reader was needed to know such a thing, but her tone had him wary.‘Well I am being cast out when I’ve done nothing wrong.I fear what Master Ren shall think of my service.’

Mai rolled the flowers once more between her fingers, a few tiny white petals loosening.‘Master Ren will not strike you, nor punish you, he understands the men who run this residence.’

Lim had no fear of Ren, of course.What he feared above all, even a run-in with the captain, was being thrown out of Feng’s residence.

‘Come now, they’ll notice us in a moment and it will be me who is getting shouted at.’Jang Ming, recovered from his blissful memories of the carp, reached to take Lim’s arm.

Pulling away, Lim shook his head.

‘Please, I beg you.Don’t turn me out.I promise you I shall see myself out…once I’ve…’ His hand went to the slipper, his mind churning with indecision.

The guard shuffled his feet, glancing over to where the gathering of powerful men and their laden cart were partly hidden by the bustle of the small courtyard.‘Master Song, you heard the sergeant’s orders.I have a duty to see you sent off.’

‘I cannot leave.’Lim’s words rushed from him; and the weight of the slipper lessened.‘I must reach Prince Xian, I need only a moment with him.’Another lie; he wanted far more than a moment.‘But it is vital that I see him.’

Jang Ming frowned, annoyance teasing his boyish features.‘The prince from Kunming?That is impossible.Come on now.’He took hold of Lim’s upper arm, firm in his grip.

‘The Veiled Prince is a lonely soul,’ Mai said so quietly Lim barely caught it.‘Are you a friend to him, Master Song?He could use one here.’

‘Of course I am a friend,’ Lim said strongly.‘What do you know of his treatment?Have you seen him?’

He barely recognised the uncommon desperation in his voice.

There was a distance in the woman’s light brown eyes as she nodded.‘Yes, when I’ve tended to the flowers, helping them grow.A sad one, that prince.Unwanted by the emperor, and maltreated by those entrusted with his care.But you…’ She stepped around her lover, drawing from him a soft, resigned moan; as though this were not the first time she’d suddenly gone all wide-eyed and fixated.‘Youarea friend, Master Song.’Mai lifted her hand, and brushed the jasmine beneath Lim’s chin.

He flinched as the powerful scent of the flowers filled his nostrils, and his need to pull away vanished; like a candle snuffed out.The petals were soft as butterfly wings and, most curiously, seemed to flutter against him as those wings would; despite not a breath of air moving through the courtyard.He watched as her gaze slid down his body and fixed upon the leather pouch where the slipper rested.Her brows twitched, and a faint brush of surprise swept her features.

‘Oh, I see.’

Lim shifted.‘See what?’

A rooster crowed beyond the walls, and the siheyuan rumbled and hummed with life, but Lim felt as though he stood with her alone.

‘One half of two to be joined,’ she said, her eyelids heavy, her voice low.

Lim edged away.‘What did you say?’

Mai’s hand dropped, the jasmine dangling in her fingertips.Her face paler than before, and shoulders slumped.

‘Mai?Sit down, please.’Jang Ming fussed around her, but the woman shook her head.