Page 84 of The Cinders

Xian shook his head, rocking back onto his heels.‘I am embarrassed to say.I fear you shall be angry at me, Master Song, for I shall have to admit I lost something wonderful you gave me.’

‘It is Lim, and you know I would never rage at you.Come, time you were off your knees.’

Lim rose to his feet, lighter without the shackles, and he offered his hand to the prince.Xian peered up at him, still reticent, but he slid his fingers over Lim’s palm.

It was distracting how neatly they fit together; Lim’s coarser skin and wider palm against Xian’s slender paleness.Such heat ran between their flesh; enough to keep Lim warm forever if this touch was all the prince could give.

Lim shook himself.‘You have the slipper.’

Xian drew in a breath, but did not pull from Lim’s hold.‘Yes!How did you know?’

Xian had carried the shoe all this way, and held it close.Lim’s heart felt too big for his chest.

‘Because I know every inch of the shoe I made for you.You kept it…even without its pair…you kept it with you…’

Violet eyes widened, and he pulled his hand from Lim’s.‘How do you know I do not have the pair?’

‘Because I have the other.’

Xian’s eyes glistened, confusion and delight dancing across his features.‘You have it?How…it fell into Mercy’s pond…how could you know it was there…’

Lim cleared his throat; filled with a sense of being about to step across a threshold.‘Because…I was shown it was there, and compelled to bring it to you.’He shook his shoulders in irritation, looking down, safe from what he might see in Xian’s gaze.‘No, it wasn’t a compulsion, that makes it sound as though the choice was not my own.I assure you, it was.I was guided but I came willingly.Oh, I am sounding like a lunatic…and to be honest, since leaving Kunming I’ve experienced things that make me certain I am one.’

He glanced up.Xian was watching him with too many emotions to discern; but Lim saw no revulsion, no disdain.

‘We share that in common, then Lim.’Xian blinked, his eyes still glistening but no tears shed.‘I feared telling you what has happened to me…but now, I wonder…if perhaps, you can find it in your heart to understand…’

‘What happened to you?’Lim said, fear slinking between his ribs, the captain at the forefront of his mind.‘Did someone—’

‘No, no,’ Xian soothed.‘Nothing so revolting.The encounter I had was far more…unusual.Do you have the slipper, Lim?I’d like to see it.’

‘I do.’He lifted his hand, offering his palm to Xian, restless to touch him again.The prince accepted without hesitation.‘But Xian, there may be some pain for you, when you see it.’Lim covered Xian’s hand between his.‘It was your beloved carp that guided me…and Mercy left her mark…’

He cursed himself for the flash of anguish his words brought to Xian’s face, fearing he should have kept his mouth firmly shut; a lesson he seemed doomed never to learn.

‘Show me,’ Xian whispered.

Lim led him to the far end of the bench; a dull throb of pain at his ankles, a pinch from the cut at his shoulder.

‘There.’He gestured towards the bulge of velvet, reaching with his free hand, while Xian clung tight to the other.‘Shall I…’

‘Please.Quickly.’

With only one hand at his disposal, Lim’s unwrapping was not elegant.The slipper tipped from the roll of velvet onto its side; a sun-shower of white and gold light erupting.

A sob came from Xian; a great shudder that Lim felt in their clasped hands.

‘Xian…if it is too much…’

‘No, no.’The prince reached for the slipper, loosening his grip on Lim’s hand to pick it up.A sunrise — glorious and golden with hints of the same violet in Xian’s eyes — erupted from the facets; a hue unlike any other Lim had seen since the moment the fabric came into his possession.

The flickering light danced against the tears streaming down Xian’s face; streaks of dampness against smooth skin and rough.He traced his finger along the row of Mercy’s scales.He’d seen in an instant what Lim had so diligently sought to ignore.

‘All this time,’ Xian whispered.‘For so long I have mourned you…and knew nothing of the truth.Now I have learned everything in barely a day, and it is a sweet agony.’

Lim stayed close, a watchful eye on the outside world.Not a soul would take this moment from Xian.He’d take all the spears they could throw, for as long as the prince needed.

Xian clutched the slipper to his chest, crying so hard it was agony to listen to.